I talked about how recently I have been reconnecting with myself. Who I am as a designer. Who I am as a Mom. Who I am as an artist. Who I am as a business owner. And who I am as a person. When you have spent years being everything for everyone else this can be hard to truly acknowledge what it is you want and need. It has been great connecting with other Mom’s and hearing their stories about mom life. And a huge shout out to Mom Life USA, I can’t wait for the t-shirts to show up! Thank you for asking me to be a part of your community and I look forward to rocking some super cool clothes!

The one theme that I have heard from all of the Mom’s that I have been talking to is the huge amount of guilt that we share when we aren’t doing something. That if we have five minutes that aren’t scheduled we should be doing something for the kids, cleaning dishes, vacuuming the house, strategizing how to grow our businesses, meal prep and planning or doing laundry. Sound familiar? This past week taking time for just me felt weird. I missed my kids terribly but I also found a person that had been long gone. I had moments where I did nothing. Yup absolutely nothing. But the big thing I did was take in all that was around me. I enjoyed going through art galleries. The Susan Swartz gallery was amazing. She has had her work all over the world including in international embassies. It inspired me to continue with different techniques in my painting.

Although I studied painting in college I focused more on design, printmaking and sculpture so I know many techniques but had not practiced many. The time away and my explorations drove me to experiment with impasto techniques. Many people know this style of painting from Van Gogh. But this style was used back in the time of Titian and Rubens. The translation simply means to apply thick paint. Often the paint is applied with a palette knife and as modern art became more and more popular the impasto technique became a requirement in the painting community. Modern art took on the idea that the brush strokes and texture created in the medium could and did convey feeling and the artists response to a subject. So for me creating pieces in the impasto style was about connecting more and more to myself. The energy and excitement that came from tapping into who I am as an artist had me create three new pieces since my return.

Working an impasto style painting is invigorating and therapeutic. Working with the thick paint felt like I was creating a sculpture on canvas. Each layer upon layer was like laying down part of my soul, connecting with the medium and the colors. I got such an understanding of why the modernist painters felt that one had to use the impasto technique to truly connect with their work. The ability to manipulate the light and depth through the technique is fantastic. The paintings feel like living breathing works. I believe I will continue with this impasto series and continue to explore how emotions and part of me mix with each piece. One thing I have learned, although I am putting part of me onto every canvas I actually feel more whole than every before. The connection I am finding in painting again is connecting myself to who I am in all parts of my life.

If any of my pieces connect with you they can be purchased on on Etsy site. Yup I re-activated the Etsy site I started back in 2012. Who knows you might start to see some of my handmade jewelry come back onto the site. Making necklaces for the strawberry festival got me itching to make some more pieces. etsy.com/shop/artfulconceptionsllc