October « 2015 « Teri Capp Art

Nuts and bolts. Well, ~ brushes and paint, pencils, erasers, panels and paper ~ that is.

It all started, late summer-early fall, with gesso (primer) and sandpaper…on the picnic table covered with paper. Each panel, with its edges taped, laid out and primed ~ dried in the sun ~ sanded and primed again.

Painting prep set-up

Teri using gray gesso for panel prep

I am immersed in the world of process. It’s good ~ challenging, working my idea muscles. It’s overwhelming at times. I have so many ideas and visceral memories that I want to paint that I literally go around in circles in my studio. One moment, scrolling through our hundreds of images on my computer, ~ next turning the pages of my travel sketchbook…looking at maps of Namibia ~ reading my journal…again poring over the photographs that I have printed.

Waves of emotion pass through me ~ reliving with elation, the adventure…knowing that many of you, who pre-purchased these paintings, traveled with me in spirit! That support and commitment, in company with the clear memories of my journey, inspire me forward every day.

Surrounded in my studio, by my sketchbooks, photographs, journals, maps and guidebooks…and through the re-telling of our stories, with my husband and daughter…I can feel the wind, the sun, ~ the roughness of the road as we drove our hundreds of kilometres…I feel and hear the vibrations of the people’s voices…strangers, new friends, family. I feel my feet on the ground of the unique landscapes of Namibia…the gravel, the sand, rock, and more sand…being travel weary in the best way.

Sometimes a bittersweet wave hits ~ almost sadness that it’s over…but then there is the paint, the process ~ drawing and painting to make my perceptions of Namibia alive in my consciousness again.