I was painting this evening, while listening to one of the many playlists I have, when "Roof of the World", by Professor and MaryAnne, (off the album Runaway Favorite ) started to play.  I've always loved this song, and I replayed it over and over, while I painted the image below.

A bit of the lyrics:

I'll build you a city of shimmering lights
I'll blur the edges for you
Exaggerate its height
I'll shine the tops of every building
So it may come to life
As the air fills
Your eyes with the thrill
Of the moon tacked to the sky
Like a pearl
I'll meet you on the roof of the world

ps - The image is take with a cell phone :P

I have a folder full of drawings that I have never really shared with anyone. I got a lot out of sharing my drawing a couple of posts ago so perhaps i'll continue to dip into the archives and revisit ideas that are surprisingly still relevant!

This drawing is one of many that I have made from found images. I am intrigued by images of erotic fetishes particularly ones that explore power roles between participants and ones that fetishize a body part or garment.

The "context" that these erotic photo sets are given are often obscure. The first few images of a set (before it all gets a bit obvious!) often strike me as being fascinating, unusual sometimes beautiful. My idea was to remove them from their disposable and sleazy (some would say tasteless but not me!) erotica origins and recast them  and offer them back to a viewer in a new context. In the hope that they will see what I see. Which could be a complex physical or emotional interaction.

It could be the use of the figure to divide a pictorial space. It could be drama and narrative. And yes also sensual, sensory and the erotic element excites too! (it would be silly to pretend otherwise.) Having visited the Musee D'orsay this weekend and looked at Degas and Lautrec amongst other I feel no need to justify that.

With the weight that the tradition of painting gives and my editing and expression transforming them into "fine art". The truth is they were good images to start with but I guess it's all in how you look. I do kinda like the idea that people end up interacting with images that emanate from a source that they never would (openly!) engage with.

It is really all about exciting pictures that move people, in whatever way.

When I discovered a tiny little stack of wood panels I ordered months ago but never got around to working with so I transfered my sketch to one of the little 4 x 4 inch boards to test it out:  

Oh ok I added about 4 layers of white gesso first and then I transferred the sketch which looked pretty darn cute so I laid in a background of my favorite light bluish tealish color:  

Of course what else would I pair with such a background but some shades of red and white?  

And there she is Alice's Teacup all finished up in just a couple of hours :)  There's a simplicity that I just love about her.  And you can buy her here in the shop right now.  This is a one of a kind piece, I won't be offering prints of this painting.  Enjoy!

Bobby Layton is one of today's most important song writers and composers. The fact that he is not better known is due to the fact that he is the inventor of a brand new form: The Short Song.

Like the short story, the Short Song encapsulates an entire world within a highly distilled set of parameters. It takes a certain kind of genius to pull this off.

By now, Layton has many disciples - Manny Fixato, Soutine DeHavilland, The Centaurs among other - though some stubbornly refuse to acknowledge their debt.

The score in the video above is a classic of the genre.

So why do I keep putting things off when there is much to do in my life? Hopefully by putting this all down I can make it make sense in my head.

1. I need to get organized. If you walk into my house it looks clean enough but there are stacks of mail, papers, school announcements for the kids, work papers....all stacked on the desk. I need to come up with a filing system so that these papers don't consume me. So that I stop missing deadlines. I am really bad at waiting until the last minute to do things. I have to find a system that works for me.

2. I have got to learn to take control of my life and not rely on others. I have let my partner do so much around this house and have realized I don't know how to do anything. I can't plant flowers, can't paint a room, hang a picture, decorate the house.... I have given this control to her and not learned to do these things myself. That has to stop. I have lived in "I can't" for so long. I need to grow up and do these things myself. Stop counting on others to do things for me.

3. I want to paint, draw, make collages, murals...something artistic! I have wanted to do this for some time now. I need an outlet. The problem is that I am NOT a creative person! I need to get over that though and just go buy some art supplies. I need to not worry about the finished product, just the process of creating, doing, becoming. I want to continue to grow in my writing. Continue this blog, my journal, and just write. It is something that I have always been good at. I want to improve and grow in my writing.

4. I need to figure out why when I am single I take good care of my body, eat right, workout. Then when I get into a relationship I eat and eat, stop working out. I am 38. I am giving myself a year and a half to get into shape for good. A friend of mine told me about a triathlon that is in April. I have always wanted to do something like that. If I train at the gym until then, I think I could do it. That gives me about 3 1/2 months to train. I want to be healthy for good. I plan on being healthy- mind, body, and soul by the time I am 40. March 4, 2010.

5. I want to travel. Somehow. Someway. I am happiest when I am going somewhere. I love the feeling the night before a big trip. I don't get to do this enough. I am a nurse that works for a non-profit agency. I make a decent salary but there is not a lot left over. I want to find a way to be able to travel even a little bit. Even if it was one trip a year. Life is so short. I don't want to be like some of my patients that waited until they retired to see the world. Only to find that their retirement was filled with unexpected sickness. Their dreams of traveling never to come about.

6. I want to grow professionally. I have become a liitle lax in my professional growth area. I want to attend more classes, workshops, conferences in my field. I love learning! I haven't done much of it in about a year. I want to learn more about management and education in nursing. I would love to sit on a board of directors in my town, eventually become an educator and speak to others about nursing issues. I love to talk, learn, and have a passion for hospice and nursing. This could also be a way for me to travel and see the world without having to pay for it myself! I have much to learn in my field but everyday that I work as a nurse, I learn something. I become one step closer to my dreams. Everyday.

7. I want to go on a mission trip this year with my church. When I picked up my son in the parking lot of our church this July it was 2:00 am. He was part of the group that had spent 10 days in Costa Rica ministering to the people there. Everyone in their group was dead tired but the energy that came from this group was amazing. They were actually glowing with love from Christ and their fellow man. I want that too. I vowed that night that I will do this. Our church is involved in mission trips to Guatemala, Mexico, Bulgaria, and Africa. They also go to various places in the United States. I will find a way to go this year.

8. I want to continue to build and improve my relationships with my children. They are the absolutely most important relationships in my life. They will be gone soon. They are 15 and 17. I love them so much. Right now they are trying to find that balance of breaking free from the nest and keeping one foot in. I hope that my relationship with them only grows stronger as they become young adults.

9. I want to decide where I am going to go!! I have always said that I am waiting until my kids get older, graduate from high school, and then I am out of here! There are many places that I have thought about moving. The closest being Asheville, N.C. I would also love to live in Boston, NYC, Minneaplois, Portland, Seattle....the list goes on..... I have just waited for so long to get out of this place. I don't have long to go. I wait patiently......

10. I want to continue to learn about myself and grow in therapy. I have come a long way but have far to go. I want to finally fix what I feel is broken in my heart and soul and move on. I want to be a strong, smart, independent, confident woman. I want to be the person that I portray to the world right now, while dying inside. I want to love myself. Finally. I can HONESTLY say that I do not love myself now. I want that to change. I believe that the path that I am on will make that happen. I know that I will love myself someday. I already know that I am strong.  I have no doubts.

I will talk about this later.  Right now, I am at Conjunctured ~Lavanna Martin

Medium: oil paint on canvas

Size: 36×24″

Exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

16 May 2008 - 4 January 2009

The Van Gogh Museum is putting on display its collection of still lifes by the Dutch master. The artist indeed practised his skills in the usage of colours and strokes by painting still lifes, yet his conception of this genre would be profoundly influenced by the works of his French contemporaries after his trip to Paris in 1886.

Visit the Van Gogh Museum website.

Illustration: Irises, by Vincent van Gogh, Oil on Canvas, 92 x 73.5 cm, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

Beautiful paintings from San Diego's Kelsy Brookes. From his bio: “Kelsey's figurative paintings draw influence from Hindu and Buddhist deities, exotic animals and sex, as well as rustic American quilts.”

visit this site for the video... i can't get vimeo to work on this site...

http://vimeo.com/1923663

Anyway back to the journey I got in my car and drove into the middle of the dales from Leeds, I pass Skipton "the gateway to the dales" and up into the rolling hills passing through numerous mini villages until I arrive at my destination Kilnsey (hour and half later). Park in the pub car park which I've forgotten the name of now and ask the Land lady if I can sit in the beautiful situated beer garden towards the side of the Pub/Hotel. As I finish explaining my mornings work, the land lady takes great pleasure in taking me on a tour of the Hotels various paitings of the famous landmark I'm about to embark on myself. The best of the lot was a 10ft by 12ft (approx) of the rock face emerging from what looks like a misty monring scene. Beatifully painted but has the look of a painting from photo, but I could be wrong. I order my coffee as I dont want to be too cheeky and the land lady lets me know I can fill up anytime I want, which is a good job as the morning cold was biting my blue numb fingers.

[caption id="attachment_161" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Zoom of sketch (biro on paper-2008)"][/caption]

A good tip why I encourage other artist not to paint from photos is the chance of missing something. A photo or a series of photos with today's technology can take a couple of minutes or an hour if your a professional maybe. What I witnessed over a period of 3 hours can not be captured via a lens including a video recorder. The eye is a great receiver of light and as the grey morning turned into blue skies and low autumn sunshine the cliff face which I presume is limestone started to glow. The autumn colours contrasting against the glowing rock-face is an experience I can now build into the final painting. If I had taken the photo in the morning I would have missed this event but even if I was there at the right moment the lens fails to capture the brightness. Some of you I know will disagree with this comment but it is my intention to paint the final piece including the transition from subdue to vibrent colours. How am I going to do that well thats for me to worry about (ermm figure out).

 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Actual study position"][/caption]

I thought some of you reading this blog might be interested in seeing where in the world I recorded my personal observation. As you can see from these satellite images it is in the middle of now where.  I travelled far to capture this experience and encourage people, who can that is, to visit paintings you admire in person...to relive an experience an artist has left behind. There are plenty of photos on the web of the iconic landmark I have captured but human eyes tend to capture the sense of an environment the lens cannot. Looking at paintings is like looking at the world through another person eye's or viewpoint. Should point out I'm not anti photo, it is very useful for capturing large amounts of life' expereinces that no painter could possible record in a life time.

"ICON" © Jeff Glenn 2008

About this piece:

14" x 17" Charcoal on Bristol with a vellum finish. It was inspired by a photograph of Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his prime of Body Building.

This piece is framed and is currenlty available for purchase. Shoot me an email if you are interested.

jeffglennart@yahoo.com

later,

Jeff

So right now, my room is a complete mess. The only two things left in my room are my desk and bed and they are sitting in the middle of the room. My bookcase, nightstand, and my reading chair got kicked out while the painting is being done!

Yesterday I didn't get to tutor McKayla because she now has a tire swing in her backyard, and her grandmother couldn't pull her away from it. :) Which was good, since we had forgotten about it anyway and were just coming back from town when we remembered about it! Today though, I get to tutor her, so I have to keep watch on the time! And the only clock in my bedroom is on my computer because Mom keeps unplugging my other digital one since she has been painting.

Oh, Mom says I ought to write about our chiropractor experience that we had yesterday on my blog. Well, the chiropractor has this huge dog called Burt (or Bert, I don't know how he spells it!) so, since he was going to work on Levi's back and Mom and I were just going to sit in the waiting room, Mom asked if the dog could come up so we could play with him. (We were the only ones in the waiting room.. it's a good thing!) So he brought the dog up.. He must've just come in from outside because his feet were all dirty. Also take note this dog is a Sheepdog, I believe. You know, one of those huge dog with gigantic mop looking feet?
Well, we had a terrible time just trying to keep him off of us, since he was very excited. So we got him to sit down and were scratching his stomach and all when he got up again, and well, left brown marks all over the floor, which I'm sure you can pretty much guess what it was. And after we saw THAT, we really made sure he kept his rear end off of us! But, when Levi came out of the room, before I could warn him, the dog was over at him spinning around and .... left a brown mark on his jeans! So in all, we had a rather exciting visit to the chiropractor, that time! :D

Yay! I managed to get a good picture of Sammy! Except for the fact that his mouth is wide open... Silly guinea. He follows me everywhere, even into the Hen House! The second picture is of a pretty good sized gray lizard that I found over on the woodpile. Isn't he pretty?

The other day, Levi went out in the woods to our old fort and build a small fire (as you can see in the picture). It never got big, and eventually went out, but he had fun doing it! This is the best picture I could take, since he wouldn't let me take a headshot or anything. ;) For some reason, he doesn't like getting his picture taken.. hmm.

Our big beechnut tree in the front yard is beginning to go yellow and brown. No matter how many times I try, I just can't seem to get a picture of how the tree really looks. It's so big and beautiful!

So, where does the knitting come in?  Since August, I haven't touched paints, brushes, canvases, BUT I have been knitting.  Knitting has replaced painting, at least for the time being, until I resume painting again.  There's some similarities with knitting and painting - I still get to work with color (yarn - paints), tools (needles - brushes), output (knitted object - painting on canvas), techniques (stitch patterns - painting techniques).  What I like about knitting is the existence of patterns, it's functionality and practicality. I don't design any knitwear patterns, I just pick a pattern I like, the color yarn and away I click.  Painting, for me, is a much longer creative process - reading, looking at images, thinking, and allowing 'things' to percolate in my brain - this can take from a few weeks to few  years, and that's without even painting anything!

My first knitting project were these adorable kittens. The design for the knitted kittens is not mine, the kittens are.  The pattern can be found at this potty mouth's link: http://geobabe.livejournal.com/195349.html.

Like I said, I've been knitting up a storm!  Here's some of my other knitted projects: click on thumbnails to open up the larger image.

fingerless mittens              mittens & scarf

      felted tote                           socks

So this anonymous review is an effort to offer such a look. Often in painting artists have what they are intuitively good at, they have the tricks they use to activate work, technique, and then theres that mysterious factor of magic when it comes together. The figurative paintings there were ok, but what distracted me and a colleague were the exceptional parts. Here slathering the paint on certain areas started to shine, then she backed off and relied on constructions that felt illustrative. It was as if the artist was unsure of herself, bits of Daniel Richter, and Dana Schutz came through in parts symbolically, confusing the viewer.

Now before cringing, I want to say, she is a very good painter, but it happens in parts, and her challenge is that she needs to allow herself the space to engage her own special talents. In places she would maneauver the paint richly, implying movement, but then she will back off. In other areas she would place a symbol with apparently no reason for it other than to try to add meaning. The result was choppiness. Fragments of narrative collided with open painting, but in a manner that showed her really having fun in her manipulation of paint, but then saying "I must paint this naturalistically here, but because people won't know what it is."

The paintings were loaded, heavily so, all we needed was some editing and more free painting. After that less worrying about trying to load the painting with narrative, the psychologist painting does not need every book spelled out.That was the crux of it, information. In the highest levels of art making it starts to come down to editing, and knowing when to stop.

All of this is easy for me to say, but when looking at her catalog I saw very nice earlier work from 2004, which were moving in this direction. It caused me to ponder and think, maybe its the pressure of the galleries that is driving her to move in this direction. I know some of this pressure, its a battle of pyschology all its own.

In the back of the gallery were stronger monotypes and water colors. These were open and fresh, they established more direct language.

Maybe Ms. Eisenman knows all of this, maybe its the factor of an emmerging artist. We battle with our influences, with our natural directions and skills, and in the end have to make decisions on where we stand in the market. Artistically speaking she could be standing at a much higher point, but the work that needs to be done is not about skill, or some trick, its about embracing herself. Intruigingly the exhibition is called "Coping" Truth be told, given how fast the art world is moving, us makers are all on that couch. Maybe that was the point, thats all we can do, is just cope with the pressures.

link

(above) "Scarred Rock," unretouched digital photo ©2008 Liz Hager; (below) "Wave Action," Digital illustration ©2008 Liz Hager  

The excerpt below from Leonardo's journals gave me pause recently. Although I am obsessively drawn to the patterns and textures on display in the natural world (and have several hundred photos to prove it),  to tell you the truth, I never thought about rock patterns, in the way Leonardo describes, as a means to a wholly different end. Greatly intrigued, I decided to see whether his suggestion had withstood the test of time.  I selected a photo of mine (top), a close up of a boulder, which had perhaps broken off from a section of ancient sedimentary cleving action, for its Cy Twombly-esque pattern. I squinted at it and tried to remain open minded. Within a couple of minutes, I thought I saw water. A little square of an expansive body of water, perhaps a lake or ocean. I started to manipulate the photo.  After an hour and without rotation of the original photo, I had waves lapping at a sliver of beach. Not great art maybe, but I think it proves the point quite well. 

I will not refrain from setting among these precepts a new device for consideration which, although it may appear trivial and almost ludicrous, is nevertheless of great utility in arousing the mind to various inventions. And this is, that if you look at any walls spotted with various stains, or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene you will be able to see in it a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see divers combats and figures in quick movement, and strange expression of faces, and outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things which you can then reduce into separate and well-conceived forms. With such walls and blends of different stones it comes about as it does with the sound of bells, in whose clanging you may discover every name and word you can imagine. 

—Leonardo da Vinci—from Irma Richter, The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

Plumbers Hall will showcase 132 artist booths as well as readings, film, music and theater performances.  Check out some great artists ranging from painting, photography, sculpting, to film-making, musicians all together in one place.  Check out the website for artist listings and more info.  The Around the Coyote 2008  is part of Chicago Artists Month.

Chicago Artists Month takes place each October in Chicago neighborhoods where there are festivals, workshops, exhibitions, open studios, neighborhood art walks & more.  You can meet all kinds of artists, mingle with fellow art lovers & check out the art scene around town.  Click here for the full schedule for 2008.

My new work, 12 foot paintings en grisaille, depicting scenes from the Old Testament.

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About five years back while on vacation in Naples, we saw a painting that struck both of us.  We didn't buy it and have gone into the gallery every year since in search of it but its not there.

So when she told me about this particular painting and how much she loved it I told her I'd get it for her for her Christmas present.

So now you know what's hanging over the mantle.

Appleton Farms Painting, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

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