Self Portrait Friday

I can not believe another Friday has rolled around and that I am posting again a picture of myself for Self Portrait Friday. This is a picture of a happy woman; one who delights in her family, friends and career. A woman that is wise yet still learning, a woman who has everything she needs within yet with the ability to choose what to add into her life to make it fuller. She has learned that life is short, sweet and short and that days are definitely numbered. A lesson brought home this very day as a friend and fellow business woman worries her cancer has returned. If I am to live in happiness the days I am allotted on this earth then I must accept what life presents to me and enfold it in my heart. i will pray for my friend and pray a thanks for all that I have been blessed with. Life is short, enjoy, enjoy and say good by to the ones who would try to take that joy from you. With many blessings to share - Lois

Creativity

A woman that has broken a long time friendship over issues of creativity and copying another's work quoted Picasso as saying that all good artists steal from other artists. Picasso has long been one of my favorite artists, indeed his use of dimension and viewpoints in his paintings gave me a freedom in my own work that I had not known before. To this very day GUERNICA can bring tears to my eyes and its' strength, savagery and images can make me fall to my knees with emotion.

Is it stealing to remake another's work? To use the same forms, texture and materials in the same combination of the original work that you viewed? Rather than " steal " I think a true artist needs to interpret another artist's work. If you learn something in a class or an experience with another and you reinvent that lesson in new form or new idea, stealing ( a word which I hate to have used in the context of art or craft ) moves beyond mere imitation into your own creative realm and if the teacher has inspired the student to do just this; is that not a successful relationship both among the creative parts and in the presentation of new work? Where in this does ego fit in? The teacher who has taught the student will release their ego and their ownership of technique to the student who then creates new work and sends it out to the universe with new ego attached.

We, as artists should not hide behind accusations of copying or stealing or adulterating another's work but rush ahead into new areas of exploration. Ego will survive, friendships will survive and the world will be richer for the new work created in this release of instruction and learning.

Busy Girl!

Creativity is to my day what breathing is to my body!
New charm design masters are done and heading to the casters tomorrow. In sterling I will have new birds and crows and in pewter, I will have new heart shapes. I am excited about all the new designs and since I have been doing so much drawing lately, I just have the best feeling that even more designs will be in the pipeline!

Today was a beautiful day here in the northwest in a way that only this area can seem to be. It was not cold, not warm, not windy, not rainy, not sunny. It was a beautiful shade of light purple gray and the flowering plants in my yard gave the light and color the day needed. I love unpredictable spring but I confess, I am really wanting to hit the road and end up in New Mexico or Arizona. I want to sit in the dessert and think, be quiet and recharge.

Self Portrait Friday

When I pulled this picture up on the computer, Jacob was standing by and watching me. He looked at this picture and the others I had taken and said two things, " you need to get someone else to take pictures of you " and your hair is so light that you look like a blonde ". I just had to laugh at both comments and then really take a closer look at the pictures. He is right of course, that as hard as I am on myself, I am even harder when I take pictures of myself. I am surprised to see myself aging and aged. In my mind, I am much younger and everyone around me has changed but I remain the same as I looked in 1974! Jacob is right about the hair. I look at the picture and see the gray, he sees something mightily different, a blonde me. I always wanted gray hair. Indeed, I looked forward to gray hair when I was a kid and what is the first thing I did as I began to turn gray? Fall to societal pressures and color my hair!

If I have learned or rather am in the process of learning anything about myself, it is acceptance of the gray. Not all aging, just the gray!

Sweet Few Days

It has been a few very creative days in the studio earlier this week. I moved from painting, to resin work, to jewelry making to charm making. I feel energetic, creative, things were just moving along nicely and I felt for a brief moment that yes, I was living the artist's life!

I am struggling to stay awake so for tonight I am saying, sweet dreams!

Chickens

Yup. I like chickens. I have drawn them and immortalized them in my silver work. I have inked ( non toxic ) and printed their walking feet. I like their feathers, the noise they make, really it is a conversation, and with a last name like VenarCHICK; how can I help myself!? Happy Tuesday!

Self Portrait Friday

This is once again Self Portrait Friday and this week's piece is again a drawing. The exaggeration of features in this quick drawing of myself represents what I see first when I see me. Eyes, glasses, mouth, teeth. Is it me? Or is it me as the pen and paper see me? This is an interesting exploration of self. I am beginning to like the self portrait exercise!



I find I am really looking forward to these self portraits and think that they are causing me to have an acceptance of myself, an appreciation for my days and rewarding myself with some degree of kindness. MAybe we all are too hard on ourselves.