Greetings!
Recently, Eveleen Power of Dungarvan, Waterford, Eire, wrote, "I now have two art studios--one next to our home and a new one in town with nine other artists. How lucky I am. But I don't know whether to bring my really good easel into the new one or leave it in the old one. I can't decide which studio to have what medium in. My home studio has a sink so I'm thinking of just keeping that for watercolours, acrylics and water based mediums. Should the other one just be for oils? What would be some advice in this situation?"
Thanks, Eveleen. Dividing media between studios is not a bad idea. In one you might wear your watercolour hat and in the other your oily one. But it's not the "really good easel," or even the isolating of media from one space to the other that will make your work greater. It's what you bring on the commute.
State of mind is all-important. The British painter David Hockney said, "People have asked me, 'Isn't it boring in Bridlington, a little isolated seaside town?' And I say, 'Not for us. We think it's very exciting, because it is in my studio and it is in my house.'" The home studio need not be either big or fancy. "Small rooms," said Leonardo da Vinci, "set the mind in the right path; large ones cause it to go astray." Many significant artists treat the home studio as a secondary venue. "A studio," said Joaquin Sorolla, "is a good place to smoke your pipe." That said, the studio need only be a sacred place where work and imagination gently collude. "A space," said Rainer Maria Rilke, "for the spirit to breathe."
My observation of folks who decide to hang out with others (I've never tried it) is that they end up with social venues where interpersonal aggravation sets in, interest flags and quality becomes intermittent. There may be exceptions, of course, and it's certainly something that might be tolerated once a year or so. But it's a great loss not to work down at the bottom of the garden with the fairies.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "The only thing that makes one an artist is making art. And that requires the precise opposite of hanging out; a deeply lonely and unglamorous task of tolerating oneself long enough to push something out." (David Rakoff)
Esoterica: My best advice is to teach yourself to work pretty well anywhere. The mere act of making this decision builds your capacity for growth. In the heady days of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, sweet-spots appear like volunteers in a rambling garden. You can do it on a beach, on a heath, in a park, in a car or boat or on a friend's patio while he's trying to be a banker. Your home studio may be a pretty important place--the center of your universe--but the world is loaded up with other sacred spots. "Capto omnes" (Gennius - 36BC) "Grab them all."
davidtomlinartistblog - "Thy Hand is in this design..."- artistic musings, original oil & acrylic paintings, art cards, fine art canvas reproductions and art supplies.
Friday 17 August 2012
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Leandro Erlich - Swimming Pool (2008)
“An extraordinary and visually confounding installation…Erlich constructed a full-size pool, complete with all its trappings, including a deck and a ladder. When approached from the first floor, visitors were confronted with a surreal scene: people, fully clothed, can be seen standing, walking, and breathing beneath the surface of the water.
It was only when visitors entered the Duplex gallery from the basement that they recognized that the pool is empty, its construction a visual trick fashioned by the artist.
A large, continuous piece of acrylic spanned the pool and suspended water above it, creating the illusion of a standard swimming pool that was both disorienting and humorous.”
Bon Appétit, Bernstein!
On today, Julia Child’s 100th birthday, we celebrate the perfect pairing of food and music. What do Julia Child and Leonard Bernstein have in common? Lee Hoiby’s 1989 opera, Bon Appétit, was not only based on Julia Child’s own words and recipes from her television show, but it also, at one point, included Lenny’s early song cycle La Bonne Cuisine, set to excerpts from Julia’s autobiography. Celebrate Julia today with this clip from the opera, as performed by Debra McVicker.
Tuesday 14 August 2012
The joyous mind
Greetings!
Michelle Renaud is a young painter living in Calgary, Alberta. With a loving and expressive personality, she paints semi-abstract acrylics which she describes as reflecting her feelings. From a very young age, Michelle drew circles--she describes them as "doors." She likes to layer her work, emphasizing and reemphasizing her favorite shapes. Alternately, she uses petal-like forms and stripes to indicate landscapes and spectrums of colour. Her favourite colour is red, which she says describes fire, the sun, and happiness. According to her friends and family, Michelle is a happy, bright and beautiful person. Michelle has Down syndrome. Another young woman, Liz Etmanski, was the first I know of to graduate from a top art school--The Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. Liz has gone on to teach art to disabled folks and has pioneered the use of the iPad as an art medium. All this is of interest to me because our grandson, Beckett Genn, who has just turned five, also has Down syndrome. Beckett gets excited when we bring out his art materials and his outdoor easel. He takes joy in the sensuousness of paint, re-emphasizes shapes and motifs he has already established and seems to favour the warm side of the palette. Beckett is becoming fastidious about removing errant paint from his hands and fingers--a virtue his grandfather lacks. He works expressively and confidently from the center out. These days he takes his time choosing from a variety of his brushes and paints energetically using the full handle. Several of his works have been used as fundraisers. We've put the work of all three painters at the top of the current clickback. Observing a trance-like state and the machinations of my own mind as I paint, I've been curious as to what might be going on in the minds of others. It seems the act of applying colours is deep-seated, perhaps atavistic, as if some humans are programmed to move pigment from one place to another. Do we, I wonder, have an innate need to plop and smear and modify? When I watch an artist's tongue, flashing eyes and contortions of the mouth, I know that something is happening in the land of joy. Best regards, Robert PS: "I like to paint and I like to draw because it takes me out of the crazy world. It makes me happy and it makes me laugh." (Liz Etmanski--from her artist's statement upon graduating) Esoterica: Down syndrome is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. John Langdon Down, a British physician, first described the syndrome in 1866. The chromosomal nature of the condition was not fully understood until 1959. In the USA, one in every 691 babies is born with Down syndrome and its consequential delay in cognitive ability. In loving and respectful environments, many people with Down syndrome can achieve self-sufficiency and joyful, productive lives.
Michelle Renaud is a young painter living in Calgary, Alberta. With a loving and expressive personality, she paints semi-abstract acrylics which she describes as reflecting her feelings. From a very young age, Michelle drew circles--she describes them as "doors." She likes to layer her work, emphasizing and reemphasizing her favorite shapes. Alternately, she uses petal-like forms and stripes to indicate landscapes and spectrums of colour. Her favourite colour is red, which she says describes fire, the sun, and happiness. According to her friends and family, Michelle is a happy, bright and beautiful person. Michelle has Down syndrome. Another young woman, Liz Etmanski, was the first I know of to graduate from a top art school--The Emily Carr College of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada. Liz has gone on to teach art to disabled folks and has pioneered the use of the iPad as an art medium. All this is of interest to me because our grandson, Beckett Genn, who has just turned five, also has Down syndrome. Beckett gets excited when we bring out his art materials and his outdoor easel. He takes joy in the sensuousness of paint, re-emphasizes shapes and motifs he has already established and seems to favour the warm side of the palette. Beckett is becoming fastidious about removing errant paint from his hands and fingers--a virtue his grandfather lacks. He works expressively and confidently from the center out. These days he takes his time choosing from a variety of his brushes and paints energetically using the full handle. Several of his works have been used as fundraisers. We've put the work of all three painters at the top of the current clickback. Observing a trance-like state and the machinations of my own mind as I paint, I've been curious as to what might be going on in the minds of others. It seems the act of applying colours is deep-seated, perhaps atavistic, as if some humans are programmed to move pigment from one place to another. Do we, I wonder, have an innate need to plop and smear and modify? When I watch an artist's tongue, flashing eyes and contortions of the mouth, I know that something is happening in the land of joy. Best regards, Robert PS: "I like to paint and I like to draw because it takes me out of the crazy world. It makes me happy and it makes me laugh." (Liz Etmanski--from her artist's statement upon graduating) Esoterica: Down syndrome is a chromosomal condition caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. John Langdon Down, a British physician, first described the syndrome in 1866. The chromosomal nature of the condition was not fully understood until 1959. In the USA, one in every 691 babies is born with Down syndrome and its consequential delay in cognitive ability. In loving and respectful environments, many people with Down syndrome can achieve self-sufficiency and joyful, productive lives.
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Monday 13 August 2012
3D Balls: Depth Test 18, 2012
Been working on a collection of anaglyphs.
You need the glasses for this. Everyone should own a pair!!
The Easel: International Left-Handers Day
TITLE: “Left Hand of an Apostle (Linke Hand eines Apostels)”
ARTIST: Albrecht Dürer
DATE: 1508
WHY WE CHOSE IT: Southpaws, raise your hand — August 13 is International Left-Handers Day! The annual holiday is an effort to promote awareness of the inconveniences facing…
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