Showing posts with label being enough. Show all posts
Showing posts with label being enough. Show all posts

Thursday, September 1, 2016

getting your head out of your smart phone

I know its not officially autumn yet, but there's something about the date, September 1st, that makes me feel like summer is most definitely over. And once fall falls upon us, I always feel like the year needs a good review. What has happened this year? How have I spent my days in 2016? How have I improved my existence? What would I have changed?

I feel like if I take time to complete some kind of re-evaluation process I might actually have time left in 2016 to accomplish some goals that otherwise may have not yet been completed. Yes, I am that type A person, that type A artist, that is always pushing for new paintings, new works, new series, new projects. There just never feels like there is enough time in this lifetime to make all the paintings I want to make. To sell all the paintings I want to sell. To get to all edges of the planet my work. To inspire others to think, act or live creatively, so we become more than just drones, robots or slaves to our smart phones and social media systems.

I have been working on a series of works on paper that have been selling quite well on my Laurie Maves ART Vango ART page. These pieces are generally smaller, 9"x12" - 11"x14" and they are mostly mixed media works on gessoed paper. I have truly enjoyed making these smaller pieces in 2016. They have allowed me to generate more images about relationships, love, connections and reflections on the human experience. These pieces exhibit many of the thoughts and concepts that run through my brain on a daily basis. My mind is never quiet. Unless I focus on making it so, (there's that type A artist personality again).
2016 has also allowed me time and space to make a handful of larger circular abstracts on canvas. These are from my "Gottlichkeit" series. These paintings have been very popular as well. They have exhibited in Kansas and in Colorado and I am very proud of the messages they convey.


I guess we still have 4 more months to go in 2016. I hope I am able to continue creating mixed media works, large abstract paintings, and hopefully continue to inspire those that take the time and energy to read my posts and blogs - even if that means at this moment your face is in your digital device. Maybe you could take a minute for yourself to reflect on 2016 and see where you are headed next? And just possibly take a moment and get your head out of your smart phone to see what life has in store for you for the remaining days of 2016.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Arriving Here, Leaving 2014

Today being the last day of the year I tend to embark on a life review - I'm sure like many others. What have I done with my life? Where am I headed? How am I doing as a mom? What to paint next? How to make the work better, how to reach more people...is it ever enough? Am I ever going to do or be enough??? (something my dear friend, Bernadette Slowey and I often talk about.) I spent the better part of yesterday reviewing almost a decade's worth of work posted online - some of it lovely, but honestly most of it I could do without. There's the inner critic for you. But I always come back to the fact that you can't get there from here. Everyday you have to be here. Here. Here. And every moment is now. Now. Now. And I could have never arrived at Circles, had I not painted Venuses, poppies, and Lollipop Figures on cliffs, then daisies, then orbs, then Circles. You can only get here, from where you are. 
Today's featured painting is my favorite Circle painting of 2014, appropriately entitled, "My Favorite Circle Painting." I love the lightness of being of it, it feels happy - the floating bubbles of possibility. It feels grounded and strong. It knows color and all the ins and outs and endless combinations.
I thank you all for an amazing 2014, and also for an amazing life thus far. I am truly blessed to be spending the majority of the hours of the day doing what I love to do - ever since I was a child, and that is to create.
I look forward to 2015, all the new paintings that will be made, all the new experiences I will have with you at my side, and all the new places we will arrive at together called "here." Happy New Year!
"my favorite circle painting" mixed media on canvas, 40"x40", 2014
all rights reserved by Laurie Maves ART