Category Archives: Articles on travel

Travel related articles

Creativity Craves Discipline

Creativity / Discipline – both have a symbiotic relationship – I’ve never been skilled at  paint by numbers nor coloring books. Staying in the lines was always so limiting, I was creative.

In elementary school, teachers allowed me the privilege to have lousy handwriting, afraid of stifling my creativity. This freedom has proved to be counterproductive.

When I started my career, I had to create lines, lots of lines that overlaid perfectly to separate images in yearbooks. I was forced to conform to the discipline of rules and that was a good thing.

Creativity needs discipline to keep tasks on track, to keep the vision from losing direction and to maintain the artists’ attention.

There are three stages of creativity from my experience:

  1. The initial Inspiration: I see it, I want to say something about it, this can be in reality, dreams or just completely from imagination. What follows is often varying degrees of time where the image develops.
    In my writing, it’s even worse-the story often becomes over a great amount of time and the story tends to explain itself. I am usually only given clues to what may happen.
  2. First Sketch / Underpainting: I create the underpainting or often a sketch in a notebook. This stage can literally last for years if nothing else shows itself clearly. I have so many notebooks filled and underpaintings hanging  on the wall.
  3. The Final: A shift occurs, suddenly all the images that were not clear find clarity. I believe that with discipline this process can be shorted as attention needs to be focused but this is just a theory.

There is a magical  state that occurs in the center of creating  and that is when I know where every dab of color is supposed to go, it’s like paint by numbers without the lines. When observing a painting afterwards, there are often lines and highlights that are completely intangible to the artist but that is the magic of completely disappearing into a work.

 

Connection is Not Simply Seeking Attention it Should Seek Mutual Success

Why join a group? The Perks of a Collective

– Be a part of a artist or writers guild? There are good reasons we seek to be connected and it’s not always self-serving.

We Have the Answers – Sometimes We Just Need to Collect Them

Every business avenue or decision we make has had someone seeking the same answers. We all fail, fall down and get up with more wisdoms to carry along our journey.

Instead of learning from our mistakes, with all the information that is out there, we can learn instead from others mistakes and maybe save time and money in the process.

https://ntbca.org/   A Non-Profit who works with Dallas Businesses and Local Artists.

Artist Round In Rockwall

We Have Less Credibility If We Go Alone

The news travels pretty quick these days as does information. You tell two friends and they tell theirs, suddenly you have influence, people believe you have something worth saying.

Get a group to buy in on the same ideas and values and you have a union that is mutually beneficial for all.

A great place to connect with for art promotion

Artpromotivate.com

Share Good Content, Get Good Content

I believe if you share good content and help others with their problems, they are more likely to be available to help you with yours.

We are so much more of a collective of individuals, each bringing our own ideas from unique experiences, a team can not only do more than an individual can, they can share from experiences and perspectives you may not even have thought of.

My Experience with SEO, Social, Etc.

There is a time to seek professionals and pay them what they’re worth. Unfortunately, often capital can be a deciding factor but we as creatives should be doing our creative work, not marketing-each is a full time job.

Learn from Masters, Surround Yourself with People Who Know Things.

You can learn much if you surround yourself with people who are smarter than yourself. Give them tasks, make sure they are as invested as you are and you have a business that will grow and benefit all involved.

Bad Timing can turn out to be just what you needed.

Bad Timing – Would you buy a new car and go on a trip if you knew you were about to lose your job? Probably not the best financial decision but a timely decision in retrospect.

The truth: there is never a good time to make a change as much as there is never true security in working for anyone. There will never be a good time to go off the grid, to experience life, to take chances.

My situation was a total ignorance of my tenuous position but it allowed me to go out and take a wonderful trip that made me realize exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life: travel.

I have always travelled with my son or with family. As my son was growing up and finding his own path, I had a sneak preview of mine. Traveling alone is quite liberating and a metaphor for making your own decisions, choosing your own path and breaking out of the norm.

I went to visit a friend in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I learned about carry-on luggage and what they don’t tell you about buying a cheaper flight and found myself in God’s country.

To be out there, with only time, your own thoughts and decisions, it is a recipe for truly finding your peace and joy and the scenery was pretty spectacular as a stellar bonus.

Since than, I’ve lost my job, got an insurance license, sold insurance for ten months, quit my job with nothing but my own skills and a will to succeed to define the future.

2 Years now and I’m still here, starting an already growing business and finding my path in this life….sometimes the universe, God for me, shakes you from your safe state and gives just a glimpse of the future.

You can choose to ignore your passion or allow the future to clumsily break through the barriers of your own safety. Make decisions, choose your own path and faithfully let the future become where your purpose truly lies.

 

Original Pastels on Paper in the works

Original pastel on paper – I’ve been doing a lot of pastels on black strathmore, but there is something missing, the darkness makes the colors pop but the light from pastel on white creates a light that shows through. Each process has it’s own plus and minus.

The wren on a rain barrel is a painting from an idea that has been waiting for more then thirty years to be finished. The original was on a large dark underpainting that turned into an autumn scene.

Dark purple background where leaves were supposed to be falling on water instead became the backdrop for a forest and then a log in a small stream. The idea went into the redevelopment stage and  has been silent for many years.

Wren on rainbarrel -  Original pastel on paper
Wren on rainbarrel – Original pastel on paper

The reason for the original idea, which didn’t include the wren, was how the ghosts of past autumns rise and fall beneath the surface of the water. It is probably the reason I started painting water in the first place, like the night sky there is something mysterious about the two different planes that react-the surface, the darkness beneath and the light above.

The next pastel is still a work in progress-it is capturing light on the water and how the sun appears bluish beneath the white but there is no ability to look directly at it, I wanted the viewer to feel the feeling of squinting the eyes to look at the scene.

I want the light to be tangible and almost adds another dimension of temperature to a flat plane. I am still in the process of working the darks against the lights.

Original Pastel of sun on water
Original Pastel of sun on water

The last pastel is something I want to do more of. I liked the dark brown beneath and how the two figures jump out of the background. I love the way portraits force perfection, there is no good enough, it either resembles what you are seeing or it doesn’t.

My ability to see detail has improved and portraits are much faster than they have ever been with no initial sketching preceding the final image. Without the initial sketching for placement, it makes for a cleaner less overworked image.

A poem on the subject 

A day at Discovery Gardens Dallas: Pollinator Sale

Every year in the spring and autumn, I go to the Discovery Gardens in Dallas to buy my fair share of plants. This year, I bought mostly milkweed as I am starting a garden next year with milkweed and passionvines.

I enjoy wildlife gardening and much of what my art derives from nature and enjoying plants. I have always loved science and planting for wildlife while photographing and writing about them allows my art and science to merge.

Other photography by Artbygordon

Birds-Finding peace in nature.

Birds-Seeking Peace and Purpose: Finding peace in nature.
Cat and Bird

Birds-Finding peace in nature

Out of the cold, the remnants of melting snow,
The crackling of ice on pavement
a familiar sound of birds…

I was seeking peace,
doves above me, rise and fall
the sound of morning
and all I needed was peace

A Snowy Day with the Birds

I have been isolated for the last four days. I feel like my whole life is a reboot with snow and ice as the catalyst.

It’s embarrassing, a comparison of New York in the snow versus Texas, but this isolation is everything I needed to recreate myself or maybe, more like get back to the person lost in the turmoil of daily life.

Birds-Finding peace in nature
Birds-Finding peace in nature – Bluejay

The sound of toil on a telephone pole
the incessant builder,
digging a hole.

I was seeking purpose
nothing stops in nature, every Machine
says its so, I was desperate for purpose
with no specific place to go

How often do you listen to the sound of nature, the cracking of snow, the sound of birds, it is a simple, easy and yet so difficult for most of us. Our lives are filled with things that need to be done. 

Sometimes the greatest accomplishment is simply stopping long enough to listen, to hear our inner child. This is something I’ve been struggling with for many months.

Birds-Seeking Peace & Purpose: Finding peace in nature.

Birds-Finding peace in nature
Birds-Finding peace in nature

Birds-Finding peace in nature: Poetry

The richness of red in a winter landscape
remembered as a child, they call them a soul
seeking attention,

a high pitched chip as I walk home
the realization of joy, is knowing
we’re never alone
so why do we feel so, alone

I’ve been fighting depression for all my life, in the last few months, it’s been a constant. Even while I was doing what I love, going places and exploring the road, depression kept a hold on me.

This morning, the chore of walking the dog introduced me to my young self, a need I might have overlooked, the simple act of listening to the birds finds peace. The next obstacle or summit is probably joy-that has more to do with God than nature.

I was seeking silence,
I was wanting joy, a familiar soul
in the sounds of birds among the trees
a small child I used to know

Birds-Finding peace in nature
Birds-Finding peace in nature

Back to the Canvas

Back to the Canvas

Today I remember why it’s difficult to pick up painting. Many of the images I’m working on  are from a while ago, they’ve been slowly forming and the original inspiration is a bit foreign at the moment. Today I got back to the canvas.

I tend to start painting by pushing paint instead of painting from inspiration, it is obvious to my subconscious when I am not painting from the right place.

An image becomes clearer when my strokes become autonomous, I don’t have to think about what goes where. Compositions tend to create themselves.

Today, was hit or miss for a while and I fell in and out of the zone. I worked on several paintings and finally got my stride but I realize I have to have my space in order before I start, getting into that subconscious state is interrupted by chaos and disorder, something my writing often benefits from.

I am continually exploring and learning about the creative experience and how the brain processes. As long as I’ve been doing this, it always intrigues me with periods of block and then intense inspiration.

First Published on 12/12/12: Sunflowers: Inspiration

Inspiration : Evening Sunflowers
Sunflowers on Fence
This is a large pastel inspired by the image of a single light illuminating an upstairs room at a nearby townhouse in Rowlett-actually the scene was pretty much unchanged only simplified.
I felt a feeling of haunting when I first saw it. I wanted the viewer to question the scene-who’s in the room?-there is a mystery about a window in the darkness. The sunflowers brings your attention in and lead your eye along the fence.
 
Sometimes images create themselves and all the artist does is capture what they see-parts of the scene are simplified or exaggerated for the effect and to control the eye of the viewer and how they perceive the scene.
What is obvious to the artist is not always what the viewer will see-they make their own impression from the image and hopefully a hint of what the artist inspiration remains in the final rendering.
 
Below is the second in the series, again a very large pastel. Each of these include plants that are my favorites in the garden, the sunflower and the passionvine-each are symbolic in their own right and although I don’t often paint flowers, the ones I choose tend to be significant to me-either I have them in my wildlife garden or they have a symbolic meaning to them.
The passionvine represents Christ, although there is nothing specifically religious about the bottom painting, I like the passionvine for its uniqueness and symbolism.
 
I still feel like both of these will probably be revamped as paintings. My initial image of the bottom pastel was originally darker and the passionvines stood out larger and more vibrant. I kind of got lost in the clouds, I will paint probably a smaller version of it with larger flowers, a less awkward smaller house and a late evening time frame.
The following images are more sunflower paintings that have been created since this initial group of paintings.

Blogger article on Sunflower Painting

Here are some photographs of the sunflowers, both in my garden and on the road.

Portraits: The Flyfisherman

Pensive

The Flyline

Flyfishernan
Pensive II

Study 2

I strive to capture not the whole image of portraiture but instead a glimpse of a moment, the snapshot to a spectator

What interested me was the light, how the shadows are the most important aspect of the image. I like backlit photography, it gives the subject a feeling of mystery.

I try to edit as little as I can as to not alter the moment. This series of photography shows the intensity and joy of the fisherman, an enthusiast absorbed in his art form.

2018_a Very Productive Year

 

 

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Original photography by artbygordon and text by artbygordon-image from Lake Ray Hubbard

It’s been a productive year but it’s also been very stressful. Chasing after your passion can be very intimidating, it is not the norm and it doesn’t fit into the stereotypical life.

Many times you are out on the limb but actually you are doing what you always said you would: daring to embrace the extraordinary life. The freedoms I have experienced this year have allowed me to find great bits of nature all around the DFW area.

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Puddle outside in April: Original photography by Artbygordon

2018 I feel like I have truly found my niche. Nature has always been my inspiration but I am find more options for not only the light interaction but abstract patterns. April brought the rain and I was out finding images to capture.

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Original photograph from Parkhill Prairie in Blue Ridge by Artbygordon

I have truly become a solo hiker and have spent much time finding excuses to go back to the places where I used to run insurance appointments. It is a liberating feeling to be able to photograph and explore alone and having much time to reflect on what exactly a photo by Artbygordon looks like.

I am increasing my interest in finding light in the bleakest days. There is no time or place where the richness of light speaks to me than when it is unexpected.

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I finally made it to the Frank Buck Zoo. I’ve also had many trips to Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, Parkhill Prairie, Sulphur River and the Caddo Grasslands in northeast Texas.

Every place I visit I find new nature subjects and learn more about their habits. I watched cliff swallows dig for mud on the sulphur river and watched them build their nests while I searched for fossil Belemites.

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Sulphur River from the river bottoms, original photography by artbygordon

This whole year has been a learning and growing experience for me, staying up to date with video, graphics and even 3D imaging, I continue to grow my craft while exploring avenues in Photography.

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I Illustrated my first children’s book with R.L. Clayton. I have also worked with a local leader to get her marketing materials for her new church she is gathering: It has truly been a blessing as I continue to grow my small but loyal group of clients.

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Ennis Bluebonnet Festival original photography by artbygordon

I got back to the Bluebonnet trails in Ennis and the bluebonnets were quite amazing. It’s amazing how many people go down to see the spectacle, the hardest task was not to let the people steal the show. It was a wonderful afternoon.

April and May were busy as I continued to work freelance while traveling to places to gather photography. The brand is growing and I am developing the look and feel of the site.

The one thing that has never changed and will never change is my interest and passion for nature. It is my solace and keeps me grounded. I am planning on traveling much more in 2019.

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