I felt the need to add a quote from Mr. Van Gogh because I often thought of him over the summer, as I spent many days in solitude painting thousands of brush strokes in the studio, while my mom watched my boys two days each week. By the end of the day, I would feel a little stir crazy, and people deprived!

I often joked, "No wonder van Gogh cut off his ear! He spent too much time alone in the studio with his canvas and all of those paint thinner fumes!" Why did he cut off his ear, anyway? Turns out Gauguin left us a few clues explaining why! Here is a link to an article by Brain Pickings that tells of Gauguin's first hand account of what happened:

6 things I learned about the artist life:

1. I NEED PEOPLE!

2. I love to paint, but a little bit of human interaction now and then, is paramount to my survival as an artist, and a human being, for that matter!

3. Coworking is the key! Sooooo, I finally dove in and bought myself a daytime membership at CoworkQC.

4. Working with other creative entrepreneurs is excellent for my mental, and social fitness! Now I need to work on physical fitness!

5. Changes in scenery can recharge the creative mind and spirit.

6. Ideas must be recorded as they occur, or they will be lost to distractions!

Why Did I Write Down My Thoughts and Discoveries?
After completing my first painting from our National Dog Day Photo Contest, I began to realize something...."I spend A LOT of time alone. "So many thoughts popped into my mind as I put the brush to the canvas. Thoughts that seem so ordinary to me, but for some reason, are entertaining to you guys!"

Who knows, maybe some day, the canvas I wrote these thoughts on, will be up in a museum with a collection of my work...preferably while I am still alive! Or, twenty years from now, I can look back upon it, smile a little, laugh a lot, and remember the dog days of 2017.

 

So I began documenting these thoughts on a canvas right there in my studio, just as they'd pop into my mind, to preserve their authenticity in that moment. Originally, I thought, "I'll just write about it at the end of the summer, when it's all done." I quickly came to realize though, that these original, Marie isms, if you will, are fleeting, and easily forgotten, if not recorded as they occur!

 

Jotting, every which way, spewing all of my thoughts, discoveries, anxieties, triumphs and failures, right onto this canvas became a part of my daily routine, along with thousands of brushstrokes needed to create the collection of portraits now on display at CoworkQC. The canvas I wrote one was to me as a napkin is to a songwriter who jots down lyrics as they pop into mind, quickly, before they are lost to distractions of every day life.

Enjoy!

~Marie

"OMG! My studio looks like the threshold to hell!", said I to Myself

Myself to me, "No it doesn't! It's how all creatives are, right?"