All of these goddesses are bloodthirsty, but this one is the most by far! I've started on Pele; she looks just wonderful so far. Pele and Inanna are off to a gallery in Astoria next weekend. They are looking forward to having her, and I'm looking forward to my girls being seen.
Art, for me, is not dependent upon sales, for my self definition of an artist, but they do help to create new art.
Art, for me, is that drive, that need, that compelling drive to create that drives all real artists. That is the real artist, the one that creates regardless, no matter what.
I know that art, for me, means pain. Not just the pain of the glass, but the pain of the cuts, and the pain of the hands as they slowly work the glass nippers. I like shattering the glass; it not only looks nicer but it gives the piece a more artistic look, in my view. I like the randomness of the pieces, I like the way that they become a puzzle. It's the process of moving the puzzle from my head, to the piece that is the challenge. Another reason that art is wonderful. That pushing of envelopes, crossing boundaries and stepping over lines, with materials, concepts and ourselves, that is the largest part of art, I think.
So, now I get to back away from the computer, and go work on a very demanding goddess before I sleep! WIP pics will be posted ASAP.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Introspection
It's cold, out here in Portland, OR. This kind of weather really does a number on my hands. I should clarify; it does a number on the arthritis in my neck and THAT does a number on my hands.
It's funny, but our hands are something we take for granted. We look at them when we do our nails, or attend to cutting a broken nail, but we really don't pay attention to them.
We don't look at the way the skin moves over the fingers, the way the thumb and the fingers manipulate objects. The tendons that move my fingers as I type, and correct the many errors from fingers that have become clumsy, they move these fingers with ease, and the muscles give precision. The hand occupies a very large area in the motor cortex of the brain. The hand is a piece of magic, and one I'm happy to possess.
When we look at our hands we see faithful friends, for the most part. Friends who brush our hair, and our teeth. They zip zippers, button buttons, and snap snaps. They stir coffee and pick up things to examine.
It is a hard thing to deal with, the things that are happening to my hands, but the headaches make it a reality that I have to deal with, increasingly. There is no ignoring them. It has gotten bad enough that I now take amatriptylene at night for the pain, and Vicodin for when the pain flares are really bad. I used to be able to go for days without pain flares, but no longer.
These hands are used to paint, to create. To cut an onion, to deftly blanch peaches. To touch my face, my loved ones, my brush. They are marvels of design and efficiency, human hands. They are capable of bringing so much pleasure, and so much pain.
I hope to keep my hands; to still be able to peel an apple, to write down a name, to touch my husband's hair.
I never realized, until they started to not work, how wonderful these hands really are. I've really resisted training my computer for voice commands. As long as these work, I will work them.
I will paint with them, I will make love with them, I will do all of the things that I have always done, with one exception. I will no longer take them for granted. I will cherish what they do for me, I will cherish them. I will examine the fingers, and appreciate them for the wonderous things that they really are.
It's funny, but our hands are something we take for granted. We look at them when we do our nails, or attend to cutting a broken nail, but we really don't pay attention to them.
We don't look at the way the skin moves over the fingers, the way the thumb and the fingers manipulate objects. The tendons that move my fingers as I type, and correct the many errors from fingers that have become clumsy, they move these fingers with ease, and the muscles give precision. The hand occupies a very large area in the motor cortex of the brain. The hand is a piece of magic, and one I'm happy to possess.
When we look at our hands we see faithful friends, for the most part. Friends who brush our hair, and our teeth. They zip zippers, button buttons, and snap snaps. They stir coffee and pick up things to examine.
It is a hard thing to deal with, the things that are happening to my hands, but the headaches make it a reality that I have to deal with, increasingly. There is no ignoring them. It has gotten bad enough that I now take amatriptylene at night for the pain, and Vicodin for when the pain flares are really bad. I used to be able to go for days without pain flares, but no longer.
These hands are used to paint, to create. To cut an onion, to deftly blanch peaches. To touch my face, my loved ones, my brush. They are marvels of design and efficiency, human hands. They are capable of bringing so much pleasure, and so much pain.
I hope to keep my hands; to still be able to peel an apple, to write down a name, to touch my husband's hair.
I never realized, until they started to not work, how wonderful these hands really are. I've really resisted training my computer for voice commands. As long as these work, I will work them.
I will paint with them, I will make love with them, I will do all of the things that I have always done, with one exception. I will no longer take them for granted. I will cherish what they do for me, I will cherish them. I will examine the fingers, and appreciate them for the wonderous things that they really are.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Art is part of who we are
As human beings, we are in possession of one of the greatest natural wonders there is, the human brain.
This magnificent piece of organic machinery, it has taken us from the African savannah to the skyscrapers of today.
It has also taken us from our earthbound existence to the moon, and we hope to go beyond.
All of this progress, the accomplishments of our species, are the direct result of this wonderful brain!
This brain allows us to see the creatures in the clouds, and to see the horse in the marble, the image in the canvas; to allow us to bring what we perceive in our heads from our minds to our chosen medium.
Each one of us may look at the same thing, but each one of us will see that object differently. As artists, it's part of our job description to try to express ourselves, in our chosen mediums. I believe that what makes an artist is not sales, it is not some sort of popular recognition; it is the need to create, no matter what!
It is the need to put that image down, to free the horse from the marble, to write that novel, or to compose that musical piece, all of that is part of the human condition. Part and parcel of being an artist is that overwhelming need to create.
This magnificent piece of organic machinery, it has taken us from the African savannah to the skyscrapers of today.
It has also taken us from our earthbound existence to the moon, and we hope to go beyond.
All of this progress, the accomplishments of our species, are the direct result of this wonderful brain!
This brain allows us to see the creatures in the clouds, and to see the horse in the marble, the image in the canvas; to allow us to bring what we perceive in our heads from our minds to our chosen medium.
Each one of us may look at the same thing, but each one of us will see that object differently. As artists, it's part of our job description to try to express ourselves, in our chosen mediums. I believe that what makes an artist is not sales, it is not some sort of popular recognition; it is the need to create, no matter what!
It is the need to put that image down, to free the horse from the marble, to write that novel, or to compose that musical piece, all of that is part of the human condition. Part and parcel of being an artist is that overwhelming need to create.
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