Back Behind the Wheel

This summer I had a break from working on the wheel. This allowed me to paint some of the pieces from last spring that I had not had the opportunity to finish, and it also gave me time to explore oil painting. Tonight I will be back in the studio and I am looking forward to getting my hands back in the clay. I plan to start with plates, a pitcher, and some more reindeer! I will also be able to glaze the painted pieces and get them moving towards the shop. Now if I could just find a way to add additional hours to the day so that I could do all the things I would like to do!

What's In a Name?

Recently, people have been asking about the name Turning True Studios. As I began to entertain the prospect of opening a shop on etsy, I decided that I needed a name for my artistic endeavors. Despite the fact that pottery is what I have traditionally sold, I wanted a name that would encompass more than my work with clay. So, I thought and thought and thought some more--and then, when I stopped thinking, a name and an image dropped into my lap: Turning True Studios. I find that if I can just get out of my own way, much of what I need is waiting in the moment! Pottery requires that the clay be turned on the wheel to a place that is centered and true for a vessel to be formed, I tend to turn my canvases as I work to paint my treescapes as they do not have an obvious top or bottom,  and my alphabet rocks require being turned around to show their letters (more on those later). Studios refers to the fact that there is more than one medium in which I work. I liked that the hand and the spiral form my initials as well! 

Why I Still Need a Coffee Table

Last spring while looking for a coffee table, I found a giraffe. There was something in the curve of the nose and the knobby knees that said ‘pick me!’ And so I did. What I failed to understand was the challenge of painting wicker. So, one of my more time consuming projects this summer was to dab yellow paint onto a rather large giraffe with a very small brush. Fortunately, the giraffe is quite good at standing still. The overall look is now yellow--with a number of white highlights still shining through. Then as if that wasn’t tough enough, spots were deemed necessary. Also challenging! Needless to say, next time I go looking for coffee tables, I plan to keep my eyes low! 

From Treescapes to Landscapes

This summer I once again returned to paint with my aunt. It was another deeply wonderful time. I brought my brushes, paints, and photographs and planned to paint trees. However, we started with flowers (see Ocean Afternoons) and moved on to the marsh. I was able to transfer my new found skills and confidence from painting trees to painting flowers, marshes, and mountains. The pull to paint is strong and I am enjoying gathering photos from favorite places to paint and I will surely need to schedule a ‘business’ trip to California to spend some more time with the trees that led me to painting. 

Tree Paintings!

Along the Way

Last April I went to California for the first time over spring break. It was on a walk through Golden Gate Park, in search of buffalos and windmills, that I noticed these trees that had beautiful stripes of color--a variety of eucalyptus tree (blue-gum or rainbow). I was smitten! Over 100 pictures came home with me and I began to paint. I found freedom in creating paintings of small sections of these trees. They are abstract, and yet, they are not. The paintings are true to the trees that stand in the park as they were on a sunny spring day. I am able to focus on color, line, and composition without being tied to the preconceived vision of lemon or beach. 

My studio is quickly filling with tree portraits and I am pulled to the easel to paint at every possible moment. I am grateful for the long walk that led me to these trees--and to finding joy in painting. When walking with an open mind and a camera, who knows what there is to be discovered!

It all started with some trees...

I have long been interested in painting, but up until this summer I have not stuck with it beyond a week of watercolor at Ghost Ranch or a few acrylic paintings here and there. Two summers ago I spent several days in Georgia with my aunt who is an avid oil painter. I have long admired her work and thought that it would be fun to paint with her. It was a deep and wonderful time and it seemed that perhaps I would continue painting when I got home from that trip. I gathered the necessary equipment and did a few paintings, but didn’t find the pull to paint compelling me to pick up a brush. I struggled with conveying my subject with oil paint in a manner that would match the vision I had in my head. When painting a lemon, I wanted the end result to say lemon. When painting the beach--beach. So, the easel sat in the corner of my studio and waited for me to visit San Francisco. It was there that I found the trees...