Where the heck have you been? Part Duh!

Other than ranting and raving about the business of art, I have been working on three projects that required me to work with my niece, cameras and other items to get some background reference photos.

There are two shows at "The Shoe Factory Art Co-op" that I'm working on that required some background work. The first is the June Art Exhibit; "Earthly Delights: The Art of the Garden". Got some photos that I have now that I need to use to create my compositions.

Second show is in August where the subject is "6 x 6 FEET: Extra Large Art". Go big or go home! So I have enlisted my niece Caitlin to help out with what I want to do. This took about 4 days to pull together and get some good photos. Had to resort to begging for some one with a really good camera to come and help. Thanks to Ben Ferro for the nice fast Cannon camera. (Got to get me one of those ASAP). BTW I love to use Photoshop, makes doing comps and color ideas real quick and easy.

Third project I have been thinking of doing is the "Three Graces" but doing the opposite. So the three Graces are to represent Joy, Charm and Beauty. Some say that they should be Creativity, Splendor and Mirth, but I digress.

So instead of Joy, I will try and get Sadness, sorrow, unhappiness etc. Once again my niece "rubber face" Caitlin came to the rescue.

Here are some of the ideas for the 6 x 6 FEET show: (More to come later)

New York Times Art Critic

OK, so why did I want to become and artist and have to deal with the strange industry that seems to have grown up around the act of creating stuff?


I like to create/make/fix/show how I feel/pass on something with out talking etc. is the best that I can give you right now. I also like the praise that comes with doing something that makes people resonate with me. Put that down as job satisfaction. I really like the idea of working with myself to do all the steps it takes to create a product for sale. (Yes its a product, we all have to eat you know it and you can't argue with that unless you are independently wealthy.)


So when I read a blog post from the New York Academy Of Art about a a Career Development Workshop and critique given by a New York Times Art Critic I was rather floored. The words from the NYT Citic sounded like total gobbledygook and made the act of creating Art more like getting a PhD in a romance language.


I then searched for current "Famous" (read rich) artists and I saw a few videos of Jeff Koons talking about his art. Once again I did not understand the comments from an artist point of view. With all my years in the business/marketing/sales world I did get Jeff's sales/marketing pitch quite well. He was selling the mystique of his fame as a "Famous" artist to keep the money machine moving forward. After all he has all those people working for him that rely on the money that he brings in. 


Being an artist from my point of view is being able to have a conversation with someone with my work without me being anywhere near. I can feel and see what Rembrandt, DaVinci, Michelangelo and Picasso were trying to communicate with me with out the marketing or a critic whispering in my ear. Some times the emotional power of a piece is over whelming to me to point where I have a physical reaction.


Francisco Goya always gets a reaction from me. His etchings and paintings strike me right to the heart. 


This is what I'm looking for when I create my art. I rarely get there and sometimes I see a glimmer in those that see my work. So I know that I have to work harder and do more before I can strike to the heart of the matter. The goal of being able to sell some of my work to fund the next one is really the goal for any artist and any of the current "Famous" (read rich) artists are just pushing the goal of a personal corporation. 


Thomas Kinkade is one such artist that has created a personal corporation and has surrounded himself with self serving folks that tell him how great he is. Why didn't he become a political fellow or a pop star? Guess that he could not sing and others might have found him rather prickly and would not vote for him. So he took his skill as an artist and created rather mediocre stuff for mass distribution for the money and then he let his ego take over instead of his artistic skills. 


My only critics are those that buy or not buy my work. If they don't purchase then I did not strike them to the heart enough for them to put money on the barrel.This means that I have to try harder with the next piece. 


If they do buy then I had a conversation with them while I was not there. My goal is to then ask them why they purchased the piece to find out if we had the same conversation. If not then I will have to try harder with the next piece. 


Or I could just paint flowers all day, make money and all those interior decorators happy. Na! That would be too easy.


Blog article from New York Academy of Art below

http://newyorkacademyofart.blogspot.com/


He spoke of the complete intersection of art and money that throttles the New York City art scene. This led him, a former Jungian Marxist, to turn inwardly and ask questions regarding the nature of his role as a critic. But with an MFA from SUNY Albany and a BA from Brown, Johnson knew the need for a voice from the perspective of a trained artist amidst the advent of theorists that had cropped up in the 80’s. He articulated with candor on the tug-o-war of desire to stand strong as an independent and for recognition as a competitive player among the biggest voices.

When reflecting on art that moved him, he perhaps tugged most at the hearts of the Academy audience. Johnson spoke of authenticity and wanting to see the self-discovery of the artist and the tangible qualities of the hand made. As a reviewer, he said  he believed in a complete act of art criticism that addressed history, sensory qualities and the concept behind the piece. Speaking like an artist on creating, Johnson said that when he’s writing he “loves that thing that happens when feelings turns into words, true to how I actually experienced something.”

Fleshing out ideas on concept, he brought up the dialectal nature between the metaphoric and the metonymic in art. In their extremes, they are irrelevant with the metaphoric losing touch with reality and the metonymic becoming didactic and obvious. Both still need each other to exist, though. His artistic preferences leaned toward the metaphoric. This may be the subject of his next book, "Ground Control to Major Tom".

Professionally, he offered this: do NOT cold call critics, for better or for worse the “consensual reality” between the galleries/museums and critics still holds true and is the established venue for picking artists to review. He pointed out that because studio visits and the selecting artists to show are the job of the gallerist, reviews tend to be directed not only at the artist but also to the institution who selected them.

From his critique of my work in my studio, I was inspired by our conversation on archetypes, symbology and the uncanny. He insightfully suggested pushing aspects of the subject matter in my linocuts.

Chef John Done!

Chef John 47 x 53 inches

Worked late last night and also some this morning. Time to stop or I will over work it. Painted the 2" edge of the canvas black and time to wire it up. John loves it and will be hanging it in his room today! Yea!

Chef John Stage 4 & 5

Been back at painting today. Lots of activity over the weekend and week so far. Glad to be back to the real stressful stuff of showing what I do all day when I work on paintings.

Chef John 47 x 53 inches Stage four

More work. Must say that I like to use the iTunes Genius Mixes. "Classic Soul Mix" is the way to go!!! Sure makes the painting go fast!

Chef John 47 x 53 inches Stage five

Chef John Stage 3

Well got to work a little on my painting of John today. Rest of day disappeared with family errands etc.

Chef John 47 x 53 inches Stage three

Chef John

Started a new painting yesterday. Its for my son John. Chef John 47 x 53 inches. BIG!

Chef John 47 x 53 inches Stage one

More pics as I move forward.

Chef John 47 x 53 inches Stage two

Done - Tom's F1

OK! Its done. Looked at in real light this morning and even hung it over the fireplace in the living room. Now I don't want to give it up. :-) Time to sign it and pack it up for its trip to the UK.

Tom's F1 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Part IV on Tom's F1 - Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010

Spent the weekend helping out my good friends at their fathers cottage doing major repair work. Feel like a real boy scout with all those new carpentry badges! 

OK! I think that I'm done with all the detail work on this painting. Really need to give a feeling of speed, so its time to add the water spraying off the wheels to show speed.

I will mask off the wheels and other sections of the car and then brush splatter the rain on the canvas. Should do the trick I think!

Tom's F1 Stage 7 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

More pics later.

Think I'm done. Added the water sprays from the wheels and now I let it sit to see if its ready to ship.

Tom's F1 Done - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Part III on Tom's F1 - Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010

Did a lot of house hold chores today before I could start to paint. Time to vacuum and mop the house, finish the dark load of laundry, go food shopping, get my son's phone fixed at Verizon and then get back to painting before I get interrupted again. :P


Ok so before and after dinner I got this far. More detail work and pushing and pulling.

Tom's F1 Stage 6 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

More on Tom's F1 - Lewis Hamilton - Vodafone McLaren Mercedes - 2010

Here is where we are this morning. A whole day of painting ahead. :)

I will add more photos to this post to show how far I've gotten today.

Tom's F1 Stage 2 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Here is where we are after lunch. Back to painting!

Tom's F1 Stage 3 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Dinner done, Son delivered to School and here here is where we are before I work until lights out.

Tom's F1 Stage 4 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Last update for today. Painted from after dinner till 10:15. Here is where we are right now.

Tom's F1 Stage 5 - 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

Tom's F1

Art work all squared up and looking nice. Now for some colour. More to come later.

Got some colour blocked in. This should be nice when its done.. More to come later.

Tom's F1- 30 x 48 inches - Acrylic on linen  

My first commissioned painting since starting up Doug Steward Fine Arts!!!

Starting a new commissioned painting for a friend in the UK today. Found some real nice cotton muslin linen weave in the supply closet and this should do nicely. I have to ship it to the UK rolled and unstretched so this should be the best fabric to use for strength and weight when rolled.

I had to stretch it so that I can gesso it and then work on it. More as I move forward.

Ready to start the Gessoing!

 

Resurrection one slice at a time.

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/04/project-12-31/?pid=3307&viewall=true

OK this one is just a little strange but the images are real striking. Use the link above for more images and the full story on how to live again one slice at a time.

Sexy Wall Jewery for Google search test

Here is a test of how all this stuff works. I have noticed in my blog stats that the post "Sexy Boo Painting" has most of the hits and views.

So lets see what this blog post title does!!

BTW here is a painting of my three paintings that got into the show this week. Thanks for looking!

Painting for Ann - NYC for Ann - 30 x 40 inches

Working on "City" for Ann. Starting to get the feel for how it should look.

NYC for Ann - Stage 2 - 30 x 40 inches

OK worked on this one this evening while the rest of you slugs were on the chesterfield watching the Boob tube. :P

NYC for Ann - Stage 3 - 30 x 40 inches

Time to let it age till the morning.Then look at in the sun light to see if it needs some tweaks.

BTW all those windows were a pain to paint. :)

Small moose head.

I've always wanted a stuffed moose head for my wall. Really want one for the cabin up north. Found out that they are REEEEAAALLLY expensive. So I did a test to make my own. Made armature from copper wire left over from various projects. Soldered them together and then covered with tissue paper and polycrylic. Now I know that I can do this..... I will make a full sized one at the cabin and cover it in birch bark this summer. Should be fun!

BTW its only 6 X 4 inches

Quick landscape #2

OK I finished this one up. Total of about 4.5 hours.

Here it is in detail and also hanging from the loft half wall over the living room.

Birches #2 - 3x4 feet - Acrylic on paper

Here it is hanging on the loft 1/2 wall. Looking nice from my point of view

Quick landscape

I have a large space on the loft wall and since I moved the piece that was there to the display space down stairs it was time to do a new one.

Needed to loosen up also so ....  I started this one this morning.

Birches #2 - 3 x 6 feet - Acrylic on paper

Birches #2 - Stage 2 after 4 hours

Doing much better - Sinus issue is almost resolved

Sorry for all the down time but ..... I did not know how sick I really was. My wife thought that I had pneumonia and I just could not move from the bed/couch/bed routine.

So thanks to the modern medical science of molds, thank you Mr. Fleming, I'm getting the old energy back.

Here is the start of a painting of NYC for my daughter Ann who requested this for her blank wall. Its rather large so I will be doing it with acrylics since I really don't have time to mess with the drying time of oil on this one. Its 30 x 40 inches and I want to get this one done before Wed of next week since I have a lot of new projects in my head from lying around for two weeks with my idea book and the internet.

Here we go!

NYC for Ann - 30 x 40 inches

Feeling better, soon I will get back to work.

OK! It was not a roaring head cold. I had the worst infected case of sinuses EVER! Now taking horse pills full of Amoxicillin. If I keep getting better then I will be able to move out of the guest bedroom where not even Boo will sleep at night due to all the coughing and hacking that I do all night.

Roaring Head Cold

OK its official. I have a roaring head cold. I'm talking like Barry White and hurting all over. Its going to be a day of bed rest and reading my Kindle. See ya all later.

I have a cold and will be spending a few days mending. I'm a guy so I can be a wus on this.

Made my Hot Toddy and now to bed and my book. BTW you can use Lime juice or OJ instead of lemon. I like Lime juice. :-)

1 1/2 oz bourbon whiskey
1/4 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz sugar syrup
...1 slice lemon
1 clove
...4 ozhot water

Heat in a heat-resistant glass, and fill with hot water. Add a lemon slice speared with a clove, and serve.See More

Whiskey Hot Toddy recipe

www.drinksmixer.com

A delicious recipe for Whiskey Hot Toddy, with bourbon whiskey, lemon juice, sugar syrup, lemon, clove and water. Also lists similar drink recipes.

Painting for Annie!

My Daughter has a large bare wall in her apt. So she asked me to do a painting of NYC for her.

Great! Love NYC since we lived down there for so long. So I have a number of ideas and since I need a canvas to use and create the composition on I went into the closet and grabbed a failed painting.

Got the sander out and gave it a good sand and now am putting down the first coat of gesso over the yeck image that was there. 4 more coats to go and then off to the races. Lets see if my fire breathing fists of bushes will save me again! 

I sent a goal to have this one done by Thursday. Going to be very fast and rough.

Ann's NYC - 30 x 40 inches

Hawks and Doves "OOPPS!" Done

Really productive morning, worked some more on "OOPPS!" this morning and I'm done.

Comments as always are welcome.


About this painting from previous post: Ok #2 for the Hawks and Doves show. This one is of my Brother John and his job while he was in the US Army. He had to shuttle the A bombs around everyday to hide them in different bunkers. what no one knew was that he was still a Canadian citizen at the time. This went on for 6 months till he told someone. :-) Boy did he get a change of duty quick!!!

OOPPS! - 18 x 24 inches

Hawks and Doves "Keep your H-Bomb clean" Stage 3 Done?

OK the house has been vacuumed and Boo walked and I think that this painting is done.

Comments are welcome.

Keep your H-Bomb Clean -  Stage 3 - 18 x 24 inches

Hawks and Doves "Keep your H-Bomb clean" Stage 2

Well Boo has his staples out of his belly and is running around like nothing has happened. Unreal.

In the meantime I have been working on this painting in between the household chores. (Laundry, shopping etc.)

Keep your H-Bomb Clean -  Stage 2 - 18 x 24 inches

Hawks and Doves "Keep your H-Bomb clean" Stage 1

Starting on the third painting for the Hawks and Doves show. I needed a break from being serious so I started this one as a lark.

Keep your H-Bomb Clean -  Stage 1 - 18 x 24 inches

"Hawk and Dove" Finished

Took some time off yesterday to get some chores done and get out to see people. Being in the studio for 5 days can get a little confining. So late yesterday I finished "Hawk and Dove". Just need to varnish it and then put on my backing boards and all done.

"Hawk and Dove" Stage 5- 18 x 24 inches

Hawks and Doves "OOPPS!" Stage 4

Worked some more this morning and I think that I'm getting close to the finish line. Still having fun doing this one.

Its a good thing that my family knows that I'm nuts or else they would start to question my sanity. AGAIN!

OOPPS! - 24 x 18

Hawks and Doves "OOPPS!" Stage 2 & 3

Worked some more this afternoon and making good head way. Starting to have fun doing this one.

OOPPS! Stage 3 - 18 x 24 inches

Working on this one all morning. Mostly on the A-bomb explosion image. (This text is sure to get Google and Homeland security reviewing this post :-)) Don't quite have it were I want it to look like but its getting there. Took a break to start on the figure to start to flesh it out (HA).

OOPPS! Stage 2 - 18 x 24 inches

Hawks and Doves painting #2 "OOPPS!"

Ok #2 for the Hawks and Doves show. This one is of my Brother John and his job while he was in the US Army. He had to shuttle the A bombs around everyday to hide them in different bunkers. what no one knew was that he was still a Canadian citizen at the time. This went on for 6 months till he told someone. :-) Boy did he get a change of duty quick!!!

OOPPS! Stage 1 - 18 x 24 inches

"Hawk and Dove" Time for a rest for this one

Well I worked on "Hawk and Dove" last night rather late and I think that I have that Dali and Chirico look that I was looking for. I think that its time to take it off the easel and let it rest while I work on something else.

Time to turn it too the wall and look at it on Monday to see if I still like it the way it is.

"Hawk and Dove" Stage 5- 18 x 24 inches

"Hawks and Doves: Perspectives on America and the World in Conflict"

Got a new show coming up at the The Shoe Factory Art Co-op  250 N. Goodman St.  Art Studio 212  Rochester, NY 14607 . 


Have to get 2 to 3 paintings done by March 25th. So I have three ideas that I have been working on in design so here is the first one "Hawk and Dove" - 18 x 24 inches.


I will be showing all the stages as I work through what I want to see. The image is in my head and its just a matter of getting it out through my arm and hand. Simple? Not.

"Hawk and Dove" - 18 x 24 inches

Update on "Hawk and Dove" Stage 2 - 18 x 24 inches - Banged in some color and working on shading and detail.

"Hawk and Dove" Stage 3 - 18 x 24 inches

"Hawk and Dove" Stage 4 - 18 x 24 inches

Sexy Boo Done

Hey Boo made it through surgery! They got the tumor out with a good margin. They only took out a dime sized bit of the bladder so he is good to go! We will have to wait for the sample to be looked at to see if its benign or not so fingers crossed.

So to celebrate I finished off "Sexy Boo" this morning.

Sexy Boo - 12 x 12 inch - Acrylic on canvas

Sexy Boo painting Part 2

Hey Boo made it through surgery! They got the tumor out with a good margin. During the operation they only took out a dime sized bit of the bladder so he is good to go! We will have to wait for the sample to be looked at to see if its benign or not so fingers crossed.

Meanwhile I have been working on the "Sexy Boo" painting and have reworked the pillow again.

Sexy Boo - 12 x 12 inch