Storytelling & the Met

Storytelling is hard. Art is hard. It's not a pity party - it's just a fact. I'm sitting here in my dining-room-turned-studio with kids running around, scraping their legs. They're watching TV after breakfast, and I'm thinking, 1) How did the TV get on without them asking? and 2) about how to sell art. I keep hearing that I need to tell stories. They say that art doesn't speak for itself. Having just been to the Met in NYC, I have to disagree a little bit. Van Gogh's art speaks for itself. It leaves you breathless. I kept having to take deep breaths because I was so moved by the artwork there. It was transcendent to stand in a gallery with beautiful work by Monet, Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Renoir, Degas... I can't even remember all the artists or the names of the pieces I loved.

But then again, maybe my art isn't at that level yet (wink). I'm working hard to make it better. I'm working hard to make it worth something. Sometimes, I think about people I love who have art I made and I pray, literally pray, that it will be valuable someday in order to bless them.

Anyway, for the time being, I'm taking it one day at a time and trying to get better and better.

I was really inspired by Klimt (at the Met). I loved his colors and his detail. The detail is so random and so beautiful. Also, I wonder if painting big makes you famous???

While in NYC, I went to a big, fancy, New York art supply store called Blick. It was amazing. I found new supplies to try and I actually really believe they've improved my work a bit. At least, they let my imagination try new things. I believe in limitation - I bought 12 oil pastels in a combination of colors that appealed to me. I bought three new acrylic paints. I've been using that limited color palette to initiate this new work.

When I got back from NYC, I sat down to test my pastels and covered a sketchbook page. While I was scribbling, my 2 1/2 year old, Cady, came up and wanted to sit in my lap and "color" too. I let her use one of my fancy pastels and write on the back of a sketchbook page. When she was done, I decided to use my new paints to color in the white parts of the page. I liked the outcome, so I decided to try something similar, but by combining my signature five lines (one for each of my kids) in pastel. I filled in the white space with acrylic and here is a finished piece from that process.

This painting came from a combination of so many things - there's the jumbled up story for you.