Marsh Gegerson

Forgive me…I feel guilty that I have not blogged since September. I confess I forgot about you. The invisible vortex of life sucked up everything that was tidy, organized and non-chaotic and left me with my head spinning. Scientists call my imaginary vortex,’the black hole’. It is the place where we loose things. I am sure my car keys are up there. It is the place our thoughts go when another one intrudes, and we end up thinking, “Why did I walk into this room in the first place?” My good sense flies up into the black hole and rolls around like a pebble in a spinning jar.

You have also been there. Don’t deny it! It is called too busy; it is being dragged down by the needs of others; it is an unfocused mind. It messes up everything I planned. It seems like my thoughts are going in a hundred directions; my head is spinning on my shoulders and I want to just sit and rest with eyes closed and make sense of my nonsense.

This black hole also sucks up my computer files or messes with me so my finder can’t find (which is its purpose.Yes?) So, I call my IT son but he is too busy to answer. Finally, my nonsense makes sense, and I go to Search HELPS, which I should have done in the first place. Helps gives me an idea of what I need to do to unravel my ravel. Now, I have to interpret the directions to finally solve my computer problem. Only, I lost a precious hour or two.

Beware…this is the time of year that we need to slow down, so go to your studio and just play with your art materials. I said, “play”. Do nothing serious, just scribble lines and shapes. For me, there is only one thing that helps. Prayer and reading my Bible. That is my place of calm I seek. Usually, I will even begin to get inspiration.

Thankfully, I have begun to incubate a theme that I started years ago. It began with a painting in acrylics, that I completed in 20 minutes. It is the ONLY one that I painted in such a brief time. It is called “Ancient of Days” and is contemporary in nature. The painting has a kind of ephod that an old testament priest would wear into the tabernacle or tent of meeting. Actually, I had no preset idea on even painting this subject. It just happened. This painting won two Best in Shows and another ‘Women on Paper’ Award. I really believe God inspired it and then blessed it.

“Ancient of Days” lead to another one called, “Guardians of the Gate” and is my depiction of the two angels who sealed up the Garden of Eden after the fall of man. I am aware that many of you may not read the Bible, nor want to. I understand. We are all at different places and beliefs, and I am not being judgmental or proud, so please don’t let me lose you. It’s just what works for ME. I had discovered these two paintings in an old portfolio while organizing my studio. Truthfully, I forgot about them even though their awards hang on my studio wall. Suddenly, I had an explosion of inspiration to continue this Biblical Genesis theme. Now that I have retired from teaching visual arts and have time to create again, I need to get to it! While teaching, all my creativity was poured out on the students and there was nothing left at the end of the day. You know the feeling! Empty tank.

Just feed your creativity any way you can this season. Make holiday decorations. Design and print wrapping paper for gifts. Make creative collage book covers for your friends’ journals. Even do stupid stuff like walnut ornaments for the tree. (I apologize, crafters.) Just understand and honor the gift of artistry in you. It needs an ‘outlet’ or it dies. Trust me, I have been there and it is hard getting it back. If your time is still limited, use your iPad or phone to listen/watch creative YouTubes while you cook dinner. This idea really helped me in time famine. I know some artists that need to create because it pulsates in their blood. They are driven to create. The Masters were like that. Sadly, I am fickle. I would love to be so inspired that I long to get into my studio. I am diverse and have many gifts that I need to use. However, I create in many ways, even as I write this blog.

All this is to say, ‘honor your gift’ and the Giver. I really am at peace in this crazy season. I am filled with joy and love, and I am spiritually lifted above all this seasonal chaos because my peace doesn’t depend on myself to dig myself out. Instead, my faith is in a Good God who sustains me and gives me hope in this threatening world. So, this is the gift I want to present you with this November. Be blessed. Enjoy every moment. Time is short.

I need to digress today. We have just dealt with Hurricane Irma who was a terrifying storm covering ALL of Florida. I mean all. Our peninsula is about 200 miles wide, maybe a little more at some points. This storm was estimated to be 400 miles wide so there was little escape for us.

The four days leading up to our hit, was worse than what we endured; made terrifying by social media and the news. By the time it reached Miami, we were exhausted and then had to deal with the ACTUAL storm battering our home.

My daughter, a woman of invention, created an Irma Check In group, for our family, on Facebook. Our Florida family occupies Dade, Broward and Orange Counties which means we were point blank in its path. None of us decided to vacate which may have been stupid. At first, we anticipated a hit on our east coast of the peninsula. Then Irma decided to go west to the Carib side. She did enough damage to Miami, Key West and our outlying keys, then traveled a while flooding her way to the center of the state. Meteorologists were duped! Finally, Irma made a beeline for Orlando. YIKES!

FINALLY, one hundred year later (it seemed like) dawn came and we timidly assessed damage. Roof still on, check. Windows not blown out, check. No flooding, check. Outside our home, uh O. Debris was everywhere including my neighbor’s gazebo upside down in my yard. Our Tulip tree by the road split down the trunk, gone and cleanup needed. Backyard? My beloved Loquat tree, the only tree left in the yard for shade, was down. (We had lost the Orange tree to Charlie.) O.K, we can deal with that, and try to restore it. Fence intact?, check. Fence gate down but fixable. Porch, which is my “prayer room”, undamaged even though the Loquat tree fell over on it. Miracle! Breathe. Breathe.

What was in our favor with Irma was that it DID head straight up over land and downgraded the wind speed from a Cat 4 to Cat 1. Floridians know that we can survive a CAT 1, as we have time and time again. So we breathed a sigh of relief when the stats told us there were no deaths, save for a family that took their generator inside their house despite all the numerous warnings. Mainly, Florida survived. We thanked God for His hand over us and directing Irma straight at Orlando. Actually, this is the grace saved us.

Which leads me to state a spiritual lesson… sometimes we have to confront a threat that comes at us and look it in the eye and say, NO! You don’t scare me anymore. When Irma headed straight for us, it was terrifying but we remained strong and refused to give in. Most heartwarming was watching TV when electricity was restored, and seeing Americans helping Americans, our neighbors helping an 80 yr. old woman who had evacuated and didn’t even know about losing part of her roof. Neighbors climbed up and sealed it up with roofing paper and tarps so it would not damage the inside. Neighbors were lending a hand wherever we could.

What came out of this? Humanity and beauty no matter what color, ethnic background or religious belief we hold, we care and are Human and Americans. I am so proud to be one of them!

Welcome back to my blogs.

What I mean by being an intuitive or self-guided artist is, do you paint from intuition or do you follow the art ‘rules’ that you learned in school. I do not talking mean proficiency with techniques because we must master these basics of successfully using our art materials. Each media has their own characteristics. What I am referring to is, do we start with a few shapes and let the painting tell us where to go intuitively? That is how we let the imagination guide our concept.

Great artists broke the rules much of the time. Matisse’s “Red Studio” is an example of rule breaking. Where are the light areas? He doesn’t have any! Rule breaking.

Other rule breakers were Picasso, Cezanne and Rothko. I do not have the space or time to explain each style but look them up for yourself, and you will see what I mean. We accept Cezanne’s work now because it is familiar to us but at the time he created his art, he was considered a radical. Picasso’s work was viewed as radical but now he is considered a brilliant master.

I do not have the intellect of Picasso. I am still working on that! Thus, how do I start a painting? I begin a vague idea in my mind of what I want to do. Basically, it is a theme of some sort. For example, I am working on a series that explores the Caribbean and Florida. I begin by laying down some large overlapping shapes, then I mix my colors to fit the mood of what I think will represent my theme. I try to surround those large shapes with deeper colors to bring them forward. About a third of the way through, more images or thoughts emerge and I work to refine them. My inner thought process of years of classical art will tell me when I am off track. I will get an impulse that something is just not right. It is like your computer back button, so I back up, scrape off or rinse off the part that annoys me and then repaint it. I sometimes need to put the painting away for another work session when I can look at it with a fresh eye. This critiquing will go on for several days when I will work to accent a part, define another or completely change a part. This is the point where I am striving for balance and unity, where it all fits together and is in harmony. I am painting by my intuition and giving my imagination free reign to explore.

This brings up the point of having several art works in process at a given time. By rotating my time to critique and refine, I get a fresh eye for it. It used to be my habit to work for hours, continuing until I worked through the difficulty. However, in doing so, I lost the freshness of my concept and the ability to critique objectively.

Rarely, I was in “the zone” and I kept going as my concept seemed to flow out of my brush. I once completed a painting in 4 hours and it won several best in shows. I wish I could say that this happened to me more than once. You will know if you are ‘in the zone’. Athletes can relate to this. They are so intent on their game that they do not even hear the roar of the crowd. Likewise, many artists will listen to music to occupy the left analytical thinking half of their brain while the creative right side plays with the paint, uninterrupted by other thoughts.

Slowly, I will begin to see my style emerge. Truthfully, there is no shortcut to finding your style. It is an individual thing, just like your hand writing. When you notice that your work seems to ‘go together’ if you were to hang them all on a wall, that is your style. Congratulations! You have achieved much and are on your way to produce notable art while being your own person. Therefore, find your niche and work at it until really becomes YOU. Paint, paint and paint. Let go. Do not strive with preconceived images of another artist’s work. All you will be doing is making copies of their art and that is not fair, because they have put in the hard work. It is tempting to use the internet image search and steal an idea. Creativity is hard work! Just let go and use your intuition. Enjoy the process and let it guide you. That is what intuitive painting is all about! Chow.

Planning avoids a lot of erasures and do-overs!  I plan what my work is about,  what color scheme will support my idea, and what composition will help me express my idea.  Then, I plan the place I want my most important thing to be.  In other words, I use a place of emphasis to keep “the main thing, the main thing”.  The one way to do this is to divide the whole work  into a 9 box grid. The spaces do not have to be squares. We are only interested in where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect.  I call these ‘sweet spots’.  These spots are meant for me to avoid placing my most important item (emphasis) in the bulls-eye center.

Once I decide where the emphasis part of my composition will be,  I plan my point of view.  I may try to avoid an eye level view for a still life.  I imagine how it would look if my eye level was looking down on my subject.   I may think how it would look if I have a low horizon line.   In landscapes, this will reveal more sky.  If my interest is in the foreground, like what is closest to me, I would try a higher horizon line. This also can apply to a still life.  How much of the table items do I want to see?  Will  this point of view show more detail.

With these decisions made, I can begin to draw the parts of the composition that will form the composition.  I keep my lines light.  It is important to note that if you use pencil on a canvas, your lines may show through the paint, unless you paint very thickly (impasto).  I use vine charcoal that can be wiped off easily.  I follow this step by using  a liner brush  and paint thinned like ink to go over my charcoal lines.

Once I have outlined my composition,  I will start to block local color  in the areas farthest away like sky and mountains.  I tell my students to imagine a loaf of bread. The end slice, furthest from you, is like the sky or the wall, the drapery, the window or whatever.  After blocking in the local color (the actual color of the object)  I work in my color values.

I never paint one area completely with all the detail and then move to another place.  Painting has to develop in a totality  all around, to keep the unity of the colors and the style. Sometimes I block in the same color in three or five places and at the same time.  This ensures visual ‘movement’ around the painting because you don’t want the viewer to be stuck in one place. You want their attention around the entire work.

I avoid putting important things at the borders and especially at the corners.  My students liked to start at the edges of the paper as if they were afraid to get in there and be bold.  I had to impress on them to plan where things were going BEFORE starting and to avoid starting at the edges. They had to consciously to move around when painting to keep their style and color consistent.

If you goal is to achieve UNITY,  the most important art principal,  you will paint with this in mind.  Balance and unity are what you always try to achieve to give the viewer a pleasurable experience.