Lessons from a shopaholic

Greetings! Last Sunday Dr. Jack Dalhousie dropped by my studio. He's a guy who collects art from coast to coast and stashes it in his pad in Toronto. "Over two hundred now," he said. "Dealers love me. I'm a shopaholic." Jack's a specialized shopaholic; he wears beat-up clothes and drives a second-hand Mercedes. I told him I'm a workaholic. "Good on ya," he said. "Nothing wrong with that. Without compulsive painters there'd be no compulsive collectors." Dr. Jack is a professor in a Faculty of Medicine. We talked briefly about "Memantine"--an Alzheimer's and OCD drug now found useful in controlling compulsive shopping. "I never touch drugs," said Dr. Jack. We talked about compulsions and how they might be useful to people who invent and create. With Scotch-aid we came to a few conclusions: People who love their work tend to work compulsively. People who don't love their work consider compulsive workers to be confused at best and, at worse, ill. People who love their work feel a bit sorry for those who don't. Compulsions can't be bought or sold. Compulsions are useful to society. I asked the doctor if he thought people might be taught to be compulsive. "It's contagious," he said. "When you're around others who have it you tend to get it. But you have to feel it's your own possession, your own thing. It's possible, I guess, to fall crazy in love with any darned thing. But you've got to make the first move. "I can't control my compulsiveness and I sometimes feel a bit of buyer's remorse," he went on, "but it goes away because I love the stuff I collect. I love art, but I also get off on my accumulation of what I think is the best stuff. What about you workaholics? Do you feel worker's remorse?" I told him most of us feel remorse when our work is not as good as it could be. I told him the desire to do better contributes to our compulsiveness. I told him many, if not most, creative folks have experienced some sort of compulsion and surrendered to it.   "No drug, he said, "except occasional satisfaction, can arrest desire."   Best regards, Robert PS: "Most artists work all the time. Especially the good ones. I mean, what else is there to do?" (David Hockney)   Esoterica: We are drawn to our labour of love because it fills our cups like no other nourishment. The making of art is a private puzzle and working out the puzzle is beguiling. Let the folks who don't love their work look forward to their retirement from it. We creative folks (and some others) have a different mind-set. "Work cures everything," said Henri Matisse. "I need to work to feel well," said Edouard Manet. "Work is more fun than fun," said Noel Coward. "Work is the ultimate seduction," said Pablo Picasso. "I work day and night without sleep," said Jules Olitski, "The paintings keep me fired up." Current Clickback: "A friend indeed" looks at having a friend or agent sell your work. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on useful or not-so-useful compulsions. 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

Kazuki Takamatsu

Coin Sculptures by Stacey Webber

1. The Craftsmen Series, Silver Collection: Tape Measure

Materials: nickel, silver, silver dimes, silver quarters

L x H x W: 28” x 3” x 1”

Date: 2009

Photo Credit: Larry Sanders

2. The Craftsmen Series: Hammer

Materials: pennies

Description: hollow constructed pennies

L x H x W: 4” x 10” x 12”

Date: 2008

Photo Credit: Tom McInvaille

Artist & Sculptor: Jamie Salmon “Fragment #3” Silicone, Pigment, Fiberglass, Acrylic and Hair 60 cm x 25 cm x 80 cm 2008

"A person starts to live when he can live outside himself."

Albert Einstein

My Paintings that sold in the recent Bloor West Village Art Tour, June 1-3, 201`2

Tribute to Monet

Red Tulips

Family of Birches

Honfleur

Tree with Lily Pond

Birches Three

Hearts which bleed...

One cold and blessed winter...

Hung Out to Dry by Générik Vapeur

Displayed during the 2011 international arts festival in Munster, Germany called Flurstücke 011, which is really fun to say.

Artist: website / photo by Ingeborg (via: StreetArt in Germany / colossal)

Mirror Lake by Franklin Carmichael, 1929

Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire draws spellbinding 18ft picture of New York from memory… after a 20-minute helicopter ride over city Read more

Charybdis by William Pye is an installation with a spinning vortex that can be observed from multiple levels.

About the piece:

The sirens Charybdis and Scylla resided in the Sicilian Sea. Homer tells us that because Charybdis had stolen the oxen of Hercules, Zeus struck her with a thunderbolt and changed her into a whirlpool whose vortex swallowed up ships. In Charybdis the circular movement of water inside a transparent acrylic cylinder forms an air-core vortex in the centre. Steps wrap around the cylinder and allow spectators to view the vortex from above. 

How it works:

An air-core vortex is generated within a circular dish. Water rises and falls within the dish in a cyclic program of water activity. When the system is full and flowing over the perimeter and down the sides, the top surface is comparatively flat and smooth, only broken by the vortex in the middle. However, as the level drops, the body of water seems to take on a life of its own, increasingly rocking and swaying as its volume diminishes unaided by any outside force.

Matt Wisniewski | on Tumblr - Miles to go

And in other news…

In the last month we have seen Edvard Munch go for $120 million, Mark Rothko sell at $87 million and Roy Lichtenstein auction off at $44.9 million. Now one of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s untitled pieces from 1981 is on the chopping block and already stirring up rumors of record prices…

Pictured: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1981.

Read more here.

Hands of devotion: details from Maerten van Heemskerck’s newly conserved Ecce Homo altarpiece painted in 1544, on loan from the National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie).

Encirclement, Installation by Beili Liu

Encirclement is created with hundreds of thistle plants, stemming perpendicularly from the wall, outlining two silhouettes of a standing and a bending figure. The performer then positions herself inside the thistle field, disguised/ camouflaged with thistledown. The beautiful plants surround the body as if protecting her, while she is in fact being embraced by the countless thorns of the plants.

Tim O’Brien

Pablo Picasso’s first self-portrait

CS Lewis

“If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” C.S. Lewis

Roberto Osti 

www.robertoosti.com

Petri Kiss - Watercolor and colored pencils on paper - 2010

Frida Kahlo 2012 pencil and ink by Iain macarthur www.iainmacarthur.carbonmade.com

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”

Thomas Alva Edison

Heaven?

Forest...love the soft, radiant blues next to the vibrant greens

Your Inferior Shadow

Greetings! I've spent a lifetime trying to figure out why some artists just go ahead and do things and thrive, while others don't get much done and languish. I noticed that thriving in our game often has more to do with attitude than talent. Further, I noticed that some would-be artists were dragging something around. I knew this because there were times when I dragged the thing around myself. These days, some high-priced shrinks are talking about "Your Inferior Shadow." This creepy critter is a dark presence--always with you--and he wants you to be fearful, incompetent, lousy, victimized, procrastinatory and self-loathing. Some of us have almost untamable Shadows while others have small ineffective ones. It's possible to train the former to be the latter. No matter what the size of your shadow, here are a few ways to keep him in check: A lot of what comes out of your mouth is him speaking. When you speak, you reinforce intentions. You need a small policeman standing alert at the side of your mouth. He puts up his hand and says, "Stop." Shadow-talk needs to go to the trash. You need to cultivate habits that overrule his power. Some of these habits can be mighty small, like washing your brushes, but when they become habitual you can move on to bigger ones. B.J. Fogg of Stanford University in California has pioneered a system of developing "tiny habits." According to Fogg and many of his satisfied customers, the system can change behaviors and even personalities. Your Inferior Shadow is a whizbang at throwing obstacles in your way. Funnily, some of the obstacles can be legit and daunting. But once your Shadow knows you will react to obstacles, any obstacle will do. One lady told me she couldn't paint because her laundry wasn't dry yet. I used to have a friend who felt he couldn't paint until his studio was finished--and then he took 10 years to finish his studio. Because your Shadow has his own powerful ego that can overshadow your own ego, he can actually block your ability to work confidently, study, take advice and learn. He can literally shut you out of your own best interests. Just knowing he's there and understanding his motivation is half the battle. You can't shoot him because he's just a Shadow. Best regards, Robert PS: "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And what can be the use of him is more than I can see."  (Robert Louis Stevenson)  Esoterica: The weaker your self-esteem the more powerful your Shadow becomes. By making small gains (like a painting a day) we begin to show our Shadow that we are in charge. For some reason, accomplishments blind him and make him crazy. It's our accomplishments that build our self-esteem. One of the real pleasures of writing this letter is receiving the large number of emails from artists who confide. Frequent disclosures include, "If I don't paint I start to feel rotten," and "When I paint I'm happy." These admissions let me know that another Inferior Shadow has at least temporarily bitten the dust. Current Clickback: "Try an odyssey" looks at mosey-driving and journaling. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on obstacles to 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 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.

Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, 1962-98. Photography by Billy Name, William John Kennedy and Warhol himself.

The Silver Factory, also known as The Factory was Andy Warhol’s original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968. The Silver Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. It was the hip hangout for artsy types, amphetamine users, and the Warhol superstars. It was famed for its groundbreaking parties. In the studio, Warhol’s workers would make silkscreen, lithographs and film movies.

“Success is getting what you want; happiness is wanting what you get”

Ingrid Bergman

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!