November 27, 2008

I live in a small rural enclave that hosts artists, musicians, dancers and writers. A good portion of this population of creative types were reared elsewhere, in most cases larger cities or its surrounding suburbs.

Yesterday I was visited by Elizabeth a fabulous artist who is part of a multi-generational family of quilters. She told me of a close neighbor, John who just published a book (Riding on the Edge: A Motorcycle Outlaw's Tale), and though I did not know he was in the process of writing a book I was in no way surprised.

Whether inspired by our surroundings or the escape from what had been our "hood" the mountains of central Pennsylvania are bursting with creativity.

Peace Always

Sharon

October 3, 2008

"My Backyard" photo by Sharon Lee

"Hermit of Halfmoon Valley"
2006
acrylic on canvas
18" x 24"

Day after day I write this blog with the purpose of "explaining myself" as an artist and hopefully drumming up some interest in my art work. My art site can be accessed by clicking here.

When I decided to do a blog I thought consistency would be important and decided to try to write almost every day. I find myself writing much about non art things as you can't really separate real life from creating life it all melds together into one. Something noticed in a woods with my dog-it's bound to end up a part of an artist project. My thoughts were that the best way to sleuth my art is by telling the back story.

It would help if I could get some comments from you readers. In addition I'd like to experiment a bit and see what happens if each person who reads this blog passes the address to two other people. They can be offended by my work or like it either way their input will be interesting. So sorry to give homework on a Friday but please write a comment and send to me as well as pass this blog address on to two other people. Hopefully they will be interested in carrying on this assignment and also comment and send blog link to two other people. Will keep track of this experiment and tell you what happens.

Peace Always

Sharon

P.S. The Smokey the Zombie Bear series is now avaiable for sale on Ebay, Smokey the Zombie Bear I, Smokey the Zombie Bear II, Smokey the Zombie Bear III,Smokey the Zombie Bear IV

October 2, 2008

Peace Begins with Breakfast
2005
acrylic on canvas
48" x 29"

The most depressing thing about being an artist, and I would think this would be the same in most of the arts, is the contrast between the day-to-day creating and exposing your work and yourself to the public.

If I felt there was no redeeming value of art outside of one's studio, I would simply paint those subjects that I feel inspired to paint and fill my house with canvases. Going to a show opening is stressful for an introvert like myself but I feel that I am obligated to show what I have done. I am an artist and it is an artist's job to create art to inspire whether in thought deed or action.

Peace Always

Sharon
P.S. The Smokey the Zombie Bear series is now avaiable for sale on Ebay, Smokey the Zombie Bear I, Smokey the Zombie Bear II, Smokey the Zombie Bear III,Smokey the Zombie Bear IV

August 6, 2008

Part of today was spent pricing art work for the two person show coming up. The Gallery I will be working with gets 50% of the total price. I decided on a price for one of the larger paintings which is sized at 38" x 38". Next I multiplied 38" x 38" to get the square footage of the painting which is 1444". Assuming that a painting of this size could sell in the Pittburgh art market for about $3000 I then divided 1444 into 3000 which is 2.07 or $2.07 a square inch. I then had this formula to go by for pricing the rest of the art work.

July 1, 2008

Carnivale Cruise on the Cuyahoga by Sharon Lee
2003
acrylic on linen
34" x 26"

Today as I turned the calendar from June to July I glanced over the month's notes to see if I have any art shows I wish to enter this month. Whenever I get an application in the mail for an upcoming show that I am interested in I immediately enter a date two weeks before the submission deadline with the name of the show. I then put the paperwork in a file which I will go to when it's time (according to the calendar) to submit an application for a show. The two weeks gives me enough time to choose artwork to submit, fill out the application, procure a money order and get to the post office to send everything off to the show's committee. Sometimes these shows are months away and if it weren't for the pre-marked dates on my calendar I would forget about them.

This is not always a 100% fail proof system as I recently missed the deadline by one day when I carried an application around in my car for three days and never got to the Post Office. Some artists have a more sophisticated system of show entering including information on which pieces are being entered in which show. I would love to organize myself to this next level as I have on more than one occasion entered the same piece in two shows at the same time and got the same piece in both shows. When this happens the art goes to: first a show that has awarded me a prize and second the most prestigious show of the two.

When you fill out a show application you have every hope of getting in that show and on occasion will even imagine yourself winning a prize. Both sometimes happen, sometimes not. It's easiest to keep a tough skin around you and remember that most shows are being judged by a single person and the show is a reflection of what interests them not necessarily a reflection on the quality of your work.

June 13, 2008

Tonight I attended the high school graduation of the son of a close friend. If you've ever attended a graduation I'm sure you'll nod your head in agreement that most of it is fairly boring and yawn inspiring. Finally one of the speakers graceiously used his speaking time to quote someone who was much more a wordsmith than the speaker at the podeum. The poem quoted was Success by Ralph Waldo Emerson. First thing I did when I came home (after I heated a cup of chai, fed the animals and poured myself a bowl of rice cereal was to look up the quote on the computer with the idea that it might be useful in the context of today's post. The first site I go to states that it has been inaccuratly attributed to R.W.E. and was possibbly penned by another poet, Bessie Stanley. Nevertheless it is a nice poem and I am reproducing it here in this post


To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.



I have just put up the painting, "A Silver Titter Stole my Baby"" on Ebay. It is a painting I'm proud for artistically as well as socially. Please feel free to pass the link to friends and family members and if you are so inclined feel free to purchase this painting for yourself.


Peace always

Sharon

June 4, 2008

Today was a full day of rain and I had a mad idea that I could paint all day and finish this painting. Well I did paint most of the day but still no end in sight. I'm usually anxious at this stage as I start to get ideas for my next painting(s) and want to get started working on something new and fresh.


I wish I had something interesting to write but mentally I am drained so we will all have to settle for a picture being worth a thousand words (or at least a hundred or so)

Peace Always

Sharon

May 29, 2008

The painting sessions themselves are going much better although my time is so limited that it seems I just sit down, catch a groove and its time to move on. I think such is the life in central PA when the winter breaks and before we get the hot humid summer that causes every one to host a party, dance recital, dinner party, BBQ, etc. None the less I got some painting done. The two legs (barefoot) are god's feet. I decided to make him/her a female mostly because I liked the idea of cut-off shorts and painted toenails. One of the nails is not perfect-either chipped off or was bitten so even God appears to have a flaw.

From now on you will see two paintings one right side up and the second the view will be the direction it was left when I was done painting. Hope this isn't too confusing.

Peace always

Sharon

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.

April 27, 2008

It seems I missed a couple of days posting-must blame it on this spring cold I have. I would like to go back the "Untitled" piece, this time talking about the upper right quadrant. This was the first section I painted before I had almost a year break in finishing the rest of the painting. I painting the right top during the Thanksgiving season. I am usually stuck with all the preparation and clean-up for the Thanksgiving meal so I painted this to express how I felt about the daunting task of holiday meal preparation. The 3 women floating over me are women of the past. The one with the pants is my grandmother, one is the grandmother of one of the guest who was coming to eat with us and the third is my deceased mother-in-law. I feel that when you cook a traditional meal you don't cook alone but carry the influence of those who have done this task before. I also like to believe that the women of our past are still with us especially when we are doing something that is about the family. The colors in this quadrant are noticeable different from the others which is because my palette had changed slightly from one year to the next.

April 24, 2008

Well today's post is going to be short and sweet as I am battling a cold and do not have much energy for thinking and writing any thoughts. There are many days of the year that I am unable to paint (today being one of those days). Usually after finishing two or three paintings I take a small break to catch up on life responsibilities, try to earn some non-art income and move some dust around the house. Right before I start a new painting after such a break, I'll do a thorough cleaning of my studio. Two days ago it rained all day and I decided it was a perfect day to set the studio right. Besides the usual empty paint jars and hardened brushes I found gold paint from Japan, silk screen ink and some old rough drawings. It was interesting to uncover these items as it caused me to wonder where my mind was at when I used these supplies and/or drew these drawings and how I have evolved or changed since them.

April 23, 2008

In this post I would like to explain about some of the symbolism in the top left quadrant of the painting titled. "Untitled" At the time of painting this section I was helping a friend spackle an large room that he had just attached to his home. The woman below him is his wife who has her arms folded as if to say "What are you up to?" Between the man on the scaffolding and the woman with crossed arms is a window which shows my backyard which is visible in my painting studio. The eye over the roof and the lips represent paranoid. The person who is under the lamp is my daughter who was about to undergo heart surgery. At the time I imagined after her surgery she would lay outside on a blanket and lay under the sun to heal. The woman who is falling from the sky is a friend who's live was upside down. Lastly the pink triangle with the rainbow is a combination of the triangle from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, which I was listening to at the time and the traditional symbol that is used by gays.

April 14, 2008

I would have liked to continue the thread I had going for the past 2 days about the piece "Not Quite Dead", but today have to put my eldest dog down. No matter how hard I try to forget, I can't help watching the clock and thinking of the event that's about to occur. Jackson is a 10-1/2 year old Vizsla with a loving personality and an obsessive compulsive nature. Until he became really ill his main objective of the day was to love well and search out un-attended foods. Over the past few days I have been wondering aloud to him of all the wondeful things that await him once he has donned his worn out sick body. There will be plates filled high with food strew about for him to eat, open garbage pails filled with food, a lake with unlimited fresh drinking water, a soft warm bed and a body to curl up next to. His sight is back once again and he can race with his old friends Tuck and Magik, 2 greyhounds that used to run with him in the nearby woods. "This time", I tell him, "You will be in the lead".

I've decided tomorrow to stretch a canvas and start my next painting which will be tentatively named, "Jackson's Trip to Heaven". I intent is to document it'sstages in this blog recording the progress as I work including a photo of the painting at the end of each painting session. I have not yet approached a painting in this manner so it will be new to you the reader and me as well. In my next blog I will continue with writing about the piece "Not Quite Dead" (See April 12 & 13, 2008)