Driving to work this afternoon I saw the world had taken on a new look. Like a shiny penny, it was remarkable in its brilliance. It felt like the world had just been created, the making of God's hands, eyes, and wisdom. A new day! Miraculous combinations of colors showed themselves in the juxtaposition of yellow greens against soft mauve blossoms. The trees took on a new look "touched" by fresh green buds, finally making their appearance after the trying months of Winter's harshness. My spirit, too, felt reborn. I felt that I could move mountains, swim the English Channel (and I, not such a great swimmer), tackle any project with success. The glory of the day lit up my entire being, and I felt all was right with the world. I wanted to breath it all in. Not take my eyes off its wonder. Let it impact my every thought. Like being present at "The Creation". What a gift such a day brings to humanity! I know I need to get outdoors to savor the sights and smells of Spring, as it springs anew. I need to touch it with my paintbrush and commit it to memory.
 I remembered this painting I did last year at Matthei Gardens, in Ann Arbor. The feeling of light and plants in bloom had that sense about it too.
As I drove along I felt as if I had my mother riding on my shoulder. I remembered how she'd watch for the first signs of spring, the green buds readying themselves on what had been barren branches. Then she knew, as I do, that we are "home free"! It's like a fresh drink of water to sustain one, after a long dry season... Drink it in!!!
Had a great time in the drop in figure class today. Many things fell into place, and it was as if they were meant to be exactly as they showed themselves on paper. With the figures I'm enjoying suggesting implied shapes and forms, the parts of a figure that I don't paint completely, but seem to need no explanation as they remain understated on the page. I'm planning to paint a figurative work on canvas from one of my sketches again soon. It gives me the chance to flesh out the body, and also the opportunity to play with colors, not necessarily natural skin tones, in putting it on canvas.
Life's responsibilities have been consuming my life these last couple of months. There has been much paperwork in terms of forms for applying for opportunities to exhibit my work or to have the chance to design a commission. In addition the aromas wafting through the house are definitely harbingers of Passover. Matzoh Balls and chicken soup, matzoh kugel, and potato kugel are keeping me busy, cooking ahead and freezing, to enjoy with company, family and friends. For me, the foods express the pleasure of family and friends gathered round. Perhaps, for me, that is the ultimate feeling I love about the Jewish holidays. And so I cook, I prepare, they come, we eat, and share time together making good memories. Looking forward to it...
I've been excited today about the Art Museum in Milwaukee WI that sits on a site along Lake Michigan. I have visited there more than once, and it has such a special look to it, and is truly unique. It's on my mind because, although it is considered a piece of post-modern architecture, I found it seemed to parallel images in Precisionist Art from the 1920's. That's been the emphasis in classes I've been teaching through the week. We have examined old photos of sailboats that are cropped images of the subjects, making them seem quite abstract. This museum embedded in my visual memory came to mind as a good example of using design to abstractly echo elements in reality...with a twist. I'm posting some pictures of the place below, along with a link to take you to more complete information. It will give you some keys as to how the architect might arrive at his better than average design.
http://mam.org/info/details/quadracci.ph In 1994, the Museum’s search committee convinced Santiago Calatrava to submit a proposal and was wowed by his creative design. Calatrava, inspired by the “dramatic, original building by Eero Saarinen, …the topography of the city” and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-style architecture, initially proposed a small addition, with a pedestrian bridge connecting the Museum to downtown. As excitement over the project grew, fundraising accelerated and the project evolved, with the architect and Museum trustees sharing ideas.
As you read more about it, you will become acquainted with its "wings" that open and close during the day at scheduled times, or when response to winds, closing so the museum will not actually "fly". It's intriguing, and beautiful, reminiscent in its form of sailboats...which is exactly what wIn 1994, the Museum’s search committee convinced Santiago Calatrava to submit a proposal and was wowed by his creative design. Calatrava, inspired by the “dramatic, original building by Eero Saarinen, …the topography of the city” and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-style architecture, initially proposed a small addition, with a pedestrian bridge connecting the Museum to downtown. As excitement over the project grew, fundraising accelerated and the project evolved, with the architect and Museum trustees sharing ideas.
e were doing today, abstracting images inspired by sailboats.
I've been pulling up older floral paintings and still life paintings of mine from my files to use for a project entry. So I thought I'd post a couple here. The first two are from years ago. You probably can see the dates on them if you enlarge them by clicking on each one. The third painting below is probably on the Floral Painting page of this website. I didn't go back and check. Today I was thinking about my parents a lot, missing the ways that they were always supportive of me and their unconditional love while they were alive. I was having a low day, and seeking some reassurance. Remember how artists experience "Low" lows, and "High " highs? This was some of that!!! Although I am working on new directions for my art, which is a good undertaking for me, I sometimes get sidetracked by the "stuff "of real life. And today was like that. Spent some time with a wonderful close friend this afternoon, who helped me sort things out. No painting today... I even skipped my figure drawing drop-in session that I love because of the dulldrums (sp?). Tomorrow is another day. I hope to spend it cooking for Passover, so I can get ahead on that and freeze things. Also, it will just point my head in a different direction. The color yellow that I wrote this in is to give me a boost!
Piano Bar, Syracuse 
More info about this painting is available on my webpage "Portraits and Figures, as seen on my site map to the far left.
I also posted my newest portrait there from the Independent Painters session today.
When I was probably in my sophomore year in college, I went to spend a weekend in Syracuse NY with a close friend, Joyce Freeman. She had arranged dates for us for the weekend with two fellows she was friends with. One of the evenings we ended up at this bar,a neighborhood bar, rather than a college hangout. I'd been to the college bars in the town where my own college was, from post highschool and on. My parents were always vehemently opposed to my time spent there with friends, and I assume they didn't get it that it was just a place to hangout and socialize, and thought the worst of the bar scenario. But this Syracuse adventure was different! Real people from the city spent time there imbibing alcoholic drinks. We did that in the college bars, too, but this was a slice of real life. As I recall, the two guys we were with eventually danced with two older women seated at the bar. Characters! Do I mean the guys we were with or the women at the bar? I was astounded by the heavy one with her rear hanging off the barstool on both sides. I think the other one wore a pillbox hat with a veil. I retained an image of a young fellow tending bar, reflected in a coppery mirror, and a supersized bald pianist. I don't recall dancing with our dates at all, ourselves. I would now say they were most likely gay, and we were helping to protect their "upstanding" image by dating them. Didn't know about that then. It was a different period of time than today.
When I was encouraged in painting class to select my own subject, I did some pencil sketches and then moved on to stretching this large canvas and beginning to paint. The painting was about "that evening" and encompassed the characters I had experienced there, seeming rather like a novel I might have read. Of course, although the piece seemed profound, and my instructors in the department heaped praise upon me as a wonderful colorist, and really were not instrumental in the way I painted this at all, I suspect my parents were astounded by my choice of subject and wondered how I had arrived at the kind of insight about life that it proposed. The Secret Life of Karen Halpern.
One of the things the painting reminds me about is about the raw quality that is sometimes evident in early unschooled artwork. Not at all polished, it was able to covey the immediacy of the event or similar scenarios in many places that still prevail today. And the characters? They still exist, only with different names on different streetcorners.
For some time now I've had my eyes open looking for a painting I did some years ago. Painted with much love, I longed to find this unframed painting. Recently, in the process of revamping my studio to accommodate better storage of the myriad of paintings from over the years of my career, I came across the piece, painted with gouache paint. It seemed to me it captured the soul of Jennifer at that time. Think it still represents her well now in her young adult years.
To my delight, I have recently learned that I've been invited to exhibit some paintings of mine in The Healing Arts Gallery at Henry Ford Hospital, West Bloomfield MI . See information about the space that has been created on the following link at http://www.henryford.com/body.cfm?id=52960. Galleries displaying multiple artists' works at any one time, are available for viewing on each level of the health facility. A major exhibition area is a corridor entitled "Artists Avenue ".
"The Mission of the Healing Arts program is to create restorative and calming environments for patients, visitors, and staff by integrating the creative arts and aesthetic experiences into the healing process. Our programs seek to bring literary, performing and visual art experiences that represent and celebrate the cultural diversity of the communities we serve."
Artists among those whose work has adorned these walls have included Kresge Visual Arts Fellows, Gilda Snowden and Charles McGee, in the past, as well as countless other artists.
My exhibited work will be displayed from April 3-July 10, 2012. If you have a chance and are in the vicinity, stop in and take a look. I'm hoping it will enrich your day.
Working from and understanding the figure is so important as a universal study aid for artists. From my experiences in drawing "from life", which provide a storehouse of knowledge that is residual for me, I am able to call up from memory a sense of how a human is constructed. This makes it possible for me to draw sketches of people from my mind , sketches that provide images of the people I will use in eventual paintings. Of course I also feel that the human body is beautiful, a feeling that has inspired so many important works of art through the centuries.
|
RSS Feed