Today, Thinking about Art

Belief

Art
I believe in it

Not long ago, I started calling myself an artist
It was not particularly true, but I had painted a few paintings
And did some drawing

I made mechanical drawings and got paid for it
Not particularly well, but enough

Then I quit
Just up and quit

Oh, I had my reasons,

Most of them not logical from the world’s standpoint
But valid to me.

I quit

And took up painting again
Not particularly well, but I did it
Again
And again

I painted
And got a sketchbook and started to draw again

Not well, but I kept at it.

I posted stuff on line and asked questions

[drove some kind guides wiggy I would imagine]

but I kept at it and started to call myself an artist.

Some looked funny at me.
Thought I was getting uppity
Thinking myself better than them
Or cultured, putting on airs
Pretending to education I did not have

But being an artist is not about being educated
Cultured
Or superior

It is about being

About breathing

It is about doing.

I picked up a camera and started shooting
The pictures turned out great
Showed them around,

“boy what a good camera you have”

not about what a good eye I have.

But I kept on.

Taking pictures,
Drawing
Painting

Putting it all together

Started mounting and framing and putting it together

Found some walls
Put it up
Had some people in

“Wow, I can’t believe you did this
Where did you take that? My house?
I don’t remember this around the neighborhood”

Then the reporter calls.
“can I see where you work?”
“Sure”

He dignifies the basement, calls it my studio
Suddenly, it becomes one.

So the paper comes out

“Wow, I didn’t know you were an artist!”

Now it is official
I am an artist.
Was all along,
But now the label sticks.

Its Gone, the Sketchbook Library Project

The sketchbook is gone. Mailed off today. I have mixed feeling about it. There was so much work and worry into it. I wanted to be true to the idea of a sketch book, a place for taking graphic notes, but also wanted it to be interesting for someone else to look at, which frankly, most sketch books are not.

And they are not supposed to be. The idea is for the artist to make quick sketches, more like notes or visual records of things seen to be used as reference when back in the studio.

Also they are a great way to learn. Because they are quick, you have to locate and record the most important lines and details, reduce what you see to the key lines and images. Because what you are doing is out in public, or plein aire, they have to be quick. Life does not wait for the artist to record it.

Sketchbook Cover

The sketchbook for the Art House Coop is done, and I need to do the cover. I know the cover can be important, but I decided to keep it very simple. Simply tell what it is, a sketchbook whoms theme was postcards and since I live in West Virginia, the cards are from West Virginia.

I need to send this off Monday so it is there by the 4 of January for the opening show of all the sketchbooks done from all over the world. It should be interesting.

I have looked at many of the posted pages, and they really vary!

Sketchbook Library

I am creating a sketchbook for an art project by arthouse. It is to create a library of sketchbooks from living, working artists from all over. We are each given a small sketchbook and a subject and we are to fill this with artwork to the assigned theme.

I was given: Postcards

Sketchbook Library project 1

How to start

Nothing is more intimating than a blank sketchbook with expectations. The book is so nice and clean and full of ambitions. This is not a private journal, but something that will be seen by other, and archived for the future.

But will anyone want to look at it? Will it grab attention? Inspire or educate? It is worth the effort I will pour into it?

How do I start?

No Art Classes for the Holidays

I am at loose ends this week. No art classes tomorrow and I am kind of lost. Usually I spend Tuesday afternoons making sure I have everything for the next day at the Renaissance Gallery. I will not have classes for two weeks and I was planning on finishing my sketchbook project. I should be drawing on it right now.

But it seems that I am having trouble getting started!

I have a lot of work to do and have to get started.

I have several sketchs to finish before it is mailed in.

Spring Art Exhibition

Spring may be when a young man’s fancy turns to, well, you know, but the artists of the Renaissance Gallery turns to thoughts of spring painting challenge. This year’s Spring Fine Arts Exhibition will be all about color, and how well you can use it in the composition and presentation of your art. "Color and its Complement", is the theme, challenge and title of this May’s show. The artist will take one color as the primary element of composition and work with its complement to bring forth his/her ideas.

December 20, 2009.

Setting up an Art blog

Well, here I am setting up a blog about art and what we are doing.

I have thought about it for a while and now I am going to do it.

This will be more about getting started in art, than about my own artwork, although I will use my own work as examples.

My own work can be seen on my website, tschantz.myexpose.com, and I am closely involved with shows and presenting artwork at the Renaissance Gallery in Huntington, WV. Their website is: http://www.orgsites.com/wv/renaissance/index.html with the gallery blog at: http://renaissancegalleryart.blogspot.com/