It may haver been a grey day outside, but my studio already naturally bright and chromatic was especially energetic this past Sunday afternoon as I was joined by four aspiring artists during my first of three Botanical Watercolor Workshops this spring/summer.
Just the day before, I had visited the opening day of the Downtown Des Moines Farmers’ Market to purchase not only the requisite veggies and herbs, but a bouquet of spring blooms for us to paint from life. Finally arranged in three small vases, the daffodils, tulips, and cherry blossoms were a natural fit in my botanically-decorated space as was the group seated around my large white Ikea table, paint brushes poised above paper.
It’s gratifying to be a part of making Mainframe function the way it was originally conceived to function. To not only collaborate with fellow artists within these walls, but also to open them up to the greater Des Moines community. And while the pandemic of the past two years has put a pause on some plans to build these connections, I’m hopeful moving forward I can use this space to not only fuel my own creativity, but that of others.
There is a reason I look forward to coming to work in my studio each and every day. Of course it’s an excuse to get out of my own home within which by afternoon I would be going stir crazy. But more than that, it’s to be surrounded by other artists. Even if I need to keep my door closed to power through a project, it’s with the knowledge that just across the hall someone else is painting, printing, photographing or spinning a pottery wheel. It’s a form of artistic osmosis that whether we know it at the time or not, all of us artists feed off of the creative energy of others. And it’s that energy which fuels the even bigger task of opening our spaces our artistic processes to a wider audience be it the creative curious or the artistic savant.
Like cultivating a garden building a community around art, takes time and care. It requires resources be it water or watercolor, spade, or paintbrush. In the end, it becomes a richer, more beautiful environment for the diverse collection of plants or rather people, that helped plant those first seeds.