Zazzle store!

I opened up a Zazzle store today per a suggestion from a friend.  Apparently it is a good way to get your work out into prints.  I hope its cool with the prints, as I have been struggling to keep up with print orders from my website.  I have been going through local printers, which I will still do because their quality is unmatchable.

http://www.zazzle.com/adamconsidine

Check it out if you get a chance...

...it is going to take me a bit of time to get the store full of images...

One way tickets!!!

Athena and I purchased our one way plane tickets to Maui, Hawaii in August.  

We are moving with 2 suitcases each, our car, our two dogs and some art supplies.  I intend to paint a complete series of new oil paintings while we are there.  Hopefully my work will change in ways I can not yet see.  

Our new life on the island will be good, with a place in New York and a place in Minneapolis we can go visit our favorite haunts anytime we want to.  We are both very excited.

I have three oil paintings to finish here in Minneapolis before we move...

...so check back soon.

The Frankenstein Palette Table I designed

I like to design things that I need for my studio.  I think it is a waste of money to go out and buy something that you can make yourself.  Besides, when you create your tools for a direct purpose they are exactly how you need them to be.  I would rather use a tool that functions as I intended and need it, rather than buying something that almost meets my needs and has to be altered later and will never be what I really needed.

I call this Frankenstein furniture because I cannibalized older useless dead furniture, bringing it back to life.

I needed a larger painting table, and a larger palette surface to work on so I decided to Frankenstein a painting table together with some furniture I dug up.

The base is from a kitchen table I rescued from a street corner.
I adjusted it to the perfect height.

 

The top is two parts glued and wood screwed together for strength.

The palette is a 3-inch thick bar table top that I stripped and recoated with linseed oil rubbed into the wood with a rag.  A circular palette makes it easy for me to organize and mix my color selections.  I like to lay my colors out in a circle like the color wheel and this oak table top was perfect. Wood is the absolute best surface for an oil painting palette.

The wide top is 48 inches x  36 inches.  It is a piece of 3/4-inch thick oak plywood.  I shaped the corners with a round to just give it a bit of style.  I can lay my brushes and paint tubes out on this larger surface.

I then drilled holes the same size as the tops of mason jars into the wood with a circle maker.

Then I epoxied the lids into the holes, using 4 grooved braid nails on the inside of each top to add the their stability to compensate for the torque when turning the jars out.  You can see the braids from the underside of the table.

Canning jars are the best for oil painting.  The lids are two part, the rim that screws onto the jar, and a disk lid that fits between the two to seal it when you need to keep solvents or pigments fresh.  The canning jars I used are common and easily replaceable.  There are 6 jars (I found a box of them needing resurrection in my garage), each had its propose.

A little sanding, a splash of paint, and its a perfect painting table. I used it for a time, and then I passed it on to my buddy Philip while we shared a studio.  We both liked working on it.

In retrospect there is one thing I would have engineered differently.  The circular palette top- I would have liked it to spin so access to each oil color would be easier.

There you have it, my Frankenstein painting table.

Too bad this can't come to Maui with me...

...but I will be painting there.

Regal de Oro exhibit

I will be exhibiting the last of my paintings created in Minneapolis at Regla De Oro gallery on Lyndale and Lake street from May 16th to June 30th.

The opening reception will be held from 5pm to 8pm Saturday the 19th.

see you there...

...this will be one of my last exhibits in Minneapolis.

Artwork of the Month: Wedding art

After a night of drinking and dancing, Athena told me that she can relate to this oil painting now.  We have looked at this painting in passing, not really thinking very much about it until now.  It is on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  

Douglas Volk

American, 1856-1935

"After the Reception"

1887, oil on canvas

She looks completely wiped out. A wedding, drinking, dancing, eating and talking will do that to you.  Athena and I were both completely wiped out the day after our wedding. We had a blast!

A new Chuck Close

I remember the first time I saw this painting.  I was in grade school, probably 10 or 11 years old and it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.  After 20+ years of looking at the same painting the wonder wore off.

Chuck Close

American, born 1940

"Frank"

1969, acrylic on canvas

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts recently purchased this screen print by Close.
It is awesome, go see it.

"James"

2004, color screen print

Edition 45 out of 80

Now with the newer work by Close, I can look back at his painting of Frank and see it with an idea of his development as an artist.  You can see both of these paintings on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Artork of the month: Joan

This sculpture is amazing.  The first time I saw it at the museum I was slightly fooled for a second (okay, I allowed myself to be fooled, it was fun).  This work portrays reality so well that her feet are dirty just as if she has simply walked barefoot across the floor.  I love it, and I am pleased to say it is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as part of its permanent collection.

John DeAndrea

American, born 1941

"Joan"

1987, Polyester resin, pigments, synthetic (?) hair

Go take a look at this for yourself...

...it is a graceful illusion. 

I quit smoking!!!

I have been a smoker since 1990.  I half tried to quit many times, although I never really wanted to quit. I had been very lazy about it and although I was completely disgusted with smoking for many reasons, I never had the motivation to stop.

I am now a nonsmoker.  I quit cold turkey and I have not looked back. I was able to stop smoking so easily this time because my reasons for quitting were more powerful than any desire to smoke. In fact I have experienced little to no craving for a smoke.

So in celebration of officially being a nonsmoker I want to share one of my favorite oil paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of arts with you.

Edouard Manet

French 1832-1883

"The Smoker"

1866, oil on canvas

"No one can be a painter unless he cares for painting above all else."

-Edouard Manet

BitTorrent #6 Auction

I am trying out Ebay for sales of my paintings, here is the listing of the piece I have available.

BitTorrent #6 is up for auction...

Let the bidding begin...
...lets just see what happens with this.

The big move

I have been a professional artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1996.  My time here has been both productive and romantic.  I could afford to live as an artist, and simply create works of art on an almost daily biases.  I can not remember a time that I was not painting and creating works of art.  Minneapolis has been very good to me, as I was able to easily establish myself here as an artist.  

My wife Athena and I have decided to move for a better climate, and greater opportunities for us both in our chosen professions.  We are moving to Maui, Hawaii this August.  I will be able to continue to be a professional full-time artist, and Athena will be able to be a full-time dog trainer.

Our dreams have come true, now all we have to do is work, and that is the easy part.

Thanks Minneapolis...

...you are currently the center of the art of the world.