IT'S ONLY INK ON PAPER

I am talking about how we are inundated with prints.  I mean Giclee on paper, giclee on canvas. Mechanically produced "art".  Will it hold it's value?  Is this a concern to you? There is plenty of God awful "original" work running the streets.  I admit, I'd rather have a poster of a Sargent, Bellows, Park, Sorolla, Matisse, Van Gogh, Klimt, Nolde, Hartley, Mondrian, Modigliani, Porter, Morandi, Mitchell, Pollack, Albers, Picasso, Hopper, Kent, Soyer, Dibenkorn, Homer,   .  .  .  . you get the idea, than "an original piece of shit".

You can acquire posters of master works for a relatively small price, $20 to $30.  What I'm griping             about are sites like One Kings Lane that offer giclees listed as "art" when actually they are over priced mechanically produced prints.  INK ON PAPER.  Prices like $2000!, $1400!, $675.  If the frame is going to cost more than the work then at least search out an artist and buy an original work!
I've had a big company make prints of my cosmetic works, but come on.  When mass produced and depending on size they shouldn't cost more $5 to $100.

And I get it.  You may have champagne taste on a beer budget.  I know I do.  But I look, I research, I have worked to seek out artists I admire and I have been able to acquire some original pieces that I love and believe they will hold their value for under $100.  You say "But I have a big space to fill."  Try a salon style hanging of small works.  It can make as big of an impact as one larger work.

And I want to add a self promotion plug.  Visit my Etsy shop por favor.  I am much more than how the galleries have "cornered" me.  I can't stay in one place and not grow! I list all my hard won from the heart work there. I may not be known for some of the "isms" I explore but it's every bit as important to me as any work that I've placed with a gallery.  And it's only original one of a kind work.

Do I have Multiple Personality Disorder?

                                     NO!  I "have an inquiring mind and I want to know".  LOL!
I feel like I am all over the place and can't help myself.  What gives? But I refuse to not speak my mind.  So, how does one find some continuity with your artwork.  When I was at Art Center, I brought a self portrait in and the instructor loved it and said, "do about 10 of these".  Then a curator of a well know museum saw my "dot" paintings, thought they were great and said, "do about 10 of these".  Is that a magic number for a body of work. Is it the kiss of death to explore outside what an artist is known for.  Notice I did not post one "beach" painting.  What I am mainly known for it seems.   Little by little I am exposing myself through teaching.  I display that I can draw, I understand how to paint form, I understand color theory and I admit that I don't have a strong apptitude (my word for talent) for design.  That, I work on constantly.  But back to my point.  I am much more than my beach paintings and I want to make a living with work other than that.  So far so good but could be better.  It was the same thing when I was an illustrator.  You had to have a "marketable style".  But I find that galleries really want work an artist is known for. And what do you do if the next body is completely different from what one was producing during mid-career? Just thinking out loud.

"Random"

Acrylic

8" x 10"

Oh, did I mention I work in ceramics too!

My ceramic holders with my fashion figures.

A large still life in oil painted from life on a sweltering day in our backyard.

"Dishes"

Oil

16" x 20"

"Al"

We'll sit for each other and do 20 minute portraits.  So fun!

Oil

9" x 12"

How about this for a departure.

"Spinning"

Oil

8" x 10"

I love to get comfortable and draw from a Vogue or other sources.

"Fashion"

8" x 10"

I thought I'd try acrylics.  Love them and playing with composition.

"Turquoise Vase"

11" x 14"

I've worked in gouache forever.  This was playing around.

8" x 10"

"Black and White"

8" x 6"

Gouache

Just leaving it as a drawing!

Acrylic

9" x 12"

Back to my fashion roots.

Gouache

6" x 8"

Of course I work in watercolor too!

Looser gouache demo.

Painted on location in San Diego.

Gouache

8" x 8"

Last but not least.

Having fun with simple shapes, flat color.

Sounding like a broken record.

          But working through it! You've got to!  I can't tell how long it will take to get the groove back but it's important to NOT make the efforts seem insurmountable.  For now I've been doing smaller gouache works.  I picked up some more clay.  I use Low Fire White Earthenware.  So I have been working 3D with great satisfaction.  I have been taking a little time to go back to reading about other artists, contemporary and historical, to glean any inspiration I can whether working processes or whatever!
         You can always find some great clips on Facebook.  I read a short article on Alex Katz.  Watched a You Tube on Ingres.  Read another one on Frank Auerbach. I was wondering, "have I looked at too much art that has caused this block that I have to work through daily waiting." Nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other and go do another load of laundry!  Some samples below.   

         

   

Coming up!

Coming up this July 2nd and 3rd.  I will be teaching a 2 day workshop in Laguna Beach, CA.  One of my favorite places on this planet!  I am going to take the class and we are going to walk right out on to the beach from our starting point of the Vanessa Rothe Gallery.  I hope to show the students how I capture those "moving targets".  To add to this  I will be participating in a show the Friday evening of the 2nd.  I hope you can join us! 

Always the Figure.

There are so many subjects for me but yes, it's mostly the figure.  So I have to say I've been stuck for awhile.  I do think teaching has interfered with needed growth but it is what it is.  I have needed to help more with the income with a loved one ill and insurance not covering many of the doctors.  And why don't these doctors accept the Affordable Care Act Insurance.  I hope for improvements.  We were forced into our plan.  But in the meantime and on a brighter note I have found solutions!  I do a lot of work in gouache.  AND my husband, Ray Roberts, and I have renewed our attendance to the Open Studio Sessions!  We feel like we have a new lease on life.  Painting the figure from life, there's nothing like it for us.  Just free.  A few examples follow.  Hey!  Thanks for following me!

These were quick 2 minute poses.  I use gouache and a sable round.  This is on a 11" x 14" sheet of Strathmore acid free paper.  I take a lot of pads so I can go from one to the next and the paint is dry by the time I come back to the original pad.

What fun poses! 8" x 10" Gouache

Drawing a lot from life, I can't say enough great things about it.  The lawn bowling club in Laguna Beach is great.  They actually stand still for a minute or two.  And they generally come back to these stances as they go back and forth.  9" x 12" Gouache

There are times when I am not crazy about the pose the group has chosen so I paint the other artists.  Really fun.

Played with color on this one.  This was a 20 minute pose.  The page is 11" x 14" so not big.

And when there's not a figure to paint I find something at the house or on the road.  Couldn't resist the beautiful day outside it was and I love my yard tools.

8" x 10" Gouache

It's been Awhile!

I have been teaching a lot this year.  Very grateful!  One thing for sure, students love demos.  I love a demo.  (A short one!)  I get really anxious to paint once I feel the gist of the goal.  And I know I love to somehow see what a painter is thinking.  The thought process is so important.  And those who have taken a workshop from me know I like to hand out "tools".  I avoid formulas and try to help students  find and use different segways into a painting.  Here's some of my thought process illustrated. After we choose what to paint we

 start with just a few exercises of first simply separating light from shadow.  Continually asking ourselves, "what's bathed in the light and what isn't"?  Now that's when you have a strong light source.  Gray days are a different animal.  That's another conversation.  The second and third examples are refining values and their relationships.  Then I interpret it in color.  All doing this "at once". So in a "nutshell",  I choose my subject and ask myself "what's my light"?  And at the same time I am asking myself "what's my darkest dark (value) and what's my lightest light (value)"?  Then I may see color first but I always apply the other qualities of color.  Like chroma, temperature, value, local color. 

We will also do the same exercise "separating light from shadow" when we have a figure model.  I do the same thing with a landscape.  Essentially I am trying to paint the light of the moment keeping the contrast between the shadows and the illuminated areas.  I try to avoid a lot of contrast within the shadow and within the form bathed in light.  Makes for solid reading paintings especially from a distance.  

Room for Everyone. Period.

Yes, I teach a lot.  I love it.  It is my social life.  Once the kids left home I found that my entire social life had existed because of their high school sporting and social events. That ended with them leaving the nest.  So I increased my schedule over the past few years and I want to share some thoughts.  The enrollment of my workshops has increased and I am so grateful! I see such desire to learn from the people that choose to study with me.  I LOVE it.  They are so earnest.  And I have been told I am a natural born teacher.  

Now to my thoughts and concerns.  I believe there is a small group that may feel I teach too much,  that it hurts my personal work.  And that I may be contributing to the rise of the amount of artists entering the market.  I have no love for "Art Snobs".  First, I don't teach formulas.  The information I teach has been available to anyone for centuries.  And whether a person started their career early or late should not be a concern.  I teach the fundamentals and encourage the student to explore their potential in order to be able to "say what they want to say".  There is no need to worry about the "wannabes"!  That is what they will remain.  It's those artists that put in the time, the 10,000 or 7,000 or whatever amount of hours it takes to become oneself.  And I firmly believe that if one searches with earnest and with quality mileage they will emerge with their own vision and there will always be room for those artists.  Whether it's two or two million.  

         

I teach that you may manipulate the values.  I teach you may use a full palette or a limited one.  I teach that you may vary the surface quality.  I teach that paying attention to "edges" can create it's own statement.  I teach how to paint form.  I teach simple proportions of the figure.  I teach how to draw.  I can teach how to capture a more representational version of an image or one that has a more personal vision.  I hope that I also teach how to think and how to see.  But I cannot teach someone "what to say".  That only comes through ones personal journey through quality "blood, sweat and tears".  There is room for you and me.