I am out of the studio September 30th to October 27, 2015. If you contact me during that time, please be patient, I will respond upon my return.

How crazy we’ve become. How many of us move automatically through our days - heads down, blinders on, eyes glued to the game plan?  Like zombies we’ve become lost in the details of our lives and overwhelmed by an ever-growing list of obligations.  

Why this habit?  What’s our reward?  Is it me, or does that reward feel elusive (or vaguely unsatisfying)?  Why do we continue to spin our wheels?  And why so quickly?

I’m guilty.  I once prided myself on my multi-tasking skills.  I raced from one event to the next, made a game out of squeezing many things into narrow time slots, and felt satisfied mostly when I was able to cross a number of items off my list.  (Ok so I still do it, but not as much as before!)

Awhile ago, I made the conscious decision to slow down.  Of course, this was only after my third auto accident, all of which resulted from my being in such a hurry.  The one that finally got my attention happened because I felt I could not wait 2 minutes for the green light in the left-turn lane.  (Yup, thought I’d just zip over one lane to go another route and did, straight into a car that was already moving in that lane.)

Slowing down brought some self-awareness.  How tense I had become in order to maintain the harried pace.  After changing my mind set, my shoulders released and my neck didn’t ache as before.  It seemed I’d acquired more space in my mid-section; I felt my body breathe.  I started fully engaging in what I was actually doing instead of thinking about the next item on the list.  My body is much happier now.

I am totally Type A and self-employed to boot, meaning I have no set schedule and the “shoulds” chatter in my head like paisley thoughts - which can make me grumpy.  (Ask my boyfriend.)  Recently, said boyfriend offered to come into town from the North Shore and treat me to a day of my choosing.  I’m used to filling my day with a long list of to-dos.  So, what did I want to do?  Instaneous panic with the usual fear-thoughts such as:  How can I make the most of this opportunity?  Will I lose out on the best ever thing to happen if I choose A over B?  

Regretfully, this is normal thinking for me.  Does it sound familiar to you?

To continue:  I decided to go to the Honolulu Museum of Art to take in two shows - Rodin and the Artists of Hawaii.  We had the Best! Day! Ever! (written on the perfect card Forrest found and sent to me afterward - he’s so wonderful).  We made crude quick sketches of some of the statues, looked deep and long at the local artist show and had a delightful time at lunch making jokes and cracking each other up over silly unimportant things. 

Only later did I realize that there was nothing either silly or unimportant about that day.  It was refreshing.  It was rejuvenating.  It was perfection.  And it was the result of nothing more momentous than enjoying each bit as it unfolded.

That euphoric feeling, as if I’d accomplished something of value, lasted a couple days longer.  Then life demanded my attention and it dissipated.  However, I’ve found that I can re-create that good feeling simply by thinking about that day.  An added bonus is that I get quite a bit of stuff done when I’m feeling good. 

I encourage you all to do the same - go have some crazy fun!

Ahhhh…

Judy

“Most of American life is driving somewhere and then driving back wondering why the hell you went.”  John Updike, quoted in the Daily Telegraph (U.K.)

Hi guys!  Thought you might be interested in how the whole watercolor creative process works…well, how I’m doing it right now, at least.  As with anything, there does not seem to be a straight path; there are always options and detours, flat out dead ends, and, of course, a willingness to forge ahead.  The process in a nutshell?  Do something, look at it, decide what’s next, repeat.  Here’s a blow by blow description of my latest painting:

1.  The First Color Wash: Right now all I’m doing is letting my eyes roam freely around the painting and looking for suggestions or directions from the shapes and colors left by the first color wash.  It may take days, even months, or a new set of eyes (Galaxia simmered 9 months and it was my sister Jean who first saw what was in there!)

2.  First Sketch: Considering options.  A lot of drawing and erasing goes on here, testing ideas and letting it rest.

3.  Starting In: Thought I’d do geometrically patterned hair strands and sketched in guide lines.  Playing with draping of the robe and sleeve openings.  At this point, both hands hold her robe.

4.  Moving Ahead: Blocked in her face a little, started to reinforce hair strands in shadowy areas only as I’m now leaning towards less hair strand delineation, not geometric patterning, and don’t want to do too much until I’m sure.  Flowing lines down front of robe at this point are sashes.

5.  Yeesh, Just DO Something: Ok, now what?  Days passed and finally I told myself to just start somewhere and paint.  I outlined the collars and started shading and painted contrasting sleeve linings for visual interest.  Notice I also nixed her right hand hold of the robe.

6.  OMG Will You Just DO Something?!: Again, many days passed as I fretted over how to proceed and not goof things up.  So I took a huge breath and applied a you-can’t-turn-back-now shade of red on the front of her robe to create another layer of interest.  The sashes now became the hem of the outer robe and I followed the curvy lines from the first wash to create interesting folds and swirls.

7.  Needs Shading: Started adding movement with darker shading on both the under and outer robe. More hair strand work and bravely painted in the face at my sister’s request. The painting could have gone south here if the face didn’t work out which is why you should always do the hardest bits first…learn from me. 

8.  Finished Product: Darkening of hair strand detail, more shading of under robe and also in outer robe to create more folds for interest.  Also added more red lining color and folds on the outer robe on the left side of the painting for the same reason.  

9.  Close-Up: Detail of her face.  That, too, morphed as the painting progressed!

Voila!  See how easy that was?  Now, gang, the only issue remaining - what to call her?  I’ve got a few ideas but…any suggestions?

FYI, I’ll be out of the studio for the month of October so please know that if you leave your comments or suggestions, I shall reply as soon as I can.  

Thanks, and have fun!

Judy