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| "Crossing the Chasm", oil on canvas, 18" x 24" ©2013 C.Proppé |
April 13, 2013
Life is moving along and the presence of motivation with execution of my desires is HIGH. Motivation to visit San Francisco and explore new places, motivation to revisit old friends and a gather them with new ones, motivation to find new, meaningful work and help others, motivation to provide the best life for my sons, and motivation to add true meaning to my paintings (rather than just recreate a moment in time plein air work). I am a logotherapist's dream. Go, girl!
So, I share with you the latest painting (above) that will be present at the
Marin Open Studios 2013 opening Gala on April 27, 2013, from 5-8pm. This painting is something a bit new for me, but I am embracing the challenge. I have hit a turning point in my life, where I will soon be "leaning in" and raising my sons as a single mom(which is going to be a great thing, after too many years of waffling with the decision). I have also recently separated from a job where I really enjoyed the work. So much change at once is really exciting, and has lead me to come up with new ideas for my art. I have always wanted to create art that provides a vision or a statement, not just a representation of a moment in time. The problem for me is that when I have done this in the past, I have never liked the results. At Colby, I recall painting a still-life that was supposed to be all about the life of
Sylvia Plath. I remember painting open medication bottles, a Bell Jar, and an open oven door, all in a kitchen setting... it was awful. I don't know what happened to that painting, but someone might have liked it. My attempts in undergraduate and graduate art programs to illustrate things that I was not drawing from directly were weak, in my opinion, and I believe this has kept me working as a plein air artist and one who copied from nature or photos in the studio. This painting (above) is a comment on my place in the world, and a new method of painting for me.
I have had a photograph of a cyclist crossing the bridge for months now, but I have been frustrated with my painting because I want to reach a point where I don't paint every single detail I see before me, and I focus on something I really want the painting to be about. "Crossing the Chasm" finally hits the mark for me, because the photo had so much more detail that I really liked, but it is not what I wanted to convey... so I left out the extra details, such as the lights on the bridge and the 45 mile per hour speed limit sign (I may eventually paint another one with these details, but I am happy with the results of this simpler version). The title comes from
a book written in 1991 about marketing high tech to the mainstream market. I have been reinventing myself and taking training classes to improve my own design skills this month, and this marketing title intrigued me. I was also brought to the attention of an amazing book by a local educator, Charles Sheppard. "
Save Your Drama for Your Mama" will assist businesses and individuals to learn leadership skills. The combination of learning so much about marketing, reading Sheppard's new book, revisiting
Victor Frankl's classic, and being in the current place and time in my life to receive all this input, have launched me in a new direction with my painting and life. I painted the road green in order to speak to "green technologies" and green paths of transportation(such as cycling). I also added the long hair to the cyclist and tried to make it look like a female cyclist, when the image I was using was actually male. I am working on change and leading myself to greener pastures.
I love learning and growing... and here I go! Lean in! (check out
Leanin.org for great,
inspiring stories by women that have been appearing online along with the launch of the new book).
Update: May 19, 2015
It's amazing to look back on this post and see how differently my life has moved in two years. I pursued my interest in packaging design and have really enjoyed the work. Meanwhile, I have painted less, and been okay with it. I feel like I am in a great place of gathering inspiration and will be happy to integrate my fine art into the equation when I am ready. As you can see from the link on the left, I actually did go back and update the painting with the details. I added the 45 on the Bridge, the lights and the tiny circles from the bolts all along the base. I still own this painting and it is significant to me because I painted it when I was 45 years old and was seeking to separate myself from my sons' father. Although I have not been able to do so financially just yet due to the housing costs in Marin, I have been able to successfully co-parent with my sons' father for 2 years now. We share a house, and share our children, but we do not do things together as a family. It is still hard, but it is better for the kids because the time they have with one parent is more peaceful, with no arguing or frustrations. They have one person to guide them, and not conflicting messages. This works for us. Whatever you need to do to parent children is important, and I believe we have improved things immensely for our kids by finding a way to co-parent. I still miss having someone to really love, but I love myself more. I have the best dog in the world, and I love my kids and my friends. I feel better than I have in the past because I am not angry at my sons' father for not being able to be someone he is not. I don't see him as "my partner" or "my spouse", but simply, "the father of my sons" who is trying to do his best for them in his own way. There will be a time when I can move on and find a better match for myself, but for now, co-parenting has been really a blessing. Learning to work with people you don't always like or relate to is a very important lesson in life. We have to do it at work, and in business, so if I can do it at home it will only make me a better businesswoman and life partner for someone else someday. Life goes on. We keep the wheels rolling!
I have started another painting inspired by Google Glass. This one is from the day I went out to the Mill Valley Bike Path with my son, and he got to wear Google Glass and record video from his perspective at the Skate Park we discovered. (We actually didn't even know it was there until we were headed home and stumbled upon it!)
Today, I decided to photograph and crop the painting I just finished of the cyclist on the Golden Gate Bridge, and provide another view of it for sale as a print and notecard. Fine Art America online is a great little spot for prints and cards, and I've been using them for years now. Here is the cropped, portrait version of the image. Click the link below the photo to order as a print or card online. My previous post shows the full painting, completed, that shows one of the bridge spans in a larger, landscape image.
"Vintage Bike at the Butterfly Garden", Tod's Point, Old Greenwich, CT
"Bike in the Butterfly Garden, Greenwich Point" 24" x 36" o/c
"La Coppa Coffee Bikes", Downtown Mill Valley, California. 16" x 20". 
We hung part of the series up this evening at The Bicycle Works. Click photo to enlarge... Pictured in the photo, above-left, is Spokey Godfrey, Director. Come out tomorrow for the shop's Grand Opening Celebration, with food by Sol Food of San Rafael, and film "The Triplets of Belleville", provided by Tom Boss of "Film Night in the Park". The paintings give the shop a little color, in contrast to the black and white of the bikes on the stands.
My painting from last year's, Mill Valley Paint Out, with bikes in the bike rack... next to a Breezer commute bike, by local cycling legend, Joe Breeze. Breezer Bikes plans to give a portion of sales from it's bikes at "The Bicycle Works" back to support the new shop and it's mission.
"Burley Parade on Shaver Grade", near Phoenix Lake. 24" x 30".
Day 1; "Burley Parade on Shaver Grade", near Phoenix Lake. 24" x 30". I have been wanting to paint Burley bike trailers into my paintings for a while now, but have had the hardest time coming up with a concept for this. We have pulled our twins in Burley trailers since they were under a year old. They are pretty much beyond Burley's now, at age 7, but we have a very fond appreciation for the great rides we were able to take, with the boys keeping quiet in the trailer, or falling asleep for much of the bike ride. We even pulled them with a tandem mt. bike with string lights all lit up at night. I hope someone will enjoy this painting with memories of transporting their kids as I have. It's a gamble to paint something new and different, but if you don't take the chance, you never grow... right?
DETAIL OF HILLS: Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest.
"Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest", Ridgecrest Blvd., Mt. Tamalpais State Park,
DETAIL OF CYCLIST: Sunset Cycle on Ridgecrest.
