Wednesday, July 29, 2015
"Wisdom comes through listening" - Unknown
ahhh...listening! Listening to others, listening to ourselves, listening to our 'gut'! All things many of us, me especially, need to work on.
Upon my 'seasonal semi-relocation' to Door County, I was introduced to a fabulous sematics/yoga instructor, Theresa Evans, who owns Stone Path Yoga! She is amazing and I enjoy her classes not only for the sheer joy of my practice, but for her 'words of wisdom' that she shares after each of her classes - believe me I am listening!
Here is a rambling of some of her thoughts from many different weeks: 'Why do we always do what is comfortable?', "We can allow ourselves to be busy and out of control, we can allow ourselves to be peaceful and happy OR we can choose not to, it is all up to us.", "No expectations! Go into a situation expecting nothing to happen or change, happiness is in you." THANK YOU, Theresa, for being such a wonderful inspiration to my soul! I love being in Door County and surrounded by all of this beauty...the natural beauty, the beauty of the 'people' and the beauty of the arts!
So, let me ramble on a bit on Theresa's thoughts that I refer to many a times as they are marked, dog-eared and highlighted in my journal! ha! We all know that these thoughts/words can relate to life...oh yes, we do! But, I would like to share how they relate to my art.
Comfort in art. Many artists tend to get 'comfortable' in their work, comfortable in a certain color palette, comfortable in a certain format or size etc. We all do that, it is ok., but sometimes in art as in life, we have to 'stretch' that comfort. This morning was priceless...during this busy season, I spent some time working in the studio and while I was looking at some works in progress, I snapped some photos - close-up photos - of sections and I can see that if I stretch my 'comfort' I would love to experiment with some of these close-up's into more abstracted works. Yes, getting out of our comfort can be a good thing.
Close-up photo image of a large work in progress.
This painting is still in 'process'...I will keep working it to minimalize it a bit more.
The second thought, being busy or out of control. Hmmm....why do we seem to do that to ourselves, but as in terms of art, I find that sometimes it is the less 'busy' paintings that I like. Minimalist shall we say. Less is more. Often times that is why you will see my art as a 'suggestion' of a forest, lake, sky, land, field etc., however, my mission in my art is to create serenity and joy and of course a peaceful feeling. Although it may be colorful, the minimalist feel of my work hopefully accomplishes this.
The final thought from my journal has to do with 'no expectations' - you are so spot on Theresa! In life we should have no expectations from anyone or anything. In my art I struggle with that (I guess I do in life, too), but I find that if I go into the studio with no expectations of a finished painting, then my studio time just seems to flow better. Guess you can't fight it. So as I layer and paint and change and add and remove more layers, I have to remember to not expect anything great, to just enjoy the time that I have in the studio. Thank you, Theresa, for these wonderful words.
My messy studio space where calm actually does prevail!
NOTE: Theresa Evans owns Stone Path Yoga in Door County and also teaches in other locations in the peninsula AS well as on the LAKE...Yes! I Love her stand up paddle board yoga class!
ahhh...listening! Listening to others, listening to ourselves, listening to our 'gut'! All things many of us, me especially, need to work on.
Upon my 'seasonal semi-relocation' to Door County, I was introduced to a fabulous sematics/yoga instructor, Theresa Evans, who owns Stone Path Yoga! She is amazing and I enjoy her classes not only for the sheer joy of my practice, but for her 'words of wisdom' that she shares after each of her classes - believe me I am listening!
Here is a rambling of some of her thoughts from many different weeks: 'Why do we always do what is comfortable?', "We can allow ourselves to be busy and out of control, we can allow ourselves to be peaceful and happy OR we can choose not to, it is all up to us.", "No expectations! Go into a situation expecting nothing to happen or change, happiness is in you." THANK YOU, Theresa, for being such a wonderful inspiration to my soul! I love being in Door County and surrounded by all of this beauty...the natural beauty, the beauty of the 'people' and the beauty of the arts!
So, let me ramble on a bit on Theresa's thoughts that I refer to many a times as they are marked, dog-eared and highlighted in my journal! ha! We all know that these thoughts/words can relate to life...oh yes, we do! But, I would like to share how they relate to my art.
Comfort in art. Many artists tend to get 'comfortable' in their work, comfortable in a certain color palette, comfortable in a certain format or size etc. We all do that, it is ok., but sometimes in art as in life, we have to 'stretch' that comfort. This morning was priceless...during this busy season, I spent some time working in the studio and while I was looking at some works in progress, I snapped some photos - close-up photos - of sections and I can see that if I stretch my 'comfort' I would love to experiment with some of these close-up's into more abstracted works. Yes, getting out of our comfort can be a good thing.
The second thought, being busy or out of control. Hmmm....why do we seem to do that to ourselves, but as in terms of art, I find that sometimes it is the less 'busy' paintings that I like. Minimalist shall we say. Less is more. Often times that is why you will see my art as a 'suggestion' of a forest, lake, sky, land, field etc., however, my mission in my art is to create serenity and joy and of course a peaceful feeling. Although it may be colorful, the minimalist feel of my work hopefully accomplishes this.
The final thought from my journal has to do with 'no expectations' - you are so spot on Theresa! In life we should have no expectations from anyone or anything. In my art I struggle with that (I guess I do in life, too), but I find that if I go into the studio with no expectations of a finished painting, then my studio time just seems to flow better. Guess you can't fight it. So as I layer and paint and change and add and remove more layers, I have to remember to not expect anything great, to just enjoy the time that I have in the studio. Thank you, Theresa, for these wonderful words.
NOTE: Theresa Evans owns Stone Path Yoga in Door County and also teaches in other locations in the peninsula AS well as on the LAKE...Yes! I Love her stand up paddle board yoga class!
