Back in Action - getting show ready

Feels good to get back to the drawing table, it took awhile to get the mind back into the groove of thinking out how I want something to lay out or tell. This week is finishing touches on pieces for the Springwood Art Show on 24th August to the 26th of August. I have got three pieces finished and framed, just need the wire to hook them up...but the last piece isn't finished.

First piece, "Bourbon Street Snooze", is graphite and watercolour pencil. Just subtle touches of colour in the composition to give a slower side of the fast pace of Bourbon Street. In a crowd of many this guy was resting in a doorway like no one was around. It touched me, and I hope it touches someone else with its undertones of suggestion.

Second piece, "Quilted history", is a collage of newspaper, card paper and scrapbook designed paper with oil pastel painting of the character and gold ribbon in the quilt pieces' ditches. The art of quilting is fading away, material has become to expensive, women don't have the time or patience for it and modern society finds going to a store more convenient than making your own blankets. There is more to the history of this work than just making a warm piece to your home - it is art, history, community togetherness, women bonding and making use of your resources. 

The third, "New Orleans Blues", is a collage of music paper, acrylic paint and ink. I drew this out while sitting at the hotel in New Orleans. It is a feeling that you get while hearing music there, a sort of vibration that reaches out to touch your heart beating with it. There is no face to the person playing, and his instrument is the torch between you both.









The fourth piece is a joker carrying a bag pipe through a crowd of people. The joker is the only one in colour, everyone else blends into everything else. It takes a lot of guts for a person to come strolling around a festival full of people dressed in purple tights and bag pipes. This piece will be about being your own person even when the odds are against you. I'll post a break down of it being completed (hopefully by Thursday for the show).

The other piece completed this month I am not sure if it is telling the story to another person as I feel it. This gentleman was playing his guitar busking on Beale Street with a big man playing the drums. He sat there with this cigarette hanging out of his mouth, but never did his fingers leave the strings, ashes just fell onto his legs as he played with his eyes closed and swaying with what the chords were doing with him. If I would have had the money their CD would have been bought. The emotions from this man were compelling. I stood there drinking in his features, mood and melody. To be that close with one's art makes me want to cry. I have only painted his image, I need to go deeper into what he made me feel.






For September I will be getting more work together for the Blackheath Art Prize. It runs 28th September to 1st of October. Maybe I can get my groove back for it. I have entered the Springwood Show for the past 3 years, but this will be my first for Blackheath.

Cheers!

USA Art stops in Kansas and Nebraska

We are having a great time at Mom's house in Kansas. There have been so many things to see that I didn't know the state had to offer.

Keystone Gallery on US 83 in Scott City, Kansas is a little stone house on the praise. The main features of this gallery are the fossil of the area, other states and Africa. It is a very nice set up and Chuck is a great guide to understanding all the different aspects of the state's prehistoric past. The artwork consists of paintings by local artists and pieces made from rocks, crystals and fossils. My mother got some great buffalos carved from stones (the indian blanket stone was the most interesting) and the paintings were mostly acrylic of landscapes. Our amateur art critic standing - carvings and jewellery pieces were outstanding for quality, the paintings needed more work in shading and seemed flat.

Also in Scott City is the El Quartelejo Museum and Jerry Thomas Gallery. The museum is set up as a timeline of Kansas History with beautiful displays about the Pueblo house found, settlers and local characters. Jerry Thomas Gallery is the most amazing setup I have seen. It not only holds his beautiful work, it houses history pieces that he used for the paintings and artwork that he has collected. His work with birds is better than any I have ever seen and the fort scenes have great detail that leads your eyes though it all. Mom fell in love with "Monumental Journey" but felt the groundwork was too flat to accompany such intricate work of the horses, Mounument Rocks and indians. This is a must stop in art tourism! and while you are in town visit Monument Rocks. This place left me itching to set up an easel and stay all day. Flat Kansas landscape opens up into the golith rock structures that are captivating.

In McCook, Nebraska there was a little art shop in town to be visited. They hold stain glass classes monthly and the work is stunning in this area. The artwork displayed was local artists and nothing there grabbed at us as a gotta have or aspire to. It is a wonderful town with inspirational views and buildings begging to be worked up on canvas.

I didn't get a photo of this gallery in Hays, Kansas, but it is a must stop on the artist trail. The work here is thoughtful, inspirational and provoking. A mix of medias and genres, each room holds something to keep you working the mind of possibilities. It's address is 112 East 11th Street in Hays and done by the Hays Art Council. The current Smoky Hill Exhibition runs until June 7th. I wish I had a scanner on this trip to show some of the pieces from the catalog, some of the images are available at www.haysartscouncil.org. My favourite is Gordon K. Sherman from Hays called "It just don't stick" and Barbara WAterman-Peters of Topeka, KS "MWS: Two Pandoras (POP!)".

There are murals and statues in every town that are must see inspiration:

Mural in Russell, KS is intricate detailed.

another in Russell, KS.

Oakley, KS huge dedication to Buffalo Bill Cody.

and inspirational places to set up easel:

Colby, KS museum with old church, schoolhouse, largest barn in KS, sod house, standard red barn and the museum is full of local history laid out beautifully. They were holding a local art show while we were there that had some great work.

Ft. Hays, KS has some original buildings, great vistas, buffalo and surroundings that bring history to life.

One of the largest Van Gogh easels in Goodland, KS. There were 7 of them made around the world of Van Gogh's 7 sunflower paintings. Makes you want to hire a crane to make a huge painting eh?

and my last inspirational item of this blog is the Old Town Museum in Burlington, Colorado. We bought two pieces here (darn need to find the artist's name, I have already shipped mine back to Australia). There are pictures within for you to find. The watercolour work itself is detailed stunning, Mom's piece is a forest background with rocks and water flowing over them. Within this setting you can find the faces of indians in the rocks, leaves of trees, etc. So far we found 11. There is also dried buffalo bones with etchings of pioneer history, rocks painted with local scenes, etc. The shop was great! Then the museum was outstanding. The outside is buildings set up as they would have been through pioneer history: the bank, post office, saloon, blacksmith, etc. If you are looking for content of historical painting this is the place to go.

Well off for now. This weekend is Fort Dodge wild west shootouts and Arlington Steam Train. Next week we set off for Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Always have pencils and sketchbook in hand!

What a great start to the year

Well the Emma and Scott Wedding portrait is finally done. The photo is a bit dark, having taken it after work, but it is the general idea. The matting and framing is done, but they are on a beach somewhere and won't be able to get it to them for awhile.

We had a couple of slow days at work, so decided to play with the pastels again. I choose a photo taken by my granddaughter, Chrissy, of her husband and daughter fishing at Easter. Austin's face isn't quite right, hard to get nice shapes when points are great. I have to find a better method of sharpening them, Derwent sharpeners get dull quickly and just want to break the points off. Not bad for a study though...I'll keep at it.

Vince stopped by yesterday and gave me six portrait commissions. So happy, can really use the money for getting ready to head home for a visit. First young man is almost complete and two other are sketched out ready for detail layering.

Not bad for the first month of the year. I check out some art competitions to see if I could make up ideas for their submission base. There is one in Townsville that has to have some connection to its history, I want to try doing a portrait of my father in law, behind him his father and in the background a sheepherder to represent his great grandfather that was brought here for the job for a bloke in Townsville. I'll call it the "Road from Townsville". Another regarding Anzacs got me thinking about my family's military history, I'm researching different uniforms of all the wars my family has been involved in and titling it "My Inheritance". Another pastel is on the board for Springwood Show, Katie and her horse "Bo" hugging. Want to see if I can get muscling and hair with pastels.

Lots of ideas! Now time to do them all. Cheers... talk to you later.