Serendipity

It was serendipity that I found this quote:  "There is an art to wandering. If I have a destination, a plan – an objective – I've lost the ability to find serendipity. I am on a quest, not a ramble. I search for the Holy Grail of particularity and miss the chalice freely offered, filled and overflowing." (Cathy Johnson)

I experienced serendipity at its fullest yesterday while attempting to visit the Rio Grande Botanical Garden, aka the ABQ BioParkBotanic Garden, in Albuquerque.  Amazing garden!  Packed full of irises, poppies and all manner of other colorful blooms.  I highly recommend a painting day or two there, if you have opportunity.  

By the time I arrived at the park (new GPS system not so user-friendly!), wandered around just absorbing and SEEING the wonders, ate lunch, warmed up, set up and painted, for about an hour, my time was gone!  The time was truly a treasure in that glorious garden.  I manage to grab a small watercolor and this small oil from the party that was going on.  

"Glorious Day" 8"x 6" oil
Buy this painting

Be sure to note that I am teaching an Iris Painting Class at the Hondo Iris Farm on May 28th, 9-4.  Call or email me for details.  575-430-6148 or sarajchambers@yahoo.com.

Meditation on Teaching--What Do You WANT?

Having just taught a pastel painting class for the Pastel Society of El Paso, I have been thinking quite a bit about what affects my own and others' creation process.  I frequently heard myself asking  individual artists, "What do you WANT?"  Just because I would choose a color or a placement of an element, does not mean it is the right way if it does not reflect what the artist wants.

INTENT is usually the first element of composition that needs to be addressed, and this class made me aware of how important it is. INTENT means deciding if a painting has a story or message or is simply meant to be beautiful for its own sake.  But it also means remembering WHAT attracts us to a subject and  makes us WANT to paint it.  WHY do I choose to paint or draw a particular thing or idea? If our motivation is unclear, we cannot know WHEN or IF we actually reach the goal.  Conversely, if what attracted me was, for example,

This is me, trying to get what I WANT--glorious red poppies!

the vivid color of some flowers, but I end up nuancing the foreground dirt or the sky or the leaves or the path or the landscape behind them, instead, I may not get what I WANT or what I INTEND.

The temptation, particularly using photographs as references, is to wander off in the details and the unrelated bits, thereby diminishing the power of what we WANTED to say or show.  To greatly strengthen a composition, first remember WHY you chose the subject and WHAT you want to show.  Then, balance the rest of the details in proportion to your INTENT in order to arrive at what you WANT.

BTW--note that I am offering a plein air class at the Hondo Iris Farm on May 28, 9-4.  Contact me at sarajchambers@yahoo.com or 575-430-6148 for details.