Work-in-progress: Looking forward, looking back

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have noticed an evolution going on...

.. two collage portraits in progress.

The Janus faces I've been working on are inspired by one of my great-grandfathers. The family story is that Taylor escaped the person who owned him (either in Virginia or Kentucky). Near the end of the Civil War, pension records show he became a private, then a sergeant in the United States Colored Troops (later known as the Buffalo Soldiers). But the records indicate it wasn't until after the war that Taylor was seriously injured.

His doctor filled out the above diagram, with pointer fingers to show where Taylor was shot three times: once in the neck, once in the shoulder, and once in the hip near the groin. (P.S. That's a fig leaf in the diagram.) He lived with those half-treated wounds for years, searching for relief while trying to support nine children as a farmer or farm hand.

I'll tell you more of the story behind the gunshot wounds tomorrow... I promise...

Making more art: get on with it already

I thought a lot about this quote recently:

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.
-- Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh, Self-Portrait (1889), via Wikimedia Commons

I've had a really hard time silencing that voice for the past three months, even while the rest of me kept thinking of new art to make. Instead of working, however, I've been wasting time -- yeah, I said it -- worrying. Fretting about the right venue in which to sell my art, and how to find collectors who will connect with what I do.

 Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.

-- Andy Warhol

Here's how I got over myself and started making again:

• I chose to start working toward an exhibit deadline I know I can meet.
• I painted while I let The Boy and TwoBoo watch TV. 
• When the kids got bored, I told them, "find something to do that doesn't involve a screen." I then ignored the whining that followed. 

They found something to do.

Sometimes I do look for something creative for them to do alongside me, but not always. They can make their own magic. I can make my own, too. And yet I'm still forgetting and relearning this lesson, so clearly I have some work to do.

Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.
-- Chuck Close

Do you have a prompt/trick/method to help you get to work? Tell me in the comments or on Facebook.

New art: unconditional love for Valentine's Day

I've gotten to the point where giving a Valentine's Day gift feels better than receiving one. Not that I'll return the hand-crafted chocolate truffles you might send! but I'm grateful for the unconditional, quirky love I've been given.

When I met The Husband, I was a TV reporter and he was a photo editor for a popular film and TV site. And then I went and became an artist. 

In spite of the career changes, the Great Recession and the hell-raising child-raising, The Husband has proven over and over what I once told his mother: "He trusts me to be wonderful." 

So this altered book, "It's Complicated," is a valentine: both to whomever falls in love with it on Etsy, and to The Husband for not running for the hills when he discovered all my creaky bits and glued-together parts.

From my Pinterest board "Wish I'd Said That"

Before I met my husband, though, my father was the one who helped me believe in myself. 

This is the the guy who sent me chocolate and flowers on Valentine's Day during the MANY years I was unencumbered by Valentine's Day presents from anyone else. 

I see this image and think of him: the memory of my dad's face lighting up when I came to visit, and the warmth of his smile.

So for all the gift-givers who make Valentine's Day a genuine chance to express love, here's another altered book: "Daddy Loves Me." I know, probably should've kept this one under wraps until Father's Day. But I think unconditional love should be celebrated whenever possible.