Try an odyssey

Greetings! Odysseus, in Homer's Odyssey, is ten years getting back to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars. All kinds of crap and corruption take place while he's gone, including interference with his wife Penelope. Our odysseys need not be so traumatic, and regular little ones can invigorate. I recommend three- and four-hour car-sorties. In our family we call it "mosey driving." Unlike your regular trip to Costco, you move around so you can look and see and perhaps record. Your mind needs to slow down and drop into a visually aware trance so you can access your latent "appreciation mode." A lot of good stuff can probably be found just blocks from your home. Because of the "click and go" habit, a camera can be counter-productive. You need a journaling pad or sketchbook. I often use small stretched canvases hooked over the steering wheel. We've put some photos of my system at the top of the current clickback. To mosey in foreign lands, with no particular itinerary, is my idea of artist's heaven. Starting this September, my friend Don Getz of Peninsula, Ohio, is planning a year-long coast-to-coast US odyssey of watercolour journaling. Don has chosen to be in selected small towns and villages on certain dates, and he's giving two- and three-day workshops in many of them. A lifetime of commercial art and obsessive sketching make Don the "King of the Journaling Instructors," and anyone who has seen his work will know why. We've put Don's work and info at the top of the current clickback. Don's system is to draw the perimeter first, then, without benefit of pencil, using a permanent laundry marker called Identi-pen, he commits his lines in ink. "Ink gives confidence and a deadly eye," says Don. After the drawing is more or less the way he wants it, he comes in with watercolour washes. The idea is to keep the work understated, fresh and lively. Don's journals are not pretentious; they are the passing stations of a lifelong odyssey. Best regards, Robert PS: "With journal sketching a great deal of work can be accomplished in a rather short period of time. Speed is key, and speed comes from practice." (Don Getz) Esoterica: I was in a narrow Breton lane moving slowly beside a decaying church. Passing a stone wall with an open gate, I glimpsed several artists at their easels. Entering quietly on foot, I saw the object of their attention was a tall, auburn-haired and naked young woman with skin like ivory. She was posing on an old fountain that burped an intermittent stream around her delicate feet. Flashing my sketchbook to a young man, I tried to imply the camaraderie of a fellow traveller. "S'il vous plaît monsieur, pas de photos," he quietly warned in a gesture of welcome before a quick return to his painting. I could be wrong, but even in France blessings like this never happen up on the National Autoroute. Current Clickback: "The death of painting" looks at the future of painting. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on journaling while travelling. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

Bateaux, 1916 Summer Tom Thomson (Canadian, 1877 - 1917) Painting, oil on wood, 21.5 x 26.8 cm, 0.4 cm Gift from the Reuben and Kate Leonard Canadian Fund, 1927

Kevin Francis Gray Ballerina, 2011 carrara marble, 190 x 45 x 52 cm

Everything will be all right in the end... if it's not all right then it's not the end. 

Fantastic movie!

Evelyn: Nothing here has worked out quite as I expected. 
Muriel: Most things don't. But sometimes what happens instead is the good stuff. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1412386/quotes?qt=qt1689813

WOODwave Paneling_Eliza Mikus

Bacon roses

Edvard Munch: Madonna, 1894.

The Passing Train by Marianne Stokes, 1890

Don't ya wanna jump in the water?

Look at the colour of the sunset on the mountainside...

Unbelievable colour!

Craig Alan constructs portraits of pop-culture icons using people as pixels. [Via sweet-station]

Willi Dorner, Bodies in Urban Spaces.

MACRO Testaccio (ex Mattatoio) Piazza Orazio Giustiniani, 4 Roma

Ruah. 2012 oil , gold, on wood cm 32 x 27 

Benappi Gallery PAD.3 STAND 39 CON:L. ANDREOTTI - A. ARRIVABENE - G. BALLA - A. BARIN - E. BARONI - F. CASORATI - C. D’ORIA - L. FONTANA - J. GRIS - B. NICHOLSON - P. SCHMIDLIN www.agostinoarrivabene.it

Donna Summer by Ryan Shane Owen

RIP Donna Summer,  Queen of Disco

Art © Blisselicious/ The Egg Nog Factory

The death of painting

Greetings! Yesterday, Renate M Reuter, Founder, President and Executive Director of the Portrait and Figure Painters Society of SW Florida, Inc. wrote, "What is the future of oil painting? Are they going out of style? Are they going to be done by computers? What about the classic type of oils versus all the modern forms? I'd like to have the right answers from you for the people who ask me these questions." Thanks, Renate. I don't know if I can give you the "right" answers, but I'll give you mine. Oil painters currently fill entire mountain passes, French barnyards and Las Vegas Casinos. Some California beaches are so burdened with oil painters a local kid who wants to build sandcastles has to bring his own sand. It's got so bad in our area that the other day when I went out to one of my favourite spots, other painters were already using up my view. Fact is, there are more paintings being produced today than at any time in history. Basements and attics groan with them. With the current democratization of art and lots of folks with time on their hands, painting has become a mainline avocation, second only to photography and tropical fish. Art instruction and workshops are big business--take a look at our Workshop Calendar. The problem lies in the quality of the art. Let's face it, some genres, like portraiture, are time-consuming to learn and difficult to pull off. John Singer Sargent took eight years studying with Carolus Duran to achieve a degree of proficiency. Becoming a truly fine artist requires a lifetime of studenthood and dedication. Fine art is a "doing thing" and therein lies its main appeal. Painting, like fishing and hunting, is not going to be taken over any time soon by computers. The art of painting will survive and thrive because it is easy to do and difficult to do well. Humankind loves challenges, and traditional painting has more challenges than a new Greek government. But just as you can be assured that the Parthenon will still be there, painting will go on. In my opinion, reports on the death of painting have been greatly exaggerated. I'd be interested in hearing what you think. Best regards, Robert PS: "Within the act of painting there is a history, a continuum of alchemy through the ages that lives on in paint." (Lori Agostino) Esoterica: Intellectuals and others have enthused about modern forms of art that seem more significant in today's problem-loaded world. These pundits are the ones most frequently announcing the death of painting. The forms of art they espouse have the advantage of not being so arduous to teach and have more shock, social, and entertainment value than old-fashioned representational forms. People will line up around the block to be shocked, socialized or entertained, whereas traditional forms tend to attract a quieter crowd. While the public entertainment artist serves a valuable purpose, the private traditional painter continues to labour in her modest studio or mountain pass. Winslow Homer said it well: "Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems." Current Clickback: "Not your father's Oldsmobile" looks at fashion in the art world. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on the reported 'death of painting.' Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

More thought provoking work...

Some interesting and disturbing art pieces...

Paintings by Andrei Varga

Photographer Spencer Tunick

Photographer Spencer Tunick - Big Color (Herefordshire, England) 2010

jegeor (France) - niark, délire urbain, Claus & Kaan, Carlos Jimenez Studio, Beckmann N*Thepe

[more jegeor | artist found at uruouru]

Agostino Arrivabene

Golden Pest (Aurea-Peste)  2012

oil on wood

cm 32 x 27

www.agostinoarrivabene.it

Art and current economics

Greetings! After my last letter where I advocated the outsourcing of art sales to galleries, many readers legitimately asked how to do just that. Vast changes are currently taking place in both economics and demographics. When I first started painting 50 years ago, there were fewer accomplished artists and less expendable cash to buy art. Today there are far more artists and a peculiar disconnect in the buying of art. Basketball star and former US Senator Bill Bradley in his recent book We Can All Do Better notes that our world now has both a surplus of labour and a surplus of capital. Jobs and money shift eastward in the name of power shopping, fossil fuel consumption, outsourcing, investment and debt. North American artists, particularly, are affected by this. It's safe to say that art thrives best in prosperity on home shores. Currently, in my estimation, four percent of Western populations are making art while only two percent are collecting it. While many pockets of healthy collectorship remain, and some countries remain strong, many artists are experiencing tough times. In the meantime, we have exciting (or obscene) new highs in world auction prices. Commenting on the 120 million bucks recently paid for a rendition of The Scream by Edvard Munch, the financial journalist and commentator Felix Salmon said that the phenomenon is all about speculation and "rich men comparing the size of their genitals." So what's an artist to do in this environment? First, artists need to get better at what they do--on the creative front, the production front and the distribution front. Second, the oft-disregarded connection between art and investment is here to stay. Artists who want to be around for the long haul need to maintain creative integrity, dealer price and territory protection, and annual price increases. Third, artists need to realize that any group, any country, indeed, any brotherhood and sisterhood can reinvent itself. Vital are the oft-neglected arts of cooperation and consensus. When artists learn the skills of working together with complementary talents and a spirit of enterprise and mutual well-being, all things are possible. As Bill Bradley says, "We can all do better." Best regards, Robert PS: "Respect your fellow human beings, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it." (Bill Bradley) Esoterica: The days of submitting slides to galleries are history. Providing the work is of a suitable standard, artists need a simple, unpretentious and un-shopping-carted website with at least eight of their current works. Target dealers and galleries need to be made aware of your site and directed to it. It's fast and efficient for dealers to go there--they almost always do--and they can tell in 10 seconds whether they are the slightest bit interested. A stand-alone website is best, but a page in our own Premium Listings is sufficient. Your own personality and lots of apples in your applecart help when galleries ask you to come by and say hello. Current Clickback: "Outsourcing" looks at passing some tasks on to others. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on the current economic climate. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com Yes, please go ahead and forward this letter to a friend. This does not mean that they will automatically be subscribed to the Twice-Weekly Letter. They have to do it voluntarily and can find out about it by going to The Painter's Keys website. Subscribe Free! Your name and email address will be kept safe. To Unsubscribe or Change Your Email Address, please click Safe Unsubscribe or Update Profile/Email Address links found at the bottom of this email. (c) Copyright 2012 Robert Genn. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, please ask for permission by writingrgenn@saraphina.com. Thanks for your friendship.

Post-traumatic growth May 8, 2012 Greetings! Over the past while I've had an abundance of emails from artists who are fighting cancer, stroke, stress, macular degeneration, concussion, body-destroying motor accidents and other trauma. Some are just reporting in, others are announcing they are throwing in the towel, while a few others are asking for help. It is, of course, difficult to advise on a one-to-one basis through the clouds, and I don't always feel confident of my guruship but, as usual, I have a few thoughts: Post-traumatic growth is a relatively new area of psychological study. It deals with the positive changes experienced by some people as a result of a struggle with challenging life circumstances. It's not simply a return to the way things were before the suffering, but the welcome experience of a profound improvement. The idea that suffering can be channelled to make us stronger runs through the history of philosophies and religions. While most of us no longer believe that artists need to suffer to make good art, we do know that a lot of good art comes from people who have suffered. Dr. Robin Rosenberg, a clinical psychologist based in Stanford, California, has introduced an interesting method whereby sufferers can grow their way out of trauma. Much like Joseph Campbell's "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" Rosenberg thinks folks can gain strength by following popular superheroes and their stories. We're talking about the sort of characters in the current blockbuster action/violence/heroism movie, "The Avengers"--Hawkeye, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Nick Fury. She also thinks we should pay attention to Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Joker. This is good stuff--I've often thought there's more in comic books than meets the eye. Dr. Rosenberg's superheroes teach us a variety of life lessons. Among them: + We all have alter egos + We need to wear the costumes of our heroes + Being different can give us power + Adversity can be overcome + No matter what our abilities, life is frustrating + To overcome our fears, we need to run toward danger Regardless of whether you think Rosenberg's superheroes are beneath your dignity, they do exemplify a simple and direct purpose uncluttered by nuance. Good and evil are sharply defined, and evil is often merely in need of shooting, beheading or blowing up. Best regards, Robert PS: "Every superhero has a mission." (Dr. Robin Rosenberg) Esoterica: We all know of disabled persons who have overcome and excelled. By accidentally narrowing the range of capabilities, we often build strength in whatever talent or ability may be left. Further, some overcomers I've noticed have a strong sense of fantasy and self-delusion--even delusions of grandeur and superhuman abilities. I personally like the costume idea. As you may know, there are social clubs of dresser-uppers who claim to gain power by hanging out as Spiderwoman and Spiderman, etc. It's becoming apparent that these nut cases are not so nuts. But I wonder if any psychologists or others might comment on my going to the party as Minnie Mouse. Current Clickback: "Your primal joys" looks at internal and external motivation. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on our strengths in adversity. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com Yes, please go ahead and forward this letter to a friend. This does not mean that they will automatically be subscribed to the Twice-Weekly Letter. They have to do it voluntarily and can find out about it by going to The Painter's Keys website. Subscribe Free! Your name and email address will be kept safe. To Unsubscribe or Change Your Email Address, please click Safe Unsubscribe or Update Profile/Email Address links found at the bottom of this email. (c) Copyright 2012 Robert Genn. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, please ask for permission by writingrgenn@saraphina.com. Thanks for your friendship.

Your primal joys May 4, 2012 Greetings! As usual, some of my recent tips baffled a few folks. "Listen to the music that has been within you from your youth," confused Peter Brown of Oakland, CA. "Is this about marching to my inner drummer," he asked, "or the suggestion that I dust off my old Beatles albums?" Inner drummer, Peter, sorry, not Sgt. Pepper, but it could be. The idea is to tune into and bring to life our earliest interests and passions. "External" and "Internal" are the two main types of creative motivation. External motivation can be market forces or societal, peer or educational demands. As an example of the latter, some art school friends were recently asked by their instructor to dig around and find subject matter that "upsets or angers you." The result was a classroom full of poverty, privation, humiliation, defeat, famine, war, fanaticism, religious prejudice, gay bashing, familial discord and various other social ills. I'm not saying these are unsuitable subjects for paintings, but they just didn't fit in with the current thoughts of most of these students. "Life is good and I'm happy to be alive," said one. "If I was angry I'd spray-can the boxcars. Right now I want to learn how to paint, not how to protest."    Internal motivation, on the other hand, often originates in the purity of our pre-teen youth and is rich with unsullied integrity. An artesian well of surprise and diversity, different folks report the early highs of camping, playing sports, watching wildlife, listening to music, fishing, collecting or even quietly drawing and painting. Evolved artists, in my experience, are able to use these primal joys as guides and triggers for creative direction and satisfaction. In my observation, the results are generally superior to the proscribed demands of others.    Internal motivation can be sparked by a few minutes of quiet Zen-like reflection on earlier times and places. Work begins when you answer the question, "What do I want to do today?"    The other alternative is to do what other people want. It's also been my observation that most of us rugged individualists would prefer a root canal to doing other people's will.    Best regards, Robert PS: "Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film." (Ansel Adams) Esoterica: B.G. (Before Girls) I had an extensive collection of semi-rotten and weathered roots and gnarls from our nearby forests and beaches. Leaning against the side of our home, my museum pieces were wired to several sheets of dad-provided plywood, until mom happened to notice the carpenter ants. Visualizing the ants' destructive march to our school, hospital and parliament buildings, multiplying like the brooms in Walt Disney's "Fantasia," overwhelming civilization as we knew it, my parents contrived with a local farmer, Albert Eales, to load my museum onto his flat-bed, take it somewhere and burn it. This covert operation hurt my folks as much as it did me, and they apologized forever after. Bugs and all, the objects and their bone-like forms still hang out lovingly in the deep folds of my B.G. soul. Current Clickback: "Tips for you" offers tips for painterly happiness and success. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on internal and external motivation. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Peter Brown is at p.w.brown@sbcglobal.net  Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com Yes, please go ahead and forward this letter to a friend. This does not mean that they will automatically be subscribed to the Twice-Weekly Letter. They have to do it voluntarily and can find out about it by going to The Painter's Keys website. Subscribe Free! Your name and email address will be kept safe. To Unsubscribe or Change Your Email Address, please click Safe Unsubscribe or Update Profile/Email Address links found at the bottom of this email. (c) Copyright 2012 Robert Genn. If you wish to copy this material to other publications or mail lists, please ask for permission by writingrgenn@saraphina.com. Thanks for your friendship.