C4ward March Blogathon: The Big WHY

Grateful, Acrylic on paper, by Karen Phillips

Welcome to my blog! This is the first entry for the C4ward March Blogathon. We have been asked about the big "Why" behind the creative work that we do. My initial response was "I just have to." If I don't create, I get cranky and restless. Art is an integral part of my being.

After thinking about this question of Why for a bit longer, I wrote this poem to describe my process and how I move through this world.

Dancing with the big WHY 

Dearest
I hold you close and whisper in your ear
Be
Together we travel through this existence on the road to discover what is
Love
Beloved we open our arms wide welcoming all
Experience
Let us witness together that breath of life that flows through our veins and just
Be

I am grateful to be able to create art and to share it. What are you passionate about? and Why? 

Blogtoberfest 2013: Day 14 Field Trip

Mr. Cason's Vegetable Garden
Callaway Gardens

I find it relaxing and inspiring to take day trips around the Atlanta area to discover new places. Recently, my husband and I visited Callaway Gardens and saw some beautiful vistas and gardens.

As we visited the various gardens, I caught glimpses of patterns and shapes that I found intriguing and took a few pictures.

The contrast of the light colored veins and dark green foliage in these plants caught my eye.

The size contrast in these green leaves was quite nice! The overlapping oval shapes and pattern of the smaller leaves makes me want to run to my paints.

I find it's important to take time away from my studio and experience new environments that may or may not lead to inspiration for new work. How about you? What do you do to relax and/or inspire yourself?

Blogtoberfest 2013: Day 13 Circle Series - Exclusivity and Unity

This painting is the start of my Circle series that I started working on earlier this year. My inspiration for this work started with a question, "When is it ok to be exclusive?"

Seeking Unity, Acrylic on canvas by Karen Phillips

At the time, there was so much in the news about one group or another wanting to exclude another. I started thinking about why we form groups or cliques and recognized our need to feel a part of something, something that helps us feel whole. We seek to join with others, to perhaps become something more than we are as individuals.

Circle Series, Mixed Media on canvas by Karen Phillips

So I've been playing with these ideas and seeing what I can discover. This grouping of five circles has my attention for the moment. In the above painting there is some separation between the first circle and the rest of the group. Does it want to join or doesn't it? I'm not sure yet.

Blogtoberfest 2013: Day 11 Looking Back

Stream of Consciousness painting, 18x24, gouache on paper by Karen Phillips 

I've been looking through some of the paintings I did on this paper from last year and found this colorful image. It's amazing how often the circle appears in my work. Recently, I've been working on a series of paintings in acrylic with the theme of circles. I am using this series to dig a little and find out what my attachment is to this symbol. I will post some of those tomorrow. What recurring symbols or images do you find in your work?

Blogtoberfest 2013: Searching for new forms

There are times when I like to approach a blank sheet of paper with a paintbrush full of color and see what I can discover. A line here, a dab there and lots of drips lead to new possibilities for paintings.

What fun! Creating drippy shapes can lead to lovely discoveries. What do you do to find inspiration?

Circle series inspiration

Sometimes, it's just a matter of asking "what if?" I've been working on paintings with circles for a while now and I wanted to give myself a break. So I started playing with gouache on paper, looking for new forms to explore. In a flash the "what if?" question pops up. What if I tried the circles with gouache?

Exploration of Circles in gouache by Karen Phillips

This leads me to ask, "What if I tried this on canvas with some texture?" I must see what happens.

Circle Series, 12"x12"
Acrylic on canvas
by Karen Phillips

Oh! I just love what happens when I listen to that little whisper of inspiration. How do you find inspiration?

Blogtoberfest 2013

Today is the first day of Blogtoberfest and is being hosted by Michelle Reynolds on her blog Shells in the Bush. I'm so excited to participate in a group blog-a-thon. My intention for the next 31 days is to share with you exploration of ideas and observations I create using paint, paper, and whatever else I find to use in my art making.

Finding Ideas in a Frying Pan

The idea I'm playing around with now started a few days ago when I was sautéing some mushrooms that my husband had cut up. For some reason, he cut one of them differently and seeing one of these slices in the pan sparked an idea that I had to explore. I started off using gouache (opaque watercolor) and charcoal in Exploration #1 and ended up layering images of painted tracing paper onto a larger image in Exploration #4.

Sautéed Mushrooms Exploration #1 by Karen Phillips

Sautéed Mushrooms Exploration #4 by Karen Phillips

Letting the Cat Out of the Bag

Ok. This is an addiction that I have. I fully admit it. I love painting on this paper. And not just any kind of way. Oh no, this is a full-on, let-it flow kind of thing. No preplanning involved. It's about making a mark followed by another and following whatever my inner impulse (voice) says to do.

I've got lots of these sitting in a portfolio. I used gouache (think of it as opaque watercolor) on many of them. Often I do two and three at a time. While there are times when I use this a warm up exercise, the majority were done because I just love painting on this paper. 

The paper is very absorbent and not very forgiving. If I use a lot of water, I have to be careful not to scrub too hard with my brush because it will disintegrate.

More to come...here kitty, kitty!