The Power of Music

On my drive back from my latest trip to New England, I heard a song played on one of the many radio stations I scanned through when my smartphone didn’t have a strong enough signal to stream Spotify. It was new to me, but probably not new to the radio and I instantly loved it. It reminded me of the late 80’s and early 90’s pop music I grew up with and it was upbeat and perky, just like me!

After listening to the song a few times on different stations, I finally learned that it was Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon. I’d never heard of Walk the Moon, but then there’s a lot of current artists I don’t know because I rarely listen to actual radio stations. When I went on YouTube to watch the video for the song I was extremely happy to see that it went along perfectly with the song. So many music videos these days are weird or totally ruin the meaning of the song, but the video for Shut Up and Dance was spot on with a very 80’s look and feel. Having grown up during that era, it’s rather odd to see it all coming back, but odd in a good way.

I finally remembered to get the Walk the Moon album with the song I liked on it yesterday and I’ve been listening to a handful of the songs on repeat ever since. Overall, there’s only 3-4 songs off the album that mesh with my tastes, but the ones I do like, I REALLY like! How can you tell when I really like a new song? Well, it makes me dance in my car, dance around my kitchen while cleaning it and dance while painting.

I hadn’t painted a new picture in several months but the new music was exactly what I needed to kick my inspiration into gear. It felt so wonderful putting brush to canvas and smearing acrylic colors all over the place! Painting is a very freeing experience for me and I always listen to upbeat music while doing it. As I already said, I dance to the music when I paint and I also have my living room curtains open so anyone driving by can see me if they look in. I don’t particularly care though as I imagine I’m already known as the “peculiar single woman who walks her yellow dog a lot” by most of the people in my neighborhood.

All that matters to me is that the power of music can lift my spirit and my feet and spark my creativity in the best way!

Those who can’t teach, do

My final painting of the night. Not my usual style.

Recently I’ve been sucked into a game called Trivia Crack thanks to my fellow SNHU students. It was mentioned on the online student social media platform and now many of the connections I have on there are playing it. Well, I suppose they could have been playing it for years, but I only just learned about it.

While I enjoyed Trivial Pursuit to a degree, eventually everyone would get tired of playing it and we’d name a winner before all the pie pieces were won. I often surprised myself with the random bits of information I’d know that helped me answer questions. Thankfully, Trivia Crack doesn’t take nearly as long as Trivial Pursuit, though I’m finding it just as mentally challenging…and frustrating.

Ridiculously enough, my worst category is Art, followed closely by Sports which isn’t a big shocker. My best topic is Entertainment which makes sense because I know all sorts of random movie and television trivia. Nonetheless, my lack of “knowledge” in the Art category perturbed me. I do consider myself an artist but no, I don’t know a whole lot about art history and such. According to the game Leonardo, Michelangelo and Picasso were all left-handed, but I’ve found some websites that dispute that. Either way, I refused to let a trivia game get me down so I decided that since I could never teach Art or Art History, I’d paint some art in the art present. There’s that saying “Those who can’t do, teach” so I just reversed it to “Those who can’t teach, do.” I’m clever like that…

My first creation of the night.

I haven’t created any new paintings in many months but tonight felt like a good time. I cranked up my music, got out my paints, prepped three canvases, chose the colors, selected several brushes, and went to town. I’m reasonably satisfied with my creations, especially since I’m rusty, and it was a very enjoyable experience. Painting reassured me that I still have that creativity inside me even if I don’t know the name of Picasso’s second cousin’s best friend’s cat. 😉

My second painting of the night.

Foggy flurries and furry fluffballs

My snowy house this morning.

Today marked the first substantial snow for the season here. The calendar may still say it’s fall, but Upstate NY has never been a place that abides by such silly notions. I don’t mind snow when it first begins and my girls both seem to love it. I remember loving it when I was a child, but once I became an adult who had to drive in it, snow lost a lot of its magic. The “magical first snow” today started overnight and hasn’t let up since. It’s not accumulating fast but it’s heavy, wet, and perfect for making snowballs.

And make snowballs I did! When I took Jazzmin out this morning, I made a couple snowballs and tossed them at her. She happily caught them in her mouth before spitting them out when she realized they were strange, cold tennis balls. I then took a snowball in to show the kittens and they were fascinated by the cold, white, balls of water. They love water and I’m always plucking them out of the sink, bathtub, and dog’s water bowl. I eventually plopped the snowball in their water bowl and Daisy watched it intently until it melted.

Once the girls were off at school, I did a bit of freelance work and then settled on the couch beneath a blanket to begin some new beading projects. I’d reviewed a new set of instructions for making earrings this morning and I was eager to try them. What I created came out better than I expected, but I discovered I need to start using a thimble to avoid poking my pointer fingers constantly. Thank goodness fingers heal quickly! It’s worth it though because I’m so pleased with last week’s creations that I need more hours in the day to create all the jewelry designs that have popped into my mind.

Modeling last week’s beaded earring and pendant creations.

The snow never let up so there was no point in waiting for it to stop before taking Jazz for a walk. I bundled her up in her booties (which she hates) and warm, blue sweater and I bundled myself up similarly in my winter jacket, boots, and earmuffs. It wasn’t exactly frigid today but there was a breeze and I wanted to keep my ears warm. Our walk wasn’t very long but Jazz was happy to be out and we both became thoroughly coated with snow. As we were heading back home, fog began to roll in from the top of the hill which detracted from the beauty of the first snowfall.

Jazz in her sweater and booties.

The snowy trees.

Jazz smells something…

Yuppers, it’s snowing!

The fog rolling in down the road.

Jazzmin and I were both happy to get home and thaw out. The kittens were fascinated watching the falling snow and took turns looking out the window or hogging my desk chair because it’s so cozy.

Daisy looking out the window.

Angel hogging my desk chair.

I had to get my snow shovel out of the shed to clean off my deck steps and create a path to the door and it’s now resting beside the door, ready to be used again. Winter has definitely begun but with the combination of foggy flurries and furry fluffballs, I know it will be anything but dull!

 

An Artist’s Emotions (re-post)

It’s been a long, busy day and I’m too tired to properly utilize my creative writing abilities, so it’s time for another re-post from my Writer & Artists blog on Corbin Creations. I wasn’t sure which one I was going to re-post so I read through a few until one struck my fancy. It’s about how my emotions affect my creativity or lack thereof. This one seems relevant because in rearranging my living room today, I had to move my huge plastic tote filled with my overflow of artwork.

I recently changed out some artwork that was hanging over my desk because it reminded me of emotions and feelings that no longer serve a purpose in my life. I should know by now not to create paintings based on feelings for another person, but I’m a hopelessly optimistic romantic so I continue to do so. One of the paintings is entitled Morning Path and it’s some of my best work. I was amazed with myself when it was finished. I based it off a photo and for once was able to do justice to the beauty of an amazing post-storm sky. I imagine someday I’ll be able to look at it again, but for now it’s best if I leave it tucked away and move forward with my life.

I haven’t painted anything new in a while and it’s probably past time. I just have to summon the right emotions, find the proper colors, and let my brushstrokes tell the story.

Morning Path painting

***

An Artist’s Emotions – 2/4/2012

My work, whether it be painting or writing, has always been driven by my emotions. I have to feel passionately about something, or even someone, in order to find my creative muse. Alas there have been far too many times in my life when my experiences have left me so numb and empty that I couldn’t put brush to canvas or fingers to keyboard. I have done some paintings when I was angry and it was therapeutic because anger is a passionate emotion, full of fire and easy to feed off of. The blah of discontent and depression holds no fire, only cold emptiness and I am not someone who can create anything from that.

My friend has told me that I’m someone who loves too hard, and she knows because she is one too. I believe all my female friends are like this and that’s why we understand each other so well. We put so much of ourselves out there, whether it be through painting, writing, speaking or just living and we think everyone who knows us and cares about us should understand that part of us and not abandon us because of it. It’s hard for us to accept that there really are people out there who don’t need other people, who are content alone and who don’t want to share the deepest parts of themselves, including their hearts, with anyone else. I will never be that kind of person. How I love makes me vulnerable and gets me hurt but it can also create beautiful pieces of artwork and writing that capture the most important essence of myself.

The Brushstrokes of Amesbury, MA

When you walk the streets of downtown Amesbury, you’re treated to the sight of large, detailed, colorful murals on the sides of some of the buildings. These amazing painted creations portraying the history and beauty of Amesbury are the work of a talented artist named Jon P. Mooers. I was awestruck by them the first time I saw them in June of 2013. I’ve had the privilege of meeting Jon and not only is he a skilled artist, he’s a great person.

Jon P. Mooers opened a gallery in downtown Amesbury over a year ago and there’s no denying his love of and passion for art. I wrote about one of his gallery events in my Accidental Wandering in Amesbury post back in October of 2013 and thanks to him publicizing that post, it was my most popular writing to date. It’s a grand thing when creative people connect and Jon’s gallery was all about supporting artists and sharing beautiful artwork with the community.

I stopped in at the gallery in the winter of 2013 and found Jon in the midst of putting up one of his window displays. If you’ve never seen his window displays, you missed something truly special. He was working busily setting up the window display and there was a light in his eyes that every artist knows from personal experience. It’s the light that comes from expressing yourself and hoping that the world sees and appreciates what you’re trying to convey. For a book signing in December he even had snow falling over a scene of Frosty the Snowman in the window! Seeing it put the biggest grin on my face and I knew he was doing all he could to highlight his gallery and let more people know about it.

Unfortunately, Jon is closing his gallery due to lack of sales. I always enjoyed looking at all the artwork on display and was impressed by the caliber and talent of the artists. Every brushstroke revealed what they love to create and each piece was unique, even those done by the same artist. You’ll never find beauty, dedication and heart like that in the mass-produced paintings for sale in big box retail stores. Every artist knows what it is to struggle and yet none of us can ever truly give up on expressing our creativity because it’s a huge part of our essential being.

I raise my paintbrush in huge multi-color paint admiration of Jon P. Mooers and what he did by opening that gallery in Amesbury. It’s a truly sad loss to the community that he’s closing his doors. Perhaps too many people mistakenly believed that even if they didn’t buy anything, someone else would. Speaking as an artist, I can attest that “someone else” doesn’t always exist and that it’s up to each of us as individuals to step up and support all of the arts in any way we can. Jon P. Mooers Artists Gallery and Studio did that and for that he deserves great respect and acknowledgement of the difference he made in downtown Amesbury. I certainly hope to see more great endeavors from him in the future!

Plum wine and winter painting

A girl and her paints.

I’ve been wanting to do some new paintings for months now but I’ve been too busy or it’s been too cold for me to crawl out from under blankets on the couch to stand at my easel. I could ignore my muse no longer though and had to get creative to shake off the winter chill.

That creativity involved drinking a glass of plum wine to warm me up and loosen my rusty painting skills. Skills might be a stretch but I do enjoy painting and what flows from my brush is usually appealing in some way.

Once the wine had started to make me all tingly, I got out my brushes and paints and set about adding some life to the blank sheets of watercolor paper I’d taped to canvas boards earlier. I had Pandora blasting from my computer speakers and I danced as I painted. It felt really good to express this aspect of my creativity!

Blank watercolor paper in need of life!

Jazz would occasionally bring her lobster for me to throw so I’d pause in my work and play with her. I even picked up her front paws and danced with her a bit. While her tail was wagging, I don’t think she really enjoyed what her crazy mama was subjecting her to.

By the time I’d finished my three snow-inspired paintings, I’d had two glasses of wine and if my body was cold, I couldn’t feel it anymore. My paintings aren’t masterpieces worth millions of dollars but they’re pieces of me and as such, are unique, colorful and beautifully flawed.

My completed paintings.

Nature’s Artwork

I am imperfect. Everyone is. Yet every day I see commercials advertising beauty products and fitness programs to help men and women achieve perfection. Chasing dreams is one thing, striving for the impossible is ridiculous.

I have a great appreciation for nature. Nature is beautiful without even trying. The blazing sunrise, the changing leaves, the churning clouds, the glow of sunset. Beautiful without trying to be perfect. Nature just is what it is and if you don’t stop to see that, you’re missing out.

This past Monday morning started out beautiful with a pink cast to the clouds as the sun made its journey to rise over the hills. The sun shone ever so briefly before the dark clouds of the rapidly approaching cold front blocked it out. That contrast of darkness and light was stunning to behold. Nature wasn’t trying to impress me by puffing up its chest or slathering on makeup for a perfect complexion. Nature was just doing what it does.

I managed to take Jazzmin on a short walk as the front blew in and dropped the mild morning temperatures down 10 degrees. We walked into a field and to the top of the hill to get a better view of the dark clouds. I snapped a picture of Jazz with the turbulent sky as the backdrop and to my amazement, my camera phone captured the colors perfectly.

Jazzmin and the sky

Later that evening after the rain had come and gone, I went out into the yard with my daughters to enjoy the last of the day. While we were outside I saw a monarch fly by and was surprised when he landed in one of my back pine trees. I’ve never seen a monarch do that before. He stayed on one branch for a long time and Jordan was nice enough to fetch my camera for me. I took several pictures of him and he stayed still until the very last one when I turned the flash on. He opened his wings just as the picture snapped and then flew higher into the tree and out of sight.

Monarch up in my pine tree

As I write this the sky is ablaze with orange, red, pink and blue. Another breathtaking autumn sunset in what has been a true season to treasure. There is just a sliver of the moon in the sky and brush strokes of clouds. Nothing compares to nature’s artwork and she always pulls it off effortlessly.

Reconnecting and Revisiting

I haven’t created a new painting in quite some time. I’ve been busy juggling so many things at once that I haven’t had time to express that part of my artistic side. I had a little free time yesterday evening so I decided I’d finally get my paints out, reconnect with my creativity and give it a go. I’ve been wanting to paint pictures based on the photos I took of Amesbury and Newburyport during my recent visit in June so that’s exactly what I did.

I pulled up some of the photos I took around town in Amesbury and settled on one of the fountain outside the Amesbury Library. I took it on a rather dreary, drizzling morning but it’s lovely even in that light. I decided to interpret it as a tree because painting realistic things isn’t my strong point. I took the basic shape and style of it and “branched out” as it were. I then decided it needed some different colors so I tied in the colors from the beautiful hydrangea blooms I saw walking around Amesbury.

Amesbury Library fountain

Lovely hydrangeas in Amesbury

I’m biased of course, but I rather like it. I wanted it to be more vibrant but it turned out rather muted. I can always try again. I’ve never actually done the same type of painting so perhaps it’s time.

Flowing Inspiration – created 8/11/13

I’m going to try to do some more paintings based on my photos from Amesbury and Newburyport because I’ll be visiting there with my daughters and mother during our upcoming trip that starts this Saturday. I enjoyed my stay at the Fairfield Inn in Amesbury but they’re out of my budget for this trip so I’m taking everyone up into New Hampshire to stay. The hotel is just a short way over the border and we’ll be traveling down into Boston one of the days. I’m eager to show my family everything I’ve seen in Boston and we’re all going on our first whale watch! We’re also going to the aquarium because I promised my girls two things. Jordan wanted to see the aquarium and Jaycie wanted to go on a boat. Check and check!

After our Boston visit, the rest of our time will be spent exploring the New Hampshire area near the hotel and of course, Amesbury and Newburyport. I’m glad I’ve been to those two neighboring towns enough to know my way around now. I’m eager to see everywhere I’ve been through my daughters’ eyes and get their impressions on things. What they love might be totally different from what I love. We’re going to venture down to Plum Island beach to play in the sand and waves and travel wherever else our fancy takes us. It will be a grand adventure and only my second non-solo road trip to Massachusetts and points beyond. I can’t wait!

Creative Explorations

I’ve dabbled in many things trying to figure out what I want to be “when I grow up.” My father crafted amazing projects out of wood such as rocking animals (lions, giraffes and horses) and puzzles but my attempts to craft from wood in middle school shop class failed miserably. Not to mention that it’s not exactly safe for me to be around sharp, spinning things like saws.

I always loved art class in school but my work was overshadowed by artists far better than myself. Other students could draw realistic people and scenes while I did better with abstract and impressionistic pieces. My teachers seemed to have a higher appreciation for recognizable things than what I’d come up with so my work rarely made it into school art shows and displays.

In high school I took a computer programming class and discovered to my surprise that I was actually quite good at it! While my friends and fellow students kept getting stuck, I’d plow right through the steps and my program would run perfectly after I cleaned out a few bugs. I’d then help my friends with their code and I was impressed that my mind could work like that. I probably should have explored that area more because it had the potential to lead to a productive career but I didn’t.

I took a couple of computer art classes in school too. They didn’t call it graphic design but that’s what it was. Graphics on computers were pretty rudimentary back then but I was able to create things that impressed my teacher so much she wanted to use them on the school website. That never actually happened because I got sidetracked by trying to pass the classes I wasn’t very good at so I could graduate.

My father had a talent with a camera. Just about every photograph he took turned out perfect. People hired him to photograph work and social club events. He used his old Olympus SLR camera to take all the pictures and every shot was interesting. While I love taking photos and often snap several in a day, I don’t consider myself a photographer. I’m just someone who likes to take pictures. Being a photographer takes an eye and a skill I just don’t naturally possess.

When I was a stay-at-home mother I decided to expand my knowledge of graphic design, photography and photo editing by taking some online classes. It was fascinating learning about proper photo composition and where the eye is naturally drawn to. I went out and took several rolls of pictures with my father’s old Olympus camera but very few of them turned out well. I really enjoyed learning how to edit photos with Photoshop and bringing out details that were there in the scene but hadn’t been captured on film. Exploring graphic design with Illustrator was fun for me and while I created projects I liked, they just weren’t up to professional graphic design standards.

Graphic I made in the online Illustrator class

I’ve had to brush up on those Photoshop and graphic design skills recently as I work on the cover for my Boston story e-book. I dug out those three-ring binders and reread the lessons until it dusted off the correct memory files in my brain. Once I remember what I was doing, I had a lot of fun working on my cover…at first. The longer I work on it though, the less I like it. I imagine that happens to everyone after a while. I don’t know that I’ll ever be satisfied with the cover but I will eventually have to stop reworking it so I can publish my story. I’ll do my best and hope that people don’t glance at it, cringe and then keep browsing titles.

Potential cover in progress

All of my creative explorations have taught me one thing: I am a writer. I can dabble in whatever I want to and I continue to paint, take photos and play with graphic design but my strongest ability is writing. I don’t profess to be a perfect writer and I never took any college courses in it so my grammar isn’t up to snuff but as every writer knows, writers write! I will always write, even if it’s about the most mundane-seeming things in the world. I am a storyteller and if I don’t get the words out of me, my entire creative essence suffers.

Everyday Adventures in this Extraordinary Life

I often joke with my best friend that I could write a book about my life and sell it as fiction because no one would believe it all happened to one person. I haven’t climbed to the top of Mount Everest or formulated the cure for the common cold, I’ve just lived my life and done my best to roll with what comes. I think we all have an amazing and unique story to tell when we escape the mundane of daily existence and see life for what it really is: an endless adventure!

My beloved English teacher and friend, Derek Hulse told me when I was 16 that I should write my autobiography. I found the idea silly because I was only 16 and felt I hadn’t experienced anything that justified an autobiography. Apparently he saw great things in my past and future that were worthy of being told and I’ve been telling them for the past few years in my blogs. I am certain that numerous people live far more interesting lives than I do and I don’t profess to be an incredibly amazing, crocodile-wrestling, swashbuckling woman of the world. I’m just a girl who wakes up every day grateful for another dawn.

I never know what my day is going to bring. Even the smallest tasks turn into large undertakings sometimes. My quest to find a more fuel efficient-and yet still standard transmission-car involves renting an automatic car for the weekend when the first auto deal falls apart. I set out to dig up thistles and the handle on my garden spade snaps like a twig. I go to mow my lawn and the neighbors chicken decide to hold a parade through my lilac bushes. A weekend trip to Boston leads to a whole new direction and purpose in my life that continues to motivate me onward. These are the adventures I’ve lived and continue to live.

So I created a photo montage set to music and uploaded my video to Vimeo for your viewing pleasure…or to at least take up three minutes of your day. You can watch it by clicking on the photo above or the link at the end of this entry. In it I’ve featured several photos from my blogs and others I’ve taken just to document the mind-boggling little mishaps that occur in my life. Stars include my darling daughters, adorable dog, samples of my baking, creatures from the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory, my mower, the Massachusetts locations of Boston, Newburyport and Amesbury, some of my artwork and everything in between. I believe it tells an interesting story about the everyday adventures in this extraordinary life that belongs to a simple woman just making her way in the world.

Everyday Adventures in this Extraordinary Life

Visible Lyrics

Have you ever listened to a song and thought “Wow! These lyrics paint a really cool story!” No? Well I have and do often.  I then eagerly look up the music video for the song but very rarely does it meet my expectations. Not surprising really. I’m the only one who sees what goes on in my imagination while I listen to the song. The video producer isn’t psychically connected to me and has no idea what I feel would be the perfect visual representation of the song.

I have contented myself dreaming up my own videos for songs I like through most of my life. Until now. I made a promise to myself and my father’s spirit that I would dedicate the month of May to my writing and his memory. It might not seem like making a video does either of those things, but trust me, my father gets it.

The song I chose is one I’ve been thinking about making a video for through the better part of a year. The moment I heard it I began visualizing a comedy of errors, filled with clumsiness, a story I live quite often. I’ve bounced ideas off my daughters and they’ve helped me see different ways of showing what we feel the song should be about.

I’m almost certain that this particular song has meanings less innocent than what I’ve been visualizing. But that’s okay. Just because a song was written with a particular intention in mind doesn’t mean it’s restricted to that. Music is meant to entertain and enlighten and we’re all allowed to interpret it with our own perceptions. I think that’s one of the many reasons I’ve been blessed with this crazy imagination of mine. It’s yet another way I can “show off” my storytelling abilities.

I hope to finish up the video tonight and prescreen it with a few close friends before making it public. I don’t honestly know how it will be received, or if anyone will even take the time to watch it. I do know that it’s been a time-consuming but fun learning experience creating it and it’s given me a new outlet for my endless imagination.

Queen of Artwork

Surrounded by some of my many paintings, 2011

My first set of real acrylic paints came from a fellow coworker at the mall pretzel place I worked at in high school. He was an older gentlemen who used to paint but didn’t have the time anymore. He gave me his hinged wooden case complete with a palette and various colors of acrylic paint. I discovered that most of the paint tubes were too dried out to use so my mother took me to an art supply store.  I spent most of my paycheck on tubes of colors with cool names like phthalocyanine blue and cadmium yellow and on long handled brushes of all shapes and bristle length. Most importantly I purchased some canvas boards so I had something to paint on. I was now armed with all sorts of artist supplies but I had no idea what exactly I was capable of creating.

I still use that wooden case and palette to this day, in fact that palette had almost 20 years of old paint on it until last night when I decided to clean it off. Sometimes completing a painting takes longer than I expect so by the time I’m done some of the paint has dried pretty happily onto the palette. If it’s a color I didn’t use much of, the glob can be kind of big and lumpy and impossible to wipe off with just warm water. I had grown accustomed to my “messy” palette and even fond of the various colors but it had become just too hard to see what colors I was using anymore. I decided to scrape the old paint off with a razor blade and was rather surprised that it all just started peeling up off the wood once I got under a thick area of it. My oldest daughter enjoyed helping me peel a majority of the rubbery dried acrylic paint off and I thought what was removed almost resembled art. I say almost because it really wasn’t and it went into the trash, but not before I took a commemorative photo…

The old paint scraped off my palette

I never know where the inspiration for my paintings is going to come from. Most of the time it just sort of comes out of me as I paint but sometimes it comes from unexpected places. It could be from a dream I had or a story I read or something I saw outside or a picture a friend took on their phone and sent me. I’ve been taking pictures of beautiful skies for as long as I’ve been able to figure out how to work a camera. I’ve used entire rolls of film taking photos of sunsets and sunrises and only ever painted a few pictures based on them. Lately I’ve been looking at photos of even mundane things differently and it’s not because of the subject matter but because of where the photos came from. I will be visually explaining in new paintings in the very near future.

All of what you just read was originally posted on my Corbin Creations Writer & Artist page back in January 0f 2012. I did visually explain those mundane-inspired paintings and they will be listed for sale in my CorbinGirl Etsy Shop very soon!