Well, there
is a lot going on for Martha and Rod this week. Martha has been busy refining
her horse paintings and creating yet more Spanish Dancers. I really like how
her horse paintings are coming. For years she avoided painting horses, then, I
guess after doing a couple of her famous Dancing Zebras (the stripes are
dancing women), she apparently got over her issues with painting horses. In point
of fact horses present some unique challenges for drawing and painting… I know I
drew a few some years ago. Also, I think the fact that she didn’t have anything for
the Fur, Feathers and Scales show at Two Rivers Gallery kind of got to her that
she really has left horses out of her work for too long.
And,
speaking of Two Rivers Gallery, we had our First Friday opening reception on (what
else) Friday. I was really pleased with the interest that my new digital
paintings generated… particularly from some of the other artists there. Everybody
wanted to know how I created these pieces. I love explaining this, but I really
hope someone will love them enough to give them a good home.
Back to Martha
and her painting, I would have to say that for Martha it’s easy to paint a
horse with human like qualities in the eyes and expression, would
that qualify as “Experiential Embodied realism”, I wonder. The challenges
of a realistic horse, however, are different indeed. She has done these horses both ways.
They are all good, just different in style and intent. Right now she wants
realism. And, I would say she is getting it right.
And, while
she has been working on the horse paintings, I have been finding the right frames
for her new works. Just this week, I put her newly completed Spanish Dancer
which many readers will recall she did mostly while dancing live at the NuArt
Gallery over Thanksgiving weekend into one of the frames I had picked up in CA
a year or so ago. Now I’m refurbishing more of these frames from CA., that came
from a closed-up frame shop there, to use with more of Martha’s new works. I
think some of these are perfect for the new horse paintings.
Earlier this
week, we had a young (well if 30 is young) Americorp/Vista Volunteer over to
the house. We really appreciate the work he is doing for the Together For DrugFree Youth organization in writing grants to get funds to create more murals in
the south side of Wenatchee where, there is a real need for more beautification
to fight urban blight and gang tagging. We wanted to show our appreciation and
offer our support for his efforts with a home cooked meal while he is so far
away from his home in Atlanta. For this he was very appreciative. He loved the
art in the house too, even my “Horse Lake House’ painting. We all had a grand time together eating,
talking and enjoying art, and, Martha and me learned a lot about AmeriCorps too.
This week,
for those who remember the 60’s, is the 50th anniversary of the
Rolling Stones. So; to commemorate this milestone, I decided to create a MickJagger / Rolling stones mixed-media collage. This is a fun project. It should
be done in a day or so. Hope I can remember where I put all the bits for this.
And, on
another front, this week I submitted my ‘Pybus Project Begins’ video to a
contest on the Wedia video sharing site. The video with the most likes wins a
GoPro Camera. Wish me luck.
Well, enough
for now. And, remember the immortal words of Scott Adams who said, “Creativity
is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” Have a very artful day.
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