Category: artists

I’m Back!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 14 Comments

I’m back!

For those of you who never really noticed, I’m back from two weeks in the beautiful European cities of Paris Rome, and Florence.

A bucket list item to be sure.

I’m full of culture, statues and gelato.

Have I changed?

How can one not change walking through the Villa d’Este, a 16th-century villa  near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and  its profusion of fountains?

How can one not change eating dinner on a cruise ship while watching the Eiffel Tower make it’s sparkling sky show once an hour?

I worked all my life to get to this point in my life. I’ve been through raising two children, taking low-paying jobs so I could be home with my kids, working everything from a hosiery saleswoman to a bed and breakfast owner.

It was wonderful to see the work of Michelangelo and Galileo and  Gustave Eiffel up close and personal. To see the sweat and heartache and brilliance of artists of all kinds.

It also was wonderful to see people in other countries living their lives like you and me, too. The little old man who owned the small store-front restaurant in Florence who served us dinner one night. The young, bright tour guide who shared his enthusiasm and knowledge and back stories about pieces in the Louvre. The crazy cab driver who slipped up and down the narrow streets of Florence so fast I thought I might be in the middle of a video game.

These were real people doing real things.

Maybe it wasn’t as big of a deal as sculpting a body out of marble of painting a ceiling, but their attitudes and contributions made for a wonderful memory in the lives of two seniors living in the Midwest.

The only thing is that you might have to endure occasional sharing of 1,262 (give or take) photos I took in two weeks. Blog-worthy pics, I must say.

What would you enjoy? Doors? Weird statues? Painted ceilings? Marble statues?

The world is endless …….

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Twyla Tharp

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Twyla Tharp, (1941) is a popular American dancer, director, and choreographer who was known for her innovative and often humorous work.

Tharp attended Pomona College but transferred to Barnard College where she graduated with a degree in art history in 1963.In 1965, Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance. Her dances are known for creativity, wit and technical precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance. By combining different forms of movement such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own making, Tharp’s work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance. 

In 1988 Tharp disbanded her company and joined American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where she served as artistic associate alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov until 1990.She continued to choreograph throughout the 1990s, but by 2000 the Twyla Tharp Dance Company was performing again.

“When I started working in New York, you were either modern dancer, or you were a ballet dancer,” Tharp shared.“I thought that was ridiculous, because I could be both a ballet dancer and a modern dancer, so shouldn’t everybody else be able to do that?”

More of Twyla Tharp’s amazing career and chorography can be found at https://www.twylatharp.org/ and https://achievement.org/achiever/twyla-tharp/.

 

 

Check Out What’s Outside Your Window!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

I should have the word “Creativity” tattooed across my arm or forehead or something.

Not that I’m more creative than anyone else. Not that I spend more time creating than anyone else. Or appreciate Art in all of its dozens of forms any more than anyone else.

It’s just that that word is always dancing around inside and outside of my head.

Take my gif collection/selection of Monday.

Others might not be as mesmerized by them as I am. I get it. It’s moving computer graphics. It’s graphic design in motion. Gifs are taking one picture and making it move. Or several pictures and blending them into one another.

It doesn’t matter how they’re made — it’s that they are made that surprises and delights me.

Gifs are all over the place now. They are constantly being created, many highlighting movie stars or normal people doing weird things or saying weird things over and over again.

I find creativity in the original gifs.

The ones that bring waterfalls to life. The ones that make stairways to heaven or swirling galaxies. Or reflections in glass that ripple and mazes that forever hypnotize.

Like I commented to my friend Elaine who commented Monday —  I enjoy them because they take reality one step further.

And that’s what creativity does. Creativity with a capital C.

Artists take every day objects and make them special. Enhance them, embrace them. Change them. Change their fabric or their intent or our perception of them. Artists use a myriad of textures, fabrics, utensils, colors, materials, styles, and interpretations of influences around them to make their own special creation.

And it’s amazing what they come up with.

When I tell you that you, too, can get high on creativity, it’s true. You don’t have to understand every shadow and shade, every cut and stitch — you can appreciate someone’s work just for what it is. Someone else’s work. Someone else’s creative mind pulled out of the 4th or 5th dimension and made real here in the 3rd dimension.

You can do it too.

I know I sound like a broken record. A record with a skip. Ta da BANG. Ta da BANG. Over and over again. But I want to encourage you to explore the world of Creativity. See what the world outside your window offers.

Unique Artists. Traditional Artists. Visual Artists. Musical Artists. Graphic Artists. Gardening Artists. Woodworking and Glass Artists. Calligraphy Artists. Interior Decorator Artists.

You get my drift. 

YOU are the artist.

Go enjoy the world. And report back to me what you find.

 

 

Another Monday is Here!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 8 Comments

Now that I am retired I am not as much against Mondays as I was when I punched a time clock at work. If the day has nothing in particular scheduled, I sleep a little later, enjoy my coffee a little longer, and waste a little more time on my computer.

My Sunday Evening Art Gallery folder is filling up fast. Plus I have 2 pages of possible unique artists to explore. 

I know no one is as excited or interested in the array of unusual and unique artists I’ve discovered, but I think that’s true for all of us, no matter what our creative outlet.

I’m a unique art fan. I also love writing and crafting (only one particular item). My family isn’t terribly interested in any of the above, which is alright by me. At least I’m not in competition with any of them.

But it’s nice to find others who are interested in the same things you are. I’ve let writing simmer on the back burner for a while now, but I have friends who are writers and poets and I love where they are going with their work. I have friends who have turned from active poets to active painters, and others who are active woodworkers or crocheting superstars.

I believe in shining no matter how good or talented you are.

But that’s just me.

But I digress.

The Gallery folder is filling up faster than I can post. I can’t even keep up with the actual gallery, although it doesn’t get as much traffic as my blog. 

The seat of creation has to lie somewhere, doesn’t it?

Here are a few images of artists waiting in the wings:

 

David de la Mano

 

Ruby Silvious

 

Yarn Bombing

 

Dino Rosin

 

I hope you all stay around for the ride. I love this stuff! I hope you do too. And stop by the Gallery and see all of the artists I’ve added!

Happy Monday, kitties!

 

When I’m Not Looking, Art Bombards Me!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

David Silva

Are you a fan of the “Arts”? What sort of art calls to you?

Encyclopedia Britannia says: Traditional categories within the arts include literature (including poetry, drama, story, and so on), the visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.), the graphic arts (painting, drawing, design, and other forms expressed on flat surfaces), the plastic arts (sculpture, modeling), the decorative arts (enamel work, furniture design, mosaic, etc.), the performing arts (theater, dance, music), music (as composition), and architecture (often including interior design).

I can dig all those categories.

Some of us are very invested in the Arts. We are musicians, painters, sculptors, novelists. We show and sell our interpretations of life and the world to others who want to feel what we feel.

Others of us are merely voyeurs. Nothing wrong with that — our lives are so busy  that there’s not often a free moment to just sit and stare at a watercolor or pen and ink drawing. We look, we say, “hey! That’s cool!’, and go on our merry way.

At least we stop.

I think if you love creativity it’s hard to follow only one path. I have a couple of friends in here that do everything from quilting to watercolor painting, from drip art to portraits. It’s such a wide and encompassing world it’s hard to resist playing in it, either by being a voyeur or a participant.

Last night I spent a couple of hours downloading images from an amazing jewelry shop in Japan. Why would I do that? What was I doing there?

As often the case, I don’t know how one thing led to another to another and another and there I was, appreciating the craftsmanship and style of a culture way on the other side of the world from me.

Is it art, though?

I realize my Sunday Galleries are always art from my point of view. You may love Andy Warhol or Claude Monet. You may prefer jewelry artists to barn artists. Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism.

That’s the beauty of Art. It’s something different to everyone.

We all have our tendencies, even if we think we are totally objective. I can see I like structure, texture, and designs that make sense (to me). I like landscapes, jewelry, and sparkly things.

But I try and balance that with truly unique art I’ve never seen before. Discovering artists such as Bisa Butler (quilting) or Ron Ben-Israel (cakes) or Tina Lane (glasswork) or Chris Maynard (feather art) has been the most rewarding and fun times of my life. I mean — who knew they were even out there?

Sometimes an idea pops into my head (scary thought!); other times I see a sample on Facebook or a reference online someplace or even while reading. Some pan out, others are just one special thing among a hundred blah things.  And, OMG, just now, while Googling “What is Art?” in images I just found about six or seven new, wonderful, creative artists! See? You can do it, too!

Stick with me. This ride will open your eyes to the creative world around you.

So tell me. What kind of art do you like?

Love The Arts!

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

Artist Trading Cards for International Artists Day

Today I went wandering around the Internet looking for images for an upcoming Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog about Reflections.  During this search I came across so many amazing images.

Amazing isn’t even touching upon the truth.

If I once thought there was competition to get my writing out into the universe, it is mirrored tenfold in the number of creative images artists, photographers, graphic artists, and other creative muses out there.

The world is an amazing place. Artists abound in so many ways, with so many ideas. I am blown away.

Google a phrase, an idea, then go to images or to the websites that pop up. Read the articles. Look at their pictures. Their backgrounds are as diverse as grains of sand. But each of their creations are unique. There are hundreds of versions of an image such as trees or ice or dreams. The visions are endless.

http://www.vetrovero.com/store/c39/Jewel_Bottles.html

Just like the Sunday Evening Art Gallery gallery I just posted yesterday. You have nightmarish paintings by Zdzisław Beksinski sitting next to paintings of lovely Indian women by Raja Ravi Varma, which are down the hall from unusual Chairs, which is some ways from Rita Faes who takes remarkable photos of flowers, who is way down from Pumpkin Carving King Ray Villafane, who is quite a bit away from the famous, beautiful Fabergé Eggs.

See what I mean? Such varied talent, such amazing work. Everywhere.

 

Daniel Rozin

Whether you paint leaves or embroider geometric designs or make stained glass, your work adds nothing but glitter to the Earth’s aura. Every time you write a poem, every time you carve a pumpkin or paint a watercolor landscape you add to the positive vibes of the world.

Just like these artists I came across online who did miracles with bottles or mirrors or paint drops, all you need is a dream and some imagination and the urge to do something fun.

I love The Arts. Don’t you?

 

 

Borrowing From Famous Artists

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

Where do you get your inspiration from? Not just for your stories, but for your paintings, sketches, for your photography?

I love it that inspiration can hit from any direction at any time.

The other night I watched the excellent 2000 movie Shadow of a Vampire with John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, about the making of Nosferatu in 1922 (with a twist). At the beginning of the movie there was a collage of drawings, haunting in nature, perhaps from Nosferatu’s castle or medieval tapestries or whatever.

But these images are wonderfully unique. They would make great stories, great watercolors, great backgrounds for other worlds, other ideas. I see some unique inspiration coming from these. Just because they showed up in a horror movie doesn’t mean they have to stay there. I see abstract sketches coming from these; I see a story about an alien or elf magically appearing right in his horse’s path; I see a cross stitch in muted colors and poem about finding the light.

It’s easy to get inspired by walking through the woods, or watching a sunset. But what about an old movie script? Can you paint a picture based on someone else’s idea? Write a story based on someone else’s story line?

I say — why not?

Start with a Monet and end up with a modern lithograph. Start with an old Twilight Zone episode and ended up with a short story. Make a quilt based on  designs from Picasso or Juan Gris. Make a needlepoint based off a Medieval tapestry. Design an outfit that reflects the architecture of the Eiffel Tower. Use a photograph of a city skyline to make a paper cutting.

We are not stealing someone else’s ideas — we are taking their idea, a creation, and putting our own mark on it. Our own version of it. A pen and ink drawing can come from a passage in your favorite book; a sculpture can be inspired by a child’s painting on a school wall.

One of the creative paths I want to re-explore once I retire is painting. I enjoyed it so much so long ago…who knows what ideas will come to mind once I put brush to canvas? I can see me trying out these designs I saw on a vampire movie one night. I can try colorful drips and drops and splatters like the ones I watched Ed Harris, aka Jackson Pollock, made in the movie of the painter’s name.

I have so many things I want to try it makes my head spin.

That’s what I want you to feel. Take a design, a photo, a paragraph from a book and turn it into something of your own. It doesn’t matter if it turns out like you thought — that’s why we experiment. To see what spin we can put on someone else’s reality.

Have you taken other artist’s creations and turned them into  your own? Have you ever watched a movie or a TV show and thought “that’s really unique — I can do something with that….”? Share with us. Give us ideas!

And anyway — it’s not really “borrowing.” You don’t need to give it back.

Maybe I should have said — TRANSFORMING.

Isn’t that much more fun?

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Mother’s Day

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 7 Comments

I am blessed to be a mother

I am blessed to have had my mother for 54 years

I am blessed to have friends who are mothers

I am also blessed to have friends who have left it to

Others to be a mother.

Life is Short………Be What You Want.

Happy Mother’s Day!

 

Vincent Van Gogh’s Mother

 

 

Whistler’s Mother

 

Barker Gang’s Mother (Ma)

 

 

Pablo Picasso’s mother

 

Mother Theresa

 

Rembrandt’s Mother

 

Juan Gris’ Mother

Your Artist Is Right Next Door

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

I love television shows on creativity.

I am fairly humbled when I see what the competitors can do. It’s their life, it’s their future; it’s what they are when they wake up and what they are when they fall asleep. They are all just A-1 talented.

Some time ago I wrote a blog about Face Off, the show where artists compete in making science fiction, fantasy, and outrageous prosthetics. These artists are incredible. Movie-quality makeup.

And who isn’t fascinated by Chopped, where contestants make appetizers, main meals, and deserts out of a dizzying array of weird foods? Or Iron Chef, where these super-sized chefs make the most incredible, out-in-left-field dishes that make you drool? Where do these creative artists get these ideas?

There are plenty of talented people all around you, too. You just don’t know it. People who have given their soul and their free time practicing their art. They are probably in your department, or your neighbor, or your kid’s friends.

You just don’t know it.

Iron Chef competitors are in one layer of atmosphere. Prosthetic artists another. Their talents happen to be what TV producers are looking for these days.

But what about your friend (hi Christine!) who makes remarkable jewelry? Or your other friend (hi Robin!) who makes quilts and crochets sparkling scarves that could sell for $40 at the department store? Or your other friend (hi Christell!) who has the most amazing scrapbooks you’ve ever seen? Or your other friend (Yeah, you John!) whose work was so amazing I dedicated a blog and a gallery to him?

I’m sure there is a modern painter not far away, or a landscape artist, a sculptor, a calligrapher, a woodworker, or a garden artist right around the corner from you. Someone who makes birdhouses and engravings and magical cakes and deserts. Someone you’d like to know.

You can fill in the blanks with the creative people around you. Trust me. They are there. All you need to do is ask. Inquire. Look around. You will be amazed what your friends, co-workers, your friend’s kids are creating. Ask about their art. Ask if they have pictures or a blog.

You will be amazed at the talent around you.

And you’ll make them feel good about their work, too.

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — Maria Sibylla Merian

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Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator living in the Netherlands, was an extremely enterprising and independent woman who managed a successful career as an artist, botanist, naturalist and entomologist.

At a time when natural history was a valuable tool for discovery, Merian discovered facts about plants and insects that were not previously known, such as insects did not spontaneously emerge from mud.

Merian was the first to bring together insects and their habitats, including food they ate, into a single ecological composition.

Merian published her first book of natural illustrations, titled Neues Blumenbuch, in 1675.

In 1699, following eight years of painting and studying, and on the encouragement of the governor of the Dutch colony of Surinam, the city of Amsterdam awarded Merian a grant to travel to South America with her daughter Dorothea. Her trip, designed as a scientific expedition makes Merian perhaps the first person to plan a journey rooted solely in science.

She then proceeded to publish her major work, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (de), in 1705, for which she became famous. 

Merian is considered to be among the most significant contributors to the field of entomology — an amazing journey for an 18th Century woman.

More of Maria Sibylla Merian‘s amazing story and images can be found at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Sibylla-Merian and https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-woman-who-made-science-beautiful/424620/. 

Don’t Do It Just Because Everyone Does It

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street-arts-animationThe other day a friend asked me why I didn’t put my Sunday Evening Art Gallery on Pinterest. After all, there is a larger audience, and it would get better coverage.

This is probably true. When one writes something, one hopes a lot of people will read it and like it and share it. It’s true. It’s the same when you write a book, or paint a painting. You want people to see what you see, feel what you feel.

But what you wrap your creativity in says a lot about you, too. The colors you choose, the things you sketch, all showcase your views on love, life — everything that makes us human.

We all have dreams of how we want our world to be. Most times we fall short. Not a big deal. We all can’t live in our dreams. But we can create our dreams. We can create atmosphere, characters, life, death, love — anything we want. Any way we want.

When I think of art galleries I think of the Art Institute in Chicago, or Blue Spiral 1 Gallery in Asheville, NC I visited last August. I think of the special care galleries take to showcase their artists. The way they display collections and single pieces. Pottery, sketchings, paintings, steel work — all stand out on their own because of the way they are wrapped in creativity.

That’s why I created the Sunday Evening Art Gallery.

I created a space that feels classic and comfortable and is open 24 hours a day. You can have a cup of coffee in the morning and wander through one of the galleries, or a glass of wine in the evening and catch three or four.

The art is unique. Amazing. Styles most people have never seen.

Why post it side-by-side with dozens of other posters? Why let the beauty, the fun, the uniqueness get lost in everyone else’s shadow?

The same is true for whatever you create. Don’t use the colors everyone else uses; don’t make the same shapes, the same poetry that everyone else does. Not unless you love what everyone else does. Put your own spin on your dreams. Color and paint the world the way you see it — the way you want others to see it. Do it your way!

And let me know where to find you and your dreams. I’m always looking forward to learning, seeing, discovering something — and someone — new!

P.S. Do stop by the Gallery — bring a glass of chocolate milk with you and stay a while!

Sunday Morning Art Gallery Blog — The Aftermath of 9/11 in Art

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To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts — such is the duty of the artist. ~ Robert Schumann

 

lady-liberty-statueLady Liberty Memorial – 9/11 Memorial Museum

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tony-triggTony Trigg

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9-11-memorial-freehold-nj-nick-zelinsky9/11 Memorial, Freehold, NJ

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the-madonna-in-hell-by-fevorr-j-nwokorieThe Madonna in Hell, Fevorr J. Nwokorie

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hearh-satowHeath Satow

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brooklynBrooklyn Wall of Rememberance

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kenny-wangKenny Wang

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Flight 93 Memorial, Shanksville, PA

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hero-image-pentagon-memorial-photo-credit-mike-myersPentagon Memorial, Washington D.C.

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the-hero-khai-nguyenThe Hero, Khai Nguyen

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papquiltPort Authority Memorial Quilt

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Trinity Root,  Steve Tobin

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tumbling-woman-eric-fischlTumbling Woman, Eric Fischl

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fdny_quiltFire Department New York Memorial Quilt

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lower-school-art-students-of-porter-gaud-schoolscLower School Art Students of Porter Gaud School, South Carolina

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thDavid Kracov

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flight-crew-memorialFlight Crew Memorial, Grapevine, Texas

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911-dust-to-dnamikey-flowers-kevinclarkeDust to DNA, Bianca Nazzaruolo

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spencer-finchSpencer Finch, 9/11 Memorial Museum

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to-lift-a-nation-ground-zeroTo Lift A Nation, Ground Zero

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teardrop-memorialbayonne-njTeardrop Memorial, Bayonne, NJ

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victims-quilt

9/11 Victims Memorial Quilt

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ground-zero-memorial-design

9/11 Memorial Museum

Atmosphere, Art, and the Biltmore — Part 1

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20160805_202601_001

 Atmosphere

 

A whirlwind weekend brings out all sorts of thoughts and emotions. Especially when you spend the special moments with people you really enjoy. Kids, mates, friends, cousins — all can bring a sense of magic and wonder to your life every time you turn around.

Spending a weekend in Ashville, North Carolina, was one of those times. It was a little bit of freedom, a little bit of music, a little bit of adventure. Though we live hundreds of miles apart, my friend and I met to renew friendship, share burst balloons, and explore ways to move forward in the world and ways of Creativity.

Every region has its own traditions, its own style, its own way of doing things. Midwest Wisconsin is a lot different from Western North Carolina. Ashville is a decent size city nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. Heat, humidity, and lush greenery run rampant through the streets and countryside. The people are gracious, drive like maniacs, and wonderfully creative.

The streets were filled with art galleries, outdoor eateries, and pubs full of music. Friday night the air was warm and humid and the streets full of artists strutting their goods. A bare-chested bearded dude with a pink rabbit hat walked his dog passed a girl painting henna hands and a poet who wrote you a personal poem for a small donation. Musicians of all colors and sizes hung out on street corners and in front of bistros, playing guitars, flutes, and violins. Trios one corner, a girl singing with a guitar across the street, all sharing their talent and the night.

Breweries offered their specialized creations while fruit bars mingled with marvelously unique chocolate shops. Tiny Christmas lights hung over outdoor eating spaces, Italian specialities competing with tapas and Oriental sesame noodles. Young and old strolled up and down the main street, skinny girls with striped faerie leggings walking with women in sun dresses and guys in properly preppy shirts. It was a cornicopia of life and laughs and conversation and music. Something my little Wisconsin town doesn’t offer.

Art galleries flourished on main streets and side streets. Most were closed by the time I wandered past their windows, but the ones who were open boasted Dichroic glass sculptures and abstract printmaking. Some mediums I had never seen before. Offbeat novelty shops brought back memories of the 60s, selling incense and scented soaps, colorfully graphic socks, sassy self-awareness books, unicorn candle holders, and violet gum.

The Village Art & Craft Fair was a marvelous beehive of amazing art and artists. Just like art fairs across the country, the hard work and inspiration of craftsmen left me breathless. I didn’t always understand the method or their behind-the-scenes inspiration, but I did understand the end result of jewelry, mosaic tile shoes, pottery, tables, hand-blown glass balls filled with feathers, and dark ceramic clay sculptures. A lot of artists were local; others returned year after year to showcase their latest wares.

Finalizing my journey at the immortal Biltmore Estate, my whole world of art and architecture and photography and history exploded into one cosmic experience. I was actually able to be in the “now” each and every day. And the “now” was cool, fun, and satisfying.

Creativity is universal. It is the expression of our heart’s deepest secrets, our imagination’s fondest dreams. I really believe that once you open that door new worlds present themselves all the time. Like a symphony, moods and memories are created by each special note you experience.

Find a way to experience it.

 

NEXT:  Art

 

 

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — Face Off

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Face Off is a competition/elimination series in which special effects make-up artists participate in elaborate challenges for a grand prize and the honor of being Hollywood’s next great effects artist.

 

best-face-off-makeup-masks-12

I know that the premise is television based, but the fascinating art that comes from amateur artists transcends the medium.

1415373459-s07_e0713_spotlightchallenge_04_141322265248

Each week, the artists create monsters, aliens, goddesses, and other imaginary characters, and come up with strange and often nightmarish creations.

best-face-off-makeup-masks-10

If you can get past the bizzarre end product of the art, take a closer look at the talent it takes to create beauties and monstrosities.

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Like an art show competition, artists compete not only with each other but with their own creativity.

best-face-off-makeup-masks-1

Everyone has the same tools, the same timeline, yet they must come up with a design that has never been seen before.

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As writers and painters take images from the mind and bring them into the second dimension, prosthetic artists must bring that same vision into the third dimension, giving it depth, weight, and height.

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There are no computer generated effects here — only pure, hard work, deft fingers, and the drive to create something magnificent.

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Face Off is can be found on the SciFi Channel and at their website, http://www.syfy.com/faceoff.

Saturday Morning Reflections on Creativity

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 4 Comments

 

15 - 1[3]1112335Lazy Saturday mornings always bring out the philisopher in me. Especially when I listen to Martini Music from the 60s in the background.

Ever take one of those online tests — What is your favorite (fill-in-the-blank)?

Sometimes they’re easy. Favorite Food: Spaghetti. Favorite drink: Milk. (I know..boring…) Other times it’s a little catchy. Favorite Music? Ah…in what category? Favorite Book? Again, I need a genre. Favorite Dessert? Now, you really need to specify…

So it is with picking out an artist’s work for my Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog.

Sometimes it’s easy. Judit Czinkné Poór specializes in incredible cookie designs. Craig L. Haupt does whimsical abstract images. Jackson Pollock does…well, does Jackson Pollock things. The biggest problem with these artists are which 6 or 7 (or in the case of the larger Gallery, 12-15) images showcase their artistic range.

I come up with fantastic artists that span several techniques. Selecting which style or gallery to highlight is often an arduous task. Louise Bourgeois not only sculpted giant spiders but was actually best known for her representations of the female form and dreamlike imagery through paintings, prints, and installations. The Universe not only holds the glory of galaxies, but planets, stars, nebulas, gamma ray bursts, and galaxy clusters.  I have had artists that are not only great sculptors but painters and sketchers, too.

How do you decide which side of their diamond to polish?

I have learned that sometimes an artist’s fame is not the same as an artist’s flame. Often what strikes an audience as unique is not necessarily what made them famous. I highlighted Luke Jerram‘s extraordinary microbiology glass works, but if you read his website, he also designed a sculpture based on the Tōhoku Japanese Earthquake and subsequent tsunami of 2011, and solar-powered kinetic chandeliers  that consist of dozens of glass radiometers, which shimmer and flicker as they turn in the sunlight. Who knew?

Artists are such an eclectic lot. Writers, sculptors, painters, graphic designers, all have their favorite form of expression, their main obsession. But I imagine you can be 150% into oil painting and 150% into charcoal sketching and 150% into pen and ink and still find 150% to spend on computer graphics.

It’s all relative.

When I find an artist that I think my followers would enjoy, I research all their work. Often that’s a daunting task, for those who are truly creative, truly gifted, spread out in a hundred different directions at one time. One branch of their creativity is just as amazing as the next.

It’s not much easier when I pick a subject to highlight. In digging around, I often find 35-40 great representations under the headings of things like ice sculptures or paperweights. Each picture is more fascinating than the next. I try to include my favorites and others not in my top 10, just so I can show a fair representation of what the artist/subject is all about.  After all, my favorite color may be blue, but yours may be red. And who am I to confront the difference?

That, to me, is the essence of an art director. Of a museum curator. Exploring the creative mind, the unique palate, and choosing just the right combination of awe and familiarity to showcase. We all do this in our own way — look at the pictures hanging on your walls. The crystal pieces on your mantlepieces. The books on your shelves. The flowers in your garden. The colors you pick for your outfits. The way you arrange your bookshelves.

You have created your own atmosphere with the gifts from the creative world. You are abstract, you are conservative, you are orange-reds and country blue. You are Amish and Renaissance and Science Fiction and Chick Lit. You are poetry in motion, an art critic in your own right.

And that is a beautiful way to spend your life, isn’t it?

 

 

 

 

<a href="http://feedshark.brainbliss.com">Feed Shark</a>

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Meanderings

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 6 Comments

A busy weekend has taken me far away from my Artful meanderings. Taking care of family has superceded strolling down the softly-lit backstreet of the Sunday Evening Art Gallery.

So please sip your wine, your tea, your milk-in-in-a-wine-glass, and come peek at past Gallery surprises!

 

Raymond Bruin

Optical Illusionism

http://wp.me/p1pIBL-Mw

snake

box w lizard

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Dawn Whitehand

Sculptor

http://wp.me/p1pIBL-Uw

untitled1

volcano

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Abandoned Cars

Photography

http://wp.me/p1pIBL-1fV

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Angelo Musco

Photography

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Angelo Musco

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Louise Bourgeois

Sculptor

http://wp.me/p1pIBL-12k

indoor spider

Let’s Open Another Door

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 6 Comments

Well, it’s March 3rd and I’m done.

Any of you who live in the northern half of the U.S. — or any country, for that matter — know what I mean when I say I’m done. Done with the snow, the cloudy days, the slush, the slop, the depression, the driving-like-a-little-old-lady kind of days. I’ve had my snow for Christmas; my grandson has made his annual snowman, I’ve spent a weekend at the ski lodge, and scraped and cleaned the snow off my car more than I care to tell you.

It’s supposed to be 64 degrees next Tuesday, and that’s not soon enough for me. I know it’s a false spring and all that, but go ahead — fool me — I don’t mind.

About this time every year I get tired of writing, too. Tired of sloshing around emails and sites, tired of editing, tired of being witty, nifty, and wise. Since I like to think of ALL of us as multi-artistic, I’m ready to clean out closets and get ready for my move to BoHoChicland.

I’ve got bags of beads to sew on sweaters and tops; I’ve got wire and string to restring my broken bracelets; I’ve got crystals to make more bracelets; I’ve got appointments with Good Will and other second hand places to help me restructure my wardrobe. Clothes never used to make me feel better, but these days, I’m open to discovery. I’m tired of looking like my great-grandmother (like I know what she dressed like..)

Besides the clothing overhaul, I’ve also got books I need to finish reading, hair to color, skirts to shorten. I need to open up the windows and get some fresh air in my stale house.

So let’s get going.

They say when God closes one door He opens another. He’s been really generous with me, because he’s opened about 15 doors. How generous.

So if you get writer’s block, go open another door. Remember — you are an ARTIST — category optional. Don’t worry — your main obsession will always be with you. But sometimes you just need a change.

Like the weather.

And who knows — maybe a closet full of beads will fall out on your head.

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Reflections

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 9 Comments

Goddess2What is Art?

Another one of those cosmic questions which has as many answers as there are human beings. Which is an unthinkable number. Since I am in the final stages of polishing my actual Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog, I thought I’d sit and reflect upon yet another awakening. After this weekend I am going to have to readjust my thinking. Truly open my mind. Again.

I started my Sunday Evening Art Gallery April 9, 2014, because I kept coming across various forms of art that just made me say, “Woah! How do they DO that?” I found it didn’t matter what media the art took; I was just as fascinated with painting as I was etching or ironwork or microscopic snowflakes. The world suddenly became more interesting. And I couldn’t wait to share that “woah!” with others.

This weekend I attended the Art Fair on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin. I hadn’t been there in years. I also didn’t have this newly acquired interest in Art  per-se back then either. Walking around the Capitol in Madison, viewing over 500 artists of varying media, my definition of Art changed by the minute. I heard the call of creativity everywhere I turned. Digital photography. Ceramics. Surrealism. Jewelry. Ironworks. Painting. Every booth was different. Every booth was unique. Catagories were just umbrellas for the cornicopia of creations around me. I’m not kidding.  A necklace was not a necklace. A neckle was a sunburst or a precious stone or 14k gold or worked copper. Paintings were three-dimensional, superimposed, carved out.  No two alike.

Every booth was like that. I was amazed that there could be so many variations of so many ideas. So much energy exploding in so many different ways. So many ideas bursting forth like statues make of stainless steel forks and knives and ceramic teapots with eyes and rabbits with human ears and bracelets of delicate hand-pounded silver. Art was so much more than Renior and Warhol.

The reason I tell you this this Sunday Evening is that, if you have any inkling to discover the world of “Art,”  you should hop on the soul train as soon as possible. Walking the local art fair is the simplest way. The fairs and festivals are not just duck decoys and crocheted christmas trees (although those are fun, too). Every art fair, every art museum, is a melting pot of creative energy. I don’t understand it all — I don’t like it all. But I am fascinated that someone took the time to paint or carve or make the paper or whatever they did to follow their calling.

I am a writer by nature, an artist by choice. You are more than one creative spiral as well. You are a starburst, you are a tree with a hundred roots going in every direction. Take the time to interpret the world in your own way. Design your own version of what you see, what you feel. Know that if you put your heart into your craft you will atttact other hearts as well. Share it! Show me, show your mother, show your bff. Show what the Muse does to you!

What is Art?

What are You?

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Intermission

~ humoringthegoddess ~ Leave a comment

Tonight’s Gallery is a break between worlds. A pause between dreams.

 

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I am so delighted with the direction of the Sunday Evening Art Gallery that I am taking time to make it whole and circular and ever spiraling.  I hope that every Sunday Evening I bring more magic into your life; more sights to share with family and friends; more ideas to bring creativity to your own life.

 

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I hope to expand my site http://www.sundayeveningartgallery.wordpress.com into a continuation of the uniqueness I find around me. That includes changing the domain name and making it a presence like no other.

 

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So for our intermission, let me share a few of my (amateur) photographs of the world around me.

 

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Let us wander the roads and lake shores together, setting our imaginations of fire, and find out what lies just around the corner…

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Pokin’ Fun on a Friday

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theMy good friend Andra Watkins (www.andrawatkins.com) just wrote a blog that cracked me up. Entitled “How to Have an Easy Career Like Taylor Swift,” her sentiments reflect the sentiments of anyone who’s had to work hard to make a living.

I dunno — maybe it’s just my snickety, granny personality clouding my “universal love and understanding” vision. Or maybe it’s just that it’s Friday. Go take a peek yourself, and see if you’re not smiling at the end…

 

How to Have an Easy Career Like Taylor Swift 

Dear Taylor Swift:
Congratulations! You’re in style, at the top of the charts and sold-out everywhere. I mean, you needed to be an octopus to carry your haul of gongs from the BMAs. There’s no blank space to your trajectory. I like nothing better than seeing a woman shake off the haters and live her wildest dreams.
Heaven forbid I’d ever be mean enough to attack a woman.
Especially one as powerful as you.
But Sweetie, I’m concerned. Power does strange things to people. It slants a world view. Removes natural filters. Causes bad blood. Makes some say unfortunate things
like their high-powered careers aren’t hard.

Read the rest:

http://andrawatkins.com/2015/05/27/how-to-have-an-easy-career-like-taylor-swift/

 

Thanks, Andra, for sayin’ it like it is!

Good Intentions Still Need a Disclaimer

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

peace lillyAs I sit and add images to my newly created Sunday Evening Art Gallery blog, my mind wanders back to a non-incident last week.

I know that, for the most part, showcasing others’ artwork is a step through the thornbushes, to be sure. The reward: fields and fields of fragrant, beautiful flowers. The punishment: thorns that can rip and make you bleed. And that, even with the best, most honest intentions, someone, somewhere, might get upset. Such is the chance I’m willing to take.

I placed a disclaimer on this wandering, unusual blog: not much, I imagine, in the scheme of things. But nonetheless, an attempt at honesty.

Here it is for you all as well.

DISCLAIMER

 

There are so many unbelievable, fascinating, beautiful works of Art out in the world. The intention of this blog, Sunday Evening Art Gallery, is to share this beauty with the Internet Public.

These are creations that most of us never come across. I know every time I find something new and unusual I can’t wait to share it with you. I am taken aback by the genius behind the art. And I believe their passion should be discovered and appreciated by everyone.

Whenever possible, I have listed the artist and their website for your further exploration. In other situations, the topic is so diverse that often there is no one source for the images.

At no time is it my intention to steal or claim as my own photography any image I put on Sunday Evening Art Gallery.

I make no money from this world; I claim only the photography that is mine. My intention is to share the websites of these gifted people so you may further enjoy the fruits of their labors.

If at any time you discover I have taken your image and not given you proper credit, please let me know. My e-mail address is humoring_the_goddess@yahoo.com.

I hope my intention of spreading the beauty I come across has lightened your day. There are so many hard-working, creative artists in the world whose creations most of us never see. I hope to make this blog a melting pot of the unusual, the unique, and the awe-inspiring.

I hope you come along for the ride.

 

Coming Soon!!

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Art is Fun. Art is Intriguing. Art is a Happy Dance.

I have so enjoyed finding Art in different places, in different guises. I can’t believe the diversity of creativity that has been out there all this time… and I and am just now discovering it. I have gathered more images for my Sunday evening blog than I could thoughtfully put into my posts.

so…..

I am opening a new Sunday Evening Art Gallery page so you can explore more of the magic that lies right outside our door.  These creators are marvelous. And I can’t wait for you to explore their worlds with me.

I am hoping to have the Grand Opening this Sunday, the day after Valentine’s Day.  After I love the world, my friends, my family, and my readers.

Hope to see you there!

Sunday Evening Art Gallery Blog — Nathan Sawaya

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 8 Comments

I remember when I was a kid, one of my favorite past times was building castles and mansions with Legos. Little black and white Legos.

 

death star

 

Amazing how those little blocks have changed the way the world looks.

 

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Nathan Sawaya is a New York-based artist who creates awe-inspiring works of art out LEGO building blocks. Sawaya’s ability to transform LEGO bricks into something new, and his devotion to scale and color, enables him to elevate an ordinary toy to the status of fine art.

 

red

 

Today Sawaya has more than 2.5 million colored bricks in his New York and Los Angeles art studios.

 

new york public library lions

 

He doesn’t use special space station sets or pirate boat sets that you buy off the shelf — just bricks.

 

Bedroom

 

His work is obsessively and painstakingly crafted and is both beautiful and playful. He is both inspired and an inspiration.

 

hawk

 

He makes me want to pull out buckets and buckets of red and white and blue squares, yellow four-pane windows, and little red doors.

 

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He makes me want to pull out those buckets and sit down with my son and grandson and build towers and people and flowers and anything else my dreams desire.

 

pencil fun

 

You can find more of Nathan Sawaya’s wonderful creations at http://brickartist.com/.

You will be amazed.

 

Are You Plugged In?

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 6 Comments

plugOne sign of getting older is that I seem to notice things I’ve never noticed before. I don’t know if it’s just swishing around past my prime, or rather just starting out in my prime, but I smell things no one else smells, hear things no one else hears, and notice actors and actresses being recycled through the years from one movie to another.

I love escapism. I don’t get to watch TV or movies as often as I’d like, as work and writing and yelling at the dogs takes up a lot of my time. But I find I wonder “how do they do that?” more often than not. And I’ll be the first to tell you that I am amazed at special effects. My simple brain cannot wrap around the fact that city landscapes and alien spaceships and Roman cities are nothing more than 1’s and 0’s running through a computer. I can’t even begin to understand how they made the German’s face melt in Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark; Transformers destroying the city (and each other); Inception, where people run on ceilings and curl cityscapes back on themselves. King Kong. Toy Story. Avatar. The list goes on.

Special effects, computer generated imagery. Galaxies and Mordor and everything inbetween. And none of it is real. Yet one can’t help but get sucked into those worlds as if we really stepped through the magic portal. Our minds quit trying to figure out what’s real and what’s fake and just get lost in someone else’s creativity.

Even more mind-blowing is that the same part of the anatomy that everyone has — even me — is where it all comes from. One’s mind. Which resides in one’s brain. Which we all have (but not all use…ah…a blog for another day).

So it is with any step into creativity. We have all gotten lost in a good book, holding our breath as we turn the pages. We have all looked at a painting or a sculpture and marveled at its simplicity or complexity. Some are able to take the next step in their creative career — go to school, get published, get a job at Industrial Light and Magic. Some turn their love of acting into dinner theater or Broadway, or their skill at playing a guitar or piano into symphony orchestras or rock bands.

So why is it, if we all have the same equipment, we don’t understand the same thing? Why is it so hard for some of us and a piece of cake to others? I can barely do basic Math, yet accountants and computer designers see numbers as easily as seeing the sun. Mankind creates the most amazing, breathtaking, impossible things — all with that one little tool in their skull.

The “whys” of why some people develop the gift and others don’t I will leave to philosophy and a glass of wine. The point is, we ALL have the ability to use that hunk of grey matter to open those magic portals. Some can’t wait for their free time to jump into their next creative project; others see creativity as a waste of time.

Maybe it’s just that the same plug that plugs into the outlet of special effects is on a wall of infinite outlets that lead to infinite destinations. Maybe it’s just the luck of the draw that one plug leads to quantum physics and one to insanity. One to painting and one to crayons. We are all plugged in to different outlets. We can’t change where we are plugged in, but we CAN choose to follow the path of electricity to outlet boxes scattered all over the universe.

Working with the material inside the brain box is a lot of work. Some just catch on faster than others. But when you find that junction box where creativity makes you feel good, you want to stay plugged in. Some may be taken back by the jolt that comes now and then from creative satisfaction, while others find it a natural high they want to come back to again and again.

I don’t know where all this deep philosophy came from this fine morning, but I do know one thing — don’t give up. Make time. Let yourself be. Let it flow. And know you can come back to this feeling any time.

Whew … and to think … I had this cosmic burst before I had my morning coffee!

 

Sunday Evening Art Gallery — Svetlana Bobrova

~ humoringthegoddess ~ 2 Comments

Art is subjective to the artist and their view of the world. Their experiences. Their loves, their hates, their insights. Often this point of view is obvious. Other times, it is a wide-open field.

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Svetlana Bobrova, a surrealistic painter from Russia, has a view of the subconscious that feels female in nature:  full of energy, passion, and exaggeration.

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Her soft lines are in stark contrast to the imagery she brings to the world. The faces are hauntingly beautiful, the message in their bodies transcending every day emotions.

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I am at a loss as to how to interpret the meaning behind her work. But isn’t that the point of Art? Are we always supposed to see the world as the artist sees it?

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I get an emotional surge when I look at the paintings. From the expressions in their eyes. From the tilt of their body. From the poise of their limbs or their interaction with others.

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A feeling I can’t quite explain. Nor, do I want to. Some emotions are better left unspoken. I hope you can’t explain yours, either. A wondrous feeling.

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I discovered Svetlana’s art through another creative muse, Glorialana.   Feel free to visit the blog that inspired mine at https://glorialana.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/dark-twin/ .

Svetlana’s artwork can be found at a number of sites around the Internet, including Tutt’ Art@ http://www.tuttartpitturasculturapoesiamusica.com/2011/07/svetlana-bobrova-russia.html  , or in DeviantArt  http://bobrova.deviantart.com/gallery  .