Pigment, Paper, and Point of View

Photo by Warren Lynn, Indianapolis, IN.

 

I love to watch Food Network Star.  It is a competition among accomplished cooks and chefs to win their own Food Network television show.  The contestants are thrown into numerous situations with varied themes and ingredients.  The challenge is always to create dishes which are then presented to the camera.  All with a short amount of time and all representing their “P.O.V.”.  P.O.V. stands for Point of View.  It is never too far from the producers minds as they judge the food and the presentation.

I am currently on a journey of discovery: to fine tune my own point of view.  In the visual art world we call it artistic voice, but the term point of view just seems more attainable to me right now.  How do I see the world?  How do I then interpret that to the canvas?  Where do I want to take my viewer?  All questions to be pondered along the way.

To further explore who I am artistically, I have purchased new materials and signed up for a couple of workshops outside my area of expertise.  Powdered pigment.  From a cement mixing company.  Interesting stuff.  Can’t wait to dig in, mix it with water, medium, paint, and see what unfolds.

Collage.  “Bring interesting decorative papers…”, the instructor writes.  Don’t have any!  So my exploration really begins before the workshop as I paint my own interesting paper.  Scraps of watercolor paper from a neighboring artist await in the studio stirring my creative juices.

The creative journey may simply be a vacation rather than a move.  I may not evolve into a mixed media artist.  I may come back to my acrylics and painting knife and be thrilled to be home.  Learning what I’m not is a valuable step in solidifying who I am.

Like the brilliant splash of red that a cardinal makes against the pine branches outside my porch, I want to  know what sets me apart.  Like his song that is distinctive and heard above air conditioners and passing traffic I am searching for the point of view that will be recognized as mine alone.  Meanwhile my creative energy is being recharged and I am enjoying my quest.  What have you done to find your artistic voice?  Please share.

Hours, Weeks, Decades

On any given Sunday afternoon you will find me in front of the television perusing HGTV, the Cooking Channel, or the Food Network.  Ever watch “Chopped?”  One of my favorites:  four professional chefs, each successful in their own right, compete with unusual (surprise) ingredients, limited time (30 minutes each course), over three courses.  With each course, one of the chefs is “chopped”, and sent home by the panel of expert judges.  I have often watched this show sitting in wonder as these gods of the kitchen create masterpieces out of funky ingredients (leg of goat and trail mix…really?).  How do they create on the spot?  How do they know which ingredients to grab?  How do you know how to make a chocolate cake without a recipe???

This past Sunday however, I decided I sort of know how they do it.  Years and years of training and experience are behind every minute they spend in the kitchen.  “How long does it take you to paint a painting?”  is perhaps the most commonly asked question I hear.  I think most artists would agree it is also one of the most frustrating questions to answer.  The truth is that the best answer will sound sarcastic:  whatever the age of the artist.

I have been painting for 6 years.  I have been a professional artist for 27 years.  I have been artistically expressing myself my whole life.  All of life’s experiences import to my memory base (whether I remember it or not) and will mix with my technical skills, my media, and my current style to export on the canvas. In the case of last week’s adventure at the county fair, it is easy to say “She painted this in one hour!”  However as you my readers are aware, I spent three days preparing for that one hour.  (Believe me my catch up list has been long!) To finish it back at the studio (to my standards of completion) took another 2 hours. However, in reality, it took over 5 decades to complete as all combined for one hour on stage.

The finished painting?  “Take me out to the Fair”  30×24, acrylic on canvas.  It will be auctioned through The Arts Council of Williamson County with 100% of proceeds benefiting the organization.  It is after all the organization that offered me the “experience of a lifetime”.