ABOUT CLEARING THE WAY

Hey guys.. it's Loren here.  I want to share a painting I have done recently.  It is called 'Clearing the way'  24 x 36 and acrylic on canvas.

'Clearing the way' is something we all have to do at different points in out lives when life just takes up too much space in our mind.   It also is necessary to do when we feel overwhelmed or bogged down with the 'stuff'  we take on even though we don't want to.  For me, it means moving things out of the way that are not important or needed to live a rewarding and fufiling life.  Getting things into focus is another way for me to clear the way.. Finding the right path or the right journey to take helps me to get rid of the things I don't need anymore, It also feels good to have a laser like focus that just makes all the stuff on the sides no longer to be important. I think that's what this painting is about for me. 

What about you?  Do you need to move things aside that are bogging you down?  Leave a comment if you would like to?  Cheers  

NEW PAINTING WEB BLOG UPDATES TO SITE

Hey guys... I wanted to let everyone know that I have set up a new web/blog as an addition to my current blog, so I could have more features to offer to my readers. (you can visit the web/blog here or go up to WEB in the tabs bar)   I also made changes and updates to my painting blog.  It is easier to navigate and smoother getting around.  Come on over and take a peek at the new site and see how well it works.  I am quite happy, as I have set everything up by myself and think I did a pretty good job! 

 

I am still on Blogger and I realize eventually I will have to move to Wordpress to set up my new ecommerce shop however for now, I am still at the same place.  I have been working on a site on Wordpress and I am finding it very challenging.  I started a template on Wordpress however, it was giving me all kinds of problems.  I also could not find a template that I liked.  I really liked the one I have on Blogger, so I thought I would rework my blog and set up a web/blog that I really was happy with.

 

Please click around and see how you like this new update.  I am curious to know what you think? I also am curious if you have set up Wordpress and your eperiences with it?

 

Cheers,

Loren

SAYING GOODBYE TO DINING ROOM AND MOVING INTO THE NEW STUDIO

Heys guys... I am so excited to tell you that I have finally made the move from my Dining room into my new porch/studio after a year in the works.  I have moved almost everything into the new studio and sealed with a kiss by moving my wooden easel into it!  Last night was my first day painting in it and I have to say it was 'heaven'!  I had my supplies and my music...and I was so relaxed and calm.

NEW HANDSEWN CURTAINS ON FOUR WINDOWS

Even though I am so excited about the new move, I have to say that I felt a twinge of sadness when I was carrying things out of the Dining room.  It was a slow moving feeling, a quite sadness that I felt rising up in me every time I'd move something from room to room. I was experiencing a sense of loss and I realized that I was going to have to say 'goodbye' to the dining room experience just like saying 'goodbye' to a relationship that changes. Even though the Dining room did not really meet my needs and it didn't feel like a real working studio, I still had a part of me that was connected to it because I spent a lot of time in there. I will not miss it, but I will certainly remember working in it. It's strange how we humans are connected oddly to our 'stuff' and in many ways.  We know ourselves by the 'stuff' we surround ourselves with and the places we spend our time. 

SOME STUFF FOR THE NEW STUDIO AND PAINTING THE CEILING
AS WELL AS PREPAIRING FOR LANDSDALE ART FAIR

PINK AND GREEN DRESSER IN NEW STUDIO SPACE

TOP VIEW OF NEW PINK & GREEN DRESSER

CLOSE UP VIEW OF FRONT OF PINK AND GREEN DRESSER

I had so much stuff in the Dining room ( and still do)  and it no way will fit in my new studio.  Being the collector of supplies and 'stuff to make stuff out of '.   I have a lot of supplies that I will have to find some other place to store my 'stuff '.   I always plopped my stuff down on the pink dresser when I came in the door from classes etc.   Now after I resurfaced it, it is cleared off on top and it looks great.  I painted it and decoupaged/ mixed mediaed it (not sure if that is a word? Well, I'll make it a word!) and the new dresser really makes me happy when I look at it.  I am now working on a trunk for the studio to put my paper and mixed media stuff in.  I'll show photos when I complete it. 

So, as I have mentioned, I feel a little sad making the move into a new studio enviroment, I am so excited to finally be moving all my 'stuff' into it. Well, most of it anyway.  I am really going to like this new space because I designed how I wanted it to function in my mind so many times.  Palette on the right and paints on the left.  Everything on wheels.  Must have wheels. 

 I will keep you updated to let you know if moving to a studio space really is that different or not.  I will post some pictures when I get them to show how my studio is working for me.  Please leave a comment if you would like about your experience of moving your 'art stuff' into a studio space.  I would love to hear what you have to offer.

Cheers, 

Loren

QUESTIONING CHALLENGES AND BRAVERY

' CHUNKY, CHUNKY GIRL'    oil on canvas  2010  30x40  (c) Loren Fidalgo 2010

Every time I look at this painting it just cracks me up!  I don't know why I painted it and what the inspiration was, but I just love it.( Possibly, I will do an 'on my easel' and talk about what I THINK it is about?)  I thought this painting would be a good lead in to this post since she surely looks like she has something going on and is a little flirty with her winking eye. I know she is somewhat fearless but that is not totally what I was feeling when I put the paint on the canvas and so I ask "why"? "Why is she fearless?" She looks as if she is so free and easy going and that is definetly the place we all would like to be.  Well, maybe some of us? For me it has been a little bit challenging to be totally fearless but it's getting better especially these in past few weeks and months.
My journey the last few months has been an interesting one. I have been feeling a little more uncertain and unsure and have lost some faith about some aspects of my life and the direction I am going in than I usually do.  For those who do not know, about 6 years ago, a huge 10lb. ceramic vase came flying down onto my head in the Ceramics class I was taking and changed my life forever.   After chatting with my friend Jill the other day about this accident experience, l have been thinking a lot about the vase that fell on my head 6 years ago and how it has impacted me, my decisions, my preferences, my needs and my passions  (read more about head injury here and here )   I still do not know whether the head injury I developed had really influenced my desires and my calling into painting and mixed media.  Actually, I had been doing various kinds of art since childhood so it might have just been random?   But this change seemed different in it's flavor and intensity. I do know that I have not looked back to the life I had before. Since then I have slowly but certainly become more open, more free and more uninhibited than I ever was before the vase fell on my head.  Before the accident,  I felt I somewhat closed, isolated and wanting to be alone a lot.  I guess I was introverted and a little shy and I felt that venturing out was a scary and challenging thing for me to do.  Now I feel so free, I am being 'brave' and wanting to express myself so intensely and even more than I did when I first began painting.  I have become much more social and needing that 'girlfriend experience'  more often.  Friends are so important to me and making them seems effortless and joyful now.  Oh, how much has changed.  I have more courage than I used to.  Confidence in my work and my direction is still a little bit shaky, but it is also getting better everyday, as well.  I just look at things differently now.  There was a 'shift', a 'snap', a 'pop' in my psyche after the injury that I still can not explain.  Not knowing whether I suffered any damaged really is a curious thing for me to ponder.  I ask myself often, "why have I changed?  Where in my brain did I change? Why have my desires and my artistic interests changed so dramatically? Why did my life change creatively and socially?"

I think I will forever wonder what happened to me that day in 2008?  I will always contemplate if painting and mixed media was a calling as a result from the head injury or just a mere coincidence or odd happening that was bound to come out some time and reveal itself to me any how.  The question still remains?  I think this painting 'Chunky, Chunky Girl' is possibly about letting yourself go and shedding old skin.  Maybe it's about a way of saying,  "Hey there.  I see you and you see me?" Maybe it's about revealing ourselves to ourselves and to others and feeling more vulnerable when we do it?  Maybe it's about stepping forward and being who you truly are, chunky or not chunky and naked or not naked?  But in the end of this post, I have come to think that this painting is about totally about 'bravery'.  Brave that we put ourselves out there and that we don't really know what will come back to us.  So that is where I will leave it for now, 'CHUNKY GIRL' is about being BRAVE.

If you have encountered any experience like mine or just want to comment about being brave, , please leave a message? I would love to hear from you.  I have heard other people having a similar thing happen to them and I would love to know how many there are out there? 

Thanks for reading my post.
Cheers,
Loren

NEW LOGO + BUSINESS CARD DESIGN

Hi there.  I wanted to give you a peek at my new logo and business card design.  I am so excited to have finally completed it and it is ready to be given out to the world!

I wanted this card design to coordinate with my blog, my Facebook site and my etsy shop, so I used the same painting that is on my etsy banner and my Facebook cover page.

The cards fold in half and I decided to print them myself so I could create them with a fold and blank inside.  The inside is white and is for jotting down notes and info. that someone might want to remember.  Possibly, the might want to jot down a painting that they liked or wanted to purchase. (that would be an awesome use of my card)!

The front of the card has my new logo and very little type. I wanted to keep it simple since the painting is detailed.  On the back, I added my blog address, etsy shop, email and Facebook site. Lots of information.  Now with social media and the internet there is so much info to put on one little card.

Back in the day, when I first designed my logo and business cards and letterhead stationery, there wasn’t as much info to fit on a small card.  I have been trying to track down a copy of my first card and logo, but no luck yet.  When I do, I will post it on my blog.  You will get a glimpse of where I was at at that time and where I am now.

Thanks for looking at my business card design and new logo.  Please feel free to leave feedback, it’s greatly appreciated.!

Live life!

Loren

I AM IN HEAVEN FRIENDSHIP AND NEW STUDIO NEWS

Rebecca and Neurida

It's 5:00 in the morning and I am still up!  I am thinking about all that happened yesterday and I am reflecting about the wonderful day I had and how I shared it with two really great friends, Rebecca and Neurida.  We planned a day of painting outdoors at my home. First time doing this.  Well, the weather was great, however there was too much wind so we decided to take it in indoors. The three of us moved my wicker furniture and porch stuff out of the way, in the corner.  We opened a big table, Rebecca selected her zone with a table top easel (love those!).  Neurida selected the other corner of the table for her palette of paint, and I fit so nicely with my easel into the corner of the porch. We were packed in, almost too close for comfort,however none of us cared.  It was thankfully just right. I opened all the shutter doors on the windows and let the beautiful light in. We were all comfortable in our zones and we began painting and talking and painting and chatting and then some more painting and discussing and on we went.  The conversation was effortless and so meaningful. I don't remember when I had such great conversation with my friends. When Rebecca and Neurida had to head back to center city Philly, we were all disappointed that the day had to end.  They both shared that they had an awesome time and we had to do it again really, really soon!

When my friends left I found myself still full of energy and inspiration.  I continued to paint in the porch and as I put the brush to the canvas, my mind started to expand and I had a revelation.  I decided then that I wanted to move my studio out of the dining room and into the porch. This was big.  I mean really big. A bridge was being crossed, meaningless thoughts were becoming a plan and I was elated. The porch was always out of my option range. When my husband Paul came home, I told him that I was joyful and happy and I would like to move my zone into the porch.  He was skeptical at first but then he saw all the benefits, such as reclaiming our dining room!  Here the porch was there all along just waiting for me to see it for what it is and it's potential. I was not able to see the benefits to using the space to my advantage. I was closed off to seeing the possibilities. Having my friends over to my home to paint and talk about the 'human condition' as I call it, was the best thing I have done for my soul personally and creatively in more years than I can express here and now.  A door was opened yesterday for me and I walked through it. I opened my heart and let the light in.  I felt like I was in heaven!

NEURIDA's painting-------REBECCA'S painting--------MY abstract painting
See the wicker furniture in the background!!!  Close quarters.

Thank you to my friends Rebecca and Neurida for helping me to see the person I am becoming and the person I hope to be.  Even more, thanks for reawakening the person I used to be. Mostly thank you for trusting in me to share your heart and souls. I love you guys!