Play With Clay Day

Surprises. Yep. These kids came right out of my hands today. Send me off with some new artist friends, a beautiful studio on the ocean, an entire day and these were some of my creations.  Enjoy.

Just Painting

It has always been true for me that there is a spiritual side to the making of my paintings. Not easy to describe with words but I know that the process within I pursue my ideas and the peacefulness with which I pursue them, are very much linked to meditation. After painting for the entire morning (and having completed two new paintings), my step is lighter and happier, and I am ready and willing for whatever the afternoon brings me.

Currently, I have been exploring a pond near to my new studio in Manchester for the focus of the subject of my work. I like the idea of pilgramming out to a specific space with the intention to commune with it. I want to deeply engage with the forms, colors, and the subtle and dramatic changes occurring within them. 

For a number of years, my artistic work responded directly to my creative writing. That created a nice bridge between my thoughts and my art practice, but what was I to do when I lost my words?  Thats where I've been. Without my own words. For whatever reason, they have not been able to surface so I have been reconnecting with poets work I admire or find inspires that connection with the visual I am searching for.  I think Mary Oliver's connection to nature is remarkable. She uses it as a metaphor for speaking to how you ought to live your life - and I really understand how she asks the reader to slow down and look at the world. I want viewers to engage with my paintings in the same way, to draw relationships with our natural world, and feel their poetry.

Where?

Some of the popular challenges that artist's face (yes, myself included) are: how to create work of meaning in others and to themselves, to create meaning in the process of the work, how to balance work and play (really, art can NOT be play sometimes), how to piece together this somewhat ambiguous career of artist (financially and health-fully) and where to draw inspiration and ideas from.  The last few months I've really been "putting myself out there" on all of these fronts.... I am getting out of the studio and on the road, less to paint, and more to talk shop and attend opportunities to grow. What about this week?  Although I returned to my classroom for 2 days / week and got my family back into the structure of the fall...  I was fortunate to attend Jackie Battenfield's talk in Belfast. She's the author of "The Artist's Guide", a wonderful book that I have been referring to for a couple of years.  Still digesting my notes but wrote, "My work is more about a relationship with paint, marks, and an emotional response to the formal elements in picture making. Its less about WHAT and more about HOW. " Also, attended a lovely BBQ in Falmouth with many artists - some popular, some favored, some even famous.... Yesterday I put the finishing touches on my chicken book "They Came In A Box" and sent it off to be a part of a Book Arts Exhibition at the University of Southern Maine... so see here some of the places I have drawn inspiration, admired beauty, book forms, and recent paintings...

Its one of the first hot days of summer, and one of the first days where I've been "off" from my family responsibilities.  That interprets to me, "go to the studio and get to work".  Ironically, my studio has been less of a space for my creative workings these last few months for I've been taking my eyes onto the road.  I've revisited some favorite areas in Portland along the ocean with my favorite pencils, papers, cardboard, and painted with other painters, some other favorite spots here in Central Maine including the Arboretum in Augusta, and areas between Gardiner and Richmond, and caught up with painter friends. Its been fun but also very important to making good pictures and making art that is worth making.  I've also given a presentation to Breast Cancer survivors and designed a portrait project called "Face It". But let's talk about this a bit later.  ......So, what have I made? I've taken my on-site studies: graphite pencil sketches, watercolors, photographs, and revisited the geometric forms of the landscape into multiple finished works in oil, encaustic.  I painted a yellow dress. That's an odd one but I think there is some reason why its there...   I also put the finishing touches on my chicken book titled, "They Came In A Box" and began workings on another artist book using ancient greek sculptures, and an iced over pond as a source. And then my chicken book evolved into some small chicken paintings which I had a genuinely good time making (and laughing), and some more continued Birdworks series.

I went to work today but what did I do?  Reflected, breathed, went to the library, did some much needed online computer work, cleaned the studio for my students, made calls about my new studio plans (shhhh) and thought.... Am I completely scattered as an artist?  Absolutely!  Absolutely not.  I don't believe my role as an artist is to remain static.  I think I do need to keep reinventing myself, be open to my curiosities, explore materials and the way I use them.  But I do need to "feel" as an artist that I am grounded. Perhaps I can pursue all of my curiosities just enough that it teaches something, opens a door, embraces and wows the viewer. I hope so.  Lets see what happens next.

Looking Ahead

One of my favorite things to do, particularly when the weather is atleast "tolerable" (in Maine could be defined as atleast a half an hour one day) is to get outside and really connect with the landscape. This does not mean you can see me out there hugging trees but really engaging in seeing the landscape I live within. This means really engaging with seeing it (what am I seeing in form and color) and then contemplating the organization of these elements. How do I want to twist, directly alter the perspective, warm the form's colors and truly PLAY? This is what happens after I have seen and am heading back to the studio with an armful of quick drawings on paper. However, this summer I am taking all of my paint on the road with me to some of my favorite places to "connect" with nature. I am looking for a handful of students to work with me more formally on their observational skills, abstract thinking, and sequence of drawing to painting the landscape. Here are the dates and sites:
Thursday, May 10th
Longfellow’s Greenhouses, Manchester
Thursday & Friday, June 21 & 22
Oakland Farm, Gardiner
Thursday & Friday, August 2 & 3
Maple Hill Farm, Hallowell
Thursday & Friday, August 16 & 17
Viles Arboretum, Augusta
$60. for 1 day session
$110. for 2 day session
includes morning coffee and a delightful lunch.
Materials List Supplied Upon Registration
Sign Up by May 1st and take $15. OFF!

So how about it? Its going to be wonderful and your body, hand and heart will thank you! Please email me at helene@helenefarrar.com or call 485 5691 for more details . Be well!

Coming Up for Air

It seems as though a break in the cold weather, a moment to consider a deep breathe, a lull following a busy period is when I rear my head and come up for air. My blog seems to be the result of this time. So. Here I am having a coffee and bagel at my favorite place, just after dropping my daughter off to school and just before I head to the studio to make and teach for the day. The weather is gorgeous and my schedule today feels light because its designed by me and I am loving my work.
One of my indirect sources for my artistic work is reading poetry. There is something about getting inside someone's head and listening to their words from my lips, that informs what I do with color, texture, particularly when approaching landscape work. Most of my landscape work this past year moves quickly away from the real landscape and become something of their own. I've included here one of my "pink" works that are created with many materials including collage, willow charcoal, acrylic paint. If you do want to have a good poetry read, I found at the Maine State Library a small poetry book called "Nothing Moves On the Horizon", which is a collection of pieces by inmates at the Thomaston Prison.
As for most of the time, my work in the studio has been varied in the last month or so. Possibly its a part of my own self-education, but I don't think artists should be static. We should be open to new ideas, materials, and processes. Anyhow, as part of my new assignments, I have almost completed a painted artist book inspired by first a conversation with a student of how her chicken's she raises arrived in a box in the mail, but also by a short workshop I took with Rebecca Goodale. Here's the result.
There's more brewing at the studio but the studio is calling me to now to come clean up after my weekly messes and start some new ones. Come on by!

Best Time of the Year

Just when I am fed up with winter, I write the best time of the year? Guess not for weather's sake, but for life's sake. In January, I always find myself in a lot of reflection of my career as an artist. It sometimes can bring me to some dark spaces for some time, but I always seem to pull myself out of those corners. Then I am lead into some future planning and excitement. Thats where I am now. My journaling and space to think and plan is paying off. My vision is returning to me and just when I needed it the most. You are going to see me stretching as an artist in the coming months and creating some work that ties on many of our heart strings. I hope so anyways.
In other ways, I have been keeping busy by getting my studio set up both physically and electronically. And in the last few weeks, I have been focusing primarily on creating some new works for a show I am having at Slates Restaurant with a reception planned for Sunday, February 12th from 5 - 7 PM. I have shared some pictures with you here including my studio view on a cold winter day, an artist book of the snow queen, paintings in process and more. Enjoy! Also, I have attached here the press release for my show at Slates - and see you there PLUS the same evening you can also walk one block north and see my studio. The doors are open! Come on by. "My staff" will be at my studio to greet you while I am down at Slates, and the party can end down at my studio... Also, if you have been considering purchasing an original painting of mine, here's an extra incentive, 10% of profits will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. See you in a couple of weeks at an art night out in Hallowell!

HALLOWELL ARTIST EXHIBITS “COLLECTIONS”

AT SLATES RESTAURANT

AND OPENS STUDIO DOORS IN ONE NIGHT OF ART

Event to Partially Benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation

HALLOWELL, MAINE – On Sunday, February 12^th from 5 – 7 PM Hallowell Artist Hélène Farrar will share her new studio space and business “Hélène Farrar Art” to coincide with her artist reception for “Collections” at Slates Restaurant. Located only a half block north of Slates, visitors have the unique opportunity to see the artist’s working studio as well have a viewing her works at Slates Restaurant.

Hélène Farrar Art is a new creative space in downtown Hallowell. Hélène Farrar Art houses the working artist studio of Hélène Farrar plus a community based studio where children and adults may participate in: regularly scheduled art lessons and classes taught by a professional artists and educators, specialized weekend workshops and evening classes, and borrow art books and artistic sources from an extensive art library. These educational opportunities operate under “Catch the Artbug with Hélène Farrar Art” FMI www.catchtheartbug.blogspot.com

“Slates has special meaning to me. It was only natural to open the doors to my studio for friends and fans of my local community to celebrate with me the same night, ” states Farrar. “I’ve put together a special sampling of my works for this event including works from travel journal paintings of Northern Italy and Southwest England, plus new pieces from my Birdworks, and groupings of mixed media pieces using abandoned photographs.”

Ten percent of sales profits from both venues will benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The organization is meaningful to Farrar, as she lost her mother to breast cancer six years ago. Utilizing her art as a vehicle, she is planning a series of opportunities to raise breast cancer awareness and funding this year.

Farrar has taught and worked in the visual arts for fifteen years while actively exhibiting in commercial, nonprofit and university galleries in New England and England. Farrar has a Masters of Fine Art Degree in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College in Vermont, and a Bachelors of Art from University of Maine with concentrations in painting and printmaking. Her work has been exhibited widely in Maine and has been accepted into regional and international juried exhibitions featuring her encaustics and oil works. The Flat Iron Gallery in Portland, the Three Graces Gallery in New Hampshire currently represent her and you can find her Birdworks series in Bessie’s Farm Goods in Freeport, Maine. www.helenefarrar.com