Friday, November 30, 2007
ArtPact #40
Remember Sam?
No, I haven't given up on him. I merely switched to the multi-tasking mode between him and the fair MistyN. I am finally starting to make my comeback from the comfort zone of bozzettos, in which I found a cozy shelter during busy times, to the world of painting, which I haven't done for quite a while.
With shaking hands, a bit unnerved, I went for it. I stuck with the same materials I used when I did my last self portrait: a combination of Walnut ink and a shellac based ink. I fell in love with the technique, and thought Sam would be a percept subject to try it again.Only - I made the mistake of beginners: solely concentrating on the portrait, totally oblivious to the background. I got so involved with the face, that I went too dark. It was now unrelated to the background.
Took it for trial to my critique group. Everyone liked the portrait, and unanimously claimed I need to tie the background with the face and darken to unify the painting.
So I did . . .
. . . but now, Sam was so unified with the background, that he was pretty much lost. It all became one dark confusing blob, and some confusing light shapes (it looks much better in this photo than in real life).
I started chanting the mantra "It's just a piece of paper", which Paintermon taught us, but even that didn't help.
So, I emailed my attempt to LimaB. She promptly called and gently asked what I was trying to achieve (a nice way to say 'what the hell did you do!?').
"I tried to darken the background", I confessed.
"Well", she said, carefully choosing her words, "you definitely succeeded...".
"...and I tried to portray the feeling of despair", I continued - and due to her very-restrained silence, I added what she did not dare uttering, "And I definitely achieved a huge success in that, too, Ha?!", which was followed by a loud laughter of us both. That's one thing I love about LimaB - she never lies about what she's thinking.
I was discouraged that my first attempt was such a failure. I know, it's just a silly painting, but that, plus a couple of weeks of gloomy thoughts about existential matters and nights of going to bed after 3am, contributed to a very mirky mood. Interesting, how my paintings reflect the way I feel!
Then, on Wednesday night, around 1:30am, I was gazing at the painting that was displayed on the mantle, a burning reminder to my cursed tendency to mess up. Thursday was critique day - and I was determined to show it to the group, claim it as a failure, and see if anyone had a brilliant suggestion of how to save it. I was already considering collaging on top, or floating with white gesso, or just moving on.
Then I had the epiphany: I want Sam to be a bit lighter, right? The inks would not lift, eh? So, the only way to do so is to darken the background even more. I know - it required courage. But hey, the painting was at that freeing nothing-to-lose phase. I went for it. Poured the inks in full concentartion, smeared around, added some stamping, used a twig to make lines, sprayed with water, introduced some white gouache - it suddenly became a whole lot of fun!
I crashed to bed around 3am, leaving Sam to dry - and to his fate.
The next morning I looked at it, realizing I have never painted like that before. It was bolder than anything I ever did. It wasn't a pretty painting, not something that would get a lot of positive comments from those who look for nice soothing pictures above the sofa.
I love it!
So did the critique group - including LimaB. Even The JohnnyB, who was devastated by the way I rendered Sam, says it's improved.
And Sam? He seems to be smiling a bit.
On to the next version.
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Tuesday, November 27, 2007
SOLD!!!
I wanted to paint.
I really did.
Honestly.
I even had the time.
But I didn't. Instead, I spent some quality time with my mat cutter, on the quest of cutting a double mat for a little bozzetto that I like a lot. A personal favorite, which I consider a breakthrough.
I measured twice - and once more for luck, while cursing the imperial system and its evil eighths and sixteenths of an inch that were lurking in every corner. (Are you ever gonna convert to the sane, metric system, people?!?). Using all my fingers, my tongue stuck out and my self confidence sliding down, I finally managed to cope with the calculations, feeling as incompatible as I ever did.
When I got to the cutting itself, I took special care to make the cuts flawless and clean.
I really wanted it to look perfect.
After all, it is not every day that I mat the very first painting I've ever sold!!!
Who'd have thought that this little painting would intrigue so many people, causing them to try and guess what's the story behind it? It was truly fascinating to witness all the interpretations, that went from nocturnal strangulation(!) through saving from drowning to a woman taking off her mask as she goes to sleep, no longer having to pretend.
Only one of my blog readers actually got what I really painted. A week later, she informed me she wants to buy it - and tomorrow it will be FedExing its way to her.
She claims she is very excited about this. Well, not as much as I am. It's a huge compliment when a person wants to own an artwork of yours. HUGE!
It's so encouraging, so rewarding to know that what you put on paper has touched someone to that extent - and at the same time, it's quite hard to part from it.
Which is why I am so glad it's going to a good home - - - Blogauthor and Wheeler, hope you enjoy it!
I believe I can now be considered a professional artist. And I wonder - can I say I have a patron? :-)
Labels: Art, Major Achievements
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Power of a Signature
Incredible, how powerful messages can be delivered through simple drawings.
Click twice to watch.
From DaskieM.
Labels: Art, Making a Difference, Meta Bloggin', Wow
Saturday, November 24, 2007
ArtPact #39
This year, Thanksgiving was not only a wonderful get-together with good friends and great food. It also gave me a chance to take some truly wonderful photos and enrich my stash of references for potential future paintings.
After a couple hours of fun chatting and snacking on great appetizers, dinner was served. All the kids sat around the table, with steamy plates in front of them. They started giving their thanks (characterized by a wide spectrum that went all the way from family and friends to Wii...), as us grown-ups watching with gurgling stomachs.
I, as always, was on the hunt with my camera, working it like a machine gun.
The best photo was of MistyN. She was leaning her head on her hands ever so gracefully, listening to the others, and looking both pensive and amused. The light on her face and hands was perfect, her hands were just in the right pose - an irresistible sight.
I used to wait with new photos, thinking I am obliged to paint from ones taken earlier. However, WackieM told me that when she takes a photo she's really excited about, she goes for it right away, while it's still fresh in her mind. Makes much more sense, and I decided to follow the master's advice.Here are the first two attempts - small (5"x8") drawings, done with Tombow water-based ink pen and light washes.
There's a lot to improve (ahhhhh, hands are so hard to deal with!), but I do like the mood.
I am looking forward to give it a go with watercolor! Time to get back to some real painting.
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Holidays
Friday, November 23, 2007
A Thousand Words - And Then Some #15
TexieD threw yet another incredible feast for Thanksgiving.
In a nutshell: divine and spicy food, best company, fun Indian movie, hilarious Taboo game, and one heated argument about half-hour time zones. An utterly pointless discussion that lasted forever, as futile arguments tend to do so often, until I reminded everyone that Indians and white people should get along on this day...
...but not before I snapped some photos.
Can you see the difference in personality between TexieD and the Minnesotan The JohnnyB when it comes to arguing?
This year, we were all very thankful for the fact that - as opposed to last Thanksgiving - TexieD in his eternal mercy has spared us, and rather than assigning each of the participants an impossible culinary task made from the freshest and rarest ingredients, he chose to do it all by himself, with the help of his two sons and his newly declared SuChef: his teenaged never-losing-his-cool nephew, to whom The JohnnyB cheerfully assigned the nickname Sue, and in response got showered with torrential rains of highly sarcastic answers.
Alas, Sue kept avoiding the camera, but TexieD's sons, Nimay and Romir, were more than happy to offer their best Dracula expression, and demanded "Put me on your blog".
I hereby do.
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Labels: Food, Holidays, People, Photohgraphy
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
ArtPact #38
As you can see from the accumulating art-related posts, I am celebrating my new relative freedom from organizing and preparing for annual events and rehearsing speeches and solving crises and attending to last-minute issues.
Some people may do that by enjoying a nice glass of wine or a cold mug of beer. Some will go on a shopping spree. I am doing what I have missed the most during all these weeks (months, even!) - tidying up my studio, delving into my art supplies, and using them.
Following my decision to stop using other people's images as a reference, I have started to browse through the vast treasure of the long forgotten photos I took on my own; each and every one of them tells a story, invoking a memory from another place and time.
And so, I'd like to introduce you to Sam.
We met Sam on the little island of 'Atiu, in the Cook Islands. A fascinating island, composed of bush and petrified coral, with its own culture and lifestyle. As opposed to the neighboring islands, 'Atiu's stormy shores prevent it from being a turquoise haven for laid-back swimming and snorkeling vacation, no fancy resorts or restaurants. Obviously, it does not get that much traffic; during the 2 days we spent there, the number of tourists on the island was a record: all 13 of us!
Such a tiny island, with so much to do! During our short time there, we visited the 'Atiu Fibre Arts Studio (and brought home 3 stunning works of fiber art), went on a traumatic hike to see birds that live in a cave (why traumatic? 'cause walking on that petrified coral was like walking on many, many knife blades), enjoyed a tour to a coffee plantation, danced with the local kids at an island night, and - went to a tumunu ceremony hosted by Sam and The Boys. In a small hut, hidden in the bush, we were offered beer brewed from oranges left to ferment in a big wooden barrel made of a coconut trunk. We all sat in a circle, and one wrinkled man, whom we shall call the barrel keeper, was dipping a coconut shell in the barrel and handing it to each of us. The coconut shell circled around once or twice (very few of us went for a third round - needless to say, The JohnnyB being one of them), the beer was warm, with a faint taste of oranges, and very strong. To the horrified dainty ones amongst you - yes, there was a lot of double-dipping going on.
While the others were enjoying the dizzying beer and listening to the music played by "the boys", I was ogling the leader of the gang, named Sam. He sat there, introvert, watching it all with the indifferent eyes of a man who has seen far more interesting views than a bunch of tourists at a paid ceremony. He looked tired. And sick. And sad. And so vulnerable. He made me want to cry. He had a face that was just asking to be commemorated - one of those faces that grant an award to the lucky National Geographic photographer who gets the perfect shot.
Being the touristy event that it was, everyone took photos of each other, the hut, the scenery, the beer - and I snatched a close-up of Sam. An amazing photo. So amazing, it is a huge challenge to paint, and quite intimidating to capture with my brush. There is not much I can do to improve it, and it's so precious I'm scared to mess it. Alex Powers, in his book "Painting People with Watercolor" (a serious candidate to be the best book about portrait painting), says "When a subject for a painting is extremely exciting... it inhibits changes and consequently curbs creativity."Yup - I am now facing exactly this.
And yet, how can I resist?
Our visit to 'Atiu was 4 years ago - and Sam's photo kept haunting me all that time, waiting for me to get good enough to dare painting him.
Well, I don't know if I have reached that desired state of being, or whether I ever will. But - yesterday I made the first attempt.
A failed attempt, in my humble opinion. And yet, just like when making crepes, the first one is always sacrificed, as it comes out burnt, overworked and soggy. Once I got the first rendering of Sam out of my system, I was free to get more creative and daring.
This second one was done 'just for fun' on bristol paper, with the Elegant Writer and some layers of light watercolor washes. I think it managed to capture the expression.
My third attempt was done following WackieM's weekly drawing challenge: a shape drawing. An excruciatingly hard thing for the line painter that I am.
Still, as the word challenge is blurted into the air, the Aries in me starts galloping towards the gauntlet...
...and now I am seriously considering converting to shapes.
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Monday, November 12, 2007
ArtPact #37
Ah, I am such a procrastinating chicken!
Big busy times are over for now. I can paint for real, and stop escaping to these little sketches in front of the TV. no more excuses. On Friday, stretched 8 half-sheets of watercolor paper, all ready to go - - - and there I am, yet again, sketching from a photo I found in a magazine.
"It's only an exercise", I tell myself.
"Just for practicing", I assure me.
"It's not gonna come out good anyway", I plead to the little voice in me that keeps saying 'Stop it!'.
And it's not like I do not have enough photos of my own. Noooooooooooooo... I have plenty of those, taken with LumiB and her predecessors, and I keep taking more and more. And some of them are good! REALLY good!
So, why do I keep reverting to TV and magazines? I will never be able to show them at an exhibit or sell them, as they are actually someone else's art that I based mine on. So, does that fact make me feel less committed, thus more free, when I sketch or paint? Two of my favorite - and most successful - paintings were done from a photo I found online, or in a magazine. They both turned out incredible! Those who see them gasp "Ah, you just HAVE to enter these in a show!!!". And yet, alas, both can only be hung on our own walls.
With that in mind, why do I keep doing the same mistake over and over again? Am I just a repetitive idiot? (that is a rhetorical questiion. No need to answer it, thankyouverymuch).
OK then. I hereby decide, pledge and make a pact: from now on, I shall paint from my own photos only. No more wading in the shallow water comprising the comfort zone of uncommitment.
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Damn Technology, Stating The Obvious
Sunday, November 11, 2007
ArtPact #36
I am trying to accept the fact that this may be a very small step for the art world. And yet, this little painting is a giant leap for me.
I love doing figures. I am fascinated by faces, people, stories.... but I have never, ever, dared to create a painting that has more than one figure in it. 'coz, like, what if I get one face or one figure right, and then totally screw up the other?
What then, eh?
With that, I knew I had to get over this silly hurdle. Yes, lone figures can have a compelling story, but a multi-figure painting automatically tells a story about the relationship between them.
And so, 3 days ago, I was relaxing a bit, watching one of my favorite British crime dramas ("Waking The Dead"), when I saw a scene that captured my attention. Something about the half-lit faces, the obscured features, the posture just wouldn't let go. I paused the show, did a quick drawing, and proceeded to render it with my long-forgotten cobwebbed watercolors.
At some point, it was quite beautiful, very fresh and one-breath painting. But, it wasn't done. Despite the beautiful clean washes I managed to achieve, it seemed flat, wimpy and lacking in personality.
Then, we had a surprise guest visit; someone with whom I used to work in Israel, and haven't seen for over 10 years. As he and The JohnnyB were talking work-related stuff, I got bored out of my mind, and at some point took the brush and kept working on the painting while still taking part in the conversation...
...not necessarily a very smart thing to do, as I overworked it. But, I managed to save it by darkening some areas, while keeping some of the pure hues (a major achievement for me, as I tend to always gray down any hint of color...).
Regardless of the end result (which I actually like), this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between me and paintings that are not limited to one single figure!
I was quite amused by the responses I got in our critique group - everyone came up with a story, asking questions about what's going on in the painting. Then, one of them said, "Never provide all the answers. Let the viewer try to figure it out". Since she's one of the smartest women I've ever met, I shall follow her advice...
* This painting was sold to Blogauthor.
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Major Achievements
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Getting My Life Back
So, the chain of Annual-thingies is almost over.
Our very successful Annual Show keeps getting rave reviews, and will be taken down on Saturday. The reception went very well, and throughout the month of the show, we were extremely lucky to not have torrential rains, which did not leak through the rickety roof of the gallery and did not intermingle with the framed-yet-vulnerable watercolors... I don't even want to think about the what-if!
Even the all-member Annual Meeting on Sunday went, well, could-have-been-worse (reverting to Minnesotan here). Apparently, it was highly challenging, only I was so busy making sure it will not go downhill, that I did not even realize it in real-time. You know how it is, when you have to suddenly act in a stressful situation and do what you can to survive; you do not stop to think "Oh, this is so hard!", 'cause you just have to act and improvise and be in the zone of fight-or-flight!
We had some business matters to attend to, voted on three amendments to our By-Laws (yup, we have those), and then we were to have an attorney come and explain about becoming a non-profit.
Thing is... the attorney... Uhm... did not show up when we were ready for her. Like, she didn't arrive. Mostly my fault, as I estimated everything will take longer, so I asked her to arrive before 1:30pm. Well, we were ready for her just after 1pm. So, we kinda stretched the time, took a long break, and burst into a huge roar of relief when she finally arrived (1:35pm, but who's counting...). Poor gal, she did not even have a chance to catch her breath. After she presented the subject, came the questions. In floods. Remember these torrential rains that did not pour down on the gallery? Well, they materialized in the form of questions, some very legitimate, some - well, very creative. When I saw it was all starting to take too scenic a route into the nearest unrelated pit, I had to cut it short, asking to address further inputs to me.
Then it was time for WackieM to deliver her demonstration. Now, just to humor you, WackieM herself did not show up on time, as she somehow meandered to a different location, and caused us all another spree of anxiety.
But hey, all's well that ends well, and she started to do her magic with paint on paper. And then, and only then, when I could finally sit down and relax, the splitting headache that suddenly was bestowed upon me, made me think, "Whew, that was a tough meeting!".
I guess that's always the case when people sense the scent of change in the air. Even if this change will yield considerable benefits and great opportunities, open new doors and give foot-massages every other Tuesday - there will always be resentment and suspicion and the desire to keep things the way they are.
But, as I said, it's over!
...Well, there is still the show take-down on Saturday.
.........And the submission of stuff to the newsletter (deadline is also Saturday).
...............And the planning of the Annual Party (January).
But, Hey - it's over!!!
Kinda.
WoooooooooooooooHoooooooooooooooooooo!!!
Labels: Major Achievements, Making a Difference, Venting
Thursday, November 01, 2007
A Thousand Words - And Then Some #14
The JohnnyB, Halloween 2007.
As a poorly-aged Jock.
'nough said.
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Labels: Holidays, Wonders of The JohnnyB
