Latino Authors & Writers Society

The Latino Authors & Writers Society is recruiting new members!

New York City, NY, May 14, 2012 Latino Authors & Writers Society was started to help aspiring and published Latino writers and members of the publishing industry get together for networking, the sharing ideas and information, for readings and support, and just for fun. They also have an annual writer's conference! Anyone and everyone are invited to join, especially those that are interested in contemporary Latino literature! Latino Authors & Writers Society meet the last Friday of every month at the Deja Vu Booklounge located at E.112th Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, starting at 6:30pm.

This year the Society will have its second annual writers' conference on Saturday, October 6th, 2012. The conference will be dedicated to Piri Thomas and Louis Reyes Rivera, two venerable Latino authors that have recently passed away. For more information, please visit our website at: www.latinoauthorsociety.com, or check out our page on Meetup.com!

Interesting how a change in the weather can influence the mood of a painting. After a week of rain a perfectly sunny, glorious Saturday morning heightened my awareness of the depth of shadows beneath a row of trees. My enthusiasm for the dance of light before me lead me to this interpretation developing a blue theme. I think this painting communicates the joy this day inspired. Pierre Bonnard said "Art will never be able to exist without nature." For many people landscape painting is the only expression of the relation of art to nature. But, of course, nature is as much the subject of abstract art as representational art. Representational landscape painters use abstraction to create images that a viewer will accept as transcriptions of a natural scene. The artist knows his process is one of selecting and arranging details to suit the priorities of composition so that his viewer's eyes move comfortably through the painting. He consciously selects some feature of the scene as a center of interest. A landscape artist works his imagination on the natural setting before him and that is what distinguishes a good representational painting from a photograph. The photographer must shoot many images looking for a composition and a photo that elicits the mood he wants to capture. The artist must search his soul and create a composition that communicates his experience.
An abstract painter does not have the luxury of intriguing a viewer with a sense of familiarity with a place, perhaps a nostalgia for a certain locale. His scene is new territory, hopefully something the viewer has not seen before. He must capture the essence of his experience of nature and his only connection to the view is honesty. An abstract painting that intrigues is one that does not dissemble or parade technical tricks but somehow manages to feel like lived experience.

SAMPLE ONLY, the actual painitng is in pre-production composition at this time. This will be a Team portrait of the 2012 NBA Champs the Miami Heat full active roster. This will be a HUGE 8 4 × 8' panel totalling 32' x 8' life-size portrait of the entire 15 man 2012 active roster plus coach Eric Spoelstra. This is intended for display in the American Airlines Arena, then at the Heat Corporate Offices, lastly for sale at our gallery at the Art Center on Lincoln Rd in South Beach.It is expected to be priced at $20,000 when offerred for sale.

This is a picture of one of the videos I did and you can see it on youtube. It is a mixed media stillife. I have had requests for dvd's and so I will be selling them as they are asked for. I sold my painting I did of "The Secret Place" which was a video. All my paintings I have done as video's are for sale. Just e-mail me to MGDillie706@aol.com and I will let you know if it is available. This painting is still with me. I hope you will look me up. I spend a lot of time doing videos, as I feel it is a way to teach others. I get many comments that they are appreciated and helpful to them. I also keep my prices low so that others may enjoy my work. Hoping to hear from you. Millie Gift Smith

After polo season in Florida)

After my trip to Russia I wanted to start paint in watercolors again. My roses are crying sometimes)

I have been picking out artists who are my favorites, and who also deserve to be called great because of the nature of their enterprise. Many of my favorite artists are not "great" in this sense; they are modest and unassuming in their scope and intentions. A good example is the artist with whom I feel the greatest natural affinity: John Constable. But before turning to Constable, I thought I should give homage to his truly great English contemporary, William Turner.

It is hard to like Turner as a human being; he was rather a nasty man, secretive, suspicious, paranoid. He is famed for going into the Royal Academy exhibition during "drying days" (when the show had beeen hung, the public were not yet admitted, and presumably artists were applying a final coat of varnish) and retouching his work with color deliberately calculated to "kill" the color in the neighboring works. He also would not give the time of day to young aspiring artists who sought his help or advice; how unlike his French contemporary Corot! If a young artist was destitute and starving, he would paint a fake "Corot" and take it to the master, who would sign it so that the youngster could sell it to hold off the wolf at the door.

But what Turner accomplished as an artist was truly remarkable. He went much further and faster in dissolving form in light than did the impressionists, and as a result looks remarkably modern even today. He took an Italianate tradition of landscape suffused in light, and took it quickly to its logical conclusion. It is facinating to compare the early "Dido Building Carthage", very much an homage to the 17th century artist Claude Lorraine, with any of his later landscapes, in which everything is freed from the constraints of solid form.

However, I think it is wrong to see Turner just as "almost abstract". However much his work seems to anticipate the "Compositions" of Kandinsky, the underlying impulse is different: Turner is at heart a naturalist. Far from trying to break from associations with the natural world, he is asking you to reach for them! A look at "Sunrise, Norham Castle" shows what I mean: The first impression is a swirl of meaningless color and light, but the figure of the deer drinking at the water's edge starts us on our way to interpretation. From the deer we get the water, which gradually distinguishes itself from the land, and ultimately the form of the castle itself becomes perceptible. If you are looking at it as Turner intended, you will end up with the entire scene.

Turner was legendary for his incredible visual memory. He could experience a sunset, or a storm at sea, and without sketches, return to the studio days later to recreate it. This is for me the core of his genius.

I will be leaving for Hawaii soon. This is one of the many trips that I have taken there over the past 45+ years.Hawaii is my home away from home. Each year when the Spring weather is starting to turn towards Summer, I escape the heat of Arizona,and make my way to the Islands to Photograph some of the beauty that awaits me~ There is much to see,much to do,and no matter how many times I go back,it always offers me new rewards~

This trip I will focus on Maui, more than the other islands. I will go to Kula, which is in upcountry, and I will get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for awhile. I will also visit Hana and Kehei and get some delightful shots of their daily lifestyle. I will visit Haleakala, and the spiritual "Heiau"... I will take in all that mother nature allows; and when I am ready, I will return to Kaanapali, Kapalua and Lahaina, the whaling port,where there is more activity going on,and I will undoubtedly visit the golf courses and the beaches~ I will visit friends and enjoy their company and stories~ All in all, Hawaii will provide me with a myriad of photographs that I will be able to share here with you! Some will be "spiritual" and some will be traditional....while others will be just for fun! I am Hawaii bound,and I smile as I complete this page,knowing that paradise is just around the corner~ Aloha~

Humans live in arbitrary subjectivity. What does that mean?? Arbitrary:
Based on random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system.
(of power or a ruling body) Unrestrained and autocratic in the use of authority.
Subjectivity:
sub_·jec_·tive (sb-jktv)
adj.
1.
a. Proceeding from or taking place in a person__™s mind rather than the external world: a subjective decision.
b. Particular to a given person; personal: subjective experience.
2. Moodily introspective.
3. Existing only in the mind; illusory.
4. Psychology Existing only within the experiencer__™s mind.
5. Medicine Of, relating to, or designating a symptom or condition perceived by the patient and not by the examiner.
6. Expressing or bringing into prominence the individuality of the artist or author.
7. Grammar Relating to or being the nominative case.
8. Relating to the real nature of something; essential.

Arbitrary Subjectivity: The random choice or whim to live in an illusory world. It__™s all in your mind.
THERE IS NO ZEN in this.
Non subjectivity is the WAY

I am honored to be named among top pet Photographers in Philadelphia on CBS Philly website:

Top Places for Pet Photography in Philadelphia The photo is of one of my favorite Great Danes, Cappy.

To see additional artwork please visit: Lisa Phillips Fine Art Photography

To see my pet and children's photography please visit: Lisa Phillips Photography

I had a feeling that moving out of doors was definitely changing how I approach an abstract painting. I saw a distinct difference between what I had done before and what was happening in my most recent paintings. My friend, Jeffrey Boys, who is a real art historian, reminded me that we tend to forget that abstract paintings were once of two very distinct varieties: Abstract Expressionist and Abstract Impressionist. The latter term was coined by Elaine de Kooning to distinguish this type of painting from the action painting of the Abstract Expressionist movement. I have found forms growing more fluid and my brush strokes more reflective of my emotional state. I read that the Abstract Impressionists used short and intense brushstrokes or non-traditional application of paints and textures, done slowly and with purpose, using the passage of time as an asset and a technique. Also, I found that some of my favorite abstract artists Milton Resnick, Philip Guston, Sam Francis, Richard Poussette-Dart, and Jean-Paul Riopelle painted in this fashion. The brush strokes of this movement remind me of the work of Vincent Van Gogh. I find these artists painting with a very high level of emotional intensity.

This is a 8 × 10 pastel portrait that was done for a commission. I really love to do commission work. Aren't these beautiful dogs?

We are Artists and we like to think that we are outside the box. We want to create outside the box and be different than the norm. But the norm has become being different, unique. Everyone is an artist now. We have an app for that and a page on every social network that is "All About Me". Look at me. Look at how unique I am. Pick me, pick me. Now we all are Artists, and musicians, and cinematographers, and writers, and and and. We are important.
So here I am. Inside the Box. It can hang on the wall, tempting the viewer to voyeur inside. A player in the clouds of fantasy. The tuners waiting to be turned. Tune it up.
But no one will open the box. No one really wants to find out what's inside and what is inside is all there is.
Enlightenment.

Springtime happens to be my very favorite time of the year! This is so for many reasons; the first being that I look at it as a time of renewal, a time of re-birth. It is the time of the year when the flowers are blooming, even here in the desert, and the birds are up earlier, thus so am I!

Springtime means many things to me. It is when clocks are set forward, and we "Spring Ahead", rather than fall back. It is a time that I seem to have more energy just looking at all of the bright sunflowers and watching the tree's leaves return~ In any case, Spring also includes Easter, which is definitely a time for re-birth and renewal~It is a time for "New Life"

I have always loved Doves. They are a symbol of peace. I am fortunate to be living in an area of the United States where Doves frequent my abode. If you have followed my blogs from the past, you will know that Doves have a very significant place in my life. My Mother and I used to watch the Doves together every day on my back patio~ She loved watching them fly and land in my torch lamp, and a few years ago, one Mama Dove birthed her babies there~

We also used to read the Bible together, and my mother and I had a particular passage in Psalms that we loved to share. It is Psalms 55:6 and reads " Oh,that I had wings like a Dove, I would fly away and be at rest" When it came time for my mother to pass on, she told me that she would be back as a Dove, and I would know it was her for sure~

It has been 6 years since my mother's passing~ This Spring I have certainly felt her presence. In April, a Mama Dove, flew into my entry, which is adjoined by an open courtyard. She preferred the entry because I had a setee with many pillows there. In fact, I added even more pillows as it had rained and since the pillows in the courtyard chairs were uncovered, I decided to add them to the stack on the setee~

Mama Dove must have taken this as a welcome gesture, as she proceeded to bring twig after twig and build her nest there,as I watched daily with excitement..... After a few days, she had completed her task and begin her labor process. It was fun to take photos of her every day. You will see many in my art gallery named "At Birth". After about a week, she laid one small egg, then later (about two days later) she laid another...then her real "Labor of unconditional Love",began... as she deligently sat on her eggs, waiting for them to hatch~

After about another week plus, one baby was born. A few days later, the other "egg baby" hatched and was welcomed into this world. Mama,Dove was as proud of them as I was I feel gratitude in my heart for this wonderful blessing~ All life is precious, but "New Life" is special~

Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery is pleased to announce that its May 2012 art exhibition is now posted on their website and is ready to view online. The theme for this art exhibition is ____Nature__ and artists were asked to interpret the theme ____Nature by depicting the physical world. Nature____ was considered to be anything that was not created by or has been substantially altered by man.

An art competition was held in April 2012 which determined and judged the art for this exhibition. The gallery received submissions from 15 different countries from around the world and they also received entries from 35 different states. Overall, there were 821 entries from 229 different artists that were judged for this art competition.

Congratulations to the artists who have been designated as this month___™s category winners, along with the winning Special Recognition artists. The gallery commends all of the winning artists for their artistic skill and their creativity, as this online art exhibition is indicative of their creativity. To proceed to the gallery___™s ____Nature____ online art exhibition follow this link: http://www.lightspacetime.com/nature-art-exhibition-may-2012/