This lovely geisha has the feel of a beautiful bird with feathers like a festive pheasant.

She was the last original painting of the collection East Meets West.  Today I am shipping her to her new owner in Norwood, MA.  It is like finding a home for my children when someone resonates with a painting enough to want it in their collection.  It is an honor and compliment  for me when this happens.

Now back to the drawing board, as I continue to paint new original works in gouache watercolor for the East Meets West Collection.

 

The Importance of Being an Artist in Today's Modern World

by Lori McNee

This post is by guest author, Lori McNee. This article has been edited and published with the author's permission. You should submit an article and share your views as a guest author by clicking here.

After watching the movies, 'Avatar' and 'How to Train Your Dragon' I was amazed at the artistic advancement in Computer Arts. It got me thinking about the possible irrelevance of Art in this computer driven day and age.

On a number of occasions, I have heard people speak of this:  Are we as artists a dying breed? Will we, as 'Fine Artists', go the way of the dinosaur?

Personally, I think NOT!

Artists truly are the movers and shakers of the world. The ages demonstrate that artists have been at the forefront of every epic era.  Oscar Wilde's famous quote, "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life", illustrates this.

Art has been said to be 'an expression of both hope and despair', which embodies all facets of the human condition. The awe inspiring cathedrals of Europe rose from the ashes of plague, cruelty, and despair. After which, the forward thinking artists of the Renaissance era emerged in times of religious persecution and political chaos.

I believe, the worse things get - the more indispensable Art becomes. As our American economy sags and democracy weakens amid the smothering of our beloved earth, Art will find fertile ground and bloom.

Art, in all its forms, is the universal language. It is the great equalizer and thinking agent. Art reaches across borders and connects the world.  Great Art stirs the imagination, causing us to pause, think and reflect.  Art allows our minds to escape into childlike wonder. Paintings are windows to the imagination.

Did you know, the act of drawing and creating Art can help us relieve stress?  Also, Art improves students in their personal, intellectual, and social development. It can be especially beneficial for children from economically disadvantaged conditions or those who struggle to succeed in school.

Art records the footprint of all peoples, cultures and the world around us...

From prehistoric times, cave dwellers drew and carved on rock walls to record important history.

In biblical times, artists recorded the life and death of Jesus.

The Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Greek and Roman artists left us invaluable traces of their culture and our human heritage through their art.

Still life paintings often adorn the interior of ancient Egyptian tombs and Roman walls and record information about the vessels and delicacies that the upper class might have enjoyed.

Lavish tapestries, book-covers in precious metal, ivory, jewels and mosaics help us understand the Dark Ages.

The Renaissance era was lead by visionary artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Raphael and Michaelangelo.

John James Audubon (April 26, 1785 - January 27, 1851)  painted, catalogued, and described the many birds of North America. (I know he killed too many while he was at it, though.)

The Impressionists were considered the 'radicals' of their time and broke the rules of academic painting.

Sure, now we have the modern capabilities to record history with a camera.  And yes, I loved the movie Avatar. In fact, it gave me a whole new appreciation for the artists in that industry.

However, nothing will replace the feeling of being in the presence of great Art - whether you are at the Louvre Museum or staring at a beloved painting in your living-room.

Computer Art is the newest form of artistic expression, but the silent story of the brushstrokes made by a master's hand or a vessel formed by a primitive artisan will never be obsolete. 
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This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews by Canvoo, 
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists, 
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).

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http://fineartviews.com/blog/21810/the-importance-of-being-an-artist-in-todays-modern-world

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Art Budget Banks

by Luann Udell

This post is by Luann Udell, regular contributing author for FineArtViews.  You should submit an article and share your views as a guest author by clicking here.

Years ago, I came across an unusual metal box at a flea market. Roughly 6” square and 2” deep, the lid opened to reveal six smaller metal containers. Slots on the box’s lid aligned with slots in the smaller boxes inside, and the whole thing locked shut with a key. 

A little research revealed I’d found a “home budget bank.” Banks would provide such a locked box to their customers. The slots were for inserting coins or bills into each little box.  

The best part: There were little labels provided, some pre-printed for rent, utilities, food.   Or you could turn the labels over and write your own financial priorities. (These are my favorite ones.) 

Once a month, or when the little boxes were full, you’d return the box to the bank, where it would be unlocked.  

Voila! You had successfully saved money to pay all your bills for the month. 

I love so many things about these boxes. 

I love the cheerful painted metal: red, yellow, turquoise and dark green. “Look!” they seem to say. “Isn’t it FUN to save?!” 

I love that, human nature being what it is, the bank held the only key to the box—which is also why it’s rare to find these with their key. 

I love the array of little lidded boxes inside and the different categories each person came up with. I have one with the preprinted labels. Others have handwritten labels like “stamps”, “paper”, “vacation.” I’m charmed by the idea that once you could fund an entire vacation with only enough money that would fit into a little box smaller than 3”x2”x2”…

I love imagining the age and circumstances of the previous owners. Surely “camp” and “bicycle” were for a child? But “insurance” and “rent” were for an older person. 

And I found this poignant story of a home budget bank with the categories “honeymoon”, “yours”, “mine” and “ours”. 

I love the hope that this simple little gadget could build character, change our spendthrift ways, and move steadily, diligently toward our goals—and our heart’s desire. 

I love that each box, each label, represents a responsibility accepted—or a dream.  I love the implication that even a dream involves responsibility—planning for it, saving for it, even naming it.  Realizing it takes energy to bring that dream to fruition. I think this is the thing I love the most. 

I like to imagine such a home budget bank for my art. I wonder what I would choose to budget money for. Perhaps “supplies”; “classes”; “framing”; “new studio”. 

Or perhaps time? “New work/experimenting”; “cleaning the studio” (on second thought, maybe not this one); “finish an old project”; “research”. As a creative person with many demands on my time—spouse, children, aging parents, job, friends, pets, housework--I sometimes forget to just sit and dream. Perhaps a time slot/box for “daydreams”….? 

I can think of some things I wouldn’t budget for—“pointless anger”; “self-doubt”; “fear of failing”; “procrastination”; “envy”. Maybe I could replace them with “forgiveness”, “confidence”, “courage”, “motivation”; “self-improvement”. 

What labels would YOU put on your six little boxes, if you had a home budget bank for your art?

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This article appears courtesy of FineArtViews by Canvoo, 
a free email newsletter about art, marketing, inspiration and fine living for artists, 
collectors and galleries (and anyone else who loves art).

This article originally appeared at:
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This painting was inspired by a poet's step-granddaughter who was enthralled by the coming of the night sky, blossoming with stars and light.

There is something very pleasing about drawing a perfect crescent. With brush or pencil in hand, drawing a smooth proportionate curve is satisfying when it flows so smoothly. The season of summer seems to invite curves into view, like the cresting wave, a lemon slice, a crescent moon.

What would it be like to sit with your favorite artists from the past?

Happy Mother's Day

The three members of this little family are like a triangle shape, which is strong and secure in its totality.
As I travel to Baltimore with my sons to see my 86 year old mom for the Mother's Day weekend, I'm wishing all a meaningful and Happy Mother's Day.

Starting with an antique oak chair, I transformed it with my design idea painted in acrylic paint.  This is the 2nd of the 4 seasons chairs- "Autumn".  As with the chair "Summer" I kept the color theme the same, yet showing some coordinating changes in each chair's colors.
Seeing the before and after views is great fun to appreciate what went into the transformation.
Now I'm looking to create "Winter" and "Spring" to make the 4 seasons collection complete!

Looking at my 4 dining room "Captain's Chairs" a few months ago, I decided it was time to give them a new look.  So after drawing some ideas on paper for the designs, I decided on the theme of the four seasons. Here is a 'before and after' view of the first of the 4 chairs - "Summer".
I used acrylic latex paint along with sealing the finished piece with a satin polyurethane.
It's fun to see the transformation that took place over several months, and now I feel fresh life has been given to these chairs.

This is a peice that describes childhood and growing up.  

If you take a cute nickname, one of the many that my husband fondly calls me, and give it some colorful and jolly font and frame- "voila!" - a logo is born!  After some trial and error with colors and font choices, this is the final decision that we agreed on for the new line of jewelry.
I will be posting some photos on how the earrings are made in the next couple of days, so come back and visit soon.

I'm embarquing on a new direction in my work.  As with the beginning of any journey, I have been preparing for the past month or so with researching techniques and materials to be beneficial in my "travels" . The process has been bringing insights into problem solving on aesthetics and practical use.

For now I will say that the direction is about translating my painted images into "tiny jewels".  What this means precisely is earrings and pendants - visualize art that is worn, displayed on the human body. The body is like the transitory art gallery which transports the art work to new locations and new audiences.

While this is not a new or groundbreaking idea, because of the plethora of ways that it is in use currently through hand crafted fashion and jewelry by many others who have gone before me; it is new for me to be employing my images in this format, and it is a cause for looking at my work in a new way.

"The world around us has no color...really!"  Objects themselves are pure radiant energy.  Our eye perceives this radiant energy and then converts it in our minds into what we think of as 'color'.
The world we perceive around us is light trapped by gravity!"
(written by artist and scientist Robert Girandola)

"Color possesses me.  I don't have to pursue it.  It will possess me always, I know it.  That is the meaning of this happy hour: Color and I are one.  I am a painter."  Paul Klee

Symbols in art may be universal in nature, as written about in many books including  Reading about universal symbols and how they came into being is very illuminating and I encourage you to follow up the study through the many books that cover this topic.
 Artists may also employ personal symbols in their works.  Tea bags have shown up in several of my paintings.  Many cultures have tea ceremonies that bring community into a ritual of celebration.   By recognizing this universal of ceremonies, I employ tea bags to symbolize friendship and community and the trust that builds in relationships through engaging in a familiar ritual.  Including the tea bag images has given my work a sense of playfulness, and raised a curiosity to view the tea bags out of their normal context. 

My intention with my art is to take the viewer to a place where they've never been before.  Painting for me is a journal of my inner landscape, a roadmap for my soul.  In showing this to you, the viewer, it's my hope that perhaps something in the painting will resonate with you, so that it also becomes a part of your inner landscape.
Artist Reception Cocktail Party
 5-7 p.m. on February 5th
 Connections Magazine Gallery
 3305 Lake Ariel Highway, Honesdale, PA 18431
570.647.0085

I appreciate that Joan Miro established a language of symbols that are unique to his experience. Their childlike, bold strokes and colors are primitive and spontaneous in feeling.  Miro's ladder symbol has shown up in many of his works, and they were employed to illustrate his "connection to heaven, his relationship with the powers of creation."
Scroll down this page to view my use of ladders as a symbol in my paintings.

I have used a ladder in several paintings in my dreamscape series to represent  rising  above a situation to view the larger picture.  I'm embarking on a new body of work that will explore symbology from my previous work and current experiences.  More about that later.

This painting was inspired by the series on chairs, and is influenced by East Meets West.
I think that these two friends are sharing a rare moment to listen without interruption to the bird's song.

In keeping with my current chairs in art theme, this lovely pear chair by Kimberly Applegate caught my attention.  The artist has also connected another interest that I have in pear paintings, and this one by Georgia O'Keefe is one I had not seen before.

This new painting was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's chair painting. If you could sit with Vincent Van Gogh what would you ask him? I would love to watch over his shoulder while he painted, and to let him know how well loved his paintings are today.

Reading Jane Austen is like a banquet of poetic language that is satisfying to the ear.  Curling up in a cozy chair to read Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is what inspired this painting.  Do you have a favorite Jane Austen novel?

The title of this painting is
"We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, then any other person can be."  Jane Austen   May be seen on my website by clicking on the title.

In my research to find chairs in art, I discovered the work of Josephine Durkin.
This contemporary sculptor had previously exhibited her paper rocking chairs at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virginia.
Everything is folded/slotted and no tape or adhesive of any kind is
necessary to assemble the chair. It’s just paper. Each have digital images
printed on both sides. The chairs rock by way of a multi-colored
oscillating fan and their rocking patterns change depending on where viewers
are positioned in the room.

Chairs have an ubiquitous role in our lives, if not certainly a supportive role; the piece of furniture that bears the weight of our work, meals, and relaxing times throughout the day.  My plan is to honor this very unheralded prop that we sometimes take for granted, but rely on for comfort and function, as well as design aesthetics.  For the upcoming future, I'll be featuring chairs in art and history and in contemporary design in my blog.  In doing research for this body of work, I discovered an artist who is already painting chairs along with their inspirational artwork.   Kimberly Applegate's blog  features chairs and the art that inspired her paintings, they are lots of fun.  Please feel free to leave comments about your favorite chairs, or any chair related thoughts.