Saturday, January 14, 2023

Myth Makers


    I'm very lucky to be a part of this gallery show at the Ferris Fine Art Gallery. The other two artists are my good friends Kathleen VandeMark and Carrie Weis. My new painting is in the show, and when I get a good photo of it I will post it here. It was a big push to finish it in time, but it felt like good workout. Doing that cleared my easel, and now I'm enjoying considering the possibilities for the next one. 

Happy New Year.
     

 

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

I might be having a moment

 I've been at work (both at school and at the easel) because, even though things are crazy busy,  I have a show opening to be ready for on January 9th, so this is no time to snooze. I do have something to post, or will soon. However, I've run into a snag that I will have to resolve before I share my new painting.

     All semester, I've bumped into articles about A.I. apps like DALL-E and others that will create art for you based on verbal prompts. This means that anyone who can string some words together can access the skill to make an image that illustrates those words. The image is compiled by the app's access to images that are part of art history as well as popular culture, the news and whatever other source of images it can access. It is my understanding that DALL-E and similar apps are limited by programming with a standard of ethics, so that images not in the public domain would be inaccessible to them. So far so good.

   But now, I've heard of a new app called Lensa that has not had the proper upbringing, and it considers any image on the internet fair game and gives no credit to the originator of the material. 

   I have always wanted to share my work and information, because that's what art is about. Sharing is one of the ways we grow. But, geez. If my work is going to be scattered to the winds and diluted by all the other work that is available to the apps, then I'm not sure I want to join the party. I have to decide about it before I share more work.

   I have a feeling that A.I. art will change everything, whether individual artists want it to or not.


Friday, November 25, 2022

Dream

Last night I dreamed that a powerful, nefarious woman took control of a group of women, and through some sort of magic, merged them with cats. And then, she poured acid over one of each of their arms, melting away the flesh but leaving their bones intact. I can still hear their screams of surprise. Before I joined the group, a sad woman gave me a cup of her tears to drink. I think that saved me from their fate.

As always, studio time is welcome and at this point is also necessary, as I have agreed to participate in a gallery show in January. I have a new painting in progress that I hope to finish in time. When it starts to quicken, (it is close to that now) I will post it here.


 

Sunday, October 30, 2022

In the Zone


We're sailing into the 9th week of school, and this is the first time I've posted. It has been a whirlwind, composed mostly of work and family time. Today, I played hooky from grading and was able to enter the Zone for the first time in a long time.
    It's a good thing, too, because I signed on for a gallery show in January, and I've got some work to do to be ready. I spent today on this one, working on the setting and figuring out how to puzzle those wings together so that they might possibly fit in that space. It has always helped me to see the problems when I post them here, and that strategy hasn't failed me yet.

 

Sunday, September 4, 2022

Signs of Life



Believe it or not, I'm still alive. And working, if only in baby steps.

These are photos are from this year's volunteer pumpkin patch, grown from a shove of two Halloween pumpkins down the hill after the first frost. We'll see if they have time to become pumpkins. The flowers are huge. If they make it, they'll be ding dong daddies.

In other news, the experiment in varnish glazing was a failure. I'm sanding and applying thin layers of paint to try to overcome that particular moment of errant experimentation. Pro (or novice) tip: if you try putting clear layers between layers of paint, don't use a spray varnish. It doesn't work. The alternative would be to use a brush on version, which I am told is very difficult to apply evenly. It still sounds like a great idea, but I'm not sure I'm up to the fuss. So, I am abandoning it. Maybe it would work better in oil.

The good news is, I still sort of like the painting. Which, these days, is at least something.