Wednesday, October 29, 2008
ArtPact #70 - OK, My Turn Now...
Myrna and David have become famous overnight, having one of their incredible pieces in a museum. Always learning from the best, I decided to follow that path of fame.
Looking good, I dare say. I only wish people would stop taking photos of artwork in museums. It's truly and absolutely annoying, especially when one of them is facing the wrong way...
Wanna get your painting in a museum too? It's as easy as can be! Just go to this fun site, and you're in. No nasty jurors, no competition - you get the limelight all to yourself, and bask in the glow. Nothing cures a wounded ego like self delusion.
Why wounded?
Oh, this painting of mine is hanging in our Annual Show (which is an incredible show this year!). It's one in a series, and some of you may recall its older brother, "Dust to Dust". But, this one is titled ""Lost Edges". Also, this one did not get an award.
What I did get is many, many encouraging comments from visitors to the show, fellow artists and - ah, tears are choking my throat - The JohnnyB voted for it as his favorite piece in the show! By now you know very well that The JohnnyB is never ever lying about this kind of stuff. In fact, he is the first to tell me when he does not appreciate an artwork of mine, no matter how proud I am of it.
Oh, and . . . one person, apparently, liked it so much that she kept going to the show to look at it.
She went and looked.
- - - And went and looked.
- - - - - - And went and looked.
- - - - - - - - - And went and looked.
And at the reception (held on Sunday), she bought it. She is a fellow artist, CookieA, a fun person, a wonderful artist (and - needless to say - has an exquisite taste in art ;-) and it is a huge compliment to know that my painting has touched her enough to want to have it in her house.
I am still thrilled.
I have entered this painting (together with two others) to the 2008 Statewide Watercolor Competition and Exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art. And, based on the good karma this visualization thingy seems to have brought Myrna, I decided to give it a try.
You never know...
previous ArtPact... ...next ArtPact
Labels: Art, ArtPact, Creativity of Others, It's All About Me, Major Achievements, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Monday, October 27, 2008
ArtPact #69 - Short Poses
When a model keeps the same pose for an hour or more, it gives enough time to fully capture the pose, fully render it, fully work on it and overwork it and get back into it and mess up the freshness and spontaneity.Whereas short poses - ahhhh, I love them so! you look, you put on paper what it really is about the pose that makes you wanna capture it, and then the model changes to the next one.
Until a year ago or so, I used to regularly take a truly great class, in which we had models pose for periods of 30 seconds to 2 minutes. All you could really capture was the gesture; no time for eye lashes, hardly any time for the arms and legs. At the end of class, we were all dead tired, each of us with over 40 sketches, most of them quite crappy, but the point was that we learned to look, to see. And we learned that 2 minutes are a very long time. And the teacher was actually teaching, a different body part each session, tips about drawing of clothes and how to deal with the clothed figure - one of the best classes, which really changed the way I draw. Writing this, I realize how much I miss that class; maybe it's time to take it again.
Anyway, Thursday was the figure drawing class, and we had a wonderful full-figured young woman, incredibly graceful, with a flowing dress and a nice little hat. Highly professional, she delighted us with a great repertoire of inspiring short poses (10 minutes each) and the time flew by. Alas, she is the very first model in this class who said she prefers to not have her photo taken. Ah well, yet again I need to face the fact that I can't have the photos of everyone I want to paint. I like quite a few of the quick sketches I made in class. So did the teacher, who kept chanting "less is more" and other favorite clichés.
Next class, he promised, it will be one single pose for the whole 3 hours!!!
I am so very tempted to play hookey...
previous ArtPact... ...next ArtPact
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
iLaptop!!!
From the dramatic demise of our old laptop that perished with a blow in my lap, to the quest for a new one, to the saga of the desktop who followed suit by committing suicide - - - and much, much more.
Yes, it's true that we got an almost-new laptop for free from Dell, but in the last couple of months, it started to show desire to join its brother in the laptop Heaven. Let's just say that staring at a frozen screen and having to reboot it several times a day has become an ordinary scene in our house. And, when this happens while reading email or browsing the internet (which, if I may say so myself, are relatively traditional ways to use a laptop), this can get to you. It sure was getting to my sense of humor.
And so, at the best of times, when economy is going for a forced landing, we found ourselves in need for a new laptop.
Several weekends ago, The JohnnyB mysteriously said, "do you trust me to buy a laptop?".
Now, y'all probably know by now that to know that The JohnnyB has many talents, but poker face is not one of them (in fact, he's almost as bad as LimaB - it's a tough call between these two). So it took me about 15 seconds to figure out he's going for real novelty this time.
And so, after many debates and considerations, after taking several weeks to decide whether we really want to make such a major step (with reboots galore along that time), I suddenly got an email from DiploK, about a special crazy deal on Apple laptops that are not the blow-your-socks-off-new-aluminum-unibody-multi-touch-glass-trackpad. As in, $400-$500 off.
OK, all we want is a good functioning laptop whose most useful button is not the reboot one. And because the evenings are getting cold, we don't necessarily want our socks knocked off. So this email came in the perfect timing.
Decision took place within 10 minutes.
We ordered on Sunday, and on Tuesday(!!!) afternoon, FedEx has knocked on the door and handed me this beauty: The Apple MacBook Pro! And it's gloriously silvery, not at all the white I was fearing.
Will this lead to a whole new saga?
- - - Will this bring The JohnnyB back to blogging after over a year of silence?
We shall see.
Labels: Damn Technology, Major Achievements, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
ArtPact #68 - Marveling at Marbling
In between preparations for our next upcoming watercolor show (opens this Saturday!), I went to a demo on Monday, at the other organization I belong to. Not the watercolor-only, but one that's open for all media (and whose shows have been quite good to me :-)
They hold a monthly meeting with a demonstrator (usually) or a speaker (rarely, as the attention span of artists is a bit... um... hey, look! blue car!).
This month, it was a talented and truly sweet artist, named Yoju . She was showing us the art of Suminagashi, which translates to 'Spilled Ink', and is a Japanese take on the Italian marbling technique. Her English wasn't the best - but it didn't matter. At all. She started creating some cool patterns by dripping ink into water mixed with a gelling agent, played the inks with brushes and tooth picks and then laid a sheet of rice paper on top of the water, cleaned around the edges, pulled it up - and we all WOWed appreciatively at the result. The outcome was incredibly beautiful: a flowing pattern of blacks and white, sensuous lines, curvaceous shapes - we all chanted harmoniously with the known "Ohh, if I could do that!".
And as we were standing around with sheer admiration, she took that stuning masterpiece, crumpled the paper and tossed it to the garbage can, as nonchalant as can be.
A gasp passed across the room.
"Ah, this? this no good enough. This just demo" she said joyously and proceeded to create another not-good-enough pattern. Only this time, well prepared protests from a couple of women have prevented her from destroying that second piece. She gave us a "whatever" look and agreed to put it on the table rather that get rid of it.
And then came the best part of the evening!
See, Yoju didn't just show us what she can do. She came bearing a lot materials for us to play with, set four little bathtubs filled with the magic solution, and motioned that it's time for us to have a go at it. Inks, brushes, rice paper - it was all ours to experiment with.
And experiment we did! Ever seen a bunch of kindergarten kids doing finger painting?
Well, that's not as half the fun that went on there...
I did one piece, then waited garciouly for the lines to dwindle and went for a second. VallieM just kept going - I think she stopped at three just because Yoju had to go home... "It's fun!" she announced to LimaB and me who were thoroughly enjoying watching her.
I returned home extatic, burst through the door and showed The JohnnyB my breathtakingly straight-to-The-New-York-MOMA pieces of art.
"Amazing, no?", I hinted the need for feedback.
"Nope", was the answer.
Did I mention the Minnesotan ultra-honest breed he's coming from?
previous ArtPact... ...next ArtPact
Labels: Art, ArtPact, Creativity of Others, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Monday, October 13, 2008
I'd Vote for "That One"...
Friday, October 10, 2008
Auctioning off Some F Artwork
Art critique, anyone?
Beware - this is smothered with the F word, and yet I couldn't resist posting it . If you wanna read more about this comedian and whom he is mocking - it's right here.
Labels: Art, Creativity of Others, Languages, Meta Bloggin'
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Eye Art
Yesterday was the time for my annual eye doctor appointment, which last year sent me into a frenzy of profound contemplation.
It's not a bad appointment really. You venture through a variety of machines and tests, from the one air puff tonometer that rudely spits air in your eye, through the poetic chanting of letters and numbers, to the spatial vision test which is pretty much a computer game in which I always score high.
Among all that joy, I opted for the eye scan that replaces the dilation. You pay more, but at least you do not become a squinting owl for hours after the visit to the doctor's office.
While the doctor was examining my eyes, in between deep discussion whether I can see the HZJUYT better now - or now, I mentioned to her how scary the results of the eye scan always look.
She smiled [JIHUTES], claiming that some people actually ask her to email them the images, as they are so cool.
"Oh, they are cool, [JKYTZW]", I clarified, "they just seem, um, [POHTREU], y'know, scary".
And within the next minute, I had mine in my inbox.
It's not an up-to-date one, as this time I kept blinking and my eyelashes were commemorated all over the place.
So, that what my left eye looked like 2 years ago, when I wasn't such a blinker.
Makes a nice abstract, don't you think?
Labels: Creativity of Others, Damn Technology, Wow
Saturday, October 04, 2008
ArtPact #67 - All That Jazz
We had our second clothed figure drawing class session yesterday.
Being a class with a model, it's a hit or miss, at least for me. I personally find it tricky to draw or paint a model who doesn't make me respond with a desire to render them.
Last week we had a young pretty model (not a good start) who was wearing a black dress (not very inspiring) with long slits along the legs (OK, maybe there's hope) with some scarlet fabric showing through (getting better!) and a straw hat (Yay!!).
However - despite the wonderful possibilities her outfit had to offer, the teacher asked her to just sit in a chair. One single boring pose for the whole time. He also made her take off the hat, as it covers her face. The black dress made her look like a pile of dark, and the sitting pose was so uninspiring that it started a domino effect of people sneaking out. I managed to paint a bit with watercolors, but after two additional attempts I left. There was still more than an hour till the end of class.
I know, I know, some will say an artist has to adjust to whatever the circumstances are and make the most out of the model and the painting time. Well, not this artist. If no inspiration nor fun are involved, then what's the point except for getting frustrated?
But yesterday, ahhhh, yesterday we had Chuck. A male model whom - over the 6 years I've been doing art here - I came to know quite well. I did so many drawings of him in portrait class and life drawing class and quick sketching class.
He's a real pro, and - especially in the sketching classes - always brings something special. He once came with roller blades and delighted us with various skating poses, almost splitting his head open. Another time he was a cowboy, with a gun and all (NRA and Palin would've had tears of joy and pride). But, I've never actually painted him.
Yesterday, he came carrying musical instruments (as, among his other occupations, this guy is playing jazz).He started with a standing pose, holding a flugelhorn, looking very convincing like someone who's just taking a short break from playin'.
I didn't feel like messing with charcoal that day, and so I went for watercolors - to the dismay of the teacher. He always preaches me to paint differently than I the way do, which sometimes annoys the hell out of me as I don't believe in following someone else's style of painting. I wanna paint like me, OK?
We only had three session of 15 minutes each for this pose, and when I was done, VallieM and MembieM looked at the painting and claimed they love the expression.
Me? I kinda liked what I ended up with, but to me, he seems to whine (quite justifiably) "what have I ever done to you that you gave me such tiny hands? Why oh why???". in my defense, let me say that almost everyone who tried to commemorate his hands came up with tiny squirrel-like hands like the ones I did. So there!.
The other was a sitting pose. "Oh, just sit in that chair" said the teacher.
I was just about to sigh and pack my stuff, expecting last week to déjà vu all over again, but wait - Chuck - being the professional model that he is - pulled it off beautifully, and went for a pose of someone in deep thought, holding his shiny blue saxophone in his lap (I haven't seen one before either. A blue saxophone, that is. Not a lap!), and looking very weary.
It was just the kind of scene I'd photograph if I saw it in a jazz club, so I cheerfully went for it. This time, I decided to actually draw him first, before going for the paintbrush. The teacher was overjoyed, almost in tears, when he saw me actually using a Pitt pen to render the figure with a quick line, claiming he appreciates what I am doing.What can I say - it worked. No more deformed hand, no huge head on a tiny body, no reprimanding look from the painted model. And, since I was on a frenzy of listening to the teacher, I stopped in time before ruining the freshness of the quick brush strokes. (OK, I only ruined them a bit).
I came home very proud and showed my masterpieces to The JohnnyB.
"What do you think?" , I beamed with pride.
Being his usual honest self, he said: "I think you like these paintings much more than I do".
OK. At least when he says something good, I know he really means it.
But hey, the good news is that Chuck agreed to have his picture taken, so I went paparazzi on him. Now that I have reference photos and the on-loctaion sketch, the sky is the limit. No?
previous ArtPact... ...next ArtPact
Labels: Art, ArtPact, Wonders of The JohnnyB
