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The Shadows

6/6/2017

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PictureThumbnail sketches from 1980 - by Lisa Tettimer
I've never posted two blog posts back to back before. I guess I have a lot of words roaming around in my head that I need to  let out. Yesterday's blog had nothing to do with my art, or did it? Maybe it will lead to something.

​While walking on my treadmill lately I've been revisiting my art school years. There are two or three sketches from that time frame on a bottom shelf of a workbench next to my treadmill in the basement and I keep looking down at them as I walk. I found them last summer when attempting to clean the basement. They are stained with mold and are smelly. Even still, I've been thinking about framing them. Not because I think they are good but because they seem to be a place marker in the growth of my art. A place where I stopped. A place I'm compelled to revisit. In a way framing them would be a way to honor that place. A way to honor my gift.

Picture
Shadows by Lisa Tettimer. Silkscreen print 10 of 10 - 1980. Based on the first thumbnail sketch above.
As a student of the fine arts all those many years ago I was taught to create art in very traditional methods. I learned the skills to produce art in a number of mediums all the while honing my drawing skills. The instructors would actually say that they required their students to learn the traditional skills, to draw well, to paint like them, and to create like them.  In the end they would expect the students to take all of the skills learned to make their own version of art. If their students ended up painting or drawing like them they had somehow failed to truly learn the most important lesson the instructors taught...to speak their own voice through their art.

At the end of my time there my preferences were leaning to the depiction of the human form, shadows, negative space, orbs and symbolism. My color work was not where I wanted it to be. I figured that would come with time and practice. But it wasn't long after I graduated that I just stopped doing "my" art. I stopped doing it for a lot of reasons and for no reason at all.

Even though I stopped pursuing "my" art I never stopped drawing. I wove my ability to draw into my everyday life. My favorite subject matter became my children, my garden, animals, and characters from mythology and fantasy. I fulfilled my need to make things. I planted a garden, landscaped my yard, made stained glass windows, and built rooms onto my house. I became a parent. I raised my family. All of this and much much more would result in who I am and the art I create. I lived my life.

Now there is now. I traveled beyond "my" art and back again. That certainly doesn't negate any of the work I have done in the between. What I once saw as a road bypassing "my" art I now realize was very much part of "my" art. (Don't two parallel roads get you to the same location?) It was the building blocks I needed to take me back to the place marker that I left behind. It was also the growth and maturity I needed to allow me to continue with focus. I'm actually very proud of all of my work through the years. I've sold many pieces through galleries. I've also gifted a large part of my work to family and friends. I design, make and sell art jewelry. All of it has been "my" art.

These days I've started to say "I can" and "I am" instead of "I can't" and "I'm not". I look at my work from the past, compare it to the work I currently do and I recognize that I do have a personal color palette that came about through time and practice. I allow myself to work in whatever medium I want, do whatever subject matter I choose and explore more than one style of art. Is my work good? Does it speak to others in the way I want it to? I don't know. I hope so. Even if it doesn't I'll just keep painting in the shadows. 
Picture
Shadow of a Woman - In Progress - Oil sticks and oil pastel on canvas paper
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To Kill or Not to Kill a Mockingbird

6/5/2017

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As is usual when it gets hot out the air conditioning fails. Or it always seems to be so. We keep finding ourselves in the heat of the moment so to speak...my husband and I. Yesterday it seemed as though our aged heat pump unit had gone kaput. We had escaped the need to replace the system last summer by way of a very honest repairman. He was able to reconnect a set of corroded wires but said there was no guarantee. We were lucky. The system lasted the remainder of the summer and all winter. So today my husband started the process of getting estimates for a new system.

Fortunately the warmth of yesterday settled into a cool evening with a breeze that we enjoyed throughout our little house by strategically opening windows and running our ceiling fans to optimize the draft. Typically we both fall asleep to the sound of the television but last night the drone of the traffic on Route 4 lulled us to sleep. Around 2 o'clock in the morning we both woke to the song of the mockingbird.

This morning we exchanged our reaction to that bird. But first I have to tell you I love the mockingbird that serenades our yard. It can be found on the highest limb in our front yard singing its songs pretty much everyday of the spring, summer, and fall. And it was just yesterday, in the morning, that my husband spoke of how irritating he found the bird. This morning he felt no different in his dislike for the bird but the intensity of his dislike had increased exponentially. He said if he didn't think it would have scared me to death he would have shot that bird last night. Instead he just closed the windows in his bedroom and found the silence he needed to fall back asleep. He is a very light sleeper and said if he hadn't been so tired he would have just gotten up to drink his coffee as he does many early mornings.

My experience was much different. I haven't been sleeping well myself, hot flashes, night sweats, and aching tossing and turning have consumed my nights. My c-pap machine has been waking me up instead of keeping me asleep like it should. I wasn't looking forward to a night with no air conditioning but I did manage to fall asleep. When I woke up to the bird's song I thought "how pretty". I didn't know mockingbirds sang in the dark of the night and it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep listening to the mockingbird.

They say opposites attract. This mockingbird thing that we experienced just proves that old adage. We both had to laugh this morning over our very different reactions to the mockingbird.

It ends up my husband got to cancel the appointment with the first HVAC guy he called for an estimate. His second call was to the guy who fixed the unit last year to make an appointment with him to get an estimate. This repairman said it didn't sound like the same issue as last year. He came over about an hour later and fixed our unit once again. Before we found him last year we were told there was no fixing the unit by two different companies. He is pretty much guaranteed our business when we do get the new system.

It didn't take long for the house to cool down and I'm sure that mockingbird is safe from my husband's sights. Thank goodness for such an honest repairman...for our sake and the bird's. 



Picture
By Ryan Hagerty - This image originates from the National Digital Library of the United States Fish and Wildlife ServiceThis tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.See Category:Images from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service., Public Domain, Link
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    A look into my artist mind! This compilation of thoughts inspires & produces each unique piece of art & jewelry I create. 

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