When life gives you lemons, draw them, 11 x 14 inches dry pastels, graphite on paper

"When life gives you lemons, draw them." (Nikki)

"Color! What a deep and mysterious language." (Paul Gauguin)

exhibitions

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Acceptance

Monday, October 8th, 2007


 

Competitions, online galleries and juried exhibitions

Galahs in Traffic - flocks of Galahs fly in front of cars, many laying dead beside the road to the Kangaroo Island ferry, South Australia - Paper Places seriesThree works were accepted into Artjury.com’s 2007 Fall / Winter National Online Juried Exhibition: Galahs in Traffic, Mayan Bowl Chair, and Linden Sunset.

There’s controversy that entering competitions is purely about vanity. For us who need to self-promote, we understand that it’s more about career stability and advancement than the ego. Still the question of ego exists, so a little devil-artist on the shoulder is good to have because we need to stay tuned to our arts’ original meaning and purpose. Evaluation is always in order. For the most part, self-promotion is personal, often uncomfortable, and a very humbling and enlightening experience rather than an egoistic one. We need to search deep for our very best, and stay open to every opinion.
Mayan Bowl Replica Chair placed 2nd in the 3D Category at the Grand Prairie Arts Council Juried Exhibition Sept./Oct 2007- see March 30, 2006 blog post for chair process details Acceptance by peers means a lot, but accepted or not, honest feedback and interaction with those who also love what they do and know what they’re talking about, or hearing from those who appreciate art and enjoy discussing it, is really beneficial. We encourage each other, and straight-forward critiques go a long way. Any kind of response helps us consider the direction we will take moving forward.
Recognition and validation are helpful because faith in this vocation waxes and wanes. Many of us ask from time to time: What am I doing this for? or: What’s the big deal about Art anyway? We are so closely involved with it as daily work that the personal and the professional are one and the same. Art is our life, and monetary or “ribbon-ary” validation is encouraging! Primarily though, motivation must be self-perpetuated. For work to work, we need to love what we do. No amount or content of external comments affects the genuine drive to create it.

Linden Sunset - March 5, 2007 - photographyIf we haven’t yet captured our big break with gallery representation, it takes a long time to learn the do’s and don’ts, and it’s surprising that there are so many expectations. We need to have confidence to be articulate about our works’ intentions and messages portrayed. Self-promotion, for artists who can’t afford outside management, is the other necessary half of the job and is time-consuming, but vital.

Temporarily it seems distracting, taking precious time away from creating the art in order to write gallery proposals and exhibition entries, but since sharing and selling are the main goals, who knows more about the heart of the art better than the artist? Practice meeting deadlines, and familiarity with managing all the details means we are in control of our destiny as much as possible, helps focus clarity of purpose.
It takes diligence and fortitude to wear all the hats. We need to take advantage of every open door whether it shuts in our face or not, and a few cash awards to supplement sales doesn’t hurt a bit!

City Streets

Friday, October 5th, 2007


 
Three Photos will be on exhibit and available for sale at the City Streets Exhibition at Studio 333, Sausalito, California  October 25 – December 6, 2007

Burnt Offerings - Dallas, TexasBurnt Offerings 01 – From Burnt Offerings the photographic series consisting of ten images of the devastating results after an explosion that rocked downtown Dallas on July 25, 2007, in an acetylene and propane warehouse. In the distance: the famous Reunion Tower.

Grey Phase - Dallas, TexasGrey Phase – Dallas, Texas. With a history and reputation for competing with Houston to attract visitors to stay in a beautiful, safe, and interesting downtown area, Dallas makes room for new buildings and upgrades existing ones. This photo: Demolition on the corner of Commerce and S. St. Paul Street, across from the infamous Dallas Grand Hotel which has been vacant and in a serious state of disrepair for many years, now planned to also receive extensive renovations.

True Colors 63 - San Antonio, MexicoTrue Colors 63 – An original photo of one of the digitally manipulated images in the True Colors website series.  A cow wanders the streets of San Antonio, Mexico. Nonchalantly meandering through the neighborhood, tether rope dragging on the road beside her, it’s as if this cow has simply left for a short walk and no one, even the owner, ought to worry about her finding her way home.

Growing Up and Looking Back

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007


 

Lucas at the Museum, 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

Lucas at the Museum, 11H x 14W inches graphite on paper, originally posted March 23, 2007 – today notified as part of the exhibition Growing Up and Looking Back – Reflecting on Childhood, Parenting, and Home at Gallery RFD in Swainsboro, GA October 12th – November 3rd, 2007.
See more of the Children Series, graphite illustrations available as cards, matted prints and framed prints.

Sun Shower 03

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007


 

Sun Shower 03

When I water the flowers in the front yard usually the Oak tree gets a shower too. There were a number of impressive photos from this session, but the clump of leaves in shadow contrasting with the bright sunbeams in spray brings this photo a little above the rest.

Sun Shower 03 was accepted into Studio 2600’s Holiday Light and Sparkle Exhibition at 2600 Hibernia, Dallas TX November 2007 through Jan. 2nd, 2008.

Adam

Thursday, June 7th, 2007


 

Adam, 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

Adam, 11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

Post-dated note: Adam , Merit Award winner, cash prize at the VAST 19th Annual Juried Exhibition held in Denton, Texas July 29 – August 23, 2007

True Colors photo – exhibition acceptance

Saturday, June 2nd, 2007


 
True Colors photo - exhibition acceptance
One of the photographs from the series True Colors is accepted into the exhibition Visual Rhythms / Ritmos Visuales, an all-media juried exhibition that embraces the flavors and rhythms of Latin American influenced art and cultures] at the Target Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, scheduled July 28 – September 3, 2007.
The storefront photo was taken in Guadalajara, Mexico. Beyond the clutter of typical-style pottery and items for sale, a child in a high-chair peeks out from behind a shelving unit The chair in front of the child indicates that someone, probably Mom – no doubt also the store-owner- was there a few moments before, feeding him or her. Two dogs and some pigeons scan the floor for leftovers. The room has a courtyard open to the sky, typical of the area, and there are more pigeons up on the window ledge on the back wall.  Available, white mat, black frame 23 x 27 inches.
Please visit the trucolors.info website to view the complete creative tribute to Mexico.

Lucas at the Museum

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007


 
Lucas at the Museum,11 x 14 inches graphite on paper

 Lucas at the Museum, 11 x 14 pencil and eraser drawing on paper

Post-dated note: Lucas at the Museum is part of the Growing Up and Looking Back Exhibition: Reflecting on Childhood, Parenting, and Home in Swainsboro, GA October 13 – November 3, 2007

Crescent Moon – Phenomenon 01

Thursday, October 26th, 2006


 

Crescent Moon - Phenomenon 01

Phenomenon 01 – Crescent Moon, sunset this evening

Post-dated note: Phenomenon 01 placed in Grand Prairie Arts Council Open Juried Art Show and Sale Texas, September/October, 2007.

Moon Over Cypress

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006


 

Moon Over Cypress, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels on paper
Moon Over Cypress, 14H x 11W inches oil pastels on paper, framed with 3-inch white double mat and 26H x 22W inches white wood frame with crackle finish.
This turned out differently than what I originally envisioned — it’s much better because the paper shows through like stars and reminds me of time lapse photography. It is a rare piece in this series that came together quickly and will not be reworked.
Post dated note: accepted into Studio 2600’s Holiday Light and Sparkle Exhibition Nov. 2007-Jan. 2008. Now sold.

Jabiru

Friday, September 1st, 2006


 

Jabiru at the Dallas World Aquarium, 24H x 18W inches graphite on paper

Jabiru at the Dallas World Aquarium, 24H x 18W inches graphite on paper

Post-dated note: Accepted in the J. Mane Gallery’s Fins, Feathers and Fur 2020 exhibition, unfortunately no longer shown in the gallery archives in 2022.


“Drawings have a job to do: to provide viewers with more than just a pretty picture. There are tones implied through those tones!”


 

Jabiru are large South American prehistoric-looking birds standing 4-5 ft. high. Reference photos for ‘Jabiru’ were taken at the Dallas World Aquarium, where I’ve spent many visits watching a pair of them interact. Fortunately, I can usually study them in silence, because everyone else’s attention is on the flashy coral-colored flamingos just down the aisle.
Before starting I envisioned a drawing based on Japanese principles of using fewer lines and shading, with empty spaces considered as much a part of the drawing as every mark.

This is not the prettiest subject, precisely one of the reasons I chose to keep the drawing soft. By purposely compromising the values and using a lighter touch, my hope was that the viewer’s response might be pleasant before thinking “ugly bird”. To explain further, the Jabiru’s feathers are pure white and its head including beak are very dark grey, almost black. I was stubborn about the style staying gentle and simple, having negative space speak as much.
Whereas a photograph utilizes the whole range of dark and light values, copying everything, a person chooses the amount and quality of dark and light values to apply in order to attain the intended the effect on our emotional impressions.

The Jabiru’s huge beak strikes a strong silhouette by shape alone, so to lessen the impact of the large, odd shape on a fairly empty page, extremes were avoided even though the bird’s beak is quite dark in reality.
I really want stress here that a drawing is not a photograph, and a photograph is not a drawing. Photographs might be the source of inspiration and for details that memory has missed or forgotten. Illustrations that are copied with attempts to produce an exact visual likeness, relying purely on the photo, lack a certain warmth no matter how well rendered they are. Art involves the human factor.  A photo is a product of a machine; the visual details are copied with no sense or emotion; it does what it’s been designed to do. Drawings are subjective representations of all that we sense as well as see.
We interpret character of a subject not only visually, but also through our multidimensional senses.

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