Kid Draws on Wall Decides Anything is Possible

First Childhood, 12x12" oil on panel

Will be featured at Fountainhead Gallery Solo Show this August

Kid Draws on Wall Decides Anything is Possible



Most kids get in big trouble when they draw on the walls. Mom sees her living room wall covered with kid scribbles and scrabbles and wants to grab the culprit by the scruff of the neck and throw them in their room for a decade. What a mess that kid made. How can she not know better?

But what about the parent who tells the kid to go ahead and draw on the wall? I was about ten or so and remember looking at houses and wondering why on earth they didn’t paint their exteriors in a more interesting way? Look at that huge blank canvas. If that was my house, I’d paint flowers all over it or a jungle or an ocean with a bobbing boat. I was quite impressed when I did see a house once with a diagonal line from top to bottom corners and the top half was white and the bottom half was black. Now this is really cool, I thought, to my fifth grade self.

My dad, after I bugged him for some time, finally said that I could paint on one wall of the garage. Anything I want, I asked? Sure, anything you want. Fill it up. My imagination went wild. I could picture that wall with a huge Peter Max-like designs or maybe the word Flower-Power in cool, psychedelic lettering (it was the 70's, mind you). My mind had big ideas but my reality couldn’t make it happen. I didn’t know anything about drawing out an idea on paper, how to transfer out a small paper design to a big wall or even how to actually paint the thing. Painting with four colors at the school’s easel was all the experience I had BUT even though my scribbles on that garage wall never looked like much, the fact that my dad said I could go for it was huge. It said to me, you can do anything.

Looking back on my growing up years, there were lots of times my folks gave me carte blanch to make my own decisions and live with them. They weren't the kind of parents who took away the paring knife in frustration from little hands and said Let me show you how that’s done and then proceeded to do it all. All that says is that the parent is the big knowledgeable one and the kid can’t figure it out themselves. I think that’s key; letting kids figure out things for themselves. Give them leeway- give them a whole wall and they’ll  feel they can do it all.

 

If you like looking at paintings, visit www.joanneshellan.com . Or come visit them in person at my next big show at Fountainhead Gallery in Seattle which opens August 10th.

Finding Art

"Behind Bars"

Oil on 24x24in panel by Joanne Shellan

This painting will be featured in a solo show at Fountainhead Gallery, Seattle WA

Show dates Aug.8 - Sept. 1, 2013

Finding Art

Where do you go to look at art? I know where to go to get good literature- a library or bookstore. For an art film or play, I go to the theatre. And there are piles of reviews by professionals to help me make good choices. For all these arty things that I consume, I know where to go. But where do I go to look at or buy art?

Museums are the place to go for art that has made it to the top. That’s where the top of the heap art lives. Art Fairs are fun places to buy less expensive and decorative pieces of art. Art Galleries used to be THE place in town to go buy art with the help of a professional who has read the reviews and knows how to build an art collection This past recession has been especially hard on art galleries. People often buy new art when they change houses. No buying and selling of houses means less art purchased. Another hit the galleries are taking is that art is sold on-line now in great quantities.

 

But the brick and mortar galleries that are still left standing are the ones you need to visit. They're the ones with owners who care deeply about art, who have done the work to know who’s a flash-in-the pan what’s here to stay. They enjoy the new ideas that their bevy of artists bring to them. These stanchions of the art world are still the novice and expert’s art guide; they can lead buyers to the right artist at the right price range and find a piece of art that will be loved for a lifetime. They help people start and grow art collections. Make friends with a gallery owner.

It’s fun to buy art on-line or at an art fair but if you want guidance from a professional, go visit your nearest reputable art gallery.

Alla Prima- what's that?

Daisy Duke, oil on 9x11" panel, $490

I'm working on lots of smaller paintings now for my final surge of work for the Fountainhead Gallery show in August. It's such a joy to work smaller after doing larger pieces that take three weeks to complete. These little ones are much quicker and are a lot more fun to work on. I do them Alla Prima which is a style of painting where you work wet-into-wet so you have to complete it in one session. Wet-into-wet means the paint is always wet so if you want to mix the paint, you push harder with your brush to dig into the layer below or if you want the paint to lie on top of that last stroke, you place it lightly with the end of the brush. When done right, those top strokes can be exciting and fresh.

Working towards a show is a good way to keep you in focus. I tend to bounce around with subject matter but a show means staying cohesive and working within the confines of a theme. On the other hand, the show is up for barely a month and it takes a whole year for me to completel a dozen works that are show quality so it's a big investment.

Fountainhead Gallery is a really lovely gallery up on Queen Anne hill in Seattle. Please put August 10th on your calendar for the opening night. If you would like an invitation in your email in-box, go to my website's guest book and sign in. Meanwhile, as they say in the business, keep your brush wet!

 

Be in the Know!

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We took the nicest walk on Mother's Day to a nature preserve on Fir Island. The water is Sammish Bay. Hmmm...I wonder if that's where the oysters I ate that day came from? 

No doubt some paintings will be born from this glorious day.

 When you choose a subject matter that is meaningful to you, your paintings come out singing.  

 

I have a big show coming up in August at Fountainhead Gallery in Seattle, WA and I still need some small works for the show. Can hardly wait to get in the studio!

 

Check out my website.....I've been working on it all day adjusting the site for PayPal.

Anyone care to try the Buy Now button?

 

Take a Peep at changing Horses

Take a Peep at Changing Horses

Oh, were life a straight line with few curves. You would just slip into a ready-made road and stay on it. Perhaps a bit boring but certainly easier.

I have a show coming up in two months at the beautiful Fountainhead Gallery in Queen Anne in Seattle (opens August 10, 2013) and I still need to create work for a grouping of smaller pieces. I took a workshop last weekend and felt a real ah-ha moment when I realized that the labored, three week paintings I've been painting the last couple of years are now making me dread going into my studio. Pay attention, self! In the workshop, we painted alla prima which means creating an oil painting all in one day in a single painting session. This is the style that drew me, weak at the knees, into the world of oil painting. You've heard that old saying,  you can't change horses mid-stream....that's where I'm at right now. I really have to stay in this current style for this show.

Now I'm not so dumb that I can't figure out how to incorporate these new ideas into the old style and that's what I'll do. And most artists change styles many times in their lifetime. Think of Picasso's blue period. He had years of pursuing one way of putting paint on a canvas and then moved into an entirely new style. Not that I'm Picasso, mind you.

What we all need to do when the road starts curving and takes us by surprise is set groaning aside, clarify what's happening,  say some positive affirmations to oneself, and get moving in that new direction.

So down to the studio with positive thoughts. Hope your day is full of positive thoughts too. Be kind to yourself. And please write August 10th on your calendar so you can come and peep at my new paintings along with the Peeps in the photo!

Artists Who Repeat Themselves-- Can you Say that AGain, Please?

 

 

 

Artists Who Repeat Themselves---can you say that again, please?

                I find it so interesting how artists seem to repeat themselves over and over with their subject matter. It’s like the artist is saying the same thing 100 times only saying it slightly differently. The first time, it’s “Oooh, I love their gestures.” The next time, she says, “Isn’t it interesting how the light falls on their different shapes?” And the next time she says, “I wonder what’s going on behind them?” Each time the artist paints what interests her and to her, it’s a whole new focus. It seems like a new idea to the artist and probably looks new to the viewer too but if you step back far enough, way back so you can see their whole body of work from when they first picked up a paintbrush until today and you analyzed it, you will see repeating themes. And you might even be able to find some Big Meanings in that work.

But most artists won’t know what the major themes are in their work.

                It’s the nature of the beast. An artist is so close to their work, their noses are stuck to the canvas, the writer to his computer screen. They can no more see their whole body of work and find the major themes than become an astronaut in space.  It’s like looking in a mirror and never being about to truly see how we look to others. We’re simply not very objective when it comes to seeing ourselves. Charlie Brown says to Lucy, after one of her long tirades of how much she likes everything about herself, “If you like yourself too much, don’t you think you’re liable to get a little conceited?” to which Lucy replies, “Don’t be silly, you can’t like yourself too much!” Well Lucy, you can. I think we artists adore each of our little strokes so much that we often fail to see the whole painting just as we fail to see how our body of work is a series of repeating themes.

                And that’s okay. Writers need to simply keep writing and painters need to keep painting and we shouldn’t worry about repeating themes. We should worry about the one painting we’re working on now and how can we make it the very best piece we’ve ever painted. Someone else can do the interpreting, should that ever need to happen. I still find it interesting and like to look at other artists to try to see their themes. But I leave the mirrors in my studio covered. My job is to focus on what’s on my easel.

 

 

 

 

    

 



Turning Over a New Leaf

 

Turning Over a New Leaf



 

Turning over a new leaf usually means switching to something new or changing course. For some, the time for this fresh start naturally falls in the fall. We're done playing outdoors in the summer sun and find it's time to come indoors and see what needs doing. Kids are back in school, the chilly morning air feels energizing, and when we finally come inside, we see heaps and piles just begging for some of your time and attention.

Autumn is the season that really feels like the beginning of a new year to me. New Year's means resolutions and resolutions means looking for solutions to old problems. I recently read part of a book called, "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard" by Chip and Dan Heath, two highly educated brothers who have thought long and hard about what is going on in our brains when we want change that we know is right but we can't quite get done. They look at the emotional and rational parts of our brain and analyze how they compete to get us to do what they want. I found it all quite fascinating. Filled with lots of compelling stories about changes, big and small that made real differences in the world, the book's point on looking for bright spots made a real impact on me. What they mean is look for what is working, those are the bright spots, and do more of that. Pretty simple, huh?

I see the path I want to be on but how do I get there? Where exactly do I really want to go? Sometimes it's hard to define the exact problem. Clarification comes from many different sources. I find clarity by talking with friends and writing. Sometimes you hit on a few sentences in a story or article that seems tailor made to describe your situation. Or you're at the gym, generating sweat and have a sudden epiphany about your current struggles.

This fall will bring us a major US election as well as new paintings and writings, new subjects to learn, new jobs to start, new people to meet. Where are your bright spots and how can you make more of them? What path has leaves on it that need turning over? I’ll leave you with this quote, “Solvitur ambulando, St. Jerome was fond of saying. To solve a problem, walk around. ~Gregory McNamee

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

Things Will Happen To Us

Side of a building in Lisbon, Portugal

 

There is nothing like a trip abroad to shake your brain up and give you a new perspective on life. Travel simply messes with your head in the most interesting ways. It's like someone shaking a bento box until its contents are all mixed into one big colorful mess so no matter how hard you try to put it all back, it's never quite the same lunch again. All those compartments you thought could fit stuff only in that one certain way are suddenly expanded. You can see new nooks and crannies that never had light shed on them before. How did I miss seeing all these new ideas? Solutions to old problems suddenly come easier now.

Clearly we just returned from a trip and my head is full of all the wonders we saw. It's all in there just tossing and turning right now. No new paintings are self-evident yet. I need some jell time before seeing what will emerge. For now, I'm enjoying a period full of happiness at the lovely, jiggled mess in my head right now. I feel expanded...enlightened even.

“When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don’t know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in.” – D. H. Lawrence

I have no idea on how to keep these feeling fresh and alive. I can only rush to embrace them now; examining new solutions to old problems, looking afresh at my comfortable old world, and trying to make habitual in everyday life the new things I found wonderful and sensible.

Good travels to you!

The Painful, Horrible, Awful and Wonderful Process of Speech Writing and Giving

"One Foot on the Path", oil on 32x48" panel, hanging at the Governor's Mansion in Olympia for one year along with eleven more of my paintings

Writing a good speech is second to none on the pain scale except the actual giving of the speech. You want it to be no less than great so right there you’re already in trouble. After seeing numerous Ted Talks, we all know what 22 minutes looks like and how good it looks when the giver isn’t reading from notes, uses inflections in their voice, poses with appropriate physical motions with and amazes us with a fabulously interesting topic.

So I did what everyone does. Well, after I panicked anyway, I looked it up on-line. I looked up how to write a speech, I poured over a scientific analysis on what makes up a great speech, I read about how to practice a speech, and I read and watched some really great speeches. Then I was truly stumped. I don’t have a PhD on studying the brain and then had a stroke so got to give a speech about what that felt like (which is one of the best Ted Talks). I’m not Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, both incredibly fantastic speech writers and great thinkers. I’m not the best artist I know nor have I won incredible prizes for my painting or had to paint holding the brush in my teeth because I don’t have any arms. It’s just me, folks, and I had to write a speech and give in at the Governor’s Mansion in Olympia. The invitations said the artist was “giving a lecture”. That threw me even more. A lecture sounds much more important than just a speech.

So I turned to my friends and relations to discuss what subject would be good for this speech. I knew it had to be on a subject I cared about and knew a lot about. My uncle, who was a judge and has given many speeches told me that what people really want to hear, was simply about my “journey to becoming an artist and leave out politics and religion, kid.” He always calls me kid. I could do that. I certainly knew the subject.

So I wrote and wrote and wrote. I looked up quotes (boy there are a lot of great quotes out there) and filled my speech with everything I could think of that related to art from the beginning of my life to the present day. And after a while, though it was much too long and didn’t exactly flow, I began to see this might work after all. Especially if I tossed out aiming for great.  After much editing and working on  flow, I needed to read it out loud to someone who would tell me truthfully if it was working at all, where the weaknesses were and if it would offend anybody. I was two days away from giving the speech when I realized that I’d better leave out the name of my university since it’s art department wasn’t portrayed in a very flattering manner! Imagine all those alumni in the audience tittering afterwards had I not just called it “my college”.  A dear friend, who had been my teacher when I was at the Gemological Institute of America, and gives talks all the time to large and small groups kindly offered to be my first listener. I am a firm believer in never anything I work on leave the house without another set of eyes on it. Debbie offered great hints and kind words which left me feeling surprisingly confident.

And then you have to practice. Routines work for me so every morning, after my  shower, I placed my speech on top of a tippy small table placed on a chair to imitate a podium and read my speech out to the world through the open sliding doors of the master bedroom. I told the sky how I grew up in a lovely, loving family. The birds squawked when they heard me tell that I created some weird art in college. Over and over and over I said it because I couldn’t imagine that I would ever get this thing memorized. My brain seemed too porous to hold it. Paragraphs ended and I was left wondering what came next.  But the amazing thing was that after I said it a jillion times, it eventually did start to tumble off out of my mouth unbidden. The transitions began to come more naturally and I found I could even adlib a little to help the speech along.

The day to give the speech finally came and though my heart really did hammer like a madman for the first five minutes, I remembered to breath and eventually I actually got the point where I slowed down the pace, relaxed and actually enjoyed the rest of the speech. Who’d have thought? I think the take away for me on this whole speech thing was something I learned from another friend of mine who encourages taking a big project and breaking it into smaller pieces in order to make it seem less overwhelming. At some point, I just told myself to quit complaining and worrying about it and just get on with working on it. Just do it—thank you Nike. I’m not sure I’ll ever willingly take up speech giving as part of my career but if it comes up again,  I’ll know more or less what to do. There’s something quite positive to be said for getting through the terribly, awful and wonderful process of writing and giving a speech.

Why Everyone Should Teach

I'm too busy, too selfish, don't feel like it, can't find the time, looks like too much work...the list goes on and on. We have excuses by the bushel when it comes to why we don't do what we don't do it. And why should we do it, you ask. Why should everyone teach- at least once?

Several reasons. I'll start with the fact that everyone knows something. And most of us know a few somethings really, really well. It's our job or hobby or simply a huge interest of ours but for whatever reason, we know A LOT about that subject. We gobble up articles, watch videos, listen to podcasts and go see demos becuase we're eager to learn as much as we can about this certain subject. We're rolling around in facts and surrounded by piles of information.

What being forced to teach someone else some of the stuff you know is to make you take that huge, messy pile of knowledge and sort it into smaller piles. It's taking the beach in the painting and stacking the pebbles in one pile, the short pieces of driftwood in another and so on. Because when you teach, you are forced to organize your jumbled thoughts and ideas into comprehensive, organized, carefully composed smaller pieces. Then you need headlines to group those ideas under and before you know it, you're able to tease threads of ideas throughout the whole and find similarities in areas you hadn't even relaized existed.

The human mind loves sorting things. Like goes with like. Teaching makes you not only sort and organize what you know, it also makes you imagine what it was like before you knew it all. How did that feel to first learn this? People don't learn by being stuffed with facts. They learn from doing, from hearing stories, from seeing visual aides. Teaching makes you look at your gorgeous, exciting subject and imagine how you can expand your excitement to others. Using your imagination to help others learn. Imagine that!

The painting for this month's blog is The Spit, oil on 18x36" panel. To see more of my work, visit my website!

How to Capture a Day

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Lat., Seize the day, put no trust in tomorrow.

-Horace, Odes

Why is it so hard for human beings to be present in the now? Mr. Carpe Diem thinks we must be in the here and now and not wait till tomorrow but my head is usually in the future despite his good advice. I spend a lot of time worrying about my to-do list, making sure nothing gets left behind, making more lists and adjusting calendars. Spending time to make sure all my balls are still up in the air takes up a good portion of each day. Then there are errands to run, vacations to plan, groceries to buy. Am I even present during all this or just running on auto pilot? Discouraging thinking of my days slipping past with me hardly in them.

The one time I am fully 100% present is when I'm painting. The one time! That wonderful, fully-focused space is so very full and wide. I want to dive down that rabbit hole all the time to the place that is just me, the canvas and the paint. It's problem solving all the way. You might not know that if you're not a painter. You put a stroke down and it's lovely but it's also a problem. Now the stroke next to it needs adjusting and so on. In a nearly perfect state, the hours slip by and you look up astonished that the day is nearly done.

Carpe Diem! When I'm painting!

Artists and the Art of Making Money

Artists and the Art of Making Money

Sissy is an artist whose partner’s income isn’t quite enough to cover the bills so she is constantly under pressure to make up the difference. She came up with an on-line gallery in which artists pay a fee to join. It fills the income gap and challenges her geeky, well-developed skills.  For Cathy, it was either get a day job outside the arts industry or figure out how to bring in the art income she had before the recent recession hit. She decided to go into teaching art to adults leaving her time outside of teaching for continuing to create her own art. Mo, a lifetime artist who needed only to pay for his own supplies and $300 a month for his shared art studio sells art, art calendars, and cards every month at the studio’s artwalk.

There are as many ways and needs for income for artists as there are artists. Artists often have to scramble to make ends meet when they’re artists by doing many arts related jobs. If you’re trying to make it as an artist, you better consider yourself half entrepreneur and half artist. There is no getting away from running your own business though many artists wish they could!  

Lucky artists who have another income and don’t need to make money at their art are often still driven by income. We’re a capitalist nation. We take in income from what we sell. Galleries want to represent artists whose work sells, not artists who give their art away to relatives. I’m lucky in that I don’t need the income from my art to support my family but I do run my art as a business and I want my business to be successful for many reasons.

One big reason is that I give 25% of my profits to a local charity so the more I make, the more I give to neighbors who need the extra help. I don’t know of a single artist who isn’t as philanthropic as me. It seems universal that artists give a percentage of their work to auctions. I think last year I gave at least $5000 in paintings to auctions. Did you know that artists can only claim the cost of the materials when they donate art? That means they get to claim $106 for the canvas and materials when the work retails for $900 and they spent 30 hours of work on the piece.

Word to the wise; learn how to run a business and be a marketing major along with learning the skills of becoming an artist. Be generous. Be as creative approaching your business as when you create art. Help others along the way.

                Happy New Year everyone! And let’s hope this recession is behind us!

Painting, "Harbinger", Original 12x16" Oil on board by Joanne Shellan

Self-discipline

I've been thinking a lot about discipline lately. I put myself on a gluten-free diet to see if it was the cause of tummy disruptions (it was not) and though I still am the owner of a noisy digestive system, I left the diet with a feeling of well being. I can now say I'm going to be self-disciplined and not eat gluten products for a set amount of time and I can follow through with that action. I've stumbled through life without making any New Year's resolutions and things have gone fine so far. But I see the reasons oh-so-clearly now why even a little self-discipline goes a long way.

Once you follow through with some little self-discipline you've set for yourself, you get this wonderful boost of confidence. It's like a little gateway has been opened to larger, bigger things you would like to do. It doesn't have to be a big thing to start you off either. I could tell myself that I'm not going to snack between lunch and dinner. And what a great feeling when I accomplish this little thing. That could lead to saying I'm not going to eat anything after dinner for a week. We're talking bigger resolutions here. No more ice cream at eight!  I mean, this could actually help get rid of those pesky muffin tops. Major good stuff could happen.

Things I really like to do like paint and power-walk are easy to do. I think the couple in my painting like walking every day too though not at a power-walk pace. It's the stuff we don't want to do or that we're afraid to do that cause most of us such grief. Just one little step first is my suggestion. Got a closet full of old clothes to go through? Make a tiny step and resolve to get rid of one item before next Sunday. Keep it doable and then do it. Good luck and may your gateway open up!

Self-discipline; noun

Discipline and training of oneself, usually for improvement: Acquiring the habit of promptness requires self-discipline.

 

My show at Kaewyn Gallery closes on November 23rd. If you get a chance, please stop by. I also have paintings at the Kirkland Arts Center store at Parkplace mall in Kirkland and Gallery by the Bay in downtown Stanwood. The miniature show opens next at Kaewyn where I'll have half a dozen miniatures. And I'm starting with a new gallery down in Hood River called The Pines at the end of this month where the winery and the gallery mix it up.

Thanks,

Joanne

Five Best Outings in Seattle

Seattle Center Fountain- #1 of Five Best Outings in Seattle
8x10" Original Oil Painting by Joanne Shellan

 1. The fountain at the Seattle Center is my top pick when it comes to naming the heart of Seattle. It's where people are drawn to gather in times of mourning and to celebrate when the sun comes out. You can't beat a fountain that is programed to perfom to music and where there are no signs telling you to keep out.

2. Pike Place Market is a close second. It's as honest as the day is long. Real people working long hours down there, no corporations allowed. Farmers, flowers growers, fish mongers and fish throwers, all together in one big happy. It always makes me happy to be down there.

3. The Arboretum is one of my favorite parks in Seattle. Views there just cannot be beat. You can look out on vast Lake Washington or in on lily-padded nooks and trails for canoes. It's a park that beats all others for sizable trees, calm  vistas and long walks.

4. Our friends and relations who come to visit Seattle always get a visit with the troll under the bridge in Freemont. It's too quirky to not show off. I mean, where else in the world does such a creature exist except in a back lot at Disney?

5. Archie McFees is my final destination for our Seattle Tour. Maybe we just have nutty friends but we always have a lot of fun showing off the place and feel quite satisfied about how our nickel and dimes were spent. A faux leather bacon belt and rubber chicken can't be found at any old store. I do miss the old location  on Stone Way though.

 

Email me your favorites. Surly two heads are better than one and a new and improved list can be made!

 

Your best outing in Bothell is Kaewyn Gallery where my show is currently up and thriving. November 5, Saturday from 1-4pm is Meet the Artist Day! Join me for nibbles, hot cider and art talk. The show is up through Nov. 23. And three of five best places are featured in paintings in the show!

 

The Most Impotnat Thing Every Artist Needs to Do

The most important thing a creative person does is choose what to express. It matters less what style the writer uses or what color of paint the artist chooses. It matters less if the clay is sculpted in a rough or highly polished manner. The poet can use a pen or a computer. The playwright can be funny or serious. But before an artist makes any of those other decisions, the number one thing to consider is what they want to express. It may sound simple. Just say it, as Nike would have us do. But say what? Where do you look to decide what you want to say? Do we climb a mountain and look for it there? Do we study meditation to find it? These things can help but it's really about self-awareness. You need to start by knowing yourself and then looking inside to where you keep your deepest convictions and your dearest values and that's where you'll find something meaningful to convey.

My upcoming show at Kaewyn Gallery will feature paintings of places that vibrate within me. I have positive, loving feelings and real connections with these places and have painted them in a very Joanne sort of way. That is how I walk my walk. If I am true to myself and my art, those feelings should come right off the end of my paint brush and be pulled deep into each painting I create.

Nike may say it but we artists try really hard to just do it.

Tell the World

pIf you could tell the world about your job and clear up some of their misperceptions, what would you say? I recently read an *article about this very subject. Fascinating. A librarian said you really do need a Masters degree to do her work. It's WAY beyond shelving books.  I would tell the world that artists never get "there", they're always "going there". For me, that means that I'll never stop at a certain style of painting and stay with it forever. My work from two years ago may look the same to you as this week's painting of Pike Place Market but to me, it's very different. I see stronger, cleaner colors and more focus on design. Artists Evolve. They get better as they work at their craft. They're always on the road, never at the end of the road. Tell me...what do you want to tell the world about your job that no one seems to understand?

Come see my show next month, "Kernel of Truth" at Kaewyn Gallery in Bothell, Washington which opens October 14 and ends November 24. It's a look at the theme of perceptions. My views of Washington State will be different than your views. I want to explore that idea.

Go to my website to add your name to my mailing list if you would like to receive emails or postcards about my upcoming shows. Thanks!

*Lastly, I looked all over to find the link to the article and I cannot find it. It was under READ on the app Flipboard which I love to puruse on my iPad. Let me know if you run across it.

Three Reasons Why You Should Pay $4 on a Cup of Joe

Three Reasons Why You Should Pay $4 for a Cup of Joe

              I know several people who can talk loudly for hours about how stupid it is to pay $4 for a cup of coffee. I listen. I mean, hey, people like to talk and they need an audience. But I also disagree with them and here are my reasons why.

1.       Connection- people are social beings. The more connections they make in a day, the better the day is. Meeting a friend for coffee where you get to sit outside over a cup of hot, lovely aroma filled drink with the luxury of face to face interaction with a friend is about as good as gets. Add some sun at a sidewalk café and you are sitting on a gold mine!

2.       Caffeine- I think I read once that the industrial age began when people stopped drinking beer & grog all day and started drinking coffee. There is proof of health benefits and problems with caffeine depending on what you read and which way the wind is blowing that particular day.  Personally, I love caffeine and use it regularly to clear the dense fog from my brain and jump start new ideas.

3.       Continuity- People need structure in their days- some more, some less. Each of us takes on certain tasks or habits that we enjoy doing on a regular basis. Collectors have a purpose when meandering through second hand shops. Their search offers them some reason to be out and looking.  We coffee drinkers have a reason to go into town. We’re looking for a coffee shop with the right ambience and a friend.

If you're unswayed, no problem. I'm no debate club leader. Just a painter who dearly loves having coffee with her friends. Join me!

18 24" oil on board by Joanne Shellan, "Cafe Au Lait"

Save the Date! October 14, 2022- opening for Joanne Shellan at Kaewyn Gallery, Bothell, WA

Meandering Thoughts on Herding Cats

I’ve heard the phrase "herding cats" said with great exasperation when describing dealing with artists. I’m not sure we deserve the huge sighs of frustration any more than anyone else but one of things they might be upset about is that artists never stay on one path for long. Did you know that? They are constantly changing and trying new things. Okay, a few are stuck on autopilot and keep repeating what works but most artists are on a continual search for the best way to express themselves or an idea. They might switch mediums, like changing from watercolor to oils and once there, they might try abstracts and line drawings and adding pastels into the mix. And oh lookie what happens when I add a layer of wax to this! I wonder what it will look like if I carve away some of that paint with this razor…and so on. Its curiosity, it a penchant for looking for what hasn’t been done before, it’s letting go of fear and stepping into the unknown. If we are to be fearless with our art, we can then be fearless in our lives as human beings. No growth and maturation without stepping out onto some limbs!

It’s easier to feel comfortable in our world if we can compartmentalize some of the confusion around us. Fitting people and ideas into neat boxes helps keep things in order. But those darn artists keep wriggling out of their boxes and making their art into new shapes that don’t always fit! It can leads to sighs of exasperation but also new ideas and exciting visuals that titillate our brains.

Next time your local artist shows you yet another new experimental piece, keep your sigh under wraps and look carefully- you may be looking at the cutting edge of the next great art discovery.

"Meandering Thoughts", 33 x 24" oil painting on hardboard by Joanne Shellan

Tips for Keeping Creative Doors Open

           After giving the security guard my ID to check, I was let into the grand, brick house of the Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire and her husband Mike, right in the heart of our Capitol in Olympia, Washington . It was an annual event where the Governor’s Mansion Foundation’s  welcomes an artist who will be showing his/her work for an entire year. They have a dozen paintings right in a small gallery right in the heart of the mansion on the main floor where the Gregorire’s entertain and the visiting public in allowed on Wednesdays for tours.

                The artist this year is ZZ Wei and he and his wife, Lin, who does all his interpreting for him, spent an hour entertaining about 150 of us with stories about his youth and telling tid-bits that help us see into the workings of a great artist’s mind. His show is absolutely stunning. His mostly large works in oil are full of strong shapes in colors that glow and compositions so good, they simply pull you into their world.

                I tried hard to stay as present as possible during the talk but knowing that I’m going to be up at that podium next year was turning my stomach all flip-floppy. My head was filled on the long drive home thinking about all would be expected of me in the next year as I prepare for my show next year at the Governor’s Mansion. I’m going down the list; the paintings need to be great, they should be large too, I need stay focused on paintings of local scenes, I’ll need to get some press, maybe try to get a magazine article about it and I really want to use the weight of this show to get into better galleries….WAIT A MINUTE! The longer the list gets, the more pressure I feel and the more pressure I feel, the tighter the door clamps shut on my creative juices. The creative juices about how to market the show do fine under pressure- but it must be a completely different section of my brain that decide what and how to paint. It’s the “heart” or intuitive brain section that absolutely cannot deal with this kind of pressure.

                So how to keep the painting part of the brain open to the world? For me, it means NOT thinking about it too much, shutting off logic and turning on tuning-in, keeping it playful, looking deep inside at what I want to paint—not what I should be painting and staying in touch with my emotional side. Making each painting a personal message about my emotional reaction to a scene is what I do best and I need to keep that first and foremost in my mind. 

To keep painter’s block far, far away, use the heart more and the brain less.

                Maybe I should get that tattooed on my forehead or something!

The painting featured in this blogspot was inspired by a walk last week through Mercer Slough in downtown Bellevue. What a gem of a park! It’s 16x20” oil on board, unnamed yet, and will retail for $550. www.joanneshellan.com for more of my work, resume, bio, list of gallery representatiion and show schedule

Be Vulnerable

I’m jazzed and bursting at the seams! Just came back from a three day workshop called Artfest. It’s held at Fort Warden in pretty Port Townsend. About 500 plus artists who practice all mediums come to take cool, edgy art classes from a talented bunch of teachers. Imagine if you gave yourself permission to go back to your childhood where you had no fears of how good or bad you were at anything. You simply tried all that came your way. You sang with unashamed joy as loud as you could because it felt good. You attacked kicking a ball and scribbled on paper with brash strokes of color. Well, we had a chance to experience our childhood this weekend and it was oh-so-joyful. I believe that everyone is hugely creative. As we age, we know what we’re better at and we stick to those things leaving behind the things we’re not so good at. Everyone gets uber specialized by their middle years. “I don’t do Spanish wines.” or “I’m too old to learn a musical instrument”. If you’re not singing when you’re 50, you’re sure as hell not likely to start now!


Now I didn’t step too far out of my comfort range because it was still in the arts, however, I did stretch. I am a realistic painter, a “fine” artist. So naturally, I took a class called Silly Drawing where you had to draw blind, draw with your left hand, create a 3-d bird out of wire, cover it with strips of material, then draw it again. Half the class had a fear of drawing and their drawings were the most interesting! In another class, we finger painted! Indeed, with our whole hands! We doodled on it with pencil and pastels and what we created had to come from inside ourselves. Whoa. That’s scary. What if there’s nothing in there to pull from?

The experience left me reeling. I see clearly now that it’s imperative for growth to push yourself into trying things beyond what you know. Try something outside your field of expertise. It’s a brain shake but in a good way. Become vulnerable and see what it gets you.
That's the key.