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Gayle Kabaker is a painter, writer, teacher and visual storyteller

People & Gardens & Process & Zoom workshop tomorrow!

Being in the mess of process can be hard.

Gayle Kabaker

May 10

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Hi everyone

I’ve had an interesting time with my creative process lately! I did this assignment for The NYTimes recently for a story on the Frieze Art Fair. I came up with what I thought was a great idea - but the art director didn’t think that it spoke to the article well enough. I find that it’s hard to have another good idea when I still really like my original idea, but I came up with a new solution that the AD liked. As I began to paint it, I went though a bit of angst, wondering if I could actually make the new idea of the different ‘scenes’ work in a way that I’d be happy with. Painting lots of bad paintings, dreading to go into my studio - oh yeah. I was IN IT. Then a few days before it was due I woke up and said to myself “GET IT TOGETHER! You’re a pro. Just do it.

And I did. And they were very happy. And I was happy. (and relieved)

Process can be hard! But allowing myself the time of being in the mess and discomfort of creating something that is harder for me is all part of the creative process. Even though I know this - I kind of hate it. Because it’s not fun and it’s hard. I talked to a few artists friends about this and one said that I was probably on the brink of a break though. And EVERYONE goes through this.

Zoom workshop this Saturday, May 11, 1-3 pm EST

I always love the Zoom workshops that Jennifer/Augustwren and I teach! Hanging out with everyone and painting and talking a lot about process and materials and answering questions and seeing some of the students paintings at the end is very gratifying!

Jennifer and I got together on IG Live to tell you a bit about what to expect if you join us, and here’s the link to that chat. We offer a very relaxed yet informative space for you to watch us each paint and you can paint along with us and create your own version of the theme, or just watch and paint later! We describe our process, talk about the colors we use and how we develop the idea from a photo to a painting. We are very interpretive and there are no rules when you paint with us!

Click HERE to sign up. Hope to see some of you there!

We’re headed to Portugal next week to teach in Lagos. We get to spend time with a favorite model, Catarina who lives in Lisbon. I’ve been drawing her on Zoom for almost four years. Above is one of my fave paintings of her. To meet and draw her in person will be wonderful! I know being in Lisbon, Faro, and the Algarve will be incredible.

Happy Mothers day to all you mothers and to those of you who are motherless - here’s an illustrated story called Motherless Mothers Day.

Below is a painting of my mom when she was pregnant with me.