Pondering Pissarro

With the same fervor as Monet and Van Gogh, Camille Pissarro has captured my imagination with his unique style and perspective.  He is well known for making significant contributions to Impressionism and Post-Impressionism as he influenced the likes of Renoir, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. While his accomplishments are monumental, I find myself drawn to his work because of his emphasis on finding beauty in unexpected places.  His focus on simple subjects, rather than ornate is refreshing and asks the viewer to look beyond the obvious.

Self-Portrait (1903), Camille Pissarro

In the National Gallery of London, I was mesmerized by a Pissarro painting, (The Côte des Bœufs at L’Hermitage, 1877), not only due to its sheer beauty, but the epiphany it brought.  For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawn to Impressionist painters, but I never fully understood why they effected me so deeply.  Monet and Van Gogh always conjure an emotional bubble that often translates into inexplicable tears, while Renoir and Degas soothe the edges of my soul with their graceful images.

While sitting on a bench at the National Gallery and soaking in Pissarro’s brush strokes, I started to ask myself why Impressionism speaks to me with so much force. At first, I mused how Impressionist paintings seem to depict what the world looks like through the rain – my favorite kind of weather.  Whether it be a field of flowers through a water-streamed window or the streets of Paris caught in a downpour, the scene is blurred and refracted.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that was just a small part of the puzzle.  I strolled through the Impressionist wing of the museum, absorbing the likes of Monet, Renoir, and Seurat, until the answer slowly started to materialize.

These “blurry” paintings allow for imagination.  Mood and atmosphere are created by the artist, but the individual viewer gets to decide the story and the minute details.  Prior to Impressionism, the goal was to create as much realism as possible. The artist strived to portray everything with immaculate detail and gave the viewer little to do but look.  While amazing accomplishments, (and really quite beautiful) there is no room to wonder.  My creative spirit needs to play with the images I see and fill in the blanks.

Pissarro is often viewed as a father figure to Impressionism, so it seems fitting that one of  his paintings should lead to a new understanding of my admiration for the genre.  Below, I’ve put together a small slideshow that includes some of my favorite Pissarro paintings, including the painting that triggered my epiphany.

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Impressionists gave tradition a total make-over.  Free will became part of each painting with as much emphasis as color and subject matter.  The combination is intoxicating and explains why I lose myself so easily in the blurred edges of reality.

What kind of art speaks to you and why?

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All images courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

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c.b. 2012

Wreck This Journal: Blank

Sometimes the hardest thing to do is nothing.  There is a page in Wreck This Journal that says, “Leave this page blank on purpose.”  It’s driving me nuts.

Oh, the possibilities!

Leave it blank?  Why put it in the journal if it has no purpose?  There’s nothing on the other side of the page, either!  For a doer such as myself, this was difficult to accept.  There I was with my tools of destruction at the ready and Keri Smith was asking me to leave them alone and do nothing.  My muse was ready to pop a gasket!

My fingers twitched as I considered the blank page in front of me.  I wanted to color in the letters – a pattern of green, blue, and purple – and I almost did it.  Then, it occurred to me that I was looking at this all wrong.  Instead of fighting the notion of nothing, I should be embracing it.

This is a big epiphany for a self-admitted busy body who has trouble letting an hour go by without filling it with some task, whether it be writing, creating, teaching, gardening, pondering, wondering, running, reading, watching movies, etc.  If any moment is filled with nothing, I feel like I’ve wasted something I can’t get back.  It took a stark page to get me to realize doing nothing is not the same as being lazy or wasting a moment.

Creativity isn’t about crossing things off a Wreck This Journal “to-do” list, but rather pitching the list altogether.  A page left untouched leaves the idea of possibilities infinitely open.  The same is true for an unfinished collage or a poem missing the last line.  Possibilities are in plentiful supply  if we slow down enough and regard them with patience.  Doing nothing is sometimes better than writing a thousand lines of words just to hit a word count goal or adding something to a painting just to call it done.  Sometimes doing nothing is what leads to the ultimate end.

My empty page still gives me an itch to color, bend, rip, or crumple, but it remains pristine. Meanwhile, my imagination continues to conjure new ways to wreck that page.  Every time I come across these instructions, I am reminded that without an empty canvas we have no reason to fill it.

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For previous Wreck This Journal posts please visit my tag cloud and sidebar. Stay inspired!

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c.b. 2012

I Knew It!

My brain really is out to get me! Or at the very least mess with me until I go completely insane.

I saw this last night and thought it was so funny.  Especially, since I just read a passage in Jonah Lehrer’s book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, that explains how creative brain activity hits a peak right before sleep.  So, I guess there’s an actual scientific reason why I keep a notebook (or four) on my nightstand.

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c.b. 2012

Wreck This Journal: Ignite The Spark

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always imagined a little spark inside of me.  It flickers, smolders, and flares to life depending on the mood of my creativity.  Sometimes it needs a little kindling, but never once has it gone out. As I continue to embark on the journey of an aspiring writer, it’s become even more important to me to keep that spark ignited and let my imagination burn wild with possibilities.

This week’s Wreck This Journal page was one of the first I completed because it reminded me of my spark.  The directions instructed me to “Burn this page.” Once I got past my aversion to setting any part of a book on fire, I grabbed a box of matches out of the pantry and got to work.  The idea was to simply add a few little burn marks, to give the page a weathered look, like it had been on the outer reaches of a forest fire, (as usual my imagination had created an entire back story).   What I failed to remember is that paper is highly flammable and the moment I put the match to the edge, the whole page erupted with a brilliant flame!  It was terrifying . . . and absolutely beautiful.  The flame’s vibrant color and warmth made it feel like my spark was right in front of me rather than just inside of me.  Although totally necessary,  it was sad to put out the fire and turn it into a cloud of smoke, (I promise I’m not a pyro).

To keep the flame alive, I drew and colored some flames around the burned edges.  Then, I glued down the matchstick that started the fire.  I wish I could take credit for the matchbook, but that is Keri Smith’s handiwork. I can, however, take credit for giving it color and adding glitter to the flame on the cover.

My spark shows up just about everywhere in the journal, but the scarred edges of this page serve as an autobiography for a fire that just won’t go out.

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Previous Wreck This Journal Posts:

Letting Go

Keep Reaching

c.b. 2011

Wreck This Journal: Keep Reaching

Sometimes the simplest things can lead to the biggest realizations.  About halfway through Wreck This Journal, there’s page that says: Trace your hand.  I was instantly reminded of the “hand turkeys” I drew while in grade school and I thought it would be fun to make another one . . . or two.  I couldn’t resist tracing both hands!

What I didn’t expect was to see so much hiding in the silhouette I had created. The stark black outline made my hands seem so meek and insignificant, even though I knew better. They aren’t just flesh and bone, but rather a symbol of the fact that big things can come out of tiny packages.  All I need to do is believe.

A realization like this calls for something much more significant than a turkey.  So, I pulled out a box of crayons, my quote journal, and a set of stamps.  I was on a mission to make my hands look exactly how they feel to me as a writer and an (always trying) artist.  Before I knew it, the page exploded with color:

The background is supposed to be the sun on the horizon (either at sunset or sunrise, which happen to be my two favorite times of the day).  To switch things up I drew the sky onto my hands as a way to remind myself the sky’s the limit and I can put it wherever I like in my imagination.   The quotes I chose for my palms come from Langston Hughes and Vincent Van Gogh, both of whom I greatly admire. They are an amazing source of motivation to pick up that pen and keep writing, even when the inner critic is whispering in my ear.

Writing and creativity are all about reaching beyond what is possible. Giving up is not an option, even when faced with boundaries and people saying “you can’t.”  The human spirit is a powerful force . . . as long as we keep reaching.

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Previous Wreck This Journal:

Letting Go

c.b. 2011