Finding the "Flow"

What is that? What is the "flow"?? When you are no place but in the moment of creating?? And just how do you find it? Not just once in a while, but on a very regular basis. I had a friend ask me today what was it like. At the time, I don't think I gave an articulate answer. I don't think I'd rather be doing ANYTHING else than painting when I'm in that moment. I'm very hungry for these spaces and wish I could find them every day; two or three times a day if I could.  I'm my most perfect self when I'm painting. They are moments of self discovery, humility, lucidity, pain, passion, wonder....

How do I get there? I put myself in a position to receive it as frequently as I can. I paint a lot. I stand there and try to make magic, but more often than not, I take what comes, hope it's good. I try receive it.

Here are a couple pieces that I think have a little magic....

So more on how I try to get to that space. I try to be an open slate. I step up to my easel with my experience and knowledge, but I try to be a open and sort of naive soul. Being a women helps with this!! I listen to music that I know will wash over me an not take my attention,(not too interesting), but will stir my being. I try very hard not to think about the laundry or the dishes, or that I need to pay that 38.00 dollar bill online. I try to put aside the machinations of my mind. Those things that I obsess about, like my health,(I do this), or my childrens' health. I  keep my studio as warm as I want it, and try not to worry about the bill that's coming in December. Damn those rates. I need not to be physically uncomfortable. Then I let myself be moved by each drip of paint and each stroke of color as they are intoxicating. So I follow this....to find my flow.....I try to find this once or twice or three times a day. Some people pursue this. We are called artists. I'm glad to follow this........ Follow along?? Ha, Ha......

Bits and Pieces

I thought I'd share a few tidbits from my holiday week, since I just got a few moments here and there to do art in between eating. We had Thanksgiving dinner three times. I was in the kitchen more than the studio, needless to say!

I did receive a couple of new art books from Amazon. I bought Richard Mckinleys' new book Pastel Pointers. It's such a terrific book! It's well organized and designed beautifully, but simply. The book has so much useful information; practical information for pastelists like how to organize your equipment for travel. It also has stunning examples of Richards work. This book is not a surprise, as I wouldn't expect less from Richard!

I also bought Mitchell Albalas' Landscape Painting. This is another great book with a wealth of information. I like that he's included several other artists' work in this book; artist such as Russel Chatam and Mark Bohne are included. I haven't read through it completely, but it's well written and a pleasure to look through.

I contacted Terry Ludwig and he gave his permission for me to post a couple of his color charts on my blog, so you can see what I'm planning on getting when I go shopping with my gift certificate.

Intensive Darks II

Warm Greens

The other great part of the holiday was selling the Variations online in my ebay store. I sold a total of six of them. It was great fun to do and a portion of sales will go to the Oregon Food Bank. This is a nice way to be able to give back during this season. Thank you to everyone who purchased!

Lastly I just wanted to let all my "followers" and "subscribers" know how very grateful I am for your thoughtful comments and for just reading and looking!

Inside My Studio

Right now, my studio is in a fairly organized state. Come January, I'm sure it will be quite different.

My main easel has foam core board clipped to a rigid board that gives me a softer working surface for the pastels. I have a "trap" that runs the width of the easel to catch the pastel dust. This is lined with foil, so when it fills, I simply roll up the foil and dispose of the dust. I don't save it to make pastels with, although I might at some point. I have some old carpet remenants on the floor to save my pastels from breakage, should I drop any while working.

To my right is my palette which I have arranged by hue, value and intensity. This is how Richard Mckinley sets up his palette. I really love his method. Mine is not perfect and is always a work in progress. It needs constant maintenance. I try to keep this as organized and as clean as possible. Lately, I try to wipe them off and return all the pieces to their spots as I'm working or at least when I've completed a piece. I made the tray myself. It's lined with foam to help keep the pastels cleaner. I can set a lid on this tray and put my other glass palette on top when I'm not using the pastels. Slick!

Next to my easel is computer/monitor. This used to be my desktop computer before I got my laptop. The monitor is covered with a piece of acetate to help keep it clean and the keyboard has a skin on it. Still gets dusty. Underneath are essentials like barrier cream, tissues, gloves, scissors. Stuff I use all the time. The next shelf has printed photos that I'm working with or thinking of working with. The bottom shelf of this unit, has my sketchbooks and binders with more photo reference. Also a binder with many of my pieces. I keep this as handy reference in solving problems that may arise when I'm working. I try not to have to solve problems more than once, maybe twice!! Three times!

I pin work directly on the drywall of the walls. I have work that is finished and I want to see together with other pieces in order to build a body of work for a show. I put up unfinished work that I see a kernel of something in and sometimes just I just want to look at something.

Under the table to the left of the main easel, I have my plein air gear at the ready, just in case. Backpack, french easel and the large Heilman Box. Also a smaller box by Willow Wisp Farms that I take to life drawing.The pastels in the boxes are set up just like my studio palette. That way, when I go to paint outside, I'm super familiar with the palette.

The cart holds one of my glass oil palettes and oil paint. This cart works out great. I just roll it aside when I'm working in just pastel as I am right now. I love, love the view out the doors to my deck. Today it had a lovely dusting of snow and ice! The red stool, I've had since I was six years old!

My "office" is in a large walk-in closet. It's perfect because I can set my laptop in there without worrying about it getting pastel dust on it. I keep all my workshop paperwork, my back-stock of pastels, paper and show info in this space. I like it! I also have a desk upstairs in the house, but I don't use it as much. Like the closet!

Right behind the main easel is a second easel that I use for oil painting when things are really cranking and I need another space to work. I've considered other easels, but like the Sante Fe II just fine and they are reasonable in price. Then there's my space heater, which I was grateful for today since it was about 18 degrees this morning!

This is my private studio. It's only about 350 square feet. A lot happens in that space. I could move out into a larger space, but I feel really safe and comfortable in this room, so I stay. I also share an open space with Mike. It has a large room that I use for my studio workshops, a printing press, a room that houses fax, copier and banks of flat files and a separate framing/shipping room. Hope you enjoyed a little peak into my studio! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Dancing, Painting, Eating

Just about the most perfect day. I went to my dance class, NIA in the morning despite the threat of icy roads. Wasn't bad at all. Dancing was fun and challenging. I can't get enough. Thanks, Kriszti!. Home and into a hot shower to shake off the cold drive home. Down into the studio next to my space heater.

I finished off one of the pieces I'd started Friday and started three more under-paintings. I'm totally on a binge of doing under-paintings!! Wendy, I'm doing one of those snow scenes 'cause I was so taken with yours. Hope you don't mind!!

I went upstairs to start dinner. Yummmm!! I made a Moroccan chicken with apricots and almonds. It's so delicious that it's the second time I've made it in a month. Not too difficult and is a one pan dinner. Pretty spicy and aromatic.

After I made dinner, back to the studio to start my night scene for my series. I like the mystery of this one.

The very best part of the day was the music... I'd spent some time over the weekend updating my playlists. I listened to J.J. Cale, Johnny Lee Hooker and a little Joe Cocker/You Can Leave Your Hat On..... The best.

I hope you all have exciting Thanksgiving plans ahead!!

Shopping for Pastels

My  painting "In the Studio" won the Ludwig Pastels Award at the Northwest Pastel Society 24th International Open Exhibition! This award came with a fabulous gift certificate for Terry Ludwig Pastels. I just can't wait to go shopping! I haven't decided whether to spend it all at once or parse it out over time. I'm for sure getting a set of the greys, some more darks a set of the warm greens as well. I'll still have some to spend after that, so I may wait until I'm there in April to teach a workshop and pick from open stock. Very fun!!


I also received a box of 100 Sennelier Pastels from the Pastel Society of America for Variation #6. They are so lovely in the box. I just hate to break it up to put them on my palette.These pastels are so soft, it is difficult to remove the wrappers and integrate them into my working set. Eventually this will happen, but for now I think I will relish the beauty of the full and pristine set! The colors are luscious.

Here's what juror/judge of the NWPS show Duane Wakeham said about my piece;

"Another example of solid accurate drawing presented in a painterly technique with wonderful soft turning edges. Deep rich intense colors that reappear in soft muted variations throughout the painting, including along the narrow band of the table top that runs the full width of the painting. And who can help but take delight in the way in which color is used and form is suggested in the depiction of the single paint tube. A wonderful statement about still life painting - objects that we associate the the category combined with the materials seen in front of shapes that might well be paintings."

I was sent his written comments along with my gift certificate. It was lovely to read his remarks. I was especially pleased about his mentioning the drawing.  I wish I could have attended the reception for the show! I heard it was great, but so was the workshop at my studio. You can't be everywhere, I guess.

Bravery & Painting

I have to say, that what I do for a living takes a certain amount of courage. Every day, I step up to a blank piece of paper or canvas and make something from nothing. Not for the faint of heart. So if you are someone that attempts to do this even as a hobby, pat yourself soundly on the back.

Yesterday, I'd done some work that I was very pleased with, so after dinner I went back into the studio and did three watercolor under-paintings, all of which I was pretty pleased with. So, I went to bed, pretty pleased with myself, thinking about how well I did and wasn't I so good. Ha, ha...

This morning, I didn't have a blank piece of paper, but what I did have were expectations of doing something good. Expectations can be dangerous things! I started in with the pastel on top of my favorite  watercolor. It was just terrible! The pastel was heavy and garish. I wish I'd taken a photo of it. I hated it. Went upstairs, had lunch and pouted a bit. Had more coffee, pouted some more. Went back down and decided what to do. I don't do it very often. Most of the time when a piece isn't working, I will either set it aside or abandon it altogether in the round file. But, I really loved that under-painting and wanted it back, so I wiped and brushed and erased the pastel and got back to the watercolor. Tried again. Decided to go with a color idea closer to the reference and to take my time.

I'm glad I made this effort and now feel on more solid footing to move forward with the other under-paintings. This piece is on Wallis Museum and is 15x15. The reference was taken in Wisconsin. Sorry, the watercolor isn't on the correct white balance. The working piece is roughly cropped.

Makin a Little Sunshine

I have to admit that it was a pretty gloomy day here in Portland today! The wind was blowing, it was wet and dark. I was planning on going to life drawing this afternoon, but opted to hunker down in my studio and make a bit of my own sunshine. Good thing too, 'cause my doc says I need the vitamin "D"!

Here's what I did and a couple of the reference photos I was using. The reference shots were taken in Wisconsin. Today, I was really working off the idea of the variations and inventing the color and mood of each scene rather than sticking faithfully to the reference. All three of these were done with a very loose abstract watercolor under-painting on Wallis Museum. I used a wide variety of brands of pastel.  I like how these turned out. They have some atmosphere and some attitude. I was listening to Weezer, All American Rejects, and a little Mazzy Star.

Variations Poster

Ok, today a little shameless self-promotion. A poster featuring sixteen of the Variations from my 100 Variation series is now available, signed if you like. It's 11wx19h. I'm offering them for just $10.00 and hope you'll enjoy it enough to want to sign up for a workshop! Just email me if you'd like one at mbaggetta@comcast.net. I think it turned out nicely.

30 Nights

I started a new series of daily paintings. I'm doing a painting each night for 30 nights. Thirty nights will bring me to December 10th. A special night. Each piece will be 10x10 inches, just like my variation series. They can be any subject I want, but mostly focusing on the waning light which gets earlier and earlier this time of year. This is a fascinating phenomenon to me and brings with it so many visceral feelings. Lots to paint!!

I had a lovely email today from a women. She was kind and humorous. From two short emails, I could tell I would like her very much. In her email she mentioned my variation series and she said that she was amazed that I could do 100 good things when she felt she couldn't even do one. Well, in thirty days, I might get a couple nice things, but I know I will also get some losers. That's part of it. The idea for me is to have a "go to". Something that I can fall into each day that has structure and depth. That's it. The "good" comes from the doing of it.

Each of these pieces were done in less than 15 minutes. Just sketches. They are both straight pastel. The sky piece on Richerdson pastel board and the other on Wallis sanded pastel paper that I've toned with raw siena.  

New Works Posted Yesterday

One of you fabulous readers, and I mean that very sincerely, suggested I embellish yesterday's post with some details about the pieces I posted. Thanks. I always get a little nervous about what readers would want to hear from me; how much and what?? This post refers to yesterdays post of six pieces.

The first three pieces were all done on Wallis sanded pastel paper and each has a watercolor under-painting. They are all 15x15. These were all based on some photos I took while I was teaching in Fish Creek, WI in June. Everything was this stunning, soft emerald green. The woods were deep and secret. I love that!! I really want to paint from these for quite a while. It is a sensual place, with a special beauty. Each of these pieces has a good amount of layering of the pastel, especially in the foregrounds. I used many brands of pastel to get the layering I wanted, but relied heavily on Terry Ludwigs and Unison. The scratchy marks are made with Nupastels. These pieces took about half a day each to bring to the finish level as you see them. I may pluck them off my wall to make a few more moves, but I would say they are very, very close to being "done".

The last three are were all done on leaf green Colorfix paper by Art Spectrum. They are are all 11x11. They were also done from photos. I took the photos I based these on just the other day when we had one of our spectacular Oregon afternoons. My very wise and spontaneous husband, suggested a drive to one of our favorite parks with the camera. We went to a spot that I like to go and paint. The light was perfect. These three pieces are more sketch-like and were all done yesterday afternoon. Fast! Not a ton of layering and no under-painting. I also used Terry Ludwigs and Unison for these. There is one more piece like these that I didn't have the chance to post. I Finished too late. I'll try to get that one up too!

Today I will stay on this track by starting a larger piece similar to the first two. It will be a vertical piece that tries to capture the gesture of the tree shapes and the mystery of the woods. I also will be working on a large oil that is a commission. I'll start that by putting down some initial layers of bright, but thin color.

Happy Painting!!!

Battles Won & Lost

Some days, painting is like breathing, you just do it and it comes. Some days it is a struggle and a constant battle the whole way. Then, there are those days in between. The paintings I like best are either the ones that paint themselves or the very hard fought ones. The other kind, usually go it the round file. They just don't have the same fire. Today was a good day. Battles won, battles lost. All good.

Plein air Rig

Yesterday I spent some time organizing my plein air gear, thinking I won't be using it nearly as much now that fall is really setting in here in Oregon. I don't mind too much, as I really enjoy my time in the studio too. I like that hunkering down, nesting that inevitably happens.

Before I really put plein air aside for a bit, I worked on a photo of my pastel rig. I also have it posted as a PDF on my website on the workshops page.  Here's the photo and a list of what usually bring. All the items fit in the backpack, so all I have to carry is the french easel and the pastel box. The foam core boards fit on the front of the easel, so I don't have to carry that either. Honestly, though, I don't hike in too, too far with this set-up. If I really want to go lean, I have a smaller box, made by Willow Wisp Farms that fits on a tripod, but I always miss my colors!!

1. full french easel w/ drawer fully extended to accommodate the pastel box
2. large Heilman pastel box with pastels organized by value/hue/intensity
3. backpack with the following items (4-27)
4. watercolor palette
5. small water container
6. bristle brushes
7. pencils
8. exacto knife
9. pencil sharpener
10. washcloth
11. paper towels
12. piece of plastic drop cloth
13. small sketch book
14. viewfinder
15. water to drink and for watercolors
16. 3 bungie cords
17. small camera
18. phone
19. sunscreen
20. bug spray
21. tissues
22. hand warmers
23. gloves with fingers cut off
24. small spray containers of alcohol and water
25. small container of gamsol
26. ipod
27. tape
28. 2 pieces of foam core with paper sandwiched between and glassine layers on top of each sheet of paper.

Maybe some of you will get to paint outdoors more than I will in the next couple months! Happy painting!!