The world of art is diverse as clouds in the sky, from the tiny paintings on rice to the big blocks of encapsulated human excrement shock art recently on display on the East Coast, each artist's voice is visible in the work they produce. And it is not just a body of work there is the day to day experiences one makes of ones art. Is it all sitting at home piling up or are you finding a place to show your work. Have you embraced so much of your work that you refuse to sell them or do you give them away.

So what are the arts?

The term arts refers to ideas and experiences put forth through the expression of fine arts. This encapsulates painting and sculpture. Pottery, jewelry making, carving and the making of musical instruments. Dance, theater, comedy, story-telling, circus, music, opera, and book readings are included in the mix. The media arts, as in art films and multimedia installations. Music recordings, film making and television, books and magazines also can be considered art.

And what makes it art?

The creativity and self expression infuses differently depending on who is holding the pen, brush or camera or musical instrument. Just as we each have a different fingerprint than anyone else in the world, our minds have a self identity. We each express something creative and different. That is when it becomes art. Partially to entertain, but mostly because we must.

I get up in the morning and I get to look at all of the artworks I have collected over the years and I sigh in contentment. Then as I get ready for my day I think about the products and the artists that are in the store and a little stress builds because the gstore is responsible for selling the work and we want our artisans happy. But we also have to choose good art, this can be a difficult process. We have to make the decision that the art or artifact made by an artisan is professional enough to suite a set of standards. As much as we would love to just bring every single piece of art presented to us into the store, some art is not quite good enough yet or it has no market in the area. As a store becomes more familiar and grows in reputation then more artisans come presenting their art and more customers and clients come to shop.

  As promised I said I would take my posts on my facebook page and do a blog…

At 2, I wanted to be an artist so I painted the toilet with my Mother's mascara, at 3, still desiring the job as artist I painted the tub a lovely black with the shoe polish, at 4, I of course still loved to paint and painted the neighbors poodles with egg tempura...or was that just egg...at 5...I artistically rendered my Father’s suit coat in a nice bright green paint, later finding out that when dry the paint was permanent. At 6, spending two fine sunny weeks at a friend’s, I painted the hooves of her favorite horse...a nice bright pink with house paint. At 7 spending time at a teacher’s house, I lost my 'teacher’s pet' position quite accidentally by painting the antique dining room table a lovely purple with permanent marker.

At eight I hated everything and went hunting with my Dad. For a whole year we hunted down the poor little deer and brought them home to eat. Did I say I love deer meat?

Now I can paint them pretty good when I make the effort because of all the stalking.

There are moments in our lives that do shape us...

Shanda Woodward, has lived in Spokane since 1999, she came from Seattle but was born in Idaho and raised in Montana. Naturally, on an artwalk, for she loves art, she and her besties

hit a half a dozen galleries before...

There really is such a thing as drawing a blank, this is why the paper of canvas remains empty.

There really is the anomaly of not being able to produce a piece of art, writing, song, or any other creative subject at will. It could be lack of sleep, a short depression, boredom, no breakfast. It could be bad lighting, to many errands to run or it could be you just do feel like creating even if you need to or have a deadline….

OK…………………………hmmmmbrush……………….canvas……………………………paint………………….water…………………………………..sheesh, cat just scared the  **** out of me……………………..stupid commercial……………………hemmming, hawing …………………………if this is good enough I might make it into prints………………………no………..…no…………………………..sigh……………………………………..this is not going to be a good work…………………………..stupid idea………………….new canvas while other one dries,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,nothing……………………….get coffee……………………..still nothing…………………………(go off to computer to look at images)……………………………ugly…………………….not like that……………………………………...that either.  Start over new unformed idea…………………………….maybe……………………………………………………………….The Heat of the Night………………I can’t believe what he just said………………………………………ffffoooooooccccccccuuuuuuuuuusssssssss………………………………………………..more coffee.  Back to the computer, see what’s on facebook,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,check emails,……………………….crumb out of time again………back later.

There are many ways to get out of a creative funk. Pick up a book; go for a ride, watch someone else create on television. For artists I recommend opening a sketch book and go back to the basics. Practicing the basics again clears the brain and pretty soon something comes to mind and the artist is off again. I use this when I am struggling with expanding a theme in my own work…I have to be able to answer where to next? If all that does not work then I fill my time visiting with others and having interesting conversations on the human condition and pretty soon the show in my head centers on a new subject.  If it relates to what I am trying to say in the next piece’s ideas are then refueled and the work begins again.

I encourage any creative person to go back to the drawing board and erase the blank and begin again.

Talk at you soon, Cecile

http://bestspokaneart.com

…or as I say ‘What?’ When I am totally immersed in the act of painting and at that moment I do not care if the piece sells or not.

Back in the 70’s I was happily painting away in California, selling copious amounts of artworks for the sheer joy of earning a living. My artworks though well received at the time, share little space in the one where my finest memories are stored.  For years I painted for other people, trained in classical oil painting I ...

An interesting thing happened one morning a few years ago. I woke up and heard a voice; now knowing my penchant for jokes I’m sure some of you think that’s what I am about to do, write about something silly or make a joke. Well I might along the way for with me you never know but in this case, the voice was for real.

I heard ‘Get up and take a drive until you see the light’. I was sleeping next to my ex-husband at the time, (he has since passed on) and I rolled over and looked at him. But he was sound asleep, so it wasn’t him.

No other voice but one can speak out like that, so I got up got dressed and took off in the vehicle. Yes, I did. No questions; just up and out I went.

Without a fair thee well, I slowly meandered around the city until I found myself up on the South Hill. I was so relaxed I didn’t even check my watch or worry about what my husband would be thinking once he woke, I just wandered around looking at houses: ivy, flowers and the different little gardens all over the place as I drove. Soothed and comfortable, I turned down 14^th off Grand and wandered down several blocks. On my left was...a garage sale (echo, echo, echo) but that of course wasn’t the light. However, unsure of how long I would be driving around I got out to stretch my legs and see if there were any good deals…since I was just passing by.

As I poked through every little thing on those tables, I began to feel a warmth; I looked up and right next to the garage sale was the most beautifully tended garden, the light was so bright I had to squint.

Well, I thought, so there it is. I walked over, opened the iron gate, and walked right into this stranger’s garden. I stood there looking around and all 24 paintings appeared in my head. Again I heard the voice, ‘I have something for you to do for me’.

Later as I drove home, I wondered, “Exactly why do you want ME to do this? I’m no preacher; a practicing Christian yes, but a writer? Let alone a writer of Christian material?” No way. I’m a little silly, very creative, but I’m your average Joe (Joette, haha) and at the time did not feel in any way qualified to write something for others to read, let alone something that I felt was being constructed by God.

Plus there were huge hindrances; my ex-husband would not allow me to paint, so that was going to be quite the road block to getting an illustrated book done for God. Then there was the writing issue. I drop more participles than a cook who makes egg drop soup and heaven knows (really) I can’t spell without a dictionary and I use commas like milk in my latte. And no one in Spokane had ever heard of me, I had stopped painting and even with great artworks in homes from my San Francisco painting era, a lack of recent production makes one disappear pretty quick even if one is pretty good. Nevertheless, it took a few years to get started, but I accepted the task without knowing what, when, why or how I was going to get the job done.

A bit later I began to notice lots of little events happening in my life that related to the specific paintings that hung around every day in my head. Instinctively I understood the paintings had symbolism that related to how one ‘read’ an artwork in the day of the old art masters. Instinctively I knew I needed to stick very close to what I did see in my head because the message for each was already there. As I worked my way through understanding the messages from the paintings, I found myself lacking from the messages in many ways, so first I began to change from within. Lots of time and lessons passed as this happened.

As the time passed and I could finally paint again; all the time between when I could not and when I could again is not worth mentioning here, but it did put me in a position to reach out for God and to hang on tight. And I began, although it has been a long and arduous journey on my path, now I am excited though to share what God wrought.  

There is more but it is written in book two as a prelude to God saying, “Ok, you’re on a roll and you thought it was just one little book, Ha, that book will be a bit longer before it is finished but the art has been another great journey.”

I read the book and do not recognize the words as my own, if you disagree with what it says there’s no problem; come chat, I enjoy that. If you like it and want to reach out that’s great; you can find me at the store as I am almost always there, but call first if you want to make sure. I knew when I became a Christian I would be charged with finding a way to love everyone I met, no matter their circumstances; to not judge or choose sides, and I really believe God would find me lacking if that was something I did not practice.

For those of you who know me, God did not say I was not allowed to make mistakes and be a silly pill, so why not join me take a look and see what I got to see?