Shameless Self Promotion

Indeed.
My paintings are now at the I.Wolk Gallery in St. Helena, California!



For anyone who doesn't know, St. Helena is one of the communities in the Napa Valley, and a very popular area not only for grape growing, but also for the variety of ways in which one can spend their money on Main Street. (Isn't that a nice way to put it?)

But really, it's a lovely town, surrounded by incredible California agriculture, nestled in the valley. The tree lined streets are straight out of any feature on "small town America" or "charming cities" as they are oft sited in the popular media.

But back to me.
So, the large plum painting is being featured in the front window (!) That's 21 square feet of plumalicious goodness. (3x7')
It's an oil painting on canvas with an overlay of gold leaf.



The persimmon painting, measuring 3x6 feet is equally ripe, featured just inside the door above that gorgeous farm house table. See how the ray of light coming down from the heavens is illuminating it?



I love the paintings with the sculpture.
If you're planning a trip or just want to burn time looking, the gallery link is here.

Thanks to my friend K, for generously taking these photos. Todays post would have looked a might different with out them!

This week at the studio

Paintings delivered, projects started, events prepared... It's all good.

It's been busy week at the studio. One in which I could easily say that the hours were simply not enough. Even employing my sitter for two afternoons, when one has clients who want finished work NOW, time can become scarce. And scarce it seems to have become.

Stretched canvas onto, gesso'd and began three paintings this week for a gallery as well as finishing another for same gallery location.

I am able to have my stretcher bars custom built now and with the addition of extra lumber it now has a hefty depth of about 2 and one half inches. Very sexy indeed.

If you paint and stretch your own canvases and especially if you work in large format like I do, you can appreciate a meter square canvas with a two and a half inch depth, can you not?

To that I say, "ooh, la-la"

This saturday is our first "Second Saturday" event in which we will open our doors particularly to the tourists in Napa, staying at the various hotels. Everyone is looking for an alternative to wine tasting and G studio welcomes the opportunity to show a visiting art lover the inside of the artists studio. At work, making art.

I'll post photos next week as I anticipate a robust turn out and a productive afternoon of making and selling art.

Fearless or Ruthless

I am in the middle of reading a book I recently checked out of the local library called: "Cezanne to Picasso, Abroise Vollard, Patron of the Avante-Garde" Rebecca A. Rabinow, Editor, Douglas W. Druik, Ann Dumas, Gloria Groom, Anne Roquebert, and Gary Tinterow.
The current chapter, "Bollard and Degas by Gary Tinterow, with research by Asher E. Miller", is of particular interest to me as I've been thinking quite a bit about how ruthlessness and fearlessness are used by the artist. This particular tome more so about the dealer of art, Abroise Vollard, and his relationships with the prominent figures of the french impressionists movement.

I must add that part of the conversation that I've been having with myself has been about the artists that I consider the game changers of art, not all individuals: the impressionists, Dali, Picasso, and Pollack are some of the last 120 years or so. This comment of course applies to the old masters, but for the point of this blog, I am merely focusing on the more contemporary. Feel free to comment on whom might be added to this list.

I recently watched a DVD about the art of Degas and although a interesting and visually lovely, I was intrigued by a section of the the film that mentioned how Degas had begun a new medium: pastelized monotypes as to generate up to three sellable prints from one original work. The film only touched on this fact and much to my surprise, the book listed above delves much more deeply. I regret that the following is not focused on the dealer Vollard, but rather the Durand-Ruels, also art dealers and promoters, contemporaries of Vollard.

"The Durand-Ruels, both father (Paul) and son (Joseph), had good reason to feel proprietary about Degas. Though they had no contract, their gallery had been the primary-though never exclusive- outlet for the works that degas wished to sell since 1874.
During the 1870's and 1880's Degas wished to sell almost anything he made (with the notable exception of sculpture), and he even developed a new medium, pastelized monotypes, in order to generate up to three works from the same composition and thus increase his salable "articles" as he called his commercial output. He needed the income because in addition to paying for an affluent bachelor's life, three to five nights a week at the opera, models, and a maid, he undertook, with his brother in law Henri Fevre, to redeem the debts accumulated at this father's bank by this profligate brother Rene. It was not uncommon for Degas to send his maid or a porter to Durand-Ruel, pastels in hand, with a note demanding that he dealer hand over 500 francs in cash to the bearer. Degas treated the gallery like his private bank, depositing work and withdrawing cash. He never never shrank from asking Durand-Ruel to pay his bills or to buy something-usually a a work of art- that he wanted."

Fearless? Ruthless? Or something else entirely?

All images shown are by Edgar Degas

Again, with feeling.

I am re-publishing an image of my dear friend Igor. This time the picture taken with a high quality, knows what it's doing type camera, taken by a high quality, knows what they're doing type friend. I'll be delivering Igor to his new home here in Napa Valley and I'll truly miss him. I won't miss the daily stare down. He always wins.

Igor Stravinsky, final
64"x41"



Secondly, the painting "tuesday" sold this week (yay!) and will be shipped out of state. Taking advantage of above aforementioned high quality, picture taking friend, I was also able to get a picture of this painting before dismantling for shipping.

What? you say, art, ehem, taken apart?? Well, a painting of this size (5.6 feet by 6.8 feet) is extraordinarily expensive to ship to the east coast. Not for weight, but for size. Since the stretcher bars were custom made to the size specification I'd requested and not a canvas "off the rack" (I was on a custom size, build me something so large it may not even fit through the door kick. I know, I have a bit of an eccentric side)

I knew that it could successfully dismantled and shipped to the client, cutting the cost down considerably. (think one thousand dollars in if left on the bars, down to $230, dismantled) So, removed the staples and tacks from the back, took the canvas off of the bars, rolled canvas, protected by my handy kraft paper over a cardboard tube, unscrewed all the joints of the stretcher bars, took apart said bars, sanded the ends of the joints where the wood glue was applied (that's one of those mundane jobs that maybe I can skip, but someone with an evil eye for detail will notice my slacker naughtyness so I best not skip it) put all the wood pieces inside tube, cap off each end, wrap entire enchilada (no, not an enchilada, a canvas painting and it's components. I was once verbally diced for taking too many shortcuts in my language style. So here I am explaining myself to no one in particular) in bubble wrap, insert into 24"square, eight foot long box, send to client.

If you've read this far, congratulations. I'm up to the part where the bars are laying on the floor waiting to be sanded. If you must know. That would be the mundane step pointed out about five lines up. I already feel like I have eyes watching me.

"tuesday"

painting every day

After a few small details added in with the valuable input of two artist colleagues, I am calling Stravinksy finished.
Since I am well before my deadline, I took the opportunity today to tighten up the canvas, will paper and wire the back, log it into my inventory and hopefully get a few really good photographs of it for my files. In case you have not noticed, the camera that I use is of not very good quality and duh, the images on the blog are dicey at best.
I'm alright with that. When I photograph something for my files or to put on my website, it is of the highest quality possible, but for the purposes of an everyday blog, the quality of the image is not necessarily the priority. Yes, I know any photographer out there reading this just had a small stroke in the back of their heads. I'm a painter. There it is.



Igor Stravinksy, final
So, yesterday and today in the studio I have begun to start using some small canvases that I've had on my work table for some weeks. Most measure about 12x14" or so and by comparison to what I can easily get caught up in by way of size, these are miniature.







"almost may" work in progress

art is in the details

About 3 weeks left I suppose, to keep working on the portrait of Igor Stravinsky. It's a self imposed deadline as the clients who are commissioning this painting don't need it until into November, but I'd rather be finished sooner than later as it keeps me painting through the fall.

Throughout open studios, this particular painting did give me a good opportunity to determine it's accuracy as a portrait. In the portrait genre, likeness is key. The concept seems obvious to me as most clients, whether a portrait of themselves, a loved one or a notable person (in this case) should actually look like the person. Right?

Classical music lovers could all identify the subject of the painting as they entered my work space, so I was pleased and those that did not listen to/follow classical music were unable to identify the subject. Fine by me. At the risk of sounding elitist, those with knowledge of Stravinsky's music were really the opinions I was most interested.



Igor Stravinsky (in progress)

back to our regularly scheduled program...art

Admittedly Liz and I have been sidetracked by the critter that seems to have taken over the bottom drawer in the kitchen, died and then sent another one of his kind. I could not resist the opportunity to channel rodent like attitude and since I have known Theodore Geisel on a intimate basis since my childhood and now Primo and Terzo's childhoods, I was compelled to rhyme and snark. I was so pleased that Liz felt compelled to respond and of course, I need very little encouragement to play...

The two weekends of Open Studios Napa Valley have come and gone... and what a swell party it was. Our total crowd numbered around 800 for the four days, art lovers were appreciative of our offerings, we sold paintings, glass and mixed media work.

As the studio owner, Liz also out does herself as hostess. We always offer wine as well as small bites; passed by a server. Never on a table to be pawed. Eww.
Our partime resident movie director Shahin is also a gifted chef and spent all four days sending out platter of bites; figs with goat cheese and honey, brie with organic pear, a roasted bell pepper mixture with goat cheese on toast... I could wax on about this but alas, I promised to get back to the art. But I must add that on the first day of the show, I counted 9 separate appetizers offered.
Oh, and not to be forgotten, Shahin also made a big pot of soup for the artists on each day of the show, so that we would not have to suffer (hardly) on appetizers alone, but had a nice, filling meal at mid day. Lucky us!

The following are images of my space, actually between weekends, as that is the time that I always rearrange, reassess and hopefully reap the rewards of repeat clients seeing something fresh on the second weekend, remixed.

What a swell party it was...