This is called No Way Out… for Dolphins and other Living Things. (Sorry about the low image quality as I took this with my phone, despite the fact that I own some great cameras.). This painting is small, 10″ x 10″, and part of my Endangered series. Next up: Canadian Lynx, Orangutans, and Grey Wolves. This series does not limit itself to officially endangered animals either, as the dolphin is not currently endangered. I’m also working on endangered man and woman paintings because even though there are a lot of us (7 billion, in fact) we may be endangered at some not too distant future time, too.
Oil and Dolphins
2012 Exhibits
New exhibit information for 2012. There will be more! But for now:
Current group show until February 29, 2012: St. Cloud Hospital, “Rio On Pools”
This painting is a watercolor for the Central Minnesota Watercolor group and is titled “Rio On Pools”. It is a painting of a natural rock and pool area in Belize, where I was lucky enough to spend the day in 2007. The pools are called Rio On Pools and are part of a long river system. The day I was there they were also being used by the British Military for jungle training exercises! Note the top of many of the trees are bare sticks. The area was undergoing a beetle infestation when I photographed the area and it was killing many of the trees. I don’t know if the infestation has been stopped but it is one environmental effect of climate change.
≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈
WARM Show: Reclamation
This is part of the WARM exhibition series. Reclamation is the title — for my portion of the exhibit. The word reclamation is an empowering word of renewal when faced with, in this case, a lot of environmental devastation. Most of my paintings have to do with the effects of global warming and industrial effects on the environment. I will be exhibiting with another artist, who does mainly abstract watercolor paintings. The WARM exhibition is scheduled for April 30 through June 8th, 2012, in St. Paul at the WARM building. The address is: Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota @ the Women’s Building, 550 Rice St., St. Paul, MN 55103
Heart of Gold
I just finished this painting last night, another one today, and am exhibiting Rio On Pools (in previous post) at the St. Cloud Hospital. This one is watercolor and Acrylic on painting board. It’s 16″ x 20″. I would not call these colors “accurate” exactly. (I took the photo with my Blackberry).
Pablo Picasso said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.”
Did he really say that? That’s what I read tonight. I’d like more good art quotes, because they help me clarify my own goals.
Meanwhile, I just joined NEMAA but they do not have a place for me to exhibit anything during Art A Whirl. I spent good money applying to the Flow gallery AAW and was not accepted, which happens. Rejection is a part of being an artist. But now I don’t have an exhibit plan for AAW. [update on this coming as I do now have an exhibit space]
New Projects and Drawing Tablet
I am working on this painting for a group show at a local hospital, and I’d say it’s about 1/2 done. It also looks far less dreary than this (I took the photo with my phone). It is called Rio On Pools and is based on a photo I took of the Rio On Pools in central Belize, in 2007. The first time I went to Belize we looked for these pools and couldn’t find them, but two years later we looked harder and found this magical place — or at least I think that’s what happened. They did seem to appear out of nowhere. (It might have been a sort of Brigadoon situation.)
I’m about to put the paints away and get out the pastels to finish it up. Meanwhile I’m working on my other series, especially the Endangered animals one. I have a larger abstract watercolor that is nearly finished and it’s at the point where I need to decide what to do with it to finish it up. I am also doing a lot of looking at other artwork. Where I live, there are no local galleries that show a wide variety of art so I need to look at galleries online as much as possible! Two magazines that I love with artwork I love to look at (and I subscribe to both of them) are Hi-Fructose and Blue Canvas, and I recommend all artists have a look at those excellent websites and publications.
I also recently bought a copy of Painter 12, a painting software program that I have wanted for a long time. Here’s a video about it.
Stating the Obvious
Every now and something on Facebook gets it right and is actually worth sharing on a real website. (My appreciation to the artist who produced this drawing, PearlEden on deviantart.com)
Sure, finding something of value on Facebook happens at least once a week, but this one is really a great reminder to the general public. Here’s the message: Artists work, they are not fooling around with a “hobby” left over from childhood. It’s real work to produce art, and it’s also something that most people can’t do, so it’s valuable. Because few people can do it, it’s actually more valuable than most work. Yet, most artists do not make much from their work.
Goodbye January, Hello 2012
My goal for this month was to complete at least 4 paintings, and I may get there, and I may not. Two are nearly done, two more are nearly done, and two are at least started.
Pictured above is one of the things that I did complete, a painting already half finished when I found it buried under other paper, and now called “Grizzly”. It’s part of my Endangered series I just started, and will be part of an exhibit this summer. I won’t reveal the exact venue for this show just yet.
Already in 2012 I feel a bit over-extended. I have promised 3 shows and want to be in at least 2-3 others.
So these are my three on-going series in 2012: Endangered (endangered animals, including people) is the first, and second is Image-inations, which is inspired by my fascination with the future, and all things steampunk and future-Victorian. This theme was inspired by one of the greatest TV shows of all time (at least in my opinion): Firefly. Firefly was steampunk before it even really existed in the general consciousness, and though it was cancelled in 2002, it remains a bit of a cult favorite among its fans, to this day. The fans of the show were called Browncoats, and I was, for a time, a die-hard Browncoat. I even owned and operated a website devoted to Firefly art, called Firefly Graphics. Alas, it is no more. I am left with a more dystopian view of the future now, mixed with elements of a simpler life, driven by some fear for our climate, and inspired by different forms of travel than we use now, like steam power and airships. This future includes people fueled by their wits, charm, persuasion, and maybe even some theft . . . . which brings us back to Firefly, which was basically a show about a band of space thieves in the future, after earth had been mostly “used up”.
My third on-going series is called Imbalance, which will be the theme of my WARM show in May, 2012. More on this later. Imbalance is about the imbalance of humans in our relationship to our environment. All of these themes are evolving and in development. And by writing this out I just discovered that my 3 themes are from a past, present and future viewpoint. Here they are:
Endangered — the past. (creatures who are or who will soon only exist in the past)
Imbalance — the present. The current situation of environmental destruction and our reactions to it. (mostly helpless).
Image-inations — one possible future.
So there you have it, my 2012 art will be kind of like A Christmas Carol, without the ghosts.
Essential Art / Catch 22
The Essential Art Juried Art juried exhibit, sponsored by Visual Arts Minnesota, is currently showing at the Paramount Gallery in St. Cloud. Shelly Leitheiser’s watercolor painting “San Jose Street Scene” is included in the show, which includes approximately 32 artworks, both 2D and 3D from artists all around the state of Minnesota. You can see this show now through January 31, 2012.
The website for the show and reception is here.
The slideshow doesn’t show much, only about 4-5 artworks are shown (and of those, one painting appears repeatedly*) (and it’s not mine!). The reception also had a better crowd than what is portrayed in the slide show. I wish more people would come to these receptions, but at least go to the Paramount and catch the exhibit! Local artists are very fortunate and grateful to have exhibits like this in our city. (The painting above is not my entry into the show, that is seen below in an earlier post.)
Working and Thinking About How to Stand Out as an Artist
How does an artist stand out from all the others?
I have no idea, obviously, but I think from recent local events that in certain locations (mine) it helps to be a man if you want to be taken seriously (more on that some other day). In a related vein, I’m sorry I missed this event, because I agree that artists are entrepreneurs.
WARM member Robyn Hendrix recently attended Giant Steps, a one-day, interactive conference of inspiring folks forging their own paths and designing their own vision of work and life. Robyn shares how the day filled her with food for thought and left her digesting inspiration.
Giant Steps: So much food for thought, my brain has a tummyache. In a good way.
What is Giant Steps? Giant Steps is a remarkable one day conference for creative entrepreneurs of all types, founded by Susan Campion of Camponovo Consulting and M.anifest. It brings together creative professionals, artists, foodies, business owners, consultants, freelancers, nonprofit and/or arts administrators, musicians, dancers, photographers, filmmakers, and anyone else who wants to be at the table.
Pretty Much Done or in Progress
I have three art shows next year that are not part of art crawls so I have a lot of work to output in these next five months. I am not panicking yet but I probably will be doing just that in about two months.
Meanwhile, I am doing some small things just to have a few things to store and use if I need them (they are not necessarily what I’ll be putting in any show, but they very well may be used.) The first is above, called “Solar, Duh” for now. I’m sure I’ll name it something better later. The second is below, and I’m calling it “Memories of Ice”. It will have a companion canvas finished soon. They are both in 3D! (But you don’t need the zany glasses to appreciate them).
This is 8″ x 8″.
The third is below that and has no proper title yet either, because my brain has already moved on and now I’m painting a steampunk spaceship in a purple sky. (And believe it or not, doing absolutely no drugs of any kind, except caffeine of course). This is 8″ x 10″.
I don’t know if I’ll post again before this weekend because I’ve been lazy at blogging lately. I’ve been working on my new website called MN ART BUZZ and trying to design that with a look that is more exciting than the current one. If you know of Minnesota artists who should be featured on it, let me know. And I’ve been trying to get some of my paintings posted around on all the internet sites I exhibit on. This is frustratingly slow and requires me to have something to say about everything, and sometimes I have nothing to say about a painting at all, believe it or not. So I have to come up with some fascinating gibberish and that’s not always easy.
So anyway, if I do not write more before this weekend, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all ! who stumble upon this blog. May your 2012 be wonderful and happy and all of that.
Is Any Idea Art?
There are very few people I have had this discussion with and I’m not sure of the answer. Can any idea be art? For example, here is an idea using “found objects” i.e., garbage, or what would be trash, only it’s been glued to a surface to make a new object.
This item sold on an art website as a piece of art.
I’ve taken many art history classes so just to be clear, I’m very aware of the many art movements from the last century and before that have used trash or found objects and used them for and as art work. But my question today is more of the nature of wondering whether basically anything, associated with an idea, can be declared art.
Water Based Dreams
I’m painting more ocean scenes, mainly because I like them, and like a lot of northerners, I wish I lived by the ocean — somewhere in the south. Specifically though, I have always felt an affinity and connection to oceans. Here in Minnesota we are 100% land-locked, though we have a lot of lakes. Lakes are pretty, but they are not the sea. They are totally different, more like ponds compared to an ocean. The closest thing we have is Lake Superior, and that is 300 miles north of me. Every now and then I try to take a trip of some kind to visit the ocean, but it’s too expensive to do that every year.
These are smaller paintings. Rough Seas is 12″ x 12″ and Purple Seas is 8″ x 10″. Both are acrylic on canvas, and both are for sale. I will have them listed for sale on Fine Art America soon. I plan on starting a lot of small paintings this month, mostly having themes of sky, storms and night skies.
Purple Sea
Planet Earth Art Exhibit
The local arts organization sponsored several themed juried art exhibits this year, and the last on the list is the Planet Earth exhibit. My painting “Erosion” (which you can see here) was juried into this show, which you can read more about in that previous post too.
Below are more photos from the exhibit.
I hope everyone in the central Minnesota area can make it to see this show. Studio C is in the lower level of the Paramount building, which is directly downtown near the Falcon Bank. You can’t miss it. It’s an unusually strong show, in my opinion, and not because of my painting but because of the other artwork in it. There are some very unique pieces and I’m very happy to see St. Cloud art shows branching out into accepting more mixed media and collage and unusual things in general.
Featured Posts
Oil and Dolphins
This is called No Way Out… for Dolphins and other Living Things. (Sorry about the low image quality as I took this with my phone, despite the fact that I own some great cameras.). This painting is small, 10″ x 10″, and part of my Endangered series. Next up: Canadian Lynx, Orangutans, and Grey Wolves….
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Oil and Dolphins
This is called No Way Out… for Dolphins and other Living Things. (Sorry about the low image quality as I took this with my phone, despite the fact that I own some great cameras.). This painting is small, 10″ x 10″, and part of my Endangered series. Next up: Canadian Lynx, Orangutans, and Grey Wolves. This series does not limit itself to officially endangered animals either, as the dolphin is not currently endangered. I’m also working on endangered man and woman paintings because even though there are a lot of us (7 billion, in fact) we may be endangered at some not too distant future time, too.
2012 Exhibits
New exhibit information for 2012. There will be more! But for now:
Current group show until February 29, 2012: St. Cloud Hospital, “Rio On Pools”
This painting is a watercolor for the Central Minnesota Watercolor group and is titled “Rio On Pools”. It is a painting of a natural rock and pool area in Belize, where I was lucky enough to spend the day in 2007. The pools are called Rio On Pools and are part of a long river system. The day I was there they were also being used by the British Military for jungle training exercises! Note the top of many of the trees are bare sticks. The area was undergoing a beetle infestation when I photographed the area and it was killing many of the trees. I don’t know if the infestation has been stopped but it is one environmental effect of climate change.
≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈ ≈
WARM Show: Reclamation
This is part of the WARM exhibition series. Reclamation is the title — for my portion of the exhibit. The word reclamation is an empowering word of renewal when faced with, in this case, a lot of environmental devastation. Most of my paintings have to do with the effects of global warming and industrial effects on the environment. I will be exhibiting with another artist, who does mainly abstract watercolor paintings. The WARM exhibition is scheduled for April 30 through June 8th, 2012, in St. Paul at the WARM building. The address is: Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota @ the Women’s Building, 550 Rice St., St. Paul, MN 55103
Heart of Gold
I just finished this painting last night, another one today, and am exhibiting Rio On Pools (in previous post) at the St. Cloud Hospital. This one is watercolor and Acrylic on painting board. It’s 16″ x 20″. I would not call these colors “accurate” exactly. (I took the photo with my Blackberry).
Pablo Picasso said, “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.”
Did he really say that? That’s what I read tonight. I’d like more good art quotes, because they help me clarify my own goals.
Meanwhile, I just joined NEMAA but they do not have a place for me to exhibit anything during Art A Whirl. I spent good money applying to the Flow gallery AAW and was not accepted, which happens. Rejection is a part of being an artist. But now I don’t have an exhibit plan for AAW. [update on this coming as I do now have an exhibit space]
New Projects and Drawing Tablet
I am working on this painting for a group show at a local hospital, and I’d say it’s about 1/2 done. It also looks far less dreary than this (I took the photo with my phone). It is called Rio On Pools and is based on a photo I took of the Rio On Pools in central Belize, in 2007. The first time I went to Belize we looked for these pools and couldn’t find them, but two years later we looked harder and found this magical place — or at least I think that’s what happened. They did seem to appear out of nowhere. (It might have been a sort of Brigadoon situation.)
I’m about to put the paints away and get out the pastels to finish it up. Meanwhile I’m working on my other series, especially the Endangered animals one. I have a larger abstract watercolor that is nearly finished and it’s at the point where I need to decide what to do with it to finish it up. I am also doing a lot of looking at other artwork. Where I live, there are no local galleries that show a wide variety of art so I need to look at galleries online as much as possible! Two magazines that I love with artwork I love to look at (and I subscribe to both of them) are Hi-Fructose and Blue Canvas, and I recommend all artists have a look at those excellent websites and publications.
I also recently bought a copy of Painter 12, a painting software program that I have wanted for a long time. Here’s a video about it.
Stating the Obvious
Every now and something on Facebook gets it right and is actually worth sharing on a real website. (My appreciation to the artist who produced this drawing, PearlEden on deviantart.com)
Sure, finding something of value on Facebook happens at least once a week, but this one is really a great reminder to the general public. Here’s the message: Artists work, they are not fooling around with a “hobby” left over from childhood. It’s real work to produce art, and it’s also something that most people can’t do, so it’s valuable. Because few people can do it, it’s actually more valuable than most work. Yet, most artists do not make much from their work.
Goodbye January, Hello 2012
My goal for this month was to complete at least 4 paintings, and I may get there, and I may not. Two are nearly done, two more are nearly done, and two are at least started.
Pictured above is one of the things that I did complete, a painting already half finished when I found it buried under other paper, and now called “Grizzly”. It’s part of my Endangered series I just started, and will be part of an exhibit this summer. I won’t reveal the exact venue for this show just yet.
Already in 2012 I feel a bit over-extended. I have promised 3 shows and want to be in at least 2-3 others.
So these are my three on-going series in 2012: Endangered (endangered animals, including people) is the first, and second is Image-inations, which is inspired by my fascination with the future, and all things steampunk and future-Victorian. This theme was inspired by one of the greatest TV shows of all time (at least in my opinion): Firefly. Firefly was steampunk before it even really existed in the general consciousness, and though it was cancelled in 2002, it remains a bit of a cult favorite among its fans, to this day. The fans of the show were called Browncoats, and I was, for a time, a die-hard Browncoat. I even owned and operated a website devoted to Firefly art, called Firefly Graphics. Alas, it is no more. I am left with a more dystopian view of the future now, mixed with elements of a simpler life, driven by some fear for our climate, and inspired by different forms of travel than we use now, like steam power and airships. This future includes people fueled by their wits, charm, persuasion, and maybe even some theft . . . . which brings us back to Firefly, which was basically a show about a band of space thieves in the future, after earth had been mostly “used up”.
My third on-going series is called Imbalance, which will be the theme of my WARM show in May, 2012. More on this later. Imbalance is about the imbalance of humans in our relationship to our environment. All of these themes are evolving and in development. And by writing this out I just discovered that my 3 themes are from a past, present and future viewpoint. Here they are:
Endangered — the past. (creatures who are or who will soon only exist in the past)
Imbalance — the present. The current situation of environmental destruction and our reactions to it. (mostly helpless).
Image-inations — one possible future.
So there you have it, my 2012 art will be kind of like A Christmas Carol, without the ghosts.
Essential Art / Catch 22
The Essential Art Juried Art juried exhibit, sponsored by Visual Arts Minnesota, is currently showing at the Paramount Gallery in St. Cloud. Shelly Leitheiser’s watercolor painting “San Jose Street Scene” is included in the show, which includes approximately 32 artworks, both 2D and 3D from artists all around the state of Minnesota. You can see this show now through January 31, 2012.
The website for the show and reception is here.
The slideshow doesn’t show much, only about 4-5 artworks are shown (and of those, one painting appears repeatedly*) (and it’s not mine!). The reception also had a better crowd than what is portrayed in the slide show. I wish more people would come to these receptions, but at least go to the Paramount and catch the exhibit! Local artists are very fortunate and grateful to have exhibits like this in our city. (The painting above is not my entry into the show, that is seen below in an earlier post.)
Working and Thinking About How to Stand Out as an Artist
How does an artist stand out from all the others?
I have no idea, obviously, but I think from recent local events that in certain locations (mine) it helps to be a man if you want to be taken seriously (more on that some other day). In a related vein, I’m sorry I missed this event, because I agree that artists are entrepreneurs.
WARM member Robyn Hendrix recently attended Giant Steps, a one-day, interactive conference of inspiring folks forging their own paths and designing their own vision of work and life. Robyn shares how the day filled her with food for thought and left her digesting inspiration.
Giant Steps: So much food for thought, my brain has a tummyache. In a good way.
What is Giant Steps? Giant Steps is a remarkable one day conference for creative entrepreneurs of all types, founded by Susan Campion of Camponovo Consulting and M.anifest. It brings together creative professionals, artists, foodies, business owners, consultants, freelancers, nonprofit and/or arts administrators, musicians, dancers, photographers, filmmakers, and anyone else who wants to be at the table.
Pretty Much Done or in Progress
I have three art shows next year that are not part of art crawls so I have a lot of work to output in these next five months. I am not panicking yet but I probably will be doing just that in about two months.
Meanwhile, I am doing some small things just to have a few things to store and use if I need them (they are not necessarily what I’ll be putting in any show, but they very well may be used.) The first is above, called “Solar, Duh” for now. I’m sure I’ll name it something better later. The second is below, and I’m calling it “Memories of Ice”. It will have a companion canvas finished soon. They are both in 3D! (But you don’t need the zany glasses to appreciate them).
This is 8″ x 8″.
The third is below that and has no proper title yet either, because my brain has already moved on and now I’m painting a steampunk spaceship in a purple sky. (And believe it or not, doing absolutely no drugs of any kind, except caffeine of course). This is 8″ x 10″.
I don’t know if I’ll post again before this weekend because I’ve been lazy at blogging lately. I’ve been working on my new website called MN ART BUZZ and trying to design that with a look that is more exciting than the current one. If you know of Minnesota artists who should be featured on it, let me know. And I’ve been trying to get some of my paintings posted around on all the internet sites I exhibit on. This is frustratingly slow and requires me to have something to say about everything, and sometimes I have nothing to say about a painting at all, believe it or not. So I have to come up with some fascinating gibberish and that’s not always easy.
So anyway, if I do not write more before this weekend, Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all ! who stumble upon this blog. May your 2012 be wonderful and happy and all of that.
Is Any Idea Art?
There are very few people I have had this discussion with and I’m not sure of the answer. Can any idea be art? For example, here is an idea using “found objects” i.e., garbage, or what would be trash, only it’s been glued to a surface to make a new object.
This item sold on an art website as a piece of art.
I’ve taken many art history classes so just to be clear, I’m very aware of the many art movements from the last century and before that have used trash or found objects and used them for and as art work. But my question today is more of the nature of wondering whether basically anything, associated with an idea, can be declared art.
Water Based Dreams
I’m painting more ocean scenes, mainly because I like them, and like a lot of northerners, I wish I lived by the ocean — somewhere in the south. Specifically though, I have always felt an affinity and connection to oceans. Here in Minnesota we are 100% land-locked, though we have a lot of lakes. Lakes are pretty, but they are not the sea. They are totally different, more like ponds compared to an ocean. The closest thing we have is Lake Superior, and that is 300 miles north of me. Every now and then I try to take a trip of some kind to visit the ocean, but it’s too expensive to do that every year.
These are smaller paintings. Rough Seas is 12″ x 12″ and Purple Seas is 8″ x 10″. Both are acrylic on canvas, and both are for sale. I will have them listed for sale on Fine Art America soon. I plan on starting a lot of small paintings this month, mostly having themes of sky, storms and night skies.
Purple Sea
Planet Earth Art Exhibit
The local arts organization sponsored several themed juried art exhibits this year, and the last on the list is the Planet Earth exhibit. My painting “Erosion” (which you can see here) was juried into this show, which you can read more about in that previous post too.
Below are more photos from the exhibit.
I hope everyone in the central Minnesota area can make it to see this show. Studio C is in the lower level of the Paramount building, which is directly downtown near the Falcon Bank. You can’t miss it. It’s an unusually strong show, in my opinion, and not because of my painting but because of the other artwork in it. There are some very unique pieces and I’m very happy to see St. Cloud art shows branching out into accepting more mixed media and collage and unusual things in general.
