Parts of Art

       Once I spent a delightful afternoon visiting galleries in Asheville North Carolina. At one boutique gallery the owner told me about an artist whose whimsical sculptures I was enjoying. He said,  “She is an artist in her 80’s who has brought us her sculptures for several years. Her process is quite physical and labor intensive, requiring the help of younger assistants to lift the pieces in and out of the kiln and transport them to the gallery.”       When 2008 came along and its subsequent quashing of disposable income, she no longer could afford to pay her assistants. So what did she do? I don’t know, but somehow she figured out a way to continue to produce her work and bring it to the gallery. In fact, he told me with a smile, all she talks about when she brings in new work is “What she’s building next” and what her future pieces will be like. This woman is obviously persisting in spite of of her age, circumstances, the economy, or anyth...

      About a year ago I started keeping an illustrated journal. It’s just a simple watercolor pad sketch book, about $5 at the local art supply store. I love it because it’s watercolor paper and I can paint on it, draw with pencils,  markers, pen and ink, I can write, I can do mixed media collage, and then repeat. And the thing about keeping an illustrated journal is, it’s not for finished art to sell.  It’s really pretty private, just a place to start ideas. It’s not about showing it to people. It’s about having a place to record thoughts, plans projects, ideas, etc, and then illustrating them.     My winter morning routine involves going out to the studio, starting the fire in the wood stove, feeding the cats, and then opening my journal to a new page and giving it a fresh wash of watercolor.  It just gets the juices flowing, so to speak, to get some color on a plain page.       I don’t even like the a...