Leap of Faith - Figuratively Speaking

6"x6" oil 

Remember me?  I haven't posted in a while, in part because there are so many other things to do, and in part because I have changed my routines and this one fell to the wayside and has been patiently awaiting for me to rescue it. 
It is summertime and the livin' is easy.  I love not having to wear layers of clothing and being able to walk outside barefooted.  There are marble, granite and slate quarries near where I live.  This one is pretty spectacular with high jumps into clear water that reflects the colors of the green woodlands surrounding it.  It has been unusually hot this summer so swimming and boating are at a premium. 
I am lucky enough to have my immediate family within a day's drive so have been doing the grandma thing frequently.  I have also been painting, teaching and showing my work, so I have not been idle, but I have neglected posting.  But, between all the physical activities I have been doing and enjoying company who have been awesome enough to make the trip, I don't regret losing a few routines, especailly when I can breathe new life into them when they return.  This weekend is a big art fair in our area, Art In the Park, and I am manning a tent with my paintings for sale.  If you are in the Rutland, VT, area, please come by.  Right now the forecast is looking good...but I am not going to hold my breath on that promise....Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Stop and Smell the Roses

6"x6" oil

I was participating in a 30 day painting challenge this month before my daughter's family came to stay with us on their way moving to New Jersey.  While the parents went to set up their house, the littles stayed with me.  I have to say,  once again I was reminded how much energy is expended by three children, how much energy it takes to be present with them, and how much admiration I have for parents who are attentive and take their parenting responsibilities seriously.  I do miss the giggles and the fun and how they reminded me to "stop and smell the roses."  Needless to say, I did not keep up with the 30 day challenge, and rather than try and catch up, I have decided to just start painting and hope I come up with a good one before the month is out.  I find it interesting what things cause my heart strings to pang.  I found myself having twinges of regret as I wiped off fingerprints on the glass doors and refrigerator.  Today I found a miniature pair of boy's briefs in my load of laundry and felt sentimental towards them!  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Deep Thought

5"x7" oil

I want to paint the kind of paintings that are so intriguing that you fall into them over and over and don't get complacent or tired of looking at them.  I realize that this isn't always going to happen, but it is nice when it happens once in a while.  Interesting shapes that illicit memories or feelings will do it.  The painting above that he is looking at is like that....a summer scene on a lazy day when you are just kicking back with your good buddy, sitting on the grass.  Maybe you'll both go fishing later on.  It has a nostalgia creating narrative.  Abstracts can do it too without the narrative.  The colors and shapes and lines swirl around in infinitely interesting ways, sometimes looking like one thing, sometimes like another.  I want to live my life like that!  I want to find what makes the day worth being alive and hold on to that for a moment, then come back later to find another reason or feeling that is interesting, fun, curious, sweet, whatever. I want my brain power to grow a little bit and my body to feel its own strength and flexibility.  I want what I eat to make me feel energetic and enthusiastic.  I also want to get a good night's sleep...so I think I will go do that now.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Little Cook

6"x6" oil

Everyone should daily have someone who looks over the shoulder and smiles adoringly at them.  Would the world not be a better place?  This little one should get the prize for a winning smile.  That is what caught my attention and made me want to paint it.  I hope looking at it makes you want to smile!

Figuratively Speaking - The Swimmer

                                                               To Purchase Go HereIt seems like almost the whole country is in a deep freeze.  The definition of that depends on what is "normal" for you in your local.  One of my sisters is keeping the towels close by her heated outdoor pool for the unusually cold weather.  Another sister drove to her swim club in a crisp -6˚ morning.  That seemed pretty surreal to her.  One thing you can tell from this post is that I have sisters (several more) and we like to swim.  Swimming is big in my family.  My nephew is currently undergoing the intensely rigorous Coast Guard Rescue Swim program in North Carolina.  He is about half way through and his original class of 16 has dropped to 3. His brother is working hard at OSU and a big part of that is his swimming.  He is an Olympic qualifier and has broken numerous records at the school.  My mom instilled a love for swimming in us and she continued to swim almost to the end of her life.  She was an artist too, but that is another subject.  I hope you are staying warm and enjoying the things you love to do.  Thanks for putting up with my bragging...Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Irish Walk

I learned some new words today.  I hope I can get to use them in a Scrabble game someday.  My sister-in-law is a world class Scrabble player.  There is no hope in beating her as she has memorized the entire Scrabble dictionary, but the game with her is always fun.  My friend Jean Paulsen is also an avid player and when I have the opportunity, my daughter, the genius and beautiful Ruthann, is fun to play games with.  We have been known to fall into uncontrollable giggles bordering on hysterics.  That doesn't happen often as she lives in the northwest and I in the northeast.  Her winters resemble the image above.  My winters are snowy and brrrrrrr.  So, my new words are fridgiculous and frigorific which is the weather we are experiencing now.  I am hoping this is the coldest blast of the winter, but it probably won't be. Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - It's Free

5"x7"original oil   For Sale $100

In moderate weather the Staten Island Ferry is one of the really fun free things to do in NYC.  It is a  great place to do some serious people watching and it has a great vantage point for viewing the Statue of Liberty from the water. New York City is a very expensive tourist place with oodles of things snazzy things to do.  On the other hand,  is a magical city with loads of authentic and low cost or free things.  The High Line and  Central Park are two of them, along with the Ferry.  I love finding off the beaten path jewels, but this applies to any place I visit, and even in my own back yard (Go Figure!).  What is a favorite, low cost place you like to visit?

Figuratively Speaking - Happy Holidays

Whew!  It has been a bit intense for me lately!  I have been absent because I had shoulder replacement surgery which all went well, it just has a long recuperation and it is, after all, my dominate hand.  So, since painting was difficult, I decided to redo my website and blog and all the social media stuff.  What a headache to go with my shoulder ache!  I have published my website, and please check it out.  I have also renamed and reconfigured my blog so I am really hoping you all receive this!  Please let me know if you do.  My Facebook business page is the hardest to figure out.  I think that will take a while but I am determined to really get this all together and be active with it once I do.  So now that I am attempting to post this, I can call it a day and get some shut eye.  I need that because tomorrow is a big day for me.  I am going to the doc's and hope he says I can drive!  I really hope he says that because I am going to drive there to find out.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Red Barn

8"x8" oil $160

Aren't we lucky that we get to do revisions?  It takes a lot of failure to get to success but the good news is that it just takes some tweaking to get it right.  I am not sure what I am talking about, but it does apply to painting.  I have been studying Vermeer and his method of layering glazes to get it just right...not everywhere, but where it counts, has inspired me.  I am usually in a hurry but I realize I need to slow down and pay attention to what details are needed to make it glow or sing or just be sweeter.  I think it applies to a lot of other things though. Like cooking for instance.  My friend Heather is a talented chef.  I can make a decent, and healthy meal, but she pays attention to every detail in layering and flavors and textures and presentation.  Going to a dinner party at her house is a special treat.  It applies to exercise.  Theresa is a beautiful woman who hikes and does Tai Chi and swims and does yoga, but she doesn't stay in shape for the sake of exercise.  She does those things because they keep her way of thinking healthy.  Shinrin Yoku is Japanese for "forest bathing."  It is a method of breathing in the energy and peace of the woods.  Theresa does that moment to moment in her everyday life.  It applies to relationships as well.  I was going to try and stretch this analogy a little further, but I guess I really don't know what I am talking about.  I need to give this one a little more time and let the literary glazes slowly build up.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Matisse Bouquet

8"x8" oil Price $160

I finished a book about Matisse right before I did this painting.  It struck me how much I had been influenced from reading about how he painted and looking at reproductions of his work.  That in term got me to thinking about influences in general and how I wanted to make sure I was being influenced by people and things that are going to enhance my journey in life and art.  Later I was listening to Antrese Wood's podcast with Frank Lombardo.  It turns out that he is the one I want to be influenced by in my artwork.  That was a real revelation because I know I have been inching towards this for a long time.  I of course dug deeper and started reading his blog, which is very out of date by the way, but the information he posted last year is timeless.  The one I read was about artists and their daily routines which of course made me look at mine.  He referenced a book Daily Rituals:How Artists Work by Mason Currey. So here are my "rituals."  I get up between 7-7:30 or earlier, depending on how I slept.  I do some stuff around the house and then go to the gym where I workout, swim and socialize and get home around 11am.  I fix a concoction, you could call a "smoothie," but it is very healthy, not very pretty.  I check my emails or read while I drink it, or do more household stuff.  Then I go to the studio and work and usually stay there until around 4:30-5, but sometimes later depending on how in to it I am or if I have a deadline.  I also try to get a walk in the woods in there somewhere too.  I can't really call myself a full-time painter, because I usually just paint in the afternoon, but I am a full time artist because I spend the evenings hanging out with my husband (who has a job) and doing art business or reading (about art) or preparing things for another painting.  Sometimes we go out to a concert or I meet with some other artists or go to life drawing, or teach, but you get the picture.  My weekends are scheduled differently, and are more flexible, but they have a rhythm as well.  So back to Lombardo.  He quoted William James with the phrase, “effortless custody of automatism.” He was referring to routine giving freedom not to have to think about daily details.  He also mentioned the supposition that Edison had numerous versions of the same suit so he didn't have to think about what he was wearing.  I am so like that.  I have always wanted a uniform, and kind of have that in a way.  I love necklaces and use them for my aristic fashion statement, but black leggings and a black tunic works for me in about every situation.  Anyway, I am really happy with my Matisse-like painting.  I deliberately went back in and added more detail just to make it mine.  I don't want to a copy-cat, just slightly influenced.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Serena in Gold Shawl

12"x16" oil Price $480

I am tall.  When I was young and healthy and relatively cute, some people would say to me, "you should be a model."  No one ever said, "You should be a jockey.  You should be a gymnast.  or You should be a airline stewardess."  I am so glad I didn't attempt to be a model.  I am sure I would not be where I am today if I had and I really like where I am at today.  No one ever told me I should be a doctor or lawyer or dentist or airplane pilot either.  Honestly, all I ever really wanted to be was an artist.  I wish I had been mature enough and believed in myself enough to have pushed to go to art school and to have been driven enough to succeed.  Problem is, I wasn't.  So if I had gone, I probably would have blown it.  I needed to go through all the trials and made all those stupid mistakes to have learned how to appreciate the opportunities I was given.  I definitely learned from the school of hard knocks.  I wasted a lot of wonderful opportunities and got derailed by my bad choices, but somehow it all worked out. I learned to work hard and be frugal as a young adult by living on "The Farm," an alternative farming community. Later I became a teacher so that, as a single mom, I could see my kids during the day.  Being a teacher was certainly an opportunity to fly by the seat of my pants, but I did learn to be disciplined and efficient.  I learned to identify the objective and find different ways of communicating it.  I ended up being a fairly decent teacher and I learned to love much about the job. Honestly my chance to be an artist came when I married a very stable, honest, man with integrity who played by the rules and had a good  and stable job (pretty much the opposite of me).  It also really helped my parenting.  So when anyone asks me how long it takes to do a painting, I can answer them honestly and say it took a lifetime.  Go Figure!

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!

Figuratively Speaking - Baby steps #5- Hanging Out

6"x6" oil on Yupo  Price $50

I am feeling weighted right now with concerns.  We all are feeling the sadness of loss for folks in Texas and Louisiana.  There is a disturbance in the force!  My daughter is dodging smoke from forest fires in Oregon with her family.  My nephews are trying to get out of the Florida Keys before Irma lands.  One of them works at the airport and may have to stay until the last flight leaves (hopefully with him on it!).  Vermont has its fair share of severe weather, but right now I am hanging out (like these baby shoes) waiting for the storm to start.  It is eerily quiet, but you can feel it in the air. There are rumblings of thunder in the distant.  It will only be a regular end-of-summer storm. I take so much for granted.  These major weather issues make me stop and count my blessings.  But then, there is the never ending storm of politics we are exposed to.  What is the deal with North Korea?  Geeeez...so much to weigh us down!  I think I need some chocolate and a mind numbing comedy....Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Baby Steps with Bunny

6"x6" oil on Yupo  Price $50

It can be beneficial for a person to take a serious look at his/her weaknesses for the purpose of correcting them.  This painting, unfortunately represents one of those weaknesses (or maybe many, but I can only focus on a singular fault at a time).  I had a total of 45 minutes to set up, paint and clean-up today.  Since I am attempting to do the 30 in 30 challenge I felt obligated to post day 3 even though I consider it a wipe-off.  Sometimes doing a quick painting can be very instructional, and sometimes it is just hurried.  That is my weakness.  I can rush through and not be conscientious enough. I owe it to myself to go slowly and carefully...to know where I am going and how I will get there.   I had a plan with this painting, but raced through to the end.  It looks very abstract, but it actually is a baby shoe and a knitted bunny.  If you have to explain what is in your representational painting, that could be a sign that something is off....Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Baby Steps

5"x6.5"  oil on Yupo

I was waited for AAA to come unlock my car after locking my keys in it when I ran into a coffee shop to pick up a sandwich for my lunch at a Mark Boedges workshop when I spotted these baby shoes among the antiques they were selling.  They were dated the year I was born and were priced 50% off so I thought, "I'll support them because they have been so nice to me and loaned me their phone to call AAA."  The gas station was less than a block away, yet it took and hour before they arrived.  While waiting, I decided to dedicate my 30 paintings in 30 days September exercise to getting to know these little gems.  This painting is #1 and I did it on Yupo...a really cool alternative to paper that is usually used for acid inks.  I used oil.  I think I will do all kinds of different media this month.  It will fun to try it out and doing little still life paintings are always a good way to practice. So, back at the coffee house (it was the day of the eclipse) I was  in totality with the exercise of calming meditation as I was suppose to be at Bobbin Mill Falls painting and my monkey brain really wanted me to get anxious.  The baby shoes gave me something to think about.  I hung them from my rear view mirror when they finally fished out my keys through the sunroof of my car which was propped open a few inches. The workshop was great, but I really came to love that coffee shop and my little baby shoes....Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - What?

8"x10" oil

When I photographed this cute little guy he was really unsure of what I wanted.  It made him look reticent which was not what I was going for.  He had that look that said, "What?"  My husband eats bacon and I am a vegetarian, so I buy him bacon crumbles from the warehouse store and that way he always has some meat to sprinkle on his salad, eggs, or rice.  I went and got some of his bacon to see if I could convince the pup to cooperate.  It did the trick a little too well.  I suddenly had all his attention and could have had him dressed in a clown suit and juggling balls for those bacon bits. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to bribe people so easily?  Maybe not.  I don't think I could handle that kind of power.  I have a lot of fun things coming up that require much preparation. I suspect when people are trying to break into my concentration force field I give them that look of, "What?"  I am not sure if I just blundered through multiple things when I was younger or if in fact I just can't do so many things at one time now that I qualify for Medicare.  My life is made of lists and if it isn't on the list, it just ain't going to happen!  I can't complain though.  I got to meet a sweet little dog that hasn't quite got the gist of manners or good behavior but has loads of potential.  I have days filled with things on my list that I get to do and on a good day, I get to check a lot of them off my list.  Right now....blog post....check....that's done!  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Spillway

6"x6" oil

I am going to a workshop next week which is facilitated by Mark Boedges.  He is an amazing landscape painter and I really hope I learn 4 really great things.  I figured out at some point that if I can take 4 things away from a workshop, then my work might improve.  If I try and take every good bit of information and latch onto it, well I default to overload.  Then, my painting suffers, my self esteem suffers, my husband suffers and....well you get the point.  All the good stuff just goes to my own spillway.  A few years ago hurricane Irene blew through Vermont wreaking havoc throughout the state.  Lefferts Pond took a hit and the spillway and bridge between the pond and the lake blew out. They have since rebuilt it and it is beautiful.  I am coming off a big show and numerous other wonderful things in my life, and I feel like I can barely hold on to the important things. My spillway is working, keeping the catchment of my life together for the important things, and letting go of the rest.  I guess that is the best we can hope for.  There is a balance in that.  I have been trying to find a balance and I think I am going to hold on to the spillway metaphor.  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Celebrate!

8"x8" oil

I feel a little guilty posting a painting image called "Celebrate!" when so many are mourning the events in Charlottesville from this past weekend. I too, am saddened by the injuries and death that occurred.  The attention that North Korea was intensely getting at the end of last week seems to be put on hold in the capsule of fear about the Alt-Right.  That is the way with news.  There is only so much space and time to put out a message, so one gets sidelined for another.  I want to spend my short time to put out a message of love and peace and celebration because, one eye may only see the sadness and discouragement, but the other can see the beauty and the good.  I think wisdom is missing from the social commentary.  I do not believe we should bury our heads in the sand, but I do believe that confronting radicals on the brink of violence is unwise.  We need a strong voice in our culture for understanding each other and a clear message that hatred is unacceptable.  We can respect the rights to differing opinions, but I do not believe that the voices of the KKK or neo-Nazi idealists are merely a differing opinion, but rather a refection of evil.  I just saw that Trump has finally denounced them.....finally.  I think we need to take their rhetoric off the front pages, out of our faces and reduce their voices by not giving them our attention.  Is anyone with me on this?  Maybe I am talking to the mirror...who knows?  Go figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Forever Friends

8"x10" oil

Shelburne Farms is the setting for this scene.  The balustrade is in the gardens overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains in NY state.  These women are some of the important women in my life.  I feel very blessed to have had so many wonderful females in my life, starting with my mother who was humble, sweet, nurturing, supportive and offered unconditional love.  She taught me to see the world in a joyful way and tried to teach me to not be swayed by silly things, opinions or people.  She was an artist and one of my dreams came true when she and I attended a Dreama Tolle Perry painting workshop together.  I miss her funny way of saying things, her passion for her family and her wonderful giggle.  She wasn't perfect, like the rest of us, but her faults have faded in my mind because her positive qualities overshadowed them.  I remember as a 12 year old hearing her story about her mother's death when she was 12 and thinking I could not go on without my mom.  It helped me start to see her amazing strength.  She couldn't read and would have been diagnosed with dyslexia if they had known what it was back then, and she was left-handed, another deficit.  She was one of 13 siblings and the school decided she was unteachable and was needed more at home rather than get an education.  She was ashamed about this, but I think it just goes to show what a resourceful woman she was.  She went to art school for a short time and joined the Navy as a bookkeeper because she was a wiz with numbers.  She was a talented mom to five kids and the true definition of great homemaker.  She felt insecure about her lack of education, but taught herself to read and educated herself and she and my dad both valued their children getting an advanced education.  I didn't know, until I was an adult, that my mom had been faking her way life because she couldn't read.  So many things made sense then, like: not ever reading to us when we were little, spending nights up reading when we were teens, and the way she wrote notes in beautiful penmanship but would always leave out words.  Vocabulary was important to my parents. My dad taught me the word "facetious,"  and he was a good example of that.  My mom taught me to use "flibbertigibbet," of which she was not at all!  Go Figure!

Figuratively Speaking - Tumbling

8"x10" oil  $200   http://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/christine-holzschuh/untitled/474792

Letting out a big sigh of relief right about now.  I just delivered well over 100 figurative paintings (including the one featured here)  to the Castleton Downtown Gallery for a show which opens the first of July.  Like so many things in life, getting ready for this show, aptly titled Go Figure, was fraught with many potential stumbling blocks. Rather than describing the mundane frustrations I have encountered, I will just say that it was a bit like the little tufted titmouse who repeatedly is flying into my window convinced that the image of a threatening competitor is real! Nothing too interesting or life altering in any of that, but it has brought to mind more important events that have changed the course of my life.  One of those was the arrival of my youngest son, Harry.  He arrived with that first name and a heartbreaking back story.  He was an abandoned baby, teeny weeny and clearly scared.  My memory of holding him for the first time was of him gripping my skin with his fingers and toes and holding himself on to me for dear life.  This is not normal behavior for a 6 month old who should be all soft and floppy.  This unprecedented early physical development, although the result of survival skills, has served him well.  He is a natural athlete and incredibly strong.  It took almost 12 years for the adoption to go through, but that day stands as one of the happiest in my life. I could, and probably should, write a book about all we have been through, but the happy ending to the story is that he is a handsome and successful adult who has a sweet and loving personality. Aside from my parents, he has done more to form the better parts of my character than anyone else.  It is easy for others to view our story and react by saying what a wonderful thing I have done for him.  But, truth be told, it really is the other way around....Go Figure!