Being part of a "scenius"

     In "Show Your Work", Austin Kleon says that one of the most destructive myths about creativity is that only the lone genius is going to be able to achieve good  creative work. He then states, "There's  a healthier way of thinking about creativity that the musician Brian Eno refers to as "scenius". Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals- artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers- who make up an "ecology of talent". If you look back closely at history, many of the people who we think of as lone geniuses were actually part of "a whole scene of pople who were supporting each other, looking at each other's work, copying from each other, stealing ideas and contributing ideas." Scenius doesn't take away from the achievements of those great individuals; it just acknowledges that good work isn't created in a vacuum, and that creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds."
     With "Men in Hats", we have a scenius. During the summer, we are painting outdoors and then, in the winter, meet in a studio to  do more painting. Definitely, there is a scenius effect as we encourage each other. The above painting was done this past Wednesday at Hycroft where we have an exhibition. As part of our contract, we were invited to paint on the lawn so that members attending the BBQ could stroll around for a look during the social hour. We set up around 2 pm and left when the actual BBQ started at 6. The painting was my effort. You see the full scene in the photo below it with another of the group, David McHolm, painting and also showing other work. You will note that I eliminated the building across the street as I felt it didn't contribute anything to the painting. The challenge was getting the hydrangeas to look like hydrangeas and not random blobs! I feel that being part of this group has helped me on my "absorbing errand". In fact, in "An Absorbing Errand" by Janna Malamud Smith, that I mentioned a couple of blogs ago, she states "We need to work alone; we need to have privacy- sometimes a lot of it-.... but we also need to be stirred up, stimulated and challenged by others, especially others who share our interests and with whom we feel some modicum of mutual respect."
     UWC club members who viewed us painting commented that it was interesting to see everyone doing something different. This is part of the fun of the group - we each take a different view and a different approach when we are out painting. Sometimes what we do succeeds - and sometimes we kick ourselves for not choosing a different spot or different angle - and sometimes we are in total awe at what another painter produced - but it all adds up to keeping the creative juices flowing as we take our own paths - but with the support of others.

Housekeeping---

I picked this more "domestic"painting  to show here as I've been thinking about time allotment, the demands of housekeeping and so on. I was reading about Louise Bourgeois and thinking that she was definitely an artist to admire. She worked at her art her whole life, even when she went through a period of very little recognition and carried on working right up to the day she died - in her nineties. Her home in New York has been preserved as she left it. It is obvious that art was her priority. I'm sure she would never give a thought to how to keep a stainless steel sink shining  and she obviously was not concerned about de-cluttering. Maybe modern women artists try to do too much in too many directions and live up to others standards. We need to keep telling ourselves that Martha Stewart has a whole staff! Instead of making a charming centrepiece of recycled and re-coloured glass jars as per Martha, Louise make a high stack of gift boxes of cookies, topped it with a gift of liquor and let that just stand in her living room.  When her husband died, she got rid of the stove and just cooked on a two-burner hotplate. Presumably, that was to simplify things as well as free up more space when she wanted to work in the kitchen. Maybe we all should think about Louise and what she accomplished- her "Mother" giant spider statue has been replicated in several places around the globe, for one thing- and try to tip the balance in favour of art over housework.

An Absorbing Errand

---out again to Life Drawing the other night- I didn't do this one then but I thought I'd post it since I haven't photographed the latest one yet. I especially like the way I've captured the nose on this model ---and I liked the lighting. Lighting can be a bit difficult when there is one main light on the model - but you might not be sitting in the best position when there is a roomful of other artists. Still, there is the continual challenge of trying to do good work. I'm currently re-reading "An Absorbing Errand -How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Mastery" by Janna Malamud Smith. She makes a number of good points  about getting started, sticking with it and overcoming obstacles - so I may very well comment on a few points in further blogs. In explaining what an absorbing errand is,  she states " An absorbing errand is the agreement to undertake and sustain a compelling practice of your own, an effort at mastery that requires time and focus. It is an adventure with many perils. Yet, in return, you gain a window seat, forward motion, and a landscape made new."  I also love a quote from Lee Hammond "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. That's why they call it artWORK."   I guess what a lot of us hope is that some of our "work" will last and give pleasure after we are no longer here. William James said "The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it". - Certainly true in his case, but even if that level of achievement and recognition is not reached, the journey- the absorbing errand- can still be worth pursuing.

Painting in the Park

When I was a young teenager, I had summer painting lessons in Stanley Park with Peter Aspell. I went downtown on the interurban tram. Since it kept very regular time, it was possible for my friend to get on the same tram at 57th, further along the line. We could have paid (I think a nickel) to transfer to a bus that would have taken us to the entrance to the park, but we usually walked so we could spend that "saved" money on "love comics". We did some oil painting on paper that we treated with gelatine and painted "plein  air" with Peter, who was a well-known painter.  Part of my early art experiences.  All this was before the more organized "Painting in the Park" classes organized by community centres. 
Yesterday, the Men in Hats met at Minoru Chapel for our Tuesday painting session. Several worked in oils or acrylics but I decided to keep it simple and just practice my drawing with a pen and ink drawing. I then added watercolour pencils to it and dampened the paper with pens that hold water in the cartridges. So, it was just a practice session with no outstanding results but a nice time out with friends that resulted in this piece. I need it for a reference for a project I am working on so it will prove useful. So, a different medium and a non-instructional session - but there I am  more than a few years along - still "painting in the park".

July and "summer doldrums"

     Here is the painting from the Finn Slough show - just because I hadn't posted it before. I have been out with "Men in Hats" but mostly just working in pen and ink and watercolour pencils. Last week, we were out in Burnaby and I went to have a look at the Burnaby Village Museum and the old carousel. The carousel is 103 years old and is now under cover, inside. When it was first there, it was outside ... a bit better for photography, perhaps. I did take a few photos and I may work them into something during the winter but there was no way to set up and paint on site.... so nothing new to show. The carousel used to be out at the PNE  so it is the one I rode on back in my youth. Interestingly, they have given in a new hardwood floor. The wood came from the old B.C. Women's prison gymnasium. An odd combination. Does the wood hold memories? I also wonder what tales the horses of the merry-go-round could tell.
    We went to look at one of the old buildings which was a log cabin where a family of three had lived. There was a loft where maybe the child slept - although the heat would have been from the stove in the downstairs. A galvanized tub hung on the wall for the Saturday night bath. We were talking about that at lunch-time and decided that it was traditional here for the mother to go first but, apparently in other cultures, she may be the last!  When I was in art school, one exam painting was of a model in a bathtub. We were raised up above the model area so we could all look down. It was like something from an Impressionist painting- green-tinted tub, bouquet of lilacs, Persian-style carpet. There was actual water in the tub....not sure what that did to the model's skin after a few hours! The young fellows in the class were quick to volunteer to top up the water with hotter water every now and then. It would be fun to have an old tub now for Life Drawing on occasion - but I think we'd just let the model sit in it dry. Then again, our storage is very limited so we have very few props- and no way to be raised up on risers. Ah, life was fun then.

    

Hycroft show continues

     My "Spices" painting is another one currently showing at Hycroft - shown above and then shown hanging in the hall-gallery with the Rudbeckias, "Ready for the Run" and "Sandpiper Time". Although it is a private club  (for women graduates of universities around the world) and not generally open to the public, you can arrange to see the show by phoning the office at 604-731-4661.
     The reception was well-attended and very nicely done with it all taking place out on the terrace on a beautiful warm evening.
     Right now, the Men in Hats are out plein air painting every Tuesday. There is some really nice work being done - but not by me right now. I haven't really "clicked" on anything. One time I was not happy with my acrylics drying up so quickly - so I just played with pen and ink and watercolour pencils last time. The results were not great! Still- there is the need to persevere and try to accomplish something worthwhile. It is nice just to be out with the group, talk art over lunch, and be in the fresh air. We are fortunate to have such a number of places where we can go to paint.

Hycroft show-

Today we hung the Men in Hats show for the summer at Hycroft. This is one of mine in the show. It is Rudbeckias II.   Tomorrow, Tuesday the 23rd, we have the reception from 6:30 to 9:00pm and. besides our very nice show, it will be a chance to tour this grand old mansion. Hycroft was built in 1911 by a retired military man - a General, I think- McRae. McRae made his fortune in concrete as a lot of building was going on in those early days in Vancouver.  The house is mainly of conrete and has great concrete pillars  to the house as well as the terrace. Stairways and fencing and arbour in the gardens are also concrete. The gardens were even larger in those pre-income tax days but the coach house and the gardens around the house remain. Some of the property on the east side was sold and then the house was given to become a nursing home for injured military after World War II. Then it wasn't needed for that any more and the University Women's Club of Vancouver decided it would be a wonderful clubhouse. However, women were not allowed to have mortgages in their own names so the club raised the money to pay cash for the property. (was it $35,000 or $45,000?). Since then, they have restored it- although all the wonderful old wood and fireplaces, tiled atrium and so on were pretty well intact- and it is now a grand old mansion that is a wonderful clubhouse and popular place to rent for a wedding. Our paintings hang in the upper hallway.  How nice that this piece of Vancouver's history remains.