Francesca Filanc

Author: Francesca Filanc

  • WHAT MOTIVATES ME TO PAINT?

    WHAT MOTIVATES ME TO PAINT?

    GALAXY
    GALAXY                                                                                          © 2012 60 x 48 acrylic on canvas

    Many things motivate me to paint. I paint because it brings me joy to create attractive works of art. Painting is fun and keeps me balanced. It is a way for me to self-sooth. Many people exercise to center themselves. Painting does that for me.

    Painting is a space where I can work out emotional situations and at the same time create something beautiful. I’ve heard it described as “releasing the unconscious by means of spontaneous art expression.” (Dr. Margaret Naumberg.)

    Do you remember finger painting in kindergarten? Remember the roll of butcher paper the teacher would bring out and tear off a big piece? Then she would come around and put a dollop of liquid starch on the paper. The colors would be put out and how delicious the feeling to start sliding ones fingers through the paint and starch, mixing colors. I remember making lots of green with yellow and blue. Remember how the colors would end up muddy brown and gray when you would add orange or red? For me it would be so frustrating! But I eventually learned to mix the colors and was inspired in doing so.

    Every day when I go out into my studio it takes me back to that magical place and time when I was finger painting in kindergarten.

    Here’s to being motivated!

    Bye for now,

    Francesca

  • FLY-FISHING

    FLY-FISHING

    Fly-Fishing
    Fly Fishing with [email protected] (Sierra Drifters Guide Services)

    I thought it might be a good idea for me to clarify the expression “ Rippin’ Lips”. In fly-fishing it means that you are bringing in lots of

    fish! Or, it means that you have a fish on the line or that you are goin’ fly-fishin’. Fly-fishing is one of my passions!

    The feeling of having a large rainbow , cut-bow or brown on the end of the line is exhilarating. It’s impossible not to shout “Oh I have a fish!”

    In May of last year I had my right knee successfully replaced. By July I was champing at the bit, wanting to get out of town, up into the woods to go fly-fishing.

    In the Eastern Sierras is an adorable little one-horse town, Bridgeport. If you have never been there, check it out. It’s a forty-five minute drive north of Mammoth Lakes on Highway 395. Bridgeport is the county seat of Mono County. The town has a huge old courthouse and a museum. I met Susan Sarandon there one year on the 4th of July. The celebration in this little town is awesome. The Bridgeport Inn is over one hundred years old with the best prime rib dinner, an 1890s style bar with a jukebox, and even a ghost in one of the bedrooms.

    I went fly-fishing at Hot Springs Creek near the airport for Mammoth Lakes.

    Growing up in Del Mar, California we always had a huge Halloween carnival at the fairgrounds. They would always have a ‘Go Fish’ booth. Fly-fishing brings back that childhood excitement that I would feel when a hidden grownup put a toy on the end of my fishing line and gave it a yank!

    In recent years I’ve fished the San Juan River in New Mexico. One of our inexperienced members got a fish on her line. I screamed, “Carmi’s got a fish!” In my excitement I pulled up and, lo and behold, had a fish too!

    The best fishing spots I can highly recommend are, San Juan River in New Mexico, Meeker, Colorado and Montana in and around Yellowstone Park.

    There is nothing like fishing in Yellowstone with patches of snow, steam rising from the hot springs, and a big trout on the end of your line. One year I was fishing in a November blizzard. Every time my line touched the water I got a hook up or a double hook up. The experience is physical and spiritual at the same time. I would equate fly-fishing with a great love affair! You can’t get enough or too much! It is addictive.

    Fly-fishing, like painting, is a good drug.

    Rippin’ Lips!

    Bye for now,

    Francesca

  • NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!

    NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!

    “Do you have your New Year’s Resolutions picked out yet?” my mother questioned two weeks ago in the middle of the hustle-bustle while trying to get myself organized for Christmas.

    To be honest with you, there have been years as an adult when I have totally rebelled. In all the years of my writing down resolutions, I don’t think I ever accomplished what I wrote down. Even if I did, such as losing 10 or 20 lbs., by the time the holidays rolled around again, the weight was back on due to overindulgence and it would be my first resolution all over again – the pattern repeated itself.

    My sister and I wrote resolutions from the time we could write and I vaguely remember dictating them to my mother before that time. Basically, our mother is and was super into them.

    As human beings, I do think we like the idea of “do-overs” and the New Year makes for a perfect opportunity to start anew.  Wipe the slate clean, become perfect . . . NOT!

    I was at the zoo today with part of my family. (I have very young grandchildren of varying ages and I was with the oldest who is almost 5 years old).

    Monkey at the Zoo
    World Famous San Diego Zoo

    At the zoo, I contemplated on how all  animals struggle to survive.  As human beings, we are really the same except that we have the biggest brain. So, we expect more of ourselves than just merely surviving and raising our young. We are supposed to grow and improve in some way with each passing year until we end up like little children again – which isn’t bad because in essence, they are the smartest of all humans! The little ones are constantly growing, changing, striving, and at the same time – living in the moment.

    After the zoo we went to a park for her to play with other children. Observe young children playing together. They get excited to be sliding down the slides and running after one another, around and around, smiling and laughing, playing together but separate. They don’t have the need yet to learn one another’s names. Each child is simply in her bliss – giggling and laughing in the moment!

    Here’s to living in the moment!

    Bye for now,

    Francesca

  • WE ARE ALL ARTISTS

    WE ARE ALL ARTISTS

    Rebecca Woolf

    Now that Christmas and Chanukah have come and gone we can get back to our everyday lives.  The holiday season gives an artist, such as myself; time to reflect on what to write about in my very first blog.

    I decided to comment on a fellow blogger’s assessment that we are all artists in one form or another.

    This fellow blogger that I am referring to is actually my niece, Rebecca Woolf, who is the author of a top-selling book entitled: “Rockabye – From Wild To Child” and she was also recently named the top mom blogger for 2011 by: Babble

    Becca, as I call her, is insightful, beautiful, and intelligent and I am not biased simply because she is my niece.  You’ll have to see for yourself!

    In one of her recent blog postings on her site: Girl’s Gone Child she made the statement that we are all artists and I happen to agree with her.

    The artist’s personality needs to be actively creating – with their hands in the paint as it is in my case.  When an artist is not actively producing, the emotion goes negative.

    The way for an artist to stay balanced in life is to do the very thing that makes them artistic; whatever that may be!!!  Whether it is writing, acting, painting, producing, surfing, building, designing a skyscraper or making an incredible meal – the artist needs to remain true to their artist nature!

    Personally, the act of painting brings me great joy!

    This is my first blog post and I am so happy to be writing to all of you!

    “Ripping Lips” as they say in fly fishing.

    Bye for now,

    Francesca

  • Out of this World

    Out of this World