follow me on twitter...

... I post lots of art stuff in 140 characters or less.

so, I am not working on what i should be...

... I have about 30 more paintings to do for a solo show in April. Meaning I have about a month to do them. I ma not working on those.  I just spent the entire night in my studio painting other stuff. I did a donation painting for a fundraiser benefit for the end of the month. I should have blew this off, but I did it anyway.

To make that worse, I did a companion piece to the fundraiser piece, just because. So, not only did I do a  piece that doesn't benefit my deadline (for a fundraiser), but I also did a piece just to waste my time.

The bright side is that both of the paintings are really cool. I will post them here once I get decent photos of them.

Maybe I should change my "Biography" show to a "alice in wonderland" show...

nah...

Nude Nite

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Not really a blog...

... just networking and spreading the word.

Sandy Fraser is an artist who is making a difference. She runs VanGo, a mobile art show and art classes designed around the art show. She brings this experience to low income schools without arts programs. It is an amazing ans extremely valuable program.

Sandy is always looking for artists to loan their work for the shows. She uses actual artwork from local artists in her classes. Original art makes a difference and has an impact on the children. I have loaned my art and  I am will continue to do so. If you think this is something that you would like to do, contact Sandy FRaser on facebook, or go to this link!

http://www.vangoartmobile.com/

VanGo arts program!

Did a painting based on this photo...

There isn't much more to say...

Been very productive...

... In the past couple weeks, I finished about 8 paintings. 3 commissions, 3 for my "Biography" show, and another couple "just because". I have a good 40 paintings to do in the next couple months for "Biography", but i am not worried. I am slowly building up the work, and I always do a flurry of work in the last weeks before the show. I also have a couple group shows that i am committed to. Those are next on the list.

So, next is a Pee Wee Herman painting and a painting about "love". I need to get cracking on those! Both are great subjects to paint about so they won't be a problem. I just have to come up with a concept and do it!

Third Thursday...

... was nice last night. I got to chat with a lot of people. It was cool. Sold a couple small things. Not enough sales to make it worth my time, but i gave out a lot of business cards, and you never know what those will lead to.

A lot of friends showed up and that was nice. It was chilly out and that probably made a few people stay in.

Today I am dropping off 7 paintings to The Barefoot Spa for their "Best of the Best" show. That will be nice. I am bringing them a bunch of larger art. Hopefully some of it will sell. We will see.

As far as my studio goes, I need to get cracking on my commissions. Every time I have gone into my studio in the past couple weeks, I have been distracted by other things. I have the commissions started, I just have to focus. The commissions include James Dean, The Little Prince, and a Safety Pin.

Anyway, those are my art thoughts for now, I have to go to work!

Painted last night...

... for the first time in a week or so. It was cold, but I turned on the space heater and went at it. It was cool, I got some stuff done, but I realized that I don't have the canvas sizes that I need. Time for a trip to Sam Flax.

On a separate subject, I uninstall my Lake Eustis museum show today. I was very happy with the show, and I am sad that it is over. It was cool to be able to say that I had a museum show. And it is gonna suck to bring the art back into the house.

Anyone wanna buy some art?

Didn't paint last night....

... It was too cold. Even with the space heater. I organized art and prepped for an upcoming show.

The weather has to warm up, or i am going to have to bundle up. I have 3 commissions that I have to finish in the next couple weeks. And i have a couple group shows to worry about. I also have about 40 paintings to do for April. YAY ME!

Preparing for the critique tonight...

... I coordinate a monthly critique group. It is extremely rewarding and a good time. I like gathering passionate artists together and talking about art. The event has been growing steadily. The first group (april 2011) had 12 participants. The January 2012 group has 18 scheduled artists, a wait list of another 8 artists, and a total of about 40 people who RSVPed the event.

It is a free event, and we only gather once a month. It is still a lot of work. I have to create a Facebook invitation and monitor it regularly to make sure that we don' overbook. I have to coordinate with the venue to make sure that it is prepared for the event. I have to make sure that we have enough equipment and supplies for the event, including seating, easels, coolers, drinks, and snacks. To smoothly run the event, I have to maintain a roster.

I communicate with the group daily on Facebook, to remind them of the event, and to communicate the format to new participants. It is a passion, but it can be draining.

Anyway, it is tonight, and I am prepping for it now. Van is loaded, and i am printing out the roster and getting the last minute supplies together. If you are attending, I look forward to seeing you there. If you haven't attended one of these yet, you really should go sometime. It is a lot of fun!

No painting again...

... but I went through a bunch of photos and edited them. It isn't the most fun thing to do, but if I want to post photos and have records of my art, I have to do it. This editing spree started with my Nude Nite submissions today. I actually submitted two pieces to be included in Nude Nite. Ahead of schecule. The deadline is January 12th. I had to do it now because I will be completely absorbed with the Critique group and some other news that I don't want to talk about yet.

Nude Nite uses Cafe for their application process. I had to edit my photos for the submission. when I tried to submit my art, I found that the submissions have to be SQUARE files. My pieces are 24 x 30 and 48 x 72. Definately not square. On top of that the files had to be 1920 pixels x 1920 pixels. ridiculous. But i did it. Plus it costs $40 to submit to the show.

Anyway, it is done, and here are my final submissions; "Reclining Nude" and  "The Thinker"

Today was an art movement day...

I attempted to deliver some purchased art today, but the plans fell through. Then went and picked up a couple pieces from a show that ended. After that I loaded up the van with more art for another show. This is the show;

I will have a handful of pieces in it. It is gonna be great!

Was too tired to paint tonight....

... and it was cold in the garage. I should have painted, but I didn't.

Instead, I downloaded pics of my camera and edited them, messed with my photo albums on Facebook, answered some messages, checked the critique group, posted stuff about upcoming shows, and wrote this blog. I figured out how to submit stuff for "Nude Nite" (which is a pain in the ass, so give yourself some time).

I also got art organized for delivery and pickup tomorrow. But mostly, I sat in front of the computer getting stuff together.

I need a secretary.

So, I was looking at one of my Nude Nite paintings...

...it is the large one, and because it is large, it has to be perfect. This is what it used to look like. It looked tortured to me. And i didn't like the penis and pubic hair. So I had to paint over it. I layered over sections of the body and background. Removed a lot of the rendering lines describing the body. I wanted it more gestural, and less like an illustration....

... anyway, I may have fixed it or screwed it up. I will probably paint on it more, until the very last second, and submit what I can just before the deadline.

Now that I look at this photo of it, I think I should have left it alone.... oh well...

I often get discouraged...

... when I look around and see lots of art sitting around. I am confident that I put on great shows, and I know that I am developing a presence in town. I just can't seem to translate that into sales. Yes, I sell some art, but nowhere near as much as I produce.

I need to figure out how to take this momentum and turn it into sales. I am not sure how to do that.

I will think about it...

taking pics...

I take pictures of my art in direct sunlight. I take several pictures and sort through them for the best one. I then have to crop them.

I took pictures of my Nude Nite paintings today. They look good. I think they will be accepted, but you never know. Last year, the event was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great artists including Shannon Holt and Stephen AG Carey.

I am gonna try to get into the studio tonight after I post this to get a couple new paintings going. I kinda just want to have a couple drinks and fall asleep, though.

Was in the mall today...

... and I noticed art in interesting places.

At the m&m store there were t-shirts of famous paintings with m&ms. They had a Mona Lisa and a Van Gogh m&m t-shirt. I also think there might have been a Munch "The Scream", but I am not sure about that one. If it was, it didn't translate well.

The other odd place that I saw art was at a luggage store. There was luggage with Romero Britto art on it. A whole set. I was surprised and intrigued. I walked in and looked at it. It was a whole set of the normal various sized luggage. But it made out of material with Britto prints over it. It looked pretty cool, bold and bright.

A couple of interesting art surprises in my adventures today.

Nude Nite

Working on Nude Nite. I think I have a couple good paintings coming along. One is 20 x 30 inches, and the other is 4 x 6 feet. I am feeling good about these pieces. I am using figure drawings from college as reference. I will post more about these soon, as the work develops.

The goal is to get them done in 3 or 4 days and then to try to get them documented. I need decent pics to submit to the show. The weather is NOT helping. Nothing is drying and I can't work my layers as usual I have a fan, space heater and hair dryer in the garage and I still have to wait much longer than usual between layers.

It is causing a little stress.

On top of those, I am working on 3 small commissions. I started those, but I need to let those dry properly between layers because I need to be in complete control of those.

OK, enough venting about paint! Back to the garage!

Vacation day...

...and I dragged myself out of bed. I have to wire a piece and deliver it to Gallery Q at The Center. Meanwhile I have to contact Lee James Floral Gallery to take down my art at CityArts Factory. There is always something that needs to be done.

Nude Nite is looming around the corner. I plan to complete 2 paintings for it. I have about 6 days to do the paintings, and then I have to document them and place the submission with my money. I am doing a couple paintings working from figure drawings that I did in college. The paintings should come out nicely.

I think that is all on my immediate agenda... besides finding new venues so that I can have more stuff on my agenda.

Coordinating the Critique Group.

It always happens. There are several spots left for the critique group, then overnight, a whole lot of people sign up to participate. It is really cool, but I have to sort through all the RSVPS and figure out who will be showing art, and who won't. Right now it is overbooked, which is fine. There are always cancellations.

It is a lot of work, but I really enjoy the event. So, I keep doing it. We have been doing these critiques for almost a year now, and they keep getting better and better. Every time there are different people involved. There is a core group of about 30 different people who regularly come, not to every event, but frequently. This mixes the group up. PLUS every time there are usually about 4 to 6 new participants. It is exciting and rewarding to pull these people together and  enjoy talking about art!

I think i am done coordinating for now. I think i really need to paint.