Blog
by Roseann Munger on 4/29/2009 6:58:52 PM
Just got back from a four-day art workshop which was wonderful. Michelle Torrez' work always rocks my boat, so I attended her recent class in Pueblo, Colorado. Hard work, but loved it!
But now, who am I? Artistically, that is.
I don't want to paint "just like her", as if anyone could actually do that. But, I want something different out of my own work now ... just don't know exactly what. Looser, yes. Faster, yes, yes, yes. And I still want the exaggerated gesture in my work, because that is what I love. I guess it will just have to evolve.
Back in my real estate broker days I would get phone calls asking for names of good roofers, plumbers, and so forth. I still get calls like that, but now I also am asked who I like to use for various art services, so I have added "Favorite Links" to the navigation bar at the top of my website. Click on this and you will see some of my favorite sources for various services, or websites, or whatever grabs my attention. Just started it with a local Tucson photographer whose work is good, fast, and priced right. His name is Wilson Graham, and he does not have a website, but I included his email address. Great to work with.
by Roseann Munger on 4/20/2009 10:13:18 AM
"The Lady and the Steinway"
In a previous blog I talked about the "ugly" stage during the creation process, likening it to the visually unsavory stages in making sausage. Since then I have heard from other artists who agreed that they hate others to see their work before it is completed. I, however, posted my rough sketch several days ago and also the "sausage" stage of my most recent painting. Today I am posting the finished project for the world to see.
Leaving in a couple of days to attend an art workshop by Michelle Torres (look her up - her work is loose and fabulous!) Hope to have new insights when I return.
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by Roseann Munger on 4/17/2009 10:09:56 AM
"Oriental Poppies", O'Keeffe
Love this!
"Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something."
Worth remembering.
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by Roseann Munger on 4/16/2009 10:54:45 AM
"Not Your Father's Tango, Baby"
I have been talking by email with a fellow blogger artist, Karen Cooper.. She commented on my last blog about "sausage paintings", so I asked her what drew her to read my blog. Mostly, I understand, it was the title and how it relates to the process of painting. That makes sense to me as a good title certainly grabs my eye. (Incidentally, my aforementioned "sausage painting" has graduated to full-fledged finished painting status. It will be photographed today and put on my blog in a day or two in case you are interested in seeing a "sausage cum laud").
Titling works of art in an interesting manner can be important also. The title for the image shown on today's blog was meant to hammer home the fact that the tango dance is a gorgeous, sexy dance, unlike what we saw in old movies - tango dancers lunging across the floor, cheek to cheek, and then abruptly changing direction when they ran out of space. That would have been "Our Father's Tango", I guess. However, I never saw my dad dance like the guy in my painting. Probably a good thing, too. Would have been too much information for a kid.
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by Roseann Munger on 4/14/2009 5:19:02 PM
"The Lady and The Steinway" block in
Did you ever hear the old saying that you should never watch sausage being made? Apparently it is such an ugly process that you would never eat sausage again.
I liken that to the early stages of painting an oil painting - at least the way I do it. Maybe other people can create art so that it is a beautiful thing from beginning to end. Not me. In my mind's eye, I can see the beauty that I assume will result, but what is actually on canvas looks pretty bad. To prove it, I am gritting my teeth and showing an image of the blocking in stage I did yesterday on the sketch I showed in my last blog.
I will be honest: I cheated a bit and took it one stage further today just to make sure it actually would turn out at the end. Looks OK to me now, so I will display the "sausage" I created a couple of days ago. Finished product either tomorrow or the next day. Or the next day.
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by Roseann Munger on 4/8/2009 5:25:30 PM
"Flamenco Fury"
Recently, just before I created my blog site, I was contacted by a young university art student named Jose Gonzales, who asked me "What exactly is it that interests you, as an artist, to paint the way you do now"? I will write part of my response in this space, but it is his comment back to me that I found to be both thought-provoking, and frustrating.
My comments to him (regarding why I switched from portraiture to the portrayal of what I call "people in motion"):
"This much is true: dogs and cats and horses don't care what their portrait looks like, which is very liberating! Also, people rarely notice if you make their noses more attractive, their eyes prettier, and their pose more graceful. And this is how I switched from painting portraits of people, to painting people in poses that I find interesting. And, if I wish to exaggerate a feature, or the position of an arm or a leg, or if I wish to add another figure or to adjust a setting ... that's my choice! I find such freedom in that!
However, I am a strong believer that an artist must first develop the skills to paint people exactly as they are, with proper proportion and color and detail. I understand that many art schools no longer emphasize this kind of accuracy, which would be a real loss to an art student. After mastering the actual "facts" of what he is painting, the artist can then make decisions as to his personal expression of what he sees. What is really pathetic is when the artist himself does not know his work is varying from accuracy. That is not artistic - that is just a drawing error!
Purposeful exaggeration can be wonderful; errors and inaccuracies are not. I remember as a child seeing paintings by George Bellows of boxers in a boxing ring, with leg positions stretched and exaggerated, showing strength and power...
and I strive in my paintings to depict that feeling of power and movement. Sometimes it works better than other times, of course. My "Flamenco Fury" painting has some of this strong movement, I think."
Jose's response to me:
"I am currently experiencing first-hand what you refer to as lack of technical training in (some of ) today's art schools. Personally I feel they're pressuring us to think more about having a message or concept to work with right away rather than developing skills. At first it may sound thrilling to a young student, I guess, but I was personally expecting something different."
I wonder how many students feel this way.
by Roseann Munger on 4/7/2009 7:37:51 PM
Recently I attended a discussion seminar to meet and interact with experts from across the United States. I am certainly not "expert" as many people that were there, and probably not as expert as many readers of this blog. However, I was placed on a panel to discuss the subject of "art" and was stunned at what took place.
One participant gushed on about an art exhibit that, apparently, consisted of one large, empty room filled with four inches of talcum powder. And nothing else. Another person spoke on (and on) about the lacy beauty of a rusted toaster she found, which she felt was certainly "art". It is proudly displayed on her fireplace mantle. To my way of thinking, if she had done a watercolor or oil painting of that toaster, it might actually be art! Or am I just being plebian about the whole subject?
So, what is art?
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by Roseann Munger on 4/7/2009 11:44:52 AM
Roseann
OK, this is a bit daunting. I am told that, as much as I like to talk, and as adamant as my opinions often are, this should be a snap for me! We will see.
I do know that I look forward to receiving your comments, input, even critiques.
More later. Roseann
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