A Little Distraction, Part 2

I'm now comfortably ensconced in my new, temporary digs - although the studio isn't quite ready yet. But, in the time leading up to my move since my last blog, I did manage to do a little work.... the results shown here. Talk about 'a little distraction'!! Moving disrupts EVERYTHING; even the IDEA of painting. The worst part, or best, depending on your point of view, is that I'm still floating! I STILL have no idea where or what is next. And every time I try to be efficient and 'organize' it to happen, well, it just falls through - no matter WHERE I try to make my next home. An example: I spent a week in LeRouret, in the Cote d'Azur (a favorite part of the world to be sure...) in late April. I planned the trip, thinking that it would be a 'home' scouting trip; meeting with a few key people about possible caretaking positions, looking at VERY cheap places to perhaps purchase by some miracle (well outside the magic circle around Nice and Cannes), etc. Every time I set out, I felt overwhelmed. I got lost (ask my friends - I never really get lost, and if I do, I love the adventure of finding my way out), was stopped by torrential downpours, or landslides (seriously!)and the meetings fell through, bar the last night's in St. Agnes. I fought against this every day.... and every day, I'd come to the fact that I needed to just keep 'working', looking for paintings in the landscape and the people around me, letting the magic of the place bring the answers, solutions and people who may show the way, to me. Even on the very last day, when a long trip to Fontan was planned, with an invitation to a party outside St. Agnes that afternoon/evening to finish off the day and trip, I had to rethink my goals for the day....turned around by a landslide. The only way up to Sospel and then Fontan was through Italy, or back toward Nice and back up. I took a big breath, looked at a map, and found that I really wanted to just stay in the area around St. Agnes. I ended up driving a bit more into the hills, found the old village, parked the car and walked. Photos, visions of paintings, breathing in the warmth of the air and the smell of the wild rosemary and thyme among other things, and looking down the slope to the town of Montan and the sea beyond. I read, and met new people much later, all within a stones throw of that same village, and came away feeling more settled than I'd felt in a week. More right. I'm sure there will be paintings coming out of that trip... I've just not had time to absorb it since my return in early May. I've another, longer trip planned back to LeRouret and the Cote d'Azur in Mid-July, and I'll just sketch, explore, photograph, and perhaps paint pleinaire if I can get my paints there in a timely manner. Last time I shipped them (and early), the paints didn't arrive for nearly 2 weeks into my planned 3 week housesit! So we'll see; but, I plan to just BE while I'm there. Plan to allow my soul to speak to me and let the paintings happen and the life happen. I realize that I AM already in this transitional phase, and my job is to be in it and recognize that it is still my life, my work, and I will find my way through the maze. I only have to listen.

A Little Distraction

Hello! Since my last writing, a lot has happened that made me think about the difficulties of being a self-employed painter. I have been given notice that my house/studio of 10 years is about to become a holiday-let (pay attention guys - you too may want to stay in this delightful house one day!) As of June 1, 2013, I will be once again on the road, so to speak. I'm choosing to look at this challenge as a soft shove out the door to embrace the next direction my life will take; a challenge that life has become too comfortable, once again! I've felt it coming for some time, written about it even! And the 'floating' I did this past winter was well placed! It seems, so far, that I'm choosing between finding a way to stay in Glenfinnan or leaping into the void, and finding a place for me, my horse and cat to live and work in the south of France! The problem is, how to keep creating in the midst of all the chaos, anger, frustration, and especially fear that accompanies such moments in life, regardless of one's possibly enlightened viewpoint! It feels like life has been chaotic since notice was given, and that its a small miracle that I've been able to paint at all! I did manage to finish the Biot painting (among a few others); and, as promised I'm showing you that, along with others I managed to complete before life's distractions derailed me once again! Along the way, a very dear friend took me to Iona (one of the inner Hebridean Islands of Scotland, not far from Glenfinnan); always a magical place of peace and discovery for me! Best part this time was that I was able to do a small pleinaire painting on the beach one day. Sitting in the sand painting, cursing the wind, enjoying the sun, taking loads of photos, and loving every minute of the day! The result is at the top of this note! All this brings me to the title of this blog: A Little Distraction! And how difficult it is to keep painting through all of life's trials, challenges, and celebrations; and, how important it is to do just that - KEEP PAINTING - and yet, be kind and accept the need to run around like a chicken with its head cut off!!! For 3 weeks now I've looked at a canvas, drawn on and ready to receive paint, and have been too distracted or afraid to touch it, even though I KNOW it will help ground me, help me to hear the whispers of the universe! The short weekend at Iona just last week helped ground me, and now I do everything I can to be around the painting (even if its reading a short novel) so that one minute I'll be able to just pick up the brushes and START!

Light

We all know that one of the most important things for any artist is light. Before anything else, I believe its the light that I see, then the color, sound, feel of a place, person, scene that makes me want to paint it. Then, once back in the studio - since I live in a place where pleinaire work is difficult to do, due to the weather - I need to recreate that light on the canvas. I'm saying all this, because since my last blog, I lost 2.5 weeks due to the dreaded flu, then of course, the dry, cold, sun that was present most of the time I was ill, disappeared. And I've been attempting to work for the past few days, even with daylight bulbs, on a painting from the Cote d'Azur. I need to feel the heat, hear the cicadas, as well as come up with the right light on the canvas. Difficult, when the daylight outside approximate's about 4pm all day..... I'm proceeding, slowly, with this painting; but, I've got to make sure that the street scene from Biot has Biot light, rather than rainy Scottish day light! I realized I wanted to talk about this light, this need to remember a quality of light I've not FELT in nearly a year when I sat and looked at the painting and screamed ,"aargh!" at my frustration about how slowly this complicated little painting is actually going! Part of me says, "ok already! I've watched enough NCIS/NCIS LA/HAWAII 5-O, read enough trashy novels for a lifetime! Its time to let it flow....!" Forget the fact that it IS flowing....just slower than I'd like. (Again, the puritan work ethic!) Next blog you read will include the finished piece. Among others - since this creative slow streak is also creating a backlog of sweet little paintings itching to come out!

GLENFINNAN OCTOBER, 12 x 16 in., oil on board, £1,250.00

Floating

Autumn Days on the Mhuidhe, 16 x 24 in., oil on canvas, £2,000.00 This post's title, FLOATING, is about the state of mind I've been in since finishing the painting above. Clarity is what I began with in November, and once the painting was done in early Dec., I found myself floating - like in a warm ocean, calm, waiting for the clarity to jell, and inspiration to find itself once again. I think I've been floating for about 6 weeks, not all that long, but long enough! While I'm not swimming hard yet, I'm taking a few exploratory breast strokes as I look around with interest and begin to engage again. Its not been easy, this floating.... the puritain work ethic is strong in me, and I always find it difficult to 'allow' these quiet times - so necessary in my creative life! Finishing this painting that was begun in October - before my trip to the USA - was part of the journey into floating.... I hope you enjoy it! Now for the next hurdle, to uncover the paints again, and begin to let out all the stored energy of the last 6 weeks. GAIL

Trail to Pienmeanach, 12 x 16 in., oil on board, £1,250.00

FOCUS!

New work to show, all a result of my slowly recovering focus on my painting! I'm fluctuating back and forth between Scotland and France - still seeking sunshine. Seeking light! Slight interruptions by suddenly active B&B, but definitely feeling the muse lately! I offer two paintings - one from each. The Allt Thuim Summer painting is a summer view from a favorite spot I've worked from before; but this time, seeking green and light rather than muted reds and browns and drama. Valbonne Square speaks for itself. A lovely place to sit and absorbe the sun (I was there in March, with a horrid cold....nothing like trying to fit in and be part of the fabric of a place, dripping and sneezing and pretending you don't have a fever at all....). But there, with my perfect salad and glass of wine, I forgot my woes and enjoyed watching the people, the light, the action of this lovely, favorite square.

New Beginnings, Again!

I am back at the easel again. Really didn't start again until March, and even then its been slow! But I took another inspirational trip to the South of France at the End of March, after spending 3 weeks painting fairly solidly! Illness, grief, and trying to find my way back to the easel slowed me; but now I'm back. Truly. the first painting I did only last month (June), was a lovely landscape overlooking Les Ardrets all the way across to Le Corniche! That painting sold before it was dry! I've also begun a newsletter - which will hopefully bring my clients around the world closer to my studio through the medium of the internet! I'm also searching.....searching for my next project! While I love painting ceilidhs and Scottish landscapes, love painting in France, I still feel like I'm casting about for an anchor like the one CEILIDH! provided for me here in Glenfinnan, and like WALTZ ACROSS TEXAS provided for me when I launched as a full-time artist! Perhaps it will be in Morocco, or even something closer to home.... I'm open to whever direction my heart and feet take me!

Before and After

I've been absent for a number of months. 2011 was the year of tremendous ups and downs, most marked by, first of all, the final illness and death of my beloved Mother, which spanned about 4 months. I continued to work until I had to leave for the final visit, when she died; but haven't touched a brush or written since. It has felt right to sit in silence for awhile. But now, it seems, I may be ready to emerge once again. Now, I believe the painting will help the healing. And so we begin again - a different person than the one who sat at my Mom's bed.