Some Background Thoughts

As I've worked away at all the many details in this horse drawing, I've been sifting through ideas of what to title it.  So I think I've landed on a candidate.  "Ready and Waiting" is what comes out on top of the stack.  This horse, who belongs to my son Elijah and is named Roany, is all saddled and prepared for work.  For whatever the reason, Roany is waiting patiently until his master needs him.  The action hasn't happened yet.  The important part is that Roany is prepared and ready to go when the time comes.


Art reflects life, so this drawing also reminds me of the larger metaphors.  Being prepared and ready for life's opportunities is critical.  In sports we are taught to be in the ready position.  In that stance it is difficult to be thrown off balance.  One is poised for movement in any direction.  I also am reminded of a great quote by one of my favorite U.S. Presidents...Abraham Lincoln.  He said, "I must read and study to prepare myself, for someday my chance will come."  That challenges me to do what I can to be prepared to deal with what life brings.  

The title also reminds me to not only be prepared, but also to be patient!  That may be the hardest part.  Patience, perseverance, endurance...these may not be on our list of favorite things to do.  But nothing great gets done without them.  I must be patient with the process. Things take time.  Also circumstances beyond my control can often determine time frames.  The part I can take is to be prepared and then develop character in patient waiting.

Ready and waiting....you can't go wrong with that!

Front Row Seat

"Front Row Seat"

Oil

30" x 36"

Here's my newest creation!  With this painting you have a front row seat to the action.  The model in this is a cowgirl in northeast Colorado who loves horses, is a professional barrel racer, and works from the back of a horse.  She truly has a front row seat to the action....and that includes all kinds as working with livestock brings lots of variety...at times dangerous and at times humorous.  She has a zest for life and this is what I wanted to portray.

Wrestling and Art

 

(Sketch of my son Elijah in the black hat and his friend Kelton)       

     Watching steer wrestling or similar activities to get an unwilling animal to cooperate with human intentions can be humorous.  But for the individual involved, frustration and lots of struggle can go into accomplishing the successful end result.  

     I find similar correlations from steer wrestling to the making of art.  How does that break down?  Well, at first, excitement to begin a new piece drives the selection of composition, size, preparation of panel board with gesso, painting a neutral color wash over the whole painting, and then laying in the sketch.  Next comes the first strokes of color here and there around the composition.  Things are still going great!  But......then you start to get a sense that the colors aren't working together well. You are not sure exactly what to change.  So you muck around in the paints trying to figure out just what color will correct the balance.  You resort to your color theory books.  You may call an artist friend.  You check out Youtube videos on the topic.  You may visit the local art museum or galleries for reference.  You pray.  Sometimes for me this can go on much longer than I have patience.  But that is what develops perseverance.

    There are no shortcuts to learning or improving your skill set.  You just keep picking up the brush and working away at it, wrestling with it, until at last color harmony starts to emerge from the composition.  You feel like "maybe"  the problem is solved.  Somehow it all comes together in the end to be at least a respectable piece of art.  But wow...the process isn't always easy and can be quite discouraging.  You sense you have really wrestled with that piece of art.  To wrestle means to contend by grappling with and striving with something, to engage in a determined struggle.  And that is where art reflects life!  We engage often in a determined struggle with a variety of issues and problems that come into our lives.  What do you do?  Along with other good choices, you keep "picking up the brush and painting".  You take the NEXT right step...incremental as that might be.  Ultimately the "painting" of your life will be complete and every color will matter to the whole.  

     I love the story from Aesop's Fables about the rabbit and the turtle.  More on that in another blog perhaps, but the point is "steady at it wins the race".  So whatever it may be for you in your life, keep on wrestling!

Oooops......!

     If you have ever hiked in the beautiful Rocky Mountains or some other similar terrain, you probably know what about scree.  For those of you who prefer staying at sea level, here's what scree is.  It is a mass of small loose stones that form or cover a slope on a mountain.  I experienced the "joy" of scree while attempting to climb Long's Peak in Colorado one August day.  If you have the misfortune of slipping on a large patch of scree, you are at the mercy of the pebbly landslide until your downward descent looses steam at a leveling off area.  Then comes the tricky, slippery-slide ascent with several more smaller descents tucked in just for "fun".

      Here comes the metaphor....life has many opportunities to experience scree in our work, health, relationships, and plans.  And I experience my share of them in creating artwork.  Understatement!  Here's a fresh example.  Last week I worked on a small watercolor painting of a dog and adhered it to a piece of wood as a backing.  After the drying and varnishing process, I discovered to my dismay that some of the adhesive buckled and wasn't going to be fixable.  This had happened on more than one painting.  So I ended up ripping the dog painting off the wood mount and took two smaller pieces of plain watercolor paper and tried a different adhesive as a test.  I decided to have some fun with it despite the messed up painting and getting the papers even glued crooked under the weight I used to press down on the painting.  This botched up project will be my own little reminder hanging here in my studio.  So here it is...

     And here is a peek at the dog watercolor painting before it got pulled up.  It was going to be titled "Keeping a Rein on Things".  I may go ahead and develop this one into a larger work down the road.  In the meantime, watch your step around the scree!

Polar Vortexes, Art, and the Soul

     What do polar vortexes, art, and the soul have do with each other, you ask?  Plenty....if you think in metaphors!  Let's give it some shape here.  How do you describe polar vortexes?  Try severe, extreme cold.  Hunkering down under blankets, inside parkas to keep warm.  Major discomfort in getting out and about.  Starkness and restriction of normal activities.  What about art, then?  How do you describe art?  As that which nourishes, uplifts, transports, changes your perspective, feeds your soul?  Finally, what about soul?  Is it that part of being human that feels, responds morally and emotionally to beauty, truth, life, and death, and that is eternal?

                                                          

    Loveland, CO Ranch

                                                                         8" x 10" oil

                                                                       Bonnie Patterson

     Okay, now link them all together in this aspect metaphorically.  As in daily life, so in our life experiences polar vortexes bear down on our souls...cold, frigid, undesired.  How does your soul deal with them and come out better for wear?  That is where art can step in and play a part to redirect your emotions, console grief, give perspective, divert focus, and inspire anew...whether it be music, theater, movies, literature, dance, a painting, or sculpture.  That is the power of art!  And polar vortexes are not permanent....the weather will change.  The sunshine will come and it will be June once again.  

     But right now it is still January and I'm excitedly preparing for a 6 week art class I'll be teaching in South Omaha with youngsters.  Since the 2014 Winter Olympics are in February, our theme is learning to draw sports action figures.  We will be following what is happening in the Sochi Olympics and having fun putting our interpretations of the human form in motion down on paper.  The class will be patterned along athletic training modes of drawing warmups, coaching instruction, implementing new knowledge in workouts, and then wrapping things up in a cooldown of reviewing main points and cleaning up.  All finishers will receive a a medal!  

     For those of you in Colorado, why not include a visit to the Coor's National Western Art Show at the Denver Stock Show this month?!  I have always been inspired during the winter blues with a feast for the eyes by wonderful western artists at that event.  All the best in this New Year to you!

What's New?

The word "new" means "not existing before".  A new year is just about to begin.  The year 2014 has never existed before.  Lots of "newness"  lies ahead for all of us.  Exciting!!  And I have something NEW to tell you...a NEW painting is now underway on my easel!  But no, I am not going to spill the beans and tell you what it is about.  That wouldn't be any fun.  But I will allow you to peak over my shoulder as the creating process unfolds to discover just what is emerging from the blank white nothingness.

I always enjoy the fresh start of a new work of art.  I feel like a cliff-diver poised over the raging waters far below.  It's exhilarating to make that first mark and JUST GET STARTED.  All I hope to convey in the painting is pulsing in my thoughts ready to be developed.  As I engage in the creative process, I am very aware that I am not really in control.  Ideas emerge and changes are made that seem to be above and beyond what I feel capable of or originally thought.  Sometimes when struggling with an aspect of a painting, an idea or solution will seem to emerge out of nowhere and I, amazed, think, "Where did that come from?"  Before beginning a new work, I do intentionally take time to think through what is the essence of my subject and how do I convey that to the viewers.  What is it about this subject that has grabbed my attention?  What is going on beneath the visual surface?  Is there something more than meets the eye that speaks to life?  And I would be remiss if I left out a critical element of preparation....I pray.  I ask God for help.  Like the great composer J.S. Bach who signed all his music "Solo Dei Gloria" (for the glory of God alone), I want my work to bring glory to Him.  If that is achieved, then the viewers of my work will also benefit from the work as well.

Happy NEW Year to you!  And I'll be back with NEW updates on the NEW painting!

Solo Exhibit at OrthoWest

Solo Exhibit At OrthoWest

Today begins the solo exhibit of seven pieces of my artwork at OrthoWest Hospital located at 2725   S. 144th St. #212 here in Omaha.  OrthoWest is Omaha's premiere orthopedic surgery clinic.  My work will be on display in their inner lobby all through the month of December.  The selected artworks are King of the Canyon; The Farrier; Under Watchful Care; Who’s There?; Boots, Broncs, and Britches; Winter Water; and Headgear.

Prints of these original works of art are available individually or most all are included in my 2014Calendar.