Comraderie, art and a chosen path

Chatsworth, 20"x16", oil on panel.  Part of 'Wanderess' show.

In my travels i've met many great people and had great experiences.  To me my day to day seems the same, but in reality it isn't.  I grow more disciplined, more content and more confident.  Also you can't help but grow a little because something is learned or accomplished.  Either way everyday offers the opportunity for improvement which is why we are no longer apes. That's gotta be a good sign.  The fact that we're killing them off probably isn't though.

Anyhow,

I wanted to bring attention to the matter of camaraderie.  I have not attended a formal fine art school so i have not been naturally thrown into a social dynamic.  My artistic friends are slim which is a shame because we benefit a great deal from interacting with others, particularly those who work in our field.  They can give us feedback, be an inspiration and who wouldn't benefit from exchanging survival techniques?  We learn from each other and it's fun sharing creations and creating together.  This sort of social integration seems to differ from place to place;  L.A. is the least welcoming of artistic communities, the northern regions seem more open and welcoming which is something i've been looking for.  We'll see what happens. I actually want to go to Russia to study... now that i'm finishing my baby steps of becoming a professional artist.  ::rolls eyes::  Yea... go back to school.  Hummmm.   I'm not gonna lie it sounds awesome.

The more i create the more i learn, yes, but i still feel that black hole of formal education missing.  I feel that i could push myself to accomplish so much more had i just the understanding and some basic training provided at an academy.  And a Russian one at that.  So this year i intend on applying.   How am i gonna finance it if i get in?  I'm going to seek funding.  Yea... and i'm still going to be a working fine artist and working with galleries in the U.S.

Anyhow, i gotta finish these large pieces before my show. So... logging off!

до свидания.

:)

 miniature; Tuscany

 miniature; Malibu

 Colorado, 20"x16", oil on panel.

 miniature; Colorado.

crunch time. in every way.

It's crunch time ladies and gents.

I have 10 days till the show and have to finish all my pieces and keep on the up and up with business as well.  Not to mention i'm a fit junkie so i'm still running and doing my thing everyday.

Blog will be short.

Here you have it. Merry Christmas.  Behind me stands 'Tuscany' on it's first color layer.

Snow day

Holy Cow.

I'm late on this thing again.  I had to run around alot yesterday to get my promotional cards and business cards reprinted and after some errand running painted en 'plein air' to try to figure out some of the problems i'm hitting with my paintings.  It helped alot, as it always does, and nothing gives me as much pleasure.

The current state of affairs;
I have about 9 pieces to finish, 2 very large ones i'm done stretching and am going to put the drawing down on today and tomorrow and 7 smaller ones i'm trying to put the final touches on.
The layers are as follows, wash, drawing(wash), first color layer (thin), texture layer 1, texture layer two, then reeling it all in and detailing/finessing is the last one.

I've been looking for jobs once i get back in L.A.  Mostly modeling for now which has been unpromising.  I'm not the best model, but you know, i work hard, the problem is i'm not conscientious of my body so not all my poses are great.  I believe the solution to this is traveling around with a full length mirror and constantly looking at myself. That just might take too much effort away from making art though.  I'll reconsider.  Perhaps experience will kick in once in awhile.  I'll be seeking illustration and teaching jobs as well, but that's on the books for next week. 

Here's some food for the eyeballs and meanwhile, it's back to work for me.  It's crunch time.

 Plein air study in upstate NY.  5"x3"

 Plein air study in upstate NY. 5"x3"

 Drawing in sketchbook from open studio at Steve Carpenter Studio.

This last photo is of a home made 'Pastel', it's a Brazillian snack which is absolutely delicious.

I'll let you in on a little personal detail as well, my aunt is visiting from Brazil, but I turn down plans so often (they go shopping; not my favorite activity) that I now am no longer invited.  I'd simply rather work.  I do spend some time with them, but it's difficult to distinguish where a reasonable line can be drawn between work and other aspects of life.  My waking hours differ a great deal from others around me, i wake at 5, eat, am running by 7/7:30 and am working in the studio by 9/9:30. Lunch is my main meal of the day and ideally go to sleep by 22:00, if i sleep at 21:30 i wake at 4:30, if i go to sleep at 23:00 i wake at 6 (i figure if you're a stalker you already know this, it's not hard to figure out).  My mother and aunt are night people.  Also when you love you're job you don't exactly look forward to taking time off.  To feel guilty or not to feel guilty i can't decide.  I do feel as though i make the most of the time i do spend with my family and i'm quite content personally, but i wonder if it's selfish.  This pattern actually happens in my social life overall, which i've been making more of an effort to change considering how lonely the world can get when your life becomes your work.  I don't know how others do it, the whole balance thing. I keep walking off the damn scale so often i don't even know where it is anymore.
  Anyhow,  the great thing about my family is that we're all like this, and they seem to understand and don't make me feel bad about being dedicated. What we share when we're together is great, loving and welcoming, as rare as those times may be, i know now i'll always have them there.  But the consequences of not spending quality time with the ones you love will speak louder when those shared moments grow so rare you find yourself being a stranger in a strange land.  I've been there before and have been trying to rectify it with limited success.  In the end, i want to accumulate many happy memories shared amongst those i care about.  Consider it a resolution of sorts.

cool breeze.

Yup, todays blogpost has been delayed by a day.  Yesterday there was some snow storm leftovers so i didn't get to mingle with my computer much,  i had a family doctor thing, and shoveling snow for hours kinda took up the whole day.

Yesterday started with me shoveling my car out of a snow trench, which was fine.  I've mentioned before i don't mind and actually enjoy shoveling snow but it's a whole other issue when it starts to eat up the entire day.  The clearing of the streets isn't the best and my car actaully got stuck in snow banks four times within a 1/2 mile diameter, there was a gentleman walking his dog around the  neighborhood who kept continuestly pushing my car out of these checks so i could move another couple feet only to be rescued by 'Marc' again.  He had an awesome dog too.  Anyhow, that guy was a huge help.  It was kinda funny how everytime i got out of his eyesight I only got stuck again.  I swear i wasn't doing anything dumb like running into the biggest pile of snow i could find thinking it would be a fun way to make friends.  I used moms car to get to and fro the hospital which is a slightly more snow friendly car but which i still required shoveling to get parked. I also had to reshovel my car out of it's parking spot and shovel a new parking spot (you have to change the side of the street you park on everyday, lest you have the financial deathwish of a parking ticket).

That aside i'm still not super keen on currently displaying all my work in progress.  I can say i'm still struggling through building the canvas for my larger pieces... You know, i got a staple gun and the requested staples, and now the staples won't go in the staple gun.  WTF? So far though, i've had some help in figuring the building of the frames by a local construction worker/handyman.  He's teaching me alot of pretty cool stuff, I'm really enjoying the more carpentry side of this business. Maybe i'll be able to build some of my own easels too (seeing as though i now officially only have my tiny portable one that will come in handy).  Thus far what i've used is pine wood, wood glue, nails, hammer, hammer thing which you use to push nails further into the wood (looks like a pick), measuring tape, wood putty, sand paper and some other thing i don't know of which makes the edges square, a brush like device to spread the glue and a drill.

This week I've had the priviledge of meeting up with a great local artist, Rick Harrington, and the lunch just lasted hours on end.  It was great chatting with someone who is so candid and friendly who answered some of my questions regarding the business and life. Check out his work, buy some art. :)
http://www.rcharrington.com/


So, back to work i go.  It's going to be a busy week.  Let's get some deadlines checked off.

For the sake of posting something; here's a little gouache study; my snow boots.

It's abit of stretch

Coming along painting the canvases and learning how to stretch them as well.  Not prepared to show any of the products yet.  But, here are a couple photos.

My aunt has come visit from Brazil, she arrived today. Pretty excited :)  It's been a couple years since i've seen her last.

a reason for being

I'm going lay off the rambling this time around and let the world watch itself turn.

 I'm also currently working on my portfolio so i'm going to go ahead and work on it.

shades of white

 This week has been a tough week.  For individuals, for many, for a purpose.

 I cannot appropriately reflect upon the events which have been taken to the public arena this week.  

 It's easy when we are young to get carried away with ideas we are fed, we are molded easily and  provided the appropriate environment and precedence dangerous ideals can blossom and lead to extremest activity.  Get out of your box, explore and get to know other methodologies and study what you dislike, you might find surprising common ground. A more efficient means of communicating and solving a problem may then take the front seat providing a more appropriate platform for permanent change.

This sort of stuff happens everyday, but this time it happened in Paris and caught headline attention.
If you care to look this stuff up, here's a start;
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30708237

People know what they are fighting for and why, but limited experience/knowledge and rhetoric drives them to ill conclusions.  The line is drawn when your beliefs hurt others.  I'm still a baby when developing my thoughts so excuse me if this sounds obvious. Lack of discussion about such issues in my life has made me not push my own thought process to the next level.  (hole in the education system and life)  I also don't feel as though i'm qualified to speak on such issues, my knowledge being also limited and i mean, i live in the U.S.. What we are exposed to here and our quality of life/experiences are very different from those in other countries.  We are also fed lies here.  Larger principles are important to consider, and it is sad, in any situation, when individuals are hurt or killed in order to make a statement.  This goes beyond the Cinnamon Challenge.

I'm going to go ahead and draw a parallel to a simple unimportant fact in my life.  I've been picky, and single for a very very long time. This produces loneliness and longing. I do not know how i feel about children, marriage, and even love has left its different definitions in the gray.

However,  i, as many others, long for someone to communicate and share my life with in a manner which is goes beyond a friendship, someone who can see eye to eye and is honest.  This ideal is fed to us a good deal by American media and i believe is also dangerous.  The idea of a soul mate, falling in love (particularly at first sight/week) and believing eyes closed that your mate for life has been revealed and off you go to get 'married'.  Truth be told that once that initial spark has died off you'll end in a divorce court, particularly in this day an age for reasons i will not go into because it goes off topic.  Life, growth and evolution  and love are much more complex then that.   The paragraph being an example of what is 'blind faith' and unrealistic expectations (go on and expand this to patriotism, self sacrifice, etc). 

I've watched movies (crazy huh).  In fact i've partially learned to speak English through Disney Animated films.  So recently, to decompress and push lifes stresses aside i've plugged in some entertainment while eating dinner.  This year i've watched 'Frida' (fantastic), 'Begin Again', and '27 dresses'.   Imbedded in these movies are women- relateable, in the face of a conflict-also relatable- a romantic conflict- my god these guys are psychic- and they end, somewhat on an optimistic note.
 I like relating to the characters and seeing how their story relate to mine and take their solutions into consideration.  As the audience we live precariously through our chosen characters, seeking to answer our owns lives questions with their solutions.
Entertainment media, because of their prominence and relevance in our technologically driven lives have become teachers. 

The difference in (some) entertainment media and fine art is that it requires no thinking or assessing in your part.  You become catatonic in a way and addicted to being told stories and living through a fictitious reality leaving your actual life to the birds.  It's made to be sold, with hooks and everything.

 In fine art, you sit in front of a still image and relate to it.  Silence and time become key ingredients. The more you discover (a great) work of art, the more it forces you to look into yourself encouraging your own discoveries.  You connect and you communicate.  It's a thought process not giving you answers but asking you questions which in turn requires personal accountability and reflection.  It can be very personal.   A great work of art can also break through various levels of realization, speaking many languages simultaneously, exposing many different truths (and sometimes lies).  The more you sit and explore, the more exciting it becomes.

Great art will poke at what makes people tick.

Being an artist or an admirer of fine art teaches you patience, for one who is always rushing will not be inclined to see the message.  



Here are some photos of the new temp studio. It's pretty nice. I'm gonna go ahead and logout now though, there is some serious snow waiting to be painted.   I've spent too long typing today, so excuse if it's not perfect, It's like a rough, and the snow gets me so giddy even if my car does hate driving in it.

Front of shop where i have a studio in the back. I get in early, and shovel the snow.  I actually don't mind it and look how pretty it looks. 

 The studio, shot 1.

 The frame shop loaned me an easel. They were very sweet.  Some paintings in the works.  I getting up to the first color layer done on all, then i will start working on the smarter texturing when i get all paintings grounded so i can make sure they're consistent.  There is no time to noodle.

 Love my palette.

My list of things to do.

PS: great encouraging link by the great artist Julio Reyes;
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIWawuJe72c


his website;
http://www.julioreyes.com/

and his wife, also a great artist;
http://www.candicebohannon.com/