Why Do I Write A Blog?

 

Well, I like to talk about art. Duh!

 

No seriously, I like to talk about art. Not just my own finished art, but about my failures and experiences with my students and other artists. Like art itself, writing a blog is about communication. We has humans have a need to communicate. Scientist tell us that our ability to communicate is one of our survival advantages, but they do not talk about our fundamental need to communicate. All of us need to communicate about the things that are important to us.

 

But why a blog?

 

I mean, I do know other local artists that I talk to. Why write?

 

How is writing a different type of communication?

 

Writing differs from other forms of communication because to not only allows but requires introspection.

 

When I write it helps me to clarify my thoughts. When I write -review and rewrite- it helps me to really think about art--and to think about how I think about art.

 

I am a better artist and teacher because of this blog.

Self Portrait

Self-Portrait

I need an illustration for my next blog post. Since I am talking about how art can make you happy, I need a happy face. Or at least a pleasant one. Only trouble is, I don’t have one. Oh I could use clip art, but hey, this is a blog about art. Somehow seems a bit cheesy to use clip art for an art blog, especially when I teach drawing.

But I don’t have a happy little drawing. Hubby is out of town, so I cannot bludgeon him into posing for me. I am all alone. Feeling blue. What am I going to do?

The only face available is…horrors, Mine!

Trying to take my picture

I say horrors, because there is a reason I am always on the other side of the camera. I hate the way I photograph. Some people are beloved of the camera, I am not one of them. Pictures always come out looking like me. But I need that shot, that expression. So I give in.

Trudging off to the bathroom with my small point and shoot, I accept the necessity of taking a picture of myself, worse yet, smiling. (Shutter!) So I am going to take a picture of me in the mirror.



Taking a picture of yourself is not as easy as you might think. When you put the camera to your eye, well, that is what you get! So I have to hold the camera near my face, try to get the face and not all camera. Hold it up, hold it down, turn to the right, Take and take and take. Seven shots should give me something.



After I uploaded all the takes to the computer I remembered why I have so many photos of daffodils and so few of me. I hate my face. I hate the red-roundness of it. I hate the small mouth, the wispy brows, eyes that don’t match the long nose and the flyaway hair.



But I need that illustration and I will just have to work with what I have. I looked closely at the shape of my face. Kind of weird, actually, kind of squishy and bottom heavy, like the rest of me. I have a dent in my chin. And gravity has been no kinder to my face than to the rest of my body. My face is spreading too.



Eyebrows are disappearing. Now you can barely see them without my glasses. Actually, I look better with my glasses, they define my eyes, let you know they are actually there. My glasses are crooked. They are getting old too. I had not noticed that before. Located the top of my head, Boy is that a long way up there! When I started adding my hair, I stopped to take another look. That space looks a little slight, oh. The only thing getting thinner on me is my hair!

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/