In Process

 

This post is something I do not usually write about. However, after viewing one of my friends' posts which was about showing others your artistic process, I thought why not show my process? Why is the final piece more important than the process?  I think for me ,  I don't want people to see the process as in my eyes it is not finished and there is something very vulnerable about  showing an art work that is in process. It is like showing part of my inner thoughts, my personal space, a rough part, a part that is not yet fully formed.

Recently, I have started to seriously get back to some artistic work, trying to find time and space to create has been difficult .Two children at your heels wanting to use your oil paints will cause that to happen but life never has an appropriate time to create. We just have to create within the chaos. There is something nice about still being able to create within the hustle and bustle of life. Having short bursts of expression is better than having no bursts of expression.

I was researching cairns, you know a pile of stones at the top of a mountain. I wondered, what was the purpose of piling stones on top of one another? I read somewhere that one of the reasons was  before a battle soldiers would carry a stone up the hill and make a cairn. If the soldiers survived they would take their stone back down and leave the remaining stones as a memorial to the soldiers who died. It then led me to think that all of us have battles in life to overcome, all of us have a mountain to climb at times. I asked the question, what do I stand on during a battle? I stand on who God says He is, His names, His attributes. He is who helps me through the storms and the mountains and makes me victorious. I climb the mountain to meet with Him, like so  many people literally do. They climb mountains to be close to God. So I decided  to make a cairn with the names and attributes of God written on them. I don't quite know what it will look like or what I will do with it when I am finished but I am having fun in the process.

Here are some of the stones that I have done so far. You can also keep track of my process on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jaclyn-stuart-art/148950058478611?fref=ts. Please like my page.