Baby Birds & Chickens, my favorite!

I indulged myself this past week by making my Early Childhood classes through first grade paint chickens and baby birds- some of my favorite subject matter. 

I realize when I am calm and approach the children with the attitude "I am here to serve you" things have gone great. This past week I made it a point to try and look each child I talked to directly in the eye and see them as an individual person. For the most part they still inhabit that magical realm you get to live in until you are about nine. It is a gift to be reminded that there is still magic in the world... Like the magic of crayons and watercolor paint...

These chickens are somewhere over the rainbow. One chicken is even carrying her chicks on her back! 

Love those colors! 

Molly's sun is in glasses. 

Primary Color Baby Chicks

So cute! 

My New Adventure

This week I started a five week odyssey as an elementary school art teacher, well, the long-term substitute anyway. Our regular art teacher is on maternity leave and she left some pretty big shoes to fill. 

Its been a fun week with only a few incidents... 

One awesome thing about kids and art: the younger they are the more creatively free they are. Children are so bold, decisive and liberal about their colors and their compositions. Kiddos are all about the process and what looks and feels good in the moment.

Unfortunately, I can see a lot of the older kids (4th and 5th graders) are starting to care more about their final product and less about the process.  

When their final product does not exactly match the picture in their mind, some of them get upset, melt down and give up. 

A lesson learned for everyone (especially aspiring artists)  *Don't skip ahead and fixate on the final product. Respect the process - focus on the process - enjoy the process! *Applies to all activities.

Living in the moment, minute by minute, that's how I'll make it through the rest of the year. Trying to appreciate each kid and where they are in each moment. 

Week one? So far so good!

p.s. I get it Mom, a full week of teaching art doesn't leave a lot of energy for personal art. 

Painting a flower garden. 

1st Grade work. 

Petunia the duck, thank you #deepspacesparkle #petunia

Boxes of poems to plant in the park. 

Museum Mondays

Today, I finally made it to the Renwick Gallery to see the show called Wonder. Since November I have seen pictures of it in everyone's Facebook feed and almost decided not to see it. I did decide, however, that if I did see it I would not be one of those people taking photos and selfies throughout the entire exhibit. I would just look at the art with my eyes I instead of through my phone screen.

Whether you feel like you have seen the show already (by looking at everyone's photos) or if you are not familiar with it, I recommend you check it out. The works of art displayed there are beautiful and will leave you "wondering" how the artist came up with their ideas and executed them. This show is for all ages and will even interest those who don't care to go to an art museum.

I almost kept my no photo promise until I made it to the room that was covered in bug wallpaper... 

Colored, 3-D jewels. I can't imagine pinning all those insects to the wall. 

You can catch Wonder at the Renwick through May 8th. 

The Renwick is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th St. NW.

Pattern Hunting at the National Gallery of Art

One of the things I love about living in Washington, DC is going to the National Gallery of Art. When people think of free museums they usually think of the Smithsonian museums on the mall. But DC has three free art museums; The National Gallery of Art (NGA), The Hirschhorn, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum & Portrait Gallery.

I think one of the best ways to learn to draw is to copy a painting or sculpture.  As a practice I try to get to a museum about once a week (if I am lucky). The NGA never disappoints me! I can always find a painting by a famous artist I never noticed before or discover something new in a painting I've seen a million times. Now that the NGA is rotating some of their art, presumably to make room for their acquisitions from the Corcoran (that is another discussion), there are more new things to see.

Recently, I made a trip to the NGA to collect patterns. Instead of picking a painting to study and draw, I decided to look at paintings and find patterns I could use for inspiration in one of my own paintings. Here is a small sample of what I found.

detail of "Odalisque Seated with Arms Raised" by Henri Matisse

Matisse may very well be the master of pattern and color. He can take the simple and make it sublime...

detail of cloth in Auguste Renoir's "Odalisque"

detail of dress hem in John Singleton Copley's "The Copley Family"

The curls on this sculpture almost look like octopus tendrils.

The pattern on this skirt is beautifully painted. You can tell by the hands it's a Sargent...
detail of John Singer Sargent's "Repose"

This modern looking painting is actually a Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, painted on cardboard.  The skirt, the fence and shirt are all full of simplified marks. 

If you live in DC and want to go to the museum to draw... send me an email. We'll make an afternoon of it!

It's never too late to make good on a resolution...

...It's never too late to make a resolution for the new year
- even if it is February 2nd!

I could not believe it when I looked at the date on the last blog post. - November 13th? It’s been three months since I declared to say YES to more art time for myself.

It has not all been a bust. Art has been made. Time has been well used and wasted. There have been many Yes’s and No’s. I have just not shared it all publicly.

When I started this website and this art journal I had the goal of sharing my art and sharing some of my struggles and triumphs with whoever might stumble upon this site. I quickly found out that making art was much easier that writing a blog post. 

I tried to tell myself that I was too old and that blogging was for people younger than me. The younger generations have no problem baring their souls. Of course that is not true, age is only an excuse. I also tried to tell myself that I was avoiding it because I was afraid of failure. If I wrote a blog or put myself out there I would be opening myself up to failure and could I handle that? Of course that was not true either, generally, I have the optimism of Scarlett O’Hara.

What is true is this: I have not written a blog post in three months or promoted my art as much as I should have because I have been afraid to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable is hard!  

Being vulnerable means I open myself up to the possibility that you may not like me, my art or what I have to say.

Being vulnerable means I take off the layer of protection I wear. When you draw attention to yourself you loose the safety of the herd. That is why it takes courage.

 Being vulnerable looks like me putting myself out there, creating art, talking about my struggles, fears and triumphs and saying “Hey, I did this.” 

This year I resolve to be courageous by allowing my armor to drop and to be more vulnerable.  I resolve to blog at least once a week and post my other artistic endeavors on Facebook and Instagram when they happen. I resolve to list all my paintings that are for sale on Etsy or some other marketplace. 

If I am not willing to do that, I need to pack up my paints and go home! 
Geesh, I hope this gets easier...

 

Thanks to Brene Brown for The Gifts of Imperfection and Daring Greatly.

Every yes is a no to something else

How many times have I read that in one of my many self-help books? I think after this week the meaning has really crystallized for me. It started on the 7th of November and l have been riding the roller coaster ever since.

All those things I said yes to last weekend were things that I wanted to do but the price I paid was a day of recovery on Monday am exhausting Veteran's and errands all Thursday. That was three lost days right off the bat! 

So what is the point?

1. I have to stop whining because all choices made are mine alone.

2. Before I commit to things I need to revisit my priorities. Planning things out by the week would totally help me.  (so simple, why do I not do this?)

3. When looking back on the week, I need to emphasize the time spent being creative.  That will make me feel better.

I Did manage to paint this this week. It is for a show I am planning with the Capitol Hill Artists Salon. This is my still life of water. I am not sure I will use it... 

Detail of water reflections

I did paint one painting this week. I learned another lesson about being naive and leaving your still life set up with a cat wandering around the house. It does not work!  

I teach an after-care art class on Tuesdays. These kids did an awesome job painting sea turtles.

Kids are the best artist! 

Creative turtle designs

(Humble brag) Thursday was my daughters 12th birthday. She wanted to see her favorite painting on the way home from school. It is a beautiful Albert Bierstadt at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I was a proud mama!

So - there were moments of art and creativity sprinkled throughout the week. There were good times spent in the company of friends and a room in the house got re-painted too.  Maybe all those yes's and no's worked out in the end!  

Still, next week I will try to plan it. ..

Weekend Wrap Up

Often times when I get busy I get upset with myself thinking "I did nothing! I frittered away my time and did nothing in the practice of my creativity." But when I look back on the past weekend I think wow, you were busy but it was pretty fun and it was in alignment with your goals. 

I spent all day Saturday crafting a jellyfish costume. if that is not creative, I don't know what is!

Here I am with my daughter on Halloween. 

Sunday saw the completion of a six week Faith & Art class I have been leading. Our final project was a 9 x 12" canvas done in mixed-media. It is a motivational piece for participants to hang in their homes. Everyone did such a great job! Each one different, meaningful and inspiring. Below are just a few of the finished pieces.

"don't forget, you can always do something that moves you forward - clean brushes, write down ideas, look at books, organize, make Halloween costumes, etc. there is always at least one action you can take for your creativity daily!" -Julia Cameron (more or less) 

Marie Antoinette may have gotten a bad rap...

This week has been fabulous! Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I painted all day. I even managed to paint a little after getting the kiddos into bed on Wednesday night too.
I have to admit that just three days of creative endeavors has totally lightened my soul. Sounds dramatic but I mean it! I feel light and I don't have that low-level nagging guilt taking up air space in the back of my brain. 
Do some people really live life like this? Not having something hanging over them or having the feeling that they are wasting time on activities their choosing simply because they "should?"

Please Beth, remember this feeling next time you are racing off to some volunteer activity!
Hmmm, what will tomorrow bring?

A few shots in the studio

Because painting is basically a solitary exercise it is particularly entertaining when you are joined by a friend... even a furry one.

Studio Cat will not be ignored.

Studio Cat enjoys a good still life.

What to do when life happens...

Well, if you read my first post you will see that I declared myself an artist

"With God as my witness I will not be distracted by busy-ness again."

Unfortunately, I was immediately distracted again. Life happens! Luckily, it was to entertain a beloved relative... so I am not really complaining. We did manage to spend a day creating abstract paintings and a day at the art museum. We also sat by a fire pit and listened to the baseball playoffs on the radio, old school.
Not necessarily creative living but really good for the soul. Sometimes it is just nice to do something you normally don't do. 

Everyday Busy Bee, 9x12

Primary Colors, 9x12

painting by Billy Aaron Brown

I am absolutely in love with this mixed-media technique! (Cousin Billy Aaron Brown and I worked on these paintings one day during his visit.)  It involves layers and layers of paint, charcoal, watercolor and collage. It is so free compared to my usual oil paintings. It's fun to see the little bits of paper I obsessively save finally used on something. (I found the large pink number on the sidewalk the day I did this piece.) It is a great way to take a break from painting and inspires me to do other paintings. - The first two are mine and the third one is Billy's.

Photo of Billy Aaron Brown in a Sculpture at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

I AM an artist! No really...

Hello and nice to meet you!

My name is Beth. I am a working artist living in DC. This blog is is my record of attempting to live an ARTful life.

I am declaring once and for all (after years of denial, resistance, babies and busyness) I Beth Dougherty am committing to the CREATIVE LIFE!

What does that mean? What does that look like? I have no idea!

But - I invite you to journey with me as I try to figure that out.

I plan to figure it out by painting, drawing, collaging and journaling daily (or almost daily). If I am not able to get into the studio I plan to live out this ideal by being more mindful and creative in all other areas of my life. By "creative" I mean actually creating things like; meals from scratch, gardening, writing, sewing, etc. I plan to live with more meaning, purpose and passion instead of just coasting robotically through life.

This blog is my manifesto, my intention and my way to hold myself accountable.

Maybe you have a similar story to mine.

I have been an artist all my life. I think we are all born creative. A few of us stay that way but most of us don't. Many times, as an artist, I feel like it is either feast or famine. I have had super productive periods of life followed up by times of producing zilch. (One famine even lasted about 10 years) Sometimes you find yourself totally uninspired and doing nothing. Sometimes you are just afraid (so you do absolutely anything you can to distract yourself from that looming space you call your studio). Sometimes you are rolling along so great you don't know how you ever survived a day without painting.

The challenge is: how do you go from patterns of feast and famine to something that looks more like a sustainable "9 to 5" job? The pursuit of the creative life is what is most authentic for me. I hope I can do it!