Coneflower Congregation ©2009 Catharine Woods
Happy New (academic) year! Like many people I know, my internal clock seems to reset itself for new beginnings in August or September instead of January. All of those years as a student or parent of students left their mark! As September approached this year, I wanted to set some goals for professional growth and to find ways to hold myself accountable for those goals. Although I paint almost every day, I would like to increase my daily painting time. There are many websites and blogs devoted to the production of a painting a day, but my style doesn’t lend itself to painting quickly; however, a painting a week seems like a reasonable goal. My second goal is to increase my visibility as an artist, and many experts recommend the use of websites, blogs, social networking sites, and twitter to expand access and gain publicity–and stating my intent to post a painting a week builds in some accountability.
But what about the other aspect of this blog: books? For many years, I felt torn between the time I spent painting and the time I spend reading. And then I discovered books on tape and audible.com! I now happily multitask and listen to wonderful books while I paint. (I still read quite a few books on paper, too!) Although some artists find the spoken word distracting while painting, I find that listening to an engaging story occupies the more critical left side of my brain, allowing my right brain to just get into the flow of painting. I’ve always tried to make the more intellectual decisions about a painting prior to sitting down to paint, and this seems to help. I have a hunch that my reading choices also influence what I choose to paint and how I choose to paint it. I’ve never tracked my reading and painting before, so this blog will force me to examine the possible correlation. If you, dear reader, notice connections, I would appreciate your comments!
This subject of this week’s painting, Coneflower Congregation, appealed to me because of the shadow patterns and the reflected light on the petals. The book that I’ve been listening to is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, a gothic tale-within-a-tale that uses two narrators to great effect. This is a second listen for me; I listened to it a year ago and have listened to it again because one of my book groups is reading it. The characters are well-developed, the story is compelling, and this is one of those books that is even more enjoyable because it is read and performed so well.