The art and craft of drawing.
That’s like saying beauty is what is beautiful.
What is draftsmanship and why should an artist care?
Draftsmanship is the underpinning of any composition; it is the structure behind the paint, the graphite, the clay. The Old Masters knew it, they spent years as apprentices, mixing their master’s paint, copying the art of earlier masters, learning the secrets and subtleties of shade and light. And boy does it show. Even the modern masters, who deconstructed the image and sought new ways of seeing, knew their draftsmanship. The light and color of Lautrec, the fractured grotesques of Klee and Picasso, the Pointillists and Cubists all of them could draft.
What’s the difference? I’m an abstract artist, more interested in form and color. The difference is that people have trouble seeing something they cannot identify. If they can’t find the form inside the image they just can’t see it.
So, there’s no image just colors and shapes. The thing has no form, it’s abstract.
Even the most wildly abstract images have form. Mondrian used hard geometrics as the basis of his images, Jackson Pollock’s splatter patterns have strong groupings of lines and colors, they have form.
And just in case your image does have some underlying form it has to be right. If the form is wrong then the piece fails. The most terrifying image an artist can make is a bad nude. It’s immediately apparent. The trouble is we all have seen a nude. (If only in the fogged bathroom mirror as we run from the shower to the dresser to get our drawers.) We know when it isn’t right.
Now add to that some bit of artistic license and you have an eye-catcher alright, but not the way you’d hoped. People will spend hours starring at your work, but not to understand the meaning, they want to know what the heck you covered up!
Building, motor vehicles, sports and even relaxed senics or Norman Rockwell vignettes, all have to be under-pinned by draftsmanship.
So the next time you skip the sketch and go straight to the color pots think before you splash, spatter, stroke, is it right? The eye knows.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Too Many Options
It’s overwhelming isn’t it, the variety and number of juried events available to the South Coast artist right now is staggering.
What to do? Do your rush an entry or carefully sort through the prospectus to see if you have anything that qualifies.
You don’t need to. You don’t have anything.
What? You’re an artist and the time is now. Oh sure you’ve all ready missed the CAM Biennial, but what about the Fish/Fishing show coming up, the deadline is October 9, you still have time. And then there’s Celebrate the Arts in Florence. Their deadline is October 15. Also October 15, Art 101 hosts the juried show Masks From Found Objects, there are shows everywhere.
And don’t forget even if you haven’t entered a piece you should get out and support the artists who have. The reception for the CAM Biennial is Friday October 1 and a week later The Southern Coos Hospital opens The Artist and Writer’s Exchange; Food for Thought, Sunday October 10. And what about the artists in the CAM Biennial who are counting for you to get out and vote for their work so that they can get a private show? Are you going to let them down?
You don’t have anything.
The best kindling for an artist is the work of other artists. Every time you see someone else’s work it makes you think about why you didn’t see that first and if you did why didn’t you take the idea and turn it into a piece for the next show?
Shows are uncertain beasts. They come out of the woodwork willy-nilly moving at their own pace and not giving a care that you must take weeks if not months to ready a piece for exhibition. You have to get ahead of the silly things. You have to take all of those pieces you crafted for a bygone show and keep them ready to jump into the fray. And remember most shows are time sensitive, they limit the range a piece can be created in, three years often, so if you hoard your work it may drop out of contention by becoming too old. Find it, dust it off and be ready.
We have more shows right now than anyone could wish for and if you have kept your stock up to date then you do have something. And even if you don’t you can support those who do.
What to do? Do your rush an entry or carefully sort through the prospectus to see if you have anything that qualifies.
You don’t need to. You don’t have anything.
What? You’re an artist and the time is now. Oh sure you’ve all ready missed the CAM Biennial, but what about the Fish/Fishing show coming up, the deadline is October 9, you still have time. And then there’s Celebrate the Arts in Florence. Their deadline is October 15. Also October 15, Art 101 hosts the juried show Masks From Found Objects, there are shows everywhere.
And don’t forget even if you haven’t entered a piece you should get out and support the artists who have. The reception for the CAM Biennial is Friday October 1 and a week later The Southern Coos Hospital opens The Artist and Writer’s Exchange; Food for Thought, Sunday October 10. And what about the artists in the CAM Biennial who are counting for you to get out and vote for their work so that they can get a private show? Are you going to let them down?
You don’t have anything.
The best kindling for an artist is the work of other artists. Every time you see someone else’s work it makes you think about why you didn’t see that first and if you did why didn’t you take the idea and turn it into a piece for the next show?
Shows are uncertain beasts. They come out of the woodwork willy-nilly moving at their own pace and not giving a care that you must take weeks if not months to ready a piece for exhibition. You have to get ahead of the silly things. You have to take all of those pieces you crafted for a bygone show and keep them ready to jump into the fray. And remember most shows are time sensitive, they limit the range a piece can be created in, three years often, so if you hoard your work it may drop out of contention by becoming too old. Find it, dust it off and be ready.
We have more shows right now than anyone could wish for and if you have kept your stock up to date then you do have something. And even if you don’t you can support those who do.
Florence Events Center
Call for Entries:
Applications due October 15th
Show Dates: Nov. 5 thru 13, 2010
Open to all 2D & 3D media
3 cash awards of $100 (for 2D, 3D and photography)
2 cash awards of $50 “Young Artist Awards”
(youth entry scholarships available)
Send SASE for application and details: Florence Events Center,
715 Quince St., Florence, OR, 97439, attn: Art Committee
Applications available at the Center and can be downloaded from the
website: www.eventcenter.org
Applications due October 15th
Show Dates: Nov. 5 thru 13, 2010
Open to all 2D & 3D media
3 cash awards of $100 (for 2D, 3D and photography)
2 cash awards of $50 “Young Artist Awards”
(youth entry scholarships available)
Send SASE for application and details: Florence Events Center,
715 Quince St., Florence, OR, 97439, attn: Art Committee
Applications available at the Center and can be downloaded from the
website: www.eventcenter.org
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Upcoming Events
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the opening receptions in the first weeks of October.
First, the CAM Biennial at the Coos Art Museum, Friday, October 1, 2010 from 5-7PM. This is the first opportunity to see the treasures of the community of artists who do not compete, and a second or third opportunity to see the work of artists who compete everywhere. The usual suspects are there and some who should be seen, but rarely are. (Did you know that in addition to musician and master chef, Jardin Kazar is a gifted and brilliant artist? No, well come and be stunned by the prints this whirlwind of talent manages to squeeze out of a day filled past overflowing.)
Mark it on your calendar; ya don’t want to miss it.
Then “Drive South”, (thank you Suzy Boggus), to beautiful, downtown, old town Bandon and turn left to the Southern Coos Hospital, where you will be thrilled, amazed and wowed by the magic of the Artist and Writer’s Exchange 2010: Food for Thought. The art will put a lump in your throat. The writing, (I might have a piece or three in this so take my word for it it is brilliant.) will wring a tear from your eye and the combination will sear a path straight into your soul. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll skip, hop and jump for joy and that’s just the half of it. So make your plans now, Southern Coos Hospital, Sunday October 10, 2010, for the Artist and Writer’s Exchange 3:00PM. Bring food, that’s right bring food, you know the non-perishable kind, it’s for the Food Drive for Coos and Curry Counties and you know you need to do it, so buck up and grab a can and come to The Artist and Writer’s Exchange for 2010: Food for Thought
First, the CAM Biennial at the Coos Art Museum, Friday, October 1, 2010 from 5-7PM. This is the first opportunity to see the treasures of the community of artists who do not compete, and a second or third opportunity to see the work of artists who compete everywhere. The usual suspects are there and some who should be seen, but rarely are. (Did you know that in addition to musician and master chef, Jardin Kazar is a gifted and brilliant artist? No, well come and be stunned by the prints this whirlwind of talent manages to squeeze out of a day filled past overflowing.)
Mark it on your calendar; ya don’t want to miss it.
Then “Drive South”, (thank you Suzy Boggus), to beautiful, downtown, old town Bandon and turn left to the Southern Coos Hospital, where you will be thrilled, amazed and wowed by the magic of the Artist and Writer’s Exchange 2010: Food for Thought. The art will put a lump in your throat. The writing, (I might have a piece or three in this so take my word for it it is brilliant.) will wring a tear from your eye and the combination will sear a path straight into your soul. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll skip, hop and jump for joy and that’s just the half of it. So make your plans now, Southern Coos Hospital, Sunday October 10, 2010, for the Artist and Writer’s Exchange 3:00PM. Bring food, that’s right bring food, you know the non-perishable kind, it’s for the Food Drive for Coos and Curry Counties and you know you need to do it, so buck up and grab a can and come to The Artist and Writer’s Exchange for 2010: Food for Thought
From Susan Lehman
Connie Zane is teaching a watercolor class (Fall Landscape) on October 16th from 9:30-12:30 at Sage Place, 525 11th St. in Bandon (11th Street). Call 541 329-0303 to register.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Art Venue From Charles of Charleston
Hi All:
I spoke with Steven Means who is offering a large wall-space at
the Museum for local Artists Permanent Exhibition. Bring paintings
starting in Oct 5 . I have a Painting there for over a year,
and Steve will return it to me at any time.
(The paintings are basically on loan.)
If you are interested in providing material for display in the
museum or in helping with building restoration or just dropping by
and chatting a bit,
Please contact Steve Means, the museum director, at
stevemeans@webenet.net or (541) 260-1457.
The Museum is open the year around and has 70% as many visitors
as the Coos Art Museum. http://CoosArt.org
So it is a good way to get exposure.
Here is the Museum Website:
http://fairgroundsmuseum.coquillevalley.org/
Charles 888 6971
I spoke with Steven Means who is offering a large wall-space at
the Museum for local Artists Permanent Exhibition. Bring paintings
starting in Oct 5 . I have a Painting there for over a year,
and Steve will return it to me at any time.
(The paintings are basically on loan.)
If you are interested in providing material for display in the
museum or in helping with building restoration or just dropping by
and chatting a bit,
Please contact Steve Means, the museum director, at
stevemeans@webenet.net or (541) 260-1457.
The Museum is open the year around and has 70% as many visitors
as the Coos Art Museum. http://CoosArt.org
So it is a good way to get exposure.
Here is the Museum Website:
http://fairgroundsmuseum.coquillevalley.org/
Charles 888 6971
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