"Success is not a function of individual talent. It's the steady accumulation of advantages." --from a very smart scientist whose name was torn away when his picture and quote were snagged from a magazine article on talent, luck, and the success that 10,000 hours can bring to anyone sufficiently diligent, blessed, and a little bit crazy, and how they can enjoy the benefits of success as long as they have patient and supportive family members who will help maintain an environment for growth, practice, and occasional appropriate praise, and then, placed on a refrigerator for perusing and meditation each day, as one reaches for the vitamins that sustain the body but not the soul--like paint and canvas and the smell of medium and good Blues music wailing from the boom box in the studio. Whew! (Gee, I love a run-on sentence now and again...) Actual credit to Malcom Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success.But, I digress.
This painting is of an area near Molino Basin at the base of Mount Lemmon. It's about forty minutes from my home. It's a great spot to see the transition between the desert and the Catalina mountains. It is 9" x 12," on canvas. Again, I am attempting to start with the image and then react to how the landscape influences my mood.
12 comments:
Hi Melinda,
Love this. I feel like I've flown
over this very scene on my way to California, although that probably isn't true. What I mean is that it
completely evokes place, and yet is
yours in every way unique. Aren't you
great!
xoxoxoxBarbara
Thank God that you didn't digress from painting this today, and caught your breath long enough to put brush to canvas, Melinda. It's beautiful, and the world needs more beauty, every day, more.
Hi Barbara,
You're very kind. This was so much harder than it looks--to paint. My new process seems to be:
Choose image
Paint reasonable facsimile thereof
Get angry with said image
Moosh around with brushes, Q-tips, rags and gloves
Get happy with result
Not very masterly, but I'm learning stuff!
Funny, Edgar. Thank you. The world does need more beauty and I'm working as often as I can. Hope you'll post again soon. That watercolor is looking really sparkly.
Fabulous.
The little pieces of color remind me of confetti.
"A little bit crazy..." -- hee hee.
Hi Jala,
I like the confetti reference. Didn't even think of that. Cool.
Aren't all artists a little bit crazy?!
Melinda, this piece reminds me a lot of how Thiebaud painted the Sacramento farm areas in the 1990's. Space/distance/locale, and yet also flat abstractions of color next to color, paint stroke next to paint stroke. I love that kind of dual identity in an image.
And I like your process. Very streamlined. :)
Thank you, Karen! Very high praise, indeed. Thiebaud is one of my favorite painters and I would love to paint with ease in this manner.
Streamlined, eh?! What a nice way of putting it.
Bold, bold brush work. I like. (I'm not as eloquent as you tonight). Your new process is working for you. Keep it up!
Some days I can hardly string together a three word sentence. I can sympathize completely---especially late at night when I start mixing up names!
This new 'process' is fun as long as step three isn't too intense...
Thank you, Silvina. I hope you know how wonderful you are as an artist, well, and as all of the roles you play in your life. I hope you are able to delegate more with the art community you're developing.
I'm out of breath here - I can hardly keep up with this fabulous stuff that's coming off the end of your brush!
That purple mountain is mind-blowingly good (and don't get me started on the blue shadows:o)
As you noted in a previous posting, you certainly feel the landscape speaking to you.
Hey, who knows,one day I too might venture into stage #4 and perhaps even join you on that sunny peak of stage #5!
Hi David,
Oh, my! I'm so glad you stopped by and that the work is expressive, even on screen.
It is like practicing on a musical instrument during which you may think to yourself, "Will I ever get it? Will I ever breakthrough and sound half way decent?" Then one day, something clicks and you play really well and get a big smile on your face.
A sense of freedom, a sense of flying shifts your thinking and there you are, hoping to do that again.
Gonna keep traveling this path for awhile and want to post in detail about it soon.
Thank you for your enthusiastic support. It is food for my art soul.
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