Spending long hours painting in our studios can be a lonely occupation. How can technology help to bridge the gap between one studio and another, and how does the technology shape the kind of ideas that people exchange?
Well, blogs, podcasts, Twitter, and Facebook help keep the conversation going on all sorts of art topics. But before the Internet, there wasn’t much besides the phone for staying in touch. That’s why in the late ’70s and early ’80s we invented the Golden Palm Tape Network, which was sort of the ancestor of this blog.
The way it worked is that you would record cassette tapes and send them around to each other by snail mail. You would leave some blank space at the end for other people to add their comments. People would initial the back to show they’d heard it. It would take months for any single tape to make the rounds.
The topics included art readings, live visits to art museums, amateur radio plays, and general discussion and healthy debate. The medium encouraged long, reflective ruminations, private thoughts, and thoughtful analysis.
The nucleus of the G.P Tape Network was a small group of us art buddies who knew each other at Art Center. We lived in the same apartment, a seedy dive called the Golden Palm. The artists involved included Paul Chadwick, Bryn Barnard, Thomas Kinkade, Ron Harris, Richard Hescox, and occasionally Tom Kidd, David Mattingly, James Warhola, and a few others who joined in later. All those people were (and are) brilliant and incisive and funny, and I owe who I am to what I learned from them.
There were hundreds of tapes, most of which were recorded over again with new stuff.
As much as I love to waste time goofing off, I probably won’t get around to turning any of my tapes into podcasts, and obviously I could never publicize anyone else’s private comments. But there’s some fun stuff on there, and it reminds me how much communication technology has helped each of us to share our thoughts about art and to learn and grow.
This was another intense study I did of another Hudson River School master, J.W. Embury. This is a 16″ x 20″ oil painting on stretched canvas. I put much detailed brushwork in the grasses and foliage in the foreground and road, while leaving everything in the middle and background very foggy. Enjoy! ~Connie
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” ~ Romans 10:8-11.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
The other morning I was driving to work and noticed a double row of purple leaf plum trees. The ice had coated the red berries, and the sun was reflecting off the ice crystals: for an instant I thought I was looking at cherry trees in full bloom. The poetry in this oddness lingered all day - I want to paint the winter ice briefly changing the season to spring, but I don’t know how to convey what I saw.
So I ask myself, “How do I get there from here?”
Shouldn’t the first rule of painting be “paint what you see?” We know to paint what our eyes see rather than what our brain knows. And yet aren’t there images so stunning, so visually unique they’re better off left to the photographers? Who would look at a painting of ice-covered berries that appear like blossoms and say, “I believe that?” Yet a photograph would be believable, because it is.
Maybe the first rule of painting should be “paint the poetry of what you see.” Maybe the painter’s challenge - or curse - is to interpret the magic in the world with totally un-magical tools of the trade - brushes, canvas, pigments, finger, sticks.
There are days when I envy the photographers.
There are more days when I don’t.
Meditation - Steel Head Falls
30 x 40, oil on canvas
@2009
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
“My pictures are like a family, each one has a special niche in my heart,” renowned art collector Chester Dale once said. “Does anyone ever place a dollars-and-cents value on a son or daughter? If they do, they don’t deserve them.” With his first wife Maud, Dale amassed perhaps the greatest collection of French art from the Impressionists to the Modernists. Upon his death in 1962, the childless Dale left his most lasting legacy—his collection—to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, with two conditions: one, that they be displayed together in a gallery bearing his name; and two, that the works never be loaned out. He wanted his family kept together forever. The NGA’s new exhibition From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collectionis truly a family affair. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of “All in the Family.”
[Image:Salvador Dalí,Chester Dale, 1958,oil on canvas. Overall: 88.8 x 58.9 cm (34 15/16 x 23 3/16 in.); framed: 111.7 x 81.3 x 6 cm (44 x 32 x 2 3/8 in.). Chester Dale Collection.]
When J.D. Salinger passed away recently, many casual fans who only remember him from tattered copies of The Catcher in the Rye lost long ago seemed shocked that he was still alive. Reclusiveness will do that. Influential comic artist Steve Ditko, the creator of the original look for seminal characters such as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, submerged into seclusion years ago and has rarely surfaced since, content to work on the fringes of the comic world rather than compromise his art or his beliefs. In The Art of Ditko, edited by Craig Yoe, Ditko’s forgotten art of the past resurfaces for a new generation of readers who may not even know that his genius lives on, or ever lived at all. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of “Missing Person.”
24×36 oil on canvas, email me for more information
Yet another from my new series. Love this guy. Seriously, I think I went on a date with him. Once.
You may have noticed a mention or two on this blog about the upcoming art exhibit, Temptation6. And I hope you are enjoying meeting my artist friends that will be part of the show along with me. Each of these artists put their own spin on love, passion, and valentines to make for a very diverse and interesting exhibit. There is definitely something for every taste, from landscape to whimsy; still-life to abstract.
In addition, each artist has donated a “Love Token”, an 8×8″ painting for a drawing to benefit ArtReach, a non-profit organization that offers on-site visual arts instruction to San Diego County students in grades K-6. For $20 you’ll get a chance to own all six paintings valued at over $1500. And for $100 you’ll get six tickets; that’s one free ticket. Pretty tempting, huh? Pictured below is the collection; one painting by each of the six artists in the show. For more information and to purchase your drawing tickets visit the ArtReach website.
Bookplates are becoming an old-fashioned art form, I suppose, but I love them as much as I love books.
I have made two different bookplates for my own collection. The one on the right is the first one, made during high school. It’s the coat of arms of my ancestral Scottish clan, the Mackays. They were both drawn in scratchboard, my favorite medium in high school and college.
Asher B. Durand painted Kindred Spirits to memorialize his friend Thomas Cole and their beloved Catskill Mountains. In 2005 the painting sold for $35 million dollars to Walmart heiress Alice Walton.
What is the setting of the painting? Is it just an idealized composite, or an actual place? Landscape painter Scott Balfe sent me this picture of a place he discovered in a remote section of Kaaterskill Clove.
The picture shows Shelf-Rock at the Five Cascades under Haines Falls. “Bit of a hike to get down there,” he says. The rock sticks out 10-12 feet. “I know Durand must have seen that spot,” Scott told me.
“You can see South Mountain and Kaaterskill High Peak in the distance today, which resemble the shapes of the mountain forms in Kindred Spirits. I’m sure Durand’s painting was a composite, but once you’ve been down there, the impression is a strong and lasting one.”
——-
Previously: I paint a portrait of Scott in a downpour Painting a sheep farm with Scott
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Due to the massive snowstorm bearing down on the mid-Atlantic states, the Delaware Art Museum has announced that it will be closed on Saturday.
The Dinotopia exhibition will open on Sunday instead. I’ll give the Sunday colored pencil workshop as planned, and slip away from 2:00-3:00 for the public lecture presentation, followed by a booksigning. The Museum will stay open an extra hour on Sunday, until 5:00, and I’ll be signing books in front of the bookstore from 4-5.
Jeanette and I are driving down today. Hope to see you there on Sunday!
—
UPDATE: SUNDAY MORNING, 6 AM. The Museum is scheduled to open to the public at noon, and it will stay open until 5:00, an hour later than usual. I’ll give my presentation, “Fact and Fantasy: The Making of Dinotopia” at 2:00 in the auditorium. All are welcome.
WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS, you can come an hour early, at 11:00, and enter in the Studio entrance. The Delaware Art Museum’s phone number is (302) 571-9590.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Here’s the Belgian filly Princess, a sketch I did nearly six months ago, July or so.
She’s a big horse now, about the size of a standard riding horse. The farmer, Lenny, says she may end up bigger than her mom.
Here are those sketches from last spring when she was just two weeks old. The technique is water-soluble colored pencils and water-brushes, one of which was filled with dilute brown fountain pen ink.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Feb. 3, 2010) – Ryan Newman will be the first to tell you that he didn’t know what to expect this time last year.
Newman, who until last season had spent his entire NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career with the same team, had no idea what would happen. In fact, Newman didn’t set expectations for himself or his new Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team.
Although the eight-year series veteran admits he wasn’t sure what the season would hold for him and the No. 39 Haas Automation team, Newman was very sure about one thing. He had made the right decision to join co-owner and teammate Tony Stewart’s fledgling team, which was built on the foundation of the former Haas-CNC Racing.
Newman knew there would be a learning curve for everybody involved. He had never driven a Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He and crew chief Tony Gibson had done little more than chitchat about hunting or fishing while standing in the garage during rain delays prior to their being paired together at SHR. Now, the two would have to learn how to communicate about the racecar, what it was doing on the track and how to make it better. And, just as importantly, Newman would have to study up and learn a lot of new faces and names.
None of that mattered to Newman. He believed to his core that his move – a move that so many considered a risk – was the right move.
But not even Newman could have imagined how good his first season with Gibson and the No. 39 team would be. Newman secured a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, finishing ninth in the points. Although the team didn’t win a race, he came close to victories on several occasions only to be thwarted in the closing laps. Newman scored two poles – Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October – five top-five and 15 top-10 finishes. And both Newman and Stewart each completed a series-leading 10,468 of 10,492 possible laps over the 36 points-paying races, an incredible 99.8 percent.
Impressive stats for a first-year team. But, more importantly to Newman, he had fun.
This week, Newman, Gibson & Company embark on their second season together, starting with the non-points-paying Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on Saturday night.
And, this time around, the 2008 Daytona 500 champion and his team do have expectations for the season ahead. They want another year just like the 2009 season – only they want it to be better. Their goals are simple – to win poles, to win races, and to make the Chase so that they have a shot at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing
The Budweiser Shootout will kick off your second season with Stewart-Haas Racing. Talk about how far this team has come since its inaugural year in 2009, and your expectations for 2010.
“We have a lot of great things that we have done from a people standpoint and from a car standpoint to prepare ourselves for 2010. And last year, the biggest transition for me, and I think for Tony (Stewart), as well, was getting to know everybody. My biggest thing is I know 99 percent of the people in the shop, now, and I had no clue who most of them were last year. But, in general, it’s a lot more relaxing in reference to knowing people. It’s relaxing knowing what to expect, chemistry wise, with simple things like when we are installing a new seat in the car – a little different style, a little safer one – I know who the guys are that are working on it, and we can be more direct and we can be more precise with the things that we are doing. It’s not a wait and see kind of relationship.
“Last season and during the off-season, I got the chance to spend time with my crew chief Tony Gibson. Spending that time together, especially in the offseason, I think, is really going to be valuable to our team. I think the more you can understand and have a friend in a crew chief and a driver or anybody on the team, the more successful you are going to be. Whether it’s going out hunting or fishing or going to see a movie with his wife and my wife and the two of us, it’s important to have that relationship. It’s important to be able to say anything to the person who basically is in control of how successful you are in respect to your job. You know, Tony has done a great job of leading the team, the new team that we had last year, and what we do in the offseason makes a big difference in how we start the new season, in my eyes.”
You didn’t get the chance to race in the Budweiser Shootout last year because of a different set of rules as to how you drivers were awarded a spot in the race. How important is racing in the Shootout, in your opinion?
“I was really disappointed when I didn’t get the chance to race in the Budweiser Shootout last year. Every year prior to that, it had focused on pole winners from the previous season. So, I had been fortunate enough to be in the race every year of my career – even my rookie year, since I had won a pole when I was running a limited schedule. That was an honor to me, and it was cool because it was recognizing a pole win, which is a big deal. I remember that whenever I would get my first pole each year, one of the first things I would say was that I had my spot in the Shootout. Anyhow, since I wasn’t in the race, I stood in Tony’s (Stewart) pit the entire night with a headset on. I watched the race, listened to him, paid attention to tire wear, that kind of stuff. It’s a cool race to watch, but I would much rather be part of it.
“I’m just glad that I am in the Shootout this time around. Since I was a driver in the Chase, I got a spot, but I guess the way the rules are, now, they could have given me one for my Daytona 500 win in 2008. Either way, it’s pretty cool. I’m really happy to be racing in the Shootout this year. To me, it’s a valuable race because of the extra seat time that we get. We get a couple of more practices and, of course, we have the race. We can learn a lot in those few hours as a team that could be really important to us the rest of the week and even during the 500 the following Sunday. I know that my crew chief Tony Gibson will be taking a lot of notes about what works and what doesn’t, so we are on top of our game for the Daytona 500. I guess you could say being in the Shootout is a nice bonus. I think all the guys are pumped to kickoff our season with the No. 39 Haas Automation team in the Shootout. It’s a fun race. The shorter races always lead to a lot of fireworks, so it should be a cool night. We didn’t have the best Speedweeks last year, and we’d like to start off a little bit better this time.”
You have won at Daytona in an ARCA car and you won the Daytona 500 in 2008. Talk about racing at Daytona and what a win at such a historic track means to you. Also, how important is it to kick off the season with a good run at Daytona?
“I think racing at Daytona has actually gotten better since I’ve been involved with the sport. I don’t know if it’s because the asphalt keeps wearing out that much more or this new car has added that much more of a challenge, handling wise, to that racetrack. But, man, you have to stay on top of the racecar the entire time at that racetrack. Even on new tires, it can be a handful. It’s fun because of that. It’s fun because it allows us to separate out and actually race, versus being stuck in a pack and hitting bumper to bumper and figure out who is going to get the best push, as we do at Talladega. I look forward to Daytona. I think it’s one of our better racetracks that we go to over certain intermediate racetracks. It just provides better racing.
“Winning at Daytona was an incredible experience. I won the ARCA race there in 2001, but nothing will ever compare to winning the 50th Running of the Daytona 500 in 2008. That was a dream-come-true. It was the culmination of everything that me and my family had sacrificed for all those years of building my racing career and to getting me to that moment. I still get speechless when I talk about it. But winning one Daytona isn’t the goal. You want to win every race. It’s obviously the biggest win of my career and it was a great day, and great to just have the opportunity to go back, because I believe Dale Jarrett had said the second one can be sweeter than the first. So I’m looking forward to getting down to Daytona and trying to get that second Daytona 500 win. But it would be pretty cool to get the other wins that I haven’t gotten there before, too. I would love to start my season with a Budweiser Shootout win.
“As far as having a good run at Daytona, I know that it’s important and it’s nice to start the season well, but we proved last year that we don’t need to. You want to, obviously. Everybody wants to. Daytona is the biggest race, and we start with it, but when it comes down to the end of the season, it’s about consistency and it’s about teamwork and it’s about reliability, as well. Our team did a great job in 2009. I think it was 99.8 percent of all laps that both cars completed, and that’s phenomenal. That’s phenomenal for any team – any organization – and I think our guys did a great job for a new organization to be able to achieve that from a mechanical standpoint.”
TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing
Last year, the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing team was left out of the Shootout because of the rule change. This year, Ryan Newman and the team will compete in Saturday night’s Shootout. What kind of advantage does being part of the Shootout give you as a crew chief and the team as a whole as you prepare for the rest of Daytona Speedweeks?
“Being in the Budweiser Shootout is definitely an advantage for the team as a whole. It speeds up the process of getting your race trim figured out for the Daytona 500, which is obviously our sport’s crown jewel. We weren’t in the Shootout last year. And when you’re not part of the Shootout, you basically sit around for three days working on nothing but qualifying. You don’t get to really run and try out your car in race trim until the following Wednesday. Then, the next day is the Duel. So, basically, if you aren’t in the Shootout, you have one day – that Wednesday after qualifying – to get your race package figured out. Not only does it help us figure out the race package, but it gives our pit crew extra practice in race conditions and it’s kind of like a free race for all of us to make sure we are on top of our game. So, it really is a huge advantage to run the Shootout.
“Whether you’re bad or good, it gives you an opportunity to learn what does and doesn’t work, to make your car better for Thursday’s races. It really helps a lot. The past few years, the Shootout has been especially helpful because the Daytona 500 has gone into the night and the Shootout is at night. So, it kind of helped to learn that balance shift and what the racetrack is going to do. And we were able to learn about how the track would be during the day with our practice and the Duels. So we could take the notes from both and see the difference between the racetrack and how it will change. I don’t know how big of a help that will be this year, since the Daytona 500 starts earlier. But we will be using a lot of our notes from the Shootout in hopes that it helps us make out car stronger for the 500.”
So, in your eyes, the Budweiser Shootout is almost like a study session for the Daytona 500. That being said, how do you approach this race? It isn’t the All-Star race, but it is similar. So, do you go all out for the Shootout? Is it the same mentality – the win-or-wreck approach that we have seen at the All-Star race in the past?
“The Shootout is different from the All-Star race because I don’t think you want to put yourself in the position to tear your car up. I mean, there will be the opportunity to do that and somebody may make a move that causes that to happen. But I don’t think this is a race where you are going to go five-wide to wreck it going into turn three. I think you’re going to be a little more cautious on that side of it because, for most of these teams, the Shootout car may be their backup car for the Daytona 500. Most of these teams will take three cars to Daytona. They will have their primary Daytona 500 car, their Shootout car, which is also their backup Daytona 500 car, and a second backup, just in case. That’s kind of the way we’ve got our deal planned out this year.
“And, of course, last year, our teammates on the No. 14 car ended up running their Shootout car in the Daytona 500 because they wrecked with us in final practice. So, I don’t think we go into the Shootout saying, ‘Well, we can wreck and give up a racecar.’ It’s not worth it. I would rather play to the cautious side. I think we will know pretty quickly in that race, because it is so short, whether we have a car that can win or not. So we’ll see what happens from that point, but our goal for the Shootout is to take care of our racecar and learn what we can. We want to work to make our 500 car the best it can be because that’s the one that’s going to pay the points, and our notes from the Shootout will be valuable for that.”
The Shootout is the first challenge of Speedweeks. Last year, Speedweeks was the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing team’s first race weekend together. Although the team had a fast car, it was a pretty stressful week for the entire team, where nothing seemed to go your way. This team knows what can go wrong at Daytona. How do you put that out of your mind as you head to Daytona for your second Speedweeks as a team? And how far has this team come from that first weekend together?
“I don’t think I will ever forget that week. Nobody who was part of this team and this organization will forget that week – at least I don’t think they will, no matter how hard we may try. It’s there in the back of your mind. It seemed like if anything could go wrong or if anything was going to happen, it did to us that weekend. But if there is anything good that does come out of that, it made our team stronger. We learned and we know that we can overcome adversity like that, and I think that was a valuable lesson that really helped us through all of last season. It’s something that we have with us forever, really. This team has come such a long way since that first weekend last year. We built a lot of character. For me and Ryan, we’ve gained a lot more trust in each other. Our communication is better and our friendship is stronger. I think that can be said for Ryan and the crew, too. They have definitely developed a stronger relationship with Ryan. I take all that stuff to be a plus. To go through all the crap that we went through in Daytona last year, with our deal being new to everybody, it was pretty incredible. Nobody quit. There wasn’t complaining or anything like that. We just all dug deep and worked together to get through the rest of the week and do the best we could with the cards we were dealt – the driver and the team.
“We’re strong this year. If that happens again, we are better prepared now, obviously, than we were last year. We have a third or second backup car this time, which is actually the car that we took as our primary car for the Daytona 500 in 2009. It’s the same car that we qualified third with and then got tore up in the Duels. But it was a strong car and, when we got in the wreck, we were in a position to win the race. So, we have a better third car than we had last time. I just think we are better prepared for that kind of situation if it occurs again. Hopefully, it won’t. But regardless, we will remember it. You never get it out of your head. I’ll remember that until the day that I die, that’s for sure.”
You grew up in Daytona Beach. What would getting a win in the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday to kick off Speedweeks in your hometown mean to you? Not only would it be the first race win of the season, but it would be the No. 39 team’s first win.
“That would be awesome. To win any race is big, no matter where and no matter what. To kick off Speedweeks with a win at my home track, and for the No. 39 team to get its first win together in the first race of 2010, would be special. You know, when you go to Speedweeks each year, there are four goals that you want to accomplish when you go down there – win the Shootout, sit on the front row, win your Duel and win the Daytona 500. I’ve been there before, and we’ve won three of them, so it can be done. Guys have done it before, so it can be done. And we have just as good a shot as anybody. So, the first goal at hand is to win the Shootout, and that would be awesome. I can’t think of a better way to build momentum for the rest of Speedweeks.
18×24″ oil on canvas, email me for more information
Another new piece from the Moonstruck Chronicles series with a little nod to Joni. We’ve all known one of these guys, right? One of the great things about getting older is that you can smell them a mile away. When you’re 22 you’re nose is just not that astute. Takes a little practice and a lot of scars.
Tonight I’m very excited to introduce another of the artists in the Temptation6 exhibit, Maite Benito Agahania. Her new series, “Secrets”, painted just for the show is full of visual surprises. Maite has collected “love secrets” from people that were brave enough to send them to her anonymously. She has created layers upon layers of brilliant colors and patterns in her abstract paintings that both obscure and reveal the secrets. You really can’t get enough in just one glance. Her Secrets series requires the viewer to linger and discover the mysteries of love hidden in the layers of lucious color. Pretty much like true love, huh? Maite is enormously talented and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. If you come to our opening on February 12 be sure to slip Maite a little scrap of paper with your love secret. Who knows? It might very well end up as her next masterpiece.
Three tips for drawing hands:
1. Look for the big outside shape first.
2. Try to establish a line of action: from the forearm, and the wrist through the palm and all the way through the fingertips.
3. When you can’t find another subject to sketch, practice using your own hand as a model.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
This scene makes me think of the awakening of a brand new day. The country holds a very special place for me. I grew up in the country. I love the fresh country air, the simplicity and goodness of the land, the solitude and the wide open spaces. The flock of geese overhead represents a sense of freedom and ability to be and do what we are supposed to do and be. After all… God wouldn’t have given birds the desire to fly south if He wasn’t going to also give them the ability to do so. Enjoy!
“Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet, and a Light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
24×18 oil on canvas, email me for more information
Part two of the Operating Instructions diptych. See yesterday’s post to get a glimpse of her partner, Tab A. Both are from the Moonstruck Chronicles series soon to be hanging at India Street Gallery in Little Italy. The show, Temptation6, will be on exhibit from February 9-16 with our opening reception scheduled for Friday night, the 12th.
As promised I am introducing the other five artists that are included in the exhibit. Below you will find one of Alison Haley Paul’s gorgeous landscapes. I have painted alongside Alison for several years now in a class we’ve taken from Reed Cardwell. It’s amazing to watch her process. Her canvases are huge and she covers the entire surface with oil paint slathered on with teeny little palette knives. Her colors are rich and buttery and each painting is highly textured. All of her pieces are captivating and serene. I hope you’ll drop by the gallery to see Alison’s work in person but if you can’t, do take a peek at her website.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. – Slide Lecture (DuPont Auditorium) – Open to Public, fee.
2:00 – 2:45 p.m. – Book Signing (East Court) – Open to Public.
Sunday, February 7 Delaware Art Museum
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. – Studio Workshop: Water-Soluble Colored Pencils (Studio Wing) – Open to public; Still space available. Advance registration required.
Tuesday, February 9
3:00 p.m. – University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad St., Philadelphia (contact the illustration department)
Tuesday through Thursday AM
Various elementary and middle schools
Thursday, February 11
12:35 – 2:00 p.m. – Delaware College of Art & Design, lecture at Auditorium of Delaware Historical Society; Open to public
Saturday, February 13
12:30 p.m. – Paleopalooza. Presentation at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, followed by booksigning. Entrance fee.
Week of June 13-18, 2010
Instructor, Illustration Master Class, Amherst, MA (Only 3 spots remaining)
Weekend of June 25-27
Guest of honor, Anthrocon, Pittsburgh, PA
Fall 2010 Tour
I’ll be touring this fall with the new book, Color and Light.
Here’s the tentative schedule:
Northern California, Oct. 3-10
Southern California, October 10-17
Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, November 1-15.
If your art school, animation studio, or game company might be interested in an artist visit, please have your events person contact me at jgurneyart (at) yahoo.
Note to Museums: The Dinotopia exhibit is available for 2011 bookings. Please contact me or Mary at the Norman Rockwell Museum’s Traveling Exhibition Office.
———
Photos by Didier Frontini. Merci beaucoup!
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
“Creek Retreat IX” ~ This work pictures a small country creek meandering it’s way over ledges creating beautiful peaceful waterfalls through the countryside. Autumn has began to color the trees. This would be a perfect, intimate place to go to with someone you love, and bring a picnic lunch and a blanket to sit on and enjoy nature’s awesome beauty. Enjoy!
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore Love is the fulling of the law. ~ Romans 12:9-10, 13:10
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” ~ I Corinthinians 13:13.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
“Creek Retreat IX” ~ This work pictures a small country creek meandering it’s way over ledges creating beautiful peaceful waterfalls through the countryside. Autumn has began to color the trees. This would be a perfect, intimate place to go to with someone you love, and bring a picnic lunch and a blanket to sit on and enjoy nature’s awesome beauty. Enjoy!
“Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore Love is the fulling of the law. ~ Romans 12:9-10, 13:10
And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” ~ I Corinthinians 13:13.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
When I was in school the artist Joaquin Sorolla had become popular again, nearly a century after his death. A visit to the home of an art history professor revealed several rare books on the artist, and I vowed then and there that if ever I could afford one, I would own a Sorolla book of my own. The day finally came when I purchased “The Painter Joaquin Sorolla” by Edmund Peel, hardcover, pristine dust cover, for the ungodly amount of nearly $400. I didn’t care. I had magic in my hands and just touching it, the feel of the paper beneath my hands and being able to press my nose right up to the images was worth every penny that I’d paid.
Ironically it is one of the books I don’t allow in the studio for fear that I will mar the pages with oil paint smudges from my fingers. So I have taken to studying bits and pieces, internalizing the information and following Sorolla’s lead as best I can.
I learned that what I admired most about the artist - the freshness of his surfaces, the images that were so full of spontaneous life - were the result of days and weeks spent in preparatory work, through oil sketches, color combinations, working out the details until he was ready. He would pose his models and paint furiously, out in the sun without regard, laying down the colors and forms in an inner competitive duel with his friend and rival Sargent.
And, most vividly, I learned that Sorolla believed “Painting was a state of mind.”
I don’t think it matters much which artists we study, as long as we feel a connection to what they were - or are - trying to accomplish. And because we live in our own time, when the modernism driven by the critic-influenced 60’s lead to a period of post-modernism that commercialized the idea of art nearly out of existence, we are now seeing a rudderless homogenization of ideas. Of catch phrases characterized by ambiguity. Perhaps we have lost the idea of what constitutes art. Perhaps we have focused so intently of satisfying an equally ambiguous public that we’ve allowed ourselves to be influenced by the lowest creative denominator. No risk, no need to explain or defend, no challenge to the status quo. But here we live and if we have any hope of steering ourselves forward then we must find the rudder, the philosophical point to what we are trying to do. What conversation am I trying to continue? Why am I called to walk this artistic road, to dance to music that others have not heard?
This is dancing with Sorolla. Or dancing with the artists that speak the most sweetly in your ear. This is your life.
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
24×18 oil on canvas, email me for more information
For the next several posts I will be previewing my newest paintings from the Moonstruck Chronicles series, soon to be hanging at India Street Gallery for the Temptation6 Show. This piece is part of a diptych; I’ll post the other half tomorrow. But just for grins…can you guess the name of tomorrow’s painting. Aw, go on..
In addition to giving you a sneak peek at my newest work I will also be introducing you to the five talented artists that I will share the walls with at India Street Gallery. First up is Cree Scudder. I hope you’ll visit Cree’s website. I think you’ll be delighted with her mastery of color and playful manipulation of her compositions. Along with the other artists Cree will be showing several new pieces at Temptation6. Don’t forget to drop by our opening reception if you are in the area, Friday, February 12, 6-9pm. Wine, chocolate and beautiful art like Cree’s!
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
In 1992, when I was researching the cave sequence of Dinotopia: The World Beneath, I traveled to the central mountains of Puerto Rico, where you can find some extensive limestone caverns that are safe to explore as long as it hasn’t been raining recently.
Near the Camuy caves, I hired a local guide to take me alone into a private cave system just outside the publicly open sections. We rappelled down into the sinkhole and headed about a mile underground, swimming across underground lakes and moving carefully along the rims of weird limestone bowls.
Giant albino spiders clung to the walls, and there were forests of pale sprouted trees that grew from seeds carried in by bats. The guide pointed to a scorpion. “Touch him, you will die,” he said.
After a few hours of passing through a long series of chambers, we arrived to a point where waterfalls blocked the route and we could go no farther. At that point there were carvings of Taino deities, apparently used in some pre-Columbian initiation ceremonies.
I was really nervous, especially when I extinguished my light by ducking my helmet underwater while I was swimming—but I tried to keep my knees from shaking. As we returned, my guide calmly told me about how, at the very spot where I was wading through muddy water, he happened to step on the dead body of a man who was the object of a search and rescue.
All these experiences were grist for the imagination. One of my inspirations for this sort of research is science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster, who is far more intrepid and well-traveled than me, and who bases all his science fiction novels on his treks.
Check out this BBC video about the ultimate crystal cave in Mexico
http://www.bestofyoutube.com/story.php?title=crystal-cave-in-mexico
Via Best of YouTube
Visit 1800blogger to see all of our industry leading blogs.
Kieron Williamson is a seven-year-old in the UK who is becoming known for his paintings. In this link, he’s the subject of a Reuters news feature.
This kid makes me feel like a late bloomer. I didn’t do a lot of drawing until I was around 13, It wasn’t until about then I was starting to think about being an artist. I didn’t really get into oil painting and professional work until I was about 20. The blessing of those teenage years was that art was a private passion, something completely disconnected from commerce and recognition. I find that in my professional life I feed on those teenage years of drawing just for the love of it.
But I think young Kieron will do well. Both he and his dad seem to have their feet on the ground.
Disclaimer:
Artists Blog is owned by 1800blogger which is a (for) profit organization. We are not a charity. If you send any money through this button, please understand that the money is being used for working capital for Artists Blog and 1800blogger. Please check with your accountant to see if this is a tax-deductible contribution.
