Timeout for Art? Siempre-Always!

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art by Lisa Brunetti, Timeout for Art

Acrylic on Fabric –

There is no surer method of evading the world than by following Art, and no surer method of linking oneself to it than by Art. ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

An online ‘special preview’ approaches for all of you who have patiently endured my erratic postings.  My hands have been full with lots of tasks – many of them have been highly-creative ones!   I’ve not had time for full-time painting, but you’ve earned a sneak peek!

Sometimes it’s easy to go into an intense focus, and studies seem to shine best against a stark background.  The butterflies above illustrate when ‘all is calm’ in Zeebra’s life. Other times when distractions nudge me out of focus, I switch to a totally-different style — one that makes me smile and demands a different approach.  An old Artist’s Statement of mine stated, “Two people live inside of me…”  Here’s a sample of that second person:

Timeout for Art: Scientific Accuracy

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art by Lisa Brunetti, nature studies, painting butterflies in watercolor, Painting Flowers in Watercolor, the great nature project, Timeout for Art, watercolor, Working from Life

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

‘We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.’- Maya Angelou

The watercolor (above) patiently waited for three weeks while I waded through dengue-clouded sleep and dog-paddled back to the land of the living. Like trying to remember a dream, I now recall details of the illness that return in little snippets, “Oh, the exceptional pull of gravity on my hands and arms felt as if heavy chains kept them cemented to the mattress.”  I remember seeing my puffy face in the mirror and wondering, “Who are you?”  After the fever left, I walked with a touch of vertigo and often listed to the left like an injured fish swimming in circles.  I walked little, as my blood pressure fell if I stood too long, so returning to the bed with easy sleep was a gift.

The butterflies and flowers from a year ago

At times I forced myself to sit up, take my temperature, pulse, drink more liquids, and then I collapsed back into the world of dreams. Oh, the places I went in that dream-packed sleep, and though my dreams I could fly! I could roam the world and other worlds and spend time with a new cast of people! On awakening, the vivid recall kept me entertained, and I rolled back after a brief commercial break and returned a the marathon of dreams.

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. ~Chuang Tzu

Two days ago I peered at the watercolor in limbo and pondered the wildflowers in bloom outside. They were at their peak a month ago, and they were now going to seed and would soon be gone for another year. I could rely on reference photos, but there’s nothing (for me) better than working from life. I retrieved some flowers, revived the dried watercolor palette and began painting.

Timeout for Art: Sometimes…Little by Little

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art by Lisa Brunetti, having fun with art, little by little, mosaic designs, painting pottery, Timeout for Art

“Little by little does the trick.” Aesop’s Fables – The Crow and the Pitcher

When traveling, I always yearn to stop when I see roadside stands.  Watching a skilled machete artist whack open a chilled coconut is a bonus for the one-dollar orb that holds nutrient-rich water.

Sometimes I give a wistful look toward the pottery stands if I am traveling via bus.

No matter what mode of travel, I ponder how much an item will weigh before I add it to my growing load of loot!  Pottery’s weight makes it hard to justify when using public transportation.  If I take that fateful first step into the pottery scene, a few new pieces will have a new home!

So many choices!

After getting those items home, I never regret the extra burden, although I have moments of self doubt when I’m in transit!

Ten dollars will buy a lot of pottery, but oh, extra pottery will add a lot to my load!

Sometimes I wonder why road trips exhaust me, and then I ponder the items purchased (ahem – gallons of paint and varnish; quarts of special-colors of paint, plywood, items for the kitchen…) A day after the human burro unloads the parcels, hibernates and incubates a plan for the materials, she’s ready to proceed!  As stated with last week’s post, the difficult part is wading through that invasion of ideas and focusing on one.

Sometimes a dollop of unused acrylic paint prompts me into a ‘seek and find’ mission, and I walk through the house with paintbrush loaded with pigment! Too much black paint prompted the painting of the mask on the door! (Below)  It seemed a waste to wash that black paint down the drain – one learns to be frugal when good acrylic paints are not available in the area.

The Mystery of Eyes

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art by Lisa Brunetti, ecuador precolumbian artifacts, eye of horus, photo challenge dialogue, ways to protect a house, WordPress Photo Challenge Windows, Wordpress Weekly Photo Challenge

The third eye icon, often associated with the pineal gland and the sixth chakra, dates back to early Egyptian times.  Long ago, the amulets represented protection, power and good health, and the designs were sometimes painted on ships for protection at sea.

Prompted by a desire to find creative ways to deter the neighborhood thief, I mischievously painted an all-seeing eye on the gate to Casa Loca.   (An amulet from the treasures of King Tut served as the model.)

From New Zealand, Gallivanta shared an article that supports the theory that the All-Watching Eye helps to prevent theft. ( Bike thefts slashed by 50% at University after scientists install a picture of a pair of EYES above the cycle racks) ` I am hopeful that the giant eye on the gate will have the same effect on the shrimp farm.

While the monochromatic art transformed the gate, a second, more-serious design evolved in the studio.

When one focuses on a particular subject, more images seem to pop up in unexpected places.  While showing students my museum/archaeology sketchbook, I viewed this old sketch (below) with wonder. I never realized how this tiny detail resembles the Egyptian-Eye Icon:

From Quito’s Casa de la Cultura – Detail from Golden Mask –

From Quito’s Casa de la Cultura

Compare the pencil sketch to the eye of the coconut head (below) which was painted about ten years ago.

Timeout for Art: Aim High!

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acrylic paintings, art by Lisa Brunetti, botanical paintings of the cloud forest, datura, ginger, heliconias, Timeout for art: Aim High

2009 Watercolor by Lisa Brunetti

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo

Datura-Ginger-Heliconia from Mindo Cloud Forest (Ecuador) Acrylic detal

There are times when, with sensitivity, I instruct my students, “Always stop before you think you are finished.”   Sometimes we can overwork a painting, and in search of precision, we lose the spontaneity and freshness.  It becomes overworked and heavy.

There are other times when I nudge my students to stick with the work a bit longer.  I remind them, “The difference in an amateur and a professional, is that the professional takes it a few steps more and puts in a few more hours…’

This painting held its own with the background left stark white. The colors sing against the white background.  Shadows could be added, and it would fool the eye, as it was already fooling mine!   My friend Xavier often walks into the studio and says, “I can never tell what’s painted and what’s real!”  and when this painting was flat on the magic-carpet floor, I often forgot that it was not part of the floor!

When a painting is 35 inches by 48, it’s taking a few more weeks to finish! After several moments of self doubt, I  ‘soiled’ the white background with a medium value wash of dark blues and purples and greens.  I knew there was no option to return to the original white background!!!  I continued adding layers of paint…

Timeout for Art – No Rehearsals

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art by Lisa Brunetti, concrete floors, Energy before a storm, old furniture makeover, porch balcony projects, Timeout for ARt No Rehearsals

Picture perfect afternoon! Surely the skies will be clear for days?

Talent renders the whole idea of rehearsal meaningless. When you find something at which you are talented, you do it – whatever it is – until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head. (Stephen King)

As if to compensate for the most-recent 2-day power outage,  a burst of energy kept me working at full throttle for the past several days.  After painting touch ups on the wooden balcony floor, I protected it with two coats of a transparent sealer.   Between coats, I painted the inside panels of the balcony white, then rolled a medium to light blue and then a lighter blue over that.

The little built-in bench looked quite anemic beneath the colorful moon window, so i painted the back a pastel orange and the seat area in light blue/green colors.    As the afternoon progressed, I added more depth and movement with strokes of color.

Timeout for Art: Magic Swirls

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art by Lisa Brunetti, painting old wooden floors, the magic of spirals, the magic of swirls, Timeout for ARt: Magic Swirls

“Magic swirls about us like an invisible fog of energy that can be tapped by those gifted enough, using a variety of techniques that center on layered spelling, mumbled incantations, and a burst of concentrated thought channeled through the index fingers. The technical name for this energy is “variable electro-gravitational mutable subatomic force,” which doesn’t mean anything at all–confused scientists just gave it an important-sounding name so as not to lose face. The usual term is “wizidrical energy,” or simply “the crackle.”
Jasper Fforde, The Song of the Quarkbeast

Those who know me well will agree; there are times when magic seems to swirl around me like an invisible fog of energy!  As I’ve mentioned before, batteries in watches usually self destruct within weeks;  elevators and copy machines sometimes malfunction when I punch the buttons.  Electric car windows stop working.  Sometimes street lights flicker off or on when I walk beneath them.

Timeout for Art: Looking but not Seeing

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Acrylic Painting, art by Lisa Brunetti, botanical paintings, how to see what's there, i can do this painting workshops, Learning how to see, painting flowers, Timeout for art looking but not seeing

All of us are watchers – of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway – but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing. (Peter M. Leschak)

Look over my shoulder and see through my eyes!  The flowers in my friends’ Mindo (Ecuador) gardens were the inspiration for this 38 x 54″ painting in progress.  Drawing and painting from life forces us to examine what’s in front of us, and we learn to see instead of guessing what we see!

Timeout for Art: Attention to Details

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acrylic paintings, adding details in painting, art by Lisa Brunetti, Inti Raymi mask, inti raymi painting, Mola Art, summer solstice celebrations

Sample Inti Raymi Masks – Otavalo Ecuador

“It took me 4 years to paint like Raphael, but a life time to paint like a child.”
-Pablo Picasso
Thanks, everyone, for your amazing feedback on the Inti Raymi mask! Although it seemed ‘finished’ to most of you, did any of you guess what those very-important final details might be?

Timeout for Art: Reminders

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art by Lisa Brunetti, frog paintings, Timeout for Art, watercolor, zebra frog paintings

“Keep a bad drawing until by study you have found out why it is bad.”  (Robert Henri)

A watercolor instructor (Tony couch) once stated, “You should frame your worst mistakes and put them where you see them often.  They will remind you to NEVER  do that again.”

This week I’ve resorted to using a flimsy paper that was the best I could find almost a month ago in a basic art supply store almost two hours away.  Fair for pencil, it does not serve well as watercolor paper.   People have often stated that I’m a bit too hard headed at times, and after drawing the PEEPERS  in pencil, I wanted to take it a step more with color.  I KNEW that the paper was going to be difficult to use, but…..

More Butterflies?

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art by Lisa Brunetti, Butterflies, dirk maassen, Mindo Butterfly Gardens, nasturtium watercolor

 

How about a bright happy nasturtium to smile on your day? (watercolor)

Can anyone have too many butterflies or beautiful flowers?   When I am not painting, I sometimes work on the surplus of images and wonder what to do with them!  When in a serious painting focus, I either tap into the sounds of nature that surround me, or I use a very select playlist.

One of my favorite artists is Dirk Maassen – (Thanks always, Argentina Carlos!) – and this video features one of his songs paired with butterfly images from the Mindo (Ecuador) area.

Enjoy!

Z

Timeout for Art: Power

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art by Lisa Brunetti, butterflies in art, paintings of butterflies, studying nature, Timeout for Art, watercolor

“Let whoever may have attained to so much as to have the power of drawing know that he holds a great treasure.”  (Michelangelo)

When I block out all distractions and stay focused on my subject, drawing is like breathing – or like taking a refreshing nap!  After half an hour of drawing, I often trade my pencil for a paintbrush.  I quickly wean into a never-never land, and time seems suspended until something pulls me back into the present.  At times I am painting, and at times I am drawing with my paintbrush.

Butterfly Blurrrrrrr

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art by Lisa Brunetti, Butterflies of Ecuador, Mindo Butterfly Gardens, Morpho Butterfly, Murals of Butterflies, Murals of Hummingbirds

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The trip to the Amazon has been postponed, so today finds me taking a two-day time out in Mindo Ecuador. This morning I visited the Butterfly Garden, located three kilometers from town.   What a delightful childlike immersion in nature I spent while trying to capture the elusive blue morpho with my camera!

A Hummingbird for a Hummingbird!

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acrylic paintings, art by Lisa Brunetti, Hand-painted concrete floors, I Can Do This

Searching for good squeeze bottles for the paint, we found botttles that came with free drinks!

(Ecuador)

The last few days were busy ones as Barb and I worked on several projects.  Barbara is a spark plug of energy, and I dubbed her Hummingbird years ago!  She zips back and forth, requires many little feedings, recharges her batteries and continues to flit from task to task!    Although she might crash late at night, she’s cheerfully awake at dawn and resumes her high-energy embrace of each day!

Guess what we’ve been painting?

While working on the bodega floor, I suggested that we halt work and switch to a painting for her home in the Republic of Panama.   No subject could trump the hummingbird theme, so after looking at many images, we combined several to create a hybrid hummingbird!

Color? Me? Color? Yes!

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Acrylic Painting, art by Lisa Brunetti, hand-paint, hand-painted floors, Lisa Brunetti, The Mola Series, Weekly Photo Challenge COLOR

Did someone ask for COLOR?!!!

While working on the painting of the magic carpet on the bodega floor, I dashed upstairs to send a quick email.  There in the inbox was the WordPress challenge for ‘Color.’

I smiled and pondered,”Color?  Me?” and then I smiled.

‘Zeebra Rocks” on an explosion of red/orange – (Bookmark)

Hurriedly, I  rejoice that my eyes see in full glorious color, and I am pleased to share a few splashes from paintings that color my life!

While scrolling through  glimpses of some of my more-colorful works, enjoy a song by Don McClean that is often on my painting playlist.

“The Highest of Arts”

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acrylic mosaic, art by Lisa Brunetti, frustrations in Ecuador, jama art, jama ecuador, jama painting, manabi ecuador, mosaic pottery, Semana Santa in Ecuador, the quality of one's day

 ‘To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”  Thoreau

Although the post-painting competition closed three weeks ago, budding Picassos continue to dot the town with splotches of color!