Monday, August 22, 2011

Going in Circles



Couldn't find balance, so I painted me some.

BALANCE
Hoping you had a lovely weekend. I spent some "relaxed quiet time" with the kids after a week of trying to find balance between home, art and my heart (family). Looking for my rhythm as we all do when we add new but welcomed challenges in our day, in our lives. I posted this picture on my Facebook page last week. I wanted to share it here because I know some of you who are stopping in do not have a Facebook page.





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Going in Circles





Going into this week with a plan, enthusiasm and an open mind. 
Did some workspace organizing because 
my studio and writing area do not share the same real estate.
The studio is out in the barn and the writing area sits in our family living space with
our books. Books and magazines are my other oxygen besides coffee, as you soon will 
find out as we get to know each other better. I am not a writer but I thought 
I should have a spot to do so without ink, paint, brushes, etc…

Some of you know and some do not… I am taking this incredible online class with Kelly Rae Roberts not just for the sole purpose of starting an online presence with this blog, opening an Etsy store and establishing a website. While they are definitely on my list of goals I want this class to be the foundation. The foundation where all the pieces come together and are strongly tied together with a sense of self, the artist self to form a solid foundation.  
Kelly Rae is an incredible force.


As I put my toe into the waters of blogging, my hope is to pause. 
I believe blogging keeps you in the moment of what is important. I say this because it does make you pause, reflect and take stock. I suppose it is like a camera or a journal where you pause to capture moments. 
No matter which one makes you slow down to have a look and 
at times you crack a smile, that’s a good thing. 
I figure there is no right way. There is no wrong way to this. 
I just plan to find my way.


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When I started to write this morning all this conversation was not my intention.
 I had other thoughts but somehow this is where the words led so I followed.


Vintage Velásquez

Now back to where I thought I would be going today. In getting to know and meet my classmates from my online class I am spending time looking their blogs, websites and I have visited their Facebook pages. It had me thinking about art, other artists, why we paint, draw, design, write, sew or make what we do. What defines our styles, our artistic hand. 
Is there an icon or a symbol that comes up in your work either consciously or subconsciously? 
When you doodle, draw or put inspiration in your sketchbook. 
What shows up all the time? 
Possibly it is:
Birds
Water
Trees
Color
Animals
Symbols
Circles
People
Shapes
Clouds
Nature
Time
And so on…

What is your icon? 
Look back at your older works. Interesting isn't it. 
Sketchbooks are very telling as well. The same can be said about attraction. 
What attracts you to that pattern, to that artist, to their work?

I figured my icon to be the circle. When I paint, it is circular and confident in motion. 
I am attracted to the letters e and o, especially “e”, the moon, smooth beach stones, snowball hydrangeas, 
the eyes of an owl, artists Calder and Miró. I see a pattern here. 
I can go on with my list but I won’t. 
I would love for you to share and join in on the conversation.

14 comments:

  1. I enjoyed this post a lot - love your handwritten words and pictures! I have wondered about my icon before, so this was fun to learn how you discovered yours.

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  2. Lovely post. I'm not one who draws at the moment, I love nature though, so it would likely be something like that.

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  3. Hi Deborah,

    What a great post. I think that everytime I paint I center myself around the color palette I will use. Each time I go to the art supply store I am mesmerized by the colors of paint. The colors speak to me and tell me what to paint. For example one day the color purple kept telling me "i am your majesty" and a horse was painted. Maybe I will post it later for you to see on my blog.

    you post is inviting me to take a look back at what is recurring in my artwork. I like it. I will.

    Thank you.

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  4. You write beautifully. I would say that when I doodle, which isn't often, I always write out little words or mantras of inspiration. I do this also when I'm painting. I'll stop and write out thoughts that come to me on the paper underneath my canvas. Just to make sure I don't lose them.

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  5. I guess I never thought of my "icon" before. I notice lots of flowers, birds, trees and leaves in my paintings and drawings. Oh, also color--I love vibrant colors. Thanks for this thoughtful post today!

    Jill

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  6. I've just popped in for a visit to your lovely blog Deborah from Flying Lessons. I love it, your words are beauitfully written and I love the thoughtful images & will continue to read into the future, you have a real talent for this, thankyou for sharing such positive & inspiring reflections. Liza x

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  7. I nearly forgot ... I will have to have a proper look back through my artwork and journals & I love this little prompt you provided us all with, I think for me it is nature and flowers, but I'm not interested to see particularly what form keeps repeating in my work, thankyou (o:

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  8. Wow!! How awesome that you started this, very proud of you for making this happen and your work is beautiful!!!

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  9. I've been thinking about my icon/symbol for awhile now too...i also love circles, but I wanted to have something more specific as a symbol, something more recognizable as ME, I suppose...

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  10. Oh happy day! Love the conversation. Thank you all for helping me fly a bit higher because of your kind words.

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  11. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Fantastic work!

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  12. Thank you, I’ve recently been looking for info approximately this topic.

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  13. Bookmarked. Kindly also consult with my site =).

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  14. Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that.

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