Priorities, Sacrifice, and Art

On August 12th, 2011, my little Samson was born. That makes, two boys and two adults in a 750 square foot house with two miniscule bedrooms and awkwardly set up main space in our 100 year old house. Both my husband and I are artists. I paint. He writes and plays music and we've run out of space in our house to do either.

To us, art is a necessity. Without it, we both get depressed and bored. Art is our TV. So we re-evaluated each space in our house to maximize the functionality of all 750 square feet. Lets start with the upstairs - our bedrooms. Since Samson was born, his bassinet was in our room and my first son, Levi has his own bedroom which he has always hated. Samson wakes up every three to four hours day and night which means my husband has bloodshot eyes at work so he began to sleep downstairs on the carpet. Levi began to sneak into our bed in the middle of the night confessing his fear of his room.

Next, the main floor, which consists of the covered porch, the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. The kitchen is just way too much to take on as a reno at this point so I won't even discuss it. The dining table became a place for mail, electronics, empty fruit bowls, and Levi's random findings. And we despised the falling apart, cheaply made, uncomfortable dining chairs. The dining room also sufficed as my painting studio and our "office". This room was too cramped.

The living room is our favorite room. It is the most updated with the TV and lounge furniture. We keep it the cleanest so we can relax at the end of our day. But our couch was broken.

The entrance was our temporary storage facility, always holding the next renovation supplies or leftovers. It isn't heated so it doesn't serve well for much in the winter.

What we wanted was a proper place to paint or write, a play area for the boys, a bedroom big enough to fit both boys in so mom and dad could have their own room. So here's what we did:

We first got rid of the table and chairs and made the dining room into the boys play area. Then we bought a trendy futon and got rid of the old broken couch as well as our bed. We now sleep on the futon in the living room. Our bedroom became the boy's room and Levi's "scary" room is now my studio. The "office", which is really only a table and a laptop, is still in the same room as the play area, which may or may not move into the new studio. Where do we eat? Where we've always eaten. Around the living room table on pillows like tatami mats in Japan.

Our priorities shifted the way we use North American traditional spaces and quite frankly, we like it better.

Meaning of Art or Meaningful Art?

Just recently I received an email from someone I have never met before. Sandra Fehr began to tell me of her story. Recently her family was in an accident and her son, Mark received severe brain damage. As a mother of two young sons myself, my eyes began to swell up already.

Backing up a little, a few years ago, a church we had attended requested a large painting commission from me. I was to paint the trinity as a triptic. I had a hard time narrowing down who I felt the Father was  and who he might be to others and came up with a simple scene of a boy sleeping on the shoulder of the Father. You can't see the face of the Father, but He is illuminated, casting light on the boy.

Sandra attends this church. She told me that the first time she saw the painting after the accident, she found comfort, feeling that Mark was in the arms of Jesus and that he was being taken care of. To her and many others, the boy in the painting looked just like Mark so for Sandra, the painting gave her hope that her son would be okay. Mark is recovering slowly.

Is this the meaning of art or is it simply meaningful art. A little while ago Keith Bond wrote and article called "Advancing Art for Art's Sake" where he paraphrases another article by Rose Fredrick who states that fine art art should advance for art's sake. Fine Art should "further the movement and evolution of art; to leave a lasting impression on society". Furthermore, it should be "honest" and "advance society".

My painting of the Father may never reach "society" (to which I understand as, the world), and I have not developed a new style or new technique with this painting to which may advance society, but if a work of art can affect one person, is that enough? It's her world being affected. It has honestly and positively left and impression on her. What would art be if we as artists only painted for ourselves? Is this the meaning of art? Should we as artists always strive to paint meaningful art that affects others positively? How does society advance if not one person at time?

My views may be relative but Sandra's story inspired me to keep painting meaningful work, which is the meaning of art to me. What do you think?

Romantic Art and Adventure Auction

Flatteringly, someone suggested to the Women`s Mid-Life Health Centre that they should contact me for an art donation. On Saturday, October 22, at the TCU place, a dinner and art auctions will be taking place to raise money for the health center in order to support, inform, and inspire women of Saskatchewan to continue to excel at being mothers, sisters, wives, professionals, and most of all - themselves.

This year, I donated the piece called `Retrieved`, seen in this post. The request for the piece was a little short notice so it will likely be actioned without a frame.

For your chance to purchase original works of art and get a fantastic meal, the event at TCU place starts at 5:30pm where there is first an art preview, then dinner at 6:30, and the auction to follow at 8:00pm. For tickets, please contact the Women`s Mid-Life Health Centre of Saskatchewan.

Parks Canada Adirondack Chairs

The results are in and painting a wooden adirondack chair was more difficult than expected but a load of fun. I was the first in the week to get participants in a workshop. The event had been moved to a less public area which resulted in the first three days of no workshops. This meant artists had more time to spend painting their chairs which was a bonus. Since I was the first to conduct a workshop I had about half the time to spend on my chair which was less than stellar.

My workshop was called "Imagination Exploration" where I had my participants use their imaginations to create an idea about a theme based from the Parks Canada's Centennial anniversary. Based on their ideas, I created a painting (shown in the first picture). The whole workshop ended up being two hours long and half of that time was spent actually painting this canvas.

After that was complete, participants were invited to paint their own adirondack chair next to me. The results of my chair are not as finished as I'd like them to be, but for fours hours of work, I think it turned out okay. These will be displayed in Market Mall, Saskatoon, the Saskatoon EX., and touring most of the provincial parks in Saskatchewan. Overall, I'm happy to have been part of this event as it was something interesting I've never done before.

       

     

FREE ART WORKSHOP

Hi everyone. I'm excited to announce that I will be conducting a free workshop for the Parks Canada's Centennial Celebration at the Market Mall (across from the food court) in Saskatoon on July 21rst at 2:30pm. Ages range from 12 and up and there's only about 20 chairs available. It's based on a first come first serve basis so don't miss out!

My workshop is about utilizing our imaginations. In the past year since I started my new series of architectural works, the number one question posed to me is, "how did you come up with that?". Well, this workshop will give one of many techniques I use. This workshop focuses on your imagination and while the participants work together, I will be painting your imaginative subject right in front of you! One lucky person will be able to take home this painting at the end of the workshop. You can learn from it, paint over it, or add to it - it's for your imagination!.

So I hope to see as many of you out there as possible for some fun creation time.

Yellow - Good or Bad?

Recently I read an article by Jack White that had nothing to do with the color yellow but briefly mentioned that yellow as a main color used in a painting was not a color that sells. So many of the comments on that article did not refere to the article itself but on the brief mention of yellow. Most comments did not support his research but I'm interested in hearing from you. The painting in this post is one I did in 2007 and sold in Cre8ery Gallery in Winnipeg not because of the color yellow, but because of the subject. This painting happens to be my best sellers in prints as well. People really don't seem to mind that a large part of the canvas is yellow. Is there a type of yellow that is more appealing than others? Does yellow bring cheer and gladness to a room? Or can yellow drive a person to insanity? What do you think?

The Battle

Home maintenance can be overwhelming when we're so busy doing everything else. We battle keeping the weeds from taking over our lawns, keeping the grass from growing too long, eliminating unwanted pests, and creating spaces to relax, enjoy, and play. But even some overgrowth can be beautiful. 

I started this painting over a year ago and put it away for a while thinking of it as a failure. When I brought it out again a month ago, a fresh look re-inspired me to keep going and I'm glad I did. I showed it for the first time at the Broadway Art Fest a few weeks ago and had really great responses to it. It's not my typical white background but sometimes and artist just needs to take a break from the everyday.