Monday, July 26, 2010

creek people


i have been without words lately... without words to others, that is. oh yeah, i have plenty of words for myself; words about what to keep and what to get rid of mostly, both internally and externally. but the one time every day when the internal dialogue is silent is when i sit in a chair in the creek and 'paint' these faces. i use oil pastels for the skin and watercolors for everything else. i like that they repel one another...






she's the only one i added oil pastels to after i came in from outside. you can see it on her cheeks, neck, and hair...


otherwise it's just pencil, creme oil pastel, and daniel smith watercolors in a little travel set.









one thing that i want to say is thank you all for your comments and support. i appreciate your words immensely... and i hope you're all having a wondrous summer (or winter, as the case may be). even in my state of social wordlessness and big inner change, i am...

* * *

"Since I can't read music and everything, I find out that I do the best when I just listen to where I'm trying to go with it; where it can go, and not try to rush it, not try to make up things as I'm going necessarily, just let them come out. Then I'm a lot better off. If I start trying to pay attention to where I am on the neck and the proper way to do this or that, you know, then I end up thinking that thing through and instead of playing from my heart I play from my mind, and that's where I find I get in trouble. If I just go with what's in my heart and let it come out, then I'm okay."

~Stevie Ray Vaughan, on Texas Flood

XO

28 comments:

  1. Lordy Lordy! These are beautiful. The colour so vibrant. Love the work on book print.

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  2. um Lynne...these faces on book pages...and the envelopes are REALLY fantastic. LOVE how you can see the old paper..like you're looking into the face...really fantastic! xo

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  3. wonderful wonderful lynne! i can almost see you sitting on your chair in the creek.. in silence.. all these faces surrounding you.. wondrous..

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  4. go, stevie ray! these creek people definitely read from the heart! oh yes. have a wet week, lynne

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  5. Hi Lynne,
    nice creek gallery - every face has it's own character. I also can see you sitting among your people. Don't worry about the wordlessness - your work speaks.
    I wish you a nice week.

    Nicole

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  6. Beautiful moon out over our dam tonight Lynne...thought of you tonight as I looked out the kitchen window.
    These faces are just wonderful. I love the pastel and the watercolour combination (you are always sharing your knowledge / experiences with us and it is fantastic.
    Enjoying your lovely prayer flags too. I have been making some too to string in a tree outside. Only made a few, not sure how many before I know it is enough.
    Lovely to visit again now that we have our internet connection again.

    Take care and enjoy your balmy summer. Wish I could sit down by the creek with my moleskin and quietly draw...of course mrs. mizzle would come along too.

    Love to you.

    Jacky xox

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  7. I love your portraits! I too can't read music...darn! Have you tried Daniel Smith's Interference water colors? My favorite watercolor of theirs is one call Iridescent Scarab Red...oh the wonderful colors that come from that one little tube! I buy it just to have it. I tried it on fabric and paper but on crinkled brown shopping bag I find it is most magical!

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  8. I love Stevie Ray and your creek People. He us so right it's got to come from the heart not the head. I also love working on text pages. Wonderful work lynn.

    Hugs

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  9. Me too

    (I appreciate u too as well. Over here etc over there "

    .

    M

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  10. Hi Lynne,
    These guys are super! I love the face on page 23, she looks like someone I would like to be friends with (don't worry, this will not be another Mrs. Mizzle!). ;)
    Happy days,
    Joanie
    p.s. the blue hair, green eyes, & red lips, yep, that's excellent. j

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  11. sorry, you sit in the chair IN the creek? I love it...
    j.

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  12. These faces are fabulous! I can't stop looking at them. And I love that you used pages from Hawthorne's "House of the Seven Gables" - one of my absolute favorite books as a teenager.
    :0)
    I so understand the need for silence and introspection, and the lack of words for others. I've just come out of such a period myself, today. And I think I may just head back there for a while again.

    I hope you have the time and opportunity to fully enjoy all the beautiful days you're given.
    xo

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  13. Nice series. That one on page 25 looks rather like me, hair pulled back, crooked mouth. Glad to hear you are enjoying your summer. Me too, been busy with hay but we put the last of it up today I hope and now maybe I can get back to some art. I can hardly believe that stevie ray didn't read music. amazing. all from the heart.

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  14. hey loani! thank you! xo

    thank you julie - that means a lot! yeah, i feel good about this stuff; these pieces on old paper fill me up.

    hey viv... smiling here... :)

    hi susan - thank you for the 'wet week' wishes... : ) as for stevie - i bow at his feet...

    thank you nicole about the wordlessness being okay... i wish you a nice week too. i love seeing you here. xo

    well hiya jacky! i've been thinking about you and wondering where you were... figured you were okay, though. oh don't you know we'd have a fine time painting together in the creek? mrs. mizzle could read a book (or something like that)... ; )

    janine! you're tempting me!! no, i haven't tried any of the interference colors from DS. i'll try them, though... there are some quinacridone colors i want to try too...

    lol, joanie! i LOVED your mrs. mizzle comment! the girl on page 23 was one that i didn't take to at first. i think her hair is about 4 colors - one on top the other. but once i came inside i decided i liked her a lot and would very much like to be friends with her. and yeah, IN the creek. it's nice... the only sound you hear is water moving over rocks. it changes everything...

    hi angela, i don't think my introspective, quiet spell is over with either. i appreciate your words here... as for 'the house of seven gables', i never read it as a child. it's interesting painting on these pages because i'm picking up bits and pieces of the story as i go. it's like an alternative way of reading a book. xo

    jan! i had no idea you were a country mouse - i thought you were a city mouse! haying is big here where i live, and i know that when it's haying time that's all you do. so if you're done with it, now you can rest a bit and get back to making some art... (yeah, isn't it amazing that stevie didn't read music?)

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  15. oh good grief... M and patti, somehow your comments were invisible to my eyes just now...

    M, xoxoExo

    patti, thank you... when i look at what you do, i see heart everywhere...

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  16. Hi Lynne, these little portraits on book pages are fantastic. I love your loose, expressive style. I wonder how you do them without the papers bubbling up from the watercolor? Do you iron them? What's your secret?

    Just found you today from blog hopping. I'll add you to my blog roll...thanks for inspiring me!

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  17. I love the faces. I feel very inspired by what I see posted on your blog. I am always happy to see it on the 'dashboard'.
    No worries about no words. Sometimes pictures are more abundant anyway.
    Amy

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  18. "If I just go with what's in my heart and let it come out then I'm ok" .... yup... for me when i go thru a big internal change, I close my ears and listen to my heart... too ......xx's
    your new body of work is most excellent!!!

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  19. Your family of words are growing. Strange and enigmatic. I love them all x

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  20. One after another, these faces amaze me. You have a gift of giving each and every one a distinct personality. And they all look they come with a lot of personal history too. Amazing.

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  21. The print showing through the faces does it for me!

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  22. Whoa.....look at you go!!!
    Wordless ?
    I say, "face it", you know how to make great faces with words as a background.
    Love using old things as a base.

    So great to hear from you!!!!! I have been pretty wordless myself.

    Happy summer, Lynne.

    ....and Go Stevie Ray!

    xo K

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  23. Your faces are haunting - in a lovely way. So simple, yet so vibrant and rich.

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  24. Hi Lynne, I just found your blog and your art--love it, and thank you so much for sharing!!

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  25. You are on to something! And it's amazing how they are just rolling off your pen! There is a unique "youness" in all these faces. I was looking at a book of Modigliani the other day and his faces are so unique. You can never mistake them for anyone elses. I see that in yours, your own authentic voice. Maybe that's why you feel wordless, your voice is speaking through the paint and pastel.

    I have always loved when people use old book pages so you have inspired me to try one. You might say I've taken a page from your book! Come have a peek.

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  26. wonderful stevie ray quote
    and each face is so fine to look at
    i feel spirit in each one, who are they, what do they want
    art is so interesting
    wishing you a grand day

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  27. It is so amazing that these faces speak thousands of words, even though you are quiet. Each creek I visited on my trip I thought of you, sitting and creating with the water gurgling around you... and now I am home! sending love, roxanne

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  28. thank you, everyone!

    zendotstudio... it's funny about the 'youness' thing. where does this 'youness' come from and how does it get into everything? ; )

    xo

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