Last year I received an interesting gift: “Watercolor Lesson-A-Day” (with Dennis Pendleton, 2009). This expressive desktop calendar shares interesting tidbits about famous artists, and includes helpful painting tips if you’d like to try water colors. A quick source of inspiration at my fingertips!
Below are some of my calendar excerpts. What has each artist revealed about himself?
“Pierre-Auguste Renoir explained his feelings about painting when he said, “For me a painting should be something pleasant, joyful, and attractive, even pretty. There are sufficient bothersome things in life so that we need not create others.”
“ Vincent van Gogh displayed his emotions in his paintings. He wrote to his brother, Theo, that he wanted to create paintings that moved people.”
“ Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas met in 1877 and began a long friendship. Both had strong personalities that sometimes clashed, but they also inspired and encouraged each other. It was Degas who invited Cassatt to show her paintings at the impressionist exhibit of 1879.”
“Beginning in 1890, Edgar Degas switched from oil painting to pastel. This medium enabled him to combine drawing and color. It was also easier on his failing eyesight.”
“It is said that Pierre-Auguste Renoir never produced a sad painting. Known for his good spirit, his paintings show people dancing, laughing, and generally displaying a love of life.”
“When a surgical operation confined him to his bed, Henri Matisse began another phase of his career. He cut colored paper into shapes and produced his famous Jazz series.”
“While confined to the asylum at St. Remy de Provence, Fance, Vincent van Gogh was permitted to paint on the grounds. During this time he completed some of his best-konwn paintings of gardens and olive trees.”
“At the age of seventy, Marc Chagall studied the art of making stained glass and over the next fifteen years produced many important works in this medium for churches and synogues.”
“A creative mess is better than tidy idleness.”
Atlanta’s flooding rains beat hard on the Gaines cottage this week but, thankfully, we only suffered a little wet carpet.
Meanwhile, I’m sorting and organizing my stash of beads and “findings” - sweet treasure from the Bead Show. God provides us so much beauty in this world; I’m only beginning to discover it!
Drawn to the world of semi-precious stones, I’ve added to my collection some luscious pink agate, cool aqua amazonite, dark green adventurine, and a bit of unikite - pretty coral and olive-colored beads. Apparently, it pays to visit the last hour of the day for such finds. A vendor, eager to pack his supplies, offered reduced prices on the most gorgeous rondelle-shaped crystals. My eyes popped while bracelets danced in my head!
So I’ve a lot on my mind this week, praying for Atlanta, organizing my bead studio, looking for an Etsy/Artfire banner design, catching up the blogs, and preparing to launch this home business. Also, Mr. G. returns soon for his first PSA test since prostate cancer surgery. Praying he’ll be well because it was a long, hard summer. Once things seem a little more settled I’ll resume work on my book.
Tell me, what creative outlets stir your heart besides writing?
“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others.” ~ Peter 4:10
As I was re-reading a section of The Heart of the Artist
“If you or I accomplish anything artistically, it’s because of a gift or talent that came from God in the first place.”
Not that we can’t feel good about using our talents. Sure we can! That’s joy. Aren’t we doing what He designed us to do? Our abilities serve no purpose by hiding behind a bushel.
So let’s not put ourselves down when complimented. That’s not humility. Nor is a spiritual rebuttal, constantly explaining to people that it’s “not me, but God” who did the work. It’s okay, go ahead - accept encouragement, thanks, and compliments with gratefulness to God! I’m learning to say thank you when someone says something nice about my efforts, even though in my heart I may feel unworthy of their sentiment. But when God enables me, and people notice, the glory is His whether it’s spoken or not. God sends the exact encouragement we need for a reason. Let’s learn to give AND receive, understanding that He is absolutely enough for those times we get no human input at all.
Oh how we long for the heart of a servant artist! Our standards are different from the world’s, and Noland reminds us why:
“In other words, the purpose of my ministry is not to impress people with my art but to demonstrate God’s power and love.”
Yes, and God demonstrates His power and love through us as we work in tandem with the Holy Spirit, humbled and consecrated to His purposes, dependent upon His constant provision and enablements.
And all God’s writers, scribes, and artists said AMEN.
“Creative people engage in creative activities regularly. They organize their lives to enable them to practice their craft or skill. They safeguard their solitary time.” ~ Louise DeSalvo
What are your daily habits? A cup of hot coffee in the morning? A brisk walk on the treadmill? Taking your vitamins? Maybe you can’t start the day until you’ve spent time in your favorite chair with some good devotional reading.
And what about your creative habits? What activities refresh your spirit? Do you enjoy music? Journaling? A good movie or play? Maybe knitting calms you after a hectic day. One of my friends likes crossword puzzles, scrapbooking, and baking. Sometimes all I have to do is flip through a colorful bead magazine to lure me back into my jewelry studio. Other times I just need to read.
As writers and artists, we feed on beauty and inspiration. It stimulates our creativity; refreshes the spirit.
Now tell me - what are your writing habits? Do you have a daily ritual? I need my tea. Whether hot or cold, I make a nice big beverage to keep me company while I ruminate. Before that, I take care of chores, phone calls, and obligations of the day so my mind isn’t distracted with tasks. I pray for leading and insight. If the writing doesn’t flow, I leave it for a bit - but not too long. I might update my grocery list, clean out a drawer, check Twitter, or look over my notes for good quotes. I’ve been known to run to the farmer’s market to clear my head, but usually I sit with the blank screen until the muse shows up …and words begin to flow.
What are some of your habits?
“I have never believed that my limitations were in any sense punishments or accidents. If I had held such a view, I could never have expected the strength to overcome them.” ~ Helen Keller
Because of lupus, Flannery O’Connor could only write two hours a day.
Fyodor Dostoevsky suffered epileptic attacks.
John Bunyan and Cervantes wrote in prison.
And from what I’ve read, Harriet Beecher Stowe, at age 39, wrote much of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on her kitchen table, between cooking and tending to 7 children.
There have also been many famous writers and artists who worked in spite of clinical depression: Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Charles Shultz, Georgia O’ Keefe, George Eliot, F. Scott Fitzgerald, to name a few.
But Helen Keller still blows me away. Deaf and blind, she graduated from Radcliffe (with honors), taught herself French, Latin, and Greek…and wrote 14 books!
What obstacles do you face? What difficulties in life seem to hold you back? Sometimes the very things that hinder us become the things that lead us to depend on God more. While some attribute their success to the strength of the human spirit, today I’m mindful of the ability we have to overcome trials through Christ who is our very life… for nothing is impossible with Him.
Whatever your struggle, take heart. The Author and Perfector of our faith has called us, and He is more than able to work through us if we rely on Him.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain
This week’s inspiring find:
Artful Blogger: “Filled with full-color photography, illustration, mixed-media and assemblage, fabric and vintage artwork — whether or not you have a blog of your own, you will find no richer landscape to spark your own creative fires.”
Submission Guidelines .
Artistic Quotes:
“I really think that cleaning up in between projects is a great way to also clean the palette, so to speak. It helps to organize your thoughts and focus on what you are doing next.” ~ Joanna Figueroa, designer, featured in Where Women Create, 2009 Fall Issue
“My creative spirit is a shy one. So having a space to retreat to is critical. A place where I can feel comfortable, engaged, and free to be by myself. That’s what this space is for me. Like the 14 foot phrase by the wall, it’s “A place to be true. A place to be you.” Teresa McFayden, owner of Paper Bella Studio
