What You Build

July 10, 2014 by chiaink 2 Comments

What You Build

It has been a while since I have posted about my artwork. Family matters have kept me occupied and away from my computer. It has been a good time, with my son getting married and my sisters coming for an extended visit, but it has ended on a bittersweet note with a lot of departures, including both of my children leaving for parts East as they embark on new adventures. My house, a-flurry with people and belongings for several months, is now a quiet refuge from which I can refocus my creative energies.

When thinking about a piece to present for my Tuesday Tales postings, this piece kept coming into my head, yet, for the longest time, I couldn’t fathom why. It is an older piece, almost five years old, which was part of my first solo show, entitled In Her Eyes. I have talked about that show here, here and here. This is a small image of my son, the photo taken while he was rebuilding our deck, hence the protective glasses. The title, What You Build, alludes to not only what he is doing but to the act, and art, of building a life, hopefully surrounded by family and loved ones. As I thought about the title I realized why this piece kept coming into my mind. With all the recent events and changes in my life I was naturally thinking about the life I had built around and for my children. And just as my son learned the tools and techniques to build a deck I knew that he had developed the tools needed to build his life as a married man, and I hoped that I had helped in that process.

It struck me, though, that I was not only thinking of my family but about my art and this blog. What You Build had been one of many works in a show in which community played a tremendous role. While a significant focus of my blog has been to share and document my art and art process, I now see that an equally important goal for me is to build a community, one that loves to share and revel in the creative force that lies in all of us. And I see that the communication has been woefully one sided and focused on my perspectives. So I have decided to change things up a bit and post more spontaneously on art related subjects, spotlighting not only my own but the creative works of others and welcoming greater imput and discussion from my readers. I will continue to post my Tuesday Tales as new works are created but these posts will be less regular.

So with this in mind, I welcome you, dear readers, to share some fabulous creative work you have done or come across recently.

And today I would like to share this post, Waiting For Michael, about Kate McGloughlin, a painter/printmaker whose work I came just across. Not only is her work wonderful, but the post eloquentfully illustrates the healing power of art.