Tag: art

Embrace Your Creativity, Promote Your Work

I was out this weekend looking at art. I didn’t really find much. Now that’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of stuff out there, there was. And for the most part it was going to stay out there. It left me feeling like I was becoming more and more lost in a flood of mediocrity. So when I got home I sat down at my computer and began looking for art on the web.
It’s amazing how the internet has opened the world of national and international clients to creative people, truly a good thing. But it has also opened the floodgates on a growing multitude of people who for no better way to say this are creative misfits.
This is not about them!
Many creative people I know are so frustrated they’re not sure they even want to continue promoting their work. They see themselves lost in a sea of people shouting, look at me!
What you need to understand very clearly is that people who buy their art at malls, or booths at flea markets don’t understand the creative process of one of a kind art. They are not collectors. They are redesigning some space and filling up their walls. And while a bit of education might move them in the right direction, the truth is most of them will never “get” what you do. So stop looking at that stuff out there as anything other than poor design mostly made with inferior quality materials and basically nothing more than filler.
The people who will buy your work, the people you are marketing to, are smart enough to see the quality regardless of how the economy is doing. Their good taste in collecting doesn’t disappear because money is tight They don’t suddenly run out and buy some cheap crap. You know better!
Now is the time to embrace your creativity, time to work it hard. It’s also the time to promote your work to stay on top of your art marketing and to start the kind of conversations with your audiences that shows your confidence. Create quality work that fits a smaller price point if that’s what you need. Just remember the world of creativity is filled with white noise. Use this as a backdrop for a clear voice that offers a consistent quality. Collectors are still looking for the best work out there. They aren’t going to settle so don’t you.

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Driving With Your Artistic License

Creating art is a journey and traveling it can be a very rewarding experience. Learning about technique through reading books and magazines and watching videos or talking to other artists is like looking out the windshield. Hands on painting and sculpting, the act of creating, needs to fill miles. There is no substitute for doing!

When you first got in a car you were sure you couldn’t drive. You probably even said it to yourself. I can’t do this, I’m not sure what I’m doing, and you may even believe you weren’t any good at it. Get over it. You are allowed to become an artist, tell yourself so! The process of creating art is fun and filled with mistakes and happy accidents that I guarantee will make you smile. So go along with it and have fun. That’s why you started.

My first few cars were beaters that ran on maypops (worn out tires). As the cars got better so did the experience of driving. Your art is the same. Cheap quality brushes and paint will have a lasting effect on painting that IS NOT GOOD. Use better quality materials and you will quickly find that the work you create will be better in quality. And you know that it’s hard enough to create without having to deal with the frustration that is caused by inferior quality brushes and paint.

Having artistic license means that you have a responsibility to driving the creative process. Make it interesting. You don’t have to travel down the same roads day after day. Experiment with getting from one point to another. Instead of long careful brushstrokes across a landscape, dab and stroke blotches to see how they relate to the rest of the surface. Instead of pressing forward with your eyes open, squint at the artwork. See the tonal relationship that makes up your art. Color can be important but tones and their relationships are part of the variety that makes a work of art. By changing the size, shape, color and texture of elements in a painting, you are creating an interesting visual environment that a viewer will be pleased to visit. This is the importance of using your artistic license.

Your journey will put you in touch with the elements of design, the rule of thirds and maybe even an exploration of the golden triangle. You will play with cool and warm colors and tints and use them to create depths and perceptions. Your textures might create movement across the surface where you make your marks. And who knows what medium you will choose to express your ideas. Your artistic license will not be revoked for mistakes or experiments. Enjoy the journey!

 

 

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Strappo Art Printmaking

 

I have recently had the opportunity to reform a friendship with an artist I knew in Levittown, NY. Harold Garde was a subtle art influence in my early development. His daughter and I were high school friends which led to hanging out at each other’s homes.  This of course put me in contact with her father Harold. After high school we again crossed paths in art classes he taught at the local community college.

I moved on with my life, he with his until both of us wandered into a gallery opening in central Florida. When I heard his name mentioned I introduced myself. After the fog of some 30 years was cleared away we found we liked each other’s art and enjoyed talking about of all things, art! This led to discussions about a technique that Harold developed and named “Strappo”. This technique is a printmaking monotype dry acrylic image transfer that has been recognized by the New York Metropolitan Museum. A sample of the strappo image is in the museum print library collection.

Specifically the Strappo technique is a combination of two procedures.

The initial process is developing an acrylic painting on a piece of clear glass. In my experience the glass used should be 8 x 10 inches or smaller to start off, my preference being 6 x 8 inches. If you have never painted this way there are a few things you should remember.

·       You are painting in an opposite progression and in reverse

·       So if you paint a background first and cover the entire surface, you will not be able to add any elements

·       If you paint images with dark edges, you will want to do the edges first.

·       Your paint will need to be thick and dry between layers.

I have found that keeping a wet cloth and a razor blade at hand for mistakes have helped in my compositions. Remember it will be easier if you plan out some of the elements of the images in your work. Once the work is completely developed and dried, to thicken the acrylic skin of the painting, additional layers of acrylic gesso should be added.

The second step is the image transfer process.  Fresh coats of acrylic gesso are applied both to the back of the glass plate and on the sheet where the image will be placed. To avoid any undue frustration place the image to be transferred on a sheet of paper with extra space around the edges. Some artists like large white areas around their work while others prefer only enough to provide an edge before the matting. Make sure weight is applied to insure bonding of the gesso layers as they dry. Once dry, the glass can be peeled away from the image leaving the monotype transferred on the paper and the glass plate left clean. You might need a thin blade to remove any dry anchor that might have formed along the edge of the glass to help coaxed the process.  The image having been developed on the glass surface will be exactly as it was painted and very smooth at once creating unique tactile and visual qualities.

Strappo lends itself to some interesting challenges as you work. Perspective and balance take on new meaning as you explore the picture plane. And I think I should mention that the finished art can at once stand alone or be introduced into another finished piece. Harold Garde has a significant body of Strappo work on display at MOFA, the Museum of Florida Art in Deland Fl. Also on display is a permanent installation of his piece Iconoclass that measures 8 feet by 24 feet. This is the 1st unveiling of the fully assembled original Iconoclass mural in 35 years.

 

 

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Art Core Newsletter Aug/Sept Online Now

The Art Core Aug/Sept newsletter edition is now online  And it’s still FREE

The feature Interview is with Louise P Sloane whose work focuses on geometric forms, grids, repetitive motifs and lushly layered color with a fascination with mark making as a fundamental principal

A article by  Jeremy Fitz  on Robert Raushenberg an American Collage Artist


‘What is Art’ by Liam Huston of www.theopening.us   The answer may surprise you!

‘Woven Art as an Art Form’ by Judith Schwartz  Although associated primarily with fabric and two-dimensional swaths of cloth, weaving as a medium provides a large range of possibilities for sculpture.

“An Incredible American Collage Artist Named Robert Raushenberg ” by Jeremy Fitz

And a Quick Look at the amazing work of  Astrid Fitzgerald 

 

 

 

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Where Art Begins, A Visual Language

I believe that everyone wants to express some inner mood or feeling through a visual language that others can understand. Rembrandt, aside from all his other incredible work, expressed his inner exploration through self portraits. Dozens of these works span his lifetime, giving expression to a visual language that speaks about each separate period in his life. Other artists froze moments in humanity creating not just a picture of a time but a feeling. Still others stripped the image bare and gave us pure emotion, movement, texture or color and let us decide what we are seeing. Sculptors have presented us with ideals of the human form. Others have created assemblages that move us to examine our own beliefs. Others create environments where we can let our own ideas run amuck. So I guess where I’m going with this very scaled down anthology of the history of art is that ART BEGINS EVERYWHERE.

And visual thinking is at the core of it all. I know some people will jump up and ask about all those other senses. But think about it. In fact let’s take the time to explore a simple idea that will become one of the most complicated examples I can present.

In your mind picture a house.  Did you picture a suburban ranch with three bedrooms, an apartment in a crowded city, a hut in an open landscape or the mansion of your dreams. Was the feeling happy, sad, disgust, envy or maybe even a sense of longing?  Take the time and listen to the sounds around your imagined house. Be aware of what’s going on around the house. Can you smell cooking or a new mowed lawn or the accumulation of garbage along the side of the house? When we perceive an object, in this case a house, we are conscious of it through all our senses but we know it through a variety of cues and associations related to our visual language. The more developed the language the deeper the meaning of the object. If we picture garbage we can smell it, if we see an empty room we sense its lack of life.

It is in our ability to go beyond our growth in this visual awareness past the limits of our sensory impressions and definitions that will allow us to know where art begins.

I will continue this exploration in future installments

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