My Life as a Struggling Artist and Volunteer

Manet +/- Space Project, Lowell Elementary

I've been encouraged all my life to create art. While I am not as prolific as other artists, I do try to share what I've learned about art with others; and that has been one of my goals in retirement. Early on, my focus was volunteering in elementary schools, but that ended with the pandemic. I am now much more challenged to find outlets for my creativity.

Bo the Dog, PwC

Probably my most successful retirement endeavor has been volunteering with PawsWithCause. The non-profit organization allowed me to continue teaching others how to do art at paint parties, to employ salesmanship in raising money for a cause, show artwork of others, build community, and do custom pet portraits upon request.

Kandinsky Circles, Old Friends Club

I have been successful at teaching seniors in multiple locations, including assisted living communities, adult memory daycares, senior centers, and a senior university (in Tacoma). I've also taught online classes a few times. I don't understand why it takes so much effort to volunteer my services. Even with websites like VolunteerMatch, it is difficult to get pro-bono work that doesn't limit my own creativity or require me to use my own supplies.

My Degas Demo, FTJ Pastels Class

I've been happy teaching at Franke Tobey Jones' Senior University in Tacoma, where I get a stipend and get paid, but that's only twice a year, if I'm lucky. My students are a willing and captive audience. It surprises me that senior centers are less interested in doing art and favor playing Bingo. Assisted Living communities should also welcome someone to conduct art activities, but they have their own staff and such limited budgets. I wonder if I could apply for a grant to bring my own prepaid art supplies to senior communities.

Castle Landscape in Paint3D

So, here I sit in my office blogging about past experiences. I occasionally paint portraits or landscapes in my spare time. My brother helped encourage me to learn Paint3D and I've done several awesome paintings on my PC using a mouse. I've even tried homeschooling 'grandkids' and got paid to bring art lessons to a nearby summer camp. Both gigs challenged me to adapt my lesson plans for students ranging in age from 4-13 years old.

Palm Tree, Circle of Love Class

What all of this 'struggle' is meant to convey is that sometimes creativity is required in order to successfully dedicate oneself to volunteering. I guess I thought that it would get easier over time, and that with blogging and posting on Facebook more people would be asking me to teach classes and volunteer.

City Dog Park, Palm Springs, CA

Bryce and Friends, Redding, CA

Over the past few years, I've used our trips to Palm Springs as an opportunity to paint, do animal portraits of dogs from the local dog park, and develop lesson plans and project demos.

Retirement may not mean that you will stop working. Instead, you may find creative ways of playing and exploring your newfound independence with a spirit of adventure. Living a creative life means to focus on curiosity rather than a fear of failure. Imagination, innovation, and persistence are the energies that also help us solve problems. While I've experienced some disappointment along the way, I've enjoyed the process and haven't given up. As American Christian author and speaker Joyce Meyer once said, "Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting". 

Indigenous Art - Animals

In this post, I will cover a small portion of Indigenous American and Canadian art. I am fascinated by the red, black and white graphical images of animals by various Indian tribes. Although I would love to attempt to produce such drawings, I respect that such art forms belong exclusively to native cultures. I love this Gitxsan (Canadian) Eagle for its symmetric composition and use of positive-negative space.

Front of Helmet

Inspired by a Seahawks football helmet, here is a jack-o-lantern that I carved one Halloween. I carved the Seahawks emblem around the sides and back of the pumpkin.

Back

Side

         

This Haida graphic includes a fish and the heads of an eagle and a wolf. I appreciate how the arrangement fits nicely inside a circle shape. Notice how the artist incorporates the eagle's wing, the wolf's claw, and the fish's fin and tail.

This wolf may have been drawn freehand by a high school student in an art class. I love the repetition of jagged black and red positive shapes. The negative white space fits them together (like a puzzle) to make the wolf head.

Another Halloween I found this amazing pumpkin carving of a wolf head. That year, I decided to do a Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) skull and a raven instead.

I also found animals such as buffalo and bears captured uncommonly in indigenous graphics.

This bear is done in black and white and would make a great animal art project for fifth graders. I would have my students divide their animals into shapes, then fill them in using Zentangles. I appreciate the inclusion of native symbols: eagle, bear paw, tree, and mountains.

Salmon symbolize determination and perseverance. These fish miraculously find their way in turbulent rivers to spawn upstream. Metaphorically, they help us find our way in life and reach our goals.

Aboriginal artists use repetition of dots to decorate Illuka animal designs. Here, a reddish orange, black, and white-outlined eagle is beautifully surrounded by a sky using contrasting shades of blue. The addition of hands repeats the outstretched feathers of the bird's wings.

The flute playing character Kokopelli, more human than animal, represents the fertility god of Hohokam, Yuman, and ancestral Puebloan peoples of Southwestern America. Kokopelli is basically a stick figure adorned with a feathered headdress and flute. I had created a project for third graders using Kokopelli figures, but sadly my hosting teacher passed away before I could teach the lesson. I once gifted her a book of Aesop's Fables containing animals drawn by Jacob Lawrence.

I dedicate this post to my niece's 3rd grade teacher, Geriann Holmes Marchio, who passed away in November of 2019.

Mothers of Famous Artists -- A New Dedication

The Artist's Mother: Head and Bust,
Three-Quarters Right (1628), Rembrandt

In May of 2021, I posted Mother's Day Dedication and Artist Inspirations. It included artists: Mary Cassatt, Vincent Van Gogh, and James Whistler. For 2023, let's explore several other famous artists who memorialized moms with portraits. Happy Mother's Day!

Rembrandt captured his mother, Neeltgen Willemsdochter van Zuytbrouck, in several early etchings and painted portraits, since he was unable to afford to pay models to sit for his paintings. The squiggly lines figure well in showing the woman's age softly and with a subtly pleasant expression.

Mother's Day Off (1916), Rockwell

James Abbott McNeill Whistler's portrait of his mother, Anna Whistler, is yet another Portrait of the Artist's Mother (1871) and is famously known simply as Whistler's Mother. Van Gogh's mother, Anna Carbentus van Gogh, and Norman Rockwell's mother, Anne Mary (Hill) Rockwell share similar first names. See the link above for the Van Gogh and Whistler portraits. Norman Rockwell's dedication to mothers appeared in one of his first publications of the Saturday Evening Post in 1916's Mother's Day Off.

Mrs. Robert S. Cassatt,
the Artist's Mother
(1889), Cassatt

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1889), Mary Cassatt

Henrietta Benson Homer, an artist in her own right, was mother to Winslow Homer. I included her work in my recent April Flowers in Art post. I've also featured the works of Mary Cassatt in my posts. Here are portraits of her mother, Mrs. Robertt S. Cassatt (nee Katherine Kelso Johnston). Perhaps the portrait on the left is the final version and much truer to her impressionist style. The one on the right must have been a study. The flowers seem to be floating about her head.

Mother and Child (1938), Picasso

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1896), Picasso

Pablo Picasso did this portrait of his mother, Maria Ruiz Picasso, and has represented motherhood in many of his works. The portrait on the left shows his ability to paint in a realistic style. He has captured the softness of his mother's blouse and the light caressing her face. Contrast it with his painting of lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, and their child Maya, long after he became a Cubist painter.

The Dead Mother (1902),
Edvard Munch

Dead Mother (1889), Munch

Edvard Munch was only five years old when his mother, Laura Much, died of tuberculosis following the birth of his sister, Inger. Death was a common subject for Munch. The child's pose is reminiscent of that of The Scream.

Portrait of Artist's Mother (1902),
by Franz Marc

German Expressionist, Franz Marc, painted this portrait of his mother Sophie in 1902. Its muted colors and natural realism are unlike his later more colorful abstract paintings of animals. I wonder if the 'postage stamp' picture in the top right corner is meant to be Franz as a toddler. Without it, my eye may have focused on the book. Its subtle presence in the background suggests that the woman is a mother. Although Franz was married twice during his short life, he never gave his mother any grandchildren.

The Artist's Mother (1916), Hopper

Edward Hopper is most famous for his melancholy painting, Nighthawks, showing patrons hanging out in a diner late at night. He also painted this portrait of his mother, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper. You can see the resemblance between mother and son. The richness of her vibrant purple dress is complemented by details of her face and right hand and contrasted by the pastel yellows in the background.

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1918), Salvador Dali

Portrait of the Artist's Mother
(1920), Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali's portraits of his mother, Felipa Domenech Ferrés differ dramatically. His 1918 Portrait of the Artist's Mother is in a realistic style, while his later version more impressionistic. Later, in 1929, he made a surrealist version entitled, The Enigma Of Desire, My Mother, My Mother.

Woman with Plant (1929), Grant Wood

Hattie Weaver Wood (mother of Grant Wood) is represented in Woman with Plant (1929). In Wood's later more famous American Gothic (1930), he used likenesses of his sister, Nan Wood Graham, and their dentist Dr. Byron McKeeby. The clothing on the woman is very similar to that of the farmer's daughter. Wood put a lot of detail in the woman's face, while the rest of the subject and background are flatter, simpler and more cartoonish.

American folk artist, Grandma (Anna Mary Robinson) Moses, painted her simple landscapes beginning in 1938 at the age of 78. See Artists Born Under Virgo or Libra.

Maga's Daughter (1966), Andrew Wyeth

Betsy Wyeth, wife of painter Andrew Wyeth, had two sons, Nicholas and James (artist Jamie). She was the model for Wyeth's 1966 painting Maga's Daughter. She likened her role as director and Andrew's career as that of an actor. One might also consider her his agent, collaborator, and muse.

Camille Monet and a Child in the Artist’s Garden
in Argenteuil (1875), Claude Monet

I am a sucker for the Impressionists. Claude Monet painted this beautiful scene of his wife, Camille and their daughter relaxing in their garden at Argenteuil, where he lived from 1871-1878. While visiting Paris in 2011, my family and I drove to see Monet's garden in Giverny, where Monet lived from 1883-1926. The focus seems to be on his wife and the vivid blue and white brushstrokes in her dress. The child leaves more of an impression. I like how Monet has framed his composition with the path in the foreground and the flowers fading into the background.

Reflections in Art

Landscapes

Reflections (1983), Bob Ross

I found this great article about Landscape Composition: 16 Reflections. Whether it is Sisley, Turner, or Monet painting the landscape, the result is always more pleasant and serene with the addition of a reflection in water to reveal atmospheric conditions. I particularly enjoyed watching Bob Ross' TV series The Joy of Painting, especially when he'd show us how to paint water and reflections. He pulled down color using a large dry brush, then lightly dragged his brush across to soften the reflections.

Le Loing à Moret (1885), Sisley

Impressionist painter, Alfred Sisley (1839-1899), was born to British parents in France, where he spent most of his life. His landscapes may have been inspired by the paintings of J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. I much prefer this softer work to some of his other more intricate landscapes.

Boats (1885), Sisley

While this landscape by Sisley may make a wonderful jigsaw puzzle, it makes for a very complex painting. His reflections seem to be concentrated toward the bottom, focusing on the subject boats. The clouds reflect in the water in the middle of the composition. The jetty seems to divide the painting in two.

The Studio Boat (1874), Monet

Some say that Sisley's career was overshadowed by that of Franch Impressionist Claude Monet. Monet's Studio Boat became the subject of four of his paintings. The reflections are well done. Monet has also balanced his composition by offsetting the dark boat hull with the large bank of brown autumn trees and highlighting the studio structure. Many of Monet's other works use dark purple in place of black.

The Grand Canal of Venice (1875), Manet

In Édouard Manet's Blue Venice or The Grand Canal of Venice (1875) the reflections are suggested using impressionistic brushstrokes. Like Monet's work above, Manet has atypically used black for his gondola. Everything else in the painting is bright and textured. 

Le Bateau (1953), Matisse

In 1961, Henri Matisse's Le Bateau ("The Boat") was hung upside-down at New York's Museum of Modern Art for 47 days until a patron pointed it out to a museum guard. In this simple papercut and gouache work, it was apparently difficult to distinguish between the sailboat and its reflection.

Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888), Van Gogh

Before Vincent Van Gogh painted his famous Starry Night with the swirling sky and cypress trees, he captured a moment of calm in Starry Night Over the Rhône (1888). I love the reflected lights of the city. The couple in the foreground seem to be standing in the water due to the repetition of the brushstrokes, colors, and subtle transition from water to shore.

Valley of the Yosemite (1864), Bierstadt

German-born American artist, Albert Bierstadt, painted this landscape of the Yosemite Valley in California along the Merced River in 1864. Everything about this masterpiece is amazing! I love the colors of the sky, the brightness of the sunlight reflecting off the mountains, the sliver of reflected trees in the water, and the silhouettes of the deer grazing in the foreground.

Portraits

Triple Self-Portrait
(1960), Rockwell

Some artists used mirrors in their portraits. One of the most recognizable is Norman Rockwell's self-portrait with him seated in front of a mirror and a large canvas capturing his own image three times. I enjoy seeing what he has pinned to his easel, including his own sketches on one side opposite self-portraits of fellow artists: Durer, Rembrandt, Picasso and Van Gogh. Possibly as a nod to Rembrandt, he has collected a golden helmet as a souvenir of a trip to Paris.

 'Self Portrait', from Behind Gala,
Reflected in Mirror (1972), Dali

In 1972, Salvador Dali painted a double portrait of the artist and his muse (wife Gala). It reminds me of an interior, painted by Johannes Vermeer, with light streaming in from a window. It may also be a nod to Diego Velázquez's 1656 masterpiece of Las Meninas, where the King and Queen were subtly reflected in a mirror.

Here, we get to see both figures from the front reflected in a mirror and from the back seated. If only we could see what's on his easel! Notice how Gala's chair is downplayed in both color and value so as not to compete with the artist's chair and mirror frame.

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882), Manet

Some say that the man in the upper right of the mirror is Édouard Manet himself in A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882). Artists often hide their self-portraits in their paintings. You don't see the back of the man at the bar because he is perhaps (Manet) the viewer of the bar scene. 

The horizontal blueish band may be the stage. The reflection of the bar itself runs behind the barmaid's hips and may be reflecting the two bottles from the lower left corner.

Girl at Mirror (1954), Norman Rockwell

Finally, here's another painting by Norman Rockwell celebrating the innocence of a young girl checking herself out in an attic mirror while reading a glamour magazine. The girl reminds me of actress Margaret O'Brien who starred opposite Judy Garland in the classic Meet Me in St. Louis ten years earlier.