May 2016

   I felt it was time for another post. It has been a while since I have written here, but I have kept up with making art, which I am happy to share.

Red Umbrella

   This is my most recently completed image. Earlier this month it was raining nonstop. I actually got caught out in it and got very soaked. I think the rain may have been influencing how I have been working. I completed two sketches before I set out to paint this image, and neither one had the umbrella.

     I had something else in mind when I began sketching these ideas out. This painting and the one that I am currently working on (I'll post that one further down) are going to be submitted for exhibition at a show here in Louisiana. My original idea involved the above figure in a swamp outside of a shotgun shanty house. I may still end up doing that, but with all the rain and the gloomy weather I just wasn't interested in completing this idea. In addition, the painting completed right before I began these two sketches was headed in that direction.

The painting that started my thoughts.
Currently untitled.

    You can kind of see these ideas in this image. The shotgun house is not really visible, and this is obviously not a swamp, but some of those elements are present. I may come back to these later. I do really like the rainy umbrella image. I also like the narrowed picture plane. I definitely think I will keep working with that, but the image I am currently working on has a different subject.

Current painting I am working on

   The picture plane has yet to be fully realized, and I'm not sure what I will do with the background, but I like how this image is developing. Hopefully, it and the Red Umbrella will get selected for exhibition. The deadline for submissions is June 1, so I need to finish this one up.

new work, a new gallery

      I thought I reached the finishing line in my quest to paint two images a month for a year. However, now when I look back at this blog, I see that I was only half way. It was a good idea, I have a lot of good work, and am poised to continue. But at the moment I'm feeling a bit blocked. Below are the final two  images that I created as part of my plan.

The Blue Cabinet

Two Faces at the Same Time

       I originally set out on this project in order to have a fresh body of work to present to the Baton Rouge Gallery as part of my application to be an artist member. When I went to fill out the application though, I began to realize I would not be admitted. I applied once before, and was not accepted, so this time I did some research on the member artists to find out more about what they are looking for. While I think my work stands for itself, when you compare the resume of these artists next to me, I'm not in league with them at all.

     Many of the artists in this gallery have completed or led artists residencies, and a few of them have does this multiple times. I have never participated in an artist residency of any kind. Most of them have also won major awards and recognition for their work. While I have been invited to participate in numerous jurried exhibitions, I have never won a major award. As I took in all this information, I decided to leave my application incomplete. Maybe I will try again next year, but I doubt it. I just don't have the experiences that these other artists do. Rightly or wrongly, this counts against me. I'll just keep painting. Eventually my work will resonate with someone somewhere.

  

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      While I was rethinking my application to the Baton Rouge Gallery, I was invited to join the Part Gallery in  Florida. Part Gallery is unique in that patrons are allowed to rent the artwork for three months before deciding if they want to buy it. I have three pieces, but can add more at any time. The website went live at the beginning of November. You can access it here: http://partgalleries.com/
My work is listed under contemporary. I guess we will see how far this goes.

July

      Holy smokes! It's almost mid August, and I just realized I have not made a post for July. I spent some time travelling, so July was a bit off. I did get my minimum of two paintings completed, and they are displayed below.

The fright

Let me think

      I have been told the first image is frighting and/or terrifying. I have also been told it resembles a self portrait. And while my works are largely based on actual people that I know, including myself, they are never intended to be portraits. I accept that the image is terrifying. I wanted to present an image with more emotion and drama. So, I think that fits. But, I maintain that it is not a self portrait. There's a blog out there that discusses how artists always paint him/herself within their works. The site does offer additional explanations on specific works of art, but it often comes back to this one idea. Here is a link if you would like to examine this site. http://www.everypainterpaintshimself.com/ I don't know if I completely agree with that thesis, of artists depicting a version of  themselves in heir work, but I certainly think self awareness plays a huge factor in how art is made. It seems that for many artists art making is a path to immortality. Subconsciously, the desire to include oneself is hard to overcome. Perhaps that accounts for some of the similarities between creator and created. Certainly, I think this is a topic that could be debated.

      The second image is a representation of the art looking back at the viewer. This is a concept I have played with before, and it is one I will probably return to in the future. I like the idea of art looking back at the viewer. I have been to many art museums and galleries and have seen this exact pose and posture when people are looking at art. To turn things around and have the art observe the viewer, is something that greatly appeals to me.

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      As I mentioned, I have been travelling during the month of July. California was one of the places I visited. I went there to visit my sister who has always been a collector of some of my early works. I mention this because she has a wall of these early works on display, which you can see below.

      In observing this work, I have to say I found it all to be awful. I didn't like any of it. I do remember painting each one of these images, and at the time I thought they were okay. I see now that they are not very good at all. This made me think about how my work and preferences have changed over the years. Some of these images are 15 years old or older. How will I feel about my current work in 15-20 years? Will I look back and think my current work is awful? Do artists go on path to create new images and disregard their older work?

It's an interesting idea. I have looked up artists thoughts on their work and where it stands. But I never thought to investigate how artists respond to their work from previous decades. It's an idea I will have to explore further.

June has been active

Pinch me Mixed media

      This is the painting I have completed for June. And while one painting doesn't meet my goal of creating at least two per month, I have been active in doing other things art related.

      At the beginning of June I was inspired to start oil painting again. I have everything I need, and I believed it was just a matter of making some stretchers and getting busy. Well, painting is a messy, sloppy, business. I currently rent my home and am very conscientious about not damaging the property. This includes not spilling chemicals, paint, or the other sloppy liquids associated with oil painting. I was very careful, and carefully applied paint to the canvas. I made certain not to spill, or get anything on the walls. Such precision resulted in a very stiff, stilted, and boring image. I immediately decided that this was not going to work. What to do with the canvas and the partially painted surface, you ask? I went over the image with glue, and then affixed various types of paper over the botched oil painting. On this mixed surface, I then painted with my very familiar water soluble water colors. The image worked out much better.

     I have experimented with collage before, and have had some success. I also thought mixing the paper would result in an image that has a physical texture in addition to visual texture. If you recall, some of my earlier posts descried how I was interested in building texture in the background of my figures. You can make out the lines in this image where the edges of different paper come together. I think this is heightened by the image itself, with the solid wall, the figure, and the dart board pattern. This was an interesting image to work with, and I think I will try another one. I need to focus on getting the texture and the image feeling more cohesive.

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    In addition to working on this painting, the library in which I worked hosted an art exhibition June 16-18. One of the lead librarians is a researcher in Black History with a specific interest in the west and black cowboys. As part of Juneteenth, our exhibition focused on back cowboys and the Buffalo Soldiers. I helped select the paintings we exhibited, and it was this process which got me interested in pursuing oil painting again.

   My favorite painting from the exhibition is below. I like it because most people think of cowboys as being men, and this image is unusual in that it features a woman. This image challenges  preconceived notions and surprises the viewer. I think it is wonderful when art can have an impact such as this.

By Ivan Stewart  

          More information about the artist, Ivan Stewart, can be found here.
     

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     Finally, my co-workers and I went to "Painting with a Twist" for an evening of painting. My image was different from everyone else, as I painted the image based on my own ideas rather than following along with the instructor.

  So, technically I did paint two images this month. The image we were supposed to copy can be seen below.

May

      These are the paintings I have completed for May. People in Louisiana have been after me to paint an image of a cabin/shack in the woods, or on the bayou for some time. Apparently these images are very poplar down here. I have been told "they sell like hot-cakes!" So, the image on the top is a reflection of this push. 

      The second image was an attempt to play with texture and address the issue of "edge." I decided that the yellow and blue stripes in the background resemble wallpaper. But, I didn't just want to paint a wall paper wall, so I attempted to reveal a 3-d edge on the left hand side. You can get a sense on this when looking at the yellow tonal shifts from the blank canvas on the far left. I don't know how successful this idea was. I do like the idea of a 3-d edge in a 2-d painting. I may want to explore this idea further later on. 

    I'm thinking of going out sketching this weekend. It's been a while since I have gone out and done that. So, that might be a good idea. If I do, I will share some of those sketches here.    

Did not complete April

      Here is the only painting I completed for April. I did not reach my goal of two paintings per month for the first time this year. I have started another, and I hope to be back on track for May. I would say I should strive for three in May to make up for it, but I don't think that is a good idea. Everything that I have learned or read about art making suggests that as an artist, one must strive to make as much art as possible. The rationale being that of everything created, only a few pieces will be very good with the rest merely acceptable.
     
      But this idea is easier said than done. It all comes down to how motivated you are to working. Sometimes the motivation just isn't there. I find this to be particularly true when there are no outlets for displaying your art. If no one seems to  care about the art you are making, why should you make it?

     On the surface, this may seem like an excuse not to make extra paintings for this month. But in addition to the motivation factor, I think that an artist must work at his or her own pace. To force things just to reach a quota will result in art that lacks meaning, imagery that is uninspired, and a glut of sub-par work.

      The college that I work at has an annual event called Artsfest. Last year a panel discussion of four working artists was created to talk about how they work, and what it is like for them day-to-day. The common theme among all four presenters was staying motivated. They said sometimes the motivation to work on your art is lacking, and that it can be a real struggle to go to the studio. In these instances they all commented that it was good to get away from your studio for a while. They said to step back and engage in non-art related activities that you enjoy. This would keep you engaged and take the drudgery out of constant production. It was also suggested that these breaks from work would inspire new ideas and generate new ways of working.

     I'm going to take this to heart. I spent most of this past month catching up on some reading, and doing outdoor things (it is spring, after all). I feel energized and ready to work, so we will see what this next month brings for me.        

April art

 This is the second painting that I finished for March. I don't like it. I was trying something with gesso, but I don't think it worked. It made everything kind of muddy and difficult to work with. That's what art making is about though. Experimentation and play often leads to new and exciting works. Feel free to comment about this work below. What do you think about it?

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There is an artist named Aram Bartholl that has started creating an art community out in plain sight. He has embedded USB drives in locations across the globe with .txt files on them. All you need is a portable electronic device that can plug in to a USB and you can participate.

I think this is a really neat idea. The best artworks surprise and delight in ways the viewer did not expect. Finding these drives, hidden in plain sight  adds a fun perspective to seeing art. Many others agree, as Bartholl's idea has been copied and expanded. There is now a complete list of where these works can be found and how you can participate here. I persoanlly haven't gone out to find one of these, because there none near me. But if you see one that is close to you, go check it out and leave a message here about what you saw.