Creative Energy: July 10, 2020

“Over Under”

Acrylic painting on canvas 24”x24”
Observe how the pinks and yellows change, based on the colors next to them.

The Interaction of Color

“Colors appear what they are not, according to the ground which surrounds them.” Josef Albers. The author of The Interaction of Color, Yale University Press in 1963.

Vincent Castagnacci, a Yale graduate, taught my color theory class at the University of Michigan. His teaching was based on Albers’ principles.

In class, we studied the relationships and interaction between different colors. We used 220 different colors and shades from a pack of color-aid paper to create our "color-studies”.

We were given the tools to experiment, but we had to unlock the magic of color by seeing the difference between colors and how they interact. Later I would realize that this class would be the most influential class I would take at UM. My eyes were opened.

On Color

Our lives are full of color and for this reason this book is for everyone. On Color by David Scott Kastan with Stephen Farthing. They investigate color from numerous perspectives: literary, historical, cultural, anthropological, philosophical, art historical, political, and scientific. In ten lively and wide-ranging chapters, each devoted to a different color, they examine the various ways colors have shaped and continue to shape our social and moral imaginations.

Impressionists and Violet

Violet became the color of choice for Impressionist. It differentiated the palette of impressionism from any paintings before. Manet said, “I have finally discovered the true color of the atmosphere; it is violet”

Stacks of Wheat by Claude Monet at The Chicago Art Institute

Creative Energy: June 19, 2020

“Water Flora”

When I’m floating in a kayak looking at the flora on and in the water, it gives me a calm and transcendent feeling of being carried away. That is how I felt when I painted this painting, {24” x24” acrylic on canvas}.

Breaking Barriers

When people list Impressionist painters they name Monet, Renoir, Degas and Pissarro, but never Morisot.

Berthe Morisot was an accomplished painter, who showed her work in the very first Impressionist show Salon de Paris in 1874. Her fellow painters admired her talent but male art historians decided to ignore her talents. I did not learn about her in college, she was conveniently left out, in Art History books.

Morisot’s paintings have a depth of feeling and subtle delicate quality. With a soft color palette and a delicate touch, her subjects are centered on female and family life.

She had the advantage of being born white, with talent, money, intelligence, beauty, sophistication, and opportunity. With her supportive family she was in the center of an artistic bourgeois home and in the same society circles and friends with Manet and Degas. Socially she was not allowed to gather with all the other painters in bars and cafes. She decided that she was not giving up being a professional painter to have a family. She married Edouard Manet younger brother Eugene’ at the age of 33 and had one daughter. She painted over 860 paintings until her death at the age of 54. That is averaging 28 paintings a year.

To this day she is still not as well known as that of her male contemporaries.

“After Lunch” 1881, Photo of Morisot, “The Cradle” 1872 and “The Psyche Mirror” 1876

Tools in Hand.

“Real painters understand with a brush in their hand.” Morisot

With tools in hand, I paint horizontally on canvas. The fluid acrylic paint is applied and moved not with a paintbrush but with pieces of cardboard in various different sizes. To achieve the desired effect I can apply a very thin, transparent layer of paint, or thick and opaque. Drying time is 24 hours between layers of colors. The overlapping colors will start to buildup and the painting starts to emerge.

Picker, Singer and Songwriter.

Musician Sarah Jarosz new release “World On The Ground.” My top album picks are… “Johnny” with its sparkling, studio-cured folk-rock or the dusky, jazz-influenced subtlety of “Orange and Blue.” as reviewed by iTunes. I still buy music because I want to support the artist and create my own playlist. I hope you’ll check her out on Found and Instagram.

Take a tour around my website and let me know which painting is your favorite.

CREATIVE ENERGY: June 5, 2020

Darkness to Light

I feel this painting captures my emotions this week with everything that is going on from Covid-19 to the racial protests. I painted this while hurricane Humberto was kicking up some big waves off the coast of Fire Island.

Art to Remember

Minneapolis and other art communites are at work to keep George Floyd’s memory alive. Read more…

Challenging Expectation

Artist. Humanist. Amy Sherald

Amy is best known for painting the official portrait of Michelle Obama. Read her recent interview with the Smithsonian magazine.

Follow Amy on Instagram @asherald

Do Good. Make Change.

This week I found myself asking, “What should I do?” Then I saw this very powerful list of 75 things that white people can do for racial justice. Read the list and start doing something.

CREATIVE ENERGY: May 2020

Images That Inspire Me

Merriam-Webster Definition of Inspiration – something that moves someone to act, create or feel an emotion. The inspiration for a painting during my artist-in-residency at Fire Island National Seashore.

Bird’s-eye View

Drone photography has been around for a few years now and it still excites me. We are able to easily see views and angles that we have never seen before. This photo inspire me with rich texture and unique patterns. Image credit Everett McMillen Cislo www.everettmcislo.com/drone-photography

Book: Becoming

Book: Becoming

I read the book Becoming Michelle Obama early in 2019 just after it was published. I have always been a big fan of both Obama’s. In the book, she opened and shared very personal stories that clearly show how she became the incredible and much-loved person she is.

Becoming is now a major Netflix documentary. The documentary takes you through her 2019 book-tour with sold-out crowds of 17,000 in 34 cities; also meeting and listening to young students. Her brother and mother shared many stories about their family.

I would recommend reading the book and then viewing the documentary.

Bread & Covid-19

We fell in love with the Great British Baking Show a few years ago which has a very calming effect. The show rekindled my husbands baking practice. He has been baking all our bread for the past couple years and we’re happy that other people are baking as well. Give it a try.

Link to the GBBS recipe.

“Without great solitude, no serious work is possible.”

Pablo Picasso