May 28, 2008

Today was one of those days where painting just flowed. I knew exactly which colors to put where. I recognized which parts of the painting did not work more readily and had painted for a few hours feeling only minutes had passed. Unfortunately the weather outside was also fabulous and it was impossible not to spend some of my day soaking up the rays while hiking with my dog Sophie and mowing the lawn. Around 6pm my daughter stopped by for our "Wednesday night take-out" date-(she gets Korean and I Thai). Since we live in rural Pennsylvania we have to drive to town, using precious $3.99 a gallon gas to collect our booty. On our car ride she was discussing an upcoming dance performance that she's involved with.

Although our disciplines are different there are many similarities. One time we were discussing the cycles of liking /dislike of our works. There's the initial excitement when you come up with an idea inevitably followed with the ebbs and flows of like and dislike as the dance/painting progresses. Today she told me that she usually works out issues through dance very much the same way I do. We brainstormed a potential dance to express her thoughts about being allergic to gluten but the ideas we came up with were either too obvious and dumb or appeared to be racist in nature. Discussions such as ours illuminate the similarities of all art disciplines once they are torn down a bit and analyzed.

May 27, 2008

Once again today I had a limited time to paint but I fixed some problem areas. Instead of the type about Felix the chimp (see May 18th) I replaced it with a quote from Todd Rundgren that more related to the painting.

"This is the ending of my song
It has made me blind and deaf and weak but most of all
It shows you that Im wrong
For you see its really twice this long
And if I should die tomorrow it will carry on"

May 26, 2008 Memorial Day

Photo by Rick Brandt


To all men and women who serve our country in the military (as well as their loved ones) in the past, present or future...Thank you-you are always appreciated.

May 25, 2008

I had a satisfying day of painting, gardening, hiking and yoga today.

As far as "Jackson's Trip to Heaven, I added more white to clouds on top of the pink which is giving them a more lofty look. Also added a rainbow behind the dog (who is now orange) to symbolically represent the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is a poem that is THE poem for dead and dying pets. In fact on the few days before and after I put Jackson down I was sent a link to this poem, sent the poem via snail mail and had it recited to me by the fellow that was cremating my dog. My feelings at the time was "Fuck the Rainbow Bridge". I just wasn't in the mood to hear about happy kisses, clinging together in joyous reunions or looking into the trusting eyes of my faithful companion. I was upset and just wanted to hold on to that feeling. The disturbing feeling I got from the Rainbow Bridge poem reminded me of a story involving my daughter and I many years ago when she was four or five years old.

We had just arrived back in central Pennsylvania after visiting family in northern New Jersey and I decided we should get a bite to eat before heading home. I insisted on going to Eat and Park as I knew they had a salad bar where we could eat immediately and quickly move on and go home. My daughter was against going to this restaurant as she was troubled by the wait people who push their smiley cookies on kids. My daughter is one of those rare kids who did and still does not like cookies I told her that when the waitress came over after our meal to present my daughter with the smiley cookie she was to say, "Take your smiley cookie and shove it up your ass." Of course she has much better sense than I and did not say anything but "thank you" to the waitress when she was given the cookie but we both had a bad case of the giggles when it was offered.

May 24, 2008

Sorry guys. The rain here in central Pennsylvania has finally ceased for at least a few days-the sun is shining and I'm off to a dinner party.

May 23, 2008

Life as an artist is not always filled with excitement. Yesterday although my intentions were good I did not get a chance to paint because life needs got in the way. I would love to report that the reasons were of utmost creative importance but in reality it was a hair managing appointment (I have semi-long thick curly hair which periodically has to be tamed by a specialist), a trip to the post office, stop at the gas station ($3.99 a gallon!), long hike in the woods to tame my very energetic border collie mix, and the unexpected salad and a beer invitation from a new friend I'm just getting to know.

Today was a bit better with a medium number of distractions. I worked about four hours on two of my non-art related jobs:cleaning houses and selling yoga props, visited with friends, talked to my daughter a bit, went to the woods, watched two beavers swimming, did some yoga, and happily painted for the length of a Keith and the Girl podcast..

I worked on the leaf colors-made more progress getting the color fairly close to what I want and have moved on to work on the red dog. He may get a little bigger and possibly will change his red coat for one with more orange in it. I painted more of the yellow background-sky, but may change color completely when I work next.

May 21, 2008

In keeping with my self-imposed task of painting every day and documenting the results of that day's session, today posed a bit of a time challenge. A morning vet appointment, trip to the ATM, post office and then an afternoon shopping with my daughter who is about to move into her first apartment, left me a single hour to paint. Mostly I worked on getting the colors correct in the leaves behind the fallen bird and the cloud behind that. Not much else to say about today's session.

But a few days ago when I was picking up art from a show that had concluded I had an interesting conversation with someone and thought it was interesting enough to repeat here. Last year I painted "The Lesbian Amish" which was a series of four scenarios of the life of a fictional Amish woman. This piece had been sold before I even had a chance to show it by an art collector who has a lovely art collection of which I am fortunate to be part of. Because this annual show has a specific 6:00pm pick-up time I often find one or two persons waiting for me and we share a few minutes of conversation. This time was no different. I had a few conversations and left with three pieces under my arm. As I neared my car in the parking lot I was approached by a woman who asked me to pose with my artwork while she took a photo. She then proceeded to tell me that she now had "The Lesbian Amish" painting in her possession. Apparently the wife of the original owner had put her foot down and insisted that he get rid of my painting as it was highly offensive to her. So my painting exchanged hands and moved on to its new home which I was assured was safe and appreciated.

May 20, 2008

Today painting came much easier. I decided to leave the robin in and put her/him on a bed of leaves in the clouds so it didn't appear that the bird was falling from the sky. My main focus was still to lay down the basic colors although I focussed most of my attention on the two birds and the areas behind them. Right now one of the problems I am having with this painting is visually pulling it all together. Tomorrow I intend on working on connecting the mountains behind the red dog and the area of the two birds. I also hope to add more to the "earth" part of the painting (bottom section beneath the clouds). I have a few ideas such as Todd Rundgren's 60th birthday bash (see May 14, 2008), a hike through the woods and/or some issues that have come up concerning people and how their agendas can interfere with relationships. I have no idea at this time how to visualize these things and by tomorrow it is quite possibly that new ideas will replace these when I sit down to paint.

May 19, 2008

Today's painting session felt unsatisfying and frustrating. I did not find my rhythm while painting and struggled through every color change. Yesterday I drove to Michael's and bought $150 worth of new paints, automatically making painting easier.(because you don't have the restriction of limited paint colors) To have problems with a full arsenal of paints is somewhat unusual although not unheard of. Every painting goes through a cycle of like-dislike-like. I'll like the freeness of a layer then paint over some of it to get the colors I want and feel the freeness has been lost. Sometimes the subject starts to bore me and I have been known to start over and paint an alternative painting on top of the old one. I recently completed a painting, sent it out to be photographed and painted over it when returned home because I still was not happy with the results.

One of the problems I'm having with "Jackson's Trip to Heaven" is that there is no compositional focus the focus points (first, second, third, etc.) will be managed through color. Right now there are only spots of color as I am still filling in the canvas with basic colors. Today I focused a bit on the mountain range that is below and to the left of the red dog (Jackson). I'm assuming that heaven has different ecosystems and felt sure that Jackson would have chosen his familiar mountains to surround himself.

May 18, 2008

Most times when I paint I listen to either podcasts or music. I'm not sure how these things work but having background noise on tends to keep my mind still and focussed what is visually in front of me. Today I was listening to Vegan Radio which is a vegan radio show broadcasted from Northampton, Massachusetts. Today the hosts were talking about animal testing and they mentioned Felix the chimp who was serving science by being a test subject and who was scheduled to be terminated once the tests are concluded. This gave me an idea to paint the bottom of the painting of earth as we know it with its turmoils (such as the demise of Felix) in opposition to the upper parts of the painting which is a view from heaven, much simpler and not as visually busy. Ofttimes I have a general sense of what I want to say in a painting but draw inspiration from the various things I listen to often adding and/or manipulating the painting to reflect ideas that I get from both podcasts and music.

May 17, 2008

Most of today was spent doing "other" things but I finally stole a few hours and started a new painting entitled  "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". I do not have a preconceived image of what this painting is. Unlike some artists who have a painting in mind in its entirety when they start, this painting started with only the smallest "thumbnail" drawing of Jackson's face. I had forgotten to check paints before I started and was somewhat limited to paint supplies. On the first layer I used a warm blue acrylic mixed with a cool green for the outline. I started with Jackson's head transferring what I had drawn with pencil in a thumbnail sketch to paint on a canvas. The head was not translating into shapes that felt correct. Additionally, the head was low and at a weird angle so when I added a body it looked cartoony and wrong. I turned the canvas to the right and started layer two with black acrylic painting a close-up of his head. A dribble of paint came down from one eye which I decided reflect the sadness Jackson would have felt (as well as my sadness) leaving his family. I was unhappy with this layer.  I felt this painting should have more sub-stories  so I could tell a more involved story about Jackson's trip to heaven and not simple show emotion as I would in a close-up painting of his head. I then turned the canvas once more to the right and roughed painted a dog in the upper right, some clouds, and trash can with brown paint. Because of the two layers of earlier lines I had opportunity for happy accidents. One line became a leash, there are mountains from those lines and a faucet with running water from layer two. Every painting that I do does not always start in the same manner. Some start with a more comprehensive pen or ink drawing, some paintings are compositional figured out in the first layer and some like this one, take a while to get where they need to go.

May 16, 2008

I finally did it and started my next painting. For one reason or another I had lost my painting momentum and used gardening, cleaning, hiking, yapping on the phone as well as any other distraction to avoid starting a new painting. There's a deadline looming albeit a several month one, but I know once the sun returns to Pennsylvania the outdoors will be beckoning quite loudly and it will be harder to keep myself inside to paint. As promised I will document the painting photographically each time I finish a session, the result being a diary of the progress of this painting. Today I stretched the canvas and painted two layers of white gesso to prepare the canvas surface. Because it is raining outside I will have to leave the canvas alone until tomorrow when the gesso has had a sufficent amount of time to dry. As I indicated in an earlier post (April 18th) My intention for this paint is to paint a vision of my newly departed Vizsla titled "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". The canvas is a hemp canvas from Near Sea Naturals  and the stretchers are from Upper Canada Stretchers.

May 15, 2008

Today was a day that lacked any type of opportunity for creativity yet it was filled with art all of it being a result of one person or another (including myself)’s creativity. There was a reception for a local show that I am in at the Penn State Altoona campus. Local shows are often pooh poohed for their lack of good art but I find that statement to be a false one. There is a diverse group of artists living in central Pennsylvania who create artwork ranging from the expected landscapes to collages, sculptures, abstract digital art, photography, and fabric art. Receptions are hardly the time to look at a show, there’s the distraction of socializing with a mix of art patrons and artists and the artwork although the draw of such events is actually the secondary focus. Because one of my pieces won an award there is extra attention on me, as with all other award winners by congratulatory greetings. I rarely go to openings for mainly because most of my art is shown out-of-town. Generally my contact with the physical part of an art show in non-existent. I fill out an application, send slides or digital materials, print out some paper work (resume, cv), send check or money order to cover application fees along with a self stamped addressed envelope and wait for the return acceptance/rejection letter. I always mark the SASE with the show’s name on the bottom left so I know what show I’m about to open the results of when I get the returned envelope. Sometimes there will be a mass printed letter or note, sometimes a stamped “in” or “out” on my application and return of your slides if you fail to get any of your pieces in. If a piece is accepted into a show I will either ship the artwork in a crate that I make from plywood and 1” x 2”s or drive if under 4 hours away. Every once in a while it’s fun to meet and greet others who appreciate the emotion and beauty of art and respond to your work in either a positive or negative way.

May 14, 2008

Photo of Todd Rundgren by Mindy Hertzon. 

Today was a strange day for me and although my intentions were there I never got to accomplish what my goals for the day were. Between having my monthly menace and small but thought inducing issues that came up I was distracted to the point that here it is 5:53 and the best I can claim to have done today was go grocery shopping and feed my daughter and animals. Oh well. One thought I had (and I will relate it to art I promise) was a idea presented to me by someone near and dear to me to travel to Hawaii to celebrate Todd Rundgren's 60th birthday with him at his house. I have been listening to Todd since 1977 so this is basically a "once in a lifetime" opportunity to have Todd and family open their house to their fans to host a week long party. They live on the beautiful island of Kauai on 5 acres and approximately 100 other Todd fans will be camping along side of each other, eating, drinking and making merriment at one of the most beautiful sites on the world. So where's the hesitation come from? Having been a Todd fan for so long the most contact I have had is him on stage, me in the audience and a few times that I got to go backstage and say "Hi". How will it feel to see him day and night, see him as a real person with his flaws and imperfections after so many years of idolization? Because of the isolation artist need to create (and most desire) we never really get to see them with their hands down after all what would Jackson Pollack smell like after a week-long bender or would it be so romantic to see Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in one of their throw things at each other fight? Whatever I decide I will always hold a special place in my heart for Todd Rundgren as his words and music have guided me through times both troubled and good. As all good artists do he crafted his words and music to reflect a universal truth that I could relate to even though we have never met and live worlds away. To quote one of his songs from "Initiation"

"You can say what you will about me

Talk is cheap and I don't mind

When you lay your life down in those grooves 

You know you're bound to get scratched up sometime

It's only just a song pay me no mind"

Todd Rundgren

May 13, 2008

Following yesterday's (May 12, 2008) thread of incorporating vegan issues in my artwork I decided to talk a bit about another painting I did, "Blah, Blah, Blah". Whenever I am excited about something new I feel compelled to share that excitement with those around me. In the case of newly becoming vegan I, like many newbies, felt compelled to share all the many facts about food processing particularly those concerning the use of animal and animal products. In this painting there are two people in the background, one in the fore. One is my neighbor who is represented with a crack in his head (too much information) and the second is my daughter who is looking away with interest somewhere else. Some of the symbols in the painting are the "Om" symbol which is often use in yoga, an owl which represents itself (I had seen a Bared Owl in the woods earlier in the week) and a dog which is my dear departed Vizsla, Jackson (see April 14th post). 

May 12, 2008

When I first became a vegan I immersed myself in all things vegan and read books, searched the internet and listened to as many podcasts about veganism, animal rights and cooking as I could find. A reoccurring theme that immersed was that as a vegan it is important to go a step more and use talents and skills to promote veganism in the world which is largely a non-vegan one. Some suggestions were to do pass out literature in public, write letters to various sources,and/ or write a book. I considered these options careful but knew my limitations and skills and decided to incorporate a message of veganism whenever I could in my artwork. One such piece, "A Silver Titter Stole My Baby" is about the dairy industry and how mother cows never get to have any relationship with their offspring. When I was a vegetarian and not a vegan I never considered this fact. It was only after hearing what other vegans had uncovered that the truth became clear to me. When one supports the dairy industry as I did as a vegetarian who ate dairy you support the veal industry as well as all non female offspring are sent to veal sheds to live their brief lives in a dark small closet. All babies, male and female are taken almost immediately from the mother so the mother can be a milk producer for the human animals not her calves. As a mother myself I thought of the angst that a mother would feel to have all her children taken away from her, never to realize the bond that mother and children have, only the stresses of having her offspring taken away. No matter how simple cows are I knew that from all accounts cows have real emotions when this happens by the verbal reactions both mom and child had when separated.

May 11, 2008

I belong to a "Photo of the Month" internet club with people from around the globe. The moderator assigns a subject at the beginning of the month as to what to base our photograph. It's fascinating to see all the various interpretations of one theme (wood, cold, music). Last month's subject was "What is it?" which let to extra comments and fun guesses. This month the moderator decided on one subject;bridges and an optional photo anything taken on May 11th. I like the challenge of creating with stipulations as it helps to hone my focus and push myself outside of artistic habits and patterns. Today I carried my camera around with me during a hike in the local woods, a curbside collection of morels and a trip (1 hour) to drop off three pieces of art for an upcoming show at the Penn State Altoona campus. Because the photos I took seem to have a fairly wide range of images I decided it might be interesting to uploaded all the useable photos I took today on my Flickr page. Of those photos I used one to head today's post and one for the Photo of the Month club. All these photos were taken with my Cannon Power Shot G9 digital camera.

May 10, 2008

For the past three days I have been in New Jersey to attend the confirmation and subsequent dinner party for my niece. Because these types of visits (family) are (for me) rather hectic with little time for creativity I took advantage of  the only creative tool I had with me which was my digital camera. At the mall, in restaurants, church, dinner and my sister's house I was rapid snapping of photos. It was fun in a way because it distracted me from the family dynamics which can sometimes be stressful and I also got a fodder of references for painting that I would only have a memory of. Over the course of three days I took 161 photos. Say a good standard of good to unusable photos is a 1 to 10 ratio, I hope to have taken 16 photos that are worth the cost of printing. (Actually I think I'm just under with 15 photos.

May 8, 2008

Out of town until Saturday, May 10, 2008. Will try to post Saturday night or at the latest Sunday. Thanks for checking in.

May 7, 2007

A few weeks ago a very lovely lady named Emily Dimov-Gottshall, who works for the Altoona Mirror.com in Altoona, PA. We did this interview via emails so I was able to actually think about what I would say instead of the random spurt out first thing that comes to mind. So in honor of her hard work in cultivating my ramblings to an article of internet The article can be found on the Altoona Mirror on line under art blog

May 6, 2208

In the post of May 5th I wrote a bit about creating art without consideration of the people who will eventually view my pieces. I want to continue this thread but thought it best to use today's post to give a brief rundown of what is involved with getting a piece of art shown in a public forum. Please remember this is how I do this process, it certainly won't hold true or everyone as we all have different goals, assets, and strengths.

About a day or so after my piece feels completed I move it off the easel and towards the front door where it will stay until the next time I drive into State College where I will drop off my piece to be professionally photographed. I had tried in the early days to do this on my own but found not only was the quality inferior but it cost more in the long run. , I have the photography studio, whom I have been working with for many years make me 20 slides and 2 tiff files which they put on disc. One disc goes to my webmaster to update my website and the second I keep at home as a safety in case the first one is mislaid. I try to update my website as often as feasible adding new shows and new pieces as often as available.
My ultimate goal as far as showing of art is concerned is to have a few pieces of mine in a permanent collection in a number of museums. To date I have not succeeded this goal but do come closer and closer all the time. Generally I enter indoor juried shows. I look for shows with interesting jurors, artists I like (such as Faith Ringhold), curators of museums that I would like my work in (Whitney, MOMA, Carnegie, Warhol) and show that have worked for me in the past. To enter a show you need to fill out an application form, repeat most of the information on your tiny slide, send a resume or cv, SASE, slides and fees. Some shows even charge extra for the artist's reception. Once a piece of mine has been accepted into a show I take it to the frame shop I use and chose a frame (from gazillions). Once all of that is done the piece is either driven to or shipped .If shipped I make my own wooded crate to ship in, with send with return postage.Occasionally I will attend the reception if it is either close or a place I would like to visit but it is usually cost in efficient to attend many receptions.

May 5, 2008

Today I received an email from a writer who is writing an article about me for a local newspaper. She asked a good question and I thought I would use this post to discuss it. The question posed was : "how do approach a subject ... without fear of offending the viewer? In other words, have you ever altered a piece to be less intimidating because the audience might confuse the meaning or intention?"
I found this to be an interesting question because it gives me an opportunity to explain creation of artwork versus showing of the same artwork. When I design a painting or sculpture it is based on a personal experience either an issue that I want to work out on the canvas or an observation I make from the lives that surround me. There is no thought as to the potential viewer-it is purely a solitary personal process. I will from time to time omit something that I feel will disrupt a loved one's life such as sharing a personal story my daughter has told me or a personal issue that is upsetting to a a friend but as far as my own stories I try not to censor myself. While I'm working on a piece I do realize that someone may either misinterpret my intention, be offended or not get my point at all but since I am not painting with an audience in mind this is not an issue during the creation of the piece.

One example, a piece I did several years ago called "The Nativity" was a portrayal of the actual birthing process of Jesus. I had only seen renderings of the "cleaned up" version of the birth with Mary loving holding her swaddled cleaned up baby and decided to do a more realistic version where Mary is writhing in pain as Jesus leaves her womb. On on side of the painting are the 3 visitors In my mind I wondered if the visitors brought Mary and Joseph appropriate gifts such as good food for Mary to help her nurse, cloth for Jesus' diapers, a sling to hold the baby in when they traveled back home. I know for some viewer this vision seems irreverent but as a pragmatic I tend to simplify things and see the day-to day details.

May 3, 2008

Today being the beginning of spring coincides with the beginning of garage sale season. Now for the past two years or so I have been avoiding this annual ritual as I never seemed to have the money, time or storage for everything I purchased. This morning however, the lilacs were just about to bloom, it was overcast with temperate weather and I felt the urge to join the masses and hunt bargins. The first sale me and my garage salad compadre hit was at a church where we found wonderful bargins and much needed household items. I got Smokey the Bear coffee mug, 2 clear drinking glasses, a solid towel rack (the old kind with 3 bars that was actually solid and won't bend when a wet dish or face cloth is put on it, hand carved and painted tramp art type tulips (about 20) two yellow plastic chicks, a cabinet from the 40s, children's curtains, an Abercrombie long sleeve shirt, 12 wooden hangers, cabbage starts, a handcrafted art nouveau needlepoint tie holder, a heavy frying pan, a cotton summer dress, a scarf and a McCoy planter. But the thing that really caught my eye was something my friend picked up and I had looked at for a while. Someone's carefully crafted clay art piece. I could tell by turning it over that it had been in a Bellefonte, PA show sometime in either 1991 or 1998 but there was no signature to be found. What interested me most was how this piece ended up in a church garage sale. Was it from a deceased artist who left it to someone who didn't want to keep it, Had someone once purchased it, received it as a gift, was it from the artist's own inventory I also wondered if someday one of my pieces would have a similar journey, after all Jackson Pollack's paintings have been found at garage sales all over the US why not mine. It was a bit disturbing to think that someday an art work that I have created and stressed over could end up with a red 25 cent sticker on it but I suppose that is the true definition to the statement "life goes on".

May 2, 2008

The other day I received notification that I had three pieces accepted into a local show. This is a show that is short and sweet (one weekend) and only about 30 minutes away, At this show I usually either sell a piece or win a small award and get to see some "artist" friends at the opening reception or during drop off and pick up times. Juried shows are probably the bane of many artist's experience as you never get any merit points for being in "good" shows with "good" curators and "good" locations. Every time you enter a piece it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you'll be in. I am chosen more often to be in a show if the juror is an artist or in education. Curators of museums both small and large generally skip over my work. Because there is no feedback as to the reason for your rejection one can only guess as to the reasons. In addition jurors with liberal tastes will be more likely to jury my piece in a show than a conservative judge. One time I drove to Providence, Rhode Island from central Pennsylvania to enter a small show that was co-sponsored by Yoko Ono. Being a major John Lennon fan I couldn't pass this opportunity up and drove the seven and 1/2 hours to the coast, dropped off my painting and hunkered down in a hotel for three days until it was time to pick up the piece if it did not make the show. I loved the piece I made which was to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of a Russian-Japanese treaty. Even though the show was in a small tourist type gallery I knew there would be lots of applicants because of the connection with Yoko Ono so I chose to paint a bold graphic with strong colors that could stand out in a room of contenders. When I returned three days later to pick up my work I saw the show and was struck by the lack of color of all the artwork in the room. Oh wells.

May 1, 2008

It would be wrong not to mention the inspiration that spring brings to the artist. Over time artists have used nature as inspiration. Think Monet, Kahlo or O'Keeffe and you won't have any doubt of that statement having validity. Today though I did not paint, I was full of inspirational ideas. A doggie playdate with a friend got me designing a t-shirt, a walk in the woods inspired a children's book and a beautiful though chilly and cloudy day gave me opportunity to grab my camera and record some of my day. As an artist it is important not to be an artist just when I'm in my studio in front of my easel. As the spring unfolds I wonder how many wonderful art will be created.