A Short History of My Creative Journey
conniech April 10th, 2007
One of my earliest memories is of sitting in a canvas tent with my older brothers and sister doing spool knitting. It was one of the many creative ways my mother had of keeping our hands busy. I am fortunate that I learned from an early age what great satisfaction could be gained from creating beauty out of simple materials. I realize now that spool knitting was not only a way of using up left over yarn colors, but for me it was an early lesson in how colors can be combined, thus creating exciting effects for the eyes. I now realize that even as I child I was a natural introvert who could spend hours in the sand pile absorbed in creating buildings and small villages from my imagination.
In my teenage years, I fondly recall making decorative and useful objects with macramé, beading and even batik. Now I’m very grateful to have had a mother who supported us in these creative adventures.
During the 1970’s , as a young mother of two sons, spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting and using natural dyes became some other passions of mine. Because my then partner and I were in the commercial fishing industry, the knitting and also photography were conducive with living on a boat. Both my father and grandfather were professional photographers so documenting my experiences using photography always been a great form of creative expression for me, and was one of my favorite subjects later in my thirties when I was in art -college.
It is my nature to want to learn and experiment with a variety of artistic mediums,so during the 1980’s, emerging from a craft back round, I began exploring with and learning about watercolor. This was quickly followed with collage and other forms of mixed media experimentation. It was during this time I started entering my work in juried shows and was awarded with several awards of excellences and honorable mentions.
With the large canvas pieces I have done in more recent years, I have come full circle, as they have much in common with watercolor, but on a larger scale.
Hunting and Gathering
conniech May 9th, 2007
I am a creative and spiritual hunter- gatherer. As I hunt for and gather ideas, images and inspiration, I feel I am collaborating with the Devine. My digital camera has become an essential tool in this fascinating process. Along with the possibilities offered by digital manipulation the creative choices become infinite. With these tools even the most mundane subject matter can become significant, and hopefully trigger a sense of mystery and wonder in the viewer.
For the past year I have been playing with the notion of documenting the creative process in my painting. I work with washes of acrylic paint on unstretched and unprimed canvas. This requires a willingness to give up control and experience the watery nature of the medium. Digital photography adds a new dimension to this process as I can easily photograph each step and the spontaneous blending of colors as I go along. I can then alter and change these photographs on my computer. Later I can blend and mix them with other photographs I have gathered on my travels, and archived on my computer.
The digital camera and the computer have become indispensable tools for both the creative hunting and gathering process and the means of storing, re-exploring and manipulating these ideas in the form of new images. This allows the possibility that my entire life’s experience becomes my muses that can be manifested in a virtual infinity of possibilities.