Another Art Walk

Last Friday was the second Art Walk of the year.  Pretty good crowd.  As usual I didn't make any sales but I met some interesting artists which is the main reason I go.  These events seem to be about the only times of the year all the artists get together in one place.  Before the Art Walks I thought my friend and I were the only ones in town.  Turns out there are quite a few and more coming out of the woodwork. 
I try to unveil a new painting each Art Walk and here's the newest addition.





The others are some of my older works.  I only had about 7 pieces to show this go around because I've sold most of my work.  I guess that's a good thing but parting is such sweet sorrow.  I look like a lobster because I was on top of a 20ft ladder all day painting a sign in 100 degree weather.  I'm usually white as a ghost.  My hair was wet too.  Not a good time to have my pic taken.

A new Painting

Awaiting Excalibur's Return
24" x 48"
Acrylic on panel

  Just finished my latest commission.  I did a lot of experimentation with it.  I used a paintbrush, a pallet knife, a toothbrush, a Gatorade lid, and my fingers.  Learned a lot and had a good time.


  They wanted a nude in a nautical setting but it turned out to be more aquatic than nautical.  I don't have much control on how my paintings turn out.  They evolve and develop a life of their own.  I just kinda let it take me over and sit back and watch.  It turns to crap if I fight it.  I'm happy with how it turned out.  They haven't seen it yet and if they don't like it I'll do a different one if that's what they want.


  Last night was the first quarterly Art Walk of the year.  It went well even though it was the lowest turn out of artists.  I met lots of interesting people and got to hear their comments on my newest work.  I was kind of apprehensive but it was all positive.  They like the direction my work is taking.


  I just moved into a new house with a studio so I have a lot more space to experiment and throw some paint.  I look forward to seeing the direction my work takes in the near future.

Oils Again?

My favorite living artist/author is Clive Barker and I've been on a real kick with him lately, reading his books (again), watching videos of him painting, interviews with him, and looking at his artwork 24/7.  He is amazing.  I've liked him since the 80's and every time I go through one of these phases I try oils again because of what he can do with them.  I don't see how he gets the effects he does and I can't seem to get them with acrylics either.  His output is astounding.  Last time I tried them was almost two years ago.  I did 4 large works in oils and on the last one swore I would never try them again and went back to acrylics.  So, here I am about to do it again.  I'm probably being a fool but I'm going on this adventure yet again.  I hope that this time will be more fruitful.  Wish me luck.

Studio

I'm getting ready to move into a new house, new to me anyway and after several years I'll have my own studio to paint in and a garage to sculpt in.   

I haven't been able to sculpt in along time because of lack of space and it is so messy.  It will be nice to be able to do it again and it will be easier to clean up.  These pictures on the sides are some sculptures I did seven years ago with clay I dug up in my own yard.  I look forward to getting my hands dirty again.

  I will also have plenty of wall space to hang my paintings.  Right now I have it all stacked in a storage room.  I always felt like they had a life of their own and when I move they will be able to breath and watch over my son, me, and the house.  I might even be able to try painting larger.

Imagine someone breaking into the house and having this one come to life on them.  It's called "We Watch" and it's 4ft x 4ft.  Not to mention a 15o pound German Shepard charging at them.

I'm Lazy!!!

  I sit and stare at my latest painting I'm working on and consider starting two new ones and reworking an old one before finishing this one.  Am I spreading myself too thin?  Thinking about doing one using pretty much anything I can find except a brush.  Might get some interesting texture and color.  


  The old one I'm thinking about giving another once over to is about 3 years old .  Not too long after I did it I started hating it but not enough to trash it or go over it.  Since then I've seen potential in it and want to change some things.  Not sure what yet but we'll see where I go with it.  This is it to the right.  I'm thinking about giving it a whole new color scheme and softening the lines.  I'll post a new pic of it on here when it's done.

The one to the left is another one I'm considering reworking.  This one is three years old as well.


The quarterly Art Walk is 15 days away.  It's usually in this time that I get up off my butt and really paint.  I don't know why.  Even though I hate being rushed I seem to wait until my deadlines to finish a lot of my paintings.  Maybe I secretly like to rush.  I wouldn't think so, I'm kinda lazy.

A Rant

  It's amazing how no matter what you want to do something almost always works against you to keep you from it.  In my case it's usually people's horrible timing.  I know I shouldn't get mad at them but when they do it I get so angry because it's impeccable that they show up at the wrong time and they have that idiotic soulless look like they don't care if they're doing  it or not.


  I work at a pawn shop and it snowed today.  I was hoping they would close work down so I could go home and finish up a commission but they didn't.  After arriving the boss said if the weather got worse or no customers came in we could go home, but guess what?  The weather didn't get worse and the customers dribbled in at just the perfect pace to keep us there all day.  A lot of them were just killing time.  I wanted to wring their necks.  Every time I helped somebody with something they didn't want I could chew nails.


  Most of our clientele are rednecks and think everything can be solved with with beer and guns.  They come in with a expression on their face while looking at the firearms that says "I want to kill something, can you hook me up?".  Most of them that like my work is only because it would make a kickass tattoo.  Their idea of art is something with a rebel flag in it, hot rods, or Elvis on black velvet.


  I sometimes wish I lived somewhere else with open minded people that had at least a little culture.  We have nowhere to go here to meet other artists.  No art pubs, poetry readings, or even a symphony to go to.  No nightlife.  Oh well, I'm going off on another tangent.  I'll talk about that in another post.

JUST DO IT!!!

  So many artists worry that their work isn't good enough and it sometimes keeps them from painting at all.  Are you doing your work for yourself or others?  Whatever the case you should do it like nobody will ever see it but you.  Do what you're passionate about and others will see that passion.  Not everybody will like it but you will eventually find an audience.  Don't find a trend and ride it.  Be yourself and be original.  Nobody but you can paint like you can.  I know so many artist that don't do anything just because they can't please everybody.  What others see as good art may not be the case.  No matter how famous or good an artist is there is going to be somebody that wont like their work.  That's true with everything so don't try so hard to please everybody.  PLEASE YOURSELF.  There will be some that will like your work and some that wont.  

    I know art is a personal thing and it really stings when anybody says something negative about it.  One thing that has helped me is "a reaction is better than no reaction even if it's negative".  One of my favorite reactions I ever got from somebody about it was very negative.  They said my work looked like "luminescent vomit".  It was a negative comment but a passionate one.  They couldn't even stand in front of my work for more than a few moments.  They said it was too disturbing for them.  

  You should get to the point that you will quit taking commissions that you don't want to do.  I used to take any commission.  I got to the point I didn't even want to work on the personal things I enjoyed because it was taking time away from my deadlines that I didn't want to do.  If you're into painting dragons or mythological creatures don't do sailboats or barns unless you just desperately need the money because it will leave a bad taste in your mouth and a lot of times look dead to others because you hated doing it.

  Picasso said "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up".  Do you remember when you were young sitting at the kitchen table drawing with your crayons just to be drawing?  Then the older you got people told you what was good and what wasn't and you accepted it.  You only enjoyed it when others gave it their approval at that point.  We were born artist and society convinced us we wasn't.

  Art is a very personal experience and no one should be able to dictate what you should or should not paint.  Paint like you are the last person on earth.

JUST DO IT!!!

  

2012

My apologies if this is all over the map. It's just some of my hopes and fears for the future.

2011 was gone in the blink of an eye.  I hope 2012 doesn't go that fast especially if it's the last year of our existence.  I don't really think that's the case.  I do hope things drastically change for the better.

  As we usher in another year I find myself in the usual predicament...am I going in the right direction with my art?  Do I want to change my style, even what medium I use?  Usually when I try this it's a major waste of time and I go back to what I was doing before.

  Isn't that what we do as artist?  Isn't that how we grow?  It sure doesn't feel like it most of the time.  It seems like 1% of experimentation is fruitful.  Is it worth it to try new things when the success rate is so low.  I guess it is...for some of us anyway, but how will we know if we don't try.

  We have to take that shot.  Where would we be if Picasso or Pollock hadn't?  My art doesn't look anything like theirs but they are some of my biggest inspiration.

  When I was younger it seemed like no matter what my mood was it only enhanced my work.  Anger made my work more powerful and dark.  Boredom made me more creative.  That's not the case anymore.  Now I can only seem to paint when I'm somewhat happy or content.  Part of my problem is the internet.  We didn't have it when I was younger.  When there was nothing else to do I either drew, read comic books, or watched TV and I didn't watch much because we only had 3 channels.  Star Trek reruns and Saturday morning cartoons were all I watched so not a lot of TV.  Now it's too easy when I get home from work to open up the laptop with the intention of being on 30 minutes or so then working on my art.  30 minutes turns in hours then I'm too tired to do anything else.  I guess my New Years resolution should have been more self control.

What if the Net or maybe even the Grid went down in 2012?  It would suck but it would release a lot of us from it's grip to pursue what we was meant for if there wasn't roving packs of maniacs trying to kill us.  I'm an information freak and the internet is just too convenient for me.  I used to go to the dictionary, encyclopedia, book store, or library, now I can do it even better without having to get out of bed.  Kind of cool but kind of sad.  

You've probably heard that everything has been done.  Surely not, but there really hasn't been anything that unique done with art in 50 or so years in my opinion.  Could that be a sign, an omen? Maybe the big change would be a new Renaissance of art, a new beginning among other things. I don't know, wishful thinking I guess.

Let's look to the future with hope instead of dread. Instead of looking at it negativity let's look at it with positivity.