{"id":4941,"date":"2017-02-08T13:59:36","date_gmt":"2017-02-08T21:59:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/?p=4941"},"modified":"2017-02-08T15:14:53","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T23:14:53","slug":"february-8-2017-time-let-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/","title":{"rendered":"February 8, 2017 – Time to let go"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \n \"Fb-Button\"\n <\/a>\n <\/div>
<\/fb:like><\/div><\/div>

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>

The painting I’m working on (bottom) and the reference image (top).<\/p><\/div>\n

Two weeks ago four of us gathered at my mom\u2019s office at the end of the day to take Hallelujah, my really big painting, out of the frame and into a huge shipping tube.\u00a0 Lissa Boles, my beloved coach, had claimed this one and the time had come to send Hallelujah on her way.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad my intuition guided me to make an event out of it.\u00a0 A lot of emotion arose \u2013 tears even \u2013 at the reality of saying goodbye to this one.\u00a0 Lissa lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada \u2013 not exactly down the road \u2013 so it\u2019s possible I\u2019ll never see it again.\u00a0 Hallelujah was my first really<\/em> big painting and it will hold a special place in the stream of art that is coming through me.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had it gracing our painting space in my mom\u2019s office for the better part of the five years since I painted it.\u00a0 Though I knew it was time for it to fly away – to bring light and color elsewhere – I also knew we will miss it terribly.<\/p>\n

It was just a small group. Betsey, Virginie and Heather came.\u00a0 They heard me tell about how it came to be \u2013 how my heart started to beat fast when I happened up on the big sheets of paper at Perry\u2019s Art Supplies, how the image came from my friend Brenda\u2019s kitchen table.\u00a0 I shared how I guarded it from prospective buyers who didn\u2019t \u201cget\u201d it \u2013 the way this big piece of art has been an anchor, a validation of something in me as artist.\u00a0 I told of people it has touched – especially Lissa.\u00a0 We had some nibbles and warm cups of tomato soup and then got to it. It took two of us to hoist it off the wall.\u00a0 Then we ripped away the paper backing and, one at each corner, started digging out the dozens of staples that were holding it in the frame.\u00a0 Big pieces of artwork are an order of magnitude greater to deal with \u2013 there are a lot of inches worth of staples and tape going all the way around them!<\/p>\n

When we took it out of the frame and flipped it over, still mounted on its backing, I put my hand on it for the first time since taking it to the framer.\u00a0 These paintings are real<\/em> things to me \u2013 I spend so<\/em> many hours with them, with so<\/em> much of my attention and focus \u2013 all the while my hands are all over<\/em> them. Once framed, they transform \u2013 they become something more, but they also become less intimate to me, their creator.\u00a0 My creations and I are separated by the framing.\u00a0 There it was again<\/em> – this thing I spent a very sweaty August on \u2013 I was bound and determined to finish in time for the Sausalito Art Festival on Labor Day weekend 2011.\u00a0 It took three of us to roll the big, heavy paper tightly enough to fit into the 8\u201d tube.\u00a0 Not only was this a moment that my heart wanted to share, to mark intentionally, but I also really needed extra hands to do the job!<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Just before I left to take the tube to the post office (left) and a picture Lissa sent me of the poem I wrote for her on the back of Hallelujah, safely in Toronto (right).<\/p><\/div>\n

Entrusted to the care of the United States Postal Service and Canada Post, it took about a week to arrive safely in Lissa\u2019s hands.\u00a0 We left the spot where Hallelujah was hanging bare for a week, but now the wall has been re-hung with other art.\u00a0 Its frame now awaits me to paint something else to put in it.\u00a0 I captured an image of Monet\u2019s pond at Giverny two autumns ago.\u00a0 It is not so much about the lilies, but the blue-blue sky reflected in the water with the trees ablaze in fall colors around it.\u00a0 This one wants me to paint it \u2013 hopefully sometime this year.\u00a0 Moving on.\u00a0 In marking Hallelujah\u2019s departure, I feel very palpably the flow of art coming through me and into the world.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Monet’s pond in the autumn of 2015.<\/p><\/div>\n

When my friend Eleanor Harvey invited me to join her in showing my work at Marin Open Studios coming up on 10 years ago, my first reaction was \u201coh, this means I have to sell<\/em> my work, right?\u201d\u00a0 She gently said, \u201cyes, my dear, this is<\/em> the idea\u2026\u201d\u00a0 In that moment, I had my first sense of this flow. Somehow, I intuitively understood that if I wanted for art to continue to come through, I had to be willing let it go.\u00a0 Almost all just-starting-out artists hold their paintings very preciously.\u00a0 I did too.\u00a0 But after a while, especially if we paint consistently, and paintings begin to collect, there are at least some that we are happy to let go of.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve encountered other kinds of artists along the way who seem to have little connection with their work, who have art stacked up and can\u2019t wait be rid of it.\u00a0 Though there is a very healthy and alive part of me motivated for my art to sell, and is very happy when it does, there has not been one single original painting that has left my hands that has not tugged at my heart.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t become old hat \u2013 not one bit.\u00a0 I have to believe that this is related to the connection we have to these paintings of ours – and what of us<\/em> we put into them.\u00a0 When paintings leave home, especially a big, important piece like Hallelujah, the space left behind has an energy, it\u2019s a force.\u00a0 It\u2019s said that nature abhors a vacuum \u2013 this space is a vacuum that our creative nature abhors.\u00a0 The energy is attractive \u2013 to re-fill itself.<\/p>\n

The impetus to paint is very alive in me right now.\u00a0 Joe and I are here on the island of Kauai for a couple of weeks.\u00a0 I\u2019m working on a short and wide painting of pearly-colored plumeria flowers, just after a rain (the picture up at the top).\u00a0 It\u2019s from an image I captured when we were here last year.\u00a0 I\u2019m lost in the \u201cfuzzy background\u201d at the moment, giving myself the treat of painting the soft pearly colors for last. Even on Kauai, where I could spend my time doing plenty else, I feel the need to be with my painting every day.<\/p>\n

Not everyone is bound, or even aspires, to sell their artwork.\u00a0 Painting for one\u2019s own pleasure is a perfectly fine reason to spend the time doing so.\u00a0 But things can happen, can evolve.\u00a0 In the time I\u2019ve spent with artists who have made painting a regular part of their lives \u2013 and have also taken advantage of the opportunity to show their work – I\u2019ve witnessed this evolution.\u00a0 Along with the tug that comes with letting a piece of art go is the affirming joy that someone else wants to make our<\/em> creation a part of their<\/em> lives \u2013 especially when it is someone who doesn\u2019t already know and love us! In this is an exchange of energy, of life, of inspiration and appreciation that is hard to describe.\u00a0 For me this feeling is so big and unexpected, even as it happens over and over, that I don\u2019t know exactly where to put it inside me.\u00a0 It is my hope that this feeling also never grows old either.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very gratifying to even just finish a painting \u2013 there is such a sense of accomplishment.\u00a0 But if and when we come to the place where we show our work, the amazing can happen: someone is touched by our work.\u00a0 They feel something when viewing our work that we often didn\u2019t intend or weren\u2019t even aware of.\u00a0 There is a transmission from us to them through our work.\u00a0 What that something is exactly may not be communicated, but whenever someone buys a painting, it is there.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Holly’s painting: “Heaven Sent”.<\/p><\/div>\n

Some of the 537 Magnolias have work in a new show at the Sausalito Presbyterian Church.\u00a0 I received word that a member of the church was touched enough to buy a painting.\u00a0 The first painting to sell was given the name \u201cHeaven Sent\u201d by the group \u2013 named by the group because it was Holly\u2019s painting \u2013 our beautiful Holly who we lost last year.\u00a0 She finished this painting of red-pink tulips just weeks before she passed away.\u00a0 The person received her transmission even beyond her time here on earth.\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty certain we are not conscious of this when first touching brush to our paper \u2013 and if we did, it wouldn\u2019t be the same.\u00a0 We are just painting.\u00a0 But when we come to the time to let go, we step into the flow.<\/p>\n

With my love,<\/p>\n

Cara<\/p>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Two weeks ago four of us gathered at my mom\u2019s office at the end of the day to take Hallelujah, my really big painting, out of the frame and into a huge shipping tube.\u00a0 Lissa Boles, my beloved coach, had claimed this one and the time had come to send Hallelujah on her way.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFebruary 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"February 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Two weeks ago four of us gathered at my mom\u2019s office at the end of the day to take Hallelujah, my really big painting, out of the frame and into a huge shipping tube.\u00a0 Lissa Boles, my beloved coach, had claimed this one and the time had come to send Hallelujah on her way.\u00a0 […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life in Full Color\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-02-08T21:59:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-08T23:14:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/\",\"name\":\"February 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-08T21:59:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-08T23:14:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"February 8, 2017 – Time to let go\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/\",\"name\":\"Life in Full Color\",\"description\":\"Watercolors by Cara Brown\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393\",\"name\":\"Cara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cara\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"February 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"February 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color","og_description":"  Two weeks ago four of us gathered at my mom\u2019s office at the end of the day to take Hallelujah, my really big painting, out of the frame and into a huge shipping tube.\u00a0 Lissa Boles, my beloved coach, had claimed this one and the time had come to send Hallelujah on her way.\u00a0 […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/","og_site_name":"Life in Full Color","article_published_time":"2017-02-08T21:59:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-08T23:14:53+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Cara","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cara","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/","name":"February 8, 2017 - Time to let go - Life in Full Color","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg","datePublished":"2017-02-08T21:59:36+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-08T23:14:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/plumeria-wip.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/life-stories\/february-8-2017-time-let-go\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"February 8, 2017 – Time to let go"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/","name":"Life in Full Color","description":"Watercolors by Cara Brown","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/d797aedc34742442251ceb8fef7ff393","name":"Cara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c6f3732b38fdc958366cca34fe90f54746a926a829fe1f8d64ceebfb3ac46752?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cara"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/author\/cara\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1uJKT-1hH","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4941"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4953,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions\/4953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeinfullcolor.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. The constant WPCACHEHOME must be set in the file wp-config.php and point at the WP Super Cache plugin directory. -->