artid

When things go wrong and Palette knife painting. I took me a long time to start dealing with anything that was artistic after my children were born. There was always something else to do. I seemed to have lost the ability to concentrate on anything but my family for a while. Even reading was impossible, as I could never relax enough to grab a book for at least 15 minutes. When my kids both started going to school (relief!) I investigated the local Community Arts Center, and discovered that they were offering a colored pencil drawing class. As when I was in Art school, attention to details was de rigueur, I decided that colored pencils were going to be for me. And indeed, for several years, they were. I relished in the meditation that the most tedious details drive you to… Continue reading… 2 comments

The Art World is Elliptical www.garypetersonart.com/wiselink.html for full diagram. An artist interprets objects for the viewer but something always gets lost, added, or changed in translation. Art seldom takes the direct route from object to subject. Distortion increases as the path deviates. Call it "artistic expression." Three-way relationships are algebraic, so I've based a schematic of visual perception on the ellipse with the object and subject being at either focus. To give the artist equal weight in the equation, an equilateral triangle dictates the height. Note that the term "object" also means "referent," but becomes "concept" in the case of abstract art. This elliptical boundary separates the aesthetic from prosthetic: fine art from eye candy… Continue reading… 6 comments

I have become very interested lately in letterforms as abstract symbols. The workhorses of language, they often go unappreciated as design elements and beautiful shapes unto themselves. As recognizable shapes that represent language our brain needs them to mean something. When they are unfamiliar forms that do not represent a concept to us, they become more of a design, as in Asian calligraphy. The hairpins remind me of the arches in m's and n's… Continue reading… 4 comments

This is one of those pieces that started out in my head much differently. I just happen to have a black cat with crazy whiskers just like Jack's and he often has one eye open when he's meditating and doesn't want to miss anything. After tons of sketches and variations, I was satisfied with the cat shape and the paper combinations... and there it sat, for months. I would walk by it in my studio and ask "What do you need?"(cat got your tongue?) sorry, bad pun. When I got together with my PQ friends they would groan "Are you still working on that?" It just wasn't coming together. The space on the left of the cat was longing for something, a tree, a mouse hole, a window, a door? Oh what the heck, let's try mice… Continue reading… 1 comment

I was reading Deb Ward's blog about making resolutions to challenge yourself artistically and it really resonated with something I have been thinking about lately. I read a lot of artist's bios that describe themselves as "self taught" which is fine, you can learn a great deal on your own especially if you have the discipline to look, read and practice. Whether you are self taught, art school trained, have a post graduate degree or are internationally famous, it's still a great skill sharpener to take a class. Any class. Everything is related. I am primarily a paper and calligraphic artist and one gift I give myself every now and again is a drawing class. I am so NOT a painter but a watercolor painting class taught me a great deal about surfaces, tools and humility… Continue reading… 3 comments

Many creative people experience a lull in their work. Writer's block, painter's block, whatever name you give it, the feeling of being uninspired is disturbing especially when it continues for an uncomfortable amount of time. I hear many artists sheepishly admit, "I haven't done a thing since I saw you last." or "I used to paint but raising a family, a house and a job just doesn't leave me any time." It's OK. Our creative life is a well. Full sometimes and low another. A great outpouring of creativity will sometimes leave the well dry. What a gift! Now is the time to fill up your well. Fill your brain with images and color combinations, compositions and concepts. The more frustrated we become, the more we block that which can inspire us… Continue reading… 5 comments

I'd just like to say at the outset, that the word "Blog" is one of the ugliest words to come on the cyber-speak scene. Therefore, I am using the term "MyLog" instead. In the coming months I will bore you with my un-asked for opinion on a variety of subjects, answer questions if there are any, and tell some funny stories. More than likely it will be of interest to only me. If someone posts a mylog and no one reads it, does it make a sound? I have kept a written journal since I was 17 and sure my life was over. That was a lot of years and volume upon volume of self indulgent crap, ago. I like the sheer act of writing,the sound of the pen conversing with the paper, the movement and the quiet. My journals remind me of how I felt that day, that hour, in that circumstance… Continue reading… 3 comments

By Kathryn Good-Schiff If I had kids, this is one of those stories I'd tell them dozens of times, until they rolled their eyes: I had an art teacher and he changed my life. He turned my ideas of color inside out, and my ideas of subject matter upside down. He took my art history class on a field trip to a junkyard. He showed slides of graffiti he'd found inside abandoned buildings. He taught at my small private school for four years, long enough to shock some parents and just long enough to affect me forever.… Continue reading… 1 comment