Category: artist date

Snow Day and an Artist’s Date

 
Last week the forecasters were predicting a snowstorm that never happened.  You know how everyone hears the words “winter storm warning in effect” and they run to buy milk and bread?  What’s with that?  Is everyone working with an empty refrigerator, or at the slightest idea of some snow they need to stock up with a month’s load of food?  Please people!
The weather guys were correct with their snow predictions this time.  As usual, I’m fine in the food department. They’re expecting blizzard conditions this afternoon, but so far there was only three inches on the ground by 8AM.  Thankfully, I have no where to be but at home and that’s where I’m staying!  
 
Mostly I like being home alone, but being snowed in is even better.  There’s no way you can go anywhere, no idea of going out except to shovel, and it’s a freeing feeling. I have big plans for my day in! First another pot of hot coffee. Then, I may bake some muffins from a new recipe I found. Later I might put on a Bach CD I bought a little while ago and draw with some pastels. If there’s more snow I’ll take more photos of it.
The possibilities are endless and exciting!  Definitely an Artist’s Date kind of day.  Isn’t funny that I’m so excited to be snowed in I have all these ideas of things I can do?  I should be like this every day, thinking which art thing to do first. We humans are weird people. And we artists? Ok, I won’t say it.

Yes I Can

With yesterday’s post in mind about going into the studio for 15 minutes, I did just that.  Luck was with me and the stupid light in the studio was working. 
Going into the studio, I decided to look at the latest cherry blossoms painting I was playing with.  The first one is over and done.  I don’t think I can do anything else to it because, firstly, I’m over it, and secondly, I’ll just over do it.  I signed it and I’m done. The second watercolor needed a little definition in the flowers and I worked on that until I was done with it, too.  Signed, done.
On my desk is a couple of print-outs of my son playing a traditional Greek bagpipe.  He had a YouTube video of music he was practicing and I just loved the look of it.  To me it was so Rembrandt, all chiaraschuro like.  Bright light against deep darks.  I liked that moody look and printed out some frames, with his permission of course.  I sketched out the basic subject and lines for the background on watercolor paper.  This would probably be a better oil painting than a watercolor, but hey, the watercolors are out so that’s what I’m going to use.  If I don’t like it, I can paint another one in oils, which I probably will do. 
I didn’t want to plunge right in with color just yet.  I need a tube of New Gamboge that I’ve used before for painting skin color in watercolor.  It’s just a nice soft color and adding shadows to it is easy.  So I’m off to Pearl Paint today to see what brands they have in this color.  Forgot about it when I was there last week for the 50% off sale. 

It’s amazing how an idea like doing something for only 15 minutes can wake you up and charge the batteries.  I’m going to make this my little Artist’s Date for the week. 

You have to take the motivation where you can get it and run!

Artist Date at the Guggenheim

Recently, I visited the Guggenheim Museum in New York City to see the Vasily Kandinsky exhibition.  It’s on 5th Avenue in the 80’s on Museum Row where there are other museums and galleries.  The Guggenheim is a cool place to visit in itself and was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  
Outside and inside, the walls of the building twist around and around, floor to floor, as you view the paintings.  It’s visually stunning.  From the inside lobby you can see the ceiling and each floor circumscribes the space going all the way up.  People can be seen moving around and up as they step back to view the art, some lean on the wall or hang over.  Cool, weird and scary all at once.

This was my latest and longest Artist’s Date.  The point of it is to go alone and be in the moment without distraction from a side-kick.  As soon as you invite a friend along, the magic spell is broken.  It’s no longer a play date with your inner child artist.  You know how the other person always wants to go this way and you want to go the other? 

Going alone insures you do what you want, when you want, and how.  Since I’m the type that likes “alone” it’s perfect!   I took mass transit to get there, which was wonderful and clean.  I wish I had taken photos of the subway stations because each stop has it’s own flavor of mosaic tile designs on the walls.  Next time.  The weather was comfortably cool so I wasn’t dragging a winter coat around the museum.

With the $18 price of admission, I had the opportunity to use the headset with taped information on Kandinsky’s life and each painting in the show.  The massive exhibit was very extensive with work from Kandinsky’s early years to his very last painting.  
The symbolism he used told the story of life in Russia and other places he lived, his spirituality and connection of color to classical music.  Very intense, bright color ruled most of his work in which he liked to abstract forms.  
As he progressed in life his work became slightly more minimal, but color, form and symbolism reigned none-the-less.  It was all so interesting I took notes, and I’m out of school a long time.  Overall, this was a great Artist’s Date.  I can’t wait for the next museum trip!

Into the Woods

Last month I visited The Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn, New York.  It’s a lovely old mansion on the north shore of Long Island in and around the areas known as the Gold Coast.  That nickname was made popular by F. Scott Fitzgerald in his novel The Great Gatsby.  Many of these homes were built and owned by millionaires all living the good life here.  

This particular estate was owned by Henry Clay Frick, co-founder of U.S. Steel Corporation, in 1919.  The Georgian mansion was a wedding gift for his son, Childs.  The mansion home was built on land owned by William Cullen Bryant, and named Clayton.  In 1969, the estate was purchased by Nassau County to be converted to the Museum of Art.

It was my first time at this museum and I wanted to see the current exhibit of original paintings by Norman Rockwell, the noted illustrator of the Saturday Evening Post and other periodicals.  He liked to represent the everyday basic human experience in his art.  “I paint life as I would like it to be,” he once said.

Seeing the oil paintings close up, I was able to detect his brush strokes and get a feel for how he prepared his works.  They showed oil sketches that Rockwell used to develop the final paintings.  It was a very large, involved exhibition and filled the whole museum. 

Spanning the decades of his career through several wars and painting styles.  His realistic, painterly approach finally met up with the more modernistic styles of other artists in the 1960’s and 1970’s.  The paintings were larger than I expected and utterly beautiful.

After viewing the exhibit I took my time looking at the museum building and surrounding grounds. The garden leading to and from the mansion was full of different sculptures scattered around the acreage.  On my way back to my car I found hiking trails and several formal gardens, each with it’s own design and flavor.  I decided to take a quick walk through one of the trails just to see what was there. 

As I walked I was thinking that my heeled shoes were all wrong for a hike, but I kept going.  The trees grew taller, the underbrush denser, and the sky was hidden the further I walked.  It was beautiful and quiet.  The sun sent it’s rays down through the trees to settle on fallen branches in the path.  Serene and wonderful.  Did I bring my sketchbook with me? Of course not! 

Suddenly, it dawned on me that I was all alone on a path in the woods!  It was time to head back.  I took a few photos of some spots that were too beautiful not to record and walked a little faster.  When I came out of the trail I saw a sign that said, “Use trails at your own risk.” Oh oh.
I’m glad I had my museum adventure, but next time I need to be prepared.