Michelle G Art Blog

People always want to know why artists paint what we paint, so I thought over the next few months I’d share background on some of the paintings I get the most questions about.

At art shows people always ask me about these landscape paintings. They are surprised to learn that I paint them with my fingers.  I don’t use any brushes for my abstract landscape series, only my hands.  So yes - I guess you can still finger paint as an adult!

One of the reasons I started to use this technique, is that I wanted the paintings to really emote.  And the best way for me to do that - was to have nothing between me and the canvas. 

I also use music to help create emotion as well.  When painting this particular series, I intentionally listened to Bon Jovi's Lost Highway cd. I was trying to capture the emotions of their music, particularly the songs "Make a Memory" and "Whole Lot of Leavin"  Another reason I intentionally listen to the same CD when creating a series, is that painting a series can take many months of work.  In order to get into the same mental state as the last time in your studio working on a series, I find it helpful to continue to listen to the same set of music.  It helps me stay / return to a similar place mentally and emotionally.

The funny thing about using the same music over a period of time in the studio, is that my interpretation of that album can change. For example, some of the pieces in this series are more moody and dark, while others are light.  It all has to do with how I was feeling about the content of the album at the time I was listening and creating.

Another way to create emotion in a piece  is to make sure there is a good play of light on a piece. Which can be a little more difficult to do when working with something as blunt an imprecise as a finger.  So sometimes I also us an artists medium to make the paint stay wet a little longer than normal, in order to be better able to blend.

I hope this helped give you a little bit of insight into how and why I painted this series.  Let me know if you have any other questions about the series I can answer for you.

One of the fun things about an art festival or art show is hearing the positive and sometimes funny things people same about my art as they pass by.

 The most common is when men and women both walk by and insist they are the model.  I will play along and tell everyone please to not let it out, that they were my model. This banter happens at least 5 times a day at an art festival. Normally everyone know we are joking, but once, this past spring, a Mom actually got a little hostile and really insisted that I must have some how gotten hold of her daughter’s photo shoot last month, because she had that exact same pink bra. This was funny considering, that I know the model quite well, and that bra actually had been black and I changed it to pink because I could. And, it takes me a heck of a lot longer than a few weeks to create most of my art, so it was also pretty outrageous of the Mom to be so upset. 

 A lot of times women will insist that I have captured their lover perfectly.  Or the men will insist I have captured their wife or lover perfectly.  I always find this to be sweet. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am a sucker for love.  

 The funniest interaction was with a couple and their children, that actually ended up becoming friends after this - The little boy insisted that the couple embracing (The Seduction above) was Mommy and Daddy.  So I asked the little boy why that was - he said they were hugging.  Which is kind of what they were doing.  I thought it was great because the kid obviously saw his parents as affectionate and happy with each other.  Something not every child has the privilege of seeing. 

 I once was at a show where across from me was a woman with beautiful, ruebinesque women.  More than once I heard “Before ...  After”.  I was never sure before and was after what. Although if the cupcakes I am sitting next to as I write this blog have there way as they silently call to me it will be before and after the cupcakes!

I have heard my photographer friends bemoaning the change of film to digital.  Indicating that no matter how advanced digital gets, it misses a depth and feel that film has. I wasn't really believing this until the other day when I picked up some pictures I had printed of pictures of Europe - some of which I took with digital, some of which I took with film. There is just something about the film, that makes things deeper, that the digital misses. 

 Anyone else feel this way? Or see any other differences between digital and film?

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Sometimes people look at a painting and try to figure out how so much texture got added to all or parts of a painting.  Artists can use a variety of things to mix with paints and create texture in work.  These types of things are called mediums. Some examples of homemade mediums include wall paper paste and caulk.  Some, like caulk, because of their heaviness are used best on wood based paintings.  Others, like wall paper paste, can be used on canvas without bowing the art in the middle over time.

 Artists can also buy mediums specifically made to interact with and adhere to paint and canvas to create depth in our art.  These are either designed to either be mixed with artist’s paint, or painted on top of to create various effects. The consistencies available range for the very coarse to the very smooth.  

 In the painting above, I used layer after layer of a gel like medium to create a glossy, 3-dimensional heart on canvas. (And yes, getting it to stay in that shape until it dried was a bit tricky!) The medium was at times mixed with paint, and other times not, until I got the effect I wanted. The result is a raised glassy heart  on the canvas with gold color trapped inside. 

 What is your favorite type of medium to see or to work with?

Somewhere in the ether is this myth - that artists don’t work at anything really - their craft, their business, their life.  We are mythological creatures who blissfully dance through existence. High on life, and paint fumes, without a care in the world.

 On the flip side, there is a myth that all artists are morose creatures of the night, who love to wear black, drink themselves into oblivion and can only create when deep in the muck and the mire of self and world loathing.

 While I admit that history has shown us a few poor souls who might fit into either category. The majority of artists are neither blissfully dancing through life, nor trudging through the murky outskirts of society.

 Most artists are somewhere in the middle. They tend to expend energy on their craft on a regular basis.  Anyone with a portfolio of consistent work, does work a bit on creating.  And sometimes that work comes blissfully easy. ther times, not so much.

 Any professional artist I know has a pretty set schedule of times they create. While they might not clock in from 9 to 5, they probably clock in from noon to midnight instead.

 Art is business.  Art is fun.  And art is work. You can’t do it high or drunk (although I know a few who try). You don’t sell much or at all if it’s all depressing as hell. And you sure can’t make leaps and bounds in creative progress if you are out surfing or tanning all day. 

 So why do these two myths persist?  Is it because it’s easier to romanticize that the thing of beauty on the wall took no effort to create? No countless hours of the paintings created before it to birth this one? Do people secretly wish that artists, who must by the very personal nature of their work, not care what others think, also not operate with the realm of the rest of the world in terms of taking steps to continue progress?

I really don’t know... But the next person who walks into my office, takes a look at my white board with all it’s to-do’s on it and says “wow, you really DO work” is getting a slap up side the head. (figuratively speaking of course)

 Can anyone else relate?

Pablo Picasso once said, “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.”

I disagree with Picasso on this one.  Technically, he is right, any time I gesso over a white canvas, I have “destroyed” the white that was already there, nicely sanded down ready to work on. And opening a new tube of paint, means that perfectly factory filled oblong shaped is “destroyed.” But to me, art is building on top of something that already exists, not destroying the building blocks of art.

What do you think?  Does anything that is created destroy what was there before? 

I know I have written about this before, but as an artist we walk a fine line, between giving people what they want and need, and being true to our own voice. It’s a tightrope walk at times for me because I want to give people want they want and are happy with. While at the same time, I need to paint what works best for me. Sometimes I end up giving away a part of my voice without even realizing it.

 (Indian Americans would call this a version of soul retrieval - which can happen in three ways - a) soul theft: someone taking something from us; b) soul gift: us giving a piece of our soul away; or c) soul loss: occurring during times of trauma or death, when parts of us are tied up with other. Me, I tend to give away and not even realize it.)

 A few years ago I was dating someone, and while he was very supportive of my art, he had this idea that my color palette was not right.  That it needed to more match his own aesthetic tastes.

 I tried to see this as an opportunity to expand my color palette repertoire. And came up with a few additional color palettes with which to paint from that would more suit his tastes, and those of similar background. So I painted a new series in his colors and continued to do so, not because I loved those colors the most, but because I forgot I had ever painted differently.

Recently I dated a guy who has a very similar color tastes as myself. As a gift I went through my paint sketches and gave him one I knew he would love. The thing is, pulling it out, I realized I missed that color palette.  I missed not painting in ways most important to me.

So today, I opened a few new canvases and painted in my colors - not someone else’s - my own. And it feels really good.

 Has anyone re-discovered a part of themselves, they had accidentally put aside?

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• Behind the Scenes Look at My Abstract Landscape Series:
• Funny Things I Hear At My Art Shows:
• Mourning the loss of film?
• What is an Artist’s Medium?
• The Myth of the Artists
• Creation, Destruction or Both?
• Rediscovering Creative Voice
• Being In-Flow
• Studio Time
• A Creation Myth:

• Inspiration & Passion [4]
• The Creative Process [12]
• The Mechanics of Art [5]
• Life Observed [6]
• Art As A Mirror [3]
• Understanding Art [10]
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