STROKE OF THE BRUSH AWARD

My blogging friend Kim Bennett forwarded the Stroke of the Brush Award to me. She writes very inspirational blogs about painting as well as travelling between the UK and the US. Thank you Kim for your generous award.

Of course, it comes with a catch! I have to list 7 things that are not really known about me, and send the award to 7 bloggers. So, here goes.

1, I don’t know my right from my left – and I’ve always blamed it on being left-handed!
2. Being left-handed is what made me pick up a pencil to draw. When I found out your creativity is in the right side of your brain, I began to understand why I’ve always been drawn to art and artists.
3. I hate to fly. It makes me nervous.
4. Jeopardy is my favorite show on television – yes, I love it more than Law and Order
5. I secretly would like to win big on Jeopardy.
6. I want to put together a class on the History of Atlanta to teach to adults.
7. My dream job is to be a dog-walker, to make enough money to support my art life and get out of the corporate rat race! or replace Alex Trebeck!

I want to pass this award on to some of my favorite bloggers

Of course, I have to include my life partner Joel Conison. I think he is really one of the best photographers around anywhere. He knows his stuff!

Lance Carlson and I have exhibited together repeatedly. I love his work, and his quirky sense of humor. I hope his recent fight with a runaway car resulting in a broken finger doesn’t waylay his creativity for long.

It has been fun to watch Jacqueline Allison really grow as an artist and really pursue her art education seriously. Her work is amazing to me, and she really loves to experiment new techniques.

You have to check out the vibrant colors in Alisha Kay Ard’s shoes!!!! I’m glad she found me on Facebook so I can continue looking at her work!

Someone else I connected with on Facebook is Suzanne Clem-Wheeler. She recently took an art vacation in Europe and it was a pleasure reading her blog throughout the trip. I highly recommend you scroll through it and find the story about painting and attracting a group of children!! I hope someday to actually meet in person!!

I connected with Magdalena Castaneda through taking a class on blogging from Alyson Stanfield’s BLOG TRIAGE class (I highly recommend the class!) and was instantly struck with her passion for art.

Last but not least, Kipp Mullis’s blog BoyohBoyohBoy. I felt Kipp could be included in this because he paints with words. I’ve known Kipp the longest on this list, being co-workers for quite awhile. But unemployment has shown us all a talent we didn’t know he had! Take a look at the blog and subscribe to it – all the posts are beautiful

So – you guys need to write on your blog seven things about yourself and send the award to seven other artists of some sort. If you don’t have seven to send it to right now, then take you time and get out there on the internet and start following other blogs like yours. You will be amazed by who and what you will find!

THE TOP 200 ARTISTS OF THE 20th CENTURY????

The following list was published in London with a poll taken with Saatchi and Saatchi. There is alot I agree with and there are some things I just don’t understand. I don’t have a problem with Picasso and Cezanne in the #1 and #2 slot, but Klimt in #3? I am a big fan of Klimt’s work, and I like seeing it recognized. But still, is it ahead of DeKooning, Miro, and others? However, it makes you wonder when this is opened to the public, do they for artists because there was a recent sale of the work that made headlines or possibly retrospective at a major museum.
These are personal reflections, and I am not an art critic, just a lifelong student. I would never put Warhol ahead of DeKooning. I would never put Richard Price above Ansel Adams. Price appropriated artwork from the Marlboro ads!
There is little representation from women artists, and even less from African American artists – Basquiat being the only one on the list. Where is Romare Bearden??????
Some names I was happy to see are Yves Klein, Anselm Kiefer and even Mathew Barney. Teachers are here too – most notably Hans Hoffman and Josef Albers, who taught Pollack and DeKooning both..
Why is Kippenberger ahead of Rothko? Is it because he had a retrospective at MOMA this year( I saw it). Personal preference to painting? I wonder.
There is very little representation to Asian artists, and what is there is mostly late 20th century art (leanings to graffiti and cartoon, as well as anime, which I have to accept as valid forms of art!)
On a personal note – I’m glad Claes Oldenburg made the list at 100- Joel used to photograph his sculptures.

What do you think? any and all thoughts and discussions are welcome

Artist list Votes

1
Pablo Picasso
21587

2 Paul Cezanne 21098
3 Gustav Klimt 20823
4 Claude Monet 20684
5 Marcel Duchamp 20647
6 Henri Matisse 17096
7 Jackson Pollock 17051
8 Andy Warhol 17047
9 Willem De Kooning 17042
10 Piet Mondrian 17028
11 Paul Gauguin 17027
12 Francis Bacon 17018
13 Robert Rauschenberg 16956
14 Georges Braque 16788
15 Wassily Kandinsky 16055
16 Constantin Brancusi 14224
17 Kasimir Malevich 13609
18 Jasper Johns 12988
19 Frida Kahlo 12940
20 Martin Kippenberger 12784
21 Paul Klee 12750
2 Egon Schiele 12696
23 Donald Judd 12613
24 Bruce Nauman 12517
25 Alberto Giacometti 12098
26 Salvador Dalí 11496
27 Auguste Rodin 8989
28 Mark Rothko 8951
29 Edward Hopper 8918
30 Lucian Freud 8897
31 Richard Serra 8858
32 Rene Magritte 8837
33 David Hockney 8787
34 Philip Guston 8786
35 Henri Cartier-Bresson 8779
36 Pierre Bonnard 8778
7 Jean-Michel Basquiat 8746
38 Max Ernst 8737
39 Diane Arbus 8733
40 Georgia O’Keeffe 8714
41 Cy Twombly 8708
42 Max Beckmann 8690
43 Barnett Newman 8643
44 Giorgio De Chirico 8462
45 Roy Lichtenstein 7441
46 Edvard Munch 5080
47 Pierre Auguste Renoir 5063
48 Man Ray 5050
49 Henry Moore 5045
50 Cindy Sherman 5041
51 Jeff Koons 5028
2 Tracey Emin 4961
53 Damien Hirst 4960
54 Yves Klein 4948
55 Henri Rousseau 4944
56 Chaim Soutine 4927
57 Arshile Gorky 4926
58 Amedeo Modigliani 4924
59 Umberto Boccioni 4918
60 Jean Dubuffet 4910
61 Eva Hesse 4908
62 Edouard Vuillard 4899
63 Carl Andre 4898
64 Juan Gris 4898
65 Lucio Fontana 4896
66 Franz Kline 4894
67 David Smith 4842
68 Joseph Beuys 4480
69 Alexander Calder 3241
70 Louise Bourgeois 3240
71 Marc Chagall 3224
72 Gerhard Richter 3123
73 Balthus 3090
74 Joan Miro 3087
75 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner 3084
76 Frank Stella 3078
77 Georg Baselitz 3048
78 Francis Picabia 3046
79 Jenny Saville 3034
80 Dan Flavin 3024
81 Alfred Stieglitz 3017
82 Anselm Kiefer 3010
83 Matthew Barney 3005
84 George Grosz 2990
85 Bernd And Hilla Becher 2980
86 Sigmar Polke 2966
87 Brice Marden 2947
88 Maurizio Cattelan 2940
89 Sol LeWitt 2926
90 Chuck Close 2915
91 Edward Weston 2899
92 Joseph Cornell 2893
93 Karel Appel 2890
94 Bridget Riley 2885
95 Alexander Archipenko 2884
96 Anthony Caro 2879
97 Richard Hamilton 2878
98 Clyfford Still 2864
99 Luc Tuymans 2862
100 Claes Oldenburg 2843
101 Eduardo Paolozzi 2839
102 Frank Auerbach 2836
103 Dinos and Jake Chapman 2827
104 Marlene Dumas 2827
105 Antoni Tapies 2825
106 Giorgio Morandi 2824
107 Walker Evans 2823
108 Nan Goldin 2819
109 Robert Frank 2818
110 Georges Rouault 2818
111 Jean Arp 2817
112 August Sander 2809
113 James Rosenquist 2808
114 Andreas Gursky 2804
115 Eugene Atget 2802
116 Jeff Wall 2790
117 Ellsworth Kelly 2789
118 Bill Brandt 2787
119 Christo And Jeanne Claude 2782
120 Howard Hodgkin 2781
121 Josef Albers 2781
122 Piero Manzoni 2777
123 Agnes Martin 2771
124 Anish Kapoor 2768
125 L.S. Lowry 2761
126 Robert Motherwell 2754
127 Robert Delaunay 2747
128 Stuart Davis 2742
129 Ed Ruscha 2731
130 Gilbert & George 2729
131 Stanley Spencer 2720
132 James Ensor 2719
133 Fernand Leger 2718
134 Brassai (Gyula Halasz) 2717
135 Alexander Rodchenko 2715
136 Robert Ryman 2711
137 Ad Reinhardt 2709
138 Hans Bellmer 2700
139 Isa Genzken 2699
140 Kees Van Dongen 2698
141 Weegee 2698
142 Paula Rego 2695
143 Thomas Hart Benton 2689
144 Hans Hofmann 2684
145 Vladimir Tatlin 2679
146 Odilon Redon 2653
147 George Segal 2619
148 Jorg Immendorff 2611
149 Robert Smithson 2435
150 Peter Doig 2324
151 Ed and Nancy Kienholz 2293
152 Richard Prince 2266
153 Ansel Adams 2262
154 Naum Gabo 2256
155 Diego Rivera 2239
156 Barbara Hepworth 2237
157 Nicolas De Stael 2237
158 Walter De Maria 2229
159 Felix Gonzalez-Torres 2228
160 Giacomo Balla 2225
161 Ben Nicholson 2221
162 Anthony Gormley 2218
163 Lyonel Feininger 2216
164 Emil Nolde 2213
165 Mark Wallinger 2211
166 Hermann Nitsch 2209
167 Paul Signac 2209
168 Jean Tinguely 2209
169 Kurt Schwitters 2209
170 Grayson Perry 2208
171 Julian Schnabel 2208
172 Raymond Duchamp-Villon 2208
173 Robert Gober 2208
174 Duane Hanson 2208
175 Richard Diebenkorn 2207
176 Alex Katz 2207
177 Alighiero E Boetti 2206
178 Henri Gaudier-Brzeska 2206
179 Laszlo Moholy-Nagy 2205
180 Jacques-Henri Lartigue 2205
181 Robert Morris 2205
182 Sarah Lucas 2204
183 Jannis Kounellis 2204
184 Chris Burden 2204
185 Otto Dix 2203
186 David Bomberg 2203
187 Fischli & Weiss 2203
188 Augustus John 2203
189 Marsden Hartley 2203
190 Takashi Murakami 2203
191 James Turrell 2202
192 Isamu Noguchi 2201
193 Robert Mangold 2201
194 John Chamberlain 2201
195 Charles Demuth 2200
196 John Currin 2200
197 Alberto Burri 2200
198 Arnulf Rainer 2200
199 David Salle 2200
200 Hiroshi Sugimoto 2199

CONNECTING INTERNATIONALLY WHILE READING ABOUT DE KOONING


If someone had suggested to me a month ago I’d be reading a biography of an artist with people around the world on Twitter, I wouldn’t have known what they were talking about. I had heard of Twitter, but I didn’t know what it really was, or that people connected there. To start at the beginning, this began when I took a blogging class from Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. Alyson is known to many artists are the “ART BIZ COACH“. Well, after several weeks of working on my blog and reading fascinating blogs by other artists, we were told to subscribe to Twitter. At first I resisted. Understand, I don’t text, IM, or have any phone apps. But, I succumbed and dutifully signed up. At first I was totally lost, but I slowly started getting the hang of it. Alyson thought it would be a good idea to use Twitter to read a book as a group. This helped me learn to navigate through Twitter, interact with people internationally, and read a great book – all at the same time.

The book, De Kooning, An American Master, is 600 pages long. The intent was to read 100 pages a week and discuss it for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, once I began, I couldn’t put it down and completed the book in less than two weeks. We use #dekooning to connect through Search/Twitter.

The book is rich in detail, the world De Kooning inhabited is alive within the pages of this fascinating story of a fascinating era in American art. Heavily researched and ten years in the making, it deservingly won the Pulitzer Price.

It begins with Dekooning’s childhood in Rotterdam; his mother beat him with wooden shoes, he was trained in old school portraiture, he arrived in the US as a stowaway, and then made his way to the bohemian art world of New York. It covers his marriage to Elaine, his womanizing, his ascent to being one of the most important artists in the 20th century, and his descent in alcoholism and finally Alzheimers.

It is a page turner, with people like Jackson Pollock, Gorky (his mentor), Franz Klein, Rothko inhabiting the pages. (Paul and Linda McCartney make an appearance, as does David Bryne.) The book is both chatty and educational as many chapters end with a lengthy dissertation on a particular important painting of the era.

DeKooning put his work above all else, and it took him a long time to get a body of work. He never learned to drive, he didn’t have a checking account until he was in his 40’s, he was always worried he would be deported, as he entered the US illegally. He was both charming and abusive to his friends and lovers.

I highly recommend this page turning biography!

(above painting EXCAVATION)

ECLIPSE

This piece was started in a class and finished it at home. It began with collage of dress patterns in the shape of a cityscape. After layers and layers of acrylic paint and ink, I would mask certain areas and paint over it and move the masks around. This was entered into a show and I am happy to say it won an honorable mention. The judges remarks were “sophisticated with rich colors, great textural quality, really draws you in”. However, it was suggested I hang it vertically. Personally, I like it better this way, but knowing it can hang differently let’s me know there is balance in the painting.

RHYTHM OF MY LIFE SHOW

I currently have a solo show up at the Sandy Springs Library, here in Atlanta. The piece to the left, MUSIC OF THE WORLD, is one of the pieces I am showing. Because I am the daughter and the grand-daughter of piano tuners, I have always turned to music for inspiration. I have always like the way music looks on the page.

Also, the piece on the left side of the banner (above) is in the show. This piece began with a page from a book of music I found at the Goodwill Book Sale. Each page was devoted to a different composer, with the top half devoted to a short biography, and the bottom with a simplified version of a piece of music often associated with that partciular composter. This one was devoted to Bizet, and the music is from Carmen. I used the word “passion” prominently because that best describes this music.

Enjoy. Come to the show at the Sandy Spring Library on Johnson Ferry Road, through 6/31.

Let me know what you think of these pieces. If you use music in your artwork, please share!

AN INTERVIEW WITH FINE ARTIST LANCE CARLSON

Lance and I have not only painted together for years and we have even shown our work together many times.I was intriqued about his new “Face” series and I wanted to learn more about his process. I knew he began by seeing a face in an inanimate object (i.e. the more obvious ones are seeing a face in a house or the front of a car), but I wanted to know where he went from there, so I posed several questions to him.Read on and see his answers to his interesting approach to art.

I know you are an architect by trade, but when did you begin shifting over to fine art? I took a painting class about 15 years ago and was hooked immediately. It brought back alot of memories of creating art in my youth. (Painting to the left is FAMILY+REUNION)

Has your style changed from when you began as an artist? I don’t think I really had a style to begin with, it was just a matter of putting paint on paper. As I progressed, a certain style emerged. For a while, I vassilated between abstract and something more representational. But, I have pretty much adapted an abstract style. However I make personal connections to literature, music and pop culture.

Can you explain this series? This series began with finding a face (of sorts) in the still life (basically a grouping of objects). I find a rudimentary face and base my initial composition on that. As the painting progresses, the face may appear and disappear and the composition that remains becomes the most important thing.

What medium are you using? For the face series, it was back to basics for me. I had become enamored with mixed media where I could throw together a bunch of varying media and then solve the final composition with a little drawing. I wanted to see if I was using the drawing (on top of paintings) as a crutch. So, I limited myself to acrylic paint on canvas for this series. There was some collage in a few, but this was from “painted over” previous paintings.

Of the 4 images displayed here, I see the palette is very similar. How did you choose the palette? Because I work on several pieces at the same, I am using the same colors on all when I’m finalizing the image.

I see the relationship between the titles and the paintings, except for the one titled “Without at Name”, will you explain this? That is the name of a song by Kisschasy. I know it is pretty obscure, but it held meaning for me. (Painting to the left is WITHOUT A NAME)

What visual elements do you repeat in this series? There are alot of curves, to make it lyrical. There is also a good change in values, and I use some form of stripes and bands in each one.

How do you know when a piece is finished? I like to get outside the critique, because for me, an internal knowledge or satisfaction that I know it is complete works for me.

Do you have any plans to exhibit this series in the future? Sure, any ideas? I have submitted it to competitions and galleries. I will keep you posted when it is up somewhere.

Who is your favorite artist? I don’t know if I have a favorite, as there are several artists that speak to me. I get an adranline rush out of Ann Hamilton, but I was super excited when I recently saw the back of a Rubens/ I am also influenced by great architecture for le Corbusier to Graves to Calitrava

Who do you consider your biggest influences in art? My mom and dad and brother had plein air outings when I was a kid. They all had easels while I did somersaults in the grass. I think in some ways Franz Klein and Rodin. Wierd combo, eh? But, their work both dealt with human figures and also drawn to bodies and faces.

What do you see in your future as an artist? My future is so bright. I will just continue to create art and see where it takes me. I am taking paths as they come, but not really forging new territory or looking for wealth of fame. I wouldn’t turn it down if it came. (Painting to the left is WISE AND DEEP AS THE SEA)

Thank you Lance for taking the time to answer these questions thoughtfully and honestly. However, I have to disagree on your last answer. I think you are forging new territory by continuing to learn and explore new techniques in art.

After reading this, if you think I have left anything out, please leave a comment. And you can continue to follow this series with Lance on his blog.

REVIEW OF SIMON SCHAMA THE POWER OF ART – Caravaggio

“GREAT ART HAS DREADFUL MANNERS” Schama says at the start of this series.

Who is Simon Schama and what qualifies him to produce a series for the BBC titled THE POWER OF ART? Schama is the University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia, previously teaching at Cambridge and Harvard. In the documentary series, THE POWER OF ART tells the story of eight remarkable artists and how they transformed the world of art.

I had seen some of this on PBS last year, and decided to start at the beginning. First up is Michelangelo Merisi de Caravaggio. Schama delivers his story with an almost boyscout zeal of enthusiasm and passion, asking Caravaggio questions, which he then answers.. The documentary has three elements; Schama standing in front of a particular piece of art, Schama standing in a place that was important to Caravaggio, and last but not least, effective recreations.

The result was a fascinating story of an artist whose dramatic life was as dramatic as the paintings he painted. Even though he was considered dangerous, he never lacked commissions. He was jailed frequently, and actually killed a man in a duel and was forced to leave Rome with a price on his head. He fled to Naples, and finally to Malta, where he actually became a knight. He often tried to paint his way out of trouble, which is exactly what he was doing with the painting shown above. He painted it to give to the Pope’s counsel in payment for a pardon. Along the way back to Rome he was jailed again, left by the boat, and died of a fever.

Why is his art important? When he arrived in Rome, art consisted primarily of beautiful paintings of Christ, Mary and the apostles. Caravaggio believed Christ was human, made of flesh and blood. He proceeded to paint him that way, making people more earthy and physical, something that had never been done before. He took his models from the street, taverns and brothels. With this, he changed forever what a painting could do, bring the viewer into the painting and often making them very uncomfortable. His paintings began a shift to naturalism with an almost theatrical use of lighting. Art was no longer “safe”.

Watch the dramatic first 10 minutes here. The question Schama poses in the first 10 minutes was why would Caravaggio paint a self portrait of himself as the severed head of Goliath. I was hooked!

If there is anything you’d like me to review, please leave me a comment. I’d love some feedback on this post

MUSINGS ABOUT ART FESTIVALS – are they worth it?

Yesterday, I exhibited at the Kirkwood Festival in Atlanta. Because lately it has been raining everyday, I had an hour of down time during a steady rain. I used that time to reflect on my observations from exhibiting at festivals.

First of all, let me explain. This spring was my “dress rehearsal” into the festival business. I have been experimenting with different setups to see what works best. We all know, it isn’t always the good art that sells, it is often the art that generates a buzz and has a story. But, my dress rehearsal is coming to an end, and I am going to apply to festivals in the future that I think will attract an audience that really has an interest in the arts.
So, here are my 10 observations:
1. Where is the festival located? While the Kirkwood Festival was in a city neighborhood where young families have relocated for the past several years, I now know it is a close knit neighborhood. I estimate 90% of the festival goers walked there. People were not there to purchase art, or even look at it, they were visiting their neighbors and having a family day out.

2. How much should you expect to make? General rule of thumb is your booth fee should be 7-10% of what you make. But for me, just starting out, there are other things I want to happen. While I want make a good profit, I also want to network with other artists, learn of other opportunities, and be recognizable to festival goers. Artists at festivals have a wealth of information about what works and what doesn’t. There is an agreement from artists which neighborhoods in Atlanta are more supportive of the arts and have residents that like to purchase local art.

3. It is an art festival, or a community event? If there are alot of family activitiesl, purchases probably will be few and far between. I unwittingly did a festival that had rides, complete with a ferris wheel and pony rides. Every parent was literally being pulled to the rides by their children and very few were able to stop for very long. However, if your product is geared to children, this might be the place for you!

4. What kind of company are you in? Look at past websites and see who has been exhibiting at this particular festival. For me, being a fine artist, I want to be in a festival that has art. While crafts are good, I want art to be prevelant.

5. Do you down size in the recession? I don’t have the answer for this one. Yes, I have done smaller pieces for under $100. However, you don’t want to cheat past collectors by “cheapening” your work too much. If someone that had paid $600 for a painting walks by and see everything now is $50 – how is that person going to feel? You must tread gently here.

6. Why is continuity important? If you are embarking on a career in festivals, doing them with consistency is important. But, once you have a toe-hold, you need to pick and choose the events that are good for you. I have done 4 festivals this spring, and had someone at each festival tell me they have seen my work before and have been looking for me ever since.

7. What should an artist do when there are no patrons? It is easy to take a book and sit down and read. However, I reserve that for a storm, when no one will be coming by. As a festival goer, I never go into a booth where someone is reading. So, when I nothing to do, I straighten up, organize, clean, stay busy. I’ll talk to my neighbors and learn new opportunities, never straying far from my booth.

8. Is the festival desperate for artists? I am no longer going to submit to festivals that are “until full”, except for a couple in town that have been very profitable for me already.

9. How do you greet clients? Never say “can I help you?”, you will get the SAME answer, “No – I’m just looking” – and I feel at that point, conversation is over, until the client opens it up again. Just offer to answer questions, and if they look at something with interest, start telling the story about it.

10. How do you get someone inside your tent? When someone would stop in the opening of the booth and look around, I’d urge them in by telling them the art is more interesting up close, there was alot of detail they couldn’t see from there. I have also tried having drawing for a free print, to grow my mailing list. But, I’m open to suggestions on this too.

If you have any observations to share, please let me know. I’m learning, and I know there is not any right or wrong way.

TRANSFORMATION SHOW AT GEORGIA PERIMETER COLLEGE

WELL, the time has finally arrived for us to hang the show at Ga. Perimeter College’s Dunwoody campus. Donna and I have been working on this since April, and I think the hard work is going to pay off. I have 24 pieces that I have completed for this. This is the debut of both this work and using this space in the library for a gallery. My work consists of multi-layered mixed media, using everything in my studio from ink, pen, pencil, pastels, acrylic, to salt and coffee. I hope people will come out to see the work. Located on Womack Drive in Dunwoody (off Tilly Mill), the show will be in the library.