50 | 50 Regional Art Exhibit - Union Street Gallery

50 | 50 Regional Art Exhibit

Exhibit Dates July 10-August 30 | 2009

Free Opening Reception Fri | Jul 10 | 6-9pm

Regional Artists explore their stories in traditional and 21st century media, they investigate nature, urban life, textures, colors, sound and video, and so much more. From dreamy to quirky, from lush color and texture to soft organic forms, the art is as diverse as the number of artists on exhibit. Art is for sale with prices ranging from $50 and up.


I have 3 paintings in this exhibition - one work was donated for gallery fundraising efforts. The picture below is the donated piece (Spokes II - acrylic - 8" x 10" - 2008).


PREVIEW THE SHOW

Gallery Hours 12 Noon - 4pm
Saturdays - Wednesdays - Thursdays - Fridays
Union Street Gallery - 1527 Otto Blvd - Chicago Heights - IL 60411
Phone - 708 754 2601 | Email - unionstreetart@sbcglobal.net

Art Plans for 2008

I am not much into new year resolutions, but I do find value in having a good plan. During this time people traditionally think about losing weight, building or ending relationships and various career changes. These thoughts are also in my mind, but I make no promises in this regard. Still, this is the first time in a long time that I entered the new year with thoughts of planning for my art for the year. Nevertheless, the question arose in a certain art group regarding plans for art in the coming year. Part of my reply is as follows and is in no particular order (altered slightly):

1. Paint & draw like crazy (the sketches in my sketchbook out number my finished paintings of those ideas, and I have not completed a full drawing since 2006)
2. Get rid of my 'small' canvasses (I prefer to work large so I think it time to be truer to my creative desires. Working smaller is sometimes hard on my eyes.
3. Complete at least one sculpture series (it has been hard to work life-sized with the space we have, but I am moving to a bigger studio/room in the house--still rearranging and planning on a new table saw and casting supplies)
4. Complete a self-portrait (I haven't done one in almost 20 years)
5. Get my work shown in an exhibit or two
6. Publish more art videos (I have enjoyed the technology process of putting together speed paintings of my work, which I then upload to YouTube under the user name Art4SakeOfArt). I would also love to produce a safety art video for my class, but that may be a goal for next year.
7. Add a painting or drawing to each main room of my home (after more than 7 years in this house and still no art on the walls--I purpose not to hang the art of others in main areas of my home, but I have been considering a room of influence where I would hang the art of my inspiration...we shall see).

Length of time to complete a work

This posting was stirred from a question on an art group that I subscribe to. The question arose about how long it takes to complete a work of art. Well, a lot of it depends on size, medium and time available for creating, but in general I could not believe some of the responses. The answer that shocked me was that one artist had waited 5 years for the right inspired moment to finish a painting and that she was in the process of working on 2 paintings that were 2 yrs old.

Years on a painting...WOW!!! That would have to be one HUGE painting (mural). Such a project would become so boring to me. I need newness. I have too many ideas to stay focused on any one project for that long. I could not imagine taking more than a week on a painting or drawing (two weeks or more on a sculpture because of the size that I like to work). I am waaay too anal ... I mean impatient for such long projects. Once the images of a project enter my head and I begin the process of creating for a finished work I must follow through until it is done. It almost becomes a narrow-minded obsession. If I stop for more than a day or two my mind and energies become focused elsewhere. I am solely dedicated to one project at a time. maybe that is why I switched to acrylics and left the oils behind (I hated the waiting process). Still, I am very good at multitasking in all other areas of my life. I guess when it comes to my art I purpose to slow down and give it my undivided attention, but it needs to be done in the constant now.

In summary, anything other than a sculpture usually takes me less than two weeks to complete. The closer to two weeks it takes me, the more my mind has begun to consider other things and it begins to feel more like work than the passion of my heart.

Thoughts on painting

Most of my paintings are abstract. I like to focus on scenes from life, everyday objects, animals, and natural elements. I can be just about anywhere and begin to see the basic geometric form of the things around me. Details in scenes, environments, people, animals and things begin to fade away to leave basic outlines, shapes and forms for my understanding. Perhaps this way of looking at things is promoted by the loss of some of my eye sight from complications with macular degeneration (early 2004), or perhaps it is an internal method of ignoring the chaos of life for the sake of simplicity. Still, I have found a certain amount of complexity in every element of life. Moreover, I have found myself drawn to certain tones and the expression of texture, contrast, patterns, movement, and color. My palette has so far been consistent, but then again you use what you have.

This is an image from my studio. It was taken with a cell phone so it's not so clear.
Silver Streak - on the easel, Fluid - bottom easel,
Fabric Roses I & II - on the right, & Abstract Animal I & IIII - far left