Beginning a New Year

"La Ventana (2011)" is my first work in oil in several decades.

I celebrated my birthday recently and it seemed appropriate that I had also completed an oil painting I started awhile ago. It is view out of the window of my casa to the slopes beyond. In the blog, "On Being An Artist," I published the start of the piece and while I took pictures along the way, I never really knew when it would be done as I struggled to find my way from mid-point to the end.

In a way, The Painting, the first oil I have done in ages, is a metaphor for my life, except that I hope that mine isn't done yet! But the mid-way struggle is not unlike what we go through in the 40's and 50's trying to find the right balance of color and shape in our lives. Then as we arrive at the 60's we find a certain level of acceptance of limitations based on our experiences, health and desires, and we move on, using what we have to the best of our ability.

I am calling it "The Window" or "La Ventana" and now my next challenge is what will I paint next? Will it be "The Door?"

Last year I took this photo of a friend at her finca. Before I decided to return to oil painting, I used PhotoShop. I have worked some other photos in a similar way and actually have liked the results more than the sharp image I started with. If I could find a reasonable place to print them on canvas, I might try some them in that format as well.

So, it's a new year and I'm exploring...

I "PhotoShopped" this shot to make it a softer focus and
to eliminate the distractions of the greenery so that she
was truly the center of attention.

Happy Bird-Day to my art teacher!

These Red and Blue Macaws live a free life in San Gil.

Recently I went on an 'art date,' something that is more or less required if you are doing The Artist's Way (TAW), a 12-week program to heal the artist within - and probably without as well. Anyhow, I had to pay the rent on my casa which requires me to go to San Gil, a city that is about 25 minutes away. I intended to catch the bus, but just as I was about to buy my ticket I realized I didn't have the bank account number where the funds are to be deposited. I would have to walk home and get it.

The walk is only about 15 minutes, but it also would mean that I would miss the bus to get me to the bank on time. Hence, the decision to take my car. And if I was going to take my car, I would probably be doing it a favor to get it washed since that hasn't happened all the time I've been here and it is loaded down with mud. Getting it washed is about a two-hour process. So I decided to have lunch in the Parque Gallinera in San Gil and much to my surprise, they had two gorgeous macaws - one blue and one red - perched in the tree next to my table. So you see the series of actions which brought me to the park and these special birds.

After lunch and the car wash I needed to get some gas, so I went to the least expensive place (still nearly $5 USD) and after the shock of paying that much for gas, I really needed a two-scooper of Dota's delicious coffee ice cream - the absolute best in Colombia as far as I'm concerned. They also have several other delectable flavors, but I didn't have room for two more scoops of anything!

It could be my imagination, but the car seemed lighter and smoother and zippier with the fresh cleaning and a full tank of gas. Thus my quick trip to San Gil turned into an adventure that by myself could have been lonely, but wasn't. And I have these lovely bird shots to use for my next art project and to give to my art teacher who had a birthday recently ... Feliz complianos, mi amiga!

On BEING an artist

One thing I have learned from The Artist’s Way, referred to by those of us who are actively following that path as TAW, is that BEING an artist is given to everyone. It is a gift from the Creator, but not everyone wishes to unwrap the package and find out what is inside.

I have been a risk-taker most of my life. I have fallen in love, been married, had children (a huge risk, in my opinion), traveled to many places, been active in various sports and learned new languages. Many of my friends have given me nicknames to show their appreciation/awe/fear/jealousy of my adventures. More than once I have heard someone say, “I wish I could do what you are doing....”

Anibal Moreno, an artist from Bogota, reminds me how
to stretch the canvas in preparation for putting my sketch
on it and making it into an oil painting. Anibal is also
my neighbor, living in the cottage on the property.

So it is with being creative and being an artist. It is about DOING it. It has nothing to do with whether one is gifted enough to be entitled to a particular creative act... because it is not enough to have the gift if the package is never opened.

There are a number of acquaintances I have made through MM and what a vibrant and creative bunch they all are! One has come up with a way to motivate people to raise funds and awareness about MM, another sends out endearing handmade ‘buddies,’ many know of the sensitive poetry that Susie has produced and made into a book, "A Power Within - Poems of Love," while others are sewing and knitting dervishes or advertising executives or pianists or playing the saxophone and so it goes. 

How can I be less creative when I have such shining examples before me? I am not sure if it was the threat of MM so close in my family that made me decide to take yet another leap into a new culture and to really focus my creative energies. But here I am, and here’s what I did this week: made cookies with local ingredients, had a ceramics class, got some oil painting instruction, had a Gestault session to free up my art spirit, wrote a poem in Spanish, went to a new theatre group gathering and took some more photographs. Oh, and discussed plans for the local chorus group to be re-activated.

This is the preliminary work. I think I will call it just
"Window," or in Spanish, "Ventana."

Being retired has its benefits, but there are pockets of time for any individual who wants to take the risk to open the package. Kids just naturally want to rip open the box to find out what is inside and try playing with it. When we ‘get more mature,’ we forget about how to play. I guess I’m just too curious and too willing to try something new... except for jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, BK! I may have to get a little bit older before I want to try that.

The bowl on the left was my first one and I have since
removed some of the fingerprints on the one to the
right. Today I dipped them in colors! The ladies here
are also taking the class, but are much more advanced.

I recently wrote on a website for artists’ that fear is the biggest obstacle to success and being afraid to dream of success means one doesn’t dare have hope of overcoming the fear. Margaret recently wrote about the need for cancer patients to have hope...(scroll down the link to that title.) and my friend BK has written about hope as well. It is essential for life. And being creative is part of the energy that makes life worth living... for whatever time we have left, because no one knows when the Green Door will open for them.