Unpacking The Evolution of Learning and Mastery of the Creative Act

It’s nearly ten weeks since I returned from Spain. That first night, with my essentials... contacts and glasses in my purse… I left my suitcase unopened, turned on the tv to missed episodes of The Good Wife and after twenty-five hours of being up, went to sleep in my own bed. Four hours of jet lag later, I woke and began to unpack the trip.

The bag exploded all over my living room with sock and underpant shrapnel everywhere. Laundry was folded and put away before the end of the day. I refilled my pallets with paint, my board with watercolor paper and repacked my easel, tripod, brushes, clips and other tools into my backpack ready for the next outing.

Between loads of wash and calls with family, an impromptu lunch for four of us on my patio that included a couple bottles of wine, a salad bar salad and a rotisserie chicken, I’d told the headlines of my trip four times. Each opened pockets with souvenirs of ideas still to uncover… traveling alone... with a group, the meaning of art and painting, unscheduled time and talent, my talent.   

I loved the trip. I learned so much from the leader, Timothy J. Clark. I'm aware now of how much I need to learn about the art world and how it works. His presence, knowledge, accomplishments are driving me to learn more. 

Since then, I’ve taken a figure drawing class, which Tim highly recommended for me to learn to draw accurately. Lucky me, I stumbled on the right teacher. Did you ever see a painter hold up a brush and seem to measure? That's about accuracy. The first thing Stuart Fullerton gave us in his class was a stick to measure and check to make sure the figure on the paper aligned with the figure we saw. 

For any trained artist reading this, it must sound, Duh. It is. But I now know I want to learn the fundamentals, not just paint because it feels good to paint. That's what I really learned in Spain. I don't want  a park district understanding of painting and art. Tim opened my eyes to the difference, though there is nothing like getting lost in painting. For me, when I'm lost it it, it's an expansion of that moment when I hit the water when diving or the minutes after an O. And, then, the thinking starts again and I wish the colors weren't as muddy or the lines a little straighter or whatever. 

I'm committed to getting in my 10,000 hours, so I'm using up ink, paper, paints and panels daily. In the past week, I did a pen and ink at Wrigley Field and painted at the Emily Oaks Nature Center in Skokie. I've sketched at the Historical Society Gardenin Glencoe, along the Lake in Highwood, on the train, as well as a scene of a pine tree and ball field lights that I see from the platform every time I take the train. I've taken that same picture more than 60 times, in my own OCD Monet way to watch the shadows and position of the sun throughout the year. 

After lunch that first Sunday, after my company left,  I threw my backpack in the car and did a quick painting by The Lake. I was up again the next morning when I heard about dense thick fog and went back to the same spot. In the ten weeks since, I made a switch from watercolor to oils. I've taken two, two-day plein air workshops, one from Stuart another from Errol Jacobson and a one day program from Don Yang during an Urban Sketchers of Chicago Workshop.  I join the weekly Plein Air Painters of Chicago through the Palette and Chisel most Saturdays and try to sketch daily. 

At some point, I will find my voice in my art.  I have a pile of watercolor paintings seven inches thick that I've done over the last couple years. There is not one in that pile that I would show anyone... or, that i like. Something's happened though with using oils. In my own estimation, I've ascribed to the Cub's Coach mantra, "Try not to suck today." I'm making progress. I figure I am about a quarter of the way to the 10,000 hours. My oils don't suck and my vacation is still with me. 

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This is another in what is becoming a series on creative practice. The earlier ones were written over the last fifteen months and speak specifically to what I've encountered and learned, but, I suspect that nearly all my posts are about my own creative process. 

Self Confidence and the Uphill Climb of Learning a New Craft

Dabbling is my Creative Process

A Poem - Tipping Point: Art

There is a moment, 

Especially on weekend mornings

When I've watched a video-demo or two, 

Scrolled through posts and pins on  
watercolor, sketching and plein air painting,

When (like having a running start) I
Just gotta get up and do it myself.

I go to the bathroom, pee, brush my teeth, maybe shower and line my eyes,

When, I have another idea.

I make espresso, grab a yogurt, add some walnuts, 

then see out the window a squirrel (yes, cliche’ all the way), hungrier than me. 

So, I take and toss the remaining nut shards

into a concrete valentine water dish beneath his tree. And,

With the last plop,

I notice the tiniest of scenes.

Two crooks in the tree

with a bark that reminds me of the worst of acne,

and snow that looks more like the kind that comes from spray cans

and all in a hint of winter shadow.

I grab my small Moleskine sketchbook

(because this is only to commemorate a very small scene),

my favorite Deluxe Micro Uni-ball pen

And put lines and more lines down.

Though in the time I’ve taken to finish the sketch,

write about the moment I was moved to sketch

but ate breakfast instead,

and saw a squirrel, fed it, and drew where I placed its food,

I never see the squirrel again. Yet,

I still feel pretty good about the morning.

Tipping Point: Art
Mary Longe
1/30/16

Have you gotten way-laid and eventually ended up exactly where you wanted to be?

Oliver Sacks, Santana, Septuagenarians and Sketching... Inspiring

Need inspiration for writing, for finding your passion, for contributing?  Oliver Sacks wrote right up to the end and has several unpublished pieces that will be aired in due time. The photo on his Facebook page of him writing, paper in air haunts me.

Yesterday I talked with a septuagenarian who is applying for an MFA starting in Fall 2016. On Friday I had dinner with a man, about the same age, who has multiple marathons in 24 States wearing out the treads of his tennies and plans to get the other 26 completed including Pikes Peak, between the ones he's doing in other countries. If you follow Nancy Camden, you'll read and hear on her Spotting Wisconsin posts about her rides with the octogenarians who pedal on beyond her impressive range.  Oh, and last night, I saw 1947 born, Carlos Santana play from 7:30-10:00 nonstop!


I am completely inspired by this long view of life. It's so easy to shut down with aches and pains and to buy into "retirement"  as not living fully.  Yesterday, inspired, maybe a bit afraid that I've waited too long, I rode my bike to an art fair and took a longer way home, after sketching the scene.

I am grateful this Monday morning for good health and people who show me the way.

Sacks photo from Facebook, bike photo from Spotting Wisconsin. The others are mine.