Seasoning Your Art

"Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence. Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance. Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence. Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance."

– Yoko Ono.

With all the energy of a loud fireworks display, pumpkin spice exploded over the horizon on September 1st. It was this year’s first signal that we were finished with the cool, and fruity beverages of summer. 

I was not ready for the change and I found myself indignant about how many things are now made with pumpkin spice. These are just a few pumpkin spice items that caught my attention: lattes, granola, pancakes, protein bars, cookies, doughnuts, nut butter, rice cakes, cheerios, ice cream, smoothies...

Summer is my favorite season. I love the warmth, the color, the freedom, the exuberance, and the energy of summer. It got me thinking about the many ways we embrace and welcome each season of the year.

From ancient times to the present moment the Japanese people have meditated on the seasons as a metaphor for life. 

Each subtle change in season is celebrated for its beauty and brevity while being symbolic or representative of a particular moment in the cycle of life and the deeper truths of the human experience.

Sensitivity to seasonal change is an important part of Shinto, Japan’s native belief system. Japanese artists and poets honor the Shinto cycles of the earth and the annual agrarian calendar but also capture an awareness of the inevitability of change, a fundamental Buddhist concept. 

The practice of depicting the seasons as a poetic metaphor is almost a convention in Japanese art. To the Japanese, there are more than four seasons. Each month the environment shifts in subtle ways and their artists notice and capture these fleeting transitions.

Cherry blossoms signal the fleeting qualities of youth, chrysanthemums and persimmons dangle from leafless branches symbolizing the costs of bearing fruit, and Geese announce the coming snows.

Often, the Japanese employ these natural elements as highly stylized decorative motifs to heighten their ornamental effect. These visual scenes might also have literary references, heightening the image’s mood and cultural meaning.

I started wondering about our own cultural conventions for each season and how we might weave them into our work to deepen the layers of meaning. 

Whether you are an abstract or representational visual artist, a poet, or a writer it seems to me that using seasonal symbols engages artists in embracing the sensory qualities of the natural world and the complicated emotions we experience as human beings. 

When you add seasoning to your food the flavor is enhanced. The season does not need to be the subject of your piece, your seasoning element could be in the background adding extra complexity, richness, and meaning to your art.

Seasonal nature references can inspire us as we create a detailed present moment for our viewers to explore and to find correlations in their own experiences.

Part of finding your artistic voice is digging around in your emotional and cultural history to uncover meaningful events and symbols. 

I became curious about what I connect with each of the four seasons. I grew up in the rural northeast where big transitions occur each season, so my symbols and favorite holidays are probably different from yours. 

I made lists of things I notice and connect with each of the four seasons then I turned these lists into visuals to share with you. Let me know if these resonate with you.

Fall now includes pumpkin spice!

This month as I journey through the northeast USA countryside I am appreciating and becoming present to many of fall’s sensual experiences; the colors of the trees, the fresh, crisp air, the smell of ripe apples, the taste of squash and pumpkin everything, the joy of hiking through the fallen leaves and eating pumpkin spice ice cream at every opportunity…

My Autumn list also references the shift in energy from summer’s expansive ebullience to more reflective and peaceful energy. It is a season for completions, for reaping the abundance from years of hard work.  

I hope you will find some time this month to rest, reflect on the spectacle of the changing leaves and enjoy a pumpkin spice latte. Take a moment to be grateful for your journey and all you have experienced that brought you to this season of harvest, abundance, and completion.

In an earlier season of my life, when I was in high school, I went up on stage to read a few of Shakespeare’s sonnets to an auditorium full of people. This one has always stuck with me:

“That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang

Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,

Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.

In me thou see'st the twilight of such day….”

Sonnet 73 uses the metaphor of late fall to reference Shakespeare’s late-in-life love for a young girl. The poem is more poignant now that I am past the summer of my life and it gives me a melancholy feeling about my own future.

As a Floridian, winter has lost the harshness it once had and it has also lost some of its coziness and darkness. 

The softer, brighter southern winter has become a comfortable place to pass the closing season of life. Can it still be a season of reflection and healing? 

How is the eternal summer of Florida a metaphor for extending aging and endings? I find this too to be a meaningful meditation. I foresee a lot of inspiration in this inquiry.  

Does the idea of seasoning your paintings inspire you? 

I start every artwork with an emotional mood and then adjust and adapt my reference photos to support that mood. Many of my compositions begin with joy and summer as their setting.

Would deliberately including seasonal metaphors and references deepen and enhance your compositions? 

When you look at your work in front of you, ask yourself if you could adjust the colors to heighten the connection to the emotions and sensory experience of the season. 

Could you adapt or add an animal or plant more in keeping with the mood of the season? What about the sky, what color connects best to the season?

Please let me know if my work and writing inspire you. I welcome your thoughts and curiosities as a guide to my future work. It makes me happy to support you in your artistic growth so please reach out if you’d like to learn more about working with me.

With Light and Delight,

Quote:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to throw away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.” 

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

We visited 5 galleries and the Martha's Vineyard Museum in one day. These beautiful boats are the work of Alison Shaw and are offered at the Red Barn Gallery.

These two paintings by Thomas Hart Benton are available at the Red Barn Gallery for $1.8 million!  We were impressed by the variation in prices for paintings.  My friend Karen found it difficult to guess the price points by looking at the artwork on its own and not knowing either the artists or the galleries.

William Blakesley was a prolific artist who loved using the people and scenery of Martha's Vineyard. as his inspiration. His work is being shown at the Featherstone Center for the arts.

His artist statement above is brilliant!

A second showing of my new artworks wrapped up another amazing Vineyard season at the Old Sculpin Gallery This time I got to share a gallery with my mom and her beautiful oil paintings. 

The Old Sculpin is best known as the boat building shop formerly owned by Manuel Swartz Roberts. This historic building is now home to the Martha's Vineyard Art Association, a group of juried artists living, working, and teaching on the island. The Old Sculpin has been a gallery space for the Art Association since 1953 and has been used to display the creative output of an array of artists who have found inspiration in the people, places, and spirit of the Vineyard.

Metta - 4s

Unity of Garden Park

Cincinatti, OH 33446

October 14 & 15, 2022 | 1:00pm Friday – 2:00pm Saturday

If you're in the Cincinnati area please join us

Join Susan Convery and Antoinette Webster in the beautiful Unity of Garden Park event space in Cincinnati, OH, for two days of personal exploration and reflection.

Each day we will meet for four hours to investigate the power and symbols of four, using a variety of activities and processes to enrich/enhance our experience. ​These activities may include movement, prayer/meditation, music, small group discussion, reflection, art projects, and a labyrinth walk. Bring a journal and something for the altar.

Friday, October 14, we will come together at 1:00 pm for an invocation of the four directions. The workshop will continue until 5:00 pm. 

Saturday, October 15, we will meet at 9:00 am, and then at 1:00 pm, we will adjourn for a group lunch in the garden (weather permitting).

The Power of Four is evident in nature, spiritual and life practices, business, and mathematics. Examples of the power of four “symbols” are seasons, directions, elements, The Four Agreements, The Fourfold Way, The four resiliences, The Four-Way Test, etc.

Participants will leave refreshed by the combined powers of loving kindness towards themselves and the outside world and grounded in their place at the center of the power of four, to:

• support them better in their everyday experience
• open themselves to compassion, joy, and equanimity 
• tap into authentic creative expression
• enhance relationships 

Light snacks, tea, water and coffee will be provided. On Saturday at the conclusion of our workshop, a healthy lunch will be offered for us to share together in the beautiful church garden (weather permitting)

Investment: $125 - $200

Sketchbook Prompt:

Pick up a leaf from your yard, Observe it carefully, and look at the shape, the veins, the curl of the edges, and the shadow it casts on the Table. - sketch it in detail.  Add color.

Title: Joyride

Media: Watercolor on Waterford

Size: 22" x 22" Unframed, 28" x 28" framed

Price: $1300.00

Frame: Gold Frame with a 3" mat

This painting is a part of my new series "Mermaid Memories. These paintings include childhood memories like the pink jeep my dad owned when I was a kid. The mermaid's tail is painted with iridescent paint.

Title: Floating with Friends

Media: Watercolor on Waterford

Size: 22" x 15" unframed, 29"x 22" framed

Price:$1200

Frame: Gold frame with 3" Mat

This painting is a part of my new series "Mermaid Memories. These paintings include childhood memories like the pink jeep my dad owned when I was a kid. The mermaid's tail is painted with iridescent paint.

Title: Apple Pie

Media: Watercolor on Arches

Size: 22" x 30" unframed, 29" x 36" framed

Price:$900

Frame: Gold frame with 3" mat

The inspiration for this painting came from a Carl Sagan quote, "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, first you must create the entire universe"

Title: Enigma

Media: Mixed Media

Size: 22" x 22" 

Price: $750

Frame: Gallery Wrapped Canvas Gold Edge

This painting revealed an inner presence to me when I was trying to create an abstract painting featuring veiling and texture.