This past Friday was “The Eclectic Art Social Club’s” second group show: “Eclectic Cool: the Colors of Calm.” Let me pause and give you a little insight/explanation into our name…we are a group of 7 “young women,” shall we say, who are serious about art, but we don’t take ourselves to seriously. We began meeting several years ago to help each other in our art careers, but mostly ended up brunching, drinking coffee and having a good time together at each other’s homes (hence “social club). Continue Reading…
Archives For Art
Birmingham area locals, come out to Parkside Bar in downtown Birmingham next Friday, October 19 for this great one night art show, featuring new works by Mary Liz Ingram, Dariana Dervis, Cecily Hill Lowe, Erin Hardin and Chi Roach. Our different subjects, styles and media will be unified by cool colors…the colors of calm: blues, greens, grays, purples. It will be a fun night, so bring your friends! Eclectic Cool: The Colors of Calm October 19 from 4:30-9:00pm Parkside Cafe & Bar, upstairs 4036 5th Avenue South Birmingham, AL 35222
The Old Water Tower, 15X21 Soft Pastel on card…Here’s a peek into some of the new work for our show.
Reflection, Quick Graphite Sketch… I gave a speech today. I dont like public speaking…not one bit. In seminary, I took all the classes but the preaching classes. I love teaching; I can lead a pastel demonstration for hours and actually get energy from “speaking while doing.” But at a podium with a microphone? No thank you. I’ll do it, I’ll try my best, but I don’t like it. Who does like public speaking anyway? Oh right, my HUSBAND, who happens to be really great at it. Continue Reading…
War Helicopter, oil pastel by my son, 4 years old…I love my kids. They crack my husband and I up with their schemes, and they love to copy us. One day it might be our little boy walking in with his chin tucked back, his chest puffed out, holding a pretend cup of coffee, saying in a deep voice “Hmph, I’m Dad. I’m going to work now.” Or our daughter popping out of her room (“Ta da!”) dressed exactly like me in jeans, blue T-shirt, bandana head band and flip flops, proclaiming herself “Mini Mom.” Its funny and scary at the same time, watching these little copycats. Some of the things we do, I hope they don’t copy: Continue Reading…
A Wash, watercolor…Today I had many goals. From the beginning, things didn’t start out well. At some point, between a dead car battery and three puny kids, I gave up. As I stood in the kitchen, staring out the window in realistic defeat, I thought “Today is a wash.” Better to just say it, than let frustration build…nothing productive would easily be done. I thought of the storm earlier today, and felt like painting. Very rarely do I draw or paint something that doesn’t look like something. Continue Reading…
Shoes, Graphite Sketch… Sunday, a day of rest and renewal; a time to reset. Sundays have become a mental health day for me…I tidy up, listen to music, drink slow cups of coffee, think about life. I shake off the stress and rediscover the joy. I clean up the grime, and unearth the shine of love and life; breathe in fresh air, notice my surroundings, find peace in my place. It keeps me going, week after week. Today I drew my little boy’s line of shoes: the epitome of tidiness in our house, since his room is always the messiest. “We are not afraid to look under the bed, or to wash the sheets; we know that life is messy. We know that somebody has to clean it up, and that only if it is cleaned up can we hope to start over, and get better.” -Marsha Norman, quoted in Real Simple, May 2012
Sky, Hipstamatic photo… Its frustrating, being human. I hate messing up, missing an important detail, dropping one of the many balls I am juggling, not being able to “do it all.” I want to do everything perfectly. This is obviously unrealistic and impossible, yet I continue trying: Semper Reformata, the cry of the Protestant Reformation, “always reforming.” I’ve been watching the Olympics everyday, marveling at the abilities of my fellow human beings. These people are intense. Continue Reading…
As I’ve said before, there are five of us, plus two cats, living in a small house. When we were house hunting, we wanted something small but with the requirement of one extra space for my art room. The “one extra room” we found is a long skinny room with lots of light, and as an artist, I have a lot of stuff to cram in there: acrylic paint, oil paint, watercolors, soft pastels, oil pastels, graphite sticks, brushes, papers, boards, easels, frames…you get the idea. The tricky part is storing it all in the small space in a way that keeps kids out of it, and making it clear enough to actually enjoy being in there! To make this space livable, there is a constant cycle of cluttering and cleaning. I purge the room (and the house!) fairly often, but this time, more was needed. My art room needed a renewal, just as my art and my outlook has been renewed. I took out curtains, junk, and reorganized to make it brighter, fresher and CLEANER. The good news for those interested in exploring pastels and fearful of what I half-jokingly call “pastel lung,” is that there was remarkably little pastel dust after 5 years of not wiping my window sills and top molding (gross, I know…sorry!). So, ta-da! I’m ready to work, the room as cleared out as its going to get.
I even cleaned off the kids’ art area. My trusty sidekicks got right to work messing it up, as expected. But what else is an art room for, if not to get messy?!
Hay Bale, Graphite Sketch…My husband and I have a ritual; it helps us decompress after our busy days, and is a routine time to relax and enjoy being together. Each night once the kids are tucked in bed, we sit on the couch, each with a glass of milk and two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, to watch one of our recorded shows. Last night we watched the Next Food Network Star. Each Star hopeful must have a “POV,” a “Point of View” that would make their own Food Network show unique. Two weeks of my daily drawings are now complete, and over morning coffee, I reflected upon my “POV”…my own point of view around which my art revolves. I know art doesn’t have to have a “point” or a “meaning,” that it can be art for art’s sake, but my organized self loves to have everything in its place, categorized and grouped. I want my art to fit together and have a meaning, a purpose, a POV. When I reflect upon my daily drawings, I see the common thread of my own human experience: family, relationships, love, warmth, what surrounds me in my place, what is important to me in my life. Linking the theme of my sketches with my current pastels and paintings, my POV emerges as, in my husband’s words, “Southern eclectic”: a mixture of rural and city, objects and figures, past and present…the story of my place. I find warmth, family, richness and beauty in the South, in its porches and fields, its trees and marshes, its people and history, its rust and wood. A representation of the story of humanity, the South is a tightly woven tapestry of good and bad, hospitality and hatred, comfort and pain, smiles and sorrow. Despite its dark threads, my South triumphs with beauty, with color, with life, with strength; in my place and through my art, I hope to reveal and foster greater peace, honest love, and a warm, genuine reality of Southern hospitality, a welcoming with open arms.
Daddy’s Home, graphite sketch…Today’s big event is that “Daddy is home!” My kids have been counting down to this day all week. Just as my dad did for my sister and I when he travelled, my husband always brings our kids a “prize.” This week he was in rural Alabama, not a place very conducive to buying souvenirs, but he nonetheless came home with some very interesting treasures! Cue the knitted Spiderman finger puppet made in Ecuador. It makes me laugh (it’s so odd!), and it made our son very excited. So here’s a fuzzy little Spidey: a celebration of homecoming, family and the funny things in life!
