Monday, June 23, 2008

Hot Town, Summer in the City

Ah the city! Summer in the city is so hard to resist. The people, the water, the flowers and the food. Last week Norma and I went it to see the Jeff Koons exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art. I have not been there in years- because the last time that I went, there was one giant area that was just filled with garbage.

OK, ok ok... I know, it is art. At least the owner of a MFA can probably find a way to explain why, I am sure. But to me, that whole room full of actual garbage was nothing but a room full of garbage. The emperors new clothes. A huge scam. Masturbation. And worse- using valuable space that could have been given to an artist.

Like the crowds in the story about the emperor- everyone can see that it is just a room full of garbage, (or an empty canvas or a piece of found junk) But the art speak is tossed around just so that folks are afraid to question. Everyone says that they see the beautiful kingly robes- out of fear of looking stupid. I will allow that it is quite possible that I will one day "get it" and read these words and feel shame. I will let you know if that happens. ( I change my mind all the time about everything :-)

This time I didn't see any garbage at the MCA. In fact, I saw much to like. I really enjoyed the Koons show- despite the fact that it was a VERY inappropriate place to take my teen aged daughter! I am much more liberal about such things than most folks are, but giant pictures of penetration closeups (the artist and his former porn star wife) are a little more than I want to show her, (thankfully it was behind a wall- though still visible from the main gallery). I loved Koon's sculptures and I loved his humor. His colors are amazing and he has balls. ( I saw them :-)

Koons, Hirst, Freud, Richter and Close, are Rock Stars. They are all artists of their own time- I like that.

Meanwhile, as the Art Institute expands into their new modern wing- the last few weeks have been exciting. I have been to AI twice so far this month, and both times found old friends, back from long years in storage. The best part of the new modern wing will be the space that they free up in the old side. Because just like punk rock had to back to Rock's beginnings- to not be influenced by the 70s- I prefer to skip the teachings of Joan Mitchel, (not to be confused with Joni) and go back to our beginnings.

Representing Reality has a few more weeks to hang- so come on in if you have not seen it yet. Call me and I would love to join you.

Lori

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Creation


Every day someone will stop by my studio and say something like "I really wish that I could paint, I can barely make stick figures." It seems that many people think that either you can or you can not create. But anyone can learn to paint, there is no magic in it.

No one would ever sit their child down at a new piano and expect him to play beautiful music without having many lessons and a lot of practicing. It is the same with painting. There are lessons to organize the practicing. There are rules to learn and learn how to break. Drawing, composition, value and color. Techniques and Methods, materials. It can all be learned, but must be practiced. And like the piano, if you take the lessons and follow through with practice, you can learn to play.

Then somewhere along the line you get to the hard part. Deciding what to paint. And that is something that you need to dig inside for.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Monday Evening Post (actually Tuesday Morning :-)


I finally got back to the studio tonight. Some family obligations have kept me away for close to a week, until yesterday when I went in and prepared a stack of panels. Today was presidents day, a day off of school, so I hung out at home.

Tonight I got to play in the paint with a student, trying out different glazing techniques. Fun fun fun. And it went well, student left excited to do more experimenting. I have not been using a grisaille for several years now, though I used to. Getting out the books and reading the many ways to do one thing. Showing how I did it, and how others do it- squeezing out paint and trying things out- that is the fun part of learning with others. While we are learning, it feels just like goofing around.

The rest of the week will be all studio all the time.

Hope all is well with you, and have a great week!
Lori

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Saturday, February 9, 2008

Learn with me.

If you are interested in hanging out in my studio, painting and learning together- send me an email and I will give you the details.

I have a great space- good coffee and plenty of easels. I love to learn about painting, and love to share what I am learning.

Join me on the journey to master oil painting.

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

Grey Dots- they match the sky

The sun came out for a few minutes today. We have had nothing but dark days for a while now, and a few days of ice storm. I was so excited to see the sun that I ran out and snapped a picture.

The weather has me getting to the studio later, and cuddling up with a book and a warm drink when I get there. I have a few things on the easel, for future unveiling, but for now, I can share this little exercise. I know it looks simple, but mixing the grays to the right value was the exercise, and I am pleased with how it turned out. In this picture, it is hard to see the difference in the higher values. I will try to get a better picture- because the steps are there, perfectly munsell too.

I saw a picture of something like this somewhere on the web, a Reilly demo or page about Munsell, I don't remember where I saw it, but it looked like a valuable lesson. And I am not one to pass up a painting lesson. If you know where I got this idea from, let me know so that I can give someone the credit.

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Friday, November 16, 2007

Lemon Yellow Day

I love
my
Munsell book!

Today was a color study day for me, this is what I was working on. Pretty self explanatory, so I wont expand.

It looks so easy, painting a lemon, but do notice that I am not showing the painting that I made. :-)

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Thursday, October 11, 2007

Painting Poodles

I have been painting. Today I almost finished the new poodle still life that I have been working on.

Nothing much to say.... today I am thinking that painting is a solitary journey.

Which is really good if you like the company :-)

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Friday, October 5, 2007

Orange



Today was one of those glorious slow studio days. No painting on the easel, but a beautiful day with good music on the ipod and good coffee in the pot. I re-read the whole color chapter in Grado's Mastering the Craft of Painting and took the poodles around the mansion taking reference pictures. And I got out my big glossy munsell book and mixed paints.

Three new colors on my color wheel, and since I painted all of my high chroma cubes using only the swatches in the student book, I have been re-painting those. Today I got the 5yr, 5BG, and 5G . I also completed tubing my greys. You can see here that the orginal 5YR was not matching the chip. The new one matches so well that I could not see it when painted on the chip, (thanks to Rob's amazing optical white). Looking at this photo, it looks like they do not match, but it is only because of the light from the window reflecting on the paint.

I guess for a slow day, I did get a lot done.

I am excited about all that I am learning about color- not sure where it is taking me, but will chug along until I get there. So far, the biggest value in these studies is how sensitive my eye is for color, and especially chroma. So that makes it worth the effort right there:-) I am working on a thread to talk about this at Rob's place. Just have not had a chance. But soon.

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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

babelcolor


I have been told by three who know that bablecolor is the key to unlocking munsell. Not that it is so locked up. It is making a whole lot of sense to me- even without the babelcolor. But the babelcolor combined with the student book and doing the work is where the big "secret" lies. This is not just your momma's munsell- but a whole new way of using color! I will unscramble it, if it is the last thing that I do.

I am reading the text in the student munsell book again looking for clues, painting cubes and spheres and pictures of cubes and spheres. Sometimes just putting the spheres in different light and really looking.

The time spent with both Rob, Graydon and others has taught me, if nothing else, a direction to move. If I never get there- the new understandings that I have already gained are bringing a new life to my work.

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Saturday, September 1, 2007

*Labor Day Weekend Saturday Night Greeting*

Happy Saturday night.

I have been painting, I promise- just nothing that I am ready to share yet.

My Munsell studies are going well- today I resolved some of my issues with the "Norma as flamenco dancer" painting. An attempt at low chroma flesh that I am still not quite happy with, but am much happier than I was before today. I will get it.

That is the thing that I really love about being a painter - getting to spend the rest of my life learning how to do it. I can not imagine ever getting to the end of learning. I am sure that even Rembrandt was still learning new things. And there is no way in my mind that Velazquez could have ever said that there was nothing left to discover about paint. When thinking about the avenues for discovery I just get excited. Color alone could fill a lifetime. There is drawing, composition, paint handling, the whole chemistry of the different mediums and what they will do for you, studying the masters.... And not to mention Content.

I hope that I never get to a place where I think that I already know how to paint., Because there is always more to learn, and this learning is the best part of being a painter.

Happy Long weekend!
Lori

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007



The Big Glossy Munsell books arrived yesterday so today I am busy mixing paint and sampling colors. (Thank you Rob!) BabelColor is a tool that was recommended to me once by someone who understands this color system. Used with the eyedropper in Photoshop. it is a very cool tool- giving the exact munsell notation for any part of an image. The combination of the book and the computer tools are really going a long way toward training my eye for color. I have lots of work to do- cubes and spheres to paint and then paint pictures of. My plan right now is to take one day a week to learn color- mix colors and explore munsell. The rest of the week will be devoted to applying what I have learned in new works.

This is a detail of a painting of Norma that I left facing the wall some time ago. It is still probably destined for the burn pile, but for now, I am using what little I understand about the color system to try to fix it. Not fixed yet- but so much better than it was.

Tomorrow is a new cityscape- see you soon:-)

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Thursday, August 9, 2007

breaking some eggs



My friend John stopped by last night with some pigments. He knew that I wanted to play with egg tempera- but did not want to invest in all that I would need just to try something that might not be right for me. Well, I have been playing with it all day and I think that I might be in love. It is too early to plan a wedding or anything like that- but I think it is safe to buy a few brushes :-)

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Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Learning and growing


Today I am working on flesh again. I have been struggling with flesh colors ever since the munsell conversations started. Having spent a bit of time on this , I am feeling a little discouraged that it is not working for me. But I know from experience that the struggle always comes right before the light. I have been struggeling for a while now- so I hope the lights come on soon.

I have painted flesh before and liked the results. But now that I am aiming for a specific target- it is more complicated and difficult. :-)

I will get it. I have a whole bunch of books here, and aa lifetime to figure it out.

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