Back at it.

Well I have been busy doing this and that....mostly that...and haven't had a chance to blog lately. So will post a new pic of something that I was working on. this item is for the Memphis Orpheum Art Auction which is happening this weekend.

Yeah I know....a painting of a chair upon a chair......anyway...that is part of my being busy.

thanks for looking

sunsets

We stayed in Seaside for eight days. Every night another beautiful sunset. This painting does not do justice to what I saw. I will keep trying to capture the essence of that amazing sight and colors.


Sunset
6x6
acrylic on canvas
price sold
available for purchase on website or contact pakcraig@bellsouth.com

Inside the wave

I learned a lot about the gulf and the ocean this trip. I learned that the lovely flags flying on the beaches had meanings. Double red flags meant stay out of the water. Hey...looking at the waves, I could tell without flags that I didn't want to go in there. Each day brought something new to this trip. The water was high on the beaches and in fact there wasn't much beach available to stand on. I would walk down the stairs to the lowest platform level and watch the waves crash across the sand where we had been the previous day. I saw rip tides pull the sand right off the beaches and I saw the sand smooth out the next day as if nothing had happened. Nature is something to see in action.


Inside the Wave
6x6
acrylic on canvas
price sold
available for purchase on website or contact pakcraig@bellsouth.com

crashing waves

We stayed in an area called Seaside...charming area and the condo we were in was beautiful What wouldn't be beautiful when it is valued at 1mil....We had the second floor condo that went up three levels. We had to go down stairs to get out to the ground level and then down more stairs to get over the dunes and to the beach level. There were 20 steps to the ground level...and there were 52 steps to the beach level....it was good exercise...and a total of 72 steps...not bad....of course going back up after walking and playing in the sand and water...it felt like 200 steps. LOL.
I miss the steps...now that I am back home...or maybe I just miss the fresh air and the beautiful water from our balcony.

Crashing Waves
6x6
acrylic on canvas
price sold
available for purchase on website or contact pakcraig@bellsouth.com

beach sand

I had a wonderful trip to Florida this past week. It was during the passing of the hurricane IKE that landed in Galveston. I loved the area and had a really great time watching the waves. I did not have an opportunity to see the gulf waters turn to their true colors because of the churning sea. These colors are suppose to be crystal clear and beautiful and give the area it's name of Emerald Coast. I guess I will just have to go back when the water is smooth.LOL



Beach Sand
6x6
acrylic on canvas
price sold
available for purchase on website or contact pakcraig@bellsouth.com

Daily Painting

Whoa!!!!!!! I am feeling better and today's choice of shoe is a bit more sedate.I love this one...it took 40 minutes. Like the attitude...LOL
Sassy Feet #11 or Patent leather...
acrylic
12 x 12
canvas
available to purchase
$150
contact pakcraig@bellsouth.net


more views of shoes can be seen on webpage
http://www.pakcraig.com/REdHatsrideagain.html

Hey if you have sassy feet....would love to get email or picture of them. Just click contact and send them on over. Thanks

Daily Painting

jumping ahead by a few days. Sept 5th 2008

I kept the series of skyscapes going and posted them in the daily thread on wetcanvas.There are 3 more skyscapes posted on that thread.

This is the first shoe in a few months.
I picked some really contrasting colors and wonder if it is partly do to my having dental root canal work done on me that morning. OUCH!!!!!
I can't think of any other reason to select such vivid colors other than Pain made me do this...LOL

this is Sassy feet #10
12 x 12
acrylic
canvas
available for purchase
$150




other of the shoe series can be viewed at http://www.pakcraig.com/REdHatsrideagain.html

Daily Painting

Seems I am enjoying the stretch every morning...awakens my energy and my passion for painting.

Going to do a small series with skies

Tuesday Sept 2ND

Afternoon Skies
6x6
acrylic
canvas
10 minutes




available
$45
contact pakcraig@bellsouth.net

update on the new gallery space. It has been fantastic. If ever in Memphis I hope you drop by.

Working Again

Well I have adjusted to my new way of looking at things. A lot of it is like looking through a veil of organdy, but I am getting use to it.

I decided to try some small pieces every day to warm up for larger works.
Sometimes when I have been away from painting for awhile it takes me a couple of moments to find the grove. I need to have less down time and more painting time so these little studies get me going.

So working quickly and on small canvases allows me;well, I guess stretch a bit before tackling the major exercise.

so here is my first stretch...lifting brush..poised to dip and flow...lol
Monday Sept 1

Morning Skies
6x6
acrylic
canvas




if interested in purchasing one of the daily works please contact me through email pakcraig@bellsouth.net
price: $45

Losing Sight

It's finished.
They loved it...all of it....not just the painting but even my story about how I found focus and the title for the piece. I got to see it hanging in their home and it was fantastic to see a piece from beginning to the end.

All my worry was for naught over being able to complete a satisfying piece. I learned one way to get to the finish line was for me to please myself. If I was pleased, then I was certain they would be pleased as well. So worry and agony over decisions should never have been in the equation, then of course I found something else to worry about.

I lost the sight in my left eye.

It happened while painting the commission piece.
A couple of weeks earlier I had noticed some strange stuff going on in my right eye. I thought it was because of the intense sunlight outside and my possibly being effected by the sun that day. The black streaks that ran through my eye at that time eventually faded but not completely. During this time I also seemed to be having my very own lightening storm in my eye. I could see flashing lights whenever I was walking in the dark. I thought wow...wonder what's going on. I kept my right eye covered whenever I went outside and things seemed to be clearing up. Then wham.....while painting on the commission piece there was a bright halo and then blackness in my left eye.

Scared the you know what out of me. I went immediately to the family doctor and though my bp was high at the time (mainly because I was so scared) the doctor didn't think it was high enough to be the cause of the problem. I had a referral to an opthomologist for later that day. I sat for 3 hours for the opthomolgist to work me in his schedule, I probably would have sat all day, I needed to know what was happening.

Ok, I will tell you having your eyes dilated is not a fun deal, and at some points I thought the doctor had climbed inside my eye to see better, it hurt so much. It seems the vitreous gel in my eyes is shrinking and as it shrinks, it pulls away from the retina. This causes little cells to pop off and float in the gel, sometimes the pull is so severe that it tears the retina. The black lines and streaks are blood vessels that have popped; and the white lights and ligthening I am speaking of, is the actual moment that the gel pulls away. I could go blind. How about that....all my life I have said I could stand anything as long as I could keep my hands and my eyes.

I am adjusting to the situation, and learning to look past the junk in my right eye and hopefully find that the left eye will gradually gain its vision again. Not much hope for this; but, why not think positive.
I have been told to take it easy...lol.
I have been told to rest. Yeah.
I have been told absolutely no jarring head bumps. HUH!
and I have been told not to pick anything up. OH MY .

What causes this....lol...the opthomologist says OLD AGE....I say "but I haven't gotten there yet". JEEZ LOUISE.

Trying to meet expectations.

I need some honest feedback on an abstract work and find everyone I usually turn too is busy today.I have a commission to paint. Commissions come and go,some are easy and some are very hard,
either way trying to meet their expectations throws me off kilter.

In our first meeting I showed the couple a few of my abstracts and among those pictures they saw something they liked and they asked me to do something for them that is similar. I talked with them more so that I could get an overall picture of their particular interests and found one word that kept coming back to me when I thought of the couple. Opposites attract but there is BALANCE.

They both like color and lots of it.
She likes circles and smoothness with drama.
He likes architectural lines and subtleties.
He is strong and shows strength with a gentle kindness underneath.
She is soft and kind with a determination underneath that shows leadership.

Right now I am lost in the transition of finding a way to express what I think they are wanting. Does the painting lean to far to fit only one personality? Is it too round, does it have too many harsh lines. Are the colors bright enough.....mostly does it say anything to anyone about balance?

So blending these thoughts brought me to another crux, how do I bring these ideas into a painting and please both? I thought I would add subtle Remarque’s to the work with their initials intertwined so that this abstract becomes distinctively theirs without it being right in your face that the initials are there. Is that a bit too cute to work?

Letting it go

BALANCE an abstract painting I am working on for a commission. Interesting title, maybe as I work on this; I too will learn balance.


Don't you just have to laugh over the idea that things change but still stay the same.
My last post I talked about learning a new way to cope with various conflicts that arise in my life.

Well, I haven't learned anything new, I still bury bones and still dig them up to renew the interest in the problem. I can't seem to let it go. I cannot tell you the number of people who tell me to move on. To let it go, but no one seems to know how to actually do that. Saying "let it go" is so easy. My mind says it over and over "Let it Go", but there it is, like a shadow or a ghost waiting to remind you that things aren't so perfect. Is the letting go part of actually dealing with the conflict? once you dealt with it will it go away naturally? Is hanging on or digging the bones up part of not really resolving the conflict. Oh me....I feel a headache coming on. Maybe I am just trying too hard.

Having the gallery I realize I will always run into problems outside of the norm. I realize that as artists we are not necessarily business people and mistakes happen. It is somewhat of a challenge correcting the various things that I encounter with the "artist staff" and it keeps me hopping. I do have excellent support from most of the artists and with each step we all learn from the various things that happen. Sometime in the future, maybe we will even be able to look back and laugh.

But there are other changes that come in running a gallery or in life in general and these are not as easily fixed. Conflicts on a personal level seem to be the ones that do me in. These are the ones that keep taking on a life form in my head and end up with me taking way too much time dwelling over them. Head talk. Confidence lost. These are the times my energy level is depleted and trying to "paint" them out sometimes ends up with some really lousy paintings. Let it go, yeah right...would someone please explain in detail how to go about doing that. If I knew the answer I would share with you. LOL.................

It's Been awhile but here I am again

Looking back over the last 3 months, I see that blogging wasn't one of my main interest, I seem to get bogged down with the small things and between Thanksgiving and Christmas things changed tremendously.

The gallery I own and run moved location. The space is now on Main Street in downtown Memphis.I didn't get much notice that we needed to move and it took us a little while to actually begin the move; but when we finished, the results have been really worth the time and effort. Actually the move isn't totally finished I still have organizing to do in our drastically reduced storage area. But surprisingly all things were done in rapid time, the major part of the move was completed within one week. It involved painting the walls, building a small storage space, scrubbing the wood floors, moving the equipment and then finally getting the art moved and sorted. Nothing was broken and nothing was lost, so I feel really good about this.

The first two weeks after the move were right before Christmas, so the push was hard to get everything done and still think about the holidays. I had been ill around Thanksgiving and barely got better before the move began and I kept getting sick off and on while so much needed to be done. Now Christmas was coming and no decorations were up around the house and I am a big decorator, I love the color and little items that I have collected through the years; and of course with everything else there was no gift buying as yet and no time left; so pushing again to get that done with only two days before company arrives.

We made it, and company came but as luck would have it or possibly the unluckiest part, our company became ill with a stomach virus. So I had a bit of down time and rest time until after a couple of days had past and finally we were able to celebrate Christmas with everyone feeling up to being sociable.
Then no sooner did one set of company leave more company came in right before New Years and instead of resting and getting my own health back, we kept on going. When I should have been resting and trying to figure out where I was and how was I, instead of resting we decided to go on a short trip and then finally back home and back to running as fast as I could. To say the least I am tired

My plans for this year are to try and quit pushing myself. To take time to enjoy things around me. The last few months I was up and down in my emotions along with my health, and even saw changes in my sleeping patterns. It was becoming difficult to deal with the real and or even with some things that might have been imagined. So I am taking the time to just be, and learn more about who I am and what I can do, without being crazy; this is the major part of this year's agenda. I am not going to schedule any major shows this year, but have decided to enter competitions and submit for projects.

I am going to try and be a little more reflective this year as well and figure out where all the conflict comes from. I have learned that even when people tell me to let it go; that letting go is very hard thing for me to do, and I feel that I really need to learn from my mistakes and I need to take a few minutes to understand what brought on the conflict. I hope to be dropping some distractions so that I can try to get more organized and have less pressure on me all the time. I am always running full tilt and need to slow down. I need to see where I am instead of where I am going or where I have been. In other words, I need to take it easy.

The reflective part: I think I once posted that I am like a dog with an old bone when it comes to worry. I bury it...but soon dig it up again, examine it, sniff it, and chew on it for a bit to see if there is anything left of the taste of it. When I am satisfied I bury it again and sometimes if I am lucky it stays buried. I hope I learn from these exercises in "bone burying",but usually it is just revisiting the whole problem with nothing really solved. Again, like they say I need to let it go.

Maybe it would be better to not dig up these bones, but I don't think I can stop myself, as I think about my life and my coping skills, I realize there may be some truth to the saying " can't teach old dogs new tricks"......some day...maybe someday I will learn a new way.

the kids together

This painting is still in progress...it is a 2 year old painting that I am reworking.

This painting has gone through several transformations. It was painted for a show in 2005 and since it was of my grandsons...it came home and went up on my family room wall.
In the time that has past since this painting was completed...the arm over the shoulder was reduced to just a hand on the shoulder.
Then later on a new baby was born into this family a little girl, Katelyn.
As she grew....she was kept by her Nane' and Da while the rest of the family were at work or in school
This little princess would stand on the couch and look at this painting and as she she got older would name her brothersand point and tap them.
Later as she grew and could convey more information about her wants and needs, Katelyn would often ask to be picked up..."p"ease me in painting. "

This being funny we each would take turns holding her up next to the painting over the sofa and she would giggle about being in the painting with her brothers.

I finally got the hint...and removed the painting from the wall and took it to the studio upstairs.
Katelyn came in the day after I had removed the painting and first thing she noticed was the painting was not on the wall.

Where is it Nane' she demanded in her wee voice....lol
I said "upstairs...would you like to see it. "
"Yes" she replied.

And we went upstairs together.
At the doorway to the studio...Katelyn stopped and squealed at the top of her lungs....dancing in place she clapped and clapped and giggled.
"IT'S ME"
"IT"S ME Nane' in the painting with Robby and Conner...."

No greater joy for my painting attempts has ever been received as in this painting that meant so much to one so small.

is this for real?

troubled waters

Sagittarius Horoscope (Nov 22 - Dec 21)
Although restrictions may be placed upon you now, there is more going on than meets the eye. A difficult situation can suddenly transform into a very positive experience, but this will only happen if you are able to relinquish your control. Instead of worrying about the outcome, put your attention on the present moment. Paradoxically, things will improve when you move beyond judging what's happening as good or bad.


ok...so does everyone else's horoscope hit them head on to the moment?
this is my situation in a nutshell.....

Loss

So I lost my main computer during a storm last night.

My heart is heavy from the loss.

All my files that were on the desktop that I hadn't put into storage.
All the works in progress and the photos of my new work.
The digital photo's that I downloaded into folders with the intent to arrange and store for later references.

I feel as if my house has burned down and that nothing of my life is retrievable
I also feel that this is silly.....there are people out there that really have lost so much more than a computer main frame.

Then that very thought makes me feel more loss.
I am now left with the laptop.
There is no security for me in something that is portable.
That in itself means it has no permanence.

Creative Intelligence?

Esoterica: Creative intelligence also involves the simultaneous use of mind and spirit. Whether mind before spirit or spirit before mind, retrofitting and deconstructing spirit is the habit of our age. Perhaps the evolved CI guy is best at thinking it out first, then making the leap of faith, then covering tracks. "I throw a spear into the darkness. That is intuition. Then I must send an army into the darkness to find the spear. That is intellect."

This is a quote from the latest Robert Genn newsletter.

I realize there are two main kinds of artists. Those who think it's all
about technique, methodology and process, and those who think
all you have to do is "wing it." The latter, sort of like
skydivers without benefit of parachutes, are all over the place
these days. Attitudes of "anything goes," "anybody can do it,"
and "I can do what I want as long as it has 'heart'" prevail.
While I'm a first-line advocate for intuition, just to make
things difficult I have to tell you there's something else we
need to think about. It's called "Creative Intelligence."

CI do I have it?
From his discription of what it means and how it affects an artist I actually believe I do.

I jump off regularly and let fly but always with my parachute, because I expect to land if nothing else. I think it through, work it out, prepare, then jump.
This process Robert Genn titled CI I thought every artist possessed. I didn't think of myself as being any different from any other struggling artist.
Lately, I have been flying non stop, starting and stopping to reflect only when my parachute seemed to get tangled.
The entanglement, at least in my case; are the moments when the peer approval, admiration or whatever you personally wish to call it, gets bogged down. The group I like to attend and where I find my own awareness doesn't liked to be pushed out of the plane to jump. I seem to be a pusher. I wish to have everyone fly. I guess it is time to back off, reflect on my own self and let everyone else fly at their own pace. So in some cases the CI individual needs his/her own awareness to keep on flying, especially when the peers are not around to pack their parachute.

Deadlines

Sometimes you have to wonder what is going on... especially when everything goes wrong and as hard as you try....you miss a deadline.

Rules are rules and no exceptions are made, I understand this and know that if you don't make the deadline there is no one to fault except yourself.

I seem to feel the need to push the envelope and make deadlines at the 9th hour but sometimes, there are other circumstances that need to be figured in.

I could post my work with the others, several asked me too. I thought that there was some understanding that I might need an extra day because of travel time and the forced use of a library computer....LOL... but it just didn't happen, the understanding it seems LOL.

It's ok, but since there was an insistance on everyone not showing their work until the actual posting and I missed the posting date, I can only assume there is a rule that prohibits one from posting after the fact.

Again it's ok....it just means I can't post with the group, it doesn't mean I can't post the work.
So I did.

It was a bit of a stretch for me because it has been a very long time since I have done landscapes. But I was bored on this last trip and thought why not give it a try and see what you can do. I started the painting on Thursday evening. I didn't have much time to work on it since I really was suppose to be visiting family, but what the hey, if they were reading a book or watching the news, then I felt I had time to paint.....anyway, to make this short story long I finished it on Saturday but no computer to post....and all the places I had dashed off too for connections were closed on Sunday and then Monday I was traveling back home...10 hours straight driving in the rain, up hill both ways, with a headwind that pushed me back 1 mile for every 2 I was driving.......LOL...well, it felt like it.

So once I got home I made a mad dash up the stairs to my home computer....checking to see if there was time had they posted all ready, they had posted on Sunday I think.....so; oh well....that's the breaks.

I am thankful that I had an idea to paint.
It really doesn't matter if it made it into the posting, I painted and that should be enough.

I rushed this to make the deadline...lol...so will probably work the clouds a little more to make it gel.

at a crossroad

I don't know for sure if every artists comes to a place in the road where they stop look and wonder.
Which way do I travel now?

I recently got to that place myself.
I find what I am doing is not what I want to do.
I liked the work while I was creating it but once over and complete, I wondered why I am doing that.

So I am at a crossroads and I wonder which road to select and what direction I will go next.

Part of creating is the journey, so I hope this one is as interesting as the others.

I think I will go left this time.

Dishing it out can you take it?

When is it the time to tell it like it is and when do you keep it inside you and your mouth shut?

Critiques of artist's work giving or taking is such a fine line to walk.
Sometimes it is damn if you do and damned if you don't.
I have heard it all when people view my work, and a lot of it has not been to it's praise.
To keep from flipping out over any negativity, I try to take the artists work into account, weigh their remarks to me, then base my opinion of their remarks to what I think of their work. If their work is not something I admire or think challenging then I do not feel challenged.

I also think that sometimes depending on your relationship with another artist and what that relationship means, should also be taken into consideration to their comments. After all if they don't like you as a person...what could they possibly like in your work and vice versa, can they really be honest if they are thinking more on the relationship then on the work.
So dishing it out and taking it depends I guess, or at least for me, in how it was given and what can I learn from it.

Now to dishing it out.
There is a saying around here...
Don't ask Pam unless you are prepared to hear it all.
No, I am not always critical, but I don't mince words when there is something I think I see that doesn't work in a painting.
Nor do I mince words when I find something to praise.
When it is good I am one of the first to speak up and clap you on the back.
I try to give support and encouragement.
I think that a good fair critique of the work can be balanced, and the artist is opened to the thoughts of another; they can possibly find a new way to look at their work.

Because of my background a lot of people come to me and they know I really will be honest.
I know they don't like sweet remarks like..
NICE WORK,
GREAT START,
OOOOOHHHH!!!!!
and that is all that is said.
No grounds or support to what they say, just being non committal is what I call it.
But the artist who asked for a critique or what you think is usually looking or searching for something more the platitudes.

But, should it be told to them, if you think the remarks will make them feel badly about their work?
or should it be told when after all it is only your opinion?
or should you just give them what they expect, easy praise;
because you value their friendship and being honest could jeopardize the relationship?
Haven't resolved this as yet.
But the other thing I know about me is I don't know when to shut up.