Archive for September, 2010
Summer Workshops
My copy of Artist’s Magazine came today and in it are many advertisements for summer workshops. It’s not too early to start thinking about these now. Would I rather go to Maine, South Carolina, Napa Valley, the Hill country of Texas, Provence, or many other places?
In looking over a few of these notices, I find short biographies of the instructors, their gallery representation, their style and their history as instructors. Since I do abstract expressionism paintings and many workshops are for painters of the traditional impressionist style, I must really search to find a workshop that is right for me.
Picasso’s Many Faces
During a recent trip to the Hermitage Museum, I had an opportunity to view several pieces by Pablo Picasso on lease from another museum. Admittedly, I knew little about the legendary artist—and I still know next to nothing. And with my limited knowledge, I was expecting most of his work to be abstract oil painting, with discombobulated people and a random mishmash of shapes.
In fact, the Picasso gallery had an assortment of pieces made with differing mediums. Not only were they’re cubist abstract works, but there were sketches, still-lifes, and even some sculptures, many of which conveyed a political message. My favorite part of the exhibit was that several of the works were accompanies by earlier versions of the same piece which the artist had used to build the concept. This allowed you to see a painting come to life as new levels and dimensions were added to it.
Art not for the Faint of Heart
Robert Genn, the Canadian painter, wrote in his newsletter recently about having gone with a group of artists to the Bugaboo Mountains in British Columbia. They were helicoptered up 11,000 feet to the top of a mountain and left to paint for the day in the ice and snow. By the end of the workshop they were the Bonded Bugaboo 10.
It reminded me of painting in Montana a few years ago. Eash day we rode our horses almost to the top of a mountain and walked the rest of the way. Lunch was brought to us, but we had all day to do a landscape painting in an environment meant to inspire. If you paint the way you usually do, your way of painting will get new dimensions.
We artists went there not knowing each other, but at the end of the week we, too, were bonded by a wonderful shared experience. It is said that the mind once expanded never regains its original shape. I believe it!
The Art League of Ocean City
The Art League of Ocean city is sponsoring a tour of homes tomorrow, called the Sandcastle Tour. Ten couples are willing to open their homes to the public. The cost is $25 per person and the visitors have 2 days in which to see all the homes.
Each home has a coordinator who is in charge of 9 docents for morning duty and 9 more for afternoon duty. The docents are stationed around the home in strategic places and point out interesting information about that area as well as keep an eagle eye out to protect the homeowners’ possessions.
The purpose of the annual tour is to raise money so that some day the Art League will have a new home. Then there will be plenty of room to hang all the oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics and mixed media that the members can paint!
Chesapeake College
Chesapeake College is a small college about 1 ½ hours north of me, and it is having an art show. I entered my oil painting, “Turtle Island,” a few weeks ago and today I took it to the college to be hung for the opening on Thursday afternoon.
Along the way, I picked up my Easton friend and her painting. Because many paintings were brought in yesterday, we were able to preview the show and enjoy works in oil, acrylics, watercolor, pastels, photography, graphics, computer generated art and mixed media. The computer generated work was new to me and very unusual, but I liked it!
Today was another of those beautiful days that occur in the fall and was a great day for doing whatever one wanted to do. I especially enjoyed my visit with my friend as I don’t see her very often.
Chrisfield, Maryland
Chrisfield, Maryland, must have been a thriving metropolis in its heyday. It is located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay not far from the Virginia state line. In its day, the boats of the watermen were full of crabs, oysters, clams and all sorts of fish. Today, it is but a ghost of its former self.
Today, my friends and I went to Chrisfield to paint. While they were doing small 8” x 10” renderings of a building with boat and grasses, I did a large (20” x 20”) oil painting of that same old building and its surrounding walkways. I like doing large paintings… I have room to move around, to breathe, however, painting a building was a stretch for me because I usually don’t do construction. We all enjoyed a perfectly beautiful day with temps in the mid 70s, such a relief from the hot summer!
Creating from a New Pool of Thought
Today I received another of Gwen Fox’s newsletters. She’s the artist from Taos, NM, who does realistic painting as well as abstract expressionism paintings.
She talked about how artists are taught to learn the rules of painting – meet the right people, buy the perfect brush, take workshops, enter shows…. After a year and a half of entering art shows and receiving rejections, she concluded that judges have their own preferences, and they may not happen to be yours. “It’s like flavors of ice cream… to some, chocolate caramel swirl is better than pistachio,” she states.
“Being creative and taking chances means that we goof at times…actually, a lot of the time. To me, being different gives me wings, allows space for my breath to flow… so continue to forget the rules. Mix muddy colors, exaggerate the design concept, twist the subject matter, dig down and create from a new pool of thought”……Gwen Fox
Being Your Best
Today I received my twice monthly newsletter from Gwen Fox, a Taos, New Mexico, abstract expressionist artist. She has paintings hanging in some pretty heady places, but teaches workshops and paints in Taos. These are her thoughts.
In order to be “our best,” first and foremost we need curiosity – in all areas of life. Always be eager to learn. Read a wide variety of books – books that tell how all sorts of people broke through barriers to reach their goals. Go to workshops and take classes. Talk to other artists about how they achieved their special technique. Set aside an area to create even if it is a closet with the chair outside and the table inside the closet. Go to museums and absorb. And the biggest problem of all – set aside time to create. Write it on your calendar in ink! That is your time to paint, paint, paint! Lastly, reward yourself when you reach a goal. Be good to yourself!
My Classmate
I received a letter today from my high school classmate whom I saw again at the reunion a few weeks ago. During his working years, he was an architect, but now that he is retired, he does large scale non functional abstract art clay pieces which he describes as “architectonic” and has many chances to show in the Dayton, Ohio, area.
The letter today showed some of his work. From his “Tower Five” series, there were two “buildings” which appear to be perhaps 18” high, one rectangular, one triangular in shape, accented with windows and doors, brick red with brown tones and with patches of a lighter red and blue. They were very whimsical and delightful.
“It amazes me that art can grab some people (and not let go) and other people are oblivious to it” .….Don Williams
Adding to the Web Site
As the saying goes, “the best laid plans of mice and man often go astray”. So, also, my plans for a day of catch-up in the studio went astray.
After a 20 minute walk and breakfast, I thought I would add a few new products, oil paintings, to my web site. As it turned out, my web site is adding security and I needed to change my password – a simple procedure, you say. Alas, not so; it must have taken me nearly an hour to change the password! (But I still had the afternoon to paint).
After downloading some photos from my camera and cropping 3-4 photos to go with the web additions, I did add 10 paintings. Then a late lunch, and somehow the day passed without painting! Tomorrow has too many appointments, but perhaps Thursday… Hope springs eternal!