Creativity: Have paint, will travel

The Great Leafy Bunny
of New Hampshire

Whether you are planning a winter vacation or plotting your summer 2012 adventures, I hope that you are inspired by my friend Rachel Zelkind, who inspires me every time art and travel come together. Bring your gear!

Tall Silo of Iowa

Because I travel often for work and always take paint and paper, I have named my painting kit "The Rachel" in her honor. It  consists of three Daniel Smith Travel Kolinsky brushes, an Arches Paper block (postcard, 7x10 or 9x12), 4 or 5 tiny tubes of watercolor, a small pencil, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener, and it fits nicely into my carry-on. Also, it goes right through TSA security.

It helps that I will only paint indoors and know how to ask the hotel concierge nicely for better light in my room by saying: "I am a painter and a reader, and the only good light for either activity is in the bathroom. Can you help me?" That strategy has not failed yet.

Rachel, on the other hand, paints outside and she is always prepared:

In her car:

"I have in the car a chair of some sort at all times." She also has a three-legged camp stool that can attach a day pack, which can be used for sitting and can also act as a little table. Not surprisingly, she always has a paper palette pad and a spray bottle for water. The rest, she says, "is just a few tubes of paint." The chair, she emphasizes, is a must, and the camp stool can go on walks, which is good, because she hikes.

When traveling in San Miguel, her chair-substitute was an upside down bucket. "It's portable and stuff can be put in and carried. It really makes sense," she says, and it is not uncomfortable. To her, "It looks more natural on the street than sitting in a chair."

Wherever you go, and whatever your art -- Bring Your Gear!!!!

31 Ears of corn: nanoscapes celebrate July

31 Ears of Corn for July

31 Ears of Corn for July  When I painted 31 pumpkins for October 2010, I didn't plan to keep up painting and posting an image-a-day for a year on Facebook, but here I am in July with 31 ears of corn painted on a piece of 22x33" Arches 140# paper.

Like all corn lovers, I haunt farmers' markets, looking for local sweet corn. Everyone knows that the best corn is the freshest corn and the fewest number of minutes between picking and cooking makes the best corn. Sadly, during this first week of July in Minnesota, the only corn to be found is from elsewhere. It will be here soon.

A 10-month review: pumpkins (October), leaves (November), Hanukah candles and snowflakes (December), lost left-handed gloves (January), missing socks (February), basketballs (March), raindrops (April), LLLamas (May), the whimsical creatures known as small friends (June), and corn (July).  

nanoscapes' Small Friends declare independence in new website

After working in the shadow of the geometric abstract nanoscapes for more than five years, 38 small friends have declared their independence and moved to a website all their own. Find them in individual galleries for amphibians, birds, cats, fish, LLLamas, and mammals.  31 LLLamas appeared in Facebook in May, and all but Rainbow LLLama left abruptly on the first LLLamaWorLLLd Tour. Rainbow stayed behind to represent them at this new website.

Moose on a Hill: the 1st small friend

 Their first principle is WE WERE FIRST. Before the first nanoscape kaleidoscope or molecule, the Alaskan Moose on the Hill and the the first Musk Ox appeared on post cards that I made as souvenirs of my first visit to Alaska in 2003. One copy of the Moose remains in the archives, and the all of the Musk Ox are lost. These friends were painted on Arches and Canson post cards with watercolor pencils and brushes with water reservoirs. 

In 2006, shortly after taking my first watercolor class, a few extra cats showed up in my studio for portraits. I wasn't surprised because I feed, water, and obey Flying Tackle Phil and Darwin, Felinus Emeritae. Ever since, there has been a steady stream of whimsical creatures either visiting (Mary-Anna Musk Ox) or making their home in my studio. Fortunately, they don't eat, and even the largest (Darren Dragon at 32 feet) take up no physical space. 

Their second principle is USE GOOD TOOLS. They are all proud to have been painted on Arches, Fabriano or Canson papers with Daniel Smith, Winsor Newton, Holbein, Sennelier or Dick Blick watercolors using Daniel Smith sable, Winsor Newton Series 7 or one tiny Jack Richardson brush.

Their third principle is PAINT INDOORS. In our whimsical world, we share an aversion to heat, humidity and bugs. 

Their fourth principle is SMILE. The small friends are proud to stand up for whimsy, to support smiling, and to encourage 10 belly-laughs per day.

Linked Blocks #1 -- an experiened traveling nanoscape

The last Linked Block #1 photo from the Palm Pre....

I painted Linked Blocks #1 in 20 days and 4400 miles as it traveled with me to California and Iowa. 

Experienced painter-travelers know that small dried blobs of watercolors in pallets and small paintbrushes whiz through airport security, and that a cup of water can be found virtually anywhere. I painted on a 12x16" Arches 140# hot press block which tucked into my tote bag with my new traveling Peugeot Pepper Mill.

Because I love colors and connections, I am looking forward to making more paintings in the Linked Blocks family.  The original Linked Block #1 is for sale, and it will be available for $400 at the nanoscapes website on Friday September 24.

Roadtrip Stripes - a new nanoscape

One of the joys of my Pass the Baton life is speaking to law students about "Alternative Careers" and "Professionalism."  In 2010, I have been particularly lucky to have been asked to present in places I'd never been, including Macon (Mercer Law), Greensboro (Wake Forest), and a 5-day-5-city-5-law-school Texas week (Lubbock/Texas Tech, Dallas/SMU, Waco/Baylor, Ft. Worth/Texas Weslayan, and Houston/Thurgood Marshall.)

Artists travel, and all 100+ colors of the nanoscapes' palette fit into a small zipper case, and Arches watercolor blocks are easy to pack.

My "souvenir" of last week's four-day-two-law-school trip to Syracuse and Tulsa -- new cities for me -- is Roadtrip Stripes on 7x10" Arches hot press paper.

Thanks to the wonderful group at Syracuse Law School's Office of Professional and Career Development for asking me to present "Professionalism Has Attached," and to the staff (and terrific volunteers) at the Tulsa Law Professional Development Office who put on an intense "Professionalism Day" for 2Ls and 3Ls, and for inviting me to present "Alternative Careers: Getting to There."

Long Rings 2010 - more connections

Although nanoscapes are no longer tiny, my Painstaking Exuberance keeps me focused on small spaces.  The nearly completed Long Rings 2010 is 15x23" and its long rings encase tiny spaces.

The image on the left is very early pencil-and-Davy's Gray stage.  I started with the largest Rings and began to sketch in some nano designs which just flow.  Can't explain it.

 
The image on the right is well into the Davy's Gray stage.  The one ring with color is a reminder that I can't resist new things, even if they throw the painting process out of order.  I'd gotten a tube of Daniel Smith Cobalt Blue Violet and couldn't wait to use it on this wonderful 300 # Arches  paper.  It is very thick, and feels like painting on felt -- very welcoming felt, that absorbs paint like a sponge and holds the color.