I don’t know about you, but there is something incredibly inspiring about walking into a studio and seeing paint lining shelves. Paint on floors and walls, splatters here and there. Lingering memories of works completed, and long gone…
And then, the scent.
Oil paints, thinners, sealers…
The scent of creativity.
Have you ever watched a film or read a book about artists or writers, or photographers (and more), and been left feeling weak in the knees?
Feeling a sense of understanding and knowing, tucked into little nooks and crannies in your own being?
I feel like that when I watch the film about Seraphine De Senlis, have you seen it?
I watch it from time to time (it came out in 2008, I think?), and smile and cry and then, feel the need to grind little bits of homemade paints up, and jump into my art passions amongst candles late at night. (you can Netflix the film)
Movie trailer below…
It reminds of things such as…
The passion to create, for creating’s sake, and for nothing more.
Creating because it calls you, whispers to you, beckons you.
But mostly, because it is a part of your existence on many levels.
I felt like I was seeing just that, several years ago, when I discovered a film about Henry Darger.
I almost went crazy watching the film, In the Realms of the Unreal.
You may have seen it?
I loved seeing all his little pieces of chalk and crayon and broken bits of color.
Not to mention tales and drawings to fill 30 lifetimes.
(photo above and more, here)
But most of all, his passion for creating.
Creating for sanity.
Or, insanity.
Because really, what is sanity?
One wonders these things, you know.
But mostly…
Creating because your brain is bubbling over.
Because, it’s how you catch and collect the overflow.
I remember doing this growing up – I called it, painting my emotions.
It was the only way for me not to drown in my young over-active brain of feelings and thoughts, and more feelings.
I don’t know about you, but tales about creatives and their lives just draw me in, mesmerized.
From Camille Claudel to Virginia Woolf, to Any Warhol, Alfred Stieglitz and countless others.
Their stories, their tales, they tug at me.
Do you have a favorite story of a creative person?
A movie or book you love, that takes you places deep in yourself?
Sylivia Plath? Vermeer? Keith Haring, Basquiat, Bosch, Frida, Alice Neel, Andrew Wyeth?
Such vastly different tales of lives and art, but all come back to creating as the key, don’t they?
I loved watching The Girl with a Pearl Earring, just for the paint making scenes.
I am testing different paint making techniques with garden findings, we’ll see how that goes.
I long to be at Rembrandt House, watching their historical methods for making oil paints….
(Image above and more, here)
Ah well, seems I have successfully distracted myself from the gobs of things I need to get done today.
What’s new?
Don’t be surprised if you find me raiding the local chicken coop because I feel the “need” to make egg tempera paints, and as you know, I will need fresh eggs and yolks for this……..
(Andrew Wyeth’s studio above, and more photos, here)
I suppose I should get back to work myself 🙂
Yummm.
What are you up to on this fine day?
Love, V
ps: I just saw the Woodmans (not for kids) – so intense…
pss: If you love dark rooms, here is a film about Paul Strand that will make you want to get in there right away. I used to spend endless hours in darkrooms… I miss it terribly. Secrets revealed on paper in the dark… So mysteriously wonderful!
What am I up to today? Cleaning up the studio and dodging the large, heavy shelf that fell off of the wall! Fortunately, it missed me but my clay creation Delmar got his foot broken. 🙁
OH Poooor Delmar!! Oh no!!
Oh I love to read and/or watch tales of artists. It’s fascinating to know what drives and inspires other artists…each creating in their own way, yet all are driven to create, ultimately! Sometimes, seeing other art makes me feel excited and inspired…and sometimes, it makes me feel frustrated and disappointed in my own work. But…that low feeling doesn’t last too long ~ just long enough to fill my heart with an even stronger desire to create…to “make”, to think and not think and feel and not feel. An empty canvas that belongs to me and only me!
Speaking of that empty canvas, my studio is calling me. But alas ~ I want to get a new blog post up again today, as I am determined to make this work!
Oooohhhh…let me tell you, even your splattered paint and studio scraps scream “Vanessa”! Your name is written all over everything you touch! Isn’t that magnificent?
xoxo
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
I don’t have a film about artists to suggest but i do have an obscur film that pleasantly surprised me and that i love……Neverwas………….starring Nick Nolte and the guy who played Gandalf in Lord of the Rings….this is another magical movie that i had never heard of……I LOVE quiet little films that maybe you’ve only heard about by chance……..that reach out and squeeze your heart…..maybe no one elses……but it reaches YOUR heart….if you haven’t seen this one i hope you’ll give it a chance! Hugs! deb
Deb, oh oh! I saw it, I saw it! It is incredible – I must watch
it again! Thank you for the reminder, love, V
Vanessa
Valencia {A Fanciful Twist}
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.Com
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.Com
In a message dated 7/11/2012 1:32:28 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
I watched the documentary about Marina Abramovic and her show at the MoMA, “The Artist is Present.” It was intense and very interesting. I knew performance art was visceral, I just hadn’t realized how provocative it could be. She put herself through some grueling things for the sake of art. I think the interesting thing is watching her audience react to her work. It was fascinating and confusing, but still pretty good.
I don’t know if I have favorite stories of creative people. There are too many for there to be a favorite.
I just love the mess of painting!
I must confess, I never ever clean my paint palette (is that naughty? I don’t know. I like to pretend it is.) I love the way it looks with layers and layers of old paint on it.
I use the poor man’s palette (a plastic plate or a cleaned out plastic bowl from a frozen dinner.) I’ve found after my acrylic paint builds up on it enough, it eventually will peel off as one solid plastic piece. A beautiful mess!
I added that movie to my Netflix que. I hope to watch it soon!
I like to watch movies about artists, writers, actors, etc. I love to walk into stores like Joann’s, Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I’m drawn to the papers and things like Smash Books. I like pens, markers and paints too. Wouldn’t it be a dream to be able to walk into a place like that and but what ever you wanted to?
Today I worked in the clinic it’s a place I work to help them when they are short a nurse or someone is on vacation. Stopped at the store and got things to make chicken fajitas for dinner. I love cilantro:)
We finally had rain today and temps in the 70s-must be a cold spell:)
Yes I saw Seraphine last year while sick and bed-ridden! Loved the creativity and loved the madness! Makes me wish there was a system we had to support artists WHILE they’re actually alive!!! Which I suppose means support your favorite and local artists! Do I know any artists? Why yes! Miss V, of course! I love watching a film about someone who is passionate about what they do; I’ll have to check out the other films you mentioned. Have you seen Between the Folds (also on Netflix). It’s about Oragami. Also, about your last post, beautiful sofa, thanks for sharing that most resourceful tip! Do you think it would work on a sofa with no wood, like yours has? And on actuall cushions? I’m a little nervous about trying this but what a great alternative to reupholstering. Thanks for sharing it!
I feel that way about my writing. I’ve done it since I learned how, and would continue to do it even if nobody read my work. I mean, I love that people seem eager to read my books (I’ve published 2 ebooks in the last couple of months). But I’d writte either way because I love to, and because it makes me feel good. I love pulling the ideas from my mind and working with them until they resemble a story or poem!
So much i learned today from your blog…. artists that I had never heard of. I will have to read/see more of their work. I wonder how many other artists we havent heard of. As always a thought provoking blog, Thank you…….xxxx
I loved the movie The Girl With A Pearl Earring. It is on cable from time to time. I also love things that give me inspiration, and you and your blog help me with that.
Today I am getting thing ready for a giant garage sale. My stuff is overwelming and must get rid of all of its clutter. I am pricing things and putting it boxes. My big sale is Aug.3. I am always saying my stuff has stuff. Items are a wide varity, and something for everyone. One thing…..NO CLOTHES. That is my biggest pet peeve.
I’m definitely going to have to put those films on the must see list. What am I doing today… Queenie’s off and about in metal flights of fancy and I’m stuck in the sea of cubicles that is the mundane… Ahhh but the weekend is just around the courner.
Have a great day.
Always, Queenie
I just put Seraphine on my list for netflix. Can’t wait to watch it.
My favorite films about artists are Miss Potter,a BBC drama about The Bronte Sisters, a documentary called Who do you Think you are..(I think that’s the right name) about creative moms and Little Women. Little Women is based a lot on Louisa May Alcott’s life.
I have read the diaries of Virginia Woolf and Anais Nin, I never finished all the diaries, It is a fascinating read.
Oh my gosh, I am just finishing ten illustrations for a children’s book, and it is so hard at the end. So to make myself feel better, through this part of the creative stage, when I hate ever mark I have made, I like to watch other artists work as I’m finishing. So I got Acrlic Abstract Painting which documents Virginia Cobb’s process and Anne Bagsby Collage dvd and Text and Texture in mixed media collage which documentes Anne Baldwin’s process, all dvds from the library, Now these artist are more about process than me. I can’t shake the whole product thing, I’m a figurative artist much like yourself. I want to tell stories. I also teach art in the public schools first through sixth. I believe kids want to be trained to create in a realistic manner, just like playing songs they know on the guitar. I like that they can reject everything I have taught them later in life if they want to. So abstract expressionist? Not my favorite. But many of these artist are working in that manner, and I love to listen to them make decisions as I make my 500 million decisions in these ten pieces. Today I was lamenting that I have watched all my library videos, so I searched youtube for painters and found a great bbc documentary on the artist Ann Madden from Ireland. So cool, but again abstract expressionism. I have three pieces left to do, just final details before my husband photographs these pieces and we ship them off, but I really was bemoaning no videos to help me push over the finish line. Then tonight I’m up, agitated, at the end of a project, drinking wine, thinking maybe see what Vanessa’s up to. She inspires me at the craziest of times. And Boom! I can’t believe you have video references ready for me to access. Just what I needed. This is not the usual thing on your blog. I’m flabbergasted and maybe it’s the wine, but I can’t Thank You enough!
Jenny Mulvey
Det finns olika inlägg som finns nära denna, tror jag tar det hänvisas kunde uppleva gjort den här platsen eller artikeln riktigt informativ. Praktisk Målet uttryck detta inlägg är dålig kvalitet. Bara jag kan uttala det faktum att information som ges här var unik, bara för att verkligen göra det mer i närheten av komplett, stödja med tidigare information som kommer att få faktiskt varit bra. De poäng du har berört listas här är viktigt, vilket Låt mig få syn på många av informationen här för att bygga det faktiskt bra för helt och hållet nybörjare är här. Många tack för denna information. Egentligen hjälp!
I can so very much relate to that feeling. I don’t watch enough art films. Will have to watch the one on Seraphine this weekend. I know just the feeling of getting into your studio (at last, it always feels like “at last” when I get in there) and you open up the first bottle and you can smell it. I love that smell. I also love the smell of ink, like from pens. It’s divine. You just know something magical is about to be born.
I have to agree with many other folks and say that Miss Potter makes me swoon. That film is so comforting to me 🙂
Well Beloved Vanessa, I would have to say that if I had a favorite artist it would be you “-). Everything you do brightens my day, Whether it’s playing with paint, clay, or photography your dreamy little creations always tug at my heart strings. Lets see who would be my 2nd? It would have to be John Waterhouse. I love all his paintings with no one in-particular being my favorite…I love them all. Now music that is what often moves me to tears, especially the lovely Loreenna McKennitt who has a voice that reminds me of faery
laughter. I saw her once in concert and she was more amazing live.
today it’s dark and humid outdoors so I may go rambling through a few of my favorite antiques shoppes…I’m looking for something special ‘-).
xoxo Cori
I’ve been trying to relax today, while taking care of my Neo. 🙂 We had homemade pizza for dinner with sauce I made myself…so yummy. I adore artist movies, too. I have not seen the ones you referenced here…I will have to check them out. It is always so inspiring to watch them!
My husband & I watched Seraphine until 2 in the morning! we weren’t planning on staying up that late…. It was mesmerizing ……
How much time we waste! She cleaned all day, washed other people’s linens in a river!, gathered plants, made paints, and then created by candlelight on her hands & knees. We just have to turn the knobs on machines.
My daughter had a 1st grade teacher who was an art major ~ every morning, she taught drawing with an overhead projector for the first hour and then they painted…….I loved the free feeling her class room had……
You’re right Vanessa…..what is sanity and who gets to decide? There is actually a burned foods art museum in New York!
I love to read novels that are based on the lives of artists, Van Gogh (“Sunflowers” by Sheramy Bundrick, Manet (“With Violets” by Elizabeth Robards), Madame Tussaud (“Madame Tussaud – a novel of the French Revolution” by Michelle Moran), Tamara Lempicka (“The Last Nude” by Ellis Avery)… so many others. Like you, they draw me in and inspire me! I can’t wait to start a new painting after I finish a great novel.
Thanks for the movie reviews. I watched the the trailer for Seraphine. “She saw the world as miraculous.” I believe that you, Sweet Vanessa, see it that way too.
Diane, I totally agreee!!! 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 7/18/2012 10:46:26 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
From Camille Claudel to Virginia Woolf, to Any Warhol, Alfred Stieglitz and countless others.Their stories, their tales, they also tug at me.Successful works of oil painting, handicrafts and so on, all need patience, enthusiasm and inspiration of the creator, they are so beautiful vividly spread so far, because they are concentrated with numerous artists.