Summer Art Report

It's high summer, and those colors and shapes are just begging to be drawn and painted!

Peaches, mangoes, and Mexican ceramics. Pen and ink on paper, 6" x 9".

This has been a really busy summer for me, but not so much in the artwork department. We've been traveling, and hosting guests a fair amount; I'm serving on the search committee for the new music director at the cathedral, which is time-consuming; and then there's the combination of the extreme heat/humidity and the overheated political situation, which have made it hard for a lot of us to focus on creative work. However, I'm making an effort to get back into it, for therapy and solace as much as anything else. When I (re)turn to drawing or painting, I'm always reminded of why I do it, and have done it my whole life: because it is an all-absorbing meditative time, apart from daily thinking and concerns, that gives happiness. It's pretty simple.

 

Bonsai, Palestinian pillow and Knitting. Pen and ink on paper, 6" x 9".

 

Rhodian plate and succulent: after a dinner party. Pen and ink on paper, 6" x 9".

The drawings shown above were done at home, while this watercolor and cut-paper collage was a studio project, one day when I just felt like I had to put some color onto paper, without any prior idea. It's not meant to "be" anything. It started out like this:

and became this:

That particular day, I didn't really care how it came out - what this piece did was break a logjam where I felt like I couldn't make anything, because I was too depressed about the world. Since then, I've felt better, and am back to drawing often, even though I'm still too busy to paint. Sometimes the hardest part is just starting again.

A view of the studio with cat brush. Pen and ink on paper, 12" x 9".

 

Book press and Jade Ink bottle. Oil pastel on paper, 12" x 12".

Finally, this is an oil pastel I haven't posted here yet -- there's a problem with the colors; if I had used black or dark blue instead of brown and that ugly mauve, I'd be a lot happier with it. But there are things about this piece that I like, and learned from. It may prove to be a stepping-stone to future work.

It's been good to post these here and write about them: it shows me I haven't been as unproductive as I thought, and gets me thinking about where to go next. What about you? How are you doing this summer?

Comments

[Kristin Berkey-Abbott]

I love the photos of your work on top of the table linens--beautiful in so many ways.

[Andrea Murphy]

Nice, Beth. Seeing all kinds of things in the "logjam" piece--even an egg yolk. I love what the bits of collaged paper add to it.

[am]

Looking at your intricate drawings, I remember what a joy it is to draw what I see in front of me.

I'm using a similar brown in a 7-1/2 inch in diameter asymmetrical mandala I have almost completed using Faber Castell colored pencils and am at the point where it might be done, although my sense is that something about it is unresolved. I'll let it sit for a few days to see if it needs anything else.

Thank you for the art report.

[Peter]

Thank you for sharing some of the scenes you live in. It's reassuring to see clutter, even if it is artistic clutter!

[Jean]

So lovely - I love the mixture and immediacy of your art in different media and background objects and fabrics! And I really like the oil pastel, actually, with the strong shapes and the unusual foreground colours.

[Natalie]

Can't find the cat in the studio....Oh you mean cat brush! Lovely drawing. I love the watercolours too.

[Duchesse]

Summer is so expansive here, like a jewel box opening, and I have enjoyed receiving many visitors. I decided to slow down this summer, spend limited time online (for both psychological and sybaritic reasons) and enjoy the season.

The peek at your oil pastel is exciting!

[Roderick Robinson]

About 0.0001% of my life has been devoted to the plastic arts: looking, doing and commissioning. Very early on I discovered I had no instinctive ability for colour and that seemed an unteachable defect. I preferred pencil and pen. What I really liked was wrestling with perspective which is OK but seems closer to bricolage than to Brueghel. I can live with that.

But you can sing (I've heard you) and you can do all this. I particularly envy those transparent (it's the only adjective) drawings which give the impression that they are fashioned with a single line and an ineradicable sense of direction. Does having two such well-developed talents end up as a tug-of-war within: while doing the one is there a furtive desire to be doing the other? Do you hum RVW meditatively as you sketch - less likely I suspect when you're laying down oils? Does one art inform the other? I have recently recorded what is very much a WIP version of An Evening Hymn and discovered an uncertain sense of structure. Would drawing it help? What I am good at is playing the dilettante.