Patti Edmon Artist

Though the frequency of my blog posts suggests otherwise, I've been working in the studio nearly every day for an hour, or three on a good day. I've been painting... faces. Still. I seem to have come up with a 'face' but I don't think I've really broken through the surface. It is truly difficult to really let go, be counterintuitive, dig beneath the rubble of what is and is not good and/or acceptable. But I'm not going to stop.  I don't know about you, but every so often I see an artist's work and a voice screams up from the depths - I want to paint like that. Of course, copying, imitating never works but it does give me hope. Reason to keep going, to be relentless and never, ever give up. Maybe this process is like evolution... never really fast enough but silent wheels turning. My studio is adorned by at least 50 face paintings, started after the Misty Mawn workshop late last September, and many influenced by ...

The Art Every Day icon was on my blog for most of November, which is also when I last posted. It isn't that I did work on art every day, it's just that, well, I'm in workshop mode. Ever since I left  Random Arts  in September, I've been in a painting frenzy! A two-day workshop with  Misty Mawn  was a great start but I needed more, wanted to expand my brushes... I'm currently taking a course called Serendipity, with the lovely and talented  Juliette Crane ! It's a year-long class with different techniques, supplies and project each month! Highly, highly recommended! I am stuck on September though, wanting to secure a few things, like faces (still!). My daughter told me yesterday that the girls in my paintings aren't smiling and I said happy lips are harder to draw/paint. Last night I drew 30 mouths, thankfully noticing a bit of improvement. I'm going to try to make the deers in the headlights less grim. I hope all my art pals (and everyone else) i...

Good News: Quotes Illustrated, by the fabulous  Lesley Riley , has been published! I am very honored to be included in this incredible collection (thanks Lesley), so if you're interested it's on Amazon or you can email me for details. The Art Every Day icon was on my blog for the second half of November, which is also when I last posted. It isn't that I did work on art every day, it's just that, well, I'm in workshop mode. Ever since I left  Random Arts  in September, I've been in a painting frenzy! A two-day workshop with  Misty Mawn  was a great start but I needed more, wanted to expand my brushes... Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

November is Art Every Day Month,  an event hosted by the fabulous Leah Piken Kolidas. AEDM is designed to encourage daily creativity, which I manage most of the time. I do NOT, however, always or even usually post it, so, here is my first attempt at a dog (hahahahaha, or should I say woof)!  Check out the site for a list of participants and consider signing up. Leah states that the rules are made to be broken, meaning there's no penalty (self-imposed or otherwise) for not posting daily. And, it's the 6th but that doesn't matter either, glad when an art pal reminded me that it's better late than never. What's on your table today? Peace and blessings!

After living with the feeling that I'd gone as far as I could with faces, I discovered the next challenge - color. And texture. Incorporating some of my texturing techniques and creating layers - with varying degrees of visibility - opened a whole new channel in this process.  I felt a little bored, maybe frustrated when I finished the series of 45 faces (ha, for me that's a huge series), and it worried me. I fretted, during an illness-flare week I stewed, trying to reason my way through the Big R (resistance, thanks Steven Pressfield ). I caught phrases running through my head like, "I'm not a real artist, I can only get to point X," and "why am I doing this anyway, there are so many more experienced, far more talented face makers out there..." Not quite fast enough to silence them - yet - but I'll bet anyone reading this knows just what I'm talking about - monkey mind! Then I saw a post on a friend's Facebook page an...

I had just found my groove... using my photography and writing to create mixed-media pages. Then I went to Random Arts (the coolest place ever) for a painting workshop. Being familiar with paint and loving Saluda seemed like good enough reasons to go.  Like I said, I hadn't painted a single face before. Ever. I suppose it's logical, then, to return and do nothing in the studio except paint faces. Forty-two to be exact. And I'm still not completely sure why I'm doing it, just trusting that there doesn't have to be a solid reason other than the fact that I'm creating and learning. These are posted in order of occurrence. I've felt like a beginner since I started making art. Every time a finish a series using one voice, I switch languages (thanks to Lesley Riley for that metaphor!). But this bender has been one of the biggest surprises of all considering that I've never ever been inspired to paint faces before t...

They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Artists, however, continue learning and growing  until the cows come home. If your ducks are always in row, well, life gets a bit stale. Goofy metaphors aside, I do believe in ditching my creative comfort zone often enough to keep things exciting. And I certainly did just that last weekend!  The ever-fabulous Jane Powell hosted the Drawn to Paint workshop at  Random Arts . You may not think Misty Mawn was the instructor based on my favorite piece (one of the exercises was collage painting - my fave - and I did get a bit carried away), but I do like this guy. Is there any experience more fulfilling than being in the company of talented, funny women who, being fellow creatives, just get it - very few explanations needed?! Not for me. I do wish I could travel more often but given the chronic illness that wipes me out, and my family, it's just not a reality.  If you haven't been in the co...