Interview

Miriam Schulman interviewed me. It is now posted on her blog. Here is the link:

http://schulmanart.blogspot.com/2012/05/celebrate-gifts-of-your-creativity.html

Enjoy.

If you have any thoughts or comments about the interview, please leave them on this blog or on Miriam's blog. I'd love to hear what you think. The painting in the photo is "Midday Moon." It is now compete. When I photograph it, I'll post it on the blog and also on my website where you'll be able to read its poem too. 

Positive Art That Lifts The Spirit

My painting, "Winds of Fate" is in an online exhibit entitled "Positive Art That Lifts The Spirit." The link is www.manhattanarts.com/Gallery/Healing-Power-of-ART/Winners.htm

The exhibit is available for viewing through June 30, 2012. Artists were invited to submit images of their art in all styles and media that fit the theme “Positive Art That Lifts The Spirit.” Artists from 24 countries submitted their entries.
 
The three jurors for this competition included: Renée Phillips, author, curator and director of Manhattan Arts International; Nancy Reyner, artist, author and instructor; and Edward Rubin, arts writer, curator and artist. After a comprehensive review of more than 800 images, the jurors selected 44 outstanding artists’ images in a range of styles and media.
 
About this exhibition Renée Phillips states, “We believe in the healing power of art, not only for the artists during the creative process, but also for viewers. This exhibition of positive images offers viewers the opportunity to experience a powerful transformation. As a juror, I looked for those images that impacted me viscerally in a positive manner, as well as those that showed technical prowess and originality. Winning images range from realism to abstraction, from bold geometrics and colorful humor to breathtaking vistas. The diversity of expression in the exhibition is one of its best features.”
 
Phillips adds, “We are delighted to promote these 44 exceptional artists and give them exposure to an international audience of art professionals and art enthusiasts.

Hope you enjoy the exhibit.

4 Artists - 4 Journeys

On Wednesday, July 13th, from 4-6, we had our artist reception for 4 Artists - 4 Journeys. It was a great success. I have 8 of my recent works with their poems in the exhibit. Guests responded well to both paintings and poems. We had lots of conversations. It is always rewarding when a guest really takes time to look at your work, reads the poems and tells you their responses and thoughts. It feels great to know they "got it." Since the show is right next to the mayor's office in Danbury City Hall, I met the mayor. He shook my hand and told me he loved all the paintings and wanted to buy all of them, but he didn't have any money. Oh well, that's life in the little city of Danbury. I got a chance to catch up with my artist friend, Elizabeth, which was really fun as well as my former dance classmate, Richard. I also met some new people. After the reception, I followed Elizabeth in my car to a little restaurant on Main Street so we could chat some more.  It was an enjoyable, stress-free event. Now onto the next paintings....

Many days since my last post

Well! It's not like I have nothing to say! That would be the day! I have been preparing for an upcoming exhibit at Danbury City Hall. The show runs from Juy 11 through August 4 and the artist reception is Wednesday, July 13 from 4-6pm. It is a 4-person exhibit. The show is entitled, 4 Artists - 4 Journeys. If you happen to be in Danbury, CT on July 13, please stop by and introduce yourself to me during the artist reception.

There will be a minimum of 5 of my paintings in the show. Right now I'm adding final touches to a few of these and writing the poems for the 3 that do not have any yet. The poems will be hung next to each painting as the poem tells the story of the painting. Together they are the "work of art."

After I have completed getting all the material together for the show, I will start another painting. Its canvas is waiting in the wings. Also, I will be doing a commissioned portrait of my long-time girlfriend. When it is done I will post it on my pet portrait blog: shelley-lowell.blogspot.com

Sketches for new paintings

I have completed 2 new sketches for paintings. One is a stretched vertical. The other, a stretched horizontal. My intention is to work on the vertical one first. Its theme is from one of my paintings  I created for a book. I am not sure why I am so fascinated with water but all my recent paintings have bodies of water. The vertical has a waterfall pouring in to body of water. Light and water seem to get me juiced.

Memorial Day

My long-time girlfriend, Barbara came to visit me for the 3-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. She came on Saturday and left today. We played. I didn't paint. I did write the poem for the painting I just finished, "Winds of Fate." Creativity is a journey. Every baby step taken brings the artist along on her path, even if it isn't "painting."

Barbara and I went to Litchfield, CT. We browsed and shopped in the antique and clothing stores. I found a book on van Gogh in an antique shop. I looked up "L'Allee des Alyscamps" and found a full color plate of it. The colors were off from the newspaper clipping I had. The dark blue was nearly black and the orange hues were lighter. If this was the image that my cousin sent me, I would not have been inspired. It is quite interesting how color can make or break a visceral response to art (or anything).

Complete or not complete?

I have done just about all I can do to the painting. Now it is time to study it and see if there is something that needs adjusting.

The colors in this painting were inspired by a news clipping of a painting that my cousin sent to me. He wrote across the top, "I thought this quite lovely. Thinking of you." The news clipping was from the Arab Times, dated 11/2/03. When I saw the painting, I saw it upside down. What stuck me was the colors. At that moment, I knew I had to use those colors in a painting. Even when I turned the image right side up, I didn't pay attention to what the painting was of or who the artist was. I actually liked the painting better upside down.

It wasn't until I found it in my file of papers recently that I read the blurb under the painting:
"L'Allee des Alyscamps," an 1888 oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, will be offered during Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Auction in New York on Nov 4. The painting is estimated to sell for 12-18 million. Auction powerhouses Sotheby's and Christie's are hoping a rising stock market and growing economy will bolster their balance sheets when fine art worth hundreds of millions of dollars hits the block in next week's semi-annual sales....

I certainly picked quite a painting to be inspired! But this was a reproduction on newsprint. For all I know, the paint colors are totally off from the original. I wonder where this painting is today and what it really looks like in person. It would be great to see it.