Witty Picasso

In April I had a chance to see the huge Picasso retrospective at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. There was a lot to look at--I avoided museum burnout by concentrating on the found object assemblages. There were only a dozen or so. We were lucky to have guest passes, so I didn't feel obliged to look 3x at everything to justify the high cost of admission.

There was a narrow room set up as a photo gallery. Unfortunately it was so crowded (on a Monday yet) that we didn't spend much time there, but seeing photos of old Pablo hanging around in his nautical t-shirt doing South of France things gave me a little boost.

 Here he is with his good friend Jean Cocteau. From left to right: Pablo Picasso, his son Paulo, Jean Cocteau, Georges Braque and Françoise Gilot, in front of Picasso’s studio, Vallauris, 1953

The Picasso quotes scattered around the museum were a nice touch. Here are a few of my favorites---  

Give me a museum and I'll fill it.

My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier you'll be a general; if you become a monk you'll end up as the Pope." Instead, I became a painter and wound up as Picasso. 

When I haven't any blue I use red. 

It is a well-known fact that we see the faults in other's works more readily than we do in our own.

Unless your work gives you trouble, it is no good.   

A View into the Studio

A little hello just so you know I'm still around! I've been finishing up lots of things in my studio and just generally getting organized. As trumpeted on this blog for the last several months. I'm starting to be a believer in publicizing one's intentions, since I'm actually getting more done.

Coming up soon, a new Etsy shop or two with a gradual phase out of my current shop. Notecards and digital prints... Summer and hot weather... My daughter's college graduation!

Always Learning

 This week I've been listening to the  Creative Souls Telesummit recordings. It's for people (like me) who have a hard time making choices because they have so many interests and passions. The topic is getting clarity and focusing on what you want to do creatively--I found the last two recordings the most helpful. Next week they're going to talk about making a plan of action, then the third week is how to turn your creative fire into financial flow (eff yeah, money!!). You can listen to these recordings for free, up to 48 hours afterwards. Can't go wrong with that.

One of the things I learned about is a technique that's been around for awhile--EFT or Emotional Freedom Therapy. It involves tapping on 8 acupressure points along energy meridians when you are faced with a blockage and helps move energy around to get some much needed clarity. There are lots of places online you can find videos and charts--it seems pretty simple to do and if you're at all attuned to meditation or yoga, it uses the same principles of moving chi, or life energy, around the body.