Happily Domestic

Its hot.

Painting with hot wax in an un-airconditioned garage not so much appealing to me right now.. perhaps I should try watercolor or gouache for a while.  I like these little acrylic paintings: Mara Caffarone 

Have you seen The 10 Most Important Artists of Today?  Hmm.. maybe some of what these folks are doing is interesting social commentary.. maybe.  But if what they're doing is Art (capital A), then I don't think I'm an Artist. Artisan maybe? Craftsperson?  I think I'm okay with that.  

update

Paintings:

I can't believe how long it's been.. Annie turned 4, Charlie broke his leg, got better, then he turned 2.  Things are settling down now, one more day of preschool to go, then we're officially homeschoolers.  (Not really officially until Annie is 6, but for me its official)  For a while I think we'll be chilling in the AC taking it easy.  Its hot out there!  

new stuff

 

 

What I've been up to

ramen

 

New Florida house

It's not quite finished, but I'm liking it. It's 12x9 encaustic on wood. I'm doing sort of a screenprint-type process with stencils.

Yay for painting

I've been painting a little bit here and there since Charlie's been born.. mostly still life and such.  As I was reading about artists I like, over and over again I found that they all worked from life or from drawings and very rarely from photographs.  So I've been trying to do that and its much better.. its more fun, and the results are better.  I do want to be able to paint landscapes though, and with two little ones that's not really possible without working some from photos.  So, for the still life I'm working on now I set it up, did a drawing, then took several pictures.  Because I did the drawing I remember details that you can't see in the photo, but the photos help remind me of color, etc.  Maybe I can do some small drawings while I'm out with the chillins.. hmm.

P.S.  Yes, that's a sippy cup

Pics

Little Bug and I went to see some art yesterday at the Rauschenberg Gallery, and I was inspired to take some pictures. Our house has some interesting things going on with light. These are through a couple of windows and then on the back porch.

thoughts after watching art 21

While watching art 21 last night I was struck by how much, even on tv, Ursula von Rydingsvard's sculptures spoke to a sensual need that gets neglected.. but at the same time I kept thinking how its unfortunate that such experiences get relegated to this elite, removed world of 'high' art galleries rather than being a birthright of every human being and part of everyday life.

I think that our senses are quite starved because of the boring mass produced objects we surround ourselves with and live inside of. There is no evidence of the human hand or of nature.. and we as organic creatures crave that whether we realize it or not.

Its sad that we have to go to a certain location to get our 'fix', whether its to a state park or art museum, etc. instead of experiencing it everyday.. integrated into our lives through the objects we interact with and environments we're surrounded by. 'Nature' is somewhere else.. just as much as a museum is.. you even have to pay to park, and enter and exit it as though it were a building.

There is this great George Orwell quote from 1984 that I would look up, but I've already packed our books.. anyway it describes a feeling of knowing it in our bones somehow that things have not always been this way. I think that our culture tends to value intellect over the body/senses (which probably has something to do with the lower status of 'female' work).. and we tend to overcompensate for it with food and sex..

I think really good design takes into account the aesthetic needs we didn't know we had.. and I think its worth spending the extra money for quality, even if it means having fewer things. I think that its sad the crap that we buy because it shows how desensitized we are.. we don't even know what we're missing.. the way you might think a twinky is a great dessert if you've never had a homemade pie. I saw on craigslist that someone paid like $3000 for a Thomas Kincade PRINT. I mean, its one thing that its sappy, sentimental, sugary sweet nonsense, but for $3000 you could at least buy a real painting!

Watching Art 21 I can't help but think about choices I've made.. as far as not going to grad school, etc. I just feel like what it would take to be a professional artist is fundamentally in conflict with what I'm inspired to make art about in the first place. Its more about the process than $ or achievement for me, and home life/ family are important. How does it make sense to put those things aside in order to make art about how they are important? That being said, it would be nice to see some inspiring art once in a while, or have conversations about it with someone other than my weblog :). I hope we can make it over to Art Basel this year, and once I get settled after the move I want to get in a regular habit of just taking pictures, drawing, and writing more.. and sewing when I get a machine.

First things first.. I need to go pack some more boxes!

picture

At my parents house taking random pictures..