Creatively Thinking

I heard her, then I saw her. I have one hummingbird coming to the feeder on a yearly basis. I am so delighted she returns year after year to bring me joy with my morning coffee. Today there is also the finch calling and the rain quietly falling. Good day to work in the studio. Artwork by Christine Alfery. "The Bridge" 8"x8" Acrylic and watercolor on paper. Part of the "At The Fishing Cabin Series."

Moving discovering, exploring – art and the artist. Perpetual discovering, perpetual motion, perpetual movement, forever discovering, the life and work of an artist. To be an artist you must be an artist every day and sing your life's song.

"..the earth, and compel men entranced by the sight of distant goals to glance for a moment at the surrounding vision of form and colour, of sunshine and shadows: to make them pause for a look, for a sigh, for a smile—such is the aim, difficult and evanescent, and reserved only for a few to achieve.” "This applies to my goal to make people stop and not just glance at my work but really see it and the world it conveys."  Kay Lorbecki “ All art appears primarily to the senses, …. All art must make its appear through the senses, if its high desire is to reach the secret spring of responsive emotions.”   Joseph Conrad. Preface to, “The .... of the Narcissus.” This preface was written in 1957.  Back then in order for something to be called “art”  it needed a purity, to it, a notion of originality, the senses it was believed was one way of finding and expressing that purity.  Since then this notion of purity through the senses has transformed, morphed into ar...

I personally believe that an artist needs to think – to use her mind when she is working and creating. Using ones mind allowing for concepts/ideas to be formed and created is part of the entire process of creating a work of art. Using ones mind also integrates the foundations an artist stands on with these concepts and ideas. So it should not be surprising when I say I disagree with Joseph Conrads comment in his preface to “The ....... of the Narcissus,” that “The artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom; to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition…” Suggesting that art is a gift is something that many creative people say about themselves, or find that others say about their work, examples include, “oh Christine you are so gifted” or an answer I frequently find myself saying, and I have blogged about, “I have no idea where it comes from, it is just there. It is a gift.“ In truth, for me anyway, it comes from my foundations and my a...