Living a Life of Richness Can be Painful

December sunset on the northern Oregon coast

It has been a sad week for me and my dear ones. Within the space of a week friends and family of mine have had news of two tragic deaths of loved ones. I was not close to the two who have passed on but I hurt so for my friends and family who now must stumble through the pain and tragedy of it all. Losing loved ones is never easy but this time of the year it just plain sucks. That said, we are greatly enriched  by having these beautiful people in our lives even when their untimely passing causes such pain. I think of how I was when I was young and death touched me relatively lightly. I wouldn't trade places with my younger self. Life has such richness and experiencing loss and pain is part of that growth.
I have been taking the opportunity and realization that comes with these heart-wrenching events and the end of one year and beginning of another to get my life and art practice reorganized around the now clear goals that I have come to understand. Wrapping up a year and starting a new one is always a good time but this year feels different. Do you feel the graveness in the world? Do you feel the richness? There is a startling urgency in the air to realign our priorities with the reality of our home planet. Great change is in the air. Change can be scary and perilous but it can also be a gateway to wonderous transformation and opportunity.
I will be taking a brief absence from posting while I get things in order and gear up for the coming year. Next post is my 100th post for this blog. Only fitting for it to be the beginning of a new year, new life, and new and continuing journey.
I will wrap up with a wonderful quote I read on Lori McNee's Fine Art Tips blog :

“All life’s problems can be solved by more paint or painting more.” -Donna Zagotta.

It certainly helps! I would also add making music in addition to painting. 

I wish one and all a heartfelt, nurturing, healing, peaceful holiday season. I will see you all here in a couple of weeks, in 2012!
Peace and joy, -Renee

Figure Sketching Interlude

Well, no daily paintings to show this week. I had a few unexpected interruptions and decided to use the odd bits of time I had left getting a few things set up, rearranged and ready to go. I have also been tweaking a few things around the studio to make it more efficient. One of those weeks. I will be reporting on some of the rearrangements in a future post.
In the meantime, I wanted to share a figure sketch I did last week. This is a 30 minute pose. The sketch is a bit distorted by the camera angle making her head look different from the actual drawing, but the general sense of the drawing is there. The reason why I wanted to share it is that I really resonated with this model. She has an unusual and subtle beauty that I found artistically intriguing. She has many tattoos, some of which are artfully positioned on her face but they add to her overall beauty rather than detract. I would like to paint this young woman's portrait.

30 minute Figure Sketch, charcoal on newsprint

Speaking of portraits, I will be stepping up to portrait studies this year. That is one of the things I was getting in place last week. So much fun to have all this wonderful art and challenging growth to work on!
Monday is an appointment and errand day for me and then back to work in the studio. I have the next daily painting set up and ready to go.
-Renee