“Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is more people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman
These violets were originally posted last month as an ink and watercolour sketch here.
Go do that
encouragement
Joyous
“The most joyous painting is not done for the art world, it is done for the inner world.” Michael Leunig
The quote is from Holy Fool, a wonderful book crammed full of Michael Leunig’s art ― not his cartoons but his playful, colourful, joyful paintings and drawings. Highly recommended.
Promises
I’m currently working on an abstract landscape commission but the big reveal will have to wait until my client sees it. She has asked for it to be a surprise and so I can’t even post the WIPs here because there’s a very good chance she’ll see them.
During the meanwhile, here’s a poem I wrote more than twenty years ago that I rediscovered yesterday…
The Christchurch Art Show
The Christchurch Art Show has come and gone… and what a fantastic event it was!
It was a privilege to be part of such a wonderful event. I met a lot of very talented artists and spent the weekend surrounded by beautiful art, quirky and unusual art, colourful and inspirational art…
We set everything up on Thursday afternoon. The installation went mostly according to plan with only a few minor adjustments (I was given a corner spot and had to swap the panels over so that my table, portfolio and business cards were on the right, see below). The plan continued to evolve over the weekend.
Opening night was a lot of fun — wine, cheese, good conversation — and the three (long) show days ended up going by very quickly. I was thrilled to discover that The New Zealand Artist magazine posted a photo of me and my work on their Facebook page. I’ve made dozens of new artist friends, I must’ve spoken to hundreds of people, and I even sold a couple of paintings while I was there. Yes, I’m very happy with my first art show.
The exhibition plan wasn’t the only thing that evolved over the weekend… I went from feeling like the new kid on the first day of school (will they like me? will I fit in?) to having a real sense of belonging. Going into the weekend was like coming to the high point of a very steep learning curve. I’m now buzzing with ideas and entertaining all sorts of possibilities : )
My thanks to you all for your kind words and encouragement and for supporting me on my big adventure. And yes, I’ve already started planning for next year’s show. First thing’s first though, I really need to catch up on some sleep.
Nobody is watching
“Paint like nobody is watching and paint like you don’t need any money.” John Ferrie
Begin it now
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” W. H. Murray
As I mentioned last week, I’ve started preparing for this year’s Christchurch Art Show. It will be my first exhibition* and all artworks will be for sale. I’ll be surrounded by talented artists and awesome art (there’s a video of last year’s event on their website) and I’m a little nervous about it ― but when the opportunity presented itself last year (a nice lady from the show contacted me, having seen my work on this blog, and suggested that I apply), it seemed like the right ‘next step’ for me and my art. I’m now doing my best not to stress about it but I have quite a few large and large-ish canvases I need to paint in order to have enough work for the four-day exhibition. I’m telling myself: one painting at a time… and the show isn’t until June…
‘Warm Night, Southern Sky’ is the first of those canvases ― one down, (at least) six more to go.
THE CHRISTCHURCH ART SHOW 11th–14th June 2015
Tickets on sale now : )
My thanks to Kathie Pugaczewski for making me aware of the W. H. Murray quote.
This is the second time I’ve used my ‘red sky at night’ photograph as a reference for a painting. The first was an ink and watercolour sketch (click here to see the post).
* Strictly speaking, I have had student exhibitions and I did take my work to a mini market last year — this event, however, is much (much) bigger. And scarier. Onward and upward.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 