Branching Out

I've been having so much fun drawing and painting with my ever-expanding collection of various art media -- watercolor, Gouache and acrylic paint; graphite and colored pencils; charcoal; and pastel pencils -- I figured why not give pastels a try as well, and decided to go ahead and pick up some small sets of those. After serendipitously finding a very encouraging website authored by Robert Sloan, and then another site he recommended by Karen Margulis,I'm looking forward to putting my new acquisitions to paper this weekend!

Soapbox Time

I think if I hear one more person refer to a mountain bike race - endurance or otherwise - as a "sufferfest", I may just snap and smack somebody across the head.

To those of you who think racing your mountain bike is "suffering", let me explain a few things to you. Having the opportunity to spend a few hours (or a day or two) just riding your bike is not suffering. That is a privilege. It's something you chose (and most likely paid) to do. The simple fact that you are fortunate enough to have the time, money and physical ability to do it is something you should be grateful for, not disparage.

There are plenty of people in this world who truly are suffering (many of whom could only dream of having the chance or ability to spend a whole day, or even an hour, riding a bicycle) and you call something fun like a bike race suffering?

Worse, if you're calling these events "sufferfests" just so you'll seem all badass for doing them, well in my humble opinion, that's a pitifully sad testament to your self-image and I hope in time you'll learn that you're perfect just as you are, and there is no need to thump your chest in false bravado as a feeble attempt to try to impress the rest of us.

Maybe I'm just getting old and senile, but as the years go by, I realize how fortunate I am to still be able to ride and even race a little, and it hurts my heart to think about how much time I wasted in my youth not being grateful for what I had. So I would hope that you'd appreciate the treasure before you when you head out to the trail to ride or race your bike and be thankful for the wondrous gift you've been given and to realize what a remarkable individual you are simply by being you.

Joy

As I had noted in a previous post, my artwork is a very personal thing for me and I paint and draw primarily because it makes me happy. However, I'm honored and humbled to have discovered over the past couple of weeks that apparently my creations bring joy to others as well since I've sold a few pieces! I put the money to very good use by replenishing some of my supplies and I've been happily painting and drawing all week, mixing things up as the mood strikes me with acrylics, soft pastels and pastel pencils, colored pencils, and even a touch of pen.

I cannot offer enough thanks to all the very wonderful experienced and extremely talented artists out there who so generously offer their expertise in a multitude of ways: posting free tutorial videos, kindly responding to questions about their craft, and generating helpful newsletter articles - their advice, inspiration and knowledge have been a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and I am forever in their debt.

6 Hours of Tanglewood

Today was the 6 Hours of Tanglewood mountain bike race. I was originally going to sign up solo since I couldn't find any local ladies interested in partnering up for a duo. However, luckily I found an awesome teammate on the biketriad forum (my teammate's hubby has some amazing photos and video of the race posted there as well). I had never met Laura in person prior to this race, although we had emailed a couple of times over the past year. Turns out I could not have asked for a better female duo partner, and we had a terrific race, taking second place only a lap behind the first place team (who I heard were pros!), and a lap ahead of third and fourth place.

The trails at Tanglewood were a lot of fun - tight and twisty, with some very fast sections, a few log crossings, smatterings of rocks, some offbeat bridges and short steep climbs throughout, with a nice flat finishing stretch.

I had an incredible time, and hopefully Laura and I will be teaming up again soon!

Teamwork

If I do say so myself, Steve and I make a pretty good team. While I've been busy painting, he's been honing his talents at hand-making wood frames (he has also become quite skilled at cutting mats, I might add). He does some very impressive work - taking raw wood and turning it into gorgeous fully finished handcrafted frames. In my humble opinion, his beautiful handiwork gives a delightfully clean and finished look to my canvases and I'm thrilled with the results.

Below is a close-up look at the acrylic-on-canvas Fairytale Forest Series in their new custom handmade wooden frames that Steve built, stained, varnished and attached all backing and hanging hardware himself. How lucky am I to have such a talented husband who makes my works look so nicely finished?!

Fairytale Forest Series Closeup ©2014 Tammy Kaufman

Here they are hanging on the wall:

Fairytale Forest Series ©2014 Tammy Kaufman

I hope to have more of our handiwork posted soon!

One Thing

Eleanor Roosevelt is credited with saying "Do one thing every day that scares you", so to follow her advice, I'm working on setting up an online gallery of my paintings which I plan to link to from this blog. This is a really scary thing to me, putting my heart and soul out there like that (sort of like the awkward old nightmare where you show up at work or school only to discover you forgot to get dressed first!), so I hope anyone reading this blog and eventually seeing the gallery once it's up will be kind, at least at first. I don't know that I'm ready just yet for actual true constructive criticism since painting has thus far actually been more of a sort of "healing" activity for me. And let's be honest, at this point I think I'd almost prefer to be lied to and told I'm not a terrible artist (I still cringe and feel so undeservedly arrogant even calling myself that). But I'm going to give it a go anyway, thanks to the motivation to do so from some very supportive established online artists - a tremendous thank you for the encouragement goes out to jwjonline.net, skinnyartist.com, et al. Hopefully before too long I'll feel like I've developed enough experience and confidence to handle true critiquing, both positive and negative. Heck, depending on how long it winds up taking me to get the artwork photographed and uploaded, maybe even by the time the gallery is up and running.

Washing Away the Dust of Everyday Life

While fully realizing I am a Beginner - with a capital B - I finally managed to summon the courage to share my elementary attempts at painting and drawing with a handful of friends and coworkers. And I was surprised to find that they apparently did like some of my creations. As these are people I trust to be honest with me, I believe they were actually giving me their genuine opinions and not just trying to avoid hurting my feelings.

I'm still discovering my own style, so many of my drawings and paintings are kind of all over the place, from realism to impressionism and everything in between and beyond, but I'm having a lot of fun "finding myself" in the world of art. During this journey, I am forever grateful to all the artists out there who have so kindly published free online video tutorials. I've learned so incredibly much watching and following along with them, and the tips and techniques they've shared have been invaluable.

I've been jokingly called "Grandma Moses" because I discovered art at an older age, and have already done more than 50 drawings and paintings in less than two months, but I can only hope to end up being as prolific - and talented - as she was! I have, however, been finding this activity to be a freeing and relaxing experience that somehow seems to make every day better. Pablo Picasso once said "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life", and I am certainly finding that to be true for me.

Obviously, I'm still very much a beginner, but I don't recall any activity I've ever attempted where being a novice was so incredibly much fun. Even if I never, ever develop any real talent or skill for drawing and painting, that's okay. This is my own personal haven; my creations are really just for me and don't have to please anyone else or meet anyone else's expectations. Art has become such a wonderful refuge from the everyday that I can no longer imagine my life without it, no matter where my skill level - or lack thereof - may lie.