Tag: painting

Almost There…

ethelgutmann3 Comments
Let Your Mind Run (Thank You Deena), 120cm x 80cm,
brushed oil on canvas 2017-2022

My intention for this text was to write about books and specifically “Let Your Mind Run” by Deena Kastor and Michelle Hamilton, which I found utterly inspiring. The book retraces the story of long-distance runner Deena Kastor, an Olympic medalist and the American female record holder in the marathon (from 2014 to 2022). In this fascinating read, Deena explains how mind and body can work together and combine their forces to reach full potential. Over her extensive career, she developed mental techniques through optimism, gratitude and ‘mindfulness running’, to not only improve her results, but to find balance as an athlete and as a human being. Her book, and the many interviews and videos I watched with her, made a very strong impression on me. So much, that I told myself I’d need to read this book again and again like a good album that I would play over and over. 

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Proost!

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When I was ten, our school held a running race in which I was eager to participate. I knew one girl was unbeatable, but I still had my chances to be on the podium. During the race, I was a solid second and a turn away from the finishing line, I was envisioning the silver medal around my neck. But, while passing behind the last line of trees away from the spectators’ eyes, I felt something abnormal in my back, as if someone was pushing me. I fell flat on the ground and I vividly remember the amount of feet jumping over me, annoyed to be slowed down by a crawling obstacle. I wasted precious seconds trying to get back on my legs. As giving up was not an option, I sprinted to the finish line and managed to arrive fourth — the worst place: good effort, no medal. 

Untitled (Remembering Sunset Runs) woven painting, 27*42 cm, 2022
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Social Dilemna

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Let me know what inspires you on social media! — Or have we forgotten that one of the reasons we go there is to be inspired by the lives of others?

Pastel on paper, 30*42 cm – Fall 2021

Last July and for the whole month, I stopped going on Facebook. It had taken too much of my time (and energy) and I came to the realization that those hours were mainly filled with not much, if not nothing. That month was a turning point: I understood that I had needs that had to be fulfilled if I wanted to feel good and positive. These were quite simple: to be outside in the daylight (especially since I am a bad sleeper) and to move and do sports.

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Karma Paradise

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After Fauves, 2017, dried paint strips (I like to think this is a trace of Fauves‘ exhibition which has been destroyed after the show, see link below)

A year ago, I started learning the guitar and this journey continues to feed me with inspiration and joy. Presently, I am working on two tasks: one is to learn ‘Riviera Paradise’ of the great Stevie Ray Vaughn, the second is to do a cover of the no-less iconic ‘Karma Police’ by Radiohead. Even though the two exercises are different — one mostly executive, the other, mainly creative — it is exciting to see that they overlap and assist each other. I can only hope to live long enough to master Stevie Ray Vaughn’s songs one day; as for now, it’s mostly hard! But the effort I put in studying ‘Riviera Paradise’ helps me in my approach to music composition, too. From this experience, I’ll gain tools, techniques… maybe even some style, which may reappear, who knows, in a revisited version of ‘Karma Police’.

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Diamonds and Rust

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In my family, fashion is a big thing. Already as a child, I had a stunning style, carefully put together by my mother, who found great satisfaction in dressing her kids with taste. At school there were no uniforms, so selecting our clothes for the next day became part of a ritual: every night, I would look at the weather forecast, and prepare accordingly and meticulously my outfit for the day after. It goes without saying that the process sometimes ignited some insecurities, especially in the tumultuous period of teenage-hood, when the relation to our changing body can be complicated. On some dark days, I would have preferred to hide in a school uniform. But… we were free.

Diamonds and Rust, 2015, oil on canvas, 55*70 cm – (Sadly, this painting has been painted over…) from the painting series Obey to Me
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Freeze, and Continue

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Untitled (Solitude I – Study after Luc Tuymans), 2011 – acrylic on wood, 18*24cm
Would You Like to Hear My Voice (Solitude II), 2020 – acrylic on wood, 18*24cm

Lately, I came back to painting although I hadn’t done so in the last year. Why now? Maybe because of a series of questions I was asked to think about. The most difficult ones for me were: Which dominating emotion is an engine in your creative work? and Which emotions do you normally work from? Though it seems easy for a creator whose every-day activity is to create, to say what prompts and guides the act of creating, I realised later that it ended up being much trickier than I expected.

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