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.