I’m still here, but distracted

It’s been so long since my last post. I’m embarrassed. It did take me awhile to recover from my spring cold and then, once I did, I discovered my plate was full. I have some exciting new things in the works, but won’t be posting again until the beginning of July.

Until then, I wish you lemonade stands, kiddie pools, summer rainstorms, popsicles and a bountiful garden!

hello…hellooooo

Hi folks!  It’s been a silly long time since my last post.  It’s also been a silly long cold I’ve had…3 weeks and counting, woo-hoo!  Having an active kid who doesn’t nap is a wee bit of a problem when her caregiver is a sniffly mess.  We are able to get out and about for short periods, but by the afternoon I need to be horizontal and she “needs” to be watching whatever video we have out from the library.  I will confess that I’ve seen the 1972 version of Charlotte’s Web every day this week…although it’s a good movie, I do not see this as a shining example of parenting on my part.  (Especially watching Wilbur sob “I don’t wanna die!” over and over again.)  Just to prove that we haven’t succumbed to the numbing power of the TV, we have created a little spider habitat in Mogs’ bug box for the spider found in her room.

Art making has been on hold for the past few weeks.  I did make a pen and ink drawing, but haven’t set up my paints yet.  Although it’s frustrating to not have the energy to work, I think the worst part is losing creative momemtum and the anxiety that I won’t get back to that sweet space where ideas flow.   It really is a waste of energy to be worried about my creative process, especially when I need to focus on healing.   I did go to Daniel Smith in Seattle last week and came home with a few new tubes of watercolor paint and these aquaboard things to try.  Little treats to inspire me when the time comes.

Also inspiring me is the painting by Vuillard at the Seattle Art Museum.  I can’t find the image online, but it is an interior view of a woman at a table surrounded by thick red and orange color.  Tony and I both noticed the painting independent of one another.  It’s funny to visit the SAM and to think about which work interested me in years past.  I used to be drawn to the minimalist sculptures of Donald Judd and Carl Andre, but find the modernist paintings are much more interesting to me now.

The lull

With all my projects finished up for ArtsWalk last weekend, I have been left with a creative lull. I’ve been looking forward to having the decks cleared for a few months now. I think it’s important for my creative process to take some time to recharge.

Coincidentally I’ve had a nasty cold for the past week. I don’t get sick that often, so when I do I honestly become a bit unbearable to be around. Thankfully, Tony has given me lots of time to rest in bed while he chases after Mogs. Since I haven’t had the energy to play around with my art supplies, I’ve been laying around reading and thinking. It feels so strange to just lay around. If I had the strength I would be hauling around the 5 yards of pea gravel out back (I tried to do a little bit of hauling, deluding myself into thinking I had the energy. No wonder I’m still sick a full week out.)

Two benefits from this low impact, self-imposed exile had been time spent reading  A Question of Balance by Judith Rosenburg.  It’s a really well-written, thoughtful account with major literary and visual artists on their process of integrating motherhood and creativity. I’ve been dog-earing the book like crazy and will share some of my favorite quotes soon.

The other thing I’ve been able to do is sort of plan out my next painting in my head and through small sketches in my journal. Just spending the time thinking it through has given me the chance to work the image through several weaker variations. I still feel like I have sifting to do when I begin physically drawing out the image, yet it’s been an interesting process to go through already.

I’ve been toying around with the term maternalism and the expression (is it an expression?) “Mother Nature”.  The best definition I could find for maternalism was a small excerpt from Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology:

Maternalism has three meanings. First, it refers to social practices grounded in women’s concern for children, especially when those practices extend beyond the home into community and/or political arenas…Second, maternalism refers to discourse that highlights women’s connection to and responsibility for children and that emphasizes differences (which may be conceived either as biologically based or as socially conditioned) between men’s and women’s contributions to family and society… Third, maternalism is sometimes used to describe feminist theory that critiques the cultural devaluation of mothering and that articulates the contributions of maternal practice to social and political life.

Along the way I found this great essay: NeoMaternalism: Contemporary Artists’ Approach to Motherhood.

So much to read and think about…good thing I’m crawling back into bed!

Wild weekend

It was ArtsWalk on Friday night and the big Procession of the Species parade on Saturday. I sold some art, bought some art, dressed like a volcano and had a big slice of Ingrid’s chocolate cake at Suzanne’s birthday party. All in all, it was great!

I adore her…truly.

Please take a look at the lastest op-ed in the New York Times by Maira Kalman.  I just love everything she does.  She really inspires me to free up my drawings, to write and to speak my mind.  

Inherited Garden

“Born to This Garden”

“Fertile to Fallow”

“She Slowly Makes it Her Own”

“Abundance”

All paintings © Carrie O’Neill 2009

I’ll be displaying my “Inherited Garden” series at Wind Up Here from April 24-28.  On Friday, April 24, I’ll also be selling illustrations from my 365 Illustrations of Love Series and ABC’s of Feminism series from 5-8 PM.  Stop by for a chat!

For this series, I turned to the garden as a metaphor for family. Within each family, there are stories that are nurtured and others that are left to fallow. Understanding the history of the soil is the crucial task of each person as he or she becomes an adult. I hope that as I teach my daughter about her inherited garden, she will till the soil to make it wholly her own.

Hello Carpaccio Magazine

I was invited a few months ago to submit something to this new online and print publication from a couple of awesome ladies from Spain.  Check out their new endeavor and see my illustration there, too!

Carpaccio Magazine

Easter eggs, slugs and rain

Although they were only hidden in the garden for an hour, we discovered a slug on every last one of our eggs.

Easter treats

Inspired by Lola Nova’s tutorial, I stitched up some eggs and strawberries for Mogs’s Easter basket.  The kicker is that I won the bear giveaway on her site and will have that little cutie to add to all the Eastery goodness.

Since I’ve been focusing on drawing and painting, my sewing skills are tanking.  I’m all thumbs, but I don’t think Mogs is too harsh a critic.

Abandoned

Just a few moments to see 100 abandoned houses in one Detroit neighborhood captured by Kevin Bauman.  I also recommend the article All Boarded Up in the NY Times magazine from a few weeks ago.