the mess continued

The second and third stage of the Mineral Point painting are here. Since I am quite a bit further on with the painting than these images, I actually feel quite good about it. Mr. Hall, responding to a student's question about their feelings about their own work, said "You'll always feel about your art just the way you feel right now." And he was correct. No matter how accomplished you become, you still see flaws or have trouble painting certain things. Don't get all emotionally bent out of shape about it. So about this painting.... some days I like it and some days I don't, but when you are dedicated to painting you just step up to it with your brush in hand and carry on and you will soon forget that you didn't feel like painting or had any problem with it. Walk away for a while, even several days if you have to. I had started working the sky and then what's in front of it -- working from the back to the front. It's hard to get the type of edges in a tree unless the sky behind it is still wet. I've had to repaint the sky on some of my paintings just because that. I had been called away from my painting to do something else and by the time I returned to it the paint had dried. Just paint over it and carry on. This is what is so great about oil (and not great about acrylics) -- it stays wet for several days and you can work into it like it's still fresh on the first day. As I said, I'm quite a bit further on, but as I work on the background I am constantly working a wash or a few strokes into what I am going to paint next -- the foreground.

"Start with a mess..."

When I was an art student in the oil painting class, my instructor, Eugene Hall came up with a number of really good and/or oddball quotes. One of them was: "Start with a mess, it can only get better". I was traveling in southwestern Wisconsin to the town of Mineral Point, a town that has a good number of artisans -- artists, woodworkers and potters. The small photo you see clipped to the right side of the canvas was taken in the morning one day. Most of the days I was there were cold and dark, but this was a sunny morning. Since I had stretched two 36" X 48" canvases at the same time and finished painting one of them, I have been waiting for a subject to carry on with the next canvas.

I like to get information onto the canvas quickly and so wielding a large brush I began to block in areas of darks and some shapes to help locate things. So you see the result of starting with a mess. I even begin paintings that become quite accurately drawn later this way. I just don't like forcing myself into a "paint by number" scenario where you feel compelled to color in your drawing --- that's not painting. In case you find yourself lost here, the foreground is snow and grassy plants making their way uphill with a high hill on the left and a far away backgound to the center right. I've never followed a painting from start to finish taking pictures along the way, but I am going to try. I am going to try my best to do the kind of job I want on this painting or else this will get painted over, or possibly destroyed if I don't like it when it's finished. Talk about pressure.... Anyhow, starting with a mess allows you to come about the painting slowly and find new things. Today I found a circular path of darks which I intend to use as a compositional device. If I thought I had an audience, I would write Eugene Hall's biography. He was an outstanding teacher and an even better person.

The art world and the rest of the world.

I'm not such a pompous self-important ass to think that artists are somehow more important than anyone else. Artists have to learn that what they do other people either appreciate, don't appreciate, don't understand, haven't been educated to understand or just don't care. I've posted five of the demonstration paintings that I do for a store (not going to tell which one) -- they are hanging (or shall I say screwed to the wall?) in the classroom. I will admit that it does bother me a bit that the manager who put them one the wall, sees it as just a marketing tool -- kind of like a poster, I guess -- to just hang up on the wall. If you look closely you will see the screws right through the paintings. There lies the difference -- artists just don't do things like that --- although sometimes they tear apart an unsuccessful painting -- but that's their decision. There you go -- the difference in understanding art between those who make it and those who can't really appreciate what's going into making it. So ----- five paintings I did in acrylic, all 9 X 12 inches. The one on the lower right is the only one that came from the curriculum book I was given. The rest are my own. Not the greatest work I've done, but I only give them about an hour and a half and then I'm done.

Secret Life of the Artist Chapter 6

Forty years ago I started art school (yes, forty -- freaks me out too!!) I had already been to college and had a BA degree in Linguistics and thought I would be the old guy among a bunch of 18 year olds, but that was not the case. There were quite a few people in their 40s to 60s in the classes. Pictured here is a shot in the oil painting class with me on the right in my old denim shirt form the Navy; my buddy Dan is on the immediate left; next to Dan is a woman -- not sure who that is, and then Bob Clark. I once did a portrait of Bob and gave it to him. I did quite a few portraits that I gave away, even to some of the models. Since I was a bit older, I was going to honest enough with myself that if I didn't think I was good enough to continue semester to semester I would quit art school and just work at the job I had at that time -- doing animation. I was fortunate to find myself improving and doing good work and exceeding any expectations that I had. I went there to be a portrait painter and did very well. One of the few students to take oil painting in both the morning and afternoon sessions, I worked hard and also painted at home after school if I wasn't working. At home is where I did all the copying of the old masters. I had enough credits to graduate after 3 years, but I stayed another half year just because I loved painting there so much. Some years later I looked at the information brochure for the school and was blown away by how much the cost of the tuition had gone up. Considering that, I could never have afforded to go there in the present time and never had the experience.

Portrait demo

This is an 11" X 14" portrait I did as a demonstration. I just used a picture from a magazine -- it wasn't from life. I did this in about an hour and fifteen minutes and I must say that doing these demos has helped me increase my ability to paint faster. If I was to do this as a commission I would take more time, yet what it has to say as a painting is just enough: not too much noodling around and I pushed the color a bit to make this my own. I've been doing these to build an art class, but the people just don't know what they are missing. So -- I do them for myself. This was done in acrylics -- which, frankly, I hate. But I figure, if you can do this in a medium you don't like it just shows that you can do the job. I've never wanted to be more than a portrait and landscape painter (in oils) so I was happy with the result. I had about a dozen people come up to me while I was doing this and tell me how much they liked it -- one even offered to buy it (I'm not sure how serious that was, but his price wasn't right). Happy New Year, you all!!!

Worst educational degrees......

Discouraging news, .......although most artists have known this for years. I saw among the "news stories" on the computer the "10 worst educational degrees". Of course "worst" always means worst paying -- money always being the deciding factor as to whether your life amounts to anything or not. So naturally it is up to you to form a philosophy of life. Consult your Bible, Deepak Chopra or the Dalai Lama for a way to look at life (just don't ask me!!!). But don't listen to the list makers who only consult the "bottom line". Sure, very few artists are able to "make a living" from their art, but those who enjoy what art gives them aren't turning in their degree as a lost cause. Art has opened my first job, teaching, giving demonstrations, gallery representation, the respect of some people. It's how I met my wife. No, I wouldn't stand out there and tell other people to go into art, they have to make that step. I'm still disappointed when paintings don't sell or people use me to get what they want (free paintings for their cause). However, without consideration of one's bank account, art is a way of satisfying the work of the hands, the mind and the soul of the human: the skill to produce a work of art, the thought process involved and the satisfaction gained. That might not add up to much in the bank, but it leaves most artists to a life's work among things they enjoy doing and people who respect and value them as people. That said, the little painting I have at the top of the page is a 6" X 6" oil of a winter scene -- totally from my head. I usually have my references to bounce things off of, so this is a little departure. The painting is one of two that I did for The Next Picture Show Gallery

Shows and more shows

This is not the Secret life of the Artist, this is the public life of the artist. The top picture is me at the "Architecture and More" show at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon, Illinois. My friend Linda Loew had three of her photos in this show as well. If you look closely you will see a red dot on the the paper label of the bottom painting -- it sold!!! I did not get a ribbon this time, but to me a sale is as good or better. The painting that sold is an oil and the one above is a pastel (which garnered a nice compliment from one of the other artists.)

The other picture is from the show I had in the Fine Arts building, downtown Chicago. My paintings art, from the left, the first, third and sixth. There were four painters in the group show. Nothing at this show sold, but the compliments were nice. Now, I don't have a show lined up for the next month, but I'm waiting on hearing on a show that I am trying to have in a nearby art center.