Earlier in the week I read an interesting blog post by Alison Jardine titled “Inspiration is Irrelevant”. Alison speaks of her experience answering a simple question from a local college student on assignment. The question asked was, “Where do you get your inspiration?” her response was, “I answered immediately with the first words that materialized, and as I said them I knew they were, for me, completely true: ‘Inspiration is irrelevant’” she goes on to explain quite clearly, “Each painting I create is a distillation of my experiences of perceiving and existing, they are my answer and reaction to simply being.”

I too am often asked this question and I usually find myself stumbling over the answer. Where does my inspiration come from?? I agree with Alison’s response that each painting is a distillation of experiences, but is inspiration irrelevant to me?

"Wandering Among Ideas" 48" x 40" work on canvas

In the past weeks I feel as though I have been wandering among ideas. I have been looking a lot, trying new tools, new colors, new directions. Looking for a spark of “inspiration” to push my work just a little bit further. Digging deep, simplifying, complicating, pushing, struggling.  I wrote previously that sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected places - I still believe this.  Inspiration, motivation, determination, are all a part of the daily process of creating and without the continuous internal dialogue of experiences there can be little room for any creativity. Inspiration may be irrelevant, but without the understanding that it is the continuous collection of experiences stored in our souls that feeds us as artists, it may be a bit difficult to understand the magic. I believe inspiration comes in many forms, it is everywhere, it can often go unnoticed and yes, perhaps it is often irrelevant, but it is also the intangible thing that people who are not artists always seek to understand. It is often that thing that there are no words for. I expect I will continue to stumble over my answer, perhaps inspiration is irrelevant and invaluable at the same time.

Thank you Alison for stating your thoughts so clearly.

“My ‘inspirational’ or creative process feels like a dialogue between the collection of experiences that comprise myself as well as my immutable core, and the lines, form, colors and light in the natural world.”
-Alison Jardine

Painting is available.

"Dreaming of Summer" 50" x 50" work on canvas

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected places. I am back in my studio exploring a number of new directions. I am always interested in looking at other painters work but sometimes I think it is wise to stop looking at what others are doing and pull the focus back in - look, observe, study, and then forget it all and paint. It is not just other painters that inspire me; I can find inspiration just about anywhere. Finding a new source to explore is always a joy. I am having fun studying and incorporating my finds into my work right now - reminding myself, I “must not feel under any constraint”. Just paint, explore, experiment. It becomes too easy to fall into a pattern of working without pushing the limits. I am always looking for that balance of chaos and order - studying and working. Perhaps there will be only subtle changes or perhaps there will be something quite different in my work. It is way too early to tell where my new inspiration is taking me but this is why I paint.

I am looking forward to a feature show of my work at Gallery KH in Chicago opening in July 2010.

“Painting is like childbirth. It’s a precious gift that is labor intensive and
drains one’s energy. A natural high comes with creation.”
- Debbie DeBaun

“Some people choose not to donate their services because they believe that it somehow devalues them by “giving them away.” In truth, there is nothing that demonstrates the value of your skills more than putting
them to good use for a cause you believe in.”
-Scott Allen

"Piece Work #506" work on paper 10" x 10"

As I sit here in the comfort of my living room my heart aches for the people of Haiti. I have no real way of truly knowing their pain - the loss of everything when they had so little to begin with. The pictures of the devastation are just heartbreaking. To suffer the loss of untold loved ones and then to find yourself without food, water, power, sanitation, security, is something I have never experienced in my own life - I can only imagine the horror. To have your life so completely ripped apart by a devastating earthquake and then to summon all your strength just to survive, I can only imagine the pain. But it is in the imagining of that pain that I realize the blessings I do have.  I believe, as Scott Allen says, “…there is nothing that demonstrates the value of your skills more than putting them to good use for a cause you believe in.” There are many ways to offer help - money, food, supplies, time, prayers; we all do what we can in our own way,  be it small or large. I am donating this original unframed work on paper #506 from my “Piece Work Series”  to the 140 Hours Haitian Relief Art Auction.  This special auction will donate 100% of sales to the  rescue agencies on the ground in Haiti including the agencies  “Doctors Without Borders” and “International Medical Corps”. The auction will run for 48 hours beginning 1/29/10. I am honored to be able to contribute my work to this cause. I hope that in some small way we can all help ease the pain and suffering these people are living with as they pick up the pieces of their lives. Please join me in helping out this worthy cause by bidding on artwork or making a donation of your own.

“Artists are among the most generous of people. Perhaps inherent in the appreciation of creativity comes a deep, underlying love of humanity and our Earth.”
-Kelly Borsheim

Auction runs for 48 hours beginning at 9pm 1/29/2010.

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.”

-Camus

"Without a Doubt" 36" x 48" work on canvas

As we come to the end of another year it seems only natural to reflect, to walk through the rooms of our lives looking things over. I always like to look back, to acknowledge events of the waning year and make mental notes of it all. In our house there has never been a desire for the crazy partying that seems to accompany this night. Instead, a nice dinner, a bottle of wine or champagne, my husband’s favorite home made clam dip and a fire. I have to admit, I have not seen the midnight hour on New Year’s Eve in quite sometime and that is really fine with me. 2009 has had its ups and downs- this decade has sure had its ups and downs! Making resolutions never worked well for me, it always felt very superficial and forced. I much prefer “not looking for flaws, but for potential”. I don’t expect to wake up in 2010 a different person than I am in 2009 - I can only continue to do the best I can “to rise above the little things”, and trust the journey…

As I count my own blessings I want to thank you all for being a part of my world. May the new year bring us all Peace, Prosperity and Paintings!

“One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:
To rise above the little things.”
- John Burroughs

My brushes are resting. It is the time of year I think we all naturally take inventory of many things. A time to reflect on the days gone by and look forward to the coming year. To count our blessings, to celebrate the season, to work through the successes and the failures we have experienced - a time to reflect on many things. I missed being in the studio working and I told myself I would get back in this week - thinking I could squeeze out a few solid days of painting - but the focus is just not there. I need to recognize that my muse, having a mind of her own, has gone on vacation.  I thought about Robert Genn’s insightful quote, “Never forget that the nurturing and preservation of your own muse is job one. Lose it and you may be losing a great deal.” Self nourishment of the mind, the body, and all the creative resources is so important. It is an emotionally packed time of year and sometimes it is best to just step back and reflect. To enjoy family and friends, count my blessings, to make cookies, to spend time with all the important people in my life, to remember those who have gone on, to celebrate the season and in doing that, “restock the trout pond, so to speak”.

Wishing you Peace, Joy and Inspiration now and in the coming New Year!

“Often the Muse will not respond to direct and logical requests.
She must be lured in with the playful and gentle.”
-Jill Badonsky

Success! I am pleased to report that my first ever Open Studio weekend was a success. I met a number of folks who took time out of their busy holiday weekend to stop by and say hello. Many paintings found new homes. My studio got a badly needed, thorough cleaning, and is now ready for the winter work. That in and of itself is a success! I am grateful for the successes, the people I have met, and the experience from which I’ve benefited. I am grateful that the tent we set up in the yard for the Open Studio survived the 54 mph winds we were experiencing Friday night. I was sure at 2:30am, that in the morning we would find the tent in the woods! It wasn’t - it survived - major success! I am grateful for all my family who helped me set things up and take things down, run to the store, blow up balloons, bake cookies, and who continually stand by me.

“Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don’t collect all these tiny successes, the big ones don’t really mean anything.”
- Norman Lear

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I would like to share this wonderful expression of thanks by Jan Blencowe from her blog “The Poetic Landscape”.

An Artist’s Litany of Thanks
by Jan Blencowe

To the creative Spirit who hovered above the waters,
to the Architect of creation,
and to the One who pronounced it Good
Thank you for this mysterious gift of creativity,
imagination and skill you have graciously given me.

Thank you for the eyes to see beauty in uncommon and ordinary places.
For the joy of color, for the muse of inspiration,
for the thrill of co-creating,
for the satisfaction of line, shape and form
converging to express what is inexpressible with words
I give you thanks.

For layers and textures, collages, and carved stones
I thank you.

For brushes and paints, papers and pens
I thank you.

For doodles and drawings, sketches and scribbles
I thank you.

For every moment spent painting and pasting, cutting and carving
I thank you.

To all who share in the love of art I thank you.
For recognizing the power of an image,
For acknowledging that art is the language of a human soul
and for honoring and valuing what artists create
I thank you.

“There is no better opportunity to receive more than to be thankful for what you already have. Thanksgiving opens up the windows of opportunity
for ideas to flow your way.”
-Jim Rohn

"Leaving the City" 48" x 40" work on canvas

I have been thinking of doing it for a long time now and I have finally decided this is it, I am going to have an Open Studio! YIKES! Ok, it is not really that big of a deal - or is it? I am very protective of my studio space, I think most creative people are. It is really a sacred area that has a personality of its own. However, there is nothing glamorous about where I work. I would like to tell you that I have a wonderful open space with white walls and such, endless work space and light - not so. I work in a space that was once an enclosed sleeping porch of a guest-house. It is often a “monstrous clutter from one end to the other”. It is tight, it is cramped, it is filled with everything I am sure I need to hold onto for the rest of my life! The house is on my parents property. It has worked out just fine for a number of years. I make full use of the space. I create, ship, store and manage all that I need to from this sacred little space. Leonardo da Vinci said, “An artist’s studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it.” Well, then, I guess I am in the right place! I count myself as being very fortunate to have the space I have to work.

After the end of the summer and the fall show season, I often think about having an open studio kind of event.  Thinking about it is as far as it has ever gone - too much work, not enough space, why bother, you know all the excuses. Well, now I am actually going to do it. Yes I am. My space seems a bit tight these days and I have a lot of wonderful pieces that I would love to have find homes. There are new works as well as many hidden treasures. Works on paper, and works on canvas. I even have some posters and note cards that I did a few years back. The planning is underway and I’ve got work ahead of me - I am making my opportunity happen! I look forward to welcoming visitors! Really I do!

Colter Open Studio…
New Works & Hidden Treasures
Friday, November 27, 2009  11am - 4pm
Saturday, November 28, 2009 11am - 4pm

Please come for a visit if you are on Martha’s Vineyard for the Thanksgiving Holiday!

“Look for and make your opportunities happen; they are not going to come rushing up to your doorstep. But sometimes they’ll be looking you right in the face.”
-Harley Brown

Painting is available.

I am finding it a bit hard to focus with the time change and the shifting daylight patterns. There is such a chill in the air. All of nature is subtley shifting, whispering change, as the sky is filled with varying spectrums of color. I spoke last time about the beauty of the fall colors - how inspiring it is to see those colors in full force. In the little time that has passed, many of those same colors have faded, changed to brown, or vanished completely through the force of wind, rain and cold. Constant change is a daily occurrence. The “subtlety of nature” as Sir Francis Bacon mentions, “is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding”. I am drinking in the subtlety of nature in my own quiet ways - watching, breathing, looking, absorbing - and working on incorporating that understanding into my pieces as I paint an expression of how it feels, not how it looks.

"Change of Seasons" 30" x 40" work on canvas

“I don’t paint how it looks, I paint how it feels.”-Robert Wade

Painting is available.

It is absolutely stunning outside. The colors of fall are blazing and the sun is shining brightly. A perfect Sunday afternoon and I am drinking in the beauty of it all. Around here we don’t often get treated to the glorious fall colors that others enjoy. Somehow it seems we go right into winter browns, skipping right over the fall oranges and reds. Not this year though, Mother Nature is just singing out there! Ms. Nature is at her very best today. It is as if she is calling to me to get back to work. Speaking to me in a way that says, “Look what I’ve done with all this color, now, how about you? What are you going to do?” It has been a busy month: I have been travelling to festivals; I have been battling the rains and the weather challenges of outdoor shows; I have been shipping work, delivering work and picking up work. Moving, shifting and adjusting to the changing days. Autumn. Transition time. It has been tiring, but rewarding at the same time. With a deep breath, I now look forward to returning to my studio routine. I look forward to the magic that happens. The magic that by painting, simply happens…

“Art combines the best of what is in the mind and in the soul. The mind must be trained and ready for when the soul speaks.”
-Susan F. Greaves

It has been a busy few weeks! I am excited to have recently signed with Lagerquist Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1970, Lagerquist Gallery is Atlanta’s oldest gallery dealing in original fine art. The gallery’s contemporary collection of work includes a variety of styles and techniques from abstract to representational as well as transitional paintings and dimensional work.

"Vanished Concentration" 60" x 48" work on canvas

I am thrilled to have recently placed two large scale original paintings and a series of four works on paper with Himmel Hospitality Group, the developer of Post 390, an upscale comfort food restaurant that has opened near the corner of Stuart Street and Clarendon Street in the Back Bay area of Boston. Post 390 is the exciting new project of the owners of “Harvest” in Cambridge and Boston’s “Grill 23” and opened its doors early October.

Not long ago, I was told by a client interested in one of my new paintings that he would only pay 50% of the retail value. “I know artists and galleries are struggling, so this is what I am going to pay for this piece” the client told the shocked gallery owner, who did not even want to present the offer to me. The client insisted and his offer be presented to me. Okay, I know times are tough, but this “offer” if you can call it that, came from a well off professional man whom I doubt would ever discount his own services. I do have to wonder why my education, professionalism, talent, services, or paintings are considered less valuable by this client, than the services of any other professional? I refused his offer,  no thank you, I choose “to remain true to myself and let the chips fall where they may…”

“A main part of the struggle of art has been to make an art that is direct, simple, humane, unconnected with powers that be in their essence… ” -Robert Motherwell

“To create one’s own world, in any of the arts, takes courage.” -Georgia O’Keeffe

Painting is now in the Post 390 Restaurant in Boston, MA.