Monday, February 1, 2010

I'll Follow the Sun


The positives in life will always outweigh the negatives in my Mind's Eye. I was born in the Berkshires of Connecticut and lived on a small, but working farm. We had little. No car, no television, no new toys to speak of, my mother made us all our clothes, and my father was an ace carpenter. We did have a large radio though, where we could sit and listen to stories. Kids today might find this a terribly negative life, or think I must be at least 100 years old! It was 1955. But it was the most positive, and I am so thankful for it! Like the morning rays of sun popping over the landscape, every day was a new day, filled with an adventure! You cannot miss what you never had! You learn to create, make your own playthings. You learn to appreciate the beauty in the smallest things. We need nothing but the positives in our minds to create a host of activities. My father taught me to write and draw before I was in Kindergarten. My mother taught me to read. It was a home with little, but a love of learning "by doing" and so much imagining going on, that I can't remember 'not learning' something new every day or creating my own outlets by using a pencil or torn papers to create who knows what.
Dawn coming up over the trees and hills, and Sunsets slipping away behind the mountains have intrigued me since my earliest childhood memories. When my small fingers could pick up my first Crayolas of yellow, red and orange, it was each Dawn, as I went to the barn to help collect eggs from the chickens with my sisters, that set my day! It's pastel pinks, light mauves, blues and creams across the sky always captured the "Seeing" part of my brain. I'd stand there memorizing the colors that I would set mentally to recapture on paper. I'd start meticulously with my father's carpenter pencil trying to create the cloud cover across the sun and sky. I would lightly blend and then vigorously crayon the bright sun, and never in the lines! Sunshine has no limits, and neither did I! The big whitewashed barn was my foreground to the East.
When the day was to come to it's end in summers, and Sunset blossomed in the West, the rest of the family would be busy with daily chores. I'd sit in the cool, green grass amidst the wild buttercups...getting properly comfortable and aligned... with paper on a piece of thin board and crayons. I was four years old, and knew then that I loved art! I'd set my eye to copy what I saw in color, the trees or the hills.
Still, to this day, too many years older, I still create a homage in my own way for the Sun, whether the Dawn or Dusk. It's absence can set our moods, and it's energy gives us life and food. It warms our bodies and our souls, and for some of us, it brings out our artistry. No longer with Crayolas, but with torn papers in my collage works, I try to recapture those childhood, Mind's Eye, memories. I'll always follow the Sun!
What could you use, if suddenly, you had no materials to create with and no stores nearby?

9 comments:

  1. I love using corrugated cardboard for my art!
    Your blog is fabulous, glad I have found you.
    debby

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  2. Thanks so much Debby! And thanks for subscribing. I'm very new at this and am having a bear of a time. In trying to post back to you and send you a message at your blog, I inadvertently made myself a member of my own blog, and now can't remove it.
    I do love corrugated cardboard too! I use it in my mixed media boxes frequently. You can do so much with it, and I do love texture. I like to make it look like metal. As soon as I can figure out 'slide show', I'll post some. Want to go over to your site now and really check it out! Thanks, and do check back here occasionally. (+:

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  3. Love the account Kate! Visual and rich, who would we have been without crayola? So glad you are blogging..like that you write about important things like creativity and not your dogs affair with a cat...like me, Ha!

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  4. Dog and cat affairs can be interesting Pam. Don't sell it short. Who knows what fine art can come out of these wild moments in our day!
    Ya know, I don't know where we would have been without our Crayons. I'm sure we would have whipped up some berry juice or got into mother's cupboards. You're probably too young to remember Stick um's. They sold them in Woolworth's and you made paper chains because one side you licked and they stuck. Out of crayons? I made my first paper stickies. And I'm still at it! Thanks for the comps on the blog. You're a sweetie.

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  5. Hi Kate. Lovely of Jodi to introduce you to everyone, and thank you for your lovely email.
    It's been wonderful to read all about your crayons, the colours and your passion for the sun, dusk and all it brings. Took me down memory lane... big time!
    Talking of people blogging about their cats and dogs, lol. I once bloged about ironing and looking a mess in my pj's all the time. Went down a storm and really got everyone talking.
    I know this is going to be a fun place to visit and will call again.
    Nikki xxx

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  6. Hi Kate! Came over from Jodi's site. Love your word paintings and your colors! Will be back for more. Lynda

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  7. Hi Kate...Glad you joined the blogging world. Your blog is beautiful and the colors are like a Cinco De Mayo celebration. I too use whatever is handy to create my art...have not bought one thing, not even paint in one year, yet I create art daily. Check out my blogs and you will see what I mean. And, check out my giveaway.
    http://creatwithmoxie(dot)blogspot(dot)com/
    http://art-with-moxie(dot)blogspot(dot)com/

    Will visit your site often...
    Cory

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  8. Very Cool Blog! I think I should buy some of your beautiful artwork for my home and marry you...wait a minute?... I already am married to you and my home is filled with your beautiful art! Looks great Hon! See ya after work!

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  9. Thank you Cory! I could have sworn I wrote back to you here but perhaps I went to your blog. I'm getting confused with all the OWOH giveaway comments! Hope you do stop in from week to week to see what's new and I'll certainly stop by you!
    Have a great day! {+:

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