I think lack of time is the number one obstacle for people wanting to start creating again or wishing they were doing it more.

And it’s easy to see why–our speed-driven culture creates high expectations of how much we should get done and how fast we should be able to do it.

But if we could change our relationship with Time–find our true personal rhythms–then all kinds of possibilities open up.

That’s the premise behind  Slow Time: Recovering the Natural Rhythm of Life by Waverly Fitzgerald. I’m only on chapter 3 so far, but I’m really excited by what she talks about, and I think it’s a great resource for anyone who feels like time is out of their control.

Hurrying

One of the first things she asks you is to explore your own beliefs about Time–ideas you might not even realize you embrace because they feel so natural, you’re so used to them, that they just seem like “The Truth”.

Many of these ideas come not only from the culture, but from your particular family.

For instance, I always feel like I’m in a hurry. And I realized that a big belief I learned from my upbringing was that hurrying signified being serious about something.

Conversely, being slow signified being overly relaxed, too casual–not taking something seriously. Therefore, if I cared about something, I had to do it in a hurry or I wasn’t taking it seriously

Whew, let me tell you, that hurrying belief wears me out.

It’s also very difficult to actually hurry through learning new things (which I’m constantly doing), so I usually feel like I’m taking too long to do just about anything–which means I’m also feeling like I can’t measure up. More exhaustion.

But when I think about my notions about hurrying as a belief I have instead of just being the truth or the nature of things, well then I’ve got a fighting chance to stop that pattern and allow a new belief to take its place–one that still incorporates my values and the things I want for myself–such as being productive or doing good work.

Here’s a few new beliefs affirmations I’m playing with:

>When I take my time, I do better work.

>I accomplish more when I’m relaxed and present.

>I feel good, think well, and accomplish a lot when I take my time.

>I make better artwork when I pay attention, take my time, and let my understandings unfold naturally.

>I prefer to pay attention to what I’m doing without multi-tasking.

Creating a New Paradigm

Our beliefs about time are very tangled up with how we do everything in our lives–when I think about my hurrying belief, I see how it impacts everything I do–how I clean the dishes, how I drive, how I create.

When I interrupt my usual patterns and slow down, it’s a great feeling because I’m allowing myself more. When everything isn’t urgent, it helps me remember my priorities. And one of those priorities is my creativity.

It’s exciting to realize I have the opportunity to interrupt what isn’t working for me about how I experience Time and begin creating a new paradigm for myself, based on my own best nature.

Frankly, it’s just so nice to realize that I have a say in all that. That I don’t have to go through life feeling like there’s never enough time to do what I want.

That how I experience time is up to me.

And since my time is my life, this ain’t no small thing!

Your Time and Your Creativity

How about you? Do you know what your beliefs about Time are? How do they impact what you do and what you allow yourself? Please share in the comments–I’d love to hear.

As promised, today’s post is a mini review of The Armory Show, a big art to-do that happens every year in NYC.

As I mentioned in my Pulse post, I had a better time at the Pulse-NYC show than this one, but that’s because The Armory Show is a bit pretentious and I feel like the vagaries of the art market dominate the scene which can lead to cynical or trend driven art-world-insider type work at the expense of work created from listening to one’s individual voice or desire to create something deeply aesthetically pleasing or powerful.

But that said, I did see a lot of wonderful things and I thought I’d share a few of them here: (I’ll start with my favorites first).

I was actually blown away by this piece by H C Berg called Visual Vortex, and of course, I couldn’t take a decent picture of it.

I really loved how it glowed and was luminous–it’s hard to explain how it looked, but it’s a large curved piece of iridescent mylar  lit up somehow with laser cut acrylic shapes hanging in front of it that shimmered.

The image actually extended out a few feet in front of the piece itself–reflecting or projecting, I’m not sure. So it had this very modern, plastic film kind of feel to it, but it was all airy and ethereal at the same time:

And I loved this piece below made out of liquor bottle top foils (the metal bit at the top that you can peel off) by El Anatsui. His site is under construction, but if you want to see more of his work, click here and here. Here’s my photo from the show:

I’m a huge Magdelena Abakanowitz fan, so it was fun to see several of her large repeated sculptures as I haven’t seen too much of her work in person:

I quite liked these carved book sculptures below, but unfortunately, cannot read my handwriting to tell you the artist’s name. I just sent a note out to the group that I went to the show with–if I find out, I’ll amend this post later. In the meantime, here’s some pix:

I was struck by these small totemic wire sculptures made in the seventies by an artist called Philadelphia Wireman. I looked him up online and Wikipedia had an interesting story about him–a bunch of these sculptures were found in the street by an art student in 1982, and folks surmise that they were just thrown out after this unknown artist died. I really like them:

I thought this painting was beautiful and haunting (and it reminded me of Hendrik Kerstens‘ work. I also managed to not write this artist’s name down somehow either–when I find out, I’ll amend the post:

Glitter and sequins also had a presence at both Pulse and The Armory Show so I must admit I enjoyed that: Here’s a photo of a cluster of small sequin “paintings’ by Daniel Gonzalez (I liked these best) and next to it are a couple of cut paper and glitter collages by Devin Troy Strother:

And finally, when I opened my bag, I realized one of my pencils was stuck inside a folded piece of paper and had made its own drawing while I was walking around.

I quite liked the delicate line quality–who knew my pencil was such a sensitive arteest! (I call it Mixed Feelings at The Armory. Graphite on 28lb printer paper. )

Do you have any thoughts/opinions about any of the art shown here? Leave a comment, (thumbs up or thumbs down) I’d love to hear what you think!

This past week was all about the The Armory Show at the Piers in NYC. It’s a pretty famous show with lots of different offshoot exhibits all over town now, so I thought I’d find everyone some inspiration.

The only “offshoot” show I went to was downtown at Pulse NYC. I actually enjoyed it much more than main event, which I found kind of pretentious, but I always have lots of ambivalence about the art scene. The gallery  owners at Pulse were more open and welcoming and seemed truly excited by the artist’s works they were displaying.

The pulse show has more emerging artists in general. Overall, it was probably more uneven in quality than the Armory Show, but I liked the energy and genuine enthusiasm that I felt in the artwork I saw.

Here’s a few photos and thoughts below:

I thought this fur life preserver by Andy Yoder was an interesting political sendup about the economic downturn–especially in New York City, where the uber wealthy are more uber than other places:

I loved these woven rattan Buddha sculptures by Cambodia artist Sopheap Pich. Airy and open with a certain monumentality:

Megan Greene did some really lovely drawing/collages on top of pages of Audubon paintings from a book. Some people might think, “Oh, been there, done that” but I thought she really integrated her own skillful drawings wonderfully with the initial images, creating something fresh and well executed. She wasn’t really relying on the Audubon prints as much as carrying them somewhere else. My group picture doesn’t really do it justice. Check out her site for better photos.

I thought these mythic taxidermy creatures by Enrique Gomez de Molina were very cool, but some people around me were kind of grossed out. I guess I convinced myself he found the taxidermied pieces and then altered them with his own created bits, but really, I have no idea. They’re so imaginative and phantasmagorical to me and they have a lot of presence . Check out his site to see more and better images. (The walrus is covered in beetle wings!)

Laurent Craste had a wonderful piece that was a mix of video art and porcelain, but I couldn’t take a picture of it. He’s a porcelain artist, and most of his work (at this show anyway) is a commentary on decorative arts.

His piece that I really liked had a porcelain plate in a cabinet with a classic image of roses on it, but the image was digital, and he had the petals and leaves gradually fall off the decorative pattern to form a kind of heap at the bottom of the plate and then start over. Very witty, I thought–and well done video art, which I find kind of rare.

Here’s a few more of his porcelain commentaries:

Emil Lukas had a wrapped thread, piece that was positively luminous. Of course, my photo makes it look opaque and kind of awful, but it was really great and I wanted to include it here. I notice the other images of his work online don’t do much better either, so I think it’s kind of hard to photograph his work:

I liked these witty little paintings by Michael Dumontier and Neil Farber–from The Royal Art Lodge:

I really enjoyed Megan Whitmarsh‘s soft sculpture installation of her dream studio–it was very positive and actually kind of joyful. It really brought back memories of the soft sculpture rage in the 70′s:

So there was lots more that I liked, but I’m having a hard time deciphering my notes and my to-do list is a mile long this week! I’ll write about The Armory Show next with lots of pictures as well. Please share any thoughts you have about any of the art, I’d love to hear from you!

If you’ve got heavy feelings about your drawing skills, yearn to draw more (or more freely) or if you already draw well but feel like you’re in a rut, this book is a wonderful workbook and companion for freeing up your drawing–and maybe your soul a little bit while you’re at it.

Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within by Steven Aimone is one of the best how-to/inspiration books I’ve come across in a long time. I’ve been so jazzed doing the exercises, I had to rush here to the blog and tell you all about it.

Why I Love This Book

Steven Aimone provides fun, do-able exercises that are grounded in clear, helpful explanations about technique and the history of fine art.

All the explanations are also accompanied by images of works by renowned artists as well as his workshop students that support and reinforce each chapter’s focus. These art history lessons are refreshingly straightforward and a wonderful framework for the drawing exercises.

And even though his writing is clear, accessible and inclusive, he assumes his audience is deeply interested in fine art and making drawings in that context rather than treating non-objective/expressive drawing as mainly a therapeutic outlet for expressing your feelings (although he still acknowledges and embraces that additional benefit as a wonderful part of the process).

And besides all that–the exercises are FUN, FUN, FUN!

Diving In

After inspiring you with great images and clear explanations, he introduces the exercises.

I’ve done the first 2 so far–automatic drawing and what he calls “working with flux”–adding and subtracting from an automatic drawing. I had such a blast that I plan on working through all the exercises in the book, and I’ll keep you posted as I go.

I added a couple of my own elements to doing the exercises as well–5-10 minutes of Shiva Nata beforehand and listening to Sacred Sound Healing music during. (He’s got an awesome free download of his work here.)

Since both of these additions are supposed to shift patterns and and open up possibilities, I thought they seemed like perfect companions to the exercises, and so far, so good.

Automatic Drawing

So. Much. Fun.

And since, as the author says,  “you can’t do a good automatic drawing or a bad one, just a more or less satisfying one”, it’s easy to really let go and enjoy the process.

In my 2nd drawing, which you see here (and was done with paint), I used my left (non-dominant) hand, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed that. My marks were so different from ones I make with my right hand–like I was tapping into a different sensibility altogether.

They felt lighter and farther away from the logical/judging part of my brain.

He strongly suggests working on a 3′ x 4′ sheet of paper which really lets you use your whole arm/body and have more of a physical drawing experience than a “mental” one–really great for freeing up your drawing.

Asserting and Obliterating

The 2nd exercise added the element of removing marks–this time drawing with charcoal or conte crayon and removing with white paint.

Here’s a closeup on the left of my first effort. I used my non-dominant hand again because I enjoyed doing that so much in the first exercise.

Steven Aimone calls this drawing and erasing relationship “asserting and obliterating.” He says, “There are no mistakes, only things you put in and take out.”

He also says, “By engaging in the process of doing and undoing, you’ll create drawings automatically that speak metaphorically.” I like that.

He also says “…your drawings are a record of your touch, your movements, and your responsive interactions with the elements in your drawing. What a wonderful, liberating, and expressive way to work!” I couldn’t agree more.

Freed Up

These exercises have been both liberating and nourishing. I felt like I had given myself something so supportive and fulfilling–a treat from my soul to my soul. How often does that happen?

What’s really exciting to me though, is that the exercises in this book could really be a great way for super busy people (is that you?) to more easily do some creating after a long day of work because they’re so energizing and filling rather than depleting.

Or if you’re a morning person, it could be a great way to START your day–a way to give yourself an energizing, creative experience that’s like a cup of coffee for your spirit before you head out to work.

Can’t beat it with a stick.

Are you looking for something like this? Do you already do exercises like this or something else that works well? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

I then found myself in front of the graphic arts bookshelves (not usually my first spot) and started scanning the logo design books in front of me. I pulled out a book, but a different book came off the shelf at the same time and fell onto the floor with a loud thud. Startled, I hastily picked up the book to make sure it hadn’t been damaged, and fell in love with the cover. Gorgeous.

Since I basically think everything is a sign, I put down the generic logo book and picked up this wonderful book of the serigraphs by David Weidman and found a chair to check it out. A few minutes later, I was out the door, book in hand.

Inspiration

The Whimsical Work of David Weidman and Also Some Serious Ones is perfect bedside perusing for me at the moment. Chock filled with layered, playful, sophisticated images, it offers a visual feast and some great design lessons. I’m so crazy about this book, that I wanted to share it with you in case you wanted to pour over something wonderful in the evenings as well.

Almost all  of his work are serigraphs–silkscreen prints. Back in my twenties, I had a clothing line with a friend–I printed all the fabric using silkscreens and woodcuts and she sewed every piece.  (We went broke pretty fast because we didn’t charge enough for these hand done garments, and because we started off broke, but that’s another story!)

So needless to say, I’ve loved silk screen printing for a long time, even though it’s kind of gone by the wayside in this digital world. But maybe that’s why it feels so fresh.

Lessons in the Images

His work is such a great teacher–I love studying the composition, the layering, and how he builds wonderful characters from very simple expressive shapes.

I am also very inspired by the way he uses color as a graphic element, and how he bounces back and forth between really bold images/shapes, and lots of decorative detail to create a sumptuous surface and a wonderful narrative.

When I sit with the images each night, after I’ve drunk in their beauty, I begin to visually dissect them–why do I love this image so much? Why is it so successful? This both really increases my enjoyment of his work and is super useful for thinking about my own work, about what I’m trying to make/say/create.

I think his work speaks to me so much because I’m always trying to do what I think he does so successfully–move back and forth between the flatness of the surface and creating depth with color and layering.

I love the way he sometimes breaks up his pages into horizontal strips and creates a flat narrative that goes down the page–kind of echoing old woodcuts with his contemporary silkscreening. I keep thinking of the Marseilles Tarot Deck (love!) as well as medieval illuminated manuscripts.

I also really appreciate how he often creates images with negative space, and how it takes a while to figure that out. Nice.

And because he screen prints different images on top of each other, the multiple layers fill in the blank of the negative space to create interesting texture and depth. And of course, because he has such a great command of color, he makes it all look so easy.

He’s got a great site where you can buy prints and posters of his work. How fun to actually own one (of course my two favorites are no longer available! Ain’t that the way!) You can check it out here .

If you want to buy the book, you can buy it from Amazon here or maybe suggest that your library buy it!

Are You Inspired?

Have you been inspired by another artist/designer/craftsperson lately? If not, a fabulous book with lots of wonderful images that you find compelling could be the ticket to getting your juices flowing again, or maybe just flowing in a new direction.

And just slowing down and taking the time to study what someone else does right is really pleasurable and a great way to invest in your own creativity.

What are you reading lately–books, magazines? Whose work excites you? Leave a comment because we’d love to hear!

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I loved the felt show at the Cooper Hewitt–it was a great mix of art, design and craft. Here’s a  fun 30 second intro video from the museum to give you a glimpse of the variety of work on display (loved the “Swing Low” cradle by Ulrick Peterson shown at the end of the video):

Show Highlights

I really loved the show because it  was a great example of the sophisticated uses of felt old and new–it was my first chance, for instance, to see a traditional felted shepard’s cloak (a kepenek) up close–they are supposed to be unsurpassed for warmth and waterproof-ness (is that a word?) and I love how it’s such a simple, ancient garment/sleeping bag/personal tent combination.

I have a soft spot for the traditional felting techniques and loved the  traditional Uzbek carpet and an Afghani saddle pad on display, as well as simple graphic carpet of shibori dyed yellow and green circles on a red ground called Mosen–here’s a little image on the right.

A satisfying pile of felt rocks by Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen were also on display–they had a few in the touchy-feely section at the end of the show and it sure felt like there was a rock inside, but they are supposed to be wool all the way through.

Christine Birkle designed a wonderful outfit (manufactured by Hut Up, Germany–they have a great site of all their felt, definitely check it out) on exhibit that was a great blend of old and new–a contemporary method  of felting the wool with silk, linen, and cotton and constructing the garments without sewing–using a very traditional technique in a fashionable way.

My favorite piece in the show was simply called Felt Molding by Kathryn Walter–thick, sculptural, and substantial, it was a fresh, fun send-up of traditional decorative trim we see so much of in wood and plaster–especially in the Andrew Carnegie mansion building itself (the site of the Cooper-Hewitt museum), a gorgeous, over the top expression of Georgian style architecture. I was pleased to find out this was the artist’s intent. Here’s a link to their Felt Studio and other wonderful felt products they offer: http://www.feltstudio.com/

Felting Videos

The Cooper-Hewitt also offered 3 great videos that give you a wonderful overview of how felt is made–one of the traditional felt process, one of the contemporary artist who created the “Palace Yurt” installation that filled an entire gallery room, and one of the industrial felting process. All three processes are in current practice on the planet right now, which is also cool. I’ll be writing posts on how to felt at home which draw on the traditional techniques the most, but I’d kill for the cool “felting machine” that Janice Arnold has to make her giant installation pieces. At some point I’ll try to get my husband to help me make a mini version. In the meantime, enjoy the videos, they are really worth watching.

The Palace Yurt Felt Artist:

Traditional Felt Making in Mongolia

Industrial Machine Felting (A Felt Company from Canada)

The show is open until September 7, 2009, so if you’re reading this post before then, definitely make the effort to go. It’s worth the trip.

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