Thursday, January 26, 2012

TWINCHIES

These are my Twinchies. And what exactly are Twinchies?  Well they are my version of   Inchies.  If you want to know what Inchies are let me refer you to this link HERE.  They are officially one square inch of art produced once a week.  For a variety of reasons I decided to make mine two inches square, after first clearing it with Ann the blogger whose project this is.

ONE TREE HILL
I latched on to the idea from my blogging friend Mornin' AJ.  Seeing what she had done, I realized it was exactly what I needed.  If you have been visiting my blog regularly you will know that over the past few years I have posted quite a lot of my art work. (One Tree Hill is based on a small hill which obviously had only one tree on it.  But it was right in the vicinity of where my husband and I used to walk and talk when we were just 'going together'.)

THE UNIVERSE
However I ran into a dry spell with my art work for the last couple of months and just couldn't seem to get up the mental energy and creativity to do any art lately.  I think I know why and will explain in a moment.


SHADOWS
Ann has a topic for each week, which we are to use as the jumping off point for our creative urges. The topic 'shadows' immediately made me think of the large trees that artist David Hockney has painted and has on display in Yorkshire, England.  He paints a lot of Yorkshire scenes because, he says, the light in Yorkshire is unique and just distinctive enough to make him paint Yorkshire scenes. And I love Yorkshire.

CITY
This one is supposed to be what L.A. looks like from the air as you are coming into land at LAX.  The blue splotches are swimming pools. This is a scene I have viewed many times over the past thirty to forty years.

GOLDEN
The best golden thing I have seen is when we were walking through a grove of trees in Minnesota on a fall day.  Everywhere and everything was GOLDEN.


As for my artistic dry spell I think I have analysed myself sufficiently well to understand what has been happening.  When I first started painting frequently and intensely, I started out with just simple designs.  Bit by bit I challenged myself to increase the difficulty until I was producing quite difficult and complex pieces, for me (remember I have never had an art lesson). I am a perfectionist and an over achiever. Finally, I found that I just didn't want to paint if it wasn't perfect and difficult.  That's me putting pressure on me!  110% is never enough!!  And it took all the fun out of it.  So the inchies and twinchies are just a really good way for me to ease back into my art again without the stress.
Well it sounds like a good excuse anyway....

If you want to see the work I have been doing the past few years you can visit HERE

I think I will enjoy doing these pieces and start to be more relaxed about it.  I plan to follow Ann's topics and will try to post on Mondays with everyone else.

Save the Inchie Monday Image for your blog!

                                                

7 comments:

Gillian Mowbray said...

These are delightful, Chris - and I'm all for anything new that will kick-start creativity. Good to see you painting again.

One tree hill is my fav btw, and I can see these all put together in a grid-like formation in a large frame!

MorningAJ said...

Those are great and I'm really pleased you decided to have a go. I LOVE the interpretation of city and the golden leaves are sumptuous. I look forward to next week's 'smile'!

Jose said...

Well you know I am a fan and proud owner of some of your fine mini paintings which by the way were inspired on some of my photographic captures. I love all your work and these pieces look great. I love the one with the leaves.

Diane said...

So lovely! xx

snafu said...

You have made some good images, I like the single tree on a hill, the tree shadows and the leaves best.

Wanda said...

Chris ~ it's just great to get a "jump start" on our art motivation. I been in a slump, and Creative Tuesdays has given me something to work on every two weeks.

I think your "thumbnail" sketches are so nice.

claude said...

Hello Chris !
I love Your twinchies especialy the GOLDEN.
As Christmas gift to my mother I print all the post I wrote about her natal village in the centre of the courntry and the poem I wrote about her parents.
Have a great week-end.