Studios #4 & #5 - Milwaukee/Ft. Lauderdale

I moved to Milwaukee to study the collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum.  I lived across the street from the building for seven months.  I spent almost every day there learning as much as I could about their collection in the short time that I had.  It was not a vacation, and money was tight, but I feel I left with a good memory of the collection at MAM.

Studio #4 was in the second bedroom of the two bedroom apartment I rented across from MAM.  I painted four complete works there.  I have no photos of the actual studios, so just enjoy some pics of what I created while I was there.

Bowling Alley 16 "Saint G b" 

oil on canvas

60" x 36"

Bowling Alley 21 "The People a" 

oil on canvas

60" x 36"

 Bowling Alley 22 "The People b"
oil on canvas
60" x 36"

Bowling Alley 23 "The People c" 

60" x 36"

Studio #5 was in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  I had completed my study of The Milwaukee Art Museum, so I needed a change and I did not want to return to Minneapolis just yet.  I moved there for personal reasons that did not work out, so I promptly moved back to Minneapolis after just 5 months.

Alas I have no pictures of the studio, it was gorgeous.  I created some good work in Florida, as living there changed me artistically and set me on the direction that still I find myself going.

Bowling Alley 20 "I" 

oil on canvas

60" x 30"

Bowling Alley 24 "Sounds a" 

oil on canvas 

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 25 "Sounds b" 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 26 "Sounds c" 

oil on canvas

30" x 15"

Bowling Alley 27 "Improvisation" 

oil on canvas

70" x 50"

Bowling Alley 28 "Stained Glass a" 

oil on linen

40" x 20"

Bowling Alley 29 "Stained Glass b"

oil on linen 

40" x 20"

Bowling Alley 30 "Stained Glass c" 

oil on linen

40" x 20"

Thanks for checking out my blog...

...no doubt, there is more to come soon.

Three odd studies

So I spend my days walking around the Museum all day, 8 hours a day.  All I do is read about works of art, write about art, sketch, and come up with new ideas.  I have responsibilities, and they are taken care of, but what I like is to work on my craft all day.

Here are three quick studies I worked on today...

...they are odd.

I think that I'll start working on my book again tomorrow...

...I expect chapter 3 to be complete and ready for a full edit by the end of the month.

Artwork of the month: "The Cats Paw"

The tale of the "Cats Paw" is dark and reveals a portion of human nature.

This painting is a depiction of a fable titled "The Monkey and the Cat," by Jean de La Fontaine.  The monkey cons the cat to grab chestnuts from the hot coals, promising him a share.  As the cat takes them from the fire one at a time, burning his paw each time, the monkey eats them.  They are interrupted and the cat gets nothing but a burned paw.  One animal uses another to get what it needs...typical of the animal kingdom.  

As a child, I loved this painting, the story that it told, and the scandal the story reveals.  This has been one of my true favorite paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts since I was a child visiting on field trips.

Sir Edwin Henry Landseer

British, 1802-1873

"The Cats Paw"

1824, oil on canvas.

"If people only knew as much about painting as I do, they would never buy my pictures."

-Sir Edwin Henry Landseer.

1.3 Abstract Art

1.3_Abstract Art

Until about the mid 1800’s, western art has aspired to the rational work of the observation and reproduction of our visible reality.  The scientific and philosophical changes of the time directly effected western art, where the theoretical abstract became concrete enough in the minds of artists to visually represent their philosophical views of the changing world.  Rather than discuss the history of art and the evolution of and realization of abstraction, I will tell you that Abstract Art is a logical conclusion for the moment.

Abstraction is a language of composition without the dependance of the visual world.  The abstract work of art is an idea related to our visual world through the personal interpretation of experience and retrospection.  Abstract art has allowed modern man to contemplate on our world views, our philosophies, and ourselves in an era where we not only have the opportunity to contemplate these things, we concentrate on it.  Abstract art is a logical conclusion for the moment.

Each artist’s ideas are their own, and the concepts and results of their abstract works of art are only subject to the variables of their generation.  Method and style are irrelevant, both being products of the period each artist lives in, and as such, are a representation of the intuitive state and personal interpretation of their generation.  You cannot place boundaries on or judge the aesthetics of a generation, you can however judge their philosophy in a general observation of the collective behavior of a generation.

The further the artist progresses into abstraction, the more it will become apparent that he is actually ascending into representation; not that of a photographic nature, but that of an intuitive kind.  With brief being at the nature of abstraction, we find that abstract art is only the sketch of a concept, and has yet to have grown into the maturity of pure compositional works.  The intended concept of the artist must live in every portion of a work of art for abstract oil painting to grow out of its infancy, and into the maturity of the aesthetics of compositional oil painting.

Lastly, regardless of a work of art’s appearance, if honest, it is beautiful.