Perfectionists Procrastinate

Yes, we do.  All of us.  A perfectionist is most often known for being to some degree OCD, and perhaps irritatingly focused on tiny details, and getting them all correct before calling a project, or a conversation, or any activity, finished.  But because perfectionists are so focused on getting things "right", we tend not to attempt those things we know we cannot do to perfection.  Like, at all.

I call myself a Recovering Perfectionist.  I try to convince myself that I do attempt things that my earlier self would not have, and that I'm better at leaving accomplishments alone when they are "good enough." But it's probably self-deception. I rarely clean.  I am not good at it, and I find it a never- ending cycle of frustration.  That's the procrastination side of me.  Since I don't do it well, and find it completely unsatisfying, I put it off.  I did not realize, however, that I have put off posting to this blog, for like, forever!  I am sorry.  Today I am putting up several new pieces.  In 2014 I began to explore watercolors and have become absorbed in them.  "Matched Pair" is a watercolor piece I did for my neice's wedding present.



  "Sancerre, France" is a watercolor piece done for my husband's birthday, from a fascinatingly maze-like travel picture, which had a completely blah color scheme that I pumped up. When my computer will allow another insert, I will edit the blog and put the image here.

  And "Worshipping Angel" is an acrylic piece done mostly with palette knives.  It was inspired by my wondering if the wings and haloes we expect angels to have might be formed from Light emanating from within them reflecting back the glory of God, and because we 'see' the radiating Light, we think it has physical form.  Just a thought, transposed onto canvas.  Perhaps there will be others to come.  This image, also, is being blocked by my program.  I will edit it in here as soon as possible.  (Now, for a senior citizen, I'm doing pretty well!)

Ceativity Takes Many Forms

For six months now, I have been settling into the very first Parsonage in which we have ever lived.  It was a dark and dreary place when we arrived, but the church people have hearts of gold.  They painted rooms with colors they allowed me to choose ahead of our arrival, and cleaned and scraped and made it welcoming.  I've been decorating, like that TV show, Decorating on a Dime, with mostly what we had in our home in Portsmouth.  But I also made new cushions for our outdoor white wicker furniture, and turned it into living room furniture.  It went from a dark, musty cave to the brightest, and my most favorite, room!  I'm putting loving touches on every single room.

There is a shed out back that hadn't been painted in so many years that it was gray barn board with some hints of red.  I repainted it red, and added Wanda and Wilbur peeking out the doors.  So, now it's a barn.  Grins.

I also worked from summer till the first week in December painting life sized Nativity figures for our neice and nephew. None of us had any idea exactly what I had to do when this project began!  But the monumental work was totally worth the effort.


My husband is currently still working in a corner of the downstairs office space, but our intent is to get him into the real church office at Calvary United Methodist, one of his three churches.  My office is mostly set up, but there is still SO much to do to finish arranging my studio that I find I am working amidst clutter.  (Not my favorite thing to do!)

My latest passion has been creating mixed media pieces on 16"x20" canvas board, and they make me happy.  There are pictures of the completed ones on another blog of mine,  www.angelsinpaint.blogspot.com.

Currently, I am collecting all the materials needed for my next passionate endeavor: wall decorations of angel stick figures with lots of fabric and laces and edgings and bling!  That will be my "go-to" project once I've begun, kind of like some of my friends keep knitting baskets by their chairs in the TV room.

I will post pictures soon.  Today, for some reason, the blog will not upload them. Please feel free to scroll down to earlier posts or to go to the blog mentioned above.  You can also see why I paint in my testimonial blog, www.spiritinspiredart.blogspot.com.

Blessings on this upcoming New Year!

Beautiful Inside and Out

Growing up, I heard my Mother often say things like "pretty is as pretty does".  She seemed to have a saying for every possible occasion.  She was very big on first impressions, though, and if someone appeared to her at first glance in an unfavorable way, she tended to stick to her initial opinion of that person.  I fnd that my own sensitivity to others' feelings has me searching their eyes, words and body language to see how they really are on the inside.

In some ways my artistic sensabilities are like that, as well.  I like to ask God for His heart and His eyes to see people, and there are times when I see someone, often a child, who is hurting or ill or poverty stricken, I get a vision of - maybe just a glimpse of - how God sees them.  So the two paintings in this post are taken from photo references of real people in Africa.  The waif in rags that were almost falling off became a beaming angel child, and the mother who looked positively murderously angry became a wary warrior on behalf of her toddler.  I hope you enjoy them and whatever you see in the images.

Makeda Mekelle

(Amharic for "Beautiful, Who Is Like God")

Oil and gold foil on linen

I Know Who I Am

Acrylic on canvas

It seems that more and more I'm painting people and angels!  You can see more of my angel paintings on my blog www.angelsinpaint.blogspot.com.

For prices and availability, please email me at contactme@sarahpaints.com.



Silent Film Stars

Clara Bow

"Give Me COLOR!"

Acrylic on canvas, framed

Anna Mae Wong

Acrylic on canvas, unframed

For the October, 2011 gallery show at our studio, entitled "In Honor of Women", I created these paintings to honor the gifted women who pioneered silent films.  Clara Bow is still well-known today, almost a century later, and her pixie face and sex-kitten appeal came through beautifully in black and white movies.  Even without color or sound, she had a huge screen presence, and the roar of her talent still reverberates.  She was so vibrant that I felt she would have loved to be portrayed in outrageous color, so I did this painting of her.  I think she'd enjoy it, and hope that you do.

When I found a photograph of Anna Mae Wong that was really "art" and not merely a stock photo, it wow'd me, and I had to paint her, too.  My Dad was a photographer who did his own developing and everything.  He took some pretty risque pix of my female relatives back in the 1930's, semi-nude with the draping and over the shoulder "come hither" looks made so popular by the photographers of Hollywood's starlets.  My Dad's work was truly "art".  I got my artistic talent from his side of the family lineage.  And although I wasn't familiar with Anna Mae Wong before, I'm now not only impressed with her acting and her beauty, but with the unknown photographer whose talent inspired me to do this painting!!!

I've got one in mind of Theda Bara that I want to do after the style of Klimt..... I'll post it if it comes to life.....  and then there's Greta Garbo and so many other women who became stars with and without sound or color... Who knows?  This may start a whole new chapter of the kinds of paintings I do!     



If You Only Knew Me Back Then....

You would have heard me say some pretty awful things about abstract art.  When I was young and stupid, but thought I knew oh-so-much, I thought abstracts were lazy and absurd - certainly not showing any creative discipline... well, you get the picture!  I was arrogant.

In 2010, the artists at the studio/gallery where I've been working decided to have a month-long gallery show with the title, "Absolutely Abstract".  I was horrified.  I "didn't DO" abstracts.  But being a team player, I groaned and agreed to try.

I only stopped painting abstracted images due to lack of time to produce any more before we had to hang the show!  I churned out 14, and loved every minute of this new creative mode.  To be fair to those who do abstract work on a regular basis and are passionate about it, I only call mine "abstracted" images.  Some are representational and some, well, you can just make up what you want to see in them!  So here are some of them in one long text.  You may scroll down quickly or linger, depending on where your opinion of abstract works happens to rest at the moment!

Solitude

SOLD

Palm Sunday

30" x 24" acrylic on canvas

Falling Blossoms

24" x 36" acrylic and metallic foils on canvas

The Blood and the Glory

Tryptich, ea. 12" x 24"

Acrylic and gold foiled paper on canvas

Garden Aftermath

Dyptich, ea. 12" x 24"

Acrylic on canvas

These are the only paintings that made it to my printer for 'capture'.  There are others, and if there's enough interest, I will gladly post my own photos of the finished pieces.  I hope each of us can keep on stretching from what we already know and are comfortable with, to experience and discover other wonders that are out there, somewhere!

Blessings,

Sarah

There's Just So Much To Paint!

Right now I spend about 6 days a week in my studio painting.  I admit that part of that time is spent socializing with other artists and visitors and students ... but I'm so thankful for having this time to paint!  I wish there were more time in a day, and more days in a week... to spend creating new works...

And I realized that I have a website with my earlier paintings, and a blog with my angel paintings, but not one with other kinds of things I've painted recently.

So here's a symbolic painting I did that's not on my website.  It's called 'Whatever It Takes' and is the portrayal of my intent to protect my daughter from her enemies.  Hope you like it.