My Barn Burned Down

Archive for the ‘Learning to Paint’ Category

Ooh, I’m all inspired! Better stop before I write a book.

Hope that helps in some way – it helped me.

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“I wish to urge students of the dharma who may have forsaken their creative impulse in favor of practice to realize there is no conflict between creativity and meditation. Creativity can be understood, in essence, to be the practice of our own nature and that nature’s expression. You may find your way in to the nature through creativity; or you may come out from the nature to express creativity. Both have to be appreciated as the best of our mind’s potential.” - Kongtrul Rinpoche

The last week of the year and the time everyone is thinking of New Year’s resolutions, new goals, what’s my life about?  I had the great good fortune yesterday to open the new issue of Buddhadharma magazine and read an article about Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche’s paintings! Well, it was really more about his process of painting, or taking his painting as the Path. Of course.

Once another  Rinpoche said to us at KPC that the gardens we were building were great, but that the world had lots of gardens and didn’t need one more; that we had to build them with pure motivation and intention to benefit and liberate beings and then the gardens carry a blessing. Well, I think the same is true of making one more painting. He mentions that he thinks the great artists, whose works continues to touch us over time, probably “got out of the way” during the process of making the art, even if later they got caught up in the fame, approval or rejection. It is that “egolessness” that comes through the art that is timeless and touches us where we live, in the natural vitality of awareness. When he came to the west, interestingly, he was struck by the art of Kandinsky and Picasso among others; those who gave over to the process without regard for public approval. And their art endures.

What this article pointed out, and clarified for me, was how to use the process of painting, the natural process of creativity (so it could be music, writing, any creative pursuit) to watch the mind, overcome grasping attachment, come to resolution, and experience what he calls the natural vitality by getting out of the way. He encourages all artists to use this method and produce paintings that carry the blessing of that natural vitality to the world, and benefits self and others.

I went right to his site to view his paintings, and voila! there is the mp3 of the talk he gave from which this article was written. The Q & A at the end has even more interesting teachings that were not all in the article,  and will benefit all who wish to use the activities in their life in harmony with their spiritual path whether one is a meditator or not.

So it made me think about my New Year’s resolutions more deeply, and how I might align my daily activities with my spiritual path, using each moment as a way to benefit self and others. How about you? What can you do in 2010 to make the world a little bit better for others?

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Wishing everyone a happy, peaceful day and hope the New Year brings you every blessing!

Nice, quiet Christmas Day as we had our family get together last night. The kids were high energy, the food was great and all had a grand time.

Shipped off the last two pet portraits on Wednesday, finished in the nick of….

Bailey Jane, Bichon Frise puppy:

Bichon Frise Bailey Jane Pet Portrait

This was painted in oils (Genesis Heat Set Oils, praise Buddha, or it would never have gotten done in time!) on a 6 x 12 gallery wrapped canvas. The BEST part was the email from the puppy’s Mom when she received it:

Dear Elizabeth,

You captured the sweet spirit of Bailey Jane on canvas!  The painting is magnificent!  It looks just like her!  Thank you so much for painting her and for sending the painting to me on Christmas Eve morning!  There never was a more perfect Christmas Eve gift!  I love it!  I wish you the very best this coming year!  I hope that we can get together this summer when I bring Bailey Jane for a visit.

Then she emailed everyone a picture, then a second picture, with another note:

This photo shows the colors better.  I cropped it for a close up view.  I love it, love it, love it!  I was feeling tired before the package came!  Now I am back in the Christmas mood and can get busy cleaning!

THANK YOU!

It’s not that I am bragging, I’m sharing because (you other artists will understand), when it leaves my easel, the voice in my head is chanting, “It’s not very good, she’ll hate it.” So this really made my day, too!

German Shepherd Pet Portrait

A last minute portrait I rushed through but was pretty happy with, Kuro. I think he’s a German Shepherd mix. His facial bone structure was a challenge and I see why artists study anatomy. To ‘get it’ I had to visualize the underlying bones and eye sockets.  This one is a 9×12 in oils on gallery wrapped canvas.

My grandchildren all were over the moon with the paintings I did for them, which I posted previously. Funny, the one I thought would not care about it, Garrett, being only 3 years old, was AGOG. He opened his “Bear” painting (and he had his REAL “Bear” with him of course) and exclaimed, “OH, it looks just like BEAR!” Then he carried the painting around in a hug along with the real bear saying “Now I have two Bears!”. Adorable. Somebody said later, after mountains of gifts had been opened, that they thought the paintings were the big hit of the night. It made me realize that hand-made things from the heart really do touch the heart and gave me deep happiness that I could make them all happy for a moment.

Again, Merry Christmas!

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By Artist Don Gray: Fallen Limb

I am reading a wonderful book called Meeting the Buddhas by Vessantara, and although I’ve read it before, it feels like I’m reading it for the first time.  When I was a wannabe artist I read it from the standpoint of wanting to understand the archetypal imagery used in Tibetan Buddhism and in particular, thangka paintings. Funny thing, that now that I’m actually learning to paint, I’m reading it and it is clarifying the spiritual path I’ve been on for almost (oh, gawd) 30 years.  The author takes you through the meaning of the use of mandalas and visualization in the Vajrayana method of practice and so you go with him on a poetic tour of the mandalas of the Five Buddha Families (which, it turns out, is a map of our own mind).

Much I could share here, but in keeping with the art theme of this blog, I was struck by Ratnasambhava’s mandala, and how it incorporates the arts and beauty as a method for refining the mind; the author speaks of being able to enjoy beauty – in nature, art, music – as a step towards being able to eventually make the leap into the very refined energy of the nature of reality.

I know that I have a busy mind and it is true that when something of beauty registers on my mind, my mind STOPS, at least for a nano second, and relaxes. All meditation teachers tell you that that is quite a feat actually, to relax the mind.  (More about that tomorrow, when I tell you about the other book I’m reading My Stroke of Insight – a brain scientist experiencing her own stroke and how when the mind chatter stopped she had no frame of reference for her-self.)

By Don Gray: Streak of Sun

But back to beauty and simply stopping in the moment and experiencing it. There are different things that will grab each one’s mind as ‘beauty’, and these are two paintings I have seen this week that did it for me.  I don’t want to analyze why these did it for me (although my busy mind certainly WANTS to get right on that); I’d rather just sit and experience the beauty of what the artist has conveyed. I hope they give you a nano second of beauty and relaxation as well.

And then, so as not grasp onto it a “mine”, I offer this beauty to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the past, present and future as my teachers have taught us to do. May all beings be well, happy, peaceful and prosperous.

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Raymond Logan's Use of Warm/Cool Yellow

I troll around on a lot of artist’s blogs (for a free education) and one I keep going back to especially is Raymond Logan’s. After attempting the “Whistler style” a few posts back, and in working with color mixing exercises, the use of value and temperature is,  of course, in the forefront of my mind now when looking at artworks. The surprising thing about painting and drawing, to me, is not that we CAN do it, it’s that often the reason we can’t is that we don’t really see what’s there. Nor how to study what is there. This link to Logan’s post on warm/cool use of yellow is a great example. I keep going back to it to study because I know I don’t yet really grok warm/cool in painting and this painting is helping me break through that. Hope it helps you, too.

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Well, I’ve neglected my blog for long enough and wanted to prove that I AM, in fact painting still! Have been doing color mixing studies with the  Learn and Master Painting Course and I won’t post those but they are absolutely fascinating to DO. Had to then turn my attention to Christmas and luckily for me, my grandkids all want paintings! Well, one asked for one, one wondered to his Mom why he couldn’t get one, and the others were suggested by my daughters. Joanna had a great idea: each of her children owns a plush pet (no shedding, no pooping) that is their ‘comfort zone’; can’t sleep without ‘em. She thought, you know, one day these loyal dudes will be in the trash heap and wouldn’t it be great to have a painting of them to remember them by?  They don’t read my blog, so I’m sharing here where I am so far.

Leah owns Jaguar, a well worn floppy guy, and her favorite color is yellow, as is her bedroom, so here is Jaguar:

Little Garrett has Bear (now that I think of it, not sure that’s his name), which is a “blankie” and stuffed toy in one. A marvelous invention if your kids want an animal but love to feeeeeel the satin on a blanket:

Sorry for the glare from the flash. Will get a better photo during the day:

And in progress, Two BooBooBears. Have the background done and the bears are only blocked in. Here it sits on my easel with Bear – working on them both at the same time:

I also finished a ROCK DRUMMER painting for another grandchild and am partially finished with a ROCK GUITAR painting for the other.  I’ll post those when I can get them outside to photograph without flash. When those are done, I will pack up my acrylic paints and set up to work in oils. I have one ocean beach painting for the granddaughter who requested it and two dog portrait commissions to finish in the next month. So I am not slacking off!

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Van Gogh letters

Came across a fabulous site today that allows us entry into the very personal observations and working life of Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, through reading their correspondence and seeing their working sketches. The 120 letters are on exhibition, alongside the works he writes about,  at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam until January 3 next year but this site brings it to us.  I was very moved reading these letters and reminded of the fact that in his lifetime, Van Gogh only sold ONE painting!

The photo above is one example and you can read the full letter online.

That reminded of the quotation I read somewhere that “Art is painting, not painted.” The letters give such a strong example of artists doing the work for the love of the work, the love of the play of light and line and form, and the insistent urge that simply pushes its way out from within. In one of Paul’s letters to Vincent he mentions some sketches he’s working on of something he “glimpses” is important, and to come, but not here yet. I think most creatives will understand that deeply.

Enjoy the Van Gogh letters!

PS-Something I learned recently that I did not know: we always hear Vincent’s name pronounce Van GO. He decided to sign his paintings just Vincent because people (in the south of France) could not pronounce his name correctly. He was Dutch, so it sounds like Van Gough as in ‘cough’.

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Buddy on his ATV

Got to play Grandma last night with four of my six grandchildren, ages 9,9,5 and 3. I went to the store and got Xmas ornaments to paint and we had a blast. The  3 year old dips the brush in every color without rinsing in between and ends up with a gorgeous muddy purple that he thinks is da bomb. So it is. Then he squeezed gloppy glitter glue on the Xmas Tree and announced, “It looks like an octopus!” And it did. He very firmly announced he wanted to hang THAT one in his room! Such unbridled creativity and joy in what was created was a thing to behold. The 5 year old is, in fact, extremely talented artistically and blew through five ornaments (well done) to everyone else’s one. She has absolutely no low self-esteem issues and her announcement was something along the lines of being the best artist of everyone there. The two nine year olds were thrilled to learn a new technique of transferring an image from a printout reference photo to the painting surface (scribbling graphite to the back and making a transfer) and then made some wonderful paintings in that free, “the photo doesn’t have this but I want a tree THERE”, creative spirit children possess. I learned that Jack wants to be an architect (!yay!) and toiled away at a very detailed painting of his grandparents’ home.  Brooke, also 9, ended up with a beautiful waterfall painting that had fabulous balance of lights and darks. Kids do that naturally somehow. Was great fun and in another life I think I would have enjoyed being an art teacher. After painting ornaments, I took a photo printout of one of their friends’ dogs, Buddy, on the ATV and did this photo in kids tempera paints on photocopy paper. It was very liberating to paint like a kid again and hope to have many more sessions of it.

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For one year I have been on the internet ISO painting instruction. There is lots and lots of stuff available, lots of great free stuff, and lots more expensive (not to say not worth the money, just out of my budget).  I have picked up great tips on artists blogs, wished I had the time and money to go take some of the workshops offered, and even looked into local college courses — again, time and money. During the summer I was saving to purchase The Carder Method, based on some recommendations on some forums and one artist I respect talked about how it showed her how off her color mixing was. My wonderful step-mom gifted me with The Carder Method and I must say, it blew my mind. As I watched him mix the colors and match them using his special tool, I actually had something SHIFT in my mind and I could see the colors differently than before. I definitely think that is worth the $120 plus $15 for the color tool. I was really helped by his method.  However, it is based on setting up an elaborate still life, with special lighting, black everywhere else, and using oil paints with a medium that I would not be able to tolerate. The advantage is one pass painting, and a very smooth Old Masters look. So I am using much of what he taught but was still thinking, why isn’t there a course for the complete buffoon? The complete newbie where they assume you know absolutely nothing and walk you through how to paint in oils?

VOILA! You guessed it! In my stumbling and fumbling I found the Legacy Learning System and as it had JUST come out (late August) it was on sale and had a three payment plan, and I went for it.

The package arrived and whoever designed their packaging deserves a medal. The immediate impression was: Wow, class act! I hope the meal is as great as the presentation. I am on lesson 5 (of 26!) and I am now so impressed I could not wait to blog about it.  Gayle Levee is a marvelous teacher, takes her time, tells you every little step without making you feel stupid (now, wipe your brush, then pick up more paint). I would have been insulted at that level of detail of instruction had I not had my disastrous first experience with oils en plein air at Walney Pond! I did NOT wipe my brush before each stroke and guess what?! MUD.

Anyway, this post is for you out there who has said a gazillion times, “Oh I wish I could paint but I can’t”. You can. You just need training, and in the comfort of your own home, with no one WATCHING, it’s the BEST. The other really great thing they have thought of is to put together a kit of paints and tools so you don’t even have to enter into an art supply store and freak out when you see all the millions of things you know nothing about!

And the biggest, greatest secret I learned about (being super sensitive to solvents of any kind) is good old fashioned Baby Oil! It’s a secret. You’ll have to get the course to find out about it.

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I am now taking commissions for pet portraits and have updated the page dedicated to this endeavor. I so love painting them and hope to do some cats and birds as well as dogs. I have five in the works right now and should be uploading them this weekend. My sister is a vet in Sierra Vista, AZ and will be giving out my postcards. It’s exciting! I have kept my prices low to begin and so I hope you’ll take advantage of me – the prices won’t change for the rest of 2009.   In my internet marketing course I have also finally learned how to activate certain “plug-ins” on this blog so that the search engines find me AND you get the opportunity to Twitter this, Digg this, whatever means you use to share. Isn’t the internet amazing? Back to the easel now….

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