Thursday, April 25, 2013

A Glimmer of Light

 Donna Watson, Glimpse of Light, acrylic, collage, 20"x20"

NOTE:  There are a few openings left in my upcoming 4 day workshop in Coupeville, WA.
May 20-23.  PERSONAL EXPRESSION:  A Design Approach.  Coupeville is a small, beautiful town on the Puget Sound on Whidbey Island.  The workshop is for all mediums and styles of painting as the focus is on composition, design elements and principles and personal content and expression.
You will begin your search for your true self.  Go here for more information and to register.   

I am starting to see a glimmer of light in my studio.  I decided that the work BLOCK is such a negative word.  I am trying to look at what I am going through as a rebirth, a new opening, a
different new exciting path.


I want to unfold.
I don't want to stay folded
Anywhere, because where I am folded,
There I am a lie.
And I want my grasp of things 
True before you.  I want to
Describe myself 
Like a painting that I
Looked at closely for a 
Long time, like a saying that 
I finally understood,
Like the pitcher I use every day,
Like the face of my mother
Like a ship
That took me safely through
The wildest storm of all.
-- Rainer Maria Wilke
   

Monday, April 15, 2013

The Dark Side of Light

Donna Watson, SILENCE, 10"x10", collage

I have taken a longer than usual hiatus from my blog.  I have been dealing with a larger art issue.
I have been coming to terms with the truth that I am deep in what is called artist's BLOCK.  I have been in this dark place for over a year.  Until recently,  I always denied that piece of reality and I think overcoming denial is the first step forward.


I have been struggling with health issues for 2 years.  I have gone from doctor to doctor, many blood tests, MRIs, bone scans, x-rays.  The chronic pain and chronic fatigue almost defeated me and took over my life style and art.  During this period, I became bored with my art work.  I wanted to search for a new series, a new content... something deeper and more meaningful.  But my brain was busy firing off pain pulses and I could not focus or concentrate on anything else.  Black. dark, empty.


 2 months ago I went to a new doctor.  I finally got a diagnosis and I decided to do everything I could to get my life and health back.  I went on a strict diet eliminating all white and processed foods, alcohol and chocolate.  I started a daily regimen of meditation, tai chi and yoga.


I am feeling so much better.  It turns out diet, exercise and meditation can have a huge impact on your health.  But I am still facing the devastating and all-consuming thing called BLOCK.  I thought that once I felt better my art would come back to me like magic.  Not so.



"Your creativity is folded into your life in a way that can not be quantified or qualified.  It is a simple premise, yet profound."  Susanne Carmack.  She wrote an inspirational essay on artist's block you can find here.     Her website is here.

Inside each of us
there awaits a wonder
full
spirit of freedom

she waits
to dance 
in the rooms
of our heart
that are closed
dark and cluttered

she waits
to dance
in the spaces
where negative feelings
have build barricades
and stock-piled weapons

she waits 
to dance 
in the corners
where we still
do not believe in our goodness

inside each of us
there awaits
a wonder
full
spirit of freedom

she will lift light feet
and make glad songs
within us
on the day we open our door of ego
and let the enemies stomp out
Joyce Rupp,  The Stair in my heart