Monday, March 31, 2008
Braggin'
Those of you who are seriously into watercolors do not need an explanation of what AWS is. The mere mentioning of this acronym is always accompanied by awe and wistful eyes, and the thought of "some day, I wanna make it into that show!".
For those of you who do not belong to that crowd, AWS stands for American Watercolor Society, whose annual show is probably the most distinguished one to be accepted to. Hundreds of entries (if not more) are sent every year, which makes it extremely difficult to get in. Many artists try again and again, getting rejected, and keep on trying. And then, one day, they make it in.
This year, 96 paintings were selected. Both Mike Bailey and WackieM made it into this prestigious show for the first time, each with an incredible painting.
And - WackieM (who goes by Myrna Wacknov in the non Nava-blog realm) got an award on her painting "Reflections on Turning 65".
This is so incredibly cool!!!
"So, what are you bragging about!?", you ask. "It's not like you won an award or even got accepted!".
True, very true. I am still wading in shallow water and muck with the unwashed masses, making my first steps in the art world, one tiny step at a time.
And yet - I am lucky to have both Mike and WackieM as great teachers and mentors, which kinda has some braggin' value. I can bask in their glory, I can hope that - along with their teaching - some of their mastery rubbed off on me, and I can just be very happy for them, 'cause they both deserve to be recognized.
But there's another thing: The JohnnyB and I now get to wallow in the glee and piousness that comes with the good ole "Told ya so!" - which is always an undeniable fun.
Y'see, just before the annual show of our organization in October 2007, WackieM was deciding between two paintings, and I was one of those whose she asked for. Both The JohnnyB and I unanimously voted for the one that had striking novelty and uniqueness in its composition and the idea behind it, as well as a powerful emotional effect in its honesty and vulnerability. WackieM decided to go along with that painting - and indeed, as you may recall, got the First Place Award, together with an unprecedented consensus and countless comments about how much it's touched everyone who saw it. The painting also won the first place in the Popular Choice vote. (I can now say how relieved I was that it got awarded; when you give advice and it turns out sour, well, I have a sensitive conscience).
Realizing this painting has something very special about it, she decided to give it a try at AWS. . .
. . .CONGRATULATIONS, WackieM!!!
Labels: Art, Creativity of Others, Major Achievements, Ode to other blogs, Wow
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Create Your Kinetic Masterpiece
Found this gem on the Mother of Shrek blog - and just had to share.
Labels: Art, Creativity of Others, Damn Technology, Meta Bloggin'
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
ArtPact #51
No, I have not disappeared.
Been busy.
Busy planning an upcoming trip of The JohnnyB and me, busy preparing for an upcoming (and a very long awaited) visit to us, busy with contemplating some art competitions, and busy with some ongoing mood swings that seem to follow the weather.
And, in between, I've managed to paint.
LimaB told me recently, "Looks like you are on to something - keep going". Indeed, I seem to be on a new path now, style-wise. I am not quite sure where I am heading, but the journey sure is fun.
This image just called for some lost edges, interesting shapes and ambiguity, and I decided to try and keep working with it for a while and find new ways to express it, until I find this 'something'.
As WackieM reminded us all in her blog, "you keep changing the image, you do the same thing but change the image. If you keep the image, you do something different each time". That's the great idea behind Mike Bailey's Beyond The Obvious class, and it's good to be reminded of it once in a while.
So, here are the first two versions of Jethro.
Both on Tyvek (a surface I am falling in love with more and more).
The first one done in watercolor, with a limited palette. The second done in walnut ink (I love this stuff!!!) - and an even more limited palette. (click to see the bigger version).
More to come.
previous ArtPact ... ...next ArtPact
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Bouquets To Art
Sometimes you live in a place without really knowing what it has to offer. In my defense, I only live here for 6 years (in fact, TODAY is the 6-year anniversary to me moving to the USA!!!).
Still, I am amazed that we never heard of this.
Apparently, every year, there is a special event called "Bouquets To Art". It used to be at the Legion of Honors and is now at the de Young museum of art in an Francisco - and it's been going on for 24 years!
What is it about?
In a nutshell, for five days in March, this event features floral arrangements by prominent Bay Area designers and garden clubs, to interpret and complement the museum’s collection of artwork.
Who knew??
I heard of it through WackieM's blog post, and so The JohnnyB and I decided that we have to see it.
That is, I decided.
I mean , I sent an excited email to The JohnnyB, but - being too busy at work - he had no time to look at the links I attached, so he thought it was yet another art show, and said "Sure". He had no idea what it's about - which contributed to his surprise and delight when he found out what it was as we stepped into the museum.
As for me, I went with very high expectations - and came out stunned! It was so beautiful, so bursting with color and creativity, and so incredibly unique. Dozens of bouquets and floral arrangements were scattered throughout the museum, each interpreting one piece of art, be it a painting, a photograph. a sculpture or even a building you see through the window.
As in any art show, some of the pieces were pretty lame, looking like someone just made a bouquet and looked for a place to put it, with no relation whatsoever to the artwork it was suppose to echo. Most of what we saw was really neat, and some were truly superb.
I can see some of you asking, "How can you interpret a work of art by using flowers?"
Ahhhhhh, let me count the ways... some bouquets echoed the colors, some imitated the shapes, some went for the mood, some went with the movement and direction - all the elements of design were used there in a spectacular demonstration of creativity. The JohnnyB commented it's a very nice way to look at art, as it suddenly makes you look at pieces you may have otherwise passed by, as you stop next to each floral and wonder how it relates to the piece of art it's doing the tribute for. With the more successful ones, it brought up elements in the artwork that you never saw before, and it made you look at it through the eyes of the floral artist, seeing what s/he saw, and appreciating their unique way of interpretation.
It wasn't easy to choose which ones to capture, as there were so many, and so many good ones!
So, I took photos of the ones which appealed to me the most.
Those that to me were less obvious, and went beyond just copying the image.
Click on each image to fully enjoy the view!Enjoy!!
Oh, and - a HUGE THANK YOU to WackieM for sharing this event!!
Labels: Art, Creativity of Others, Wow
Friday, March 14, 2008
A Thousand Words - And Then Some #20
Seen last week ago at Andronico's.The JohnnyB was shopping for sausages for his lasagna, and I was exploring the butchery shelves, and stopped in my tracks when I saw this.
After several times of going back and forth, I thought "Oh, the hell with it!" and took my camera out. I just had to document this refreshing gem of creativity at a place you expect it the least.
The young guy at the counter grinned at me and asked, "Ah, so you've noticed Wilbur?".
"Huh?", I responded eloquently.
"Wilbur, my pig!", he explained patiently. (like, Duh).
Oh yeah, I've noticed, and informed him how totally cool I thought it was.
It's a shame I did not give him the URL to my blog, so he can see his artwork. It's also a shame I cannot remember his name either so I could credit him properly.
Next time I see a Wilbur, I'll be better prepared.
previous 1000 Words... ...next 1000 words
Labels: Art, Creativity of Others, Food
Thursday, March 06, 2008
ArtPact #50
Woo Hoo - made it to 50 ArtPacts! And it took just over 15 months (the first one being in November 2006).
Not too bad.
As I mentioned last week, spring is in the air. We've had some gorgeous days, and now it's cooling down again. Still, there's a lot of bloom, the neighborhood birds are coming up with new CDs and everything feels, well, different.
Which is probably why I suddenly got fed up with my usual colors. As you probably know, I often paint with a lot of neutral colors and subtle hue changes, with hardly any intense pure bright colors. If you had to make a list of 5 painters you know who paint cheery paintings, I bet my name would not come up. Come to think of it, if the list was supposed to have 50 painters, the result would not change.
But the last week I was tired of all that. I wanted to reach for the oranges, the yellows, the reds, even considered the pinks (ahhhhh, the horror!) - all the warm colors that sit in my drawer and look at me with big eyes full of deprivation and sorrow each and every time I go for the blues (pun intended).
I was also kinda annoyed that I did not get to paint for a while, as I was busy with the show I helped organizing and hanging, plus other stuff that needed to be done for our organization - I wanted to bloody paint!!!
I do have a painting in the making, but it's yet another somber one, and I just didn't feel like agonizing over it (plus, it's my first painting that involves hands, and they are quite challenging, so it did not contribute to a cheery state of being).
So, last evening, I just went for it. Just for fun. Decided to work from a photo sent to me by Dinush whose portrait I painted in the previous ArtPact. The photo is of the conductor of the choral group in which my sister and Dinush sing in back in Israel. This image was stewing in my mind for a couple of weeks; not only does it have a wonderful light pattern, I was also captured by the attitude and the posture. I also want to start doing more figures and go beyond the face. As I pulled the tubes of long-forgotten warm colors out of the drawer, they blinked against the light (poor things, they are so used to the cozy darkness of my art cabinet). I did a very simple drawing, and started to have fun with color. Worked without a break for about 3 hours, during which The JohnnyB came home, made lasagna from scratch (as in starting with flour, water and eggs for the pasta itself - that kind of scratch!!), took a break for dinner, and proceeded to work on it till about 2:30am. It was the kind of painting that just kept happening and told me what needs to be done next. I couldn't just leave it in the middle and go to sleep. That would just be impolite.
I painted it on Tyvek - I am finally starting to get the hang of this surface, discovering the good and the bad with every new painting I do on do, and falling in love with it each and every time. It keeps challenging me, never ceases to surprise (for better and worse), prevents me from getting too tight and forces me to find new creative solutions to the problems that arise during the painting, making sure there's never a dull moment while working on it. All that, while proving this incredible texture - What more can you ask for?
When I showed the painting to The JohnnyB, he said with sheer astionishment "I love the colors!". I don't think I've ever used such vivid colors in a painting without toning them down. Our critique group responded with similarl shock, and then came up with a petition that I continue to paint with bursting color. Well, I had such fun painting like this, I think I just might do that occasionally.
previous ArtPact ... ...next ArtPact
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Juried
Since I've started to show my art, I only went for safe shows. The ones that are member shows, to which you get automatically accepted, as there is no jurying process. Actually, this show was kinda juried, as if you entered 3 artworks you were guaranteed one in, but the others could be rejected.
WackieM keeps telling me, "It's about time you added some rejections to your resume!", but I keep stalling.
I think I still carry the scars from that first time I tried entering a juried show,. It was about 5 years ago, with a collage I created - and it was rejected. It was supposed to be my very first show as a painter, and I got so discouraged, that I went home and threw away that piece as well as all the other canvases I painted (I used to paint acrylics back then). Not only that, I also deleted the photos I took of them. Went for the scorched earth method, big time. I was new into art, and I thought the rejection was a clear message that I am not good enough. Luckily, I took Mike's incredible class, and that got back to painting, big time.
Me? Emotional? no................. How can you say that?
I thought jurors and judges of art shows are the ultimate authority, and their choice can be a significant input on my artistic skills. Little did I know... Since then I have seen many shows, been in some, got a couple of awards, and above all - learned that selecting paintings in a juried show or selecting the award winners is a subjective matter that has a lot to do with personal taste. unless you type the criteria into a computer and let it do the choosing, personal taste will always be a significant of the choice. Can't escape that.
Now that I am wiser, I can only kick myself for responding so strongly (and oh so stupidly) to that rejection. Looking back after all I know about color and design, I now know the collage that was rejected was a good one. I did it right after the first Cirque Du Soleil show I went to (the unforgettable Varekai), so it was fresh and personal and expressive - well, damn good! And I don't even have the photo, as I deleted that as well. But I'll always have it burnt in my mind.
So - our organization is now having a juried show, for the first time in 20 years or so. Why juried? 'cause in our quest to find better venues for our members (as in not just a library, a cafe or an abandoned building...), we managed to get into Gallery Saratoga, a place that has a lot of foot traffic, in the quaint downtown of Saratoga. We were given one long wall in the gallery (and then granted another small space), that can only hold about 25 pieces - even after limiting the size of the paintings. We had 50 entries, which meant that 50% will be rejected. Artists could enter one or two pieces, and since I handled the registration, I was blessed with headaches galore due to the constant repeating of the rules and size limits to people over and over again, as sooooooooooo many artists do not bother to read and follow instructions. So, that was a joyous fortnight full of hair-tearing and a lot of cussing.I also volunteered to help hang the show. I love hanging shows! While exhausting, is so very satisfying to start with a bunch of paintings scattered around and end up with a nice colorful jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces fit harmoniously together.
Between these, I was very aware of the fact my paintings might not make it in, in which case it means I am doing all the work for a show in which I have none of my work.
Tough call, eh?
Going to the gallery on Monday morning, my fears increased, as there were so many good paintings there! We all seemed nervous, including our exhibits co-chairs who organized the show - nobody knew who's gonna be in and who will end up carrying the paintings back to the car. So we all registered our paintings, leaning them against the bare wall of the gallery, and those of us who were in the hanging team went to have lunch, leaving the 3 jurors to do their job. The jurors were former presidents of our organization (which means some day I may be asked to do this too), and they are very sweet women, but when they were doing the jurying, boy did they seem tough! Examining each and every painting with scrutinizing eyes, critiquing it and deciding which will stay and which will go. I wish I were a fly on the wall, so I could see how they did it. By the time were allowed back into the gallery, I was just curious to see which paintings made it in. I was also glad I did not need to do the jurying - as far as I saw, all the paintings were good, and selection must have been tough.Well, to my surprise and delight, both my paintings made it. The show is named "Let It Shine", to celebrate the approaching spring, and it's looking good!
Labels: Art, Major Achievements
