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Imagine With Art Newsletter
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I welcome your comments!
susan@imaginewithart.com
707-824-8163
Table of Contents:
Surrealism/Muse Group
Workshops
Art Play Technique
Muse Book
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 Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying your summer! At my home it's been a fine time to hang out with my
two boys (young men) home on summer vacation, and raise some new baby chicks.
As for painting, what better subject matter than chickens! I'm painting them in every style that comes to mind and challenges the brush. They'll all appear on the blog for viewing and some will be on display as collectible art at ARTrails Open Studios coming up this October.
On my European trip last month I was deeply impacted by buildings of Antoni Gaudi, the
outrageous theatre art of Salvador Dali, and the paintings of
Toulouse-Lautrec in particular.I have a host of new ideas to try out and to share with students. If you haven't already seen
my
quick color sketches and travel stories, it's all there in the June and July blog
postings.
In this issue you'll find some insights gleaned from art "Musing" in a group and an Art Play technique inspired by Dali right out of Surrealism's treasure chest.
Cheers,
Susan
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Surrealism and the Muse Group
Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be the shackles limiting our vision.
-Salvador Dali
In working with students in my Muse groups I've noticed that they are generally concerned about being well prepared for the group. It's good to be prepared with paints and brushes and paper and mediums for gluing collage. But the Muse group is different from ordinary art classes because it's mostly about inviting a spontaneous opening of the door to creative expression. And the element of SURPRISE is one of the keys. When our mind is momentarily astonished, shocked, stunned or amazed, we drop into our hearts where we can hear the voice of the Muse and access a different sort of
information.
How can we create that element of surprise? By employing some of the techniques used by the surrealists. We juxtapose objects that normally are not found together by finding them in a pile of collage images or by imagining a face or object in a paint blob. We place things in a setting where they are usually not found - a tiger in a bathtub, a starfish replacing a head on a body. We draw things that change into other things as we draw so that we see bodies in mountains and humans with fish feet.
When I was in Spain I visited the Salvador Dali Theatre Museum in Figueres and was transported into the world of dream vision, of the weird and wondrous. I was surprised by how at home I felt in that surrealistic environment and recognized that it was a supreme opportunity to view the process of the creative mind. In one of his phases Dali used random ink splats to trigger his metaphorical mind, developing them with watercolor, collage, and word. The viewer gets pulled in immediately, accepting the strange altered reality of the surreal image.
In the Muse Groups we operate in much the same way using seemingly random ink and paint marks to trigger ideas and develop them with textures and images and words. We are constantly surprising ourselves and each other with the raw "truth" of this form of expression.
If you're game, give it a try this month with the Art Play technique below. Try a Muse group for yourself or read Conversations With the Muse: The Art Journal as Inner Guide.
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Imagine With Art Workshops
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Monthly Muse Groups
Saturday Muses: New Session registering now!
Dates: Sept 11, Oct 2, Nov 6, Dec 4, Jan 8, Feb 5
Time: 10am-2:30pm
Location: The Studio in the Orchard, North Sebastopol
Cost: $240
To register email Susan.
Sunday Muses: New Session registering now!
Dates: Sept 12, Oct 3, Nov 7, Dec 5, Jan 9, Feb 6
Time: 10am-2:30pm
Location: The Studio in the Orchard, North Sebastopol
Cost: $240
To register email Susan.
A weekly Muse Group and fall workshops to be announced soon! Let me know of your interests and feel free to check my website for updates.
Comments from recent Muse Group students:
I am now working in my visual journals using a wider range of mediums with more courage and enthusiasm. This is the best class I've taken in many years. -S.J.
You put lots of heart and soul into these groups and you have created such a warm supportive atmosphere in which to learn. -Suzanne
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Art Play: Surrealistic Drawing
Try your hand at drawing from the imagination, and mix it up by juxtaposing objects which don't normally belong together. Place them in settings where they don't normally belong. Draw things that seem to turn into other things or change in strange ways. It's a bit like doodling or day dreaming with a pencil or pen in your hand and yields some really intriguing results.
Draw either a face or a full body where every feature is taken from a different object, such as food, musical instruments, furniture, building parts, animals, or everyday objects. Create a dream scape context for your dreamfigure. Then paint it in colors that seem to "fit".
You don't have to wax your mustache and carry a cane to make outrageously expressive and fun art!
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Conversations With The Muse: The Art Journal As Inner Guideby Susan CornelisIn this book I share my art journals and the personal revelation and healing which is cultivated through this process. The reader is guided through the steps including: accessing a quiet state of mind, translating inner feelings and visions
to paper, employing a wide array of painting and collage techniques,
and writing expressively to reap vibrant meaning from the images
appearing in this spontaneous manner. The colorful images, materials,
techniques, and written words combine for a rich feast for the
imagination.
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That's it for now. Have a happy, artsy summertime!
Cheers,
Susan
Susan Cornelis
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