Oil Painting- seeing color as value

This post is for the hard core artists who might stumble across my blog. As you've seen I don't regularly post because....I don't have a good reason why not. I just don't. BUT, here is a link to YT videos that I did and discusses the concept of color and value. There are two parts. If you punish yourself and make it through part 1, please grab another cup of your favorite beverage and watch part 2.

PART 1

PART 2

Colectivo Coffee- Corporate Christmas Party raffle item

I was invited back this year to paint at the corporate Bostik Christmas Party. Held at the Calatrava/Milwaukee Art Museum, it was a great event. This painting was a raffle item, won by a woman who frequents this coffee shop, Colectivo, in the Fourth Ward of Milwaukee. Completed in acrylic on 40x30 gallery wrap canvas over 4 hour period. I was able to snap a couple of progress photos (bottom up).

139 and Counting

For some dumb reason I walked into a closet I have downstairs and wondered how many paintings I had in there. So I started counting. These are paintings/drawings I've completed over the last 12 years.

10 years is about the amount of time I got "back into" my art. During 2000 when I lived in Grand Rapids, MI I took a class on figure drawing. It was fun. Then I found a local arts group called Grand Valley Artists, GVA. This was more fun, and I met some very well known national artists; Jim Markel PSA, Larry Blovets, and a few more. It got me back into art, something I had given up during the previous 10 years as I pursued a career and got married.

So around the house I went. And in the end...not counting a drawer full of smaller canvases and my "paper" box of sketches and pastel works: 139 pieces. I was kind of shocked. I've also got, without going to my inventory list, another 40 pieces at galleries and two dentist offices.

139 and still counting. I need to have a show, even if it's my own private show just to look at how far I've come as an artist. Maybe I'll do that. Stay tuned.

What It Is

So what is it to be an artist? Do you just roll out of bed one day and decide to create? People just aren't born and ready. They're inspired. By Life. The stories the artist tells, whether it be in words or pictures comes from a deep place within their sole. The heart becomes a place that is full of memories of the past and dreams for the future. So what is it to be an artist?

My story may be like so many others: I'm troubled about things. I bottle up feelings. I'm angry. I'm sad. I need love. I can't find love. I see things around me in this world that are troubling. I see beauty. I want to see God. Most don't. Can you believe?

We're all story tellers. Cover your mouth before you think! Words can get us into trouble. Actions get us into trouble. Anger, jealousy, rage...it's all around us. So we need an escape. We need a way to let those feelings out. So many of us try the seduction of booze and chemicals. Freedom from the bondage of self. It's all so momentary. The feeling is gone as fast as it happens. But we chase the dream. The dream to express our true feelings, to tell a story, and to be heard. So we lay down paint...we write lyrics...we see moving images....we dance....write....act. Who are we?

I'm an artist. But I struggle still to please people and not myself. That's what masturbation is for anyway. Why not lay down a different track? Compliance is such a dirty word. I want to be different. I want to be known. I want to be creative in my own right. I want to let those bottled up, pent up emotions flow out the end of a paintbrush, out of my mouth, through words on paper. That's what it is.

This post is dedicated to Notorious BIG---