Is Playing Just For Kids?
Did you know that play is as important as eating, sleeping and exercising? Play isn’t just important for children, but also for adults? Have we forgot how to play or have we put playing low on the priority list?
In order for it to be considered play, the activity can be for no other reason than enjoyment.
I heard that the opposite of play was depression. Suppressing daily play is not healthy for adults or children.
Do you get embarrassed to play? Do you feel that people may not take you seriously if you play? When hula-hoops were in fashion, adults as well as children loved them. One day, I found my father hula-hooping in the garage, change rattling in the pockets swaying back and forth. For a moment I saw him forget all his worries, until he found a couple of older woman pointing at him, smiling and laughing. He was furious, took the hula-hoop and threw it on the ground and ran in the house.
My inner child cries out often, finding a need to paint for no other reason than to play. This shows up in my use of mediums, tools or subject matter. I always end up discovering something new and enlightening when this happens.
Playing helps exploration, discover creative solutions, and problem solving. It can be transformative to self and situations.
Ideally, it would be great to incorporate play with your everyday life. How could you introduce play in your work environment and perhaps get a better job done?
This is my thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth painting of my #paint52 challenge, both paintings Atelier Interactive Acrylic on vellum. "Snowballs in Summer" measures 9-1/2" X 8", price $200.00 (SOLD) and "Garden at Beltane Ranch" measures 8" X 8", price $175.00. (SOLD)
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
Follow Your Bliss
Can you remember the first life changing experience that lead to "Follow your bliss" or your dream? Was it dramatic? Was it inspired? Was it meant to be? Did you know what you always wanted? Were you born with the dream, “I knew I would always be a singer, a dancer, a scientist, an artist”?.
Did your dreams take a detour? Did others influence you? Did extenuating circumstances, force you to do something else?
Did you believe if you followed your dream that you would lose the people you love? Did you think others would think you were crazy? Did you go against the norm?
Did you feel you were worth it or capable? Did you believe in yourself? Did you have someone believe in you?
All these are hard questions, I have experienced many of these situations on the journey to follow my dream, “Follow my bliss”, to become an artist. "Follow your bliss, is the heroes’ journey", says Joseph Campbell. You will find a lot of dragons to slay along the way. The challenge is not to be detoured and to not give up, to find a way to “Follow your Bliss”.
This is my thirty-fourth painting of my #paint52 challenge, Atelier Interactive Acrylic on vellum, measures approximately 7″ X 11″, price $230.00. The painting portrays the Streetcar found on the Embarcadero, adjacent to the Piers an addition to my San Francisco Series. SOLD
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
Ernie's
Artists have you ever had a chill while painting a painting?
Influenced by the movie “Vertigo” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, I was drawn to paint a scene taken place at Ernie’s Restaurant in San Francisco. It became more enticing to paint, since it could also used as part of my San Francisco series.
There was no avoiding the red; it became very psychological, just as Hitchcock wanted it to be. He purposely used certain colors in certain scenes indicating warning, guilt, polarity, ambiguity and death.
It is hard to paint a red painting without be moved emotionally. Using a touch of pink softened the aggressiveness. The Hitchcock blue intentionally used in the suit of Jimmy Stewart's was to indicate guilt, I didn’t realize this until more research was found.
While painting the painting, my father showed up, with his familiar hairline, stature and common gesture of placing his hands in his pocket. No matter what I did, the painting resembled my father, my father who passed away 52 years ago. That’s when the chill came, my own little Hitchcock experience in my studio appeared.
This is my thirty-third painting of my #paint52 challenge, Atelier Interactive Acrylic on velum, measures approximately 8" X 8", price $175.00.
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
A Dream For the Queen
What is it about Elephants that I love, that I feel a natural bond to? Could it be their ability to be socially complex, their well known intelligence, their ability to have deep family ties, their special individual relationships with humans, their strong unique personalities, the impact that the mother has on the family, their affection for their own, in which they take care of their injured families and grieve over their dead. Yes, I believe we can relate to all of these human qualities.
I was first introduced to “Return to the Forest” a documentary filmed by Patricia Sims and "Zo" Michael Clark , depicting the efforts to protect and return the elephant to the wild on the consciously aware blog site LAAH. The film will premier August 12, 2012, on the first World Elephant Day.
Inspired by this wonderful event and promise of hope for these wonderful Pachyderms, I felt a need to paint “A Dream For The Queen”, which is also featured on LAAH. This is the 32nd painting of my #paint52 challenge, measures 8” X 8”, Atelier Acrylic on vellum, price $175.00 (SOLD). All proceeds will be donated to the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation, in celebration of “World Elephant Day”, August 12, 2012.
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
The Shift
These are questions that seem to come up for me as an artist, constantly. Artists do you have questions that come up for you regularly? What questions do you have? Would love to hear them.
Artists do you paint for yourself or paint for your audience?
If you paint something that sells, do you tend to repeat yourself and paint another version hoping it will sell again?
Do you bounce around painting a variety of styles or do you stick with one subject matter and pallet?
Do you take risks?
Do you experiment with different mediums?
Do you feel you are connected to your voice?
Is your artwork recognizable?
Do you have fun when you create?
When did you start acknowledging you were an artist?
*This is my 28th painting of my paint52 challenge. Painting measures 24" X 48", Oil on wrapped linen canvas. Price $2880.