30 Paintings in 30 Days - Day 23

"Good to Be Queen!" - mixed media on reclaimed wood, 6" x 18".  Available at the Nora Butler Gallery.

He's a very smart Prince,
He's a Prince who prepares.
Knowing this time I'd run from him,
He spread pitch on the stairs.
        From "On the Steps of the Palace", Into the Woods

A mini break from abstraction to return to my favorite little queens.  They've been waving their scepters at folks visiting Nora Butler's gallery, forcing unsuspecting shoppers to buy them and take them home.  Bossy queens!  So I will create a few new ones this week to replenish their numbers.  This queen is taking a stroll through the woods with us today.

A blustery southern storm is moving in, with gusty winds that slap you in the face with bands of humidity.  It isn't a formula for good hair, but it IS just the right thing to keep me in the studio working.  So let's stop in this little woodsman's hut here in the forest, make a cup of tea and ponder some more wisdom of Art & Fear.

Chapter three, in a round about way, tells us to stop looking outside of ourselves for information about our art.  Instead, we should stay put and look at our own art - all the lessons are in there.  Like the prince spreading pitch on the stairs to catch Cinderella, our art wants us to just stop running and look at it already.  Look at it "without judgement, need, fear, wishes or hopes."  The authors instruct us to ask the art what it needs.  And then listen.

This is so much a part of the process Stan Kurth taught during his workshop.  I think he is an art whisperer.

​This is such an interesting concept.  I am intrigued, and will begin to spend more time listening to my own work.  I suppose the hardest part is setting aside all the emotion and opinions I have about my art.  Kurth provided us with the perfect quote to keep us on the right path:  "When you're in the studio painting, there are a lot of people in there with you - your teachers, friends, painters from history, critics...and one by one if you're really painting, they walk out.  And if you're really painting YOU walk out."  (Philip Guston)

While I ponder this further, I am listening to a gaggle of bossy queens, who tell me what their art needs is more queens.  Oy vey!  Off I go.

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​Today's "Pay What You Can" piece is "Monday Morning", pencil and acrylic on canvas paper, 9 x 12.  This will be shipped flat.   Shipping is anticipated to be around $7.00


Email me at [email protected] with how much (or how little) you'd like to pay for this cutie (shipping will be added).  The winner will be selected at random and notified via email in 24 hours.