Deadlines!

Brooke, me and one of my paintings!

I have just returned from the UK after spending 7 days with my granddaughter, daughter and husband. I so enjoyed getting to know Brooke and felt quite a jolt when her little face lit up whenever I walked into the room. I spent as much time feeding, changing, cuddling, entertaining and playing with this sweet little girl without completely taking over! Ohhhh, it is so tough to be living half way across the world!

On my return, I realised the clock is ticking, my next show is in seven days and three paintings are waiting to be finished. I hate deadlines, I am painting like mad and will probably not finish these paintings in time. This is not how I like to paint. These paintings have been on the go for the last three months and still have a distance to go.

It got me thinking about how some situations like this can cut off the connection with creativity.

How often do we think as we view our canvas or paper, armed with a loaded brush,
“Hopefully this will be my masterpiece”?

This thought can destroy the essence of creativity and has to be left at the doorway of the studio if one wants to be experimental in any way. If you have the thought that this painting has to work, you have spent good money on this canvas and you need a good painting for the next show, you are not going to take any risks and try out something new.

It’s almost as if you need to give yourself permission to spend your very valuable painting time just playing with the paint. I think of the days spent painting those layers of paint that are now mostly obliterated with subsequent layers, a little voice niggles away at me,
“Am I wasting my time and paint here?”

The one thing I have to keep telling myself is that eventually the painting will feel complete. I have to develop patience and allow the image to emerge and forget the deadlines!

A Mandala

There is something very therapeutic about creating a Mandala. This one is about 66cm in diameter and done using various pencils on a board.

I drew this just after I turned 50. I incorporated the Picasso, “Woman Dressing her Hair”, I really identify with how her body seems to be all over the place and the parts not quite fitting the whole.

Next to her is Vincent’s empty room at the Saint-Paul hospital at Saint-Remy with his cloud swirls and cypress trees overlapping. His crows fly on the other side of the woman.

I liked the image of the baby hands holding on to some aging hands, I think this was torn from a magazine and copied. Children are peeking through the cracks next to the empty room.

The watch signifies the march of time, with the watch strap becoming the arms of a sea-anemone and the pattern is repeated on the side, I think they are trying to hold onto everything familiar.

A woman’s face is fragmenting in the changes occurring in her world.

A cloud woman hovers over an imaginary landscape representing creativity and intuition.


Kim is posting an interview with me on 28th January, so please pop over to her blog on Wednesday!

The Flower Seller

I created this painting using watercolour, inks and collage a while ago and it has been hanging in my bathroom, framed and behind glass. I often look at it and wish there didn't have to be glass; something about the glass just kills it. I love working on paper, starting with watercolour and then adding various other media as I progress, but dislike having to frame the work behind glass.

Ellis Cooke describes in a recent post how she pastes the paper onto canvas and then seals it with medium, oh wow! Thanks Ellis! I am going to try this method with this piece and then progress onto some large works when I get the hang of it.

I just thought I would mention an interesting relationship that has developed between my creativity and physical workouts. I was diagnosed a few years ago with Osteopenia, (the precursor to Osteoporosis) where I have a moderate wasting of bone in my spine. I was advised to do regular weight-bearing exercises to build up muscle which helps maintain healthy bones. I am embarrassed to say I have never been keen on sport or exercise, I’d much rather be painting. I decided to give it a go and after the initial effort to get to a certain level of fitness, I now enjoy my hour-long sessions at the gym every second day. I feel this rush of Endorphins (the feel-good hormones) about half-way through my regime and then I am away in my mind, thinking about my painting and writing. I come up with many creative solutions while lifting weights! I also feel fitter and younger now than I did in my forties and have far more energy to explore my creative projects. My physical and mental well being has been greatly improved by these workouts, so I can highly recommend getting physical.

Mr Mugabe’s information minister is now blaming the UK for introducing Cholera as a genocidal tactic to overthrow the Zimbabwe government and people!

Creativity and Self-discipline

You must be wondering how I can link the above two concepts? I have found that if I am to live my life creatively, I have to have some sort of self-discipline. In order to work on my creative projects every day, I have to organise my time and show up in the studio, even if I am not feeling particularly creative.
Although I love painting with a passion, I can be very easily distracted, since having no immediate boss to take note of how much time I spend at the coal-face, a million other things can come between me and my work.
I need to plan my day carefully if I am to get a good bit of painting done. The other distractions come from phone-calls with friends and a husband who also works from home and is a great one for taking a break and having chats over regular cups of tea.

Below are two interesting quotes:-

“Self-discipline without talent can often achieve astounding results, whereas talent without self-discipline inevitably dooms itself to failure”.
Sydney Harris (newspaper columnist)

“I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, obsession and dogged endurance combined with self criticism have brought me my ideas”.
Albert Einstein

I am participating in an exhibition at Kirstenbosch, our National Botanical Gardens, from Saturday for a week, so wish me luck!
Due to the current economic climate, I am not sure if the sales will be any good. A painting is a luxury purchase and everyone is being careful in these uncertain times.

I have a lovely new concept for my art journal, I now print out all the wonderful comments left on my blog and paste them in my journal next to the relevant entry.