My French Easel: 6 ways your image manipulation software can help you judge your work
Another hint to improve your work. I think this is very valid.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Price Of Selling Art
Sold a painting.
Should be good news, and it is, but hey, I was not ready to part with that one. Why didn’t they want the other old thing? That was my favorite! I just finished it! I wanted to grab it back? I thought selling my work would be great! Why isn’t it?
When you stop being emotional about your work it is time to stop painting.
Period.
Of course you have mixed feelings about it! While I was relieved to have sold 3 pieces, I was also sad. I loved those pieces; that is why I put them up in the show!
Never, ever show work you are not 100% proud of. NEVER.
Always show only your best, that which will tear at you to part with. Only then can you be sure what you are offering is really art and not simply decoration. Artwork to be true art must speak to the both the artist and the patron. There should be a give and take in this relationship even if you have never meet and will never meet.
This is why van Gogh still claims such attention over the distance of time, because his work speaks to us. More to us today than in his own time. We all live in a turmoil and that is conveyed in his work, We understand him as his contemporaries did not.
Should be good news, and it is, but hey, I was not ready to part with that one. Why didn’t they want the other old thing? That was my favorite! I just finished it! I wanted to grab it back? I thought selling my work would be great! Why isn’t it?
When you stop being emotional about your work it is time to stop painting.
Period.
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| S. Tschantz Sold |
Of course you have mixed feelings about it! While I was relieved to have sold 3 pieces, I was also sad. I loved those pieces; that is why I put them up in the show!
Never, ever show work you are not 100% proud of. NEVER.
Always show only your best, that which will tear at you to part with. Only then can you be sure what you are offering is really art and not simply decoration. Artwork to be true art must speak to the both the artist and the patron. There should be a give and take in this relationship even if you have never meet and will never meet.
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| After Vincent |
So while you mature enough to let go of your artwork, it is and should always be a bit hard, almost painful.
We all know the painter who paints and who loves to shoves his or her stuff off on everyone. They copy crafts and decorative stuff and love to give it away, but there is no emotional connection there. While they often view themselves as artistic peers (actually I know one near by who talks down to me) their work is imitative. They follow a pattern. Copying other artists. Following the directions of their “teacher” faithfully (and to my mind fatally) one such person’s latest, a copy of a Kincaid card, is their current crowning achievement. Said “artist” then proceeded to photograph it and make "prints" of it on their computer. Then it was fostered off on all of us as a priceless “gift”. This work is dull. Oh, the image is there. They copy very well, but the work is static, lifeless and to a real art lover, well.......boring. Seen it before, better done. There is no emotion in that painting other than smugness at how well they did. And it shows.
Always hurt just a little, my friend.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Lament of a Messy Painter-
I have all these great ideas for art, for paintings, and drawings and even some crafty stuff, but:
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| The Dungeon! |
I can’t paint because I can’t find my pallet!
The dungeon is a mess, a super-duper mess.
Filled with empty boxes, half-full boxes, suitcases, several ice chests, easels in various states of assemblage, several plastic shoe boxes of paints, one for standard oils, one for water mixable, a box with my pallet knives in it, and some containers of brushes, one broken brush holder, but my mom made it for me, so it is taped together, a drawing board that needs cleaning and aligning, frames, mats, but most of the mess is not my art supplies, there is a sort of organized chaos to them. Most of it has migrated from upstairs. My old bedroom linens, ea, queen sized comforter, sheets, pillowcases and an assortment of pillows, some decorator baskets, …are you bored yet?
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| I have been trying to clean it up! |
We have been fixing the house up, and while construction is going on overhead, all the fallout seems to have fallen in the dungeon.
It is going to take me a month to clean all of this up!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
People's Choice Awards
Last Wednsday was a busy day for me.
In addition to my normal classes, Fern Christian (Renaissance Art Gallery Director) and I had to count the ballots for the People's choice awards. we do this at the conclusion of each year's Miniature Exhibition.
People attending the Miniature Exhibition are handed ballots when they came into the gallery so that they can select what they felt were the best entries in the Miniature Exhitition. There were to select works in two catagories: Most Elegant Entry and Most Creative Entry.
There arealways tons of worthy choices so it was hard to narrow it down to two.. But choices had to be made.
Counting the ballots was a much bigger job this year, due to the record number of people gracing our gallery with their visits.The stuffed to overflowing ballot box was empited a couple of times before counting, so I know there were lots of votes!
The voting was close, but choices were made.The final tally did reveal clear winners however.
Linda Rossin’s “Elegance in Motion”. The beauty of the rising flamingo captured the attention of the most guests for the Most Elegant Entry Award, while Sandi Worthington’s 1inch by 11 inch “Going To Water” won the Most Creative Entry Award.
I think congratulations are in order for both artists, Sandi Worthington and Linda Rossin on their selection by the guest of The Renaissance Art Gallery for this year’s People’s Choice Awards.
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| Fern Counting the Vote |
People attending the Miniature Exhibition are handed ballots when they came into the gallery so that they can select what they felt were the best entries in the Miniature Exhitition. There were to select works in two catagories: Most Elegant Entry and Most Creative Entry.
There arealways tons of worthy choices so it was hard to narrow it down to two.. But choices had to be made.
Counting the ballots was a much bigger job this year, due to the record number of people gracing our gallery with their visits.The stuffed to overflowing ballot box was empited a couple of times before counting, so I know there were lots of votes!
The voting was close, but choices were made.The final tally did reveal clear winners however.
Linda Rossin’s “Elegance in Motion”. The beauty of the rising flamingo captured the attention of the most guests for the Most Elegant Entry Award, while Sandi Worthington’s 1inch by 11 inch “Going To Water” won the Most Creative Entry Award.
I think congratulations are in order for both artists, Sandi Worthington and Linda Rossin on their selection by the guest of The Renaissance Art Gallery for this year’s People’s Choice Awards.
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| Linda Rossin's "Elegance in Motion" |
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| Sandi Worthington's "Go To Water" |
Monday, December 6, 2010
We are Visual People
Our powers of observation are great.
People see in a unique way in the animal kingdom.
While other animals may have greater visual acuity, it is not linked to our flexible brains. We see better than our dogs. More important, we perceive better than most animals. Many animals and insects have greater range but they do not always understand what they see. We are geared to question our sight and to act on it.
When an animal is still, it is virtually invisible to many animals, indeed, sometimes to us, but if we move our heads, or look at it out of the sides of our eyes, it may well pop into view.
The visual arts, ea painting, sculpture and drawing were for a long time considered more common than the higher arts such as poetry and writing. Visual art is non-verbal, so the verbal arts were free to call it names. One reason it was denigrated was because drawing was a demonstratively teachable skill, which is ridiculous, as music and dancing are also teachable skills and no one would argue that they are not true arts. But visual art is non-verbal and vulnerable to name-calling by the more verbal arts. Also, the visual arts have long history of high visibility and usefulness, and that very usefulness was argued against them. Their art was considered lowly, a mere craft.
So there is a separation in the arts between the visual and the verbal.
People see in a unique way in the animal kingdom.
While other animals may have greater visual acuity, it is not linked to our flexible brains. We see better than our dogs. More important, we perceive better than most animals. Many animals and insects have greater range but they do not always understand what they see. We are geared to question our sight and to act on it.
When an animal is still, it is virtually invisible to many animals, indeed, sometimes to us, but if we move our heads, or look at it out of the sides of our eyes, it may well pop into view.
 |
| S. Tschantz |
The visual arts, ea painting, sculpture and drawing were for a long time considered more common than the higher arts such as poetry and writing. Visual art is non-verbal, so the verbal arts were free to call it names. One reason it was denigrated was because drawing was a demonstratively teachable skill, which is ridiculous, as music and dancing are also teachable skills and no one would argue that they are not true arts. But visual art is non-verbal and vulnerable to name-calling by the more verbal arts. Also, the visual arts have long history of high visibility and usefulness, and that very usefulness was argued against them. Their art was considered lowly, a mere craft.
So there is a separation in the arts between the visual and the verbal.
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