Notes from The Bell Jar..

"Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known?"

~William Shakespeare

I hope that your May has been fabulous, that you have created work that means a lot to you, loved your friends and family more than ever and maintained good health :)

Some very exciting things have been happening around the studio lately!

First of all, I am going to hold off posting new paintings for my solo exhibition in November until the show arrives...it's all about the surprise! That is why there is only a little section of the above painting visible. I will post the paintings as soon as possible. You can contact Abbozzo Gallery at any time to see the paintings. Some pieces have pre-sold already!

The body of work for this exhibition is developing steadily and has been growing over the past year and a half. It is another very personal body of work. I can hardly wait to share it with you:)

My painting "Clothesline" is featured on the cover of a book being published in the Netherlands. It is a theological book dealing with the relationship of the everyday with the sacred. The publishers thought that my painting looked like Tibetan prayer flags flapping in the wind. I was touched that they wanted it for their cover. Apparently the title for the book is "Alledaags en buitengewoon: Spiritualiteit in vrouwendomeinen" which means, roughly, "Ordinary and Extraordinary: Spirituality In Women's Domains". 

Speaking of book covers, my painting "David's Studio, Sunset" will be on the cover of a new e-book "Sonnets From The Labrador" by esteemed poet Samuel Peralta. "Sonnets From The Labrador" is poetry that Samuel wrote based on his response to the incredible artwork of David Blackwood. You will be able to acquire the e-book on Amazon. I will post details about this as they develop. Please check out his blog. His poetry makes my heart ache with its sensitivity, lyricism and beauty. I am honoured to have my work on this cover...

The cover of "Sonnets From The Labrador" 

Big news! Parks Canada Newfoundland has accepted my painting "Bonnie, Gros Morne" for donation.  The painting will reside in Gros Morne National Park. I will let you know exactly where when I find out. I am elated to know that my art will be in that magnificent park!

"Bonnie, Gros Morne"...on its way to Newfoundland! 

Finally, my little painting "Self-Portrait, After", oil on panel, 8"x10", will be in the Ontario Society Of Artists upcoming exhibition "The Ontario Society Of Artists Celebrates 140 Years". This exhibition will be held at the Aurora Cultural Centre and run through to July 14th. The OSA is the oldest art society in Canada and I am proud to be an active member of the society. The opening reception is from 1-4pm. I hope to see you there!

Thanks for reading! I appreciate it. I also have a newsletter sign up form on my website now. Simply visit HeatherHorton.com and add your info to the newsletter sign up. I will send out periodic updates regarding shows and exhibitions. Thanks for signing up if you do!

Have a beautiful day from Sasha and I here in The Bell Jar to you!

"The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart."~Buddha

Bowling Green, WKU and new friends...

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two weeks ago I returned from Bowling Green, Kentucky, where I was lecturing, exhibiting and critiquing students' artwork at Western Kentucky University.

This adventure came about when Ebony, art student from WKU found my paintings online . We began a dialogue and through our Twitter and email correspondence we developed a plan to have me travel to Kentucky and engage with the students and faculty. Last month it came to fruition and away I sped in my car full of paintings to western Kentucky.

I left early at 6am. My GPS told me that Detroit was the best crossing. Other than a brief fiasco at the border with routes and tolls and temporary export permits for my paintings, I was off and running. The entire 900km journey took me 12 hours with rest stops included. I headed directly south through Michigan, and drove across the entirety of Ohio. This brings me up to 36 states visited, and 8 Canadian provinces. I'm working on visiting all of them. Eastern Kentucky was quite attractive, with its rolling hills and lack of any great industrialization. I had eleven paintings neatly stacked and packed in the back of my Subaru, they were covered with a sheet to protect them and lots of bubble wrap and foam core to keep them from jostling about too much.

Shortly after my arrival I met with my new friend Ebony, a talented painter and the catalyst behind my visit to Kentucky and the university. She, her brother, her friend Jesse and myself went to Mammoth Cave National Park. If you haven't been here, you must visit. Not only can you hike and explore the park above ground but you can tour some of the over 300 explored miles of underground caverns that make this National Park a true wonder. It reminded me a bit of the movie The Descent. Fortunately our fate didn't end up like the characters' in the film :)

Some of the cave formations can be seen here. I found the undulations of limestone and rock to resemble gills of mushrooms and waves of kelp floating in the ocean. At one point our tour guide even turned off all of the ambient light in the cave and lit a match to show us how completely and utterly pitch black it can get. You can see the tiny flame below...

For a claustrophobe like myself, it really tested the limits of my sanity but the payoff was knowing I could be trapped in a labyrinth of caves with tonnes of strangers and survive :)

Monday morning and through the rest of the week was spent primarily at the university. I was assigned my own little parking space, which was pretty cool.

It was wonderful to meet all of the students in the three levels of art classes and find out what makes them tick, find out why they love to paint and where they see their art going from this point onward. I realized in my time at WKU that to be a small cog in the wheel of the teaching of art is immensely rewarding. Teachers are students too, and I came away from the week learning a lot from these young, talented and self-directed folks. They were mixing paint in interesting ways, asking for my assistance sometimes to help mix flesh tones and simply sharing their philosophies about their work. We need to be excited about something to put our best into it. We need to want to learn about a subject or a theme in order to put that energy and excitement into our interpretation of it.

My exhibition up in the Cube Gallery at WKU. 

Some QR codes were printed on the little tags next to the paintings, leading

 viewers to the associated back story to the painting on this blog.

On the night of my lecture I was, not surprisingly, very nervous. However, having spent time with many of the students and faculty earlier in the week, I was happy to see not only faces but friends in the audience...it made speaking a lot easier. Then again, as I've mentioned before, speaking about what you love rarely leaves you at a loss for words. I talked about my background as a painter, education,  solo exhibitions, representation with Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville and also mentioned technical elements of the work, along with slides of paintings in progress to show how pieces develop. There were some great questions during the Q and A phase of the lecture. I can really see how art instructors and teachers love what they do...to have enthusiasm and keen students to offer thoughts and advice to is very rewarding!

Trying not to sound or look too nervous during my presentation :) 

I have to extend a huge thank-you to everyone who made the Kentucky and WKU adventure possible. It was a very enriching experience and I am hoping to travel to do more speaking engagements at other schools and universities in the future. Please drop me a line if you are interested in having me speak at your school.

Thanks to Yvonne, Kristina, Brent, Vicky, Jesse, Wesley, Katie, Alex, et al, and most of all Ebony for making WKU a truly unforgettable experience :)

Now I am back in Ontario and working steadily towards my solo exhibition this November at Abbozzo Gallery. I do hope to see you there as I feel it will be a terrific show!

If you have not checked out my new website please do so. I am adding sold paintings to it all the time so it is still in progress, but you can now see the site on your mobile devices, which is an improvement!

Be well, live and love fiercely and keep painting!

Heather

A great little card on the office door of Yvonne Petkus, a talented 

painter and instructor at WKU.

https://twitter.com/#!/Heather_Horton

Courageous Liquid: Bellwoods Brewery Opens In Toronto.

Bellwoods Common. An American Style Pale Ale,

one of the amazing beers by Bellwoods Brewery

"He was a wise man who invented beer."-Plato

Usually I blog about art or my travels. Now it is time to blog about another love of mine: craft beer. 

I really started to enjoy craft beer a couple of years ago. The idea that all beer was definitely not created equal, and that some were well into the definition of 'sublime' intrigued me. But I won't get into a huge rant over the nastiness of macro beer versus the deliciousness of micro brewed ales here. Instead I want to share the good news that finally, good craft beer has arrived in Ontario.

I like supporting local breweries, and I do. I must say that U.S. microbreweries really have it going on, but Ontario has been steadily gaining momentum in the world of quality craft beer as well. And it's a good thing, because the LCBO puts a stranglehold on any craft brewery from the United States trying to introduce their products into Ontario. The have virtually hermetically sealed the door on quality beer crossing the border...including Provincial borders. It is draconian and frustrating. For example, you can purchase divine beers from Brewery Ommegang (located in Cooperstown, NY, just across Lake Ontario) in Alberta, but not Ontario. Yes, well, I'm starting to rant here so I'll stop and get to the point.

Now I love Flying Monkeys and Beau's All Natural craftbeer. I also adore what I have had from Railway City, Muskoka Brewery and some from Great Lakes (the Canadian one). However, I was completely blown away by the beer I sampled this past weekend at Bellwoods Brewery, a brand spanking new microbrewery in downtown Toronto. 

A few months ago myself and about one hundred other beer devotees were selected from hundreds to be taste testers for the new beer being developed by Bellwoods Brewery. We wrote in, submitted our names, ages, genders, and a little poem, artwork, or some other creative element, along with our top three favourite beers and why we loved them. I practically submitted an essay and to my delight was chosen as a taste tester. I waited anxiously as the weeks passed by to hear when we could go and sample their crafty brews. I followed their website showing installation of all of their brewing equipment, and could monitor their progress. Finally, the email came describing our specific tasting time, and off I went to Toronto last Sunday to sample their wares.

Arriving at Union Station in Downtown Toronto

I had been in touch with Mike and Luke, business partners who had formed Bellwoods. We emailed back and forth about our favourite styles of beer and I could tell these guys knew what they liked, and presumed they probably knew how to make what they liked. They do, and then some.

Walking up to the hand-written sign proclaiming "Private Event" on the door of 124 Ossington, I had a surge of excitement to know I could walk in to said event...that my taste buds were expected. Mike welcomed me in and showed me around. I was immediately struck with how close all of their brewing equipment was to where patrons sit and enjoy their beverages. It is as though they are brewing right in your lap. Often tanks are tucked away behind walls out of sight. You know you are in a brewery but you feel somehow separate from the excitement. Not here. 

Looking down the bar, you can see the

 nice proximity of the brewing vats to where patrons sit.

I had a great chat with Mike and then met Luke. We talked about what beers they have been developing. Patrick and John, two bartenders on hand, were full of knowledge about the beer as well, and I chatted with them while sampling. 


First up was Bellwoods Common. 5% ABV (I forgot to ask IBUs). An American Style Pale Ale, it was, not surprisingly, very hop forward. It poured a deep golden colour and was bright and a bit bitter but with a quiet finish. A very accessible beer. I would recommend this beer to anyone. But accessible doesn't mean milquetoast or "safe". It is a great beer with lots of personality. It was the first of four beers I tried at Bellwoods, and stands toe to toe with the rest of them in terms of quality brewing.

Bellwoods Farmhouse Saison

Next up was a sample of Bellwoods Farmhouse Saison, a Belgian style saison that clocks in at 6% ABV. Luke informed me that it is made with Saison Dupont (nom!) yeast. Saisons, designed to slake the thirst of farmers toiling in the fields all day, are one of my favourite styles of beer (along with sours, Berliner Weisses and DIPAs). Saisons are often paler than many other ales, some are unfiltered,but all should very drinkable, like this one. It has a nice citrusy-zesty profile with all sorts of great Belgian characteristics. You can tell where its origins are from. Lively carbonation and some notes of banana were happening in the background. Would order it again. And again.

"Toil And Trouble", a Belgian Style Dubbel with a lot of personality

The third of four beers that I sampled was "Toil And Trouble", a dark and delicious Belgian Style Dubbel. I am not normally a Dubbel drinker, or a porter or stout drinker for that matter, but this beer is outstanding. At 8.7% ABV it has quite a kick, but massages your palate with kid gloves. Crafted using Chimay yeast, dark malts and Belgian candy sugar it opens up beautifully as it warms, delivering notes of dried plums, raisins and even some chocolate I thought. This is a great dessert beer and it has a smooth and buttery feel on the tongue. No visit to Bellwoods would be complete without trying this beer.

Happily, I found out that they will be offering flights when they open. Flights are samplings of beers from the brewery, often with descriptions of each beer so that you can compare them side by side and see which you prefer. It is one of my favourite components to a great brewery: a well-designed and attractively presented beer flight.

Last but definitely not least was a sample of Bellwoods' Witch Shark Double India Pale Ale. 

Witch Shark DIPA

"Witch Shark" is a 9% ABV Double India Pale Ale and lives up to it's dangerous name. This beer is everything a DIPA should and can be. It is reminiscent of the infamous Hopslam, brewed by Bell's, and that's saying a lot for all of you Hopheads and Bell's-lovers out there.It is better than Pliny The Elder in my opinion as it is smoother and not as biting. Pours a deep amber and immediately you smell tonnes of glorious citrus notes happening in the glass. It is not boozy at all, but very smooth yet full and round with all of those hops packed in there. It is a complex DIPA, with some mango and subtle fruit happening on the sides of your tongue. I basked in lupulin-induced delight with this beer. Highly recommended.


Apparently in the next few weeks they will be releasing a Berliner Weisse...I hope they save me a pint! If you are in the area or traveling to Toronto, you must stop in at Bellwoods Brewery. It is a 20 minute walk from University and Queen, or an even quicker streetcar ride. Send me a comment if you make it there. I would be interested to know what your experience was like.


There will be a retail store opening up soon next to the brew pub. For now, you can purchase their beer in growlers and at the brewery I believe. In the next few months they plan on expanding into local pubs and eventually the LCBO. I cannot wait for the day I can find their beer in my local beer store. 


I thank Mike, Luke, Patrick, John and the rest of the folks at Bellwoods for a wonderful experience. Finally, some craft beer with courage has arrived in Ontario!


Heather

"I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer."~Homer Simpson

Wordpress website revamp, exhibition dates and more...

"Self Portrait With Sasha", oil on canvas, 18"x24", available at Abbozzo Gallery

Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.~Vincent Van Gogh

So I finally did it. I have moved my website over from Flash to Wordpress. I have been dealing with this antiquated Flash site for years and now finally there's an easy-to-navigate site that makes viewing my paintings much easier. Please check it out and let me know what you think if you are inclined. I'm so happy to have a website that you can view on your mobile device now :)

Heather Horton Artwork

This site is a work in progress and I will continue to add new sold paintings to the body of work on the site. The above painting is one of only two remaining paintings that I will be posting before my solo exhibition at Abbozzo Gallery in November 2012. I want to keep some paintings back so there will be a surprise for people to see at the gallery. I have official dates for the show as well!

New Paintings

November 2-17th, 2012

Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Opening Reception Friday November 2, 7-10pm

Artist Meet And Greet Sunday November 4, 2-4pm

179 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville, Ontario, Canada

905-844-4481, toll free 1-866-844-4481

I know it is a bit early to post this information but it is also good to plan ahead! In fact two paintings have already pre-sold before the show(!!), thus if you are interested in any pieces please contact the gallery.

The painting you see at the top of this entry, "Self-Portrait With Sasha", oil on canvas, 18"x24", is another painting about self-reflection and a bit of existential pondering. Sasha, my beloved Russian Blue cat, wandered through my composition while I was shooting reference as he likes being near me. I thought I would incorporate his form subtly at the bottom...not immediately evident but there upon closer inspection. 

I have had people tell me that my portraits seem sad. I suppose this could be so, but they are about contemplation and reflection rather than sadness most of the time. How often do we lie and think but have a huge smile on our faces? Not often I believe. I love smiling and to it a lot, but my paintings are about seeing someone in the middle of a moment. My great inspiration, Lucian Freud, and any number of painters over the years have not painted people smiling. But I think that is what distinguishes art from Sears Portraiture. It is not pat. It is not always tidy. It is the beautiful messiness of life that I try to instill into my paintings.

In less than a month I will be off to Western Kentucky University to lecture, critique student work and experience their wonderful art program. I am bringing some paintings down with me for a small exhibition as well. I will write about the experience here and post photos of course.

I hope this post finds you well and happy. Thank-you for following and reading. Thank-you for supporting artists such a myself and investing in our continued pursuits to express with paint what words cannot.

Heather

A couple of photographs to share with you...

My 'Alaska Fund'...saving up to return

And finally a photo that makes me very happy....one of the most beautiful stretches of road I have ever had the pleasure to drive a number of times, entering into Haines Junction near Kluane National Park, Yukon Territory. This photograph was taken last September...

The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.~Emily Dickinson

Painting Commissions: A great reward for practicing artists.

"Jared", oil on panel, 8"x10"

"The artist is the opposite of the politically minded individual, the opposite of the reformer, the opposite of the idealist.  The artist does not tinker with the universe, he recreates it out of his own experience and understanding of life." ~Henry Miller

The only thing as sure as that there are artists out there creating art is that there are people who want to commission them. I am talking, dear friends, about paintings commissions. Commissions have sustained artists for millennia. It is an invaluable method to supplement an artist's typically sporadic income. It also is a very symbiotic relationship and has many many benefits.

I do many painting commissions every year, including the portrait of Jared above and his sister Keira below. Some commissions are for strangers and some are for friends. Many are for strangers who subsequently become friends. I value and enjoy this process. I love working on a piece of art that will be in a collection for many years to come. It is wonderful to do a painting that you know will make someone happy. A loved one, a house, a landscape, whatever resonates with the client/friend, is what I will do. Half the fun is collecting the reference (I often travel to the client to shoot the reference myself). This way I am able to engage with the clients and have developed many good friendships as a result of this. After the photo shoot I travel back to my studio and begin work on their painting. If time and the opportunity permits I deliver the piece to them in person. If not, I carefully wrap it and ship it to them. There are few things as moving as unveiling a commission and having the client become emotional at the site of the piece. That is one of the best feelings as a painter...to move someone strongly when they look at your work.

"Keira", oil on panel, 10"x8"

If you are interested in a painting commission please do not hesitate to contact me in the "contact" section of this blog. I will respond to you as soon as I can. Here are a couple of other paintings that I have really enjoyed completing for clients and friends recently...

"Mills", oil on panel, 16"x20"

"Uzes Street", oil on canvas, 40"x60"

"Sneggy", oil on canvas, 16"x20"

Some people have said to me "But when you do commissions you aren't painting what you want to paint!" It is all a matter of perspective. I am painting what will make someone else happy and to also help me continue to be able to paint what I want when I am not working on these commissions! It all works together. I have made some lifelong friends through painting commissions. It is a great benefit of being an artist.

In other news I am starting the process of converting my current, clunky and just generally outdated website to a Wordpress site. I used Flash to make my site years ago and it is time for a change. I want folks to be able to access my paintings on a mobile device, hence the switch. Look for these changes in the coming weeks. My website name will remain the same: heatherhorton.com

Here is a new painting in progress that will be featured in my upcoming exhibition at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario. This piece is 36"x48", oil on wood panel. It is about 90% complete. Two paintings have already sold for this exhibition so make sure to keep an eye out for new pieces as they are produced! You can purchase paintings in advance through the gallery. They are happy to answer any questions you might have.

Finally, I had the great pleasure of seeing Radiohead recently in Kansas City. Such a fun show! Here are some shots from a spectacular evening...

Behold the coveted wristband indicating general admission access to the concert floor:)

They played a great selection of songs from a variety of different albums.

Most songs were from The King Of Limbs but others were taken from Kid A and

Amnesiac. 

A month today I will be in Kentucky to lecture at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. What an exciting opportunity! I will be participating in critiques, having a small exhibition of paintings and giving a lecture to the Fine Art Department! Any chance to talk to other artists and engage them in the process of creating art is a great thing :) I am very thankful to the university for extending this invitation to me.

Thanks for taking the time to read about these updates and happenings. I hope this entry finds you well and creating new work, words or ways in your life!

Heather

"Painting is a strange business."~J. M. W. Turner

Enduring the maudlin and loving reprobates

"Self-Portrait with Sasha"(in progress), oil on canvas, 18"x24"

I love to write but often feel that I need to write about a new painting or some type of epic adventure. This doesn't need to be the case. I need to use this space as more of a journalling opportunity. It is rather terrifying and also quite cathartic. Thus the next few entries might be shorter and I apologize if they are much longer with more to wade through...Regardless, here goes...

I have been watching films like no one's business lately. Recent films seen include:

My Week With Marilyn
J. Edgar
The Tree Of Life
Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
Crazy. Stupid. Love.
The Artist
Hugo (3D)
The Descendants
Midnight In Paris
War Horse

I thought some of these films to be an utter waste of my time and others were sweet and charming. Some were poignant and a bit pat, but still very good. The most overrated films I found to be 'The Artist' and 'Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close'. I could write a whole polemic on each but will save you the time of reading them. Just please, if you want to see Hollywood schlock, watch 'Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close'. The young actor in it...is an incredibly annoying character. Trust me. I thought 'Midnight In Paris' and 'Crazy. Stupid. Love.' were excellent. They didn't try too hard. They were just lovely and hilarious. Do you know of Terrence Malick's films? Good. If not, I envy you. Malick should just do NOVA specials rather than feature films. His cinematography is beautiful but please, no more with the highly paid actors wandering about in barren landscapes trying to appear to be deep, okay?

In other news I have a new addiction: spin class. I love it. Now the instructor is crucial to your class enjoyment. The strangest and most idiosyncratic instructors are the best. I find their quirks compelling and entertaining.Therefore it is their classes that I return to faithfully. It's a great opportunity for a bang-up aerobic workout. Plus it saves your knees from all of the abuse they withstand on the road or on the treadmill. I find 3 spin classes as week combined with a yoga class, weights and running is a perfect routine to give you lots of energy and happiness. Plus I'm "training" for a 160km hike across the western edge of Greenland next year with my friend from Whitehorse so that helps motivate me as well! Goals are so important. If you don't have one, make acquiring a goal your goal. My lungs need travel to breathe. Travel and adventure are the air that sustains me.

Atop Mount White near Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory

Last but not least I was thinking about my artistic inspirations today. My first inspiration as a college student was the artist Tamara de Lempicka. She lived and painted in my favourite decade, in one of my favourite places: Paris in the 1920's. Can you imagine it? I can. Art Deco, Hemingway, Anais Nin, Henry Miller, and on and on.. Lempicka showed me the beauty and potential of female painters. Frida Kahlo's inspiration came later, but that's another blog entry. I am not as drawn to Tamara as much now, but it is important to give a nod to your inspirational roots. I have already spoken of Andrew Wyeth and Lucian Freud as my other main influences. Sargent is in there too but I'll return to them at another time.

I hope you like the newest painting I am working on, shown above. The finished painting will be on display with my upcoming solo exhibition at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario this autumn.  My cat Sasha wandered into frame as the tripod and camera did their reference collecting for me. I like that Sasha is very subtle and almost not discernible until you really look. He is five pounds soaking wet, five years old,and one of my best friends and closest confidantes. He's patient and never tells my secrets. He loves me unconditionally and is a positive reprobate when I am gone for long periods of time, let alone a couple of hours. I adore him for his beauty and his beautiful flaws. In fact, here is a painting of him....

So these are a few ramblings from me to you. I hope you are having a beautiful last few days of this February as it ebbs away. Thank-you for reading, following, supporting and believing in my painting and me.

Best,

Heather

p.s. I must suggest you acquire the official soundtrack to The Social Network. It is amazing. If you are a Trent Reznor fan I am sure you have it already. If not get it, please. It is perfect to work to, think to, write to, paint to, bathe to, fall asleep to, drive to. Here is a link to information about it... 

p.p.s. David Fincher is a genius.

"Woody Cove, Gros Morne"

My paintings are my friends. It's as simple as that. Your art, like your friendships, needs nurturing and, subsequently, you develop connections with your paintings. At least I do.


"Woody Cove, Gros Morne", oil on canvas, 36"x60", has been in the back of my mind for years. This place reminds me of some sort of Avalon, or perhaps some veiled world found in J.R.R. Tolkien's mind. Fortunately it is happily within reach of all of us, in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada. It lies near the center of the park near Norris Point and Lobster Cove Lighthouse. 


This painting is another piece that will be a part of my solo exhibition at Abbozzo Gallery in Oakville, Ontario this autumn. I hope you can make it out to the exhibition! I will post dates for the show as soon as I find out when it is. Stay tuned. The show will include a selection of figurative paintings, landscapes and a couple of still life pieces as well. Variety is good :)


Some of the most challenging things (for me) to paint are skies and water. This painting has a lot of both. A successful painting means you have created a successful illusion. I think the key is knowing that it will ultimately work out as you want it to. You just need patience and belief. Just keep your head down and paint. 


Mind you, stepping away and assessing your painting periodically is imperative. My college painting instructor Katharine MacDonald always told us that. Take a step back and look at your work. Don't get too close for too long or you will cease to see the painting in an objective light. In fact this technique could work for any aspect of your life. If you get too close to anything for too long, you can lose objectivity and your view can become distorted. Balance, stepping back, weighing what is working and what isn't, yields your best work and perhaps your best decisions in and out of the studio. 


The only thing more exhilarating and terrifying than a blank canvas is the first mark you make. This means you have started the uphill climb in the creation of a piece of art and a hundred, two hundred, a thousand more marks will follow this initial brushstroke. Yet we paint because we must. We love it and are terrified periodically by it. I know I am. A little fear keeps you creating your best work.


So fan the flames of a little fear in the studio and I'll be writing again soon with a new painting to talk about. 


Happy creating!


Heather

"It is the job that is never started that takes longest to finish."~J.R.R. Tolkien