Out Of Commission: Fantasy

“Fantasy” by Jim Carpenter, Acrylic on Paper, 15" x 11"

Fantasy: It's All In Your Imagination

Prelude: "Fantasy" is here by matter of force. Internal force. The voice that comes from    within and says, "Just do what you do! And enjoy it. Forget about matching the sofa, forget about the commission, just paint."  "Fantasy" is all about listening to and honoring your own creative spirit. 

Which Comes First: Horse or Cart?

I generally don't do commission work, but a number of years ago I was asked to consider painting a floral using certain colors that would match a beautiful newly-decorated room in a client's home. I went out and bought a boatload of fresh flowers that I thought would match the colors of the sofa, brought them into my studio and set the stage for making a painting that would make the client happy. Did it work? 

No. It did not work. All the while I was painting that little critic was sitting on my shoulder grumbling away. Apparently neither the client nor the artist was going to be pleased with this painting. 

In retrospect, it's clear to me that I was doing battle with myself, still unsure of my own authority and my own voice. I can see now that I had set up a situation that stymied what I was striving for – authenticity in my own self-expression. 

I am pretty much a "cart follows the horse" kind of artist. I don't know what I am going to paint until I paint it. 

“Oh, The Heck With It!”

“Fantasy” is what I painted once I knocked the gremlin off my shoulder, let go of the restrictions of the commission, and just decided to paint, to make it up as I went along, to enjoy the paint, the process, and to explore. This painting was completed in 2009-2010. Though I have wanted to exhibit it, I have not really made a concerted effort to show it until today. I'm putting the horse before the cart. Here's the painting. I hope you like it. 

My Guilty Pleasure: Painting Flowers

"Grace" by Jim Carpenter, Watercolor, 15" x 11"

As my friend, artist Sandra Hadley, pointed out, “Sometimes it's refreshing to just celebrate beauty for its own sake.” And that observation by Sandra helps me to understand to some degree my love for painting florals. And, in my quest for living a joy-filled life, I have decided that it is time to indulge in some flora-abundance. 

For the next few days I’m going to publish some of my florals here on my blog. I am also making them available in my store on Zatista. I am bringing these paintings back into the light of day, in part because they stand for my own leap back into claiming my own voice (“I like to paint flowers!”) and in part because they lead the way for a new collection of floral paintings.

I painted “Grace” in 2008, long before I knew what a blog was and shortly before I discovered qigong and painting with acrylics, both of which turned me away from painting florals and turned me toward painting from an interior rolodex. “Grace,” as well as several of the others that will follow, is perhaps the beginning of my letting go of the need to paint from a reference.  Here I just painted from the heart – no photo reference – no flower or vase in front of me.  This painting has never been on exhibit, not because I didn’t want to show it, but because I was caught up in changing my image from “the guy who paints florals” to someone else entirely. 

Now, since this is my blog and this is my life, I think I can paint florals any time I want, and talk about it. 

  

The Request: Seeking Inspiration

"The Request" by Jim Carpenter, Acrylic on Paper, 22" x 30"

Accepting The Challenge: Seeking Inspiration

All right, I did take a week off from the challenge. I needed to breathe, and when I decided to come back to this I did actually feel a bit of that "Just DO it, Jim" kind of determination.  

One of the challenges in this challenge - as I've defined it for myself - is deciding which unfinished paintings to finish off.  The piece of paper I decided to work with is one that I have a long history with.  It is a full sheet of Arches Rough watercolor paper that I stained with orange and turquoise acrylic inks about 3 years ago.  I loved it so much - or maybe I loved its potential so much - that I wouldn't touch it.   Eventually I coated it with acrylic medium so I could preserve what was there, and would be able to return to it should I ever need to. I never needed to. I painted over this sheet of paper twice. It was an abstract landscape for a few days and then I somewhat mindlessly painted over it all completely - had a lot of fun and ended up with what you see here. And this is where my painting began today. 

I flipped it sideways and began to carve out my painting.

Finding Inspiration: First, Take A Deep Breath

inspiration (n.)

c.1300, "immediate influence of God or a god," especially that under which the holy books were written, from Old French inspiracion "inhaling, breathing in; inspiration," from Late Latin inspirationem (nominative inspiratio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin inspirare "inspire, inflame, blow into," from in- "in" (see in- (2)) + spirare "to breathe" (see spirit). Literal sense "act of inhaling" attested in English from 1560s. Meaning "one who inspires others" is attested by 1867. - Online Etymology Dictionary

Breathe!  That's literally what "inspiration" means!  This serves as a reminder that when the restrictions seem overwhelming, breath. In-spire! How interesting that the painting I came back to the challenge with ended up reminding me of what it means to seek inspiration and where one might find it: in the multitude of those who have gone before us. Masters, philosophers, artisans, scholars, priests and sages and healers, they are always present, at the ready to inspire us with their marks and the thoughts they have left behind.  

The turning point for finishing the painting came when I decided to add the color to the cape in the central figure.  I thought I was taking a risk by adding the red and giving him such strong focus, but when I did that everything else in the painting - including all of the other figures - became an environment and set up the story.  That one decision made the difference.  Suddenly the purpose of all the other figures became clear, as did his. 

I love it when that happens!