Figuratively Speaking - Baby Steps #6- Still Life

6"x6" oil on Yupo Price $50

I like to speak to strangers.  In my mind, everyone is a walking book with a story.  If I have the opportunity of opening those pages and hearing their story, I feel honored.  Of course there is always that possibility of opening it and then not being able to close it...but that happens rarely and there are warning signs if you pay attention (like a look of anticipation, slightly bulging eyes, and a general anxiousness looking for a ready victim).  But, I digress.  I have a friend who told me she hates chit chat.  She doesn't have time for it and sees no redeeming quality in it.  I am not like that.  I consider chit chat to being a segue to something more significant...a portal to their world.  So, today I saw a chance to initiate a conversation with someone I didn't know at the gym.  I saw an easy connection by commenting on her shirt, the style and where she got it, because I really like it and have one in another pattern.  Generally I think everyone is my friend until they choose not to be.  She clearly chose not to be.  She never even looked at me as she mumbled something curt.  So, looking at it from her viewpoint, I looked like a busy body trying to find out things that were none of my business.  From my viewpoint, she just blew a chance to make friends with a really interesting and fun person!  Good thing I have Rhino skin!  Go Figure!

Connecting

8"x10" oil  Price $200

Figuratively Speaking - Art as Communication
I saw a quote today in a post by Brain Pickings  (an online newsletter that is the source of almost all my reading material) that so caught my attention, I decided to write my own blog post around the idea.  Even though this was written about words, I think it totally applies to paintings which are just chemical colors on something flat, at the basic level, but come to life and create a magic at the hand of an artist.  Ursula K. Le Guin put it best in contemplating the magic of real human communication: “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer; they feed energy back and forth and amplify it. They feed understanding or emotion back and forth and amplify it.”  
A good painting does the same thing.  It can be any style, any subject matter, but when someone is moved by it, it becomes a conversation.  
I work at an artists' guild gallery a few days every month and I  am always conscience that each person who comes in is seeking to interact with something.  What is amazing, is that with all the diversity of types of objects and art, there is a different person to appreciate each and every piece.  Frequently someone will fall in love with something that doesn't move me at all.  I really like that because it reminds me that I am only one little (well, not so little) person with one little opinion. Even though there are others who would agree with that opinion, it really doesn't make it more valid or right.  That is always a good lesson!

Friendly Conversation

8"x10" oil

Finally I got into a few hours of oil painting again.  I finished this piece and tweaked several others I was never happy with.  All in all, it was a good session and this piece worked out alright. I am feeling the need for a painting sabbatical....paid leave away to just paint.  Ah, that would be lovely.  In the meantime I will have to just carve out some time and do it here with all the distractions.  Well...off to the next thing....

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