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Here are some warm weather inspired paintings I currently have available. Send me a comment to purchase. Happy viewing!
Works for Spring
Gallery
Tag Archives: Artist
How to Fill a Rainy Afternoon
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Or “Paintin’ in the Bathtub” (that should be sung to the tune of “Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room”).
In the end the shower looked a little like a screen shot from Psycho, but with a much higher adorability factor and a negative scary factor.
Long strange trip
“I hate technology,” I say as I type on my iPad, posting to a blog that people all over the world can read. The truth is that I don’t hate it, I hate relying on it and I hate when it doesn’t work right. Ironically (or is it coincidentally?) between the first sentence and now I actually switched from typing on my iPad to using my “real” computer because my iPad wasn’t cooperating. I’m pretty certain it’s smirking at me right now.
I haven’t posted in ages because my *ahem* blessed computer wouldn’t detect my camera when I attempted to load photos from my camera to the computer. No pictures on computer = no pictures on blog = why would you bother unless you’re just reading this for my charming wit? Maybe I just need to embrace technology MORE fully and have a fancy phone that takes good enough pictures that I can skip the camera all together, but I’m just not ready for that commitment to technology. I mean, who knows when all this computer stuff will just all blow over and we’ll be back to yelling at each other through tin cans and a string?
For the moment, my computer and camera have decided to speak to each other, so here are a few things I wanted to share with you, but couldn’t:
Seriously!? While waiting for my phtos to upload to my blog I went outside to bury some baby birds (one of the many stories I have for you) and came back in to find that my computer was just blank… black screen, no response, will not turn back on. So, now I’m back on my iPad… which again wasn’t cooperating and I finally managed to get my computer back on. So, now I’m on my computer AGAIN. This is ridiculous.
Dandelion in the process of “puffing.” Literally an hour later it was a dandelion puff. Pretty cool, huh?
What a long strange trip it’s been from the beginning of this post to now, so I will leave you with this peaceful picture and the promise that if you do not hear from me soon it’s nothing personal, it’s just that my computer has destroyed me.
Love is a verb
Like any older house that has had multiple owners, there are things about my home that just don’t make sense. Why are there bricks buried the in the backyard? What does this non-functional light switch go to? Why did they put that there and this here and do this that way? These idiosyncrasies are at times frustrating (to say the least) and I forget to notice the things about the house that I love.
“Golden Afternoon”
watercolor on paper
But in the afternoon the yard turns golden and the shade from old hardwoods make it 10 degrees cooler than the actual temperature and I’m reminded that loving a house is just like loving anyone or anything else. Love is a verb. Once I stop complaining and start repairing, enjoying, and tending I fall in love all over again.
New Season, New Inspiration
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I have been LOVING the weather here! Yes, spring in Alabama means pollen galore, but it also means pretty weeds that I like to call art. 🙂
I’ve been Spring cleaning my house, revamping and cleaning my studio (more on that HUGE undertaking soon) and, without even realizing it, cleaning up my paintings. My craving for open space and simplicity has carried over into these tiny paintings I’ve been doing, inspired by daily jaunts in our backyard with my toddling co-explorer.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
It had to be done. I’ve done it before, but it always stings a little. I sanded down part of my painting. That’s one advantage of working on metal. Mistakes can literally be removed. It takes some work, though, physically and mentally. Eeek…
Splits and Hurdles
In a yoga class this morning the instructor announced that we would be doing splits today. Excuse me? She wasn’t talking about banana splits. She meant real, my-body-doesn’t-do-that splits. Amid everyone’s protests she reminded us that in yoga, as in many things in life, it’s the journey that counts.
I’ve been craving instant gratification in another area. This picture:
What is it with me and almost impossible pine cones??
which I feel will NEVER be finished. I can’t slide down into the splits and I can’t snap my fingers and make this painting finished. And if I could, what then? New poses that I can’t automatically do and new paintings the I can’t finish in a session.
Little by little I can work towards difficult poses and little by little I can conquer difficult paintings. I may never be able to fully do the splits, but my body will still benefit from mindful and careful attempts. I may never be a wildly successful and famous artist, but I will still benefit from daily brush strokes. There’s a reason why yoga is referred to as a “practice,” perhaps I should think of painting as a practice, too.
When in Doubt
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Just paint something…
Bodies in Motion…
…stay in motion.
This is what went through my mind the other day when, as I was running with my little sidekick in her jogging stroller a neighbor said, “You have so much energy!” I laughed (a sort of panting, half laugh), but the fact of the matter is that I exercise in order to have energy. It’s a vicious cycle, but the less I exercise, the less I feel like exercising, so the less I exercise, so the less I feel like exercising, etc. I’m sure you all know what I mean. As I ran along thinking this it occurred to me that creativity is the same way. If I’m creating, I’m constantly inspired and ideas seem to flow. If, however, I sit around waiting for inspiration it never comes and my well runs dry.
In painting, as in exercising, there are days when I feel like I just don’t have it in me. However, I’ve realized I very rarely feel better because I “rested.” Instead I usually feel annoyed with myself, short-tempered, off-center. So, on the days when painting seems like a monumental task (because anything you’re committed to will, at times, be hard work), I tell myself I’m just going to “show up.” I savor the ritual of laying out my paints on my palette; I dab at my colors, mixing, experimenting; I touch up just this tiny section. Usually, by this point, either I’m feeling better and back in my element, or I’ve uncovered the real source of my resistance (“I hate this subject,” or, “I’m bored with this size,” or often, “I’m scared I won’t be able to pull this off.”).
You’re allowed to walk. You’re allowed to take it easy. You’re allowed to have off days. The important thing is to keep moving.
Excitement is Subjective
This picture is not worth 1000 words… because you don’t know what you’re looking at! I’m excited and I’ll tell you why. This is my painting (in progress). This is my painting stuff. This is not my painting studio. This is my kitchen. Still not excited, huh? Let me explain.
I’m really big on the idea that work begets work and creating breeds more inspiration, etc. It also seems to me that people manage to make time for the things that they really want to make time for. (I think that last sentence was grammatically wrong. Forgive me.) Anyway, lately I have not been practicing what I preach. I’ve been feeling very uninspired. I’ve dragged myself into my studio hoping to lose myself in my painting, only to realize that I’m hopping up over and over to do some forgotten household chore or check my email (as if I ever get anything THAT urgent!). Then ended up feeling a strange mixture of frustration and relief when my little girl’s nap is over and thus my painting time has ended. I’ve griped that I haven’t had time to paint when, in reality I was just wasting the little time I had.
Today, though, I decided enough was enough! Out of my studio where lately I’ve felt isolated and down. Into my kitchen. And guess what. The change of scene did wonders. Not only for my attitude, but also for my painting which, after some concentrated attention, looks like it may turn out nicely after all. Here’s a close-up (with a little too much light on it. Turns out the kitchen is a better place for painting than it is for photographing paintings. Oh well. Can’t have it all):
Remember- It’s still in progress!
What about you? Any simple change make a big change in your attitude lately? Any changes need to be made? Just do it!
ErinHardinArt 