Author: Cheryl

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” John W. Gardner 

Last week I was blessed with a brief retreat to Brentwood on the Beach. It’s a lovely inn on Lake Huron. I spent most of my hours there walking the quiet beach. This time of year the beach is a surreal landscape of sand mixed with ice heaped up into mini frozen mountains. I took some photos and I’m thinking, so, if I paint a polar bear beside one of these ice formations, who’s to say it’s not a large iceberg? The blue shadows are there. The angles and shapes are there. It brought to mind large paintings I have seen that look like a cliff wall. Then later I would read that the artist held a pebble in their hands for inspiration. So here’s the creative challenge to painters experiencing our Canadian winter. Get out the camera and find out, is there an iceberg by the sidewalk? 

Here’s a tip for painters that can help keep your brushes in great shape for months longer. At the end of your painting time, after you have thoroughly washed out the brushes, take a moment to shape each one into the shape that it wants to be. That’s a nice point for a round, a sharp chisel tip for a square – and then lay them flat to dry. Because a brush having a bad hair day is no fun at all. 

Truth is always all around us. As we take it in – see, hear, smell, taste, touch – the reality of this world can be both unrelentingly harsh and overwhelmingly beautiful in the same moment. Then there is the imagination. Did you know that sometimes the imagination is the very best vehicle for truth? Or more accurately, the imagination can sometimes be the best way to really grasp a truth. One that will stick with you, maybe even change your outlook to life – because when your imagination is engaged, the gray matter is ever so much more likely to hold onto whatever concepts are going in. Take for example Frodo Baggins. A mythical furry toed figment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s imagination, he embodied love of life, loyalty, perseverance under huge trials, and other character traits that are so good to fill the mind and heart with. To emulate even. When you read Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, you get a vision of just how valuable these ways of being are. That even if being good carries a huge price, it is worth it. Because here’s the truth- there are people out there living in really difficult situations. Huge trials. And they cling to life, and they persevere. Perhaps they are encouraged in the battle by a furry toed figment that embodied goodness? – I confess I have been. So writers, and singers, and painters, and actors – please share your vision, and may it be of the stuff that encourages each of us to a better way of being. 

Here is a link to one of my favourite contemporary artist’s website. I love the way he uses shapes and colours! Stephen Quiller lives in Colarado, U.S.A., but says that our Canadian Group of Seven has influenced his style. Can you feel that influence? The Stephen Quiller Gallery (See link on Cheryl’s homepage blog if you are reading this on Facebook or elsewhere.) 

Just wanted to make sure that you have seen the “Featured Art Student” page on my website. Currently Dorothy Mcfarlane is featured, and you will enjoying reading her thoughtful answers to questions about her art journey, as well a seeing 2 of her beautiful paintings. The featured student changes every other month, so watch for a new page here at the start of February… “Featured Art Student”. 

I am pleased to introduce to you a wonderful author I became aware of through Twitter. The link included here will take you to one of Shawnacy Kiker’s writings that I was simply mesmerized by. It’s rather surreal, or magical, definitely outside the box, and there is an art connection. You will have to read it to see how. Note: It’s a short story, so will take a few minutes to read. Look it up when you have some relax time, and enjoy! I found it inspirational, and I’d be interested to hear what you think. Here’s the link (on my homepage blog if you are reading this in Facebook or elsewhere)… “That Time Edgar Okhovat Free Solo Climbed the North Face of Time”. 

When it comes to being creative, I want to think so far outside the box that it becomes a small dot on the horizon that eventually disappears. How ’bout you? 

I’ve been thinking about values in painting, and what a profound impact they have. I’m talking cymbals in the orchestra kind of impact. Value means the amount of light or dark of a colour. A strong dark next to a very light area is a biggie. When you do that somewhere on your painting it draws the eye strongly and says to the viewer “this area is very important.” Good idea to plan that placement carefully. Understanding the force of this in a composition is why artists will sometime take a photo of their painting and turn it into black and white on their computer. This allows a much easier analysis of the values. A shortcut to this is to squint at a painting. This removes some of the colour and detail in order to see the value contrast better. Then you can make sure that any cymbals sound at exactly the right spot in your symphony. 

“Chance favours those in motion.” James Austin The same could be said of brushes. (Thanks @greatestquotes)