Wednesday, May 06, 2009
ArtPact #84: Taking the Scenic Road
Do you ever feel that force majeure is getting the way of settling on a planned route? You go on the freeway with a destination in mind, and suddenly you see an exit that calls for you, and you take it, surrendering to your gut feeling? . . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Family, Vacation
Sunday, April 19, 2009
ArtPact #83: Acrylics Alert!
Haven't disappeared. Just took a break, turned 46, and - actually been painting.
The kind of painting that takes forever.
No, it's not the procrastinated commission (the deadline is June-ish, so of course I am doing everything I can to not do it yet...). . . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Thursday, March 19, 2009
ArtPact #82: Procrastinate NOW!
That is my all times favorite quote of Ellen DeGeneres: "Procrastinate now, don't put it off".
And I always follow this advice, diligently. As - well, Ellen's gotta be right.
Several months ago, I created this collage that was exhibited in a show at a big-shot hi-tech company. I made it especially for that show, and it ended up with a red label of "Sold". Almost none of my artist friends got to see it, as doing it for that exhibit was a very spontaneous decision, and it was finished at 3am the night before the deadline, hung in the morning and then sold within a week. . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Meta Bloggin', Profoundness, Stating The Obvious
Friday, March 13, 2009
ArtPact #81: Of Values and Emotional Value
I know I've made this statement about quite a few paintings, and then got distracted by another image that excited me. But here I go again: this may be the beginning of a new series.
My sister has been going though our parents apartment, and sent me batches of scanned family photos that awash me with waves of nostalgia. One photo in particular had a special compelling effect on me. A photo of my grandfather. It was taken by my father about 50 years ago, which means no Photoshop or any form of cropping was applied. And yet, it has a close-to-perfect composition, brilliant division of space, interesting big shapes - and beyond that, it captures a quiet moment of self-indulgent. I feel in love with this photo, and it haunted me for weeks. Being a photo of my grandfather whom I've never met (he passed away before I was born) taken by my father who's also gone, doubles its emotional value, converting trying to turn it into a painting into a daunting task.
(to continue reading, click here)
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Thursday, March 05, 2009
ArtPact #80: Attitude Named Wenda
There are days when you have zero motivation to go to class. The weather's gray, you are late and in a rush, morning started bad, as you went to your critique group meeting after weeks of missing it, but since you've arrived last, by the time it was your turn it was also time for the parking police to come after the money of those who did arrive in time, plus you have to rush to class. So you don't get to show your art. Which sucks, as you know it was one of those days when you'd have gotten good inputs. Yet you make yourself go. . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Thursday, February 12, 2009
ArtPact #79: Need a Hand?
We had the figure drawing class today. Yes, the one with the talkative teacher, who's driving me nuts with his endless talking and taletelling, mostly since what he says doesn't always have much to do with art. There are artists who manage to block everything out when they draw or paint. Not me, alas. I'm more the kind who needs the whole world to come to a halt in order to concentrate. And so, this drawing class used to send me home with a headache and murderous thoughts. . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Sunday, December 28, 2008
ArtPact #77 - Jet Blue Art
So, after the initial delay of our flight, came Tuesday night, and we are on a plane to the East Coast.A red eye flight.
The plane is over heated. Way overheated. Like, way Way WAAAAAAAAY overheated.
And because we were transferred from a flight that got cancelled 2 days before, I find myself stuck in the middle of the 3-seat row, between two strangers. (The JohnnyB is stuck in the row in front of me, between two other strangers, only his strangers are nicer). . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Culture, Damn Technology, Holidays, People, Venting, WTF?
Sunday, December 21, 2008
'Tis the Season #3
The East Coast is snowed in.
Luckily, Jet Blue is not letting its passengers go through the packing frenzy and drive to the airport just to discover that fact. They sent this email 7.5 hours before the flight, which gave plenty of time to rebook.
And so, no snow for us yet - we're still here, waiting for the snow to ease up a bit. Sitting in the rain. In the cold. Uphill. Both ways. 
In the meantime, this is a painting I did at warmer times. A small study of a scene that's captured me.
I like this quirky color scheme that lends itself to a very different mood.
What's the story behind this one?
Well - that's for you to create your own.
Right now, it looks like this guy is wondering about the weather with a grain of concern.
Labels: Art, ArtPact, Holidays
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Sentence of the Year 2007
The JohnnyB and I were having one of those conversations this evening, and it became quite profound and deep, dare I say on the verge of philosophical.
Bear in mind that when you have a true Minnesotan for a spouse, this kind of dialogue happens once in a blue moon. (And not just any blue, mind you; Manganese Blue!).
And due to that rarity, I was trying to get the most out of it.
At some point, I asked with sheer frustration, "So, I want to understand: why do you always have to be so damn logical???".
The JohnnyB replied, "because I don't like to lose control of my - - - "
" - - - emotions?", I interrupted (hey - I'm an Israeli. When we pledge allegiance, we make a solemn commitment to never ever let anyone finish a sentence!)
"No", he continued patiently, "I don't like to lose control of my state of mind", and - hesitating - he pondered, "Um... is that the same as emotions?"
And so, to y'all who wonder why so many of my paintings have women with this look in their eyes - I hereby rest my case.
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Family, People, Profoundness, Sentence of The Month, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
ArtPact #76 - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman?
These days, my sister is going through our parents apartment in Jerusalem (No, not New Jerusalem, OH... the original Jerusalem. Like, the real one).
The long process of sorting through everything, keeping what needs to be cherished and saying goodbye to the rest. It's highly emotional, and a big part of letting go.
Being here, I only participate over the phone and emails. . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Damn Technology, Family, It's All About Me
Thursday, November 20, 2008
ArtPact #75 - If You Can't Win Them, Draw Their Limbs
Bill of the OnPainting blog has left a comment on my previous post, implying that I am yet to learn how to do some real whining. That still hurts.
Badly.
And yet, always open to constructive criticism, I took it to my attention, and so today in class I decided to change my tactics. . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Monday, November 17, 2008
ArtPact #74 - More Gazing
This is becoming frightfully repetitive, those models who pierce the classroom space with their bored eyes.
I am not complaining. Not really.
Not sure what I'd do if I had to sit in the same pose for 3 hours, but for us class takers it kills inspiration, again and again.
Or does it? . . .
(to continue reading, click here)
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
ArtPact #73 - Beyond Sad Women
MembieK recently mentioned to me, yet again, how she and I seem to be specializing in painting sad women. Somehow, somewhy, we do that. When you step into an exhibit that has our work, it's very easy to find our paintings in it. Just look for paintings of gloomy eyed females and - bingo! You can't go wrong.
So, I have decided to go beyond that. No more sad women. Many people don't like to look at them, and we do, after all, paint for the people, no? (hell no, but that's for another post).
Time to go for greener and much happier pastures, time to go beyond.
I went for a reference photo I took of Crow, an incredible model we had in the figure class 3 (or 4?) weeks ago.
When he stepped in, I couldn't believe my eyes!He was the model every figurative painter who's after character dreams of: tall, dark and handsome, with dreadlocks and tons of personality.
He wore an outfit of Uncle Sam, with a stars'n'stripes suit and a very tall Uncle-Samish hat. He took wonderful poses, one with a guitar, one with a bongo drum; he told bar jokes and played the instruments while modeling in order to not get bored, and from time to time he pointed at someone and said "I want YOU" (did I mention Uncle Sam?) and was ecstatically happy with himself. Some people absolutely resented the fact that he moved a bit (right, Val?... :-) but I was beaming with joy!
And... and... ah, tears of gratitude flood my eyes... he announced "If any of you wanna take photos, fell free". Yup, at that moment I pretty much stopped painting and went into a frantic paparazzi mode. It's not every day that you get such an opportunity to take photos of someone who doesn't mind and doesn't try to over-pose, and looks sooooooooooooooooooooooo cool!
I haven't posted the 3 images I did of him in class (yet!), but last night, as the clock hit midnight and Suburbia was turning into a pumpkin, I decided that I just have to give it a try at home, working from one of the reference photos I took.
Now, in the photo, he was kinda falling asleep, looking apathetic, indifferent at best.
When I was done painting him, I realized that I have indeed went beyond painting sad women.
I have moved on to disappointed men!
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Friday, November 07, 2008
ArtPact #72 - Another Gaze
Figure class again.
One endless pose, yet again, like last week.
This time, the teacher wanted us to go for the portrait rather than the whole figure. Yes, I know what y'all are thinking. Indeed, I've been doing mostly portraits the whole time, but that was just me and a couple of others in class. Needless to say, because he told us to do a portrait, MembieM (who always, ALWAYS does stunning portraits) cheerfully went for a full-figure. I filed a complaint to her that being the rebel has always been my job, but she just laughed joyously and proceeded to capture the whole model - 'coz MembieM is a free spirit. Ain't nobody tellin' her what to paint.Now, as much as I wanted to do the figure (and thus keep my rebellious reputation), I simply couldn't. The model (whose name, so I was told, was Paula) was wearing a beige sweatshirt and jeans, which is as boring as it gets. To add to it, she sat a chair and acted like... like... her portrait is being drawn or somethin'.
You know those formal portraits you see in galleries, of uberly blank-gazing people? Yup - that was the expression.
But - it is, after all, class. And we came there to render, so renderin' I went.
I sat next to MembieM and gave it a try. I did one on smooth Bristol surface, and then another one on watercolor paper. The second one actually turned out quite nice (but that's shall be shown in the sequel of this post, sometime next week).
Towards the the end, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to loosen up and get some fresh air into my soul, so I went for some (very) quick sketches of the artists around me. I managed to capture Val and Al at work. Now, THAT was fun! The model looked at me kinda nasty, but hey - she's had 2.5 hours of my undivided attention. That's more than enough, I'd say.
I no longer have these two sketches in my possession, as I gave them to their unsuspecting subjects(*). It was the fair thing to do. Glad I took photos, though.
(*) I'm guessing it would have looked much more professional to write "these two sketches are no longer in my possession, as they are collected". Ah well. Next time.
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Art Pact #71 - You Can Leave Your Hat On
Last week's figure class was with the dreaded 3-hour pose.
Why dreaded? because - as opposed to short poses - a long pose pretty much guarantees that the model will go for the most comfortable position s/he can assume.
That ultimately means no creative poses, no spontaneity, no fun gestures. They just gloomily gaze into space, looking stiff, frozen-faced and formal, thus not very inspiring.
And so, the model (named Ogden) sat in a chair.
For three hours; that translates into many 20 minutes sessions with 5-minute breaks in between. Yup, same damn pose!
But - he had a hat on. And he had nice lighting on his face, so I went for a portrait.
I have to say, the more portraits I do, the more I realize that I am getting worse in the non-portrait parts, as in backgrounds and anything that is not a face.
Hmm... something to work on.
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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...
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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...
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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?
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Creativity of Others, Wonders of The JohnnyB
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?
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Labels: Art, ArtPact, Wonders of The JohnnyB
Monday, September 08, 2008
ArtPact #66 - Another Day
Opening the door, he stands in the main room, holding the keys. He is wearing his Tuesday tie, the one that matches his vest so well, and yet nobody has ever noticed it nor stopped to compliment him on his choice.
The only times they talk to him is when they cannot find something. Even then, they don't see him. Not really. He is merely an answering apparatus. They have no idea he won first place in that competition. They don't know he carries the certificate in his breast pocket, in case someone, some day, asks him.
27 years in the same place; day in, day out, 6 days a week. How many mornings is that?
He looks around him at the painfully familiar surroundings, and goes to unlock the cash register.
Perhaps today will be different.
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