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.

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.

Like a Phoenix Rising from the Ashes

It's amazing how much you can forget over a short amount of time if you're not careful, especially so with art.  Part of the reason I got into a rut with my painting was because instead of experimenting I fell into a groove that I became comfortable with.  Without realizing it I eventually became bored with it.  I've been working on a commission off and on for the past four months, becoming more and more bored with each session.  It hit me what I've been missing for so long, it wasn't a challenge and therefore not inspiring me anymore.  Like I said in an earlier blog 2007 was my best year for painting.  I was on an adventure with my art that I eventually fell out of.  Yesterday I rediscovered what I had been missing.  It almost felt like I'd been reborn.  I'm at work right now and I can't wait to get home and get back to work on it.  It's been along time since I looked forward to working on a piece instead of dreading it.  It feels great.  The person I'm doing this commission for is probably wondering if I'm ever going to finish it.  It will be soon now.  Even if they decide they don't want it it will still be worth it just for the artistic rebirth I've experienced with it.  I've discovered that the longer you don't paint or experiment may cause you to forget things and bury them with repetition and useless information making it harder to recover them when you start painting again.  The artistic path is filled with many pitfalls but the few moments of insight are bliss and well worth it.  I feel like a Phoenix rising from the Ashes.

a Painting in Progress

Here's a peek at my creative process

for the media, by the media

Acrylic on panel

48" x 48"

a New Beginning.

I am an artist and my own worst enemy.  I'm very passionate about my art but very inactive lately as well.  I want to support myself with it but when I get a commission I tend to put it off until the last minute because knowing I'm getting paid for it tends to take away from the artistic experience for me.  I hope to get over this and enjoy working on commissions as much as personal paintings.  I'm in a conundrum, a perpetual irony.  This is my first Blog entry ever unless you count my journal entries on DeviantART http://arum1966.deviantart.com.  My intent is to show you my artistic journey, to record it and to look back on later as I slowly crawl out of this hole of an existence to possibly eventual contentment.  The only way I seem to be happy is when I'm doing/reading about/thinking about/talking about ART.

I've been an artist ever since I could hold a pencil.  My dad is an artist and so was my grandfather.  I didn't start painting until I was in my late twenties.  I used to have a problem finishing anything and had 20 or 30 unfinished paintings sitting around at any given time until I read the book "Life, Paint and Passion" by Michelle Cassou and Stewart Cubley http://www.amazon.com/Life-Paint-Passion-Michele-Cassou/dp/0874778107.  If you haven't read it you should check it out.  It helped me to get over the block of trying to please everyone else and helped me to paint like I was the only person who would ever see my work.  I later figured out as long as you paint what you're passionate about you'll find and audience.  If you only paint what is trendy or what you think people want to see chances are your art will seem tired and unoriginal to the viewers.

By the end of 2006 I began finishing my work (the two below).  

   
2007 was the most productive year, my renascence and it felt great (a few examples below).

If you're interested in seeing more check out my gallery http://arum1966.deviantart.com/gallery/.


Like I said before I'm working to become more productive and to achieve a higher quality of life and happiness.  I'm also here to meet other artist and talk art.  I hope all is well with you and to see again you soon.


"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." ~ Pablo Picasso