Inspiration | ArtSpirit7

January 19, 2015

Entering the “Your Turn Challenge”

I’m taking a 7 day challenge to post every day on Wendy Kao’s “Your Turn Challenge” you’ll find at yourturnchallenge.tumblr.com.

Today is Day 1 and the topic is: Why are you doing the “Your Turn Challenge?”

Here’s what I submitted:

Last year I created more artwork than any year prior, including over 400 drawings. My intention was to post art on a regular basis in 2015. The year began and as each day went by I felt like a failure because I didn’t begin on the first day of the year.

When I read about Wendy Kao’s “Your Turn Challenge” it resonated with me when she said, “Why don’t I start now even though I’ve already failed?”

My reptilian brain churned out reasons not to begin but I’m doing the Challenge because I know I can do better than my excuses. I’m ready to maneuver out of my creative U-turn, as Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way would call this act of recovery.

I’m also doing the challenge because I’ve tended be shy. This is a step towards visibility.

Thank you for the challenge, Wendy. Cheers to all the participants. May this be our jazziest year of creativity ever!

Mary Gow

P.S. I also took it as a sign to participate since the challenge was from Wendy Kao. It’s not that often that someone’s name rhymes with your own.

December 21, 2014December 22, 2014

Solstice Greetings

Soulful Solstice, acrylic on canvas, by Mary Gow

As we’re approaching the shortest day of the year I’m painting a series of small paintings, each either 8″ x 10″ or 11″ x 14″. I’m seriously under the influence of music as I created the piece shown here. I like moving my brush around in vibrant fields of orange and yellow.

I love the Fauvist palette and reflected my kinship with that era in this piece. Though Fauvism was a short-lived movement (1905-1908), it had a significant impact on the art of the 20th century.

Henri Matisse and Andre Derain are two artists who were at in the forefront of this movement.

Cheers to you and yours as a new season begins.

October 17, 2014December 22, 2014

Open Studios in November

"Stepping Out...Slowly," mixed media by Mary Gow — “Stepping Out…Slowly,” mixed media by Mary Gow

It’s that time of year again when you can drop into artist’s studios and alternative spaces to see a huge swatch of the art made in the San Francisco area. The event covers 4 weekends in a row and begins this weekend and continues through November 9th.

Back in 2008 when I told my good friend, Regina Held (owner of Matrix Fine Art Gallery and New Grounds Print Workshop & Studio in Albuquerque, NM), that I was in Open Studios she said, “Well don’t be too hard on yourself. It takes three years to get it right. The first year you don’t know what you’re doing. The second year you make some changes. By the third year you know what you’ve got the hang of it.”

2014 San Francisco Open Studios will be my chance to show I’ve got the hang of it. My first two official appearances were at the Graphic Arts Workshop at 2565 Third Avenue in 2008 and 2009 in Suite 305 of the American Industrial Building. If you haven’t been by there I’d recommend you go. There’s a irresistible bakery across the hallway from the Graphic Arts Workshop that cooks up the pastries for many of the bakeries in town. There’s nothing like the lilt of cinnamon rolls in the air while mixing inks and rolling the press.

You’re cordially invited to drop by and see my work at the Grotto Gallery at 1590 Bryant Street, SF 94103, on Weekend #3 – November 1st and 2nd. There’s a party on the evening of November 1st so hours of viewing are 11am to 7:30pm. Sunday I’ll be there 11am to 6pm. Light refreshments will be provided. And it’s rumored the Fat Chance Belly Dancers are performing Saturday evening.

On view will be the best display of the range of my work – perhaps ever to appear in one space. I’ll be showing what my best favorite works in the main media I work in: photography, painting, monotypes, and cameraless art (also known as “photograms”).

Mention this blog entry and you get ten percent off any purchases of my work at the Grotto Gallery at Sports Basement at 1590 Bryant Street.

Click here for a PDF of a map of the areas you can visit each weekend.

April 28, 2014April 30, 2014

Desiderata: Medicine for Inner Strength

“You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be here.”

Remember that poem made into a song?

You may not have since it was released as a record, spoken by Les Crane, in 1971 (see the video above).

Does Crane’s calm, still, strong voice speak to you?

I was drawn to the wisdom of “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

The Gifts of Imperfection
I’m taking my first Oprah Life Class. I signed up after happening upon an interview of Brene Brown by Chase Jarvis, co-founder of one of my favorite creative resources, CreativeLive.com. I had already seen Brown on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and his interview convinced me to sign up.

The 6 week e-course is called “Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection”.

It’s based on Brown’s New York Times bestseller, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are. She shares ten guideposts to what she calls “wholehearted living,” which is about “engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness.”

I began at Part 2 of the course which covers the last five guideposts. Guidepost No. 6 is “Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison.”

We’re bombarded with comparisons every day. Buy this one, it’s stronger and better than that one.

I find the meat of the message of letting go of comparison on page 97: “Creativity, which is the expression of our originality, helps us stay mindful that what we bring to the world is completely original and cannot be compared.”

So next time Comparison roars its ugly head, boldly stay away from comparing yourself with yourself. Trust, as Max Ehrmann said, that “The Universe is unfolding as it should.”