Musings of an Artful Mind

At last the art swap cards are here! My cards arrived and I am mighty pleased with these lovely miniature works in my hot little hands. Check them out! At artists from top left to right are as follows: Stephanie Aliberti (NY); Melanie Glassey (PA); Diane Menna (NY); and Poppy Terris (FL). What really strikes me is how well these small works read. The compositions are unique, visually appealing, and have their own symbolic narrative. Now that I have my cards I realize I made mine smaller in width. It is time to invest in a ruler and not use the measuring tape for paper projects. Oh, no! Another trip to the art supply store, best buy required textbooks for this term first! I feel lucky to have stumbled this opportunity to participate in a community building project. Thanks again to the organizer Melanie Glassey and to all you hard working creative folks who participated in the Art Therapy Alliance 2nd ATC swap.

Artists are known to be messy. In fact authors go to great lengths to romanticize and glamorize the ‘starving artists struggle’. Today, while getting some supplies for an upcoming show, I wrote on my hand the name of a book I was having a hard time putting down it was Inside the Painter’s Studio by Joe Fig. Basically Fig goes around to various artists and ask them a battery of questions about their studio practices, how and when they dedicated themselves full time to art, how long they've been in their studio, and the process of their work. I just hope the school library or summit has it because I’d love some art literary candy. I have just about finished organizing my studio/ library room. There has been a good amount of workable materials that have surfaced and I’m fighting the urge to bring them all with me to school next week. Needless to say, I am greatly anticipating the Practicum Studio class. I skimmed the syllabus of the class and I already like the assignments, t

This summer I drew in watercolors during a quick trip out of the city with a fellow art therapy student and published poet Paula. She and I went out east toward the Colombia Gorge and observed the lay of land from a hill top at the Women’s Forum. This impromptu art happening gave me a fresh look making art out in the open, out in nature, away from the consumerism that can be the livelihood or bane of any artist. There we had time to take note of the timeless beauty intrinsic to this Pacific Northwest region. We found ourselves a sunny spot and were fortunate to meet members of the Portland Plein Air Society. They painted painterly landscapes in oils on French easels whilst Paula and I gave it a go with watercolors, sepia ink pens, and charcoal on scrap paper from a print exchange. The paper is Arches watercolor paper and is 4.5” x 20”. A panoramic landscape seemed to be just right for these left over bits of paper. Armed with a big sunhat, a water bottle, and an anxiety free disp