White Window

8" x 9"

watercolor

regarding art:

"...transmission of one soul's innermost essence to another. Art is meant to be an unconstrained expression of the inexpressible. It's our way of telling each other things we feel but are unable to put into words. It is ultimately the only real way of sharing who we really are with the rest of the world."

- Dilbert

created by Scott Adams

Western NY Landscape #7, #8, #9 Ceramic Relief

3 1/2" x 5"

4 1/2" x 4 1/2"

3 1/2" x 4"

ceramic relief

I'm very happy with the painterly quality in the ceramics I've been doing. I use a combination of glazes and these underglaze chalk crayons/pastels. There is my secret. Not everyone is willing to share recipes. I heard of a couple getting divorced and fighting over the exclusive right to a special glaze recipe. I don't feel like the medium here is a special trick, though. I have my own sensibility, vision, and way of handling the material.

The top piece is very physical and seems like a setting for a fairy tale. Dusk is the time of day, late fall or late winter/early spring the season.

The central piece is spacious. A big sky with lots of transitions and a raised, dark green hill with a contrasting edge. I like the organic tilt of the all-over form.

The third piece has an array of greens; it has been tricky to get the right brighter ones. The trees have layered, interwoven color that I see in foliage. A bit of the feeling of a sky arching overhead is created by a curve.

The uniqueness of handmade things makes for memorable gifts and I found a great site to list some of my older work and for holiday shopping. Etsy is an enormous site where one can by directly from artists and craftspeople. Everything on it has to be handmade or vintage. You can find art, clothes, jewelry, household items, and many other things. It is nice to buy from an individual rather than a chain as well as things made in the U.S.A. I found half of my gifts there this year including cool etched monogrammed scotch glasses for my father-in-law and custom t-shirts.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Blue House

8" x 9"

watercolor

I am always taken by this cornfield and house when I go by it; it's down the street from me. I like the contrast of the texture, repetition, and color of the corn field, corn long harvested, with the blue triangle coming out of it. Both agriculture and architecture come from the human imagination, creativity born of necessity. Evidence of creativity in human history can be seen by the recent discovery of a Pre-historic bird-bone flute in Germany dating from 35,000 B.C., making it the oldest musical instrument ever found.

It seems that more students are faced with majoring in something "practical" due to the economy. It isn't an unreasonable and is most often a necessary consideration. It is difficult to ascertain if the value of art or artistic practice is now by the wayside. The internet, YouTube, and ITunes bring many artists, mainly musicians, to the forefront of our culture. Painting is more iffy, I think. This quote by John Adams condensed on a poster at Massachusetts College of Art when I was a student is relevant today:

"The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other

sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation

ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts.

I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study

mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and

philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture,

navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children

a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary,

tapestry and porcelain."

Adams basically says that once "practical" subjects are studied by our forefathers society will be stabilized enough for their descendants to be able to study art. War for the United States sometimes seems endless, and it is a sad state of affairs that this patriot's dreams for the country are out of reach for so many. America is trying to protect freedom for ourselves and others; that is the intent which may not necessarily work out in the doing. Freedom and financial security are necessary for a people's well-being, but contrary to this we can also find many examples of art made during difficult economic and political times.

I, for one, continue to partake in the luxury of art-making. It is not just a luxury, however, but imperative to the meaning in life. The bird-flute maker took time away from hunting and berry collecting to focus on carving an instrument that is art and makes art. It could not have been easy to live in his/her time. We should aspire to emulate what this evolved human valued in the face of survival.

Self-Portrait With Camera #2 & #4

digital photographs

The lower self-portrait, #4, seems a little sci-fi with the metallic eye. It is representative of the artist's vision, a special lens through which to see the world. The flash of light is like the bright idea light bulb. Hands have figured prominently in past paintings and I like the way my hand holds the camera at the top; it seems more pressed to the foreground, the hand that is the physical maker, laborer, tool for the eye. The limited palette works well, turquoise background playing off the shiny camera.

The top one, #2, is direct. Intense. Looking straight at the viewer I am confident with my identity as artist; my sense of self deepened with age. I like the light most of all and didn't want to let it go by without snagging it. The magenta and turquoise reflections float on the surface like paint, pieces of colored light. They help define the composition along with the hand, round circle of the camera lens, and the angles of the neck. I'm not quite sure where the photographs are going and if the landscape ones I take as notations for paintings are art. I enjoy making them and that is usually a good sign. It's all about searching, anyway.

Painting Trivia!

Painted by Matthias Grunewald between 1512 and 1516. It is his greatest and largest work and is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, France.

Check back soon for the answer under "comments".