It’s been more than a year since I last posted in this space. Life has been busy, and generally not artistically, just busy. I lost a dear friend this year, and with her passing I somehow lost a lot of inspirational fuel as well. Unexpected. Health. Aging. Mortality. Just the usual “human stuff” getting in the way of creative work, and here I am – more than a year later, with very little to show for it.
My last notable time spent in the studio was last November. I spent that working on an unfinished piece, “Toxicity”, and had this to say about it:
So this seems to be “the thing that’s been holding me back” in some subtle way; unfinished, and staring back at me in a mocking way, as if to say “you still can’t get past this one, and fuck you for thinking you could”. She’s the face of my chaos and damage. She’s the face of every abusive relationship, every stupid confrontation, every bit of seemingly senseless drama where my rather face-value take on things sometimes leaves me missing some obvious bit of imminent drama that plays to someone else’s sheet music. She’s the hidden agenda. She’s the pointless lie. She’s the temptation that destroys. She’s even the demon within me seeking more bad company to pull me from my better path. She’s the unaddressed past. She’s the poison we deliver to ourselves. She’s the pretty package that is empty inside. She’s “Toxicity”.
“Toxicity”, acrylic mixed-media on canvas with glow, 2023 (unfinished)
She’s not yet finished. The distortions to the mask were a bit of work, and I stalled shortly after I figured that out – which was sometime ago! Seems so long ago now, and carrying this burden has been… heavy. I’ve quite a lot more to do with this one, but working on it takes a bit out of me every time, as if I am exorcising this demon as I work. She is entirely inspired by ______, although she’s come to represent so much more as I have continued down my path, taking my own internal journey, and working through my bullshit. 11 x 14, mixed media on canvas with glow, tiny coins, molded plastic… and eventually a crown of shards of glass (no kidding – but I found some suitable broken float glass that had been “wave tumbled” and I think it’s a good choice), and some metallic strands of tightly coiled fine wire for hair. Being patient enough to let the glow gel around those coins dry today is hard, but I still need to figure out things like attaching the glass and the wire, and also decide whether the assorted small keys for earrings is too much… but… she’s been a key to so many things, and truly holding me back…so… it fits, yeah? And also… fuck this bitch – and the one who inspired her.
I wrote those words to my departed friend, and it seems a lifetime ago, now. It has been a long while. I’d nearly finished the work on this piece, hopeful I’d exorcised this demon, when my friend passed. Suddenly, it was too late to share new work, too late for deep conversations about life, or art, or anything at all. I found myself entirely stalled and began sloppily using my studio for storage space.
I think I’ve gotten myself sorted out now, and ready to tackle new work. I definitely want to. The challenge? I don’t at all want to do what I’ve done before. I’m hungry for something really new, really different.
Going through boxes and things and getting the studio in order for creative work to come, I found an old cigar box with some odds and ends art supplies in it, tucked in a corner of a drawer, forgotten.
Pastels and colored pencils, barely used at all.
I feel inspired again…
A pivot to an entirely new medium is no small thing, and I’ve no idea where this will take my work. My studio needs an overhaul with this change in mind, so I’ll be taking a look at work currently in storage (unsold) and developing a plan to thin that out through some kind of sale, very soon.
I don’t recall what specifically inspired this piece, painted after a stormy October weekend in Lincoln City, Oregon. Depending on the quality of the light in the room, it can appear as a stormy afternoon, or the twilight of evening.
“Coastal Getaway” 12″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas, 2021
Shot in different light:
Same painting, giving the appearance of a different time of day.
This is one of several pieces that I spent time on in 2020 and 2021, without doing much about documenting the work or sharing it; we’d just moved into our house in McMinnville, Oregon, and frankly life was pretty busy. lol
I’m enjoying a weekend in the studio, and finding much of my inspiration in recent sunrises and sunsets. Quite a bit of new work in progress. Details to come, once pieces are finished, but here’s a sneak peak…
Not yet titled, 6″ x 8″ acrylic on wood panel with glow
“McMinnville Sunset 2022″, inspired by a recent sunset, 12″ x 12” acrylic on canvas
“McMinnville Sunrise 2022″, inspired by a recent sunrise, 8″ x 10” acrylic on canvas with glow
Just started on the cloudy sky background for this piece, very much still work in progress, 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas with glow.
I haven’t made enough room in my life lately for long weekends painting. It feels good to be back in the studio working creatively. I’m eager to see how these pieces develop, and getting them up for sale.
Funny title for a painting, I suppose. It has a backstory. Perhaps I’ll share that with a buyer one day. Perhaps not. This 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas piece has details that include glow-in-the-dark pigments and glitter. It was inspired by a brightly glowing luminous round full moon and the shimmering waves beneath it one mild October night in 2022.
Meta Luna, 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas with glow and glow-glitter details, 2022
New work. I spent some time in the studio this past weekend (overdue). Filled with inspiration, I wasn’t at all sure my time would actually be productive. Decision-making paralysis is a real thing, and I had “too many ideas” and struggled to steady down and work on just one or two.
“Every Dawn a Beginning” 12″ x 12″, acrylic on canvas w/glow, glitter, and resin details. 2022
This particular small piece was inspired in part by the collaboration with my partner (a different sort of artist), who shot several airbrush backgrounds for me recently that got set aside for later use. “Later” finally came around, and I sat down on a somewhat stressful autumn afternoon to think things over and put those thoughts on canvas. I selected this unusual orange-yellow-peach blended background because it threw my usual color selections out the window and forced some fresh thinking on me. New perspective, and a fun result.
Once this piece is fully dried, I’ll charge up the glow and add an image of that alternate perspective on this largely very hopeful piece. Inspired by love, and gray autumn days, and an old love song.
I recently went wild re-organizing my studio. During the pandemic my studio has also served as my office (as is the case with many artists, I have a “regular” job to keep things steady), and working from home has turned out so splendidly that it’s become a professional preference and a lifestyle. I was overdue to put real thought and permanence into how my working space is arranged. With that done, I have also found myself feeling more inspired. Feels good. I’m hoping to make a more regular practice of posting here, new work as it comes, and also getting some of the older work uploaded and made available for sale.
Yesterday I spent time painting and thinking about my “workflow” in my studio. I finished one small piece and started a couple others. It feels good to be back in the studio. The feeling of joy and creative energy hit the canvas as “California Poppies & Summer Sunshine”, a small 6″x6″ acrylic on canvas, with glitter and glow. I’ll photograph this piece again with other light sources once it has completed dried (there is a lot of glow on this one).
Small piece, small picture. “California Poppies & Summer Sunshine”, 2022
This small piece is intentionally playful. It’s been a lovely summer, and feels worth a little celebration. That’s what this piece has in mind. The smaller image above is intended to provide a perspective a bit more like walking past it (hanging in a corridor, perhaps). If you’d like a closer look…
I’m in the studio working on unfinished projects and new work, on this last day of 2021. Seems a good way to mark the end of one year, the transition to the next, as much as anything is. It’s rare for me to hold on to unfinished work long – most pieces are finished within a few days, at most. One or two, over some 40 years as a painter, have lingered months (even years) before finally being finished. Complex work, sometimes, other times it’s been more about a change of context, circumstance, or emotion, that stalls the work and then, more rarely, it becomes lost in the noise of a busy life, forgotten until discovered some time later.
Ending the year in the studio.
Currently, I have 14 unfinished canvases, in various stages of completion, and the oldest of these is a piece I began back in 2015 (a self-portrait). 6 years later, and I am still not ready to finish it (I may have missed my moment on that one). The rest of them are a mixed bag of lost inspiration, technical challenges I haven’t solved yet, and “what the fuck-ery” (where the piece somehow just isn’t coming together as I envisioned, and I haven’t sorted out what to do to recover the piece in some other way).
I hope to end this year here in the studio, in some productive fashion. I hope to begin the new year also here in the studio, productively, looking ahead with new vision. I don’t really do “resolutions” to celebrate the new year. This next year I do hope to post more of my work here, make more of it more easily available, and give a little more time and attention to the craft of the business of art.
Time spent in the studio, painting, seems to pass quite differently than any other time. New work drying on my work table, on counters, on bookshelves, and as they dry, joining the stacks of other pieces, completed, not yet sold. Very satisfying.
One recent work (Hints of Autumn) sold almost before it had completely dried, to a friend who has collected several pieces over the years. Also very satisfying – although even after so many years, I often find selling my work rather difficult; it means letting the sold pieces go. Somehow that’s still hard for me – they’re part of who I am. They speak for me when my own words are not enough.
One new piece continues to fascinate me, and each time I see it in new light… I “see it in new light” figuratively, as well as literally.
“Stormy Weather” 8″ x 10″, acrylic on canvas, 2020
Same piece, different light source. This is a painting that will do well in a location where the light varies throughout the day.
This particular canvas was painted around the same time as “Ship of Dreams” and “Nalla Was Here”, earlier this year, on a moody weekend fraught with romantic stress, during a pandemic. The physical experience of painting, for me, is often one of very soothing motions, allowing the act of painting itself to become a sort of meditation. “Feeling the strokes” as I work is one reliable way for me to “get out of my head” and back into my body, and to be more present in my experience. This particular work was supported by bass-heavy EDM tracks (mostly trap and house music), and was painted with Arteza acrylics (a departure from my long-time Liquitex and Pebeo selections). I’m enjoying the texture of these acrylics, which have a consistency of room temperature butter on a warm day – not quite molten, almost liquid. (I generally use heavy body paints, which is particularly useful for the sort of 3D mixed media pieces I often create, so the flow of the Arteza paint is quite a change!) I’m not held back by brand loyalty with regard to paint; I use what works for the piece I have in mind, or create based on the materials available. 🙂
I’ve been getting more time in the studio, but spending less on the computer. New work is piling up, unshared!
Summer very much felt worth celebrating, and there were some stunning moments that seemed to sparkle with joy.
“Summer View” 8″ x 10″ acrylic on canvas w/glow & glitter, 2021
The time slipped away so quickly… and just this past weekend, I found myself noticing hints of Autumn here and there, on my walks, and as I ran my errands. Time spent in the studio hints at those hints.
“Hints of Autumn” 10″ x 14″ acrylic on canvas w/glow, 2021
Happily, time in the studio is increasing as I become more settled in my work and home routines in this new place. More to come!
I could say “my how time flies” and it would be an appropriate observation, if a bit trite and worn out. It’s true, though, whether painting or not painting, living busily or staying home during a pandemic, the time since I last posted has been full. Since my last post (two years ago), I’ve moved (again), and have a(nother) new studio to work in. I just got moved in, actually, and I’m facing my first creative project since the move.
For tedious real-life practical reasons to do with dry wall, flooring, and contractors still needing to get work done, I’ve been finding myself a bit stalled…
My big easel stands tucked back out of the way, waiting for other days, other creative impulses.
This new place inspires me and I feel moved to paint, regularly. It’s not yet time to haul out all the supplies for larger acrylic or mixed media work, and I found myself frustrated – until my stepson dropped in for a visit. He and his father are spending time together in my partner’s woodworking shop, and while I was hanging out chatting, watching, and handling various bits of scrap wood, admiring the various textures and grains, a more specific inspiration struck me – one that allows for us to work together, collaboratively, as a family.
Tiny wood “canvases” waiting for color.
We discussed the wee pieces of oak, and the vague images suggested by the grain of the wood, and the texture of some ragged edges, the result of being a bit aggressive with a plane (new skills take practice). My stepson built the tiny stand up easel. My partner shaped the pieces to make them square, and added a stand to one of them. Now it is my turn to complete the process of bringing these tiny souvenirs of my stepson’s stay to life as miniature art. It’s time for color. 🙂
It’s not a serious change of artistic direction, or any sort of large project or new series, just a sweet diversion as summer becomes autumn, a way of settling into the new studio gently, and a moment to connect creatively with my partner and his son. It gets me back into the studio following the move. A fun little celebration of the real joy to be had in creative work, too.
There’s been plenty of new work to document here. I’ve been slack about it. Better habits ahead, perhaps. 🙂
The Art of M. Elisabeth Howell 