Working in a series

I think it's well past time to try and focus and do some paintings in a series.  It was good enough for Monet, so what could it hurt for me to try?  Other than putting on my thinking cap and possibly (probably) wiping out a lot of paintings, I'm not going to let it scare me.  Here's a good link about working in a series. 

Political Art as Propaganda?

We saw Michael Moore's new movie this weekend and it was great, as usual (although sickening, of course, given the subject matter.) It got me thinking about art and the messages conveyed (or not) by it and how great art can reflect on the current state of affairs and, in some circumstances, alter the course of history. I'm hoping Michael's art can do that. We certainly need a change in course right now if we're to survive as a country. We discussed the role of art in my class today at Maitland Art Center and what we hope to achieve as artists. It's a difficult subject and one that would probably require therapy on my part. I continually struggle with feelings of inadequacy and confusion about what I'm trying to accomplish and admire, or in some instances wonder, about those artists who seem to have an inner road map for direction and never waiver in their artistic goals. Somewhat timely, I found a good article on the internet about art and politics from one of my other heroes, Bill Moyers. Perhaps it's true that a lot of political art can become pedantic and propagandistic, but the fact that some art can rise above that and project a universal message of hope in basic human decency is what makes a true work of art and is something worth striving for.

New drawing--pastel sheep

Sheep, pastel on homemade gessoed and sanded watercolor paper, 10.5" x 14.5"

I haven't touched pastels for years, but decided to drag them out and see if they were still any good and use them during a three hour workshop at Crealde last week (or was it the week before?) with Sally Evans. You never know, maybe they spoil like makeup, or nuts, or oil. They certainly had long enough to do that (I'm not even going to think about how many years!) In spite of that, they seemed okay and I think I'm going to continue to paint with them. The workshop wasn't long enough to pick up a lot of tips, but I did like the reminder that you can fool around with color combinations without wasting a lot of paint and use the pastels to flesh out some ideas for painting. I also picked up on the notion that ridiculously priced sanded pastel paper is the only way to go. Being a self-professed art-supply-aholic, that was all the encouragement I needed and I ran down to the local store and purchased two sheets of paper. I'll do something with them eventually, although I'm not sure what. Since I don't have a safe, they're tucked securely under my bed and I'll take them out when inspiration strikes.

Wabi-Sabi Weekend

My healing adventure has lead to a lot of roller coaster emotions over the past few days. In between trying to forget everything that's happened and avoid mirrors to obsessively googling anything and everything about recurrent skin cancer (with resulting frightening pictures), I've been fairly depressed. Jerry has been kind of worried, so yesterday he took me to an art opening at the Creative Spirit Art Gallery and then to a new (for us) Vietnamese restaurant. It helped to get out for a little while and talk about something other than disfiguring health problems. We talked about the art show and how some artists can display their work without all the agonizing self-doubts that plague other artists ;-) The thought occurred to me that the Japanese aesthetic that celebrates non-perfection, wabi-sabi, seems like a much more sane outlook to cultivate to help navigate the various inferiority complexes, emotions and troubles that afflict us all in our daily lives. The following two quotes sum up the wabi-sabi mind-set and I'm hoping to be able to incorporate some of that logic into my own thinking starting now.

"If an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi."--Andrew Juniper

"It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."--Richard R. Powell

Life goes on without Photoshop

Grady attacking my camera strap

I've been playing around today with the software my sister gave me, Paint Shop Pro. Knowing how I was going through withdrawals since my new computer wouldn't run my ancient version of Photoshop, she said she'd mail me this program to try out. She had bought Photoshop CS3 last year to use in her web design business and didn't need Paint Shop any longer. I must say--I love this program!! In a lot of ways it reminds me of Photoshop, but it seems to have a lot of other features Photoshop lacks (or maybe they weren't there on my old version.) I'll still have to explore a lot, but I like the drop shadows idea (if I can figure out how to do it) and this curling edge thingy I put on this picture of Grady. Who says you have to go broke to get a good picture editing program?

Welcome to my new blog!

I know it still looks like the old blog, simply because I transferred it over to a new URL. But I'm hoping I can refocus on the original intent, as indicated by the blog name and URL, which was to motivate and inspire me to do more art. My other blog had become sort of a rant about the state of....oh, everything. Right now it's hard to put into words the sadness I feel about the state of the economy, our country, my current health situation, tenants taking me to court for frivolous reasons, etc. and on and on. So I'm not going to. Instead of words, I'll try to express my feelings in paint or drawing, and if that doesn't work out I'll find someone or something that does inspire me and post it here. Cheers.

Feeling "crappy"* about your art? *edited by my saner half

If your drive to produce art starts bringing you down, as mine has lately, and you start wondering why you're putting yourself through the turmoil of it all, you must check out this piece I found on the Artistic Failure blog called The Nester.

The main argument in the piece is that since so few artists profit from their art in the "quasi-bourgeois" art scene, we have no obligations to conform to it and should reevaluate our artistic motivations and transform our approach to creativity. The author, Brennan Vance, sums up and suggests that we ask ourselves: "What do we want to get out of life, out of art? How can I use the latter as a means to achieve the former? We should attempt to create from a place where these types of questions guide us, while refusing to indulge an arts scene that is, for lack of better term, shit to begin with." After reading this piece, I'm sure you'll never look at the conundrum of art creation in quite the same way!

Moon Dreams

I haven't had much time to fool around with paintings. I've been writing letters to insurance companies for coverage denied for health problems and Citizens insurance for cancelled home insurance for payments not received (but checks sent and cashed). It seems like our lives are dictated by greedy insurance companies, greedy bankers, greedy politicians, well...everywhere you look the common denominator seems to be greed. Let's wave the flag for the American way! Maybe it should be updated in red, white and green (with dollar signs for stars.)

I worked on another Photoshop painting. This one has a collage background I did recently with Sean/Little Grey (but now I'm thinking he might look more like an Earl Gray). I must get back to that website with the Photoshop tutorials and do another lesson. This one is a recycle of layer masks, but it's still fun to do and I'm learning as I make mistakes (which is often.) I need to work some more on feathering his edges and blending him in. Maybe I might have time eventually to take out the Photoshop book and figure out how to do that.

Tomorrow will be extra busy with a trip back to the rental to work, finishing and mailing insurance letters, calling insurance companies, trip to Lowe's for paint and supplies, on and on.

My brother in Corpus Christi was very excited about buying a house and getting out of his rental apartment, which he had been in for 10 years. How time flies! I hope everything works out and I'm very happy for him and Debra.

Higgins visits Matisse

Today has been pretty good so far. I've learned something new about Photoshop from Sue O'Kieffe's wonderful site Sacred Circle Mandalas. Besides the beautiful mandalas and soothing music, she offers all kinds of interesting tidbits including Photoshop tutorials. I've bookmarked it because it's one of those sites you can go back to over and over and discover something new and exciting--and also relax and meditate on. Anyway, here's the result from her lesson on Photoshop's Layer Masks. I can't wait to try her next tutorial tomorrow.