Touching Art

Making a Diva Bowl Parts 1 and 2

Would you like to see more about how I make art? Here are links How I do it, Part 1, and How I do it, Part 2. Feel free to comment, and if you like, share something about your creative process.

Love Medicine Again

In 2007, my friend Bill Anderson hosted a show of my work at his Yellow House Studio. As I prepared work for that show, Bill brought his camera to my studio and shot a video of me making work and talking about Love Medicine. I'd like to thank Bill again for his work, and share the video with you again. Video is a powerful way to connect.

20 Hour Challenge

Since completing the Galaxy Lover Series and posting the video over a month ago, I have planted the garden, rebuilt two sweat lodges, and completed a simple gift series of small bowls, a warm-up to some more experiments with porcelain and fine silver, which I intend to enter into a juried show, deadline next week.

Last week I loaded the kiln, plugged it in and turned it on. Nothing happened. This evening I finally realized the undecipherable error code is tC, meaning I may need to install a new thermocouple. I can do that. I may even have one in a drawer. Still, the past month has been fits and starts, that neutral zone between passionate engagement with work and the next "zone".

Then I read today's Fine Art Views from Clint Watson. Regular contributor, painter Lori Woodward Simons, remarked on her 20 hour a week challenge. She challenged herself to spend 20 hours per week on focus work in her studio, and twittered about it. Soon a movement had begun, and I am hitching my wagon to that train. What ever it takes to get me into the zone. The only thing that works is work.

I'll keep you posted.

Galaxy Lover - Hope Peace Chamber

I just finished this series about the Birth of Hope Peace Chamber. I've worked on it for three years, and intensely for the past 6 weeks. The video tells the story.

Whale Mural in Loreto

The whale mural for the Visitor's Center at GEA is well underway. I am pleased with how it is coming along, and so is Fernando. However I am running out of time. I am perhaps 70% finished, and I only have one more day in Loreto. I am looking into the possibility of changing my tickets, extending my stay by a week in order to finish, and perhaps, get onto the water to see the whales again.

 

These 10 days of painting the mural have been intense in a beautiful way. I had to spend several days getting to know the animals through books, and through the photo and video archive that GEA has collected for the past dozen or so years. I filled a sketchbook with drawings, and began to sketch out the images of whales that I wanted to show on the mural. Finally I began to apply paint.

Then, came Sunday and my day on the Sea of Cortes with the blue whales. With that extraordinary day of dozens of whale sightings, I had my own photos as resource for the mural. Back to the drawing board!

Whales are surprisingly difficult to paint. They are curved, reflective, patterned, and wet. They seem to be large, simple submarine shaped beings, until I start drawing them and discover the complex curves, muscular definition, and tricky foreshortening. Their noses are particularly challenging.

I am into it now. The individuals I am drawing are coming to life in the painted water. The water itself is a revelation. Whales leave their marks upon the surface, and the only way to know that is to see it.

I am exhausted and exhilarated. I have been given 10 days to focus on artmaking, and I may give myself 7 more. It is a gift my ordinary life rarely allows. I want to stop and rest, I want to go home, I can't leave until it is done. My desire to see this piece finished, my curiosity to see this piece finished, is more powerful than fear, than homesickness, than money worries.

I will stay, and the mural will be beautiful. This art experience is changing me in ways I cannot yet know.

By the way, the pictures are details of the mural that are feeling almost complete.

Blue and Gray Whales

I have been in Loreto a week. The mural is well in progress. I am documenting the work and will post pictures in another post. This post I celebrate the Whales!

The Sea of Cortes is the winter feeding grounds to a large number of Blue Whales. The Blue Whale is the largest animal that has EVER lived on earth, growing to 100 feet and 100 tons. It eats vast amounts of one of the smallest animals: shrimpish beings collectively named krill.  Sunday Fernando Arcas took the panga into the Sea south of Isla Carmen, where Blue Whales were feasting. At one point we counted 7 spouts within our eyesight. So there were at least that many animals in the area, and probably more. Colin and Fernando recognized two individuals who have been here in past years.

We were out for about 11 hours till after sunset, watching these splendid gentle animals swim and eat. I have a lot of video, which I will process and post after I return to Maine. For now here is a picture I took on Sunday of a blue whale spouting. See her spine showing. She's hungry!

Monday some new friends--Deborah, Paola, and Paco-- invited me to join them on a road trip to the Pacific side of Baja, and Magdalena Bay, where the Gray Whales come to have their babies. We had a warm, calm, placid sea day to visit the Gray Whales. We hired a panga and guide to take us out on the Bay for two hours. It is a magical place, safe from predators for the newborn gray whales. Humans almost hunted them to extinction in this very spot that is now a sanctuary. There is speculation whether the boats of human observers are a stressor on these great mammals, whose numbers have recovered since hunting was stopped. Later in the season, the babies will come up to boats to be petted. That was not the case today, though one mama and her calf were particularly photogenic.

 

I can't find words to express my awe and appreciation of these animals and the gift of my being here with them. Right now, presence is enough.

When I was six, the first book I remember reading out loud to my mother was "The Whales Go By", a story about the Gray Whales. Finally, I meet them!

As for the Blues, I never expected to see Blue Whales. I am still speechless in the face of their magnificence.

Carla's Mission to the Whales

Tomorrow I depart for one of the greatest adventures of my life so far. I have been invited to Loreto, Baja, Mexico, to paint a mural of whales and sea life.

photo by Colin Garland

The invitation comes from the Grupo Ecologista Antares (GEA), a local ecological organization who oversees the preservation of the Bay of Loreto National Marine Park.
This fragile and diverse ecosystem in the Sea of Cortes is home to over 800 species of marine life. Jacques Cousteau called it the “world’s aquarium.” The work of GEA, the Nature Conservancy and other agencies has helped restore populations of endangered reef fish, sea turtles and shore birds. Whales and dolphins who breed here also benefit from protection. Threatened once by overfishing, the Bay of Loreto is now threatened by overdevelopment. Vigilance by local and international ecological caretakers is vital.

This opportunity came to me when I met Colin Garland at a Ceremony of Light at the Center at Westwoods in Massachusetts in December. He designed a powerful labyrinth there. Colin has a group called Global Classroom which brings groups of young people and adults to work with the GEA in Loreto, as well as a cloud forest preserve in Costa Rica.  I asked Colin what could I do to help. I wanted to meet the whales for myself.

He conferred with Fernando Arcas of GEA, and they invited me to come to Loreto at my own expense to paint a mural of whales and dolphins at their new Visitors Center. Without hesitation I said yes. The honor of meeting the whales in their home, and communicating with them through my painting is awesome. Being of service to the people who work tirelessly to protect the waters they live in is my privilege.

It is necessary to bring most of the art materials I will use with me, as I cannot get them in Loreto. I am prepared to fund their purchase myself, and make this mural a true gift. I am inspired to invite my friends at home in Maine and in my expansive community of the internet to share this giving with me.

You may click on this link to donate through a special chip in account, or copy and paste it in your browser.

http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/e76a24a84b8c3f3e

I estimate the cost of materials and checking them on the airlines to be around $450. I have purchased $250 worth of materials to take with me so far. The rest will be purchased in Mexico. The Paint the Whales campaign receives donations through February 17. The cool thing about chip in is it is like giving spare change in your pocket: you can give a dollar or a dozen. So a chip in or a prayer, lets you be part of this. My thanks for your support.

I will be in Loreto working on the mural from January 27 to February 8. I hope to make the Peace Chamber fire ceremony on the beach in Loreto on February 7. I will take lots of pictures and share them with you when I return home. You will all be with me in my heart, and I ask that you hold me in your hearts and prayers.

The whales are singing to the Peace Chamber and King Oceanus is guiding my steps.

Blessing from a Nobel Peace laureate

On Wednesday the day after the presidential inauguration I flew home to Maine from Phoenix. I changed planes at Dulles in Washington, DC. The atmosphere in the airport was cosmic. Calm, happy. The inauguration energy permeated the place as I observed groups of travelers just blissed out from their experience on January 20th. I was blissed out from my time in Tucson and Phoenix. Dulles doesn't usually feel this good!

I had to take a shuttle to the terminal to catch the Portland plane. I sat down, and who do I see sitting across from me but Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Wow.

The Archbishop had given the keynote address at a Martin Luther King Day celebration on Monday. He was elated by Obama's presidency and what it means for America and the world. He pinched his own cheek and said "I keep pinching myself to make sure it is real!" What a joy to be in his presence.

I sat beside him for a moment, and greeted him, thanking him, and someone snapped our photograph.

The experience deepened my understanding of what this election represents. As a white girl grown up in the South, I was a witness from the other side of the Civil Rights movement. As an adult, I discover I am almost color blind, accepting as normal and about time we have elected a person of color to the highest office. My black friends are able to share with me their perspective of at last belonging in this  nation, with Obama's election. Desmond Tutu, having devoted his life to equality, liberty and dignity of South African people, brings an even deeper understanding of how profound a change Obama's election really is for the United States.

I feel the sweep of history, and the solar brightness of the future in Desmond Tutu's smile.

Meeting in the Desert

This is a quick update. I am in Tucson for a board meeting. I thought I'd share this photograph I took of the view from the front stoop of our meeting location in the foot hills of the Tucson Mountains. This looks out to the Santa Catalina mountains. The awe-inspiring Saguaro cactus reigns in this land.

Above is a close up portrait. I love the softness of this young fellow in the early afternoon light.

I have another treat from the desert I'll post later.

Love to all my friends in Maine where I hear it snowed a foot yesterday. Snowshoes, here I come!

She Said To Him:

I have nothing to offer you unless you come to me
bringing your whole self. I require wholeness.

She Listened:
Divine Love requires wholeness.
Divine Love bestows wholeness.
I come open unto wholeness, to receive wholeness.
That is all that is asked of me~
to come to each moment, each task, each question, each dilemma, each goal, each Desire~
Open to wholeness.
Perceiving myself and the situation through
the eyes and heart of Divine Love.
Eyes open, Soul aware of the sacred distinction between that
which pours light into wholeness
and everything else.
Possessed with the willingness to do the sacred work of
sweeping away everything else.
It is not about judgment only light.
Spend as much time creating as sweeping.

Happy Fourth Anniversary, ArtBizBlog.com

Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach, started her blog four years ago November 30, 2004. I note this anniversary because Alyson's information on building an art business is of supreme value to me. Her information and example on the value of artist's blogs is one reason I am blogging. I enjoyed reading her first blog post, and discovered to my amusement that I was her first ever blog commenter!

Today is a good day to remind my readers of Alyson and her services, which include one on one consulting, live workshops, books, online classes, free newsletters, articles, and the blog. All these are accessed at Artbizcoach.com. Alyson is having a big book sale of her book I'd Rather be in the Studio, the artist's no-excuse guide to self-promotion, through December 21.