Studio Arts Blog

Emily May Studio Arts / Studio Arts Blog

Summer Travel Journals

Recently, Oliver asked to go to the California Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento. Having been there a hundred times, I decided to change it up a little. I told him to gather a bag with notebook, pencils, and erasers. We will go, but we will also sketch the things we see. Light grumbling ensued. Once we got there and he began to sketch, something in him lit up. We closed down the museum, pencils still skittering across our pages. We went outside and wandered familiar scenes through...

Head Space

'Doing Art' is a practice. And an area I need work at. I often find myself beginning a practice and then somewhere along the way I find myself trying to turn it into a masterpiece, sometimes wishing I'd used better paper or the opposite, wishing I'd just kept it short and sweet. Alas, I am a sucker for detail and can get sucked in by the allure of another dark crevice, a shadow perfectly placed or a hint of red just there in the corner. Today, I pulled...

Freedom Painting

This week was an unusually stressy week for me. Household circumstances shifted wildly and found me solely in charge of the kids, house, meals, schedules, etc. It's not that it's difficult, none of it is difficult. It's that I seem to be clunky with transitioning from one lifestyle to another with no notice. It's very jarring to my system. And my system thrives on creative time, productive time and alone time, in big chunks. When that time isn't available for me I get all kinds of crossed...

Moonglow and the Raven

The recent full moon has stirred me to pick up my paints and throw a bit of salt around on my paper, watching the colors bleed and move at will. The moon is a feminine symbol, universally representing the rhythm of time as it embodies the cycle. The phases of the moon symbolize enlightenment or the dark side of Nature which we call the shadow. Shadow reflects inner knowledge yet to be brought to light.  It also provides analogy for the stages of human development: the new moon...

We Are The Music Makers

"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams." ~Arthur O'Shaughnessy, as quoted by Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory   Ode Related Poem Content Details By Arthur O'Shaughnessy We are the music-makers, And we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers And sitting by desolate streams; World losers and world forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams: Yet we are the movers and shakers Of the world for ever, it seems. With wonderful deathless ditties We build up the world’s great cities. And out of a fabulous story We fashion an empire’s glory: One man...

Me, MySelf and the Big I

Sitting in the discomfort of growing pains is an art unto itself. We all have that innocent desire to be more, grow more, do more. Born from that internal push to move forward into our greater potential, we sometimes find ourselves wearing boots just a tad too big, a dress, maybe not our own. A time comes to shed or shelve our cozy sweaters and pair of well worn leggings.When I sit in contemplation about the archetypal message behind this sweet young lady, I think of all...

Mother Mary 2… Tribal Mary

For the gypsy parts of myself I wanted to take the original Mother Mary that I wrote about in the previous post, and make her bliss out in tribal dress. Love, love, love her. However, I did not love painting on this surface. It was new to me and it seemed like a brilliant idea. I got everything all sketched in and started painting only to find my face contorting rather quickly.  It is Fredrix 100% Cotton Canvas for water based paints. Watercolor. It doesn't absorb much at...