To Paint HUGE Ya Gotta Dream HUGE!

actual photo of artist Chuck Close in his studio painting a self portrait using his custom made wall size rotating easel. 

Back Story...

Years ago I got to see a Chuck Close art exhibit that included a film about his creative process and how he paints using a wall size rotating easel to aid him with his work. 

Upon seeing this my eyes were dazzled and my mind went all crazy dreamy pondering what it would be like to paint on such huge canvases with such ease and fun. 

I normally create my large abstract expressionist paintings by first placing the canvases on the floor of my studio. I walk around them and hover over them as I paint and splatter. Sometimes I will then prop them up standing against a wall to do any dripping or splatter needed from that angle. This technique was inspired by watching film documentaries about abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock as he created his massively huge splatter paintings. 

When painting live in front of audiences I am more limited in how I can implement my normal techniques. Secure standing easels are required so people can view what I'm painting vertically...but this keeps the painting stationary and upright (giving me only one vantage point as I paint). 

To have a huge rotating easel would give me not only the ability to paint with ease from various vantage points vertically as I rotate it, but would also allow me to tilt the canvas at angles and lay it flat horizontally and be able to rotate it and it would still be securely set in the easel. 

And it would save on neck, back, hip, and leg pain as I wouldn't be hunched over hopping around like a frog hovering over the huge canvases in my studio. 

Dear VineArts Director...

A funny thing happened back in 2008. 

The VineArts Ministry of Vineyard Boise Church was 4 years old and at the time was housed in one of the back buildings on the church campus (we had 2 bedroom sized rooms: 1 was our studio and 1 was our office). We were still fairly new but dedicated to connecting with and encouraging artists of all ages and skill levels and serving our church and our city through our creativity.

One of our VineArts Leaders was just about to teach a blogging workshop in the office room (and a few more of us leaders were also attending) when he discovered a note that had been left for our VineArts Director (Jessie) who was also present for the workshop. 

This is the original note:

We all found the note confusing and quite funny actually. No one knew who the person was who left it and leaving no contact info (we've changed the name to protect the innocent), to what science experiment it was referring to, or why the person thought it was okay to just confidently ask the Director for a random thing and expect it to be given. 

So after the workshop Jessie needed to leave right away and some of us leaders decided to play a joke on her. We all wrote our own notes confidently requesting random things. 

Here are the notes we left:

Yes...this note is from me!!!

And upon finding the notes the next time she was in the office, she laughed hysterically about the whole thing and saved the notes. 

Fast Forward to Present Day...

It's 2016. VineArts is 12 years old. 

2 moves later we are now housed in a beautiful building off of the main road as the entrance to the church. We have a wonderful studio adjacent to a multipurpose meeting room/gallery and we are still connecting with and encouraging artists of all ages and skill levels and serving our church and our city through our creativity. 

Yesterday I was over at the house of our VineArts Director for dinner. She is in the process of remodeling her personal art studio and was showing me some of the new art equipment she has purchased for it. She nonchalantly took me over to an easel and I immediately noticed something different and incredible about it...

It was a wall size Windmill Rotating Easel! 

And then she told me...it was mine! 

Wha?!!!

Jessie let me know that someone donated this huge rotating easel to her and she knew right away who it needed to go to. She was going to fulfill that request from 8 years ago! 

I was in shock! I still am in shock! 

I had forgotten about those notes all those years ago! 

But I had never forgotten my huge dream of painting huge with ease. And neither had God forgotten about my request. 

Here it is:

This is the horizontal position. It can angel upwards to be vertical. And it spins! 

It can fit canvas up to 5ft by 5ft! 

How cool is this?!!! 

I can't wait to paint HUGE!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! 

for anonymous doners and good memories and senses of humor and hearts that encourage creativity!

So it's time for a new note to be left for the Director...

Thank you Jessie Nilo for loving artists like you do! 

Creating Space for Experiential Expression in Creative Collaboration and Interaction Through Paint, Dance, and Conversation

This last week I had the honor of hosting a unique birthday experience for someone I know. She wanted to spend time with her friends on her birthday in a creative way that would express not only her personality but give her the chance to interact and collaborate with them in community. Knowing that I am an abstract expressionist artist and that I have experience with various kinds of experiential artistic expressions (and have taught splatter painting workshops to small groups)...she came to me for help. Together we brainstormed and both contributed supplies and came up with a really fun experience for her and her friends to celebrate her birthday. 

I was able to create the space for them in my back yard to collaborate and interact creatively through paint and dance and conversation. Real simple...a couple of canopy tent skeletons, clear plastic, drop cloths, tarps, unstretched canvas, tempera paint squirt bottles, plastic drums with sticks, paint brushes, music, a washing up station...and some refreshments. And though I gave some instruction at the beginning and did enter into the fun on occasion...this was an experience mainly for her and the small group of friends she had invited (they were friends who have spoken into her life in various ways and she wanted to bless them with this creative experience).

This was the "Paint Palace"

They started out drumming paint onto a canvas on the ground. My friend and I got the idea from a scene in the movie "Miss Congeniality" where Sandra Bullock and the other beauty pageant contestants go to a club that features neon paint poured onto large conga drums that they could drum along with tribal music and get paint splattered everywhere. We modified the idea to fit this very specific setting and the group of friends she invited to experience it with. 

Over a few hours they continued to drum and also splatter painted with squirt bottles and danced on the canvas to the music. 

There was also an unstretched canvas that we hung on the canopy so they could splatter paint on that too. 

This is the floor canvas which features their footprints.

This is the hanging canvas which features their handprints.

There was a moment where we all let my friend spend some time alone in the Paint Palace to dance and express on her own. It was so fun to watch her let the paint be her the expression of her heart.

Here are the finished pieces...which she is going to make into curtains and hang in her living room as a colorful reminder of this unique moment she got to collaborate with her friends. 

At the end of the night she gathered them around a smaller stretched canvas and they spent time painting it together as she spoke words of affirmation to them, thanking them for who they are and how their friendships have blessed her. 

It was a beautiful moment. 

The evening was beautiful! I was absolutely undone that I was given the opportunity to create the space for this kind of intimate creative collaboration and interaction between friends. 

After getting everyone's feedback on what they experienced and how it impacted them, I am seriously thinking that I might figure out a way of offering this sort of creative interactive experience as part of my revelatorART business.  There are some logistics I need to work out to make it more efficient and cost effective...but I think it could be something fun to offer as a service for small groups wanting to interact together in a unique and creative way. 

It's different than a painting lesson or a workshop...it's an interactive creative experience of expression. 

What do you think? 

Additions to The Revelation Series

I wanted to follow up on my post about The Revelation Series. 

I have two more paintings that I've completed for it. Overall there will be 22 paintings (one for each chapter of the book of Revelation). I have been able to finish 8 so far. 

I'm not painting them in consecutive order. And they are not literal interpretations. They are creative responses through paint. The titles coincide with the chapter that they are expressing.

Here are the newest additions...

REV #7

3ftx3ft mixed media on canvas

$954

REV #14

3ftx3ft mixed media on canvas

$954

To view the other paintings in the series: http://revelatorart.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-revelator-exhibit.html

Grace Poured Out

photo by Samantha Tucker

 Earlier this week a family member of mine died and the members of local singer/song-writer folk band Credenda reached out to me to offer an experience of relaxation and contemplation during a time of grief for me. This weekend I had the incredible honor of being invited to join a private recording session/barn concert with them. "We want you to come and enjoy yourself and relax and have a good time." So out of their invitation to give myself the space to process in an atmosphere of community, creativity, and love, I was able to come along side them and paint live (creating a painting during their concert) while they created their music live. 

The barn was located in Eagle, Idaho on a property in the country. It added a very rustic hipster/kinfolk feel to the atmosphere. 

Credenda is:

Barbara Brution-Keyboard/Vocals/Songwriter; Daniel Bruton-Guitar/Bass/Cajon/Songwriter/Vocals; Anna Bruton-Guitar/Vocals/Keyboard/Cajon/Songwriter; Catherine Bruton-Vocals/Cajon/Tamborine. And for this concert they were joined by Chris White on drums and on bass.  

The audience was made up of friends from around the Treasure Valley coming to support the heart behind the original music that Credenda writes.

photo by Casey Allen

 The night started off with musician Steve Brown of the band Raketooth singing some of his original songs. 

photo by Cat Bruton

Then Credenda played and I painted. 

I absolutely loved collaborating with these musicians. Their music is full of depth, writing about real life, balancing hardships with hope. It was easy to paint to. Not only was I able to feel the pain and the joy of their songs, I was able to feel and process my own emotions as I painted. 

For me, painting live with a band is all about listening...listening to the music, to the lyrics, to the hearts of the musicians, to the energy of the audience, to what the paint is saying, to the resounding heartbeat of God guiding each of us in the moment, and to my own heart as I experience it all together. 

I started with a blank canvas and let their music inspire and guide my brushwork. It was truly a fun experience to work this way with them. 

Here is a short video taken during the performance to give you a taste of the vibe we had going on in that barn...

 photo by Cat Bruton
What a fun night collaborating with all these amazing people! 

At the end of the night, I knew that the painting was to be given to the band as a thank you. They had given me such a gift by inviting me in to their private show during a difficult time for me emotionally and it allowed me to be who I am, to do what I love to do. Just this simple act filled me with joy and peace and helped my heart tremendously. It was like grace poured out. 

Thank you Credenda!

Check out more from Credenda on their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/credendamusic/

"Grace Poured Out"

24x30 acrylic abstract expressionist painting on canvas

c. 2016 Lisa Marten

painting live for Credenda

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