Feel the Frustration (and do it anyway)

Easter Sunrise over Atlantic Beach

How lovely to sit expectantly at the edge of the sea, watching the sky change colors every moment as the sun rises out of the ocean. How exciting to wait for the perfect moment to begin painting. How breathtaking, inspiring and frustrating!

I realized on this Easter morning that each day, I attempt the impossible. I get up before dawn, try to accurately time my arrival at the beach, find the perfect parking spot, ready my paint box, mix the colors I predict will appear in the sky and wait for the perfect moment to begin painting. I feel the thrill of each color as it appears in the morning sky and transforms into another color before my eyes. Within 15 minutes the sky turns from indigo to bright white daylight, displaying every color in the rainbow (some that I can't even identify: Pinkey-orange? Bluish-yellow?) as the sun makes it's way over the horizon. Clouds appear, transform, change color and are blown away as others take their place. It's a phantasmagoria! How can I even attempt to paint that?

It's enough to make me want to give up this silly endeavor. Who can paint the sky as it changes from second to second? Not me! Better painters than I have attempted it - who do I think I am?

Every day I want to give up! It seems like a dumb idea to start the day with an activity that makes you feel like a failure before you've even begun and it feels like hubris to even attempt it.

I could take a gorgeous photograph each morning, come home to my cozy studio and work from that. I could take hours to duplicate what was in the sky at one particular moment. I could, but where's the challenge, where's the thrill in that?

I know some of my skyscapes are decent paintings; when I get them home and am not comparing them to the actual sky, I even like some of them. But none of them even begin to capture what is in front of my eyes each morning as I survey what God is creating. I feel His effortlessness, the ease with which He creates, His grace. He breathes the sky into being.

God paints with light - my paints are made from earthly pigments - from dirt. How can light be painted with dirt? How can colors made from dirt ever approach colors made from light?

The gap between this effortlessness and my struggle is a chasm I cannot bridge.
It is the gap between God's perfection and my imperfection.

When I was younger, I had a theory: that when artists die and go to Heaven, they get to take turns creating the sunrises and sunsets. Sometimes, I think I can identify whose turn it was today. Monet paints the soft, fuzzy, pastel skies. Van Gogh and Gaughin the more colorfully dramatic.

I want to paint with a thought, a breath, by pointing a finger and sweeping it across the sky to paint orangey-pink clouds on an azure sky.I like to imagine it will be that easy when its my turn to paint from a Heavenly vantage point.

Until then, I won't give up. I'll struggle with my earthly pigments as I continue to be amazed, awed and humbled before Heavenly events.


Carry on, fellow artists, carry on.

Warning! Painting Can Be Habit-Forming: The Sunrise Project

Sky #21 - the one that seals the deal
©2012 Jaime Howard

It has been said that it takes 21 days to form a habit.

In the interest of good habit cultivation, I've been painting the morning sky since Feb.4. Taking a few mornings off for overcast skies, we have arrived at...(drum roll, please)...Sky#21! 

I must warn you - the painting of skies can be highly addictive. I have to confess that I'm hooked. This habit is so addictive that only fifteen minutes a day has made me into a hopeless painting junkie.


I wake up while it's still dark, craving to see the sunrise. The irresistible urge to see what's happening in the morning sky gets me out of bed before the crack of dawn.

Atlantic Beach Sunrise
©2012 Jaime Howard

Now, I'm taking my addiction even further. 

I've taken to driving to the beach, where the entire show is on display along the  horizon. It's a wonderful way to start the morning, watching the day begin.

 We all have a lot of habits, some good, some questionable. 
It amazes me that it took such a small amount of time and effort to help form a habit that so enriches my life.

 

It's a new day!

 

What could you commit to doing that would feed your creativity for just fifteen minutes each day?


You get a fresh chance every morning.

The Value of Just a Little

It takes 21 days to change a habit or establish a new one. To that end, I've been rising early to paint the sky for 3 weeks now.

Feb. 16, 2012

It's just a small commitment - 15 minutes every morning devoted to painting the small section of sky outside my front window. This small change has made a big difference in the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of each day. How could this be?

By committing to painting each morning for only 15 minutes, creative momentum is established - a jump-start for the rest of the day.
With this small action, I'm reminded that first, I'm an artist. I have a sense of well-being when I remember who I am.


After I can be a teacher, bookkeeper, mom, wife, or whatever other hat I have to wear that day. Speaking of the "wife and mom" hats, when I don't paint, I get cranky. I spent years cranky and out-of-sorts because I felt that taking time out of my life to be an artist would be a selfish thing to do. I'll admit it - I felt like a martyr and acted like one. Now, I know that when I take the time to be selfish, the everyone in my life benefits.  

Feb. 23, 2012

Painting is becoming easier. I'm not "rusty" each morning. I paint the same patch of sky every day, yet it's never the same, so I don't get bored.

From this morning jump-start, I find it easier to paint later in the day. They say that whatever you keep track of gets better, so I've been marking the calendar (I love to give myself gold stars) for each time I paint. Since Feb. 5, I have awarded myself 17 stars! Some days, the sky is grey and no sky painting is done, but the habit prevails and I just work on something else. I have about 5 paintings going at a time, so there is always something to do.

One small step, one good decision, one small commitment, has led to more productivity, which generates more creativity, more ideas, and more excitement about the creative process and my place it all of it.


Take the time to create and should you be tempted to feel selfish or guilty, remember this old saying and insert your name:


"If (your name here) ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."


 

Early Morning Skies

 Greetings fellow art lovers who live under the sky.

Of all the habits that I nurture - the good ones and the not-so-good, 

Getting Up at 6 am to Paint the Sky 
is my current favorite.

I admit that each morning when my phone alarm starts its insistent chirping in the dark, I reconsider my decision, but I get up anyway because a week of painting just 30 minutes each morning has taught me so much.


I've learned that creativity doesn't require gobs of time! Painting the sky as it brightens up to create the day is a self-limiting endeavor.

At 6 am it's still dark. By 7 am the show is over and I'm done!


I learned that painting is what I'm here to do. Every cell in my body does a happy dance while the sky puts on a show, taunting me to paint faster - that cloud won't be there in a few seconds and that rosy orange will turn to aquamarine.

 I've learned to paint fast and in the dark. 


I've learned an easy way to practice what I preach - that to nurture your creativity, you must create something every day.


They say a habit, good or bad, takes about 21 days to form. I'm looking forward to the next 14 days, and I don't want to miss the show.

Morning Adventures

 6:15 to 6:30 am

6:30 to 6:45 am

Did you ever have a big adventure from 6:15 to 6:45 am?

Ever the early riser, I’m often at my desk checking email before dawn. I sip coffee and watch the day begin outside the picture window. I can see a swatch of sky over the house across the street and most mornings I gaze at it sleepily and say to myself, “that’s so pretty – look how fast the sky changes – I should paint that…”

During the Painting the Region: Color the Coast Paintout last fall, my artist pals, Kelly Medford, Elizabeth Ferber and I had the best of the painter’s world – a house on the beach. Each morning for a week, we woke before dawn, scrambled to set up our easels in the dark, and painted from the porch as the sun came up over the Atlantic Ocean. The wind whipped our nightgowns and hair around and at times blew the canvas right off the easels! We painted furiously as the sky changed colors right before our eyes. No fancy mixing of just the right hues – no plotting and planning the composition – just reacting with our paint and brushes to the scene before us, laughing and painting in the darkness. It was a great adventure.

The paintout ended, the artists went home and I went back to work. Each morning I remember how much fun we had that week. I gaze at the sky over the house across the street and bemoan the fact that since I have a job teaching others to paint and draw (poor me!) I don’t have time to paint.

This morning, instead of sleepily watching that patch of sky, sighing and wishing that my life were that exciting more often, I did something about it. I painted that sky – twice. Two paintings in the space of thirty minutes!

The sky outside my window changes colors as I paint – a beautiful and inspiring challenge. Hold on – that pink wasn’t there a second ago!

No more excuses – I am a painter and I shall paint. I’ll keep the adventure alive in my heart. Stay tuned for the results - a peek at the skies over Jacksonville while the sun is rising.

 PRINCESS SIMPSON RASHID -

THE ART OF SCIENCE

"Each painting is an experiment in which to investigate how pigments can be used to induce a sense of rhythm and energy." 

Princess Simpson Rashid

 Have you ever been invited to an artist reception at the Museum of Science and History? 

How about a painting demo in the museum Science Lab?

Last night at MOSH, art and science merged in an exciting and interactive presentation by scientist, artist and Renaissance woman, Princess Rashid.

The audience was happy to help plan the painting

Princess, an artist with roots in Jacksonville, now living in Tampa, gave an engaging presentation, starting with the premise that art = science. Her vibrant work often incorporates math formulas and the periodic table of elements presented in a way that will lure even math and science haters. 
Many of these works grace the lobby of the museum.

Princess explained her process

 

Let the painting begin!

Fueled by artistic energy and loud music, Princess invited us to "make some marks" on her large canvas to start the process of her painting.

Then, with water, liquid acrylic paints and dynamic brushwork, she transformed our marks into the basis of a large and beautiful abstract design. 

"Finished for now"

Clear tar gel combined with pthalo blue liquid acrylic and dripped from the brush added the "punctuation" near the end of the piece.

Princess' love of paint and process was directly conveyed to the canvas. Her mission to meld art and science

made the presentation educational and fun!

Thanks, Princess, for an evening we won't soon forget.

Princess Rashid's website 
Princess Rashid's Blog

Go See the Jacksonville Watercolor Society Show!

The JWS annual juried members' show opened yesterday at the 
St. Augustine Art Association and a beautiful show it is! Over sixty works grace the walls of the Art Association. Quite a large crowd attended, despite the rainy and windy weather.
It was most exciting to be there to support three of my students who are members of the JWS, along with their watercolor instructor, my friend, Ruth Bamberg. 

Laurie, Cheryl and Marti

 

 

Cheryl, Ruth, Marti

Back row:

Laurie and Hercel (Grand Prize winner!)

It was wonderful to reconnect with Hercel Stallard, of Hercel Stallard Studios, who was the big winner of the day with his lovely painting, Fly Fisherman. Hercel has been teaching watercolor students in the north Florida area for many years, conducting regular classes, workshops and painting trips. Watching Hercel and painting with him inspired a love of watercolor in me as it has many other students over the years. 

 Cheryl with her entry - Manatees

 After a lovely afternoon at the show, we discovered I had locked the keys in the car! Yes, it was my fault!
Here is Jeff, posing as the disgusted husband, waiting for AAA Road Service
to come and unlock the car for us.
Really, he was only posing.

In between pacing around, peering down the road for the AAA truck and shivering (did I mention it was a windy, rainy day), I took advantage of our great parking spot right on the waterfront to take a photo of a pirate ship! 
If you have the chance, go see the JWS Show - it's amazing how beautiful
and varied watercolor can be.

SKIES OVER JACKSONVILLE

Determined to keep up the momentum from the Painting the Region plein air 
event, I've been out painting several times in the last few weeks.

This past week, Bruce Ann Ferguson and I met at Mayport Little Jetties. When I arrived, she was well into a large sky painting and since the sky was truly lovely that morning, I jumped into one as well.

Here's a reference photo I took to show the drama of the values.

Morning at Mayport, oil on panel, 8x10"©2011 Jaime Howard

Here's the painting done on sight that
day (not from the photo). 
Now that they're side by side, I can see that though the values may be similar, which after all is what makes the image so dramatic, I could use some "sky time" in the practice of painting those subtle variations in the sky that seem to turn into
not-so-subtle color changes in my
interpretation.

Sky Study, Jax Beach, oil on panel, 6x8" ©2011 Jaime Howard

  This morning, in search of subtleties,
I parked at the beach and painted the sky over Jacksonville Beach. I hoped to convey the feeling of distance.

The blue of the sky itself becomes more intense as it gets farther "up" or 
farther away from the horizon.  The clouds that are farthest away are those nearest to the horizon. They are smaller and closer together than the ones painted higher up, which are closer to the viewer and are painted larger and with more intense values. This is what gives the impression of distance in the painting.

The feeling that a two-dimensional surface (the painting) is three-dimensional
(the sky!) is just a trick of the artist. Sleight of hand, I tell my drawing students.
Learn a few of these kinds of tricks and you are a magician! 

I'll let you be the judge good a magician I am. Can you see into the distance?

Painting at Little Jetties

First Coast Plein Air Painters (FCPAP)

met to paint today at Little Jetties in Mayport, Florida. I've been to Mayport many times, to eat at Singleton's, to board the ferry, and last week, to paint during the Painting the Region event. 

I had never been out to the end of the jetty until this morning and I didn't know what I was missing!

I dragged my rolling bag past a dozen or so FCPAP members, all in enviable  locations with views of the Intracoastal Waterway, the purple flowering grasses, the fishermen and the aquatic birds. When I got to the end, I found a shady bush and plopped down into the sand. As the dolphins frolicked just offshore, I painted.

 I almost don't care if I like it or not - I just enjoyed sitting on the beach,

watching the fishermen,women and boys, and the swimming dog. 

Driving back to the road, I stopped to watch a little church hold a baptism in the ICW. This was the best part of the afternoon - singing Shall We Gather at the River on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

The girl in the bikini didn't even bother to move.

Painting the Region - Coloring the Coast

This past week has been one of the most fun of my life! Participating in Painting the Region, a plein air painting event was so great. Over 40 artists painted all week from Mayport to Vilano Beach.
My two most favorite artists stayed with me - Kelly Medford and Elisabeth Ferber. We started the week by getting up at 6 am and driving out to the beach to paint from the Hionides front porch on Atlantic Beach. After a couple of days of this, I asked if we could just stay there each night and we were welcomed to the house. From then on, I painted in my nightgown - ready on the porch before the sun came up - brush at the ready for the first light. It was great.

Everyone had to be able to draw - Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - National Museum for Art and History

The foundational skill of drawing is so important to any artistic endeavor!
I have (and I'm sure you have) met students eager to learn to paint, but loathe
to practice the discipline of learning to draw. Those without some drawing skills
run up against their limitations quickly when attempting to paint.
Drawing skills - don't leave home without them!

Click on the link below for some historical reference for this position:

Everyone had to be able to draw - Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - National Museum for Art and History

Artsy-fartsy trip to Savannah for St. Pat's weekend!

Last weekend, I was able to return to my home away from home, Savannah.

St. Patrick's (Savannah's claim to fame) was Thursday, and when I arrived Friday evening and even up until I left on Sunday afternoon, there were people on the streets who were still celebrating! Drinking as they walked arm-in-arm with their fellow celebratees (is that a word?), dressed all in green from head to foot, adorned with green beads, and topped with a leprechaun chapeau. Only in Savannah.

I was there to deliver a painting (see above) commissioned by my friend, Bonnie, the hostess with the mostest, and to deliver 5 prints and a large painting for the Form and Context Gallery in High Point, NC.

It was wonderful to be back in Savannah, where the leprechauns wander the streets for days after St. Paddy's day and the weather is fine.