I know this is totally off the art subject that I have been writing about, but since this is a forum for venting, that is exactly what I am about to do. I am frustrated by people who are always looking for the underlying motives of what we do. Why is it that people can't understand that sometimes we do things without anything in mind but being genuinely kind? For example, I innocently reposted a status on facebook regarding whether or not your facebook friends would be there for you if you need someone to talk to. I did it because one of my fb friends who is also a friend to my daughter Jennifer had posted it. I thought that it was important to let her know that I was not just a casual fb friend, but someone who really would listen if she needed me.
I don't have a lot of fb friends for a reason. If you are my friend on facebook it is because you are a relative, a very very old dear friend, a dear friend to someone special to me, an artist friend or someone from high school that I am interested in hearing about. I do not take friendship lightly in any form. I am the kind of person who will be there for anyone who needs me from the little old lady who needs the door opened for her at the bank to the new mom who can't maneuver the stroller without an extra set of hands. Okay so these are not really friends, but you can see where I am going....
What you get with me is as I said, "me." I am not trying to prove anything, I have no agenda, I have no motives, if you need a friend I am there for you. Nothing is ever dependent upon what I will get in return, although if you want to be my friend that is a bonus. I try to be a good person, and live by the Golden Rule as my mom would tell me.
By no stretch of the imagination am I perfect, and I hope that doesn't come across in this blog today. I make the same mistakes as everyone, and hopefully learn from them, and if I don't I only have myself to blame. After all the only person I have to prove anything to is me, because I am the only one who can be accountable for my actions.
Maybe I try to be too logical, and make things too simple, but life is too short to try to analyze everything that happens to us.
On a much lighter note, as promised, I did finish the Edgar Whitney book, and learned the design principles of line, size, shape, direction, color, value and texture and how they relate to unity, harmony, dominance, contrast/conflict, repetition, variation, gradation and balance. I learned these same ideas at the Mike Bailey workshop, but in a much more interesting way than Whitney described! Now I am reading Making Color Sing, by Jeanne Dobie. I will blog about it next time.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
It Was a Compliment
My youngest son Dave posted a facebook comment that he thought my blog was adorable. Of course I was not sure how to take this, was it a compliment or was he being factitious. When I asked him he said that he knew I talked a lot, but he didn't realize I could put my thought together and make something coherent. I take that as a compliment for sure!
Well, on to the subject of art. Yes, I am still reading Edgar Whitney's book, but it is so dry that I am having a hard time making myself read it. So much for the theory that a blog would keep me honest and make me stay with my goals. I will finish it I promise, but now I am just not sure how long that will take-maybe by my next blog I will have accomplished that goal.
I have been busy with painting though, having done 6 major drawings that are ready for paint. I am doing a series of Hawaiian themed paintings based on the photos that I took when we were in Kauai. The flowers there are just gorgeous, and I am so happy to be painting some of them. There are also a couple of really cute buildings that I am going to do so I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am relishing the idea of doing it. I have already started a Bird of Paradise, and I hope that it will keep going in the direction that I want. So far so good.
I know this is a painting of sunflowers and it isn't Hawaiian, but it is on rice paper so it has a bit of a tropical feel. I hope you enjoy it.
In closing today I just want to say we all should take any compliment that we are given, and be glad that someone cares enough to give it to us.
Well, on to the subject of art. Yes, I am still reading Edgar Whitney's book, but it is so dry that I am having a hard time making myself read it. So much for the theory that a blog would keep me honest and make me stay with my goals. I will finish it I promise, but now I am just not sure how long that will take-maybe by my next blog I will have accomplished that goal.
I have been busy with painting though, having done 6 major drawings that are ready for paint. I am doing a series of Hawaiian themed paintings based on the photos that I took when we were in Kauai. The flowers there are just gorgeous, and I am so happy to be painting some of them. There are also a couple of really cute buildings that I am going to do so I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am relishing the idea of doing it. I have already started a Bird of Paradise, and I hope that it will keep going in the direction that I want. So far so good.
I know this is a painting of sunflowers and it isn't Hawaiian, but it is on rice paper so it has a bit of a tropical feel. I hope you enjoy it.
In closing today I just want to say we all should take any compliment that we are given, and be glad that someone cares enough to give it to us.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Who Owns What?
The topic of ownership of artistic concepts, style or actual art comes up from time to time, and I think there is always room for more discussion. Just as there are only so many notes of music, so are there only so many colors to use. There are endless possible tunes achieved when you put together those few notes of music, and the same is true when you combine red, blue and yellow to create a myriad of colors. But the reality is that eventually you will hear or see similarities in both.
When an artist starts a painting I am sure it is always with the intention of being original, but how can you be completely original when you are always using techniques and ideas that you have learned in workshops or demonstrations? Even if you are self taught there are all of the books and magazines that have helped you form your own style. Let's face it the amount of subject matter while infinite, still is subject to duplication. So as an artist should you have to ask yourself is this "rose" going to look like the one I recently saw in a painting, or is it going to be my own? The answer is that of course it is mine, which brings us to the gray area.
If you take an image that you have seen, and make it your own by using different color, different technique or different placement on the paper it should be your own property. I was always taught that you need to have a photo of your image that you have taken yourself, no matter what quality it is as a way of proving you had the original idea. I would think that would also work using a sketch that you did of an image that you have seen somewhere. But some artists would argue that even the mere replication of shape is enough to constitute copyright infringement. The two views will probably never come to common ground, since each side feels they are right.
We live in such a visible web based world, and I think because of that artists are more aware of replication of their work compared to say ten years ago. It is my opinion, and only my opinion, that an artist should take the high road and view it as a compliment if someone should try to emulate them. Of course I would never condone outright replication of an image, but let's realize that there is a gray area when it come to ownership of images and ideas.
So, my final thought is that each artist should paint from their heart, and realize that you can't control creativity.
When an artist starts a painting I am sure it is always with the intention of being original, but how can you be completely original when you are always using techniques and ideas that you have learned in workshops or demonstrations? Even if you are self taught there are all of the books and magazines that have helped you form your own style. Let's face it the amount of subject matter while infinite, still is subject to duplication. So as an artist should you have to ask yourself is this "rose" going to look like the one I recently saw in a painting, or is it going to be my own? The answer is that of course it is mine, which brings us to the gray area.
If you take an image that you have seen, and make it your own by using different color, different technique or different placement on the paper it should be your own property. I was always taught that you need to have a photo of your image that you have taken yourself, no matter what quality it is as a way of proving you had the original idea. I would think that would also work using a sketch that you did of an image that you have seen somewhere. But some artists would argue that even the mere replication of shape is enough to constitute copyright infringement. The two views will probably never come to common ground, since each side feels they are right.
We live in such a visible web based world, and I think because of that artists are more aware of replication of their work compared to say ten years ago. It is my opinion, and only my opinion, that an artist should take the high road and view it as a compliment if someone should try to emulate them. Of course I would never condone outright replication of an image, but let's realize that there is a gray area when it come to ownership of images and ideas.
So, my final thought is that each artist should paint from their heart, and realize that you can't control creativity.
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