My mentor
http://littlejohncontemporary.com/McBain/index.html
Another mentor, wish we spoke more often.
http://www.raycaesar.com
Incredible paintings
http://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/sundsten/sundsten.html
Phenomenal work
http://www.digitalatelier.com/artist.html
Friday, July 29, 2005
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Why they buy
Mood: Reading
Listening to: Everyday is exactly the same ~ Nine Inch Nails
Reading: The Secret Life of Bees ~ Sue Monk Kidd
Watching: Art 21
For some of us it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why do
people buy art? How do they choose? What motivates them? If I
had fifty cents for every time someone has asked this over the
past few years, I could purchase that new Bentley.
I once painted a Dalmatian that was jumping up and kissing a
girl who was wearing a spotted dress. It wasn't anybody's
typical subject. Over a period of twenty years I sent that
painting to thirteen different galleries. Every time it came
back I shipped it off again to somewhere else. I liked the
painting. One fine day, surprise, surprise, there was a cheque
in the mail and a note that caught my eye--"Girl with
Dalmatian"--16 x 20--sold.
By telephone the dealer told me that the man who bought it had
a Dalmatian and three daughters. This confirmed to me that one
of the main motivators is simply "connection." Look at it this
way--paintings are on a quest to find someone. The darling
things are just seeking a little love. And if they don't give,
they don't get. It's my feeling that for every painting, no
matter how obtuse, there's somebody. But if what a work of art
has to give is pretty esoteric, like my Dalmatian, it might
take some time. And art that gives less may take until
doomsday.
Before I get ambushed for talking about "catering," I'll
mention some of the other reasons people buy. It's not that
anyone has to pay attention to any of this--in some ways it's a
waste of energy--but these are the facts: People buy because
they are sold--either by someone else or themselves. They buy
because they want to enhance their lives. Because what they see
reminds them of something. Because there's a story behind the
art or the artist. Because they want to get rid of
money--sometimes lots of it. They want to invest. They need to
make a gift. Their neighbors have something like it. They want
to look smart, sensitive or clever. They want to have something
on the wall. They already have a taupe chesterfield or a maroon
Berber carpet. They want to encourage somebody or become a
benefactor. Like a Bentley owner, they may just want to look
good. And last but not least, they may actually buy because for
some unknown, deep-seated, atavistic reason they can't explain,
they just can't live without it. These last are the buyers you
feel like jumping up on and kissing.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "When you do a thing with your whole soul and everything
that is noble within you, you always find your counterpart."
(Camille Pissarro)
Esoterica: Popular, mature artists often find the going gets
easier. Collectors finally get the idea that they "need to get
a Bloggs." This is fortunate for Bloggs, who has paid his dues.
These collectors, who tend to be the wealthier holdouts, may
even pass up something better (and cheaper) by someone else, in
order to get the Bloggs they now think they ought to own. This
injustice is not lost on young artists. Youth has a wisdom that
age knows not of. Age has a cumulative advantage that
frustrates youth's dreams.
As always, used with permission from Robert Genn.
Listening to: Everyday is exactly the same ~ Nine Inch Nails
Reading: The Secret Life of Bees ~ Sue Monk Kidd
Watching: Art 21
For some of us it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why do
people buy art? How do they choose? What motivates them? If I
had fifty cents for every time someone has asked this over the
past few years, I could purchase that new Bentley.
I once painted a Dalmatian that was jumping up and kissing a
girl who was wearing a spotted dress. It wasn't anybody's
typical subject. Over a period of twenty years I sent that
painting to thirteen different galleries. Every time it came
back I shipped it off again to somewhere else. I liked the
painting. One fine day, surprise, surprise, there was a cheque
in the mail and a note that caught my eye--"Girl with
Dalmatian"--16 x 20--sold.
By telephone the dealer told me that the man who bought it had
a Dalmatian and three daughters. This confirmed to me that one
of the main motivators is simply "connection." Look at it this
way--paintings are on a quest to find someone. The darling
things are just seeking a little love. And if they don't give,
they don't get. It's my feeling that for every painting, no
matter how obtuse, there's somebody. But if what a work of art
has to give is pretty esoteric, like my Dalmatian, it might
take some time. And art that gives less may take until
doomsday.
Before I get ambushed for talking about "catering," I'll
mention some of the other reasons people buy. It's not that
anyone has to pay attention to any of this--in some ways it's a
waste of energy--but these are the facts: People buy because
they are sold--either by someone else or themselves. They buy
because they want to enhance their lives. Because what they see
reminds them of something. Because there's a story behind the
art or the artist. Because they want to get rid of
money--sometimes lots of it. They want to invest. They need to
make a gift. Their neighbors have something like it. They want
to look smart, sensitive or clever. They want to have something
on the wall. They already have a taupe chesterfield or a maroon
Berber carpet. They want to encourage somebody or become a
benefactor. Like a Bentley owner, they may just want to look
good. And last but not least, they may actually buy because for
some unknown, deep-seated, atavistic reason they can't explain,
they just can't live without it. These last are the buyers you
feel like jumping up on and kissing.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "When you do a thing with your whole soul and everything
that is noble within you, you always find your counterpart."
(Camille Pissarro)
Esoterica: Popular, mature artists often find the going gets
easier. Collectors finally get the idea that they "need to get
a Bloggs." This is fortunate for Bloggs, who has paid his dues.
These collectors, who tend to be the wealthier holdouts, may
even pass up something better (and cheaper) by someone else, in
order to get the Bloggs they now think they ought to own. This
injustice is not lost on young artists. Youth has a wisdom that
age knows not of. Age has a cumulative advantage that
frustrates youth's dreams.
As always, used with permission from Robert Genn.
Creative Efficiency
Cross posting some favorite Robert Genn weekly newsletters.
Mood: Reading
Listening to: Vienna ~ Ultravox
Reading: The Impossible will take a little while PR. Loeb
Watching: Art 21
Back in the dark ages I used to take whole days to stretch
canvases or build shipping crates. I rationalized that I
needed the exercise and the change of pace. One day I realized
that all I was getting was substandard canvases, shaky crates,
and blue fingers. It was really all about avoidance. I saw
that I needed to spend more time working up my ideas and
performing my art. And in my main focus--in those things that I
figured I did best--I had to be more efficient.
Creative efficiency powers creative acts. I've noticed that
artists who develop their own unique efficiencies--time-motion
improvements, paint-order expediencies, labour-saving
devices--tend to do fresher and more interesting work. Boring
art, I notice, is often performed by bored artists who happen
to be stuck in one process rut or another. At the risk of
leaving out some good ones, here's a short bombardment of
studio efficiencies that you might find useful:
Have your canvases or supports made to your specifications by
pros. Carry out dull jobs such as priming and varnishing in
assembly-line manner. Give thought to your current processes
and habits. Study your workstation to try to limit areas of
awkwardness. See that things are handy. Know your tools, their
individual wisdom and capabilities. Pre-mix colours when
possible and avoid the tedium of re-matching. Use glazes (if
appropriate) to tone down, pull together, or to execute
otherwise difficult gradations. Use rags, scraping devices,
sticks, sponges, etc., to add shorthand variety to your range
of effects. Never underestimate the value of sponges--they suck
up and they put down. Rethink the order that you normally do
things. Cut back on time-wasters--the procedural ones and the
two-footed kind. Do your work in a logical and yet creative
order. While you're at it, re-evaluate your workplace
furnishings. A hard, spring-backed, armless, rolling chair, for
example, can lessen position fatigue and other problems. Know
that your peculiar efficiencies keep you up front as captain.
Creative efficiency hones style.
"What could be?" is my question for all seasons. Here's another
for the studio wall: "Do I have to do this in the same way that
I've done it previously?"
Best regards,
Sponge Bob
PS: "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the
noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists
in the elimination of nonessentials." (Lin Yutang)
Esoterica: Efficiency frees the creative spirit. The idea is
to clear the deck for maximum inventive flow. The idea is to
make it possible to let go and surrender to the "queen-bee
syndrome." "You cannot govern the creative impulse; all you can
do is to eliminate obstacles and smooth the way for it." (Kimon
Nicolaides)
As always, used with permission of Robert Genn.
Mood: Reading
Listening to: Vienna ~ Ultravox
Reading: The Impossible will take a little while PR. Loeb
Watching: Art 21
Back in the dark ages I used to take whole days to stretch
canvases or build shipping crates. I rationalized that I
needed the exercise and the change of pace. One day I realized
that all I was getting was substandard canvases, shaky crates,
and blue fingers. It was really all about avoidance. I saw
that I needed to spend more time working up my ideas and
performing my art. And in my main focus--in those things that I
figured I did best--I had to be more efficient.
Creative efficiency powers creative acts. I've noticed that
artists who develop their own unique efficiencies--time-motion
improvements, paint-order expediencies, labour-saving
devices--tend to do fresher and more interesting work. Boring
art, I notice, is often performed by bored artists who happen
to be stuck in one process rut or another. At the risk of
leaving out some good ones, here's a short bombardment of
studio efficiencies that you might find useful:
Have your canvases or supports made to your specifications by
pros. Carry out dull jobs such as priming and varnishing in
assembly-line manner. Give thought to your current processes
and habits. Study your workstation to try to limit areas of
awkwardness. See that things are handy. Know your tools, their
individual wisdom and capabilities. Pre-mix colours when
possible and avoid the tedium of re-matching. Use glazes (if
appropriate) to tone down, pull together, or to execute
otherwise difficult gradations. Use rags, scraping devices,
sticks, sponges, etc., to add shorthand variety to your range
of effects. Never underestimate the value of sponges--they suck
up and they put down. Rethink the order that you normally do
things. Cut back on time-wasters--the procedural ones and the
two-footed kind. Do your work in a logical and yet creative
order. While you're at it, re-evaluate your workplace
furnishings. A hard, spring-backed, armless, rolling chair, for
example, can lessen position fatigue and other problems. Know
that your peculiar efficiencies keep you up front as captain.
Creative efficiency hones style.
"What could be?" is my question for all seasons. Here's another
for the studio wall: "Do I have to do this in the same way that
I've done it previously?"
Best regards,
Sponge Bob
PS: "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the
noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists
in the elimination of nonessentials." (Lin Yutang)
Esoterica: Efficiency frees the creative spirit. The idea is
to clear the deck for maximum inventive flow. The idea is to
make it possible to let go and surrender to the "queen-bee
syndrome." "You cannot govern the creative impulse; all you can
do is to eliminate obstacles and smooth the way for it." (Kimon
Nicolaides)
As always, used with permission of Robert Genn.
Countdown
Hard to believe I only have 3 more days at work and then I am finished working as a professional hair colorist. It has indeed been a few years coming.
This weekend should be nuts, have the last day of work on Saturday and the girls return home to Florida at the butt-crack of dawn on Sunday morning. Peace, quiet and a clean house (well cleaNER) will reign once again in our household, huzzah! I can get my mind back again. And the girls are lovely at 8 and 11, but focusing on children completely for 2-3 months of ones life is not something I find fun everyday...I know, I sound like a cold hearted bitch, at least I am honest...If not in real life then here.
It has been bittersweet some days saying farewell to my clients, others I breathe a sigh of relief that I will not see again in a service capacity. Well at least I won't have to touch them again lol. This is much is certain, the next 3 days will be mentally and physically exhausting. I am very much looking forward to not having to use so much steroid ointment just to keep healthy skin on my hands from the onslaught of so many oxidative chemicals. Another Huzzah!
August is going to be nuts, with me helping mom de-junk and sort through a lifetime of memories (my childhood is buried in boxes all over that house). Should be interesting and again exhausting, Heck returning to Cornish should be a breeze after the madness of this summer. I told B that next year I will be in Italy lol.
B and I have been doing great at Weight Watchers, it's really fun to go with your partner. We both did suprisingly well at our weigh-in on Tuesday, considering we had gone up to Victoria B.C. for the weekend with mom. I have such a weak spot for any type of British pastry (think turkey pies and sausage rolls), thank goodness I don't have much of a sweet tooth.
Cleaning my house keeps my sane while the kids are here...It's a constant cycle of me following them around with a mop as they infect my lovely house with dirt and clutter. Well, it might not be that bad but it sounds suitably melodramatic, which is appropriate.
This weekend should be nuts, have the last day of work on Saturday and the girls return home to Florida at the butt-crack of dawn on Sunday morning. Peace, quiet and a clean house (well cleaNER) will reign once again in our household, huzzah! I can get my mind back again. And the girls are lovely at 8 and 11, but focusing on children completely for 2-3 months of ones life is not something I find fun everyday...I know, I sound like a cold hearted bitch, at least I am honest...If not in real life then here.
It has been bittersweet some days saying farewell to my clients, others I breathe a sigh of relief that I will not see again in a service capacity. Well at least I won't have to touch them again lol. This is much is certain, the next 3 days will be mentally and physically exhausting. I am very much looking forward to not having to use so much steroid ointment just to keep healthy skin on my hands from the onslaught of so many oxidative chemicals. Another Huzzah!
August is going to be nuts, with me helping mom de-junk and sort through a lifetime of memories (my childhood is buried in boxes all over that house). Should be interesting and again exhausting, Heck returning to Cornish should be a breeze after the madness of this summer. I told B that next year I will be in Italy lol.
B and I have been doing great at Weight Watchers, it's really fun to go with your partner. We both did suprisingly well at our weigh-in on Tuesday, considering we had gone up to Victoria B.C. for the weekend with mom. I have such a weak spot for any type of British pastry (think turkey pies and sausage rolls), thank goodness I don't have much of a sweet tooth.
Cleaning my house keeps my sane while the kids are here...It's a constant cycle of me following them around with a mop as they infect my lovely house with dirt and clutter. Well, it might not be that bad but it sounds suitably melodramatic, which is appropriate.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Randomness
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng istaht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
___________________________________________
For you lovers of good writing, these are the 10 winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton contest --AKA Dark and Stormy Night Contest-- (run by the English Dept. of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel.
10) "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."
9) "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."
8 ) "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."
7) "Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... Andre creep... Andre creep.'"
6) "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."
5) "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."
4) "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."
3) "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."
2) "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."
AND THE WINNER IS.....
1) "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, 'You lied!"
______________________________________________
Take the quiz: "Which American City Are You?"
Seattle
Your dark exterior masks a caffeine driven activism. You'll take up a cause and you'll get ugly to advance it.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
___________________________________________
For you lovers of good writing, these are the 10 winners of this year's Bulwer-Lytton contest --AKA Dark and Stormy Night Contest-- (run by the English Dept. of San Jose State University), wherein one writes only the first line of a bad novel.
10) "As a scientist, Throckmorton knew that if he were ever to break wind in the echo chamber, he would never hear the end of it."
9) "Just beyond the Narrows, the river widens."
8 ) "With a curvaceous figure that Venus would have envied, a tanned, unblemished oval face framed with lustrous thick brown hair, deep azure-blue eyes fringed with long black lashes, perfect teeth that vied for competition, and a small straight nose, Marilee had a beauty that defied description."
7) "Andre, a simple peasant, had only one thing on his mind as he crept along the East wall: 'Andre creep... Andre creep... Andre creep.'"
6) "Stanislaus Smedley, a man always on the cutting edge of narcissism, was about to give his body and soul to a back alley sex-change surgeon to become the woman he loved."
5) "Although Sarah had an abnormal fear of mice, it did not keep her from eeking out a living at a local pet store."
4) "Stanley looked quite bored and somewhat detached, but then penguins often do."
3) "Like an over-ripe beefsteak tomato rimmed with cottage cheese, the corpulent remains of Santa Claus lay dead on the hotel floor."
2) "Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear'; a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death -- in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."
AND THE WINNER IS.....
1) "The sun oozed over the horizon, shoved aside darkness, crept along the greensward, and, with sickly fingers, pushed through the castle window, revealing the pillaged princess, hand at throat, crown asunder, gaping in frenzied horror at the sated, sodden amphibian lying beside her, disbelieving the magnitude of the frog's deception, screaming madly, 'You lied!"
______________________________________________
Take the quiz: "Which American City Are You?"
Seattle
Your dark exterior masks a caffeine driven activism. You'll take up a cause and you'll get ugly to advance it.
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