Also please check out my second blog, The Painting Archives to see older (pre-2004) paintings for sale.
Monday, May 14, 2007
gardening and painting
Surprises, discoveries, sensory pleasures and room for experimentation...gardening and painting have these things in common. (Oh and hard work, too--sometimes enough to cause an aching back which was my fate over the weekend.) I love the way both tend to wipe away brain chatter and sense of time, and allow one to become lost in creating another world out of form and color. Both are excellent ways to be practice being present in the moment, and to act intuitively and gracefully in response to whatever occurs.
Painting inevitably has a heavier, more serious side...whimsy and spontaneity must be balanced with a strong dose of left-brain activity...resolving the work and making it available to an audience are considerations, and little inner voices bring up criticism and doubt along the way. Deadlines, upcoming exhibits, and gallery requests hover in the air, and add a whiff of anxiety to the studio atmosphere.
Meanwhile, for me anyway, gardening remains lighthearted, playful, private, ephemeral, and full of simple pleasure. This is a photo of the garden that covers the bank just outside my studio door, and at this time of year I often step out, take a few breaths and feast my eyes. ¶ 8:16 AM
Surprises, discoveries, sensory pleasures and room for experimentation...gardening and painting have these things in common. (Oh and hard work, too--sometimes enough to cause an aching back which was my fate over the weekend.) I love the way both tend to wipe away brain chatter and sense of time, and allow one to become lost in creating another world out of form and color. Both are excellent ways to be practice being present in the moment, and to act intuitively and gracefully in response to whatever occurs.
Painting inevitably has a heavier, more serious side...whimsy and spontaneity must be balanced with a strong dose of left-brain activity...resolving the work and making it available to an audience are considerations, and little inner voices bring up criticism and doubt along the way. Deadlines, upcoming exhibits, and gallery requests hover in the air, and add a whiff of anxiety to the studio atmosphere.
Meanwhile, for me anyway, gardening remains lighthearted, playful, private, ephemeral, and full of simple pleasure. This is a photo of the garden that covers the bank just outside my studio door, and at this time of year I often step out, take a few breaths and feast my eyes. ¶ 8:16 AM
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Well said... I'm like to dig in the dirt as well. For all the same reasons. Unfortunately, poison ivy runs rampant around here and loves to surprise me!
Oooooh that PI is nasty stuff--! We have it too of course, but not much--it tends to keep to the fields and edges of woods, so not a problem in the yard.
Hi Rebecca, I have reluctantly taken up gardening in the last few years. Mostly involves a lot of weeding thus far:) Your garden here looks beautiful.
And I am embarrassed to do this, but I am tagging you. Not my thing usually and maybe not yours either. If you want to do it though, just list 7 things about yourself and then list 7 other blogs, tagging them. My post is up today if you want to check it out.
Otherwise, pretend I wasn't here:)
And I am embarrassed to do this, but I am tagging you. Not my thing usually and maybe not yours either. If you want to do it though, just list 7 things about yourself and then list 7 other blogs, tagging them. My post is up today if you want to check it out.
Otherwise, pretend I wasn't here:)
Marina,
I don't know their name, sorry--a fast-spreading perennial ground cover, leaves have a silvery/green pattern, small purple flowers. That big patch started last year with just one little plant!
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I don't know their name, sorry--a fast-spreading perennial ground cover, leaves have a silvery/green pattern, small purple flowers. That big patch started last year with just one little plant!
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