A Blog Post...

I miss keeping a blog. This is just an experiment. My old blogs were probably way too personal and exposed too much. OY!

Grrrr....

I'm smarting a bit over this painting critique this afternoon that didn't exactly go MY WAY. The culture/mix of personalities in this class with this new instructor is one that I'm having trouble adapting to. I'm not going to vent all over the internets about it. Anyway, here are some paintings, and a photo of me as a very young art student (taken by myself in the mirror; I've always been a navel-gazer, of course!) that was the inspiration for them.

I like them. So There! I am supposed to learn from the criticism. It's funny, because in previous classes I've been less than thrilled with some of the amateur feedback. I guess I got what I was asking for...

The painting on the left was the first try, a three session painting, and the one on the right was a quicker one done in one session. The assignment was to do a single-panel Expressionist painting, meaning a painting that evokes a strong emotion in the viewer.

To be honest, I just painted what I wanted to paint and didn't care that much if it evoked a strong emotion in anyone else or not.

Experiment

The idea was to paint an emotional reaction to this photograph/

Here are the results..........

A Clownz Painting

From the Fort Mason exhibit: this *still-life* was done last semester as I began experimenting with very loose, somewhat abstract compositions and color schemes. If I remember correctly, my instructor made one of his oft-repeated comments about space aliens perhaps having visited me in the night as he looked at it.

I guess this was a compliment???

Emerging out of Frying Bacon Smell

My first Group "Exhibit!" My painting class just finished up its two-week show at Fort Mason Art Campus, in the First Floor cafe area. The accompanying photo, which my blog fans can click on to enlarge, shows six of my recent paintings hanging in my very own display case and being willfully ignored by a cafe patron who reminded me of a Duane Hanson sculpture.

I actually received an *inquiry* about the possibility of selling one of the paintings on display, titled "Escape From Queens." (middle lower painting) The gentleman who wrote the note said, "I escaped from Queens myself and this painting really touched me by connecting a visual to my experience." Needless to say, I am now doing a whole "Escape From Queens" series.

A special shout-out to fellow painter Bob B. :-)

NYC/ Queens/ L.I. Tour #5- Scribbling Can Be Art!

On my first day in the Big Apple I hit both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA. I didn't take any photos at the Met, although I did see a killer show of Rembrandt works and other Dutch Masters from the museum's permanent collection, including some very famous Vermeers that were awesome to gaze upon. (Remind me to do an entry on this genre painting in the exhibit by an artist named Jan Steen: "The Dissolute Household"-- it was a hoot.)

I also saw some hot Greek and Roman statues. They've completely expanded that section since my last visit.

However, it was at the new MoMA that my breath was taken away by the beauty of the art and the new exhibition spaces. I wish this museum were in San Francisco. Cezannes and Picassos and Matisses--famous ones! I wanted to stay all day and soak them in.

My camera is new and I forgot how to turn off the flash, or else I would have taken photos inside. I wanted to take one of this famous Pollack drip painting, with hordes of people milling in front of it, but the guards were admonishing others for taking flash pictures.... I stumbled on this other painting by Cy Twombly-- I'm not really familiar with his work. This one is called "Leda and the Swan;" it's huge, and it restores my faith in the concept of SCRIBBLING AS ART. My photo came out sucky-- this image is off the museum's website.

Painting: Cy Twombly. (American, born 1928). Leda and the Swan. Rome 1962. Oil, pencil, and crayon on canvas, 6' 3" x 6' 6 3/4" (190.5 x 200 cm). Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest and The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection (both by exchange). © 2007 Cy Twombly

Sad Abstract Expressionist Clown: Revisited

A detail of the painting, using my new Canon PowerShot SD1000... (too bad I'm not being paid for product placement!) I can finally show my brushstrokes and gradations of color as they're meant to be seen.

Our painting class is going to have a group show in the cafe/exhibit area down at Fort Mason, Building B. My instructor told me this morning that he will give me an entire case to myself to display several paintings! I am really excited. This glamorous exhibit space is further enhanced by the morning smell of frying bacon from the nearby takeout concessions area. It's the hip and happening place to spot *Emerging Artists* -- that is, artists emerging out of a vaporous cloud of overcooked bacon...