A Sculptor Named Pearl

It's one of my favorite indie movies. A Man Named Pearl.

Pearl has a passion. He sculpts bushes and is known far and wide. He tends his outdoor museum dawn to dusk.

If you're local, the Workhouse has showings of Pearl Fryar's movie Friday and Saturday evenings. Pearl will even be there with some special times on Saturday afternoon. See you there.

If you're not local, NetFlix is a great option!

Support the Arts in Virginia

The Virginia General Assembly will be voting to cut funding to the Virginia Commission for the Arts by 50% and eliminating the commission by 2011. Virginia ranks 49th among the states in funding for the arts.

Visit here for more.

Louis Escobedo and MAPAPA

At the recent MAPAPA Annual Meeting, I was able to catch a demo by plein air oil painter, Louis Escobedo. Although Louis was quite intent on painting and gave simple answers to questions from the audience, he was also charming and quite jovial. I copied a few snippets from his brief discussions.

You're never going to beat nature. [gesturing to canvas] This is my nature. Be it a photo or real life, you're not copying it.

Use a small sample touch to verify value.

How do you keep sky holes from jumping out? Don't make them too bright.

In creating soft edges, go outside the lines at the start. When it's time to make choices about it, bring in the lights and darks. Hard edges are easy. Takes time to make softer edges.

Use your brush strokes to support your composition.

Audience member: "You sure have blown away a lot of myths."
LE: "Thank you. That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me."

Escobedo emphasized the idea of choices we have while painting - choices at the start, choices put off until later, choices we are confronted with. Although I don't think he denies intuition, he is actively making decisions as he puts down paint. And to great results. It is not haphazard, although it is very loose.


First break

MAPAPA demo set up

Final painting

Wooden hooks attaching palette to easel

Thanks to MAPAPA for always putting on a good show. Too bad they couldn't change the weather at London Town, MD.

Studio Sitting

 

At the Workhouse Arts Center, after one is juried in, one can choose about having a studio. As a plein air artist, I declined, in part because the studios have a time requirement that doesn't fit my lifestyle.

That said, I get to pretend I have a studio sometimes when I babysit studios for artists if they need time away. In the past, I've also gotten a lot done in the process. There is something to be said for dedicated space. Plus, I enjoy when I can hang there, too, as it is often a large contrast in styles and I get the exposure in return for my services.

For the next few weeks, I'll be sitting for Chris Appleton, then I'll be helping out Bronia Ichel toward the end of next month.

Come by and visit.

Whimsy

 My pastel of a Jamestown house transforming into the White House was a Finalist in the current Whimsy contest of Infinity Art Gallery.

About From 20 And Odd To One, From 1619 to 2008, From Jamestown to Washington, I wrote:

The beauty of the concept of whimsy is that it has many interpretations. Consider a satirist like Jonathon Swift or Samuel Clemens, or more recently Mel Brooks or Mike Judge. Their whimsy has a meaningful undercurrent. In my soft pastel on prepared surface, whimsy is employed to distort the perspective of a Jamestown building from 400 years ago. This structure is stretched, transforming it into the White House. In effect, my piece unifies the progression of African blood in Colonial and Modern America. My undercurrent: I descent from the African pirates' booty brought to Jamestown in 1619.

My thanks to juror, Maleonn.

Lavender Love

In celebration of the day and for my Valentine...

In this mixed media piece, I used songs from an old practice book, cheesecloth, dried lavender from my garden, and gold leaf.

One song is entitled, "Lavendar." Another song about Spring has the most beautiful words:

Come with us, dear flowers, while we chant our hymns;  Let your perfume hover till the day-light dims.

Happy Valentines Day!

Lavender Love
7x10
mixed media

My Online Gallery At Infinity Art Gallery

Please visit my new online gallery at Infinity Art Gallery. This lovely page is booty from my recent win in their Winter Expo 2010. Many thanks to Infinity for including me.

For A Kiss Anytime Tickets

Kisses are are wonderful, but an invitation to a kiss is even better. Make that an open invitation to kiss and that lends itself to year 'round bliss.

Here are many invitations to kiss. Tickets for unlimited kisses are presented and framed here as fine art. Each is a collage with mixed media having ticket stamps as their beginning. Some tickets you can see, some not, but all are an invitation to a kiss, anytime.

For a Kiss Anytime, Ticket No. 1
mixed media
5x7

For a Kiss Anytime, Ticket No. 2
mixed media
4x6
SOLD

For a Kiss Anytime, Ticket No.3
mixed media
4x6

For a Kiss Anytime, Ticket No.4

mixed media

5x7

For a Kiss Anytime, Ticket No. 5
mixed media
7x11

For A Kiss Anytime, Ticket No. 6 was posted previously.

Kelly's Art & Frame

Look closely and you'll find a little, bitty groundhog in the grasses!

 This month, I have three pieces in the Landscape Show at Kelly's Art & Frame on N. Washington St. in Alexandria.

See her  preview here, which showcases a few of the 40 artists exhibiting. Her space is gorgeous and I hope to hang there in the future as well.