Fringe Benefits of Creativity

Vermont in a Snowstorm
24” x 36” Mixed Media, Acrylics on canvas
Ready to hang, no frame required, 1” thick painted edges. Deb Chaney 2006
$1,275 USD Visa/MasterCard Accepted
(805) 403-9870 deb@debcreative.com

Prints Available at www.cafepress.com/debchaney

The other night I came in from my studio to use the *loo and peered into the mirror to see my eyes glowing like two green lanterns – alight with the glow of creative bliss. They say that he eyes are the doorway to the spirit and in that vein I think being in creative process really helps open those doors up.

As a working artist, one who paints and sells her work, much of the time I am considering the end product that may be hanging on the wall in your home. But let me tell you the real juice is in the process – the making of the art.

Being in the creative process is a tap into the other side, into the unconscious, into bliss, into a place where no time exists at all. And if I only had one goal, it would be to practice, practice, practice and stay in that place that keeps my spirit aglow.

In Jill Badonsky’s most recent Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching Training class she spent a class talking about the fringe benefits of creativity. How when we create it will elevate our mood, we tend to feel better and tap into places of delight and joy. Studies have shown that being creative improves eyesight and overall health. Doing a creative project enables us to become more focused, create and achieve goals – no matter how small- teaching us focus. The list goes on, bottom line is when we get out of her heads and into the process the benefits are food for the soul.

Have you fed your spirit lately? Go make something – make a mess, just practice. Have fun.

(*British slang for toilet)

Featured Artist - October Muse Newsletter

Exploring 10" x 10"

Mixed Media, Arylics on Canvas

$150 each. 1" thick finished edges, ready to hang.

Visa/Mstc Accepted.

Deb@debcreative.com

(805)403-9870

This month I am the featured artist for the Muse Is In monthly newsletter. You can get the newletter by subscribing on the Muse Is In homepage. Jill Badonsky is the founder of the Muse is in and her book The Nine Modern Day Muses and Bodygurad along with the Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching Program were all designed to support mortals in creative process. Here is the longer un-cut version of the interview.

Did you receive your formal art training?
Not really. I didn’t go to ‘proper’ art school, more like I went to the “art school of life”. Six years ago I saw the art of LA artist Adolfo Girala at an outdoor art fair. Adolfo’s art intrigued me, drew me in, and I was hooked. I was lucky in that he very kindly took me under his wing. Several studio visits and several years of practice later – and still a life time more to go – I am painting at the level which I’m at today. I’ve also taken workshops with Bob Burridge, Anne Baldwin, Nancy Reyner and Lana Grow.

Creative time of the day for you:
Morning, first thing! Yeah, I’m one of those morning people. J I jump out of bed, can’t wait to tackle my current project. Especially when every one is sleeping. Sometimes I wake up at 4 am and start paintings.

Do you have a mantra or motto?
Currently it’s; “The more I trust, the better life gets” (subject to change). “Breathe” is another one I like.

Key to your perseverance
mmmmm….Holding the vision that via my success I empower other artists to make it as well. I love the challenge of being a working professional artist and figuring it out along the way – how do you apply to galleries and get submitted? how to sell your art on your own? Where to sell? These things inspire me and keep me persevering – a relishing of the challenge, but most of all a love of ht e process. I absolutely fricken’ love painting.

Best advice received
Do what you love, the money will follow.

Next book?

I am currently working with a graphic artist creating a new brochure exhibiting my Raw Expression pieces as well as describing their Feng Shui meaning and giving tips to placing the art in your home/office.

Most favorite achievement
Cycle touring around Iceland with myself one summer. Great trip. Lots of magic moments and the experience of a lifetime. There are a few trip photos and stories about this trip in The Little Inspiration Book, Ideas to Empower Women.

How you get ideas for paintings?
Other artists, online, shadows on the side walk, scenes in movies, scenes in life, from my unconscious, from my previous paintings, art books….

Favorite studio music.
Currently I’m enjoying “The Proclaimers” Sunshine on Leith album. (always changing)

Next big goal
I would like to create a body of work to exhibit with the intention of raising awareness of the fringe benefits of creativity, how simply being creative makes us happier, healthier, more focused, improves eye sight, may enable us to live longer, keep goals, and so much more. I would love to have an artists talk and demonstration as part of the exhibition. I would also like to give some of the proceeds to a charity that is in line with the premise that being creative helps people be happier. If you know of a nonprofit out there, please do let me know – deb@debcreative.com – thank you.

Where people can see your work?
3 places right now – to see work fresh out of the studio, best place is to visit my blog http://debchaney.blogspot.com/, as I will make a point of posting new pieces at the top of each entry. For work existing and sold see my website http://www.debcreative.com/ and for prints, posters, mugs, magnets all with my art images on them you can visit http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.

And coming soon in art galleries in Vancouver, Montreal, Scottsdale, LA, NY, Santa Fe, Seattle…

Art Supplies

I've been asked a number of times; where do you buy your art supplies? Here is where I buy my art supplies online:

http://www.cheapjoes.com/
http://www.misterart.com/ - I really like how organized their site is, very easy to navigate.
http://www.dickblick.com/
http://www.arizonaartsupply.com/
http://www.michaels.com/ - mainly craft things but I found some wonderfully large palette knives there the other day!

Here in town I go to Santa Barbara Art Essentials only when I'm out of something and need it quickly b/c they are quite expensive.

and, hands down, the world over, my favourite art store is OPUS Art Supply on Granville Island in Vancouver!!! I will be there next week as my daughter and I will be in Vancouver.

Co-Creation Collaboration with Pete Moraites

Last Saturday Peter Moraites drove up from Santa Monica and came up to co-create some mixed media - digital art with me. If you don’t know about Peter he was the #1 digital artist on you tube (over 100,100 downloads) based on his piece called “Hypnotize yourself” I could have the name wrong. Check it out for yourself. Anyways, Peter has vibrant energy and is passionate about art and creativity. (see past blog post on Hurrah Peter for more on Pete). We had a blast in the studio creating a 30” x 40” canvas piece with gels and mediums, papers, foils, liquid and full bodied acrylics, powder pigments, and liquid metals. Layering, scraping, dancing, photographing were all part of the process. The final piece will be called “Faith” so keep tuned for its completion…I will post it on this blog.

Peter took some fabulous new shots of me for my upcoming Raw Expression brochure as well he created an awesome collage piece – Sebastian style – with images of myself entwined in our painting. Peter loves to co-create with other artists. If you like what you see, and we’re not done yet – he’s working on a little video podcast of me painting and a comic strip series of photos – he could do the same for you. You can contact Peter at pete@petemoraites.com.

Everything Counts

I haven’t written for a while and am giving myself total compassion. Life has been busy. As a working artist and also as a student of the creative process I am aware of the fact that everything counts that everything we do -parenting, our jobs, how we are in relationships, how we take care of our bodies, how we manage our finances - is a creative endeavor. And everything counts! It all matters.

For me, I manage by having deeply ingrained habits and rituals in place so that I get to the non-urgent things but important things, like painting, in my life.

Usually mornings are my studio time, when it's quiet and everyone is sleeping. Or very late at night, again when it's quiet and everyone is (hopefully!) sleeping.

Mondays are my "magical money management" days and that's when I pay bills, reconcile accounts, and do the book keeping support for my husband's company. I don't even think about what I do on Mondays, it's automatic that I'll be at my desk most of the day- and this really works for me.

Tuesdays are my “toot my horn Tuesdays” where I work on marketing and promotion of myself and my work. Website updates, creating a new brochure, adding contacts to my database, and reading the online blogclass I am currently taking with Alyson Stanfield (www.artbizcoach.com).

So far those two days along with morning studio times are solid. I’m looking forward to forming more rituals that serve me in creating my goals - especially taking time out for self care, more studio time (!), and fun time with my family.

I'm still working on a house cleaning ritual and I'd love to hear your comments and how you fit it into your life!(1-800-Mollyl Maid?) :-)

I call this photo "The motherhood pull" . Ruthie (age 4) needs a lot of attention; the trick is to balance it so I can get my needs met too. This morning I gave her own big canvas and some paints. This kept her busy and gave me time to work on some paintings in the studio. See what she created!

How do you manage your art with your life? We al have the same struggle with juggling it all. It's the little tricks that keep us coming back to doing what we love regularly. I’d love to hear about your tricks to make time.

Pure Abstraction - In the process of things

I am in the middle of working on those three (3) ‘Pure Abstraction’ 36” x 36” pieces on canvas I told you about several week ago. (/debchaney/2007/09/on-this-journey-of-being-working-studio.html) What fun I am having but also I am feeling challenged and am learning much in this process. I wanted to share a with you about my creation process of these, something I wrote in my journal;

“I listen to the painting. I feel what it needs next. Maybe more paint, maybe less. Maybe work more while it’s wet. Maybe let it dry. Scrape away with a palette knife or wipe with a rag, melt it together with a wet brush or maybe wipe it with my sleeve. Scrub a layer away when it’s dry. Tonight I rubbed the latest layer with my fingers, getting involved with mixing the colors in. It’s what called to me, I had to do it. If I had to eat the paint to make it work, I probably would do this too. Sometimes I am tired or the painting just says; “Leave me alone, go rest, trust, come back later”. Some days I just lie down in my studio and sleep next to the paintings. That is my work for that day. The paintings lead me, and I follow. This process of trusting and listening fills my soul.”


P.S. A wise older friend told me several weeks ago; make sure you let them know you and your life isn’t perfect – that you make crappy paintings, mistakes, that you can relate other ‘normal’ people. (What is normal anyways? We all have our passions, talents, dreams. I believe there are just a few of us who are willing to risk all and commit to living them. This is not so easy. It takes spirit, fire, commitment, dedication, unrelenting enthusiasm, focus, working when I don’t feel like it, working through depression and working with life going on all around me.) Tonight for instance after making dinner for my ‘spirited’ 4 year old (spoon feeding it to her because otherwise she refused to eat), giving her a bath, playing some games, reading a Curious George book, letting her have 20 minutes of her Barbie movie, she is currently, as I write this, in bed whining for me to come and cuddle her. I feel for her but the paintings call is strong. So is my dream. As well, I wanted to share with you tonight. So motherhood and the artist life is a challenge I have chosen for this life and I hope to find peace and balance and success in both – however I define those to be – and pass this along to you. Thank you for reading.

Bodies of Work

In 2006 I created a body of work I called "Emerging". The work was inspired by my studio lessons with Adolfo Girala, whom I had met at an art fair in 2001. Adolfo taught me so much - both in art and on a personal level.

"Earth and Sky" Deb CHaney 2006. Polyptic, series of four 16" x 20" ea. $2200. Mastercard and Visa. (805) 403-9870 deb@debcreative.com. Prints at http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.

I am so grateful to have met someone whose style and techniques I so admired and who was willing to share. His generosity has further enthused me to share with you - my techniques, stories, habits and secrets. Adolfo - thank you!

So, in puttering around and experimenting in my studio from 2001- 2006 I created this "Emerging" body of work. Most of the works were flops, experiments. A lot of the work didn't work out. But I learned and played and grew as an artist. And then with the help of my graphic artist we put together this brochure, and I thought I was done.

(for PDF brochure download for Emerging series of paintings pls visit http://www.debchaney.com)

Honestly I was tired of trying to imitate Adolfo's work. He is such a master at his style. It was emotionally draining trying to emulate something that seemed so illusive. All his paintings seemed to work out...mine did not. I held his work as my standard and fell short every time. It became ever more frustrating!

I stopped focusing on these Emerging works and took workshops with a number of artists whom I admired... Bob Burrdige, Anne Baldwin, Nancy Reyner and Lana Grow.

The Raw Expression series came from after learning new ways from new teachers. I created work that was totally my own. I was working on 300 lb paper on not on canvas. I was using paper in my paintings and only doing a few layers, not 20 - 30. I was breaking the rules I had learned with Adolfo. I was liberating myself with this series.

So, last week, I was downtown with my husband and wondering through the Spirit in STone Galleriy and ogled Wosene's work, not for the first time. This time the sales lady at the desk handed me his artist statement, but it was more like a "history of the artist" because the narrative described his work and bodies of work over the last 20+ years. It was fascinating how he had worked on various bodies of work for 5, 6, 7 years each and then evolved into what he grouped as a different series, a new focus, another 5-10 years.

I have so much admiration for Wosene. I love his work but what I truly admire is his dedication and focus to his work. To paint for more than 20 years. With 3 paintings in the Smithsonian. But above all that, what intrigues me and captivates me is his dedication to his native Ethiopian language; " Amharic ".I feel like he is so lucky to have that rich heritage, the intrigue and playful beauty of the written words to incorporate into his art, to call his own. It makes me wonder what my language and focus is….but that is another blog entry.

So, for now, what did I learn? Well, I learned that a body of work can span years. And I went back to my study, newly enthused, and pulled out some of those old not-finished Emerging paintings. So I am excited to share with you some of the new Emerging pieces. I will link you to them as they get posted on the website. And to see how I progress with Adolfo's teaching and everything else I've learned and see what evolves and emerges in the next few years.

The journey continued, as I continue to emerge. Thank you for being here with me. Take care, Deb

Production Mode

Currently I'm in production mode...really enjoying the studio time, the process, experimentation and completing new works.

Here's a photo of some pieces I've got ready to take to the photographers.

Back to the studio...

Hurah for Peter!

I want to introduce you to my dear friend Pete Moraites, who works under the moniker of Sebastian Process as VJ and photographer. He had a big spot at the Los Angeles downtown Art walk showing his process of animated photography this last weekend and I’m sorry to have missed it. (Next time!)

Stages of his new work can be seen at livevideo.com/sebastianprocess and myspace.com/sebastianprocess. Pete/Sebastian Process is a member of the creative-expression championing collective Eye Pscience, and the eclectic music-art combo Salvador Dalek.

On display was the Pete Moraites "Spelling Test" collection of animations set to original music. Spelling Test features solo visual and musical works as well as visual collaborations with Alyson Boote and musical collabs with Eric Scott (as Salvador Dalek). Best known amongst the "Spelling Test" collection is the viral hit "Program Yourself".Influenced by Richard Bandler's Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Ericksonian Hypnosis, and early typographic design music videos of Underworld (designed by Tomato) "Program Yourself" is a visually administered mimetic catalyst designed to induce trance in the audience and access our most enthusiastic, joyful, loving, happy, and knowingly amazingly capable thoughts of ourselves, energize these thoughts, and set them looping in our subconscious as well as part of our conscious minds which frequently loops a catchy piece of music. Linguistically engineered with viral properties, the piece has enjoyed over half a million viewings online, was a number one feature on YouTube and a featured story in Noyse Magazine. A wild mashup of animated styles and media including photography, drawings, clay, video, and text, with an inspired soundtrack to match, "Spelling Test" is a tribute to the joys of Creative Play.

The LA art walk runs the Second Thursday of Every Month in Downtown Los Angeles
453 South Spring Street (btwn 4th/5th Street) Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Peter and I will be doing a collaboration piece soon – we’re talking about a photo comic strip of me doing my art work…we’ll see what we create together. Stay posted. Cheers, Deb.

Naming your art work

How do you choose or find the right name for your art work? I just finished a new piece in my “Faux Encaustica” series which I entitled; Travel Plans. The title came easily when I decided to incorporate bits and part of our e-ticket stubs and travel itineraries from our most recent travel adventure into the painting. I love to travel and I also love to plan trips, so this title really felt right. But sometimes I have no idea what to entitle my work so I have a few tricks I want to share with you…

I keep a list of painting title ideas in my journal. Sometimes when I’m writing in my journal if an idea comes to me about a series of paintings or a specific title or concept I’ll tab it using a specific tab color so I can refer back to it easily.

I also use these resources to search for painting titles when I’m stuck:

• Thesaurus
• Baby name book
• Write down good lines from a movie (one of my favorites)
• Highlight a great line from a novel I’m reading
• Newspaper headline
• See what other artists's entitle their work and use it as inspiration/start off point
  

My friend Lana Grow when she’s really stuck on naming one of her abstract pieces will ask one of her 10 grandchildren to name it!

So I’m curious, how do you choose the names for your pieces? There is a place below this blog for comments. Please use it, I’d love to hear from you!

Travel Plans - Deb Chaney 2007, 30” x 40”- Mixed Media, Acrylics and Collage on Canvas, $3200 USD

All of Deb Chaney’s original artwork displayed in this blog is for sale. Visa and Mastercard are accepted. For purchase inquiries contact Deb at (805) 403-9870 or deb@debcreative.com. Shipping, handling and tax are extra.

Don’t have the budget for original work but like what you see? Prints, poster, mugs, magnets, t-shirts,etc - less expensive items with my original art work on them are available at http://www.cafepress.com/debchaney.

Art Image Collection

I like to put images of paintings and designs I like into a book dedicated to art images. I collect pictures of art work I like from magazines, postcards from art shows, & off the Internet.

Having my own hand-picked art image book is a great resource for ideas and inspiration .

Using the back of a stepped palette knife, I apply Golden soft gel (gloss) to glue in thin papers like magazine cut outs and I use Golden heavy gel (matte) to blue in thicker postcard papers that need greater adhesion.

It's a fun thing to do when I'm not intersted in painting but want to do something mindless and creative!

You could use this same idea even if you're not a visual artist - collecting images that support your dream however that appears to you - a table that you'd lke to make, a quilt pattern or colour that inspired one you intend to create, images of clothes you'd like to acquire for your wardrobe. You get the idea... Have fun!

Here I am at a local cafe putting gel medium on the back of an image before I put it into my image book. I sometimes use a brayer to smooth down the image.

Artists Dates – Vancouver café artists

Something I love to do when I am traveling is go and check out other artists shows in café’s, book stores, and galleries. A few weeks ago when I was in Vancouver my husband, daughter and I enjoyed some time strolling along West 4th. (Can't remember the name of the cafe - will let you know if I do.) When it started raining we ducked into a little café with a winding staircase up the middle and comfy sofas all around. The art was fantastic mixed media which gave me such the impression of the artist having a great time doing it. Scott Schafer is a Vancouver artist and when I contact him he shared the following with me.

Scott recently wrote me of his newest painting endeavor; “....I've just finished a collection of images being shown in Calgary this week for the next 12 weeks....the collection was painted in Ontario, thru out this summer...on Lake Erie, in an abandoned church,....I rounded up everyone's old paints and varnishes....and on several large canvases I painted a mixed media of topographical views of the earth, involving everything I could use...or what would actually stay on the canvas....everything I paint now is outside...so I work totally in open air environments around the world...next is Thailand and HongKong.....I'm deeply affected with how life rotates around the artist....my painting is a priority...it comes first...with that commitment...I will see the world...dada”.

Here are pictures of two of Scott's mixed media pieces on canvas that represent what he had exhibited at the café August 2007.

Whether its actual physical objects in our surroundings like Scott is doing and adding stuff he finds to his work or just mentally collecting images, thoughts, and emotions around us, this is what we as artist do. We ‘mine’ the world and then take it home and use this to create. Everything is our work. Living is working is playing…could we get any luckier?

You can contact Scott at scotty.schafer@gmail.com cell: 778.838.4636 Or visit him online at: http://www.thequeenscloset.ca/.

On this journey of being a working studio artist

On this journey of being a working studio artist, there are many challenges - not just in staying inspired and motivated to paint daily, but forging into the business of being an artist is like making a whole new art piece in itself – in a new medium, in a foreign studio, with different tools…..

I just received my 2007 Artist’s Market book and am in process of paging through it going through the galleries and deciding which ones to look into further – check out their websites and see if my work is compatible. It’s daunting and scary and brings up lot of feeling of vulnerability. But with Kaizen small steps I proceed and enjoy the process of beginning this new portion of my career.

Somewhere in one of my journals (I need to go and re-locate it) I have a list of the top ten things I would like to attract in a gallery and gallery owner representing me. Well, there is the wish list of perfection – a trap that can stop me in my tracks. And then there is the reality of just starting applying! (Hey, if you’re interested I’ll post the list on the blog, please let me know in the comments section – I’d like your feedback.) Anyways, My next little step is to start writing a query letter to the galleries I’d like to apply to. I’m hoping to find a template online to follow. No luck yet.

(By the way did you read Eric Maisel’s newsletter on the fears and excuses we artist come up with when thinking about getting our work out there and applying to galleries? I thought he wrote it to me personally! You can subscribe to his newsletter on the home page of his website: http://www.ericmaisel.com/)

Meanwhile, back to the fun part of the painting! I am working on 3 paintings this morning that are teaching me a lot. I have not painted anything like this before and am enjoying the burnt umbers, iron oxide yellows and ultra marine blues. The composition is still coming together and at this point I feel that two of them are definitely in their puberty, ugly duckling stage. This is normal. Paintings don’t always just work out, it takes time and finishing them is often the most challenging part – what needs to be taken away? What needs to be added? If the painting could talk, what would it say?

My mentor Lana Grow taught me to take photos of my work and then use the photos to judge what needs to be done. The photo gives us a sense of ‘standing back’ a useful perspective when I’ve been in close all morning putting around with a cloth and palette knife.

So here’s to trusting the process, honoring the ugly duckling stage and taking small steps forward towards our goals.

Back in the studio

I got up this morning around 6:30 am and then headed to my studio at 7 after writing my morning pages and making my daughter’s lunch. It was a pretty long labor day lull and I didn’t get a lot of painting done in the last three days. Wayyyy too much TV! I’m currently addicted to that Kyle XY Series – fascinating.

So it felt odd walking into the studio this morning. Time to get back into my creative groove, out of zombie mode. What am I doing to do? I don’t feel like working on that! Lots of resistant thoughts came up. “So what! Let’s do it anyways” is great for when the little voices take over and we freeze up.

Luckily, three large paintings, each 36” x 36”, caught my eye and I had an idea of adding a little transparent yellow oxide. So I just threw some paint on and started working. Then a little ultra marine blue.

Also, I have some music ( my husband picked it up somewhere and put it in my studio as a gift) that really gets me flowing creatively too, so I put “Creative Mind System – free you artistic expression”, by Dr. Jeffrey Thompson. And before I knew it my daughter was up and it’s now 8 am!

So this is what’s its really about .Being in that zone where time disappears and there is just the color and texture and small questions like “what would work next?” It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling to be lost in time like this and this is why I work as an artist. Because my work is play.

River Rocks

Lately I have been re-reading the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron as one of the required books for the Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching Certification program. It's definitely taking me down memory lane as I think it was about 10 years ago when I got my first copy and did the 12 week program. Anyways, before leaving on the Nahanni River trip, I finished a chapter where at the end one of the tasks was to find a rock (or two?) for fun, for beauty, for a reminder I can carry anywhere in my pocket. (This task is page 113 on my copy of the Artist’s Way)

I’d forgotten all about this task during the trip when Jackie, part of river group, starting collecting the most beautiful rocks along the river bank during a stop for lunch. Wow, art in rocks! The shapes, colors, lines, and textures were beautiful and then the Artist’s Way exercise came back to me and I thought, what the heck, I’d start my own little river rock collection!

Here’s a photo of a journal sketch I made during the trip of river rocks and their beautiful colors- especially when the rocks are still wet. And I’ve included a photo of the rocks I ended up finding on the tripa lso. They now have a special place in my studio, next to my little Inukshuk, on the window sill. The river rocks remind me of the energy I get from being out on the land, fully in nature. They remind me of a great trip, good times with my Dad and my husband. They remind me of beauty and they add delight in my studio.

Compromising

Compromising is a topic that came up during the March 2007 Santa Barbara art workshop I took with painter *Nancy Reyner from Santa Fe, NM. Nancy talked about compromises and how they can affect us in the studio when we are painting. It all starts with our first choice, and when we compromise that, we set the stage for compromising everything.

Let’s say you want to paint a really big painting, say 40” x 50” but you already have several smaller sized canvas in your studio. Remember the big painting is a metaphor for whatever you want to create – a new business, a tidy & organized kitchen, a restful day, write a chapter of your novel, a better relationship with your partner, etc. The big idea is the real dream.

So, in the case of the studio artist, you decide to compromise and use the smaller canvases you have in your studio. You justify it to yourself that you’re saving money not getting the bigger canvas, saving time for the trip to the art store, and the underlying belief that accompanies these non-actions is; “that it’s Ok ‘cause I’m not really worth it anyways”. You tell yourself a good little story about why you’ll just make do with what you have. So here is your first compromise.

Now you have set the painting session for compromise, what’ll it be next? You don’t have the exact shade of yellow you envisioned – you wanted to use Naples yellow but heck that’s special order historic color so you’ll just use that old tube of yellow ochre will do? The pallet knife you have has a broken handle, but oh well, it’ll do. See what’s going on here? Compromises and Energy drain!

So we end up with a half baked painting that really wasn’t what we were dreaming at all. Or a day where we had planned something special for ourselves, but let other things get in the way…We let the compromises win out and the energy drains away…

And it all started with our first compromise with ourselves when we didn’t really follow our heart, the spiritual direction, our inspiration i.e. in-SPIRIT-ation – we were sent initially about what we were really supposed to do.

So, it takes guts and bravery to learn to go for what we really want from the start. It takes trust that the original thought came from a higher place and are orders to be followed, not ignored, compromised, or worse – utterly case aside. And it takes belief in ourselves, that we are WORTH IT – worth the big canvas, the best paints, the new pen, the 10 minutes of writing time towards that novel….Because we lose energy every time we waiver from our original inspiration and compromise our true desires. We also lose trust in the Great Creator who intends us all to create abundantly and follow our dreams.

So, on that note, I’m off to follow through on my intention for today of my artist’s date with myself to visit a new gallery in town here in Santa Barbara. If there’s anything cool worth mentioning I will let you know! Thanks for reading. Keep painting. Love, Deb

*(Nancy is the author of The Acrylic Revolution a great book for starting to learn about mixed media painting with acrylics.)

SMIGs

SMIGs is s a ritual I do every evening, yup, even managed to keep it up camping in a little tent in the middle of nowhere on this last river trip on the Nahanni. It’s about paying attention, cultivating awareness in the little moments and honoring all the big and little pieces of our daily life.

Simply, SMIGs stands for: Success, Magic Moments, Intentions, & Gratitude. The little ‘s’ at the end reminds me to keep it small to take small steps ! This exercise brings you into the now and let’s us see what we’ve done as well as honoring the beauty in the little moments of our day that are worth remembering.

Here’s a photo of my SMIGs exersice in my journal. Notice the contents of my “create-anywhere kit” a fold down wash bag which includes soft gel gloss, paint brush, palette knife, C’aran dash water soluble and non water soluble crayons, lots of pens and little post-it notes. I put together these supplies so I can create anywhere and stay in my creative painting flow even when I am away from my studio.

SMIGs sample I wrote in my journal on this last trip...

Wednesday August 15th 2007- Deb’s Journal Entry camping along the Nahanni River, North West Territories, Canada

Success – Did Qi Gong and yoga in the morning. Wrote 3 morning pages. Canoed a lot!

Magic moments – Absorbing the natural earth energy during my Qi Gong practice, Soaking in the natural hot springs by the river (awesome!), had a nice little nap on the raft on the way down the river, enjoyed being in Keri’s raft – laughing, singing & telling jokes. Collecting special rocks with Matt on shore.

Intentions for tomorrow – drinks lots of water, write 3 morning pages, stretch, enjoy the experience.

Gratitude – great dinner, beautiful scenery, being with my Dad and my man, health, love, life, my journal.

You could make it simpler and write just one thing for each section.

New work : Faux Encaustica Series

Good morning! My daughter is sleeping in so I thought I’d tell you about some of the new pieces I am working on in my “Faux Encaustica Series”. Well, first off I must say these paihntings are the most fun ever.. EVerytime I go in my studio and take a peek at these pieces I get little shiverse of exciment…hmmm….what am I going to do next? Such fun!

Often in the mornings I go into my studio and re-bound (jump up and down on a small trampoline playing some funky music – my late favorite is a Jimmy Cliff album I have on my ipod that starts out with “Wonderful World, Beautiful People”. So I jump and sing outloud sometimes and look at these paintings and figure out my next step.

Here I am in the studio with Ruthie (4) and all the Faux Encaustica series paintings in progress! It’s great to be working on canvas again. We’ll see how things pieces evolve!

This technique is all about using acrylics and acrylic mediums to beautifully imitate encaustic art (wax). I took a workshop with Nancy Reyner in March of this year and learned all about combining and using Golden products such as Soft Gel, Heavy Gel, Matte Medium, Gloss Medium, GAC 800 and all sorts of other ingredients to create the wax look. Nancy is a Golden Working Artist so along with learning a lot about the Golden products we all received a ton of free samples! Nancy teaches all over the US. It’s a great workshop I recommend.

Here is the first completed piece in the series which for me I called “Staying Connected” because what I am learning from these paintings is the sheer joy and fun of being in the moment - connected fully to my creativity and the process of creating. These paintings are truly a reflection of connecting with the playful kid inside me.


First completed painting in this series, Staying Connected, 24” x 24” , mixed media, acrylics and collage. Deb Chaney 2007. Original For Sale $850 Visa/Mst Accepted (805) 403-9870 deb@debcreative.com

On the Right Track

Hello, it’s been a while. Thanks for coming back to my blog. I’ve been away, a way up north actually. No internet in the great remote outdoors, so that’s my official excuse for a break in blogs. Me, Matt, and my Dad went for a week long paddling trip down the Nahanni River in the North West Territories of Canada. Wow, what a spectacular adventure.

Deb on the Nahanni River. Aug 2007.

Being in the outdoors re-fills my creative wells and energizes my spirit like nothing else. The big wide open spaces, big sky, interesting geology, wild rivers, black bears, green trees, canyons and mountains for hiking, lakes and hot springs for swimming and, I am sold. I am in love with the north. I am as passionate being in the outdoors as I am about painting.

On my way up to the Nahanni River in the North West Territories of Canada we stopped through Yellow Knife and I had a day to peruse shops, enjoy the local scenery and experience some of their fabulous northern cuisine. I picked up a few souvenirs at a few of the local artisans galleries. One of them being a soapstone carving of an “Inukshuk”.

Here is a photo of my little Inukshuk nestled into my “Heaven on Earth” studio window still along with some other goodies. Nothing like toys in your creative space!

Inukshuk’s are little stone figures made to look like men. The Inuit people of the north would build large Inukshuks’ in order to mark a path or give some kind of helpful information to fellow traveler’s to come. The human like stone form could say “ you’re on the right track, keep on” or “good fishing here”. They were left as positive guides.

I think positive sign posts and guides are a essential for artists. We need to expect them. Ok this painting is working out, I’m on the right track. Wow, those couple hours in the studio sure felt fun last night, I’m on the right track. I’ve sold quite a few art pieces in the last few years, I’m on the right track. I really love being an artist…..and so on.

Sometimes we feel like we might be off the track, that things may not be going how we intended. At this most recent show I had at the Sojourner Café, I did not sell a single painting. I have never had this experience of not selling art work I’ve put on display. How lucky am I?

Perhaps I could be discouraged or feel like I’m off track. Not at all. I wasn’t too surprised at these results for a number of reasons. But more importantly I gained a lot from doing this show and this series of 18 paintings. I painted a body of work and became a stronger artist and person for doing this. The show gave me a deadline. I’ve never worked with collage before and this series gave me the freedom to explore using paper with paint. And most importantly I painted this work for myself, to express deep feelings and release them in a way that would contribute instead of destroy. These paintings were healing. Regardless of what happens I feel I was on my right track when I was painting these works.

So perhaps I have not sold any of these paintings yet, but I trust they will find their homes to the right person at the right time. Meanwhile my Inukshuk sits on my studio sill and reminds me I am on the right track. And I know that I am.

Studio Visitors

Recently my husband and my daughter went to Disney land for a couple of days. They did it to celebrate her 4th birthday. I opted to stay home, have some personal time, and paint. Any true artist would understand the gift in alone time. The minutes, the hours, I relished all of them. I don’t think I slept much…I didn’t want to waste a single second!

I vowed to take care of myself though and went for a massage. On the way back I remember telling myself; “ I won’t stop by the art store, I don’t need anything, I know what they have” of course the universe only hears “art store” so next thing you know I’m walking back from the massage and I’m at the art store. It was right next door to the massage place, hardly easy to avoid. There on the front door was a posted sign for a play about Jackson Pollock. Suckered in immediately, I got my notebook out to write down the place and time. Turns out it was that evening – my last evening alone before my crew came back. I made the decision right there to go.

[“We think we are alone but we are not” I Diptych Deb Chaney 2007 Mixed Media, Acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper, 23” x 30”, unframed $1500. Currently on exhibit at Sojourner Café. For sales contact MeganHavrda@hotmail.com. ]

I am not a theatre person. My mother likes to go to plays and will often ask, sometimes drag me to plays when I visit. Last time I was up in Vancouver she asked me if I wanted to go see a play. “What about?” I asked. “It’s about mothers, mother hood, teenagers and stuff” my mum told me. We ended up going to see Mums the Word II at the Playhouse theatre on Granville Island for a nice little date out together. The play was fantastic. Hilarious. Heart wrenching. I was close to tears and then close to standing up and yelling “you go girls! Go mamas!” So the last experienced was a good one I thought I’d risk it again and went downtown that night to stand in line outside the playhouse on Victoria Street in Santa Barbara.

I have not seen the Jackson Pollock movie. Nor have I studied in any formal art classes, art history, whatever. So for me, since I started painting full time, I have learned along the way who is who and how abstract expressionism emerged into America and became ‘acceptable’ even popular art. For me the still continuing journey of discovering Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William de Kooning , Hans Hoffman and the rest of that gang started out by a teacher here in Santa Barbara, Rick Stitch, who said to me if you want to be a great artist you’ve got to study the great artist. He loaned me a couple of books (yikes, still need to return the last one! Sorry Rick) and my education began. This play was the next step in my art education.

Jackson Pollock, as depicted in this play was angry, frustrated – it seems- and extremely ego driven “what about me? How is my art? Will they buy it?” He also seemed incredibly insecure. I could relate but also felt like this time has past. Living in the “me” game is the recipe for suffering. I would hope artists today could start moving on from this. He got so volatile in the scene where the photographer came to photograph him in his studio close to the end of the first act, that I left. I couldn’t handle the energy.

Anyways, in the process of getting my ticket and being seated for the play I had connected with the artistic director, William. I knew I recognized William from a movie or two – his face was so darn familiar – but more than that there was a spark between us and when I mentioned I was an artist, he expressed an interest to come visit my studio and see my work. We talked on the phone later that weekend and invited him for dinner a week later on a Friday night.

[“We think we are alone but we are not” II Diptych Deb Chaney 2007 Mixed Media,
Acrylics, collage on 300 lb paper, 23” x 30”, unframed $1500. Currently on exhibit at Sojourner Café. For sales contact MeganHavrda@hotmail.com. ]

I haven’t had a whole lot of studio visitors at this point in my career as a working artist. I’m sure there will be more. I think the concept of inviting people into my studio needs to be done with keeping a balance. When I am in full-on creative mode I don’t want anyone near within a mile. (my dream is to own 10 acres with a big studio space and trees all around, quiet, quiet, quiet. Gulf Island preferably, thanks for asking. J) but sometimes it’s fun to have people come over and play - so to speak.

William brought me his movie set prop portfolio (His card does not have a website otherwise I’d give you the link . Hey William, if you’re reading this send me your link so I can put it here for people to see you awesome work! deb@debcreative.com ) and I showed him some of my finished new works ( The Raw Expression series) and a number of other paintings and projects I was working on. At that time I was working on the painting that ended up being called “We are not alone” but at the time of William’s visit it was going in a totally different direction.

When I first started creating this piece I was really inspired by the beginning and ending images in the Matrix movie. I enjoyed the first movie and the whole concept within the movie of taking a pill and waking up to this life being a dream. For me, I watched that scene and went “wow!” that’s really how it is. This life is a dream. I was really taken by how they presented this concept. So I was moving towards imitating those green computer screen images that the matrix is known for. Funny thing is when William looked at the in-process painting he saw a city. Turn it around and it does look like a whole bunch of high rise buildings, sort of New York-esque. I liked that and it caught. The whole piece changed from his comment and opened up a new door for me.

I like that I was open to the new idea. To changing where the painting was headed. I’ve always loved the views of high rise buildings in the night with their windows lit up and the yellow and orange light bursting out into the night. There were some paintings depicting this beautifully in a newer book put out by Natalie Goldberg. She did a wonderful job of capturing it. I looked at the paintings in her poetry/art book several years back when the book first came out and thought; “ I want to paint those”. So here I was doing collage in the same theme, exploring the beauty of cities and all their buidlign and the lights through the windows. Funny how things happen.

So, studio visitors, well I think it’s good to let people in once in a while. Not all the time. Not just anyone. After all, our studios are sacred. We must preserve the energy, the space, our time. But once in a while I think inviting someone in to take a peek, have a look, come an dplay can’t hurt. I think it can even add to our growth as artists.

So, William, thanks for the help with that painting.

Much love,

Deb