This past month has brought new opportunities for connecting with local artists. The Foothills Art Association and gallery in La Mesa asked if I'd like to help increase their social media outreach. It's a happy thing to reach new people interested in art so I've been making and posting videos to Instagram and Facebook. They show artwork, artists and activities in and around the gallery. We hope to increase the awareness of what the gallery offers. For instance, members enjoy various demos, hands-on art classes and group painting and drawing sessions. And once a month the art show in the gallery changes over to a new theme with a new featured artist. The Foothills Friday reception is the show's official opening, an evening that fills the gallery with creative energy. Here's a quick peek video!
This is the painting I have hanging in the gallery for the June show. It's Borrego Springs during the wildflower bloom. Borrego Springs was one of the first playgrounds I discovered when I moved to San Diego in the 1980s so the painting holds memories of camping and dirt bike riding with good friends over the years.
I'm also winding down a six-month art course called Momentum, led by artist Louise Fletcher. Her many art students were surprised to learn from her this week that she is retiring from teaching to focus on her own art making. Louise touched so many of our lives with her personality, her way of conveying her knowledge and her talent for assembling a compassionate group of art coaches to assist us. That team has helped me discover so many new ways of expressing myself through art. It's actually quite an emotional gift and I've seen that sentiment shared by many other artists.
Fortunately I've also joined Louise's "Art Tribe" comprised of over 4000 artists who have been her students. It's a wonderful online gathering place and art knowledge repository. So the learning and the support will continue as Louise hands off the running of that resource to Trayci, a capable and special member of the group.
During our farewells and thank you's to Louise many personal stories of the importance of art making have been shared. Some of her students have spoken of navigating the death of a spouse or partner during the art course, finding the learning and expressing in art mediums helped them grieve. Others have spoken of long careers consuming their time and leaving no time for finding out if they could even be artists. With Louise they made the happy discovery that yes, they are artists too. Some have shared the impact of how they were raised or even where they were in their family birth order which caused them to be quite hard on themselves or perfectionist "rule-followers" or never learning to truly play. Through this art journey they've launched into new freedom to be themselves. They've learned to express without fear. It's been so powerful to see what the right teacher and art itself can do for people.
I painted this as a thank you and tribute to Louise Fletcher. Many aspects of it are what she alone has taught me. For one thing, I learned to appreciate abstract art! This piece has many layers. It has been perhaps 5 different paintings, evolving over time. It was painted with tools I never knew I could use until Louise showed me to not be confined to a brush. It's on the largest canvas I've used so far: 24 inches by 36 inches. This is a goal I set for myself as part of my current Creative Brief. The Creative Brief is yet another tool Louise taught her students to use to keep on track with focus and purpose.
This is an intuitive expressive painting about gratitude and joy. I've titled it simply "For Louise".
