Barbie Mathis Studio: 123 Days, Day 5

When I said in the last blog post that I was going to talk about Perseverance, it was for a completely different reason than I'm writing about it today. Yesterday, it was from a feeling of complete frustration as I had written the blog, and then in previewing it, I hit something and thought that I had lost it. I thought about forgetting about writing again for the day. But, then, my mind went nuts thinking about the great writers who tragically lost their manuscripts and then rewrote them anyway. And, if they could do it, who am I with my tiny unknown blog baby not to Persevere for one day and do the same. So, I spent another hour and a half re-writing and color highlighting it etc., only to find out that after I finally posted it, there was a saved draft of the first one. Ugh! And, now, needless to say, I am learning more about blogger from my mistakes.

perseverance[pur-suh-veer-uh ns] noun
1. steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc.,especially in
spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement Dictionary.com

Today, I'm writing about Perseverance for a different reason --because I Persevered and Won "The Prize"! A few months ago, I began hearing about the Onomatopoetic Show, Art Inspiring Art: Music Made Visible, a Collaboration of Inspired Artistic Interpretations. Dr. Jesse Jones of the University of South Carolina, and a Guggenheim Fellow, won an award for his musical composition, In Dulcet Tones. He invited artists to Listen to his composition and create art inspired by the music. Then he would select artworks to be shown on stage behind his performances of In Dulcet Tones. From the beginning, I knew this would be a good opportunity, and that it would be fun, too. I had always wanted to try something like this because friends I know, Jean Bourque and Ric Standridge, each paint to music, and they do great work that looks free and full of Life. And, I wanted to try because my past works have mostly been very tight. I mean extremely Tight.

So, I gave it a try... and another try... and I began to get frustrated. "This is harder than I thought", I kept thinking to myself. These were my results...the marsh scene is "Unfinished", and the other is "Experimental". Still not what I had in mind to be worthy of Selection.

But then, a painting began to happen. Here's what my statement looked like:

Artist Statement

Flowers in Dulcet Tones by Barbie Mathis

As I listened to the musical composition, In Dulcet Tones, I began to visualize colors that flow. I squirted paint from bottles onto the paper in a swirling manner. As the paint started to settle, I immediately saw a delicate hibiscus begin to form. I picked up a brush, and as the musical composition progressed, I felt zigzag highs and lows that became a type of coreopsis flower that is full of motion and vibrant color. Throughout the piece, I used sprays of water and color to capture the melodious feel of In Dulcet Tones.

And, here I am with Flowers in Dulcet Tones