I started this year with some introspection.
I admitted that past cycles of my life need reframing.
I noticed that I had more I want to learn and accomplish.
I accepted that I cannot do everything at once, and I can’t do it alone.

I am in transition.
I am digging deeper into being an artist.
I am making a plan, and I am taking my time.
It might be messy.

(above) Figure Drawing at Gutman Gallery with Jaz in May.

Thank you for opening this studio update.
If you are a new subscriber, welcome to this gathering of my favorite friends!

I’ve been sending out studio updates about once a month for 5 years. Writing these emails helps me to reflect on and celebrate what I’ve been doing with my art studio time. They are not always this long and meandering.

A couple of weeks ago I took my first in-person workshop! Most of my art instruction has been online. This particular workshop was instructed by Sharon Griffes Tarr and covered the basics of gouache.

Gouache is a water-media, similar to watercolor, but opaque. The techniques are quite different from the transparent watercolor I am used to. I took this small Korean pot to paint. The first image is Sharon painting an apple.

During the workshop there was a side discussion about nature and cycles of seven:

7 year cycles of drought
and
the building of crashing surf tending toward a larger 7th wave.

Many educational and spiritual modalities are based on cycles of seven, and I am always open to new paths of reflection.

As I reflect on my life, and my life as an artist in particular, a cyclical view, rather than a linear view, is comforting.

7 years ago the idea of taking time away from the life I was living to draw or paint was difficult. Everything I’ve created and done in the online and in-person art community in the last few years would have been unimaginable to me 7 years ago. Each opportunity has been wave after wave, building to a large swell and inevitable crash.

Today, I am ready to move into a new cycle of growth. I want to honor my younger self who peeked into the art studios at my university but had no idea how to become an art student. I want to allow myself to focus on learning more and building my skills.

Learning and practicing are messy. Sometimes it is a pretty messy, and sometimes it is an ugly messy. Above are some of my explorations in gouache.

When I got exhausted with working with green outside during the workshop, I pulled up this photo of Gwyneth Paltrow (below) on my phone and wanted to see what I could do.

I didn’t start with sketch underneath, just gouache to paper with a flat brush (first two painted images). In my studio I adjusted the highlights, and I’m actually quite happy with the result… for practice.
I’m learning.

During the workshop Sharon emphasized:

“Beginners should practice 90% of their time and do ‘paintings’ 10%.”

While I am not the beginner I was 7 years ago, I am still very much a beginner. I do not have the skill set to create in a way that feels like me. There is a level of exploration and freedom that I have not quite reached… but I feel it is close, and I’m determined to find it.

So, I am committed to daily practice, in various forms. Ink sketching with my coffee in the morning. Live figure drawing and portrait group monthly. And I will be experimenting with my colors, combining opaque and transparent water media with various drawing media to find the magic I am looking for.

Two morning ink sketches. Also a graphite pencil drawing of Jim from the June Whitmore Lake Portrait Group sitting.

Figure Drawing at Gutman Gallery with Jennabelle this past week, and the start of a sketch from a photo of a statue.

Upcoming studio updates will have less finished artwork and more sketches and experiments. I hope you are interested in being a part of my new cycle of learning and growing.

Note:
A handful of recent subscribers are the result of my announcement on FB & IG that I am taking a break from posting on social media.

I feel that online marketing, specifically for art, is about to shift… for many reasons. I don’t want to be caught up in it. For me, right now, that seems like a waste of valuable time I could be practicing.

I value those of you who open these emails more than all the ‘likes’ and compliments on social media.