Other Artists
Next Entries »She sings and she paints…
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Chris Bolmeiere calls herself an Accidental Artist. Previously a professional actress, she still sings and posts the songs on her blog. Her “accidental” oil paintings are colorful, energetic and expressive. Her methods of painting are rather impromptu: she paints, scrapes away, applies more then removes more, and somewhere along the way a successful painting emerges.
Her crude, straight-from-the-heart illustrations of childhood memories are hilarious; one might be inclined to label them Naive Art, but in no way is Chris naive. This “accidental” Artist is honest and direct with her approach to all of the Arts; painting, writing, singing, whatever, has little fear and is full of fun. Multi-talented, and as the name of her weblog implies: she’s Christerical!
Not only that, if you sell her work she’ll give you 20%….so, If you buy this painting from Chris and saw it here first, please let her know. I’ll give you 10% for telling her, because otherwise you might not…meaning you get 10% off and we’ll all come out winners.
New marketing strategies
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Grackle Party, Dallas Texas, 11H x 9W inches graphite and colored pencils, white double mat, white frame with crackle finish
In her Wed. April 30th blog post, my friend Chris Bolmeier writes about an older painting she revitalized, and in this case it improved dramatically. Surprise 2 supports what I wrote in yesterday’s post: many paintings need a period of rest before we know how to solve them. In any Artist’s home/studio there are at least ten or so paintings hanging around or put away in unfinished states. If it isn’t sold immediately, chances are 50/50 it will continue to change as we attempt to improve it until we know it’s truly finished.
Chris is trying new marketing strategies, and offering anyone who sells her work a 20% cut. A little out of the ordinary to show and offer another artist’s work for sale on my own website, but this is a brilliant idea she has, and I don’t mind trying to help promote her work. Good Luck with your sales, Chris!
Out with the old, In with the old!
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
My studio is filled with all the things I love, including inspirational images and shelves of favorite objects. I still have Art supplies that I used in Grade 2, and hang on to various space-consuming materials like too much cardboard and a bulk of previous work. All this needs paring down at least once a year, and it’s always enlightening to sort through.
Rediscovering things long-forgotten, like this cartoon by Saul Steinberg (1961) that drew my attention years ago, I spot links and relevancy to my recent work, revelations about short and long-term goals, and patterns of recurring themes I still wish to explore.
One immediate association that comes to mind through Steinberg’s cartoon is how our visual sense speaks a language of its own, even completely on its own. For an artist, what a boost to take a second glance at how powerful images can be. We have high unrealistic expectations for words, speech, and logic alone; as if they are complete and final once expressed and need always be perfect. Beyond that, it’s a curious thing how, even if we speak the exact same language, words can fall short, be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Personally, I’m grateful to rely on a creative drive that allows for infinite forms of expression.
In our progressive age of high technology and wireless everything, it’s the Human factor that now needs refining. We still need to develop the abilities to effectively communicate with each other. Intrinsic to the intense desire to communicate, creativity thrives… always has and always will. The power of our emotions, usually given values of negative or positive, are all rather the same when it comes to Art and creativity: they become useful in learning, as a means to transformation and going beyond our own personal limitations.
What I thought was going to be a simple tidying and organizing of the studio became a surprising source for renewed perspective and motivation. I highly recommend it, but you will probably be sidetracked by all the old pictures!
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