The Art of Joy A. McGugan

Zentangles are a great art project for everybody (including those who say they can’t draw).  Yes, they are glorified doodles but the “zen” part is not a joke,  drawing them tends to put people in a quiet, meditative state.  It has been my “first day of class lesson” for a few years now.  More info here.

A few years ago my dear husband had episodes of indigestion (cucumbers?) and long-story-short ended up in Duke University Hospital where he underwent quintuple heart bypass surgery.  Serious enough, but he also managed to have almost every complication a person could have (and he was not in poor health before) so our stress levels were high.

I decided to spend the long hours waiting for the surgery to be completed by doing a journal.   Only, as you may already know, writing is not my forte so I made it a visual journal.  I used a six-inch square sketchbook marketed for “Zentangles”.

These little drawings were highly personal to me, and I didn’t show these drawings to anyone for a year or two (except Duncan, see below).  Eventually I began sharing them with other people.

So here they are beginning with the simply labeled sketchbook.

This is from the long day of waiting for the surgery to be completed.  I realized afterwards that my anxiety really showed.

The surgery was successful and our family took a collective breath of relief:

Not much going on during this time:

Poor baby with his heart pillow:

But things started getting tense, maybe I had too high expectations concerning his care?  No, I didn’t and believe me, I was keeping an eye on everything!  BTW, the bottom quadrant were the designs in his bed covers, I think the left hand side was the tile floor.

This day started out pretty well but began unraveling (I think it’s the day the staff rushed in with a crash cart and we didn’t know that his heart rate was dropping).

A-fib does weird things with your heart rate, numbers were all over the place, but things were getting in control.

Did I mention our son was getting married in December?  This day we went to a shower for them in Raeford.  Yes, it was a relief to know he was ok for me to leave.

We went home and I showed Duncan my journal and tried to teach him how to Zentangle.  Think the drugs were too strong, lol!

There were still complications upon returning home but we were keeping a positive attitude!  (this piece is obviously unfinished)

This says it all:

I’ve been reading a little on what I guess is a trend for artists: One-day Paintings.  Part of the idea is to keep the creative juices flowing and get in a routine.  I need some routine so thought I’d try my hand at it.  Let me say right off the bat: it didn’t work.  Most people who do this paint really small pieces, I don’t do small.  Some people admitted that the quality was not up to par because of the time limit.

So I thought I’d paint a still life from observation (as opposed to taking a photo) and use acrylics for the quick drying time.  My canvas is 30″ x 20″, not tiny by any means, but not too big either.  Before the first layer of acrylic dried I had sketched details in the wet paint which led to eventually bringing out the oil pastels.  Purist (of the oil pastel variety) don’t call their work drawings but paintings.  I’m on the fence about that (but I AM a snob when it comes to oil pastels and love my Senneliers!).

Long story short:  it wasn’t a One-Day Painting, more like four days, although I didn’t spend hours at a time most days.  It’s mixed media, somewhere between a painting and a drawing.

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

Years ago a dear friend and patron saw this painting and just HAD to have it.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to sell it because it is, after all, a painting of my sister.  Almost all of my paintings have a sentimental attachment but this one was a little more than usual.  But, it reminded my friend of her childhood and the many pairs of gloves she had.  She was so enchanted with it and was such a dear person, how could I refuse?  And I am a big believer in buying art that you love and connect with, so there.

I forgot to mention that my mother and sister gave me hell for selling it!  “How could you sell your sister???”

Sadly, that friend passed away all too soon.  Through a chain of events I managed to once again be in possession of this work and decided I’d never sell it.  Probably.

So, last  month I was asked to be part of a Women’s History Month exhibition at the Multicultural Center at the local university and my Alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  I listed this work and another (my grandmother Mama Pate!) as not for sale.  Then the call came.  Another child of the Sixties fell in love with it, this time because of the gloves and the glasses.  This person has a very high position with the university system so my work (and UNC-P?) would get a lot of exposure.  That’s a good business move, right?

So, I sold my sister.   Again.

Just for the record, Mama Pate and a few other family portraits will NEVER be sold.  Most likely.

Landscapes were something I avoided in the past.  In graduate classes I was in awe of a fellow student’s landscapes and her soft touch of the brush.  She told me recently that at her graduate show she sold ALL of her paintings to one person.  No surprise there.

Anyway,  something happened with me and all of a sudden there were these paintings and drawings in my body of work.  Some were small (9″x 12″), a couple are large (3′ x 5′), most in oils or oils and mixed media (tissue paper, oil sticks).

Most of these are fairly new, but they are not exactly in chronological order.

This weekend I am to participate in an En plein air event in Lumberton, NC.  There’s always a first time!  For me painting on site, lol!  Come by and enjoy the art and music on Elm Street.  I will also have an oil pastel drawing in the silent auction.

Acrylic on Canvas – SOLD

I like to work from photos, especially when I’m working with one of my favorite subject matter: flowers.  They just don’t last long enough!  So photographs keep my subjects fresh and just as importantly, allow me to see mistakes and progress.  These photos are from my cell and not the “good camera”.

I had gotten away from flowers and had worked on a series of landscapes (which has never been a fav of mine) in which I actually experimented a bit on, that whole thinking outside the box thing.  I despise that expression, but it’s appropriate in this case, and to me it means being brave.

Have I mentioned that the process of writing is also an act of bravery for me?  Another time…

Anyway, I took photos of daffodils in my front yard and even borrowed one from a FB friend (Hal from my hometown, thanks!!).  Decided to venture back to flowers (perhaps it was too many “Georgia O’Keefe!” comments that made me run from them) and add something from my new bag of tricks.  I showed the earlier stages of the pieces in an earlier post and thought they were at a good stage to show again.

Warts and all.  That THING in the vertical canvas is a bloom in the background, not sure it should be there.  Or, maybe it’s just not evolved to the state it needs to be in.  Time will tell.

Media: oil and oil sticks on canvas