Wandering into the Margins . . .

Digging for Blue
mixed media on canvas
11 x 14

Over the past few years I have traveled far and wide in Blogland viewing other artists' works, chatting, getting to know one another just a bit more. Oddly enough, I feel as if I know some of my fellow bloggers better than I know my neighbors who live next door! To find kindred spirits with whom one can talk about art and creating, exchange ideas, recommend a reading, share a disappointment means a great deal to me, as I'm sure is true with others.

But what I find truly exciting is to trace a trail of growth, to watch an artist begin to expand into and navigate new terrains, yet tentative in these new explorations.

I just stopped by Laura Tetrault's site, because the tiny image that popped up on my bloglist intrigued me. She has worked with still life and people, but this was different -- and yet recognizable in its' evolution from previous work. Somewhere I read about an artist who believed that his work should be such that the viewer wanted "to step inside as if in a dream." I think Laura has captured this through the fluidity and vibrancy of her painting.

But she also writes about being hesitant to detour from one's original intentions, to allow the painting to guide the artist, and this struck a chord as many a time my original intentions were other than where I ended up, almost the reverse of the quotation above: waking up from a bit of creative reverie to find something strange staring back at you. And you think to yourself -- How did this happen? Where was I during all this?

It's that sense of letting go, of giving up the Western mindset of control and power, of wandering into the margins of the unknown, exploring the blanks, the omissions of not only the paper or canvas on which you're working, but of within our own spirit that can be rewarding but also a bit scary.

To be a creative individual is to be a fierce navigator --
even when you're shaking in your boots!

Happy Friday Everyone! :-)