December 31, 2009

Hello official last day of 2009

Up North,

the day started with cold snagged on starlight - -

Inky orange sunrises and navy horizons.

Barely noon and the sky broke open - - the softest of blues.

Pink clouds, wispy.

Close to 4

big bright moon

sat atop Birch Hill

laced in a silhouette of trees.

Now, it's almost 9

and there's one last thing I wanted to say to you this year:

I invite you to send me a list - your list - the ( 9 ) simple pleasures of your day.

I will turn your words into a painting.

( Yes, your day inspires a painting)

Be a part of an exclusive body of work  Alchemy of Connection.

(September's archives focus on the details)

New work inspired by lists released SPRING 2010

So come on, you know you wanna - - send 'em to me.

amykomar@yahoo.com

subject line: ALCHEMY

 ( *) please limit one list per person

( **) deadline to submit is JANUARY 15th

Artist Interview: Lindy Gruger Hanson

Namaste                                         L.Gruger

I met Oregon Artist Lindy Gruger Hanson this past spring through an art trade. I remember the day her print Shimmer and Shine arrived. I was a kid on Christmas tearing into the package in the post office parking lot – couldn’t even make it home! Seriously. My smile was ear to ear at seeing her art in person. Absolutely stunning! This girl understands color and line. Between her brilliant use of the two, I swoon. It brings me happiness to see her print hanging on my wall each day. So – you can imagine my pleasure when she accepted my invitation to be interviewed. Despite being a busy working artist - she has new work hanging year round at Tumalo Art Co., a bustling  etsy storefront and an upcoming exhibit this January and February at Black Butte Ranch Lodge – she made time! I appreciate this tremendously and feel inspired after reading her creative insights – Thanks Lindy!

Read on for the full interview + a peek at her lovely original acrylic paintings

Lindy Gruger Hanson + pups 

In 2008, you chose to leave your former job to pursue art full time. Please tell us a little bit about what making that decision was like. How has your life changed since?

I love to travel. It played a big role in deciding to quit my full-time job. My hope is to do more traveling now that I am not tied to two weeks vacation a year. I've always liked that saying "Looks like two weeks vacation isn't going to cut it anymore". Last January we were able to spend some time in Costa Rica and Mexico and experience different cultures and lifestyles. I had an outdoor art studio in Mexico which was wonderful. Being outdoors most of the time for painting was very inspiring and I loved it! I also love the flexibility of my schedule now that I am self-employed. 

What is creativity to you?

The subject of creativity is so wide. I think we're all creative but in different ways. It is what makes each of us who we are. Creativity is imagination. It's using one's uniqueness to create something. What was once just a thought is now turned into something one can see, hear, touch, feel. I think it is just amazing how most everything, except nature of course, was once just a thought. A concept. And then we use our creativity to make it real and tangible, that's just a miracle to me.

Slice of Night                                            L. Gruger

Why do you make art?

I have a deep desire to express myself through mark making. The act of creating something is very satisfying. Since I was a very small child, I have felt the desire to make stuff. I like the idea that my mark making is what I call my symbolic language. Often when words are not enough, I use art to express what I am feeling. 

What drives you to come up with ideas for your work, what are your sources of inspiration?

My work comes mainly from my imagination but I do adore symbolism and mythology. My early inspiration came from a big art encyclopedia that my parents owned and it was through looking at this big book that I became aware of Klee, Chagall, Miró and Kandinsky which I was very drawn to. I love ancient cave paintings, the petroglyphs and then there is the study of dreams which is so fascinating! In college I studied the psychology of Carl Jung, the archetypes, the collective unconscious and synchronicity. All these interests indirectly or directly affect my art.  I would say those subjects I mentioned and my unique take on nature are my inspirations today as well as birds. I love watching birds. And then there is the idea that all things are made up of energy which I like to show as glowing objects in my paintings. I love the idea that we are all connected and we are all made up of energy.

Fiesta Song                              L. Gruger

What do you hope to communicate to your audience through your paintings?

My paintings are very personal. I often say that I hope that my art can bring some joy into peoples lives. I believe art can be healing. I hope the viewer is touched by my art and it stirs something in them, whether it be an emotion or a smile. I am often told that it is the vivid color that draws people to my art and I like that it can capture people's attention that way.

What's your current or next art project?

I'm currently working on a bird and garden series of paintings. I have started incorporating using a dot pattern in my work and I seem to be using less black outline then in the past. I like experimenting with these ideas and I'm excited to see where it will take my art.

Meditation Garden                              L. Gruger

Describe what "Art Success" looks like to you.

I think of art success in two ways. One is the business side of success and the other is the personal side, the satisfaction I get from completing a painting. Art success is accomplishing the goals I've set for myself. It is reaching a certain point and then going beyond, stretching myself in new directions. For example, I've wanted to try using less black line in my art so I've been experimenting with that. I have a couple paintings that I feel I've reached that goal and I would consider that an "art success".  

What words of wisdom would you share with people pioneering a path to live an authentic life following their passion?

I would say don't give up. Your passion is likely the path you are meant to follow. It helps to surround yourself with like minded people and those that will support your decisions and listen to you when you have disappointments, because you will, but they will help you to get back on your feet and start again. And listen to your heart, for surely the journey of the heart will lead you to an authentic and true life.

One Lives in an Enchanted Garden L. Gruger

And I couldn't resist asking - - 

List (9) simple pleasures / delights of your day

1. watching the snow fall softly outside

2. seeing our two border collies play together and having so much fun in the now!

3. smelling fresh baked lemon blueberry muffins 

4. getting a letter in the mail from an old friend

5. finding exactly what I need at the store amongst all the people scrambling with their holiday  shopping

6. planning a coffee date with a friend

7. loving the look of light blue paint next to red

8. a big hug and a smile from my sweetie

9. feeling the house warm up after building a fire in the wood stove

Website: http://www.lgruger.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lgrugerhanson

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Acrylic-Painter-Lindy-Gruger-Hanson/62045659765

Blog: http://www.lgruger.com/blog

Etsy Shop:  http://lgrugerhanson.etsy.com

merry, merry

(above) ice fishing,Tanana river  (below)  jumping on a trampoline in the summer

June and December Solstice's are favorite days of mine. In a way, they are the "Christmas" and "Thanksgiving" of my year.  Like the lines of a well loved poem, I remember the details and impressions of their day. I eye the calendar in a count down when their month arrives.  My own festival of light. Maybe it is living in Alaska where we report the days light down to seconds. Maybe it is the symbolism of the presence and absence of light. Maybe it is the hope I feel when light is returning or the gratitude when I am standing outside at 2 in the morning and everything is softly lit in pink. Whatever the reason, truth be told, I will always savor a solstice. Sending you full moons, fire, meteor showers and a reminder: light is returning by the second...

I Believe

Credo, Latin for “I believe,” which I do, very strongly, in a number of things.

I believe there is a mysterious and graceful and miraculous Coherence stitched through this world.

I believe that this life is an extraordinary gift, a blink of bright light between vast darknesses.

I believe that the fingerprints of the Maker are everywhere: children, hawks, water.

I believe that even sadness and tragedy and evil are part of that Mind we cannot comprehend but only thank, a Mind especially to be thanked, oddly, when it is most inscrutable.

I believe that children are hilarious and brilliant mammals.

I believe that everything is a prayer.

I believe that my wife is the strongest and most graceful female being I have ever met, with the possible exception of my mother.

I believe that a family is a peculiar and powerful corporation, lurching toward light, webbed by love, a whole ridiculously bigger than its parts.

I believe, additionally, that friends are family.

I believe, deeply and relievedly, in giggling.

I believe that the best of all possible breakfasts is a pear with a cup of ferocious coffee, taken near the ocean, rather later in the morning than earlier, preferably in the company of a small sleepy child still in her or his rumpled and warm pajamas, his or her skin as warm and tawny as a cougar pelt.

I believe that love is our greatest and hardest work.

Brian Doyle

Everybody's Missing the Sun . . .

Antigua, Guatemala  2001

 

It's that time of year where I feel like I am living in an icy winter cave and I miss the sun. so. much. All I want to do is hibernate under my down comforter and eat things drenched in buttery sauces. I want to drink garnet colored wine's that leave the taste of oak and vanilla in my mouth. I want to read novels in pajamas and have movie marathon's. Oh winter, you get me every time.

In my sun craving haze, I share with you a note from my friend (and talented writer) Sara. She too, is living out her own winter tale in another part of Alaska and I am sure - like me - she's missing. the. sun. The imagery in her words swell inside and flood me with color and warmth. Thank you Sara * Each time I read her writing,  I am transported to those warm days in our twenties when we were traveling light . . .and hoping you - dear reader, wherever you are - are warm and full of color

Yesterday, Grown in Antigua, Guatemala, caught my eye as I passed a Starbucks coffee display. Ten years ago I went to Antigua with Amy. We may very well have driven by the fields where these coffee plants grew. I pulled out the photos from that trip to try and put it into words—Amy behind a camera lens—the things she sees that capture her fancy, the colors now captured in this book of photos. A salmon colored wall, pink conch, olive and aqua enamel pots in a turquoise doorway, painted wooden signs for orange crush & Gallo cerveza, white calla lilies. The movement of a curtain in a window, kids demanding “un quetzal,” a street scene reflected in a mirror, the shadows of cats and ladders and bougainvillea. “I should look at these more often,” I thought, knowing in the same moment why I don’t. We are captured in the photos too, young and untethered and traveling with a lightness like Amy’s photos of Belize, shades of blue on blue on blue.  ~ Sara

Sara at 23, Somewhere in Guatemala

Me at 24, Lago Atikilan, Guatemala

The Alchemy of Connection *  December 2009

Tonight I am having appetizer's for dinner. Last summer's smoked salmon mixed with cream cheese on garlic bagel chips with a sliced apple and a peanut butter back. Crunchy peanut butter. I decided to take Saturday and most of today off  to recover from a few very busy months. Making art while running a business is the most rewarding job I've ever had - but it is full throttle people! It is heart, soul and hard work. I think I have been a bit crazy lady in the hours I've been keeping and my inability to think about anything other than art. All or nothing, full steam ahead kind of living* After the fun of  Friday's Woman's Art opening at The Alaska House, I was in need of a rest! I am happy to tell you I spent the weekend doing decadent things like:  reading for hours, hot soaks in the tub, made cookies from scratch, ate a leisurely Sunday breakfast at my favorite mom and pop + read the newspaper, slept in, painted my toes, walked the dogs, drank espresso coffee's and listened to public radio while puttering around the house. It has felt good *

Keep an eye out for new handmade lovelies in my etsy store this week. 

Below are a few pictures of my work in December's Show at The Alaska House Gallery...

 

  

Paper Birch Heart Series   Winter 2009

When I think about what I love doing these days, I find myself knee deep in winter, sitting next to a warm wood stove, sleeping dogs are dreaming beside me and my cabin is soft with quiet.

I am full of a rich anticipation that only creating can evoke.

In a moment like this, I believe that voice singing away inside me.

From my heart to yours ...

a painted paper birch  *