A Stuffed Bold Eagle In Your Art Projects And Law

To all fellow artists - do not include a stuffed Bold Eagle in your art - it is a criminal act. You cannot sell it, keep it, buy it, barter it, transport it, import it or export it - alive or dead.

Read THIS interesting article in the New York Times, what Mrs. Sonnabend’s children are dealing with by inheriting their mother's (the art dealer) “Canyon,” by Robert Rauschenberg.

Credit: The image on the left was published in NYTimes and is property of Rauschenberg Estate and Licensed by VAGA, NY.

Norwalk Community College Exhibition - Spring 2012

I wish I would have more time to see more art. But when ever I am walking near by a gallery or any place that exhibits, I go in - if only for five minutes. 

It happens that I take classes at NCC in Norwalk, CT. It is quite nice community college with great teachers, I've been always happy with any subject I take be it accounting, art, economics, computers..... Or perhaps I get along with my teachers and do all my home-works, LOL?

Anyway, since I take classes at NCC, I always visit an area in the lobby, where they exhibit art. This spring they are showing art done by high school students. And two of the exhibited art works just stand out - that is I love them. They deserve a viral recognition. Hey I like this expression "viral recognition" - I think, I should start a special link called "VIRAL RECOGNITION" for the artists with talent, IMHO.

Project "Master Artist" - Nicolas Poussin

I've been taking painting class with a wonderful artist and great art teacher (actually a professor) Steve DiGiovanni who he has been quite inspiring personality to me in the past two months. His ways of teaching and his insight at many different artists, their work and their techniques opened horizons not only for me, but for many students in my class as well. Now that I am finished with the introduction, I would like to share one project that we were recently working on for couple of weeks.

FirstSteve gave us several names of old masters. We had to chose our favorite painting of one master. After I saw many paintings on line, I settled on a detail from "Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite" by Nicolas Poussin. I found out that the painting was commissioned by Cardinal Richelieu (which I found interesting) and which is in possession of Philadelphia Art Museum.

The next step was to paint an 8in x10in painting of the chosen master. This study was supposed to help us to understand the light and shadow, the color, while at the same time to teach us a bit about figure painting as the old masters did it. We didn't have to be accurate in making and exact copy.

My study of Poussin's "Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite"

Couple weeks later we brought our small "master paintings" to school and had a class discussion about what we learned from this practical study (above).

Then, Steve showed us several famous artists' interpretations of other famous artists. For example, Pablo Picasso's "Las Meninas. After Velazquez", which was take on DiegoVelazquez's "Las Meninas" (The Maids of Honor) painting. See below.

Pablo Picasso's "Las Meninas. After Velazquez"

Diego Velazquez. Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor), 1656

And as you probably guessed it, we had to interpret our chosen painting in our way on a 30in x 40in canvas.

In my early twenties I was in "love" with pointillism. I had attempted this technique once, but nothing ever came out of it. So, this time I got a chance to use this method again and to depict the old master's classical painting with a different approach.
Last summer I saw Seurat's paintings in MoMA, so I was somewhat familiar with his work. I went to our library to borrow art books about Seurat to remind me of his style some more. And I "googled" images of his paintings. Then I set to work on my project.

First I prepped my canvas and then outlined figures. Then I mixed my colors and started making dot after dot after dot after dot...... For many hours each day.

One week later I could see some development. Some of the background was done, as well as some of the women and sea creatures they were riding (the image below).

About three weeks later, after spending on it approximately 40+ hours per week, I took my nearly finished painting to school for a discussion. It still needs some fine tuning, such as leashes for the sea creatures, which are missing. However, Steve accepted the work as is. And did you know that Seurat would paint each of his paintings for about a year. When I was working on mine, I realized, that you really have to spend quite a bit of time on this particular technique - you need to let the paint dry in between. Otherwise it just doesn't look (or come out) right (or as nice as Seurat's).

And this is my almost finished product

Painting With A Palette Knife

My computer died and that is one reason why I am not visible as much in the viral world lately. I depend on other people's computers now and for a while I will be here sporadically.

In the mean time I've been taking some art classes, which are very enjoyable. In my painting class, I was learning how to paint with a palette knife today. I would never guess that it can be so much fun and I am totally falling for this technique (I sound like I am talking about some nice looking man) and I would love to create many paintings with my knives.

Our task was to carefully look at the objects in front of us, and study their colors very carefully - a light and a shadow, a color hue etc. We had to "see" as many color shades of the background, the block and the pear as possible, mix those colors, and then apply them in "blocks" or "spots" on the canvas with our knife.  Next week we will continue with our project.

 I took a picture with my phone, so it is not the greatest image quality, but it is sufficient enough to show my friends a peek preview, how I am "tackling" my background and the pear sitting on the painted styrofoam block.

Until next time.

For Artists - How To Add Google Plus Page Badge To Your Web Site

Artists not only paint, draw, sculpt or otherwise create their art, but they also have to keep their accounting books, give lectures, go to other artists shows and market themselves (and much more) in order to keep up with "evolving times". So many of you already have your web site, some of you have a personal Facebook account, others have Facebook Page (which anyone can "LIKE" it, and which is different from the personal account, and better than a Facebook Group account). Besides your website some of you may have a blog (on Wordpress or on Google Blogger), Twitter, and now you can have also your personal page on Google+, and besides that you can create your own Google+ Page to make yourself even busier with marketing your self. With so many sites/pages you can reach many more people in the world and have more chances your art to be noticed and perhaps even bought.

Note: Many people already put up tutorials about how to start your Google+ Page. If you need to learn, please see the video all the way below my post.

I have been exploring  extensively Google+ in the past several days. I have learned, for example, that if you upload images to your Google Blog, they are automatically uploaded to your Picasa account (that is if you do not use ie. Flicker URL or such). However, if you upload images to your Google+ Page they get uploaded into "Google User Content" area, which I still have to find out where that possibly may be. Some people say it is same as Picasa - and yes, when I uploaded my images from my computer to my blog or my Google+ personal account they are in my Picasa file. However, the images that I uploaded from my computer to Google+ Page I just cannot see in my Picasa account. Although, the icon next to the URL address of each picture is that of Picasa. Hmmm.

But, let's move on. I would love to explain in plain language how to tie your Google+ Page to your personal web site in order to get VERIFIED, which should increase your visibility on the Internet.

• Create a Google+ Page (if you haven't done so) - see the video at the bottom of this post
• Open your Google+ HOME Page and copy your number from your URL address (see image below)

• In another window open a link https://developers.google.com/+/plugins/badge/config (see image below)

• (1) Paste your number into the rectangle area next to "configuration tool"; (2) chose a badge or an icon; the page generates for you two codes - (3) for your <head> </head> area in your HTML and another one (4) to be placed in the <body> </body> area in your HTML (where you want it - ie. under your menu) - see the image below for 1, 2, 3, 4  pointers
  
  Note: if you do not know how to do this, you need to ask your web designer to do it for you

• See in images of my web site's HTML below how I placed (3) between <head> and </head> tags, and (4) between <body> and </body> tags into my HTML code. The (4) is actually placed just below the menu (see g+ icon in my last image)

• In the last image below you can see how the page will look like with the "g+" large icon below my menu

And here is the promised video of "How To Start Your Google+ (Business) Page"

Enjoy!

Latest News From My Drawing Class At NCC

I know, I haven't written much lately, but.... besides being busy at home with our small family, having part time job and volunteering as a mentor, I am taking also a drawing class. I have mentioned my professor David Boyajian on my blog (HERE) who is responsible for teaching our class and who gives down to earth presentations full of wonderful explanations. Even the least artistic person on Earth will improve drawing skills under Mr. Boyajian's guidance. IMHO (in my humble opinion). He covers it all - object's perspective, proportion, line, vanishing point, contour, contrast, light, shadow, reflection, color value etc. - over and over and over again. It is wonderful to see how everyone is improving with each finished session due to his gentle "drill".

Here, on this web page you can see some of my best charcoal works I drew in school so far. Next time I will post some of my pencil drawings that we had to do as a homework assignment.

If you want to see more of my art, you will have to "LIKE" my BronislavaArt Facebook page :)

iPad Daily Drawings With SketchBook Pro

Back in May, my husband and daughter surprised me with an iPad for Mother's day....... and I've been playing with it ever since.

I play Words HD, and read New Yorker, watch Netflix instant movies, listen to Pandora, Tweet, play Sudoku, see what is going on on Flipboard (great app by the way).

I also downloaded four drawing applications - Inkpad (vector based app), OmniSketch, Procreate and SketchBook Pro. The last three are very similar, yet each is different. So far I have been playing most with SketchBook Pro. Slowly I am trying different features - layers,  brushes  (I have downloaded many several sets of free brushes by SketchBook Pro), erasers, and free transform. The application has also text tool (I haven't used it yet), mirror tool (if I draw on one half of the iPad a mirrored drawing appears on the other half etc.

Tonight, when my family and I went to our friends for dinner, we were fooling around with my iPad and everyone really liked SketchBook Pro. My friend loved my whimsical drawings and asked me if I would be so kind and make him a background for his computer. He didn't care what it would be, he just wanted background with fairly light colors - sort of like Easter colors. As you see above, he got a drawing with two little creatures to the side and a lot of empty space in-between for his desktop icons. He was so excited to have something very different.

Below, you can see my other drawings I did while practicing in my drawing applications.

 My very first iPad drawing (above) was done in OmniSketch app.

This drawing was my second one, it is called "Potatohead", since it resembles potato (SketchBook Pro)

 My third drawing - I was playing with the lines and layers (SketchBook Pro)

 Quick drawing before a waiter brought us dinner in the restaurant (SketchBook Pro)

I just wanted to draw a sleeping dog (SketchBook Pro)

 More practice using SketchBook Pro - our reading lamp

An old person (SketchBook Pro)

"The Art of Writing Art Statements" - HVCA Writing Workshop

 Allie McConnell, Lisa Scails, D'lynne Plummer

After an artist creates his/her art, be it a painting, a sculpture, a mixed media, or a photo, he/she also must educate viewers (public, curators, gallerists, journalists, collectors) what his/her art is all about. An artist needs to express his/her message in an "artist's statement", which writing these statements can be a huge struggle for anyone and same applies to me.
Prior to tonight's writing class, I have done a lot of research about how to write such a statement. I spent hours on the Internet reading anything that would be any advice to me and also reading many different artist's statements, so I would understand how to actually write it. After many hours of learning on my own, I still felt I need to learn more.
When HVCA, an organization in Danbury, which supports various artists, offered a workshop on writing art statements, I immediately signed up. This class was very insightful. D'lynne Plummer, our presenter from Boston, MA - actually she is the Director of Professional Development for the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC) - put together a great power point presentation along with several examples. Also she let us practice a bit to see if we understand her message. In nearly two hours we got a lot of quality information for our money. Thanks to HVCA's Lisa Scails and Allie McConnell who organized this workshop, I understand what the "artist's statement" is all about.

Now I just need to learn the correct English grammar and I will be all set. Well almost - I still need to learn how to market myself the correct way :-)

Interesting Information About Kindle

This little article is not about painting and drawing. It is actually about different Kindle uses. Like how to download .pdf files into your Kindle. Or did you know that you can lend/borrow books through Kindle that you purchased via Amazon.com?
If you are interested in more information go to THIS web page about Kindle Tips to learn a lot more about this device. And if you own Kindle, you can read/lend/download/borrow books on painting and drawing. So you see, it does have a little to do with visual arts.

Ridgefield Guild of Artists - "Continuum" Exhibition

Tonight as I stepped into Ridgefield Guild of Artist to see the "Continuum" show I knew it will be a show you see only in big progressive cities. A show that is far beyond landscapes, far beyond "still life" with fruits and bowls and vases. The "house" was packed. and it was a show, which seemed to me that it have been exhibited in Manhattan, but then by some forces transposed to Ridgefield CT. "Continuum" was curated by Nancy Moore and I as an artist clap my hands for job well done.

Therefore, if you live in the area and want to have a theme for your dinner, go see the show. But it would be much better to buy one of the thought provoking art works and display it on the wall in your dining room.

Unfortunately it was my busy day and I forgot my camera at home. But if I will drive by RGOA in a near future I will stop by and take couple of images and edit this page for everyone to see that it is really worth it to see.

Art Hanging With Friends In Danbury CT

For few days I worked on my show (price list, labels, framing, etc.) and today "D" day finally arrived. My three friends (Helenka, Karolina a Stana) were ready to help me hang all the paintings and drawings. I think that at first they were a little reluctant to make decisions, but I told them that what ever they will decide will be a great choice. And let me tell you - I could not have a better "Art Hanging" crew! They measured, help me make decision how and where to hang all the paintings. I could not be luckier to have such great friends.
As we brought all the paintings in, we were getting pretty good raves - "ooohs and aaahs" and "this is so different" and "these paintings are awesome" and "they are very cheerful". (To tell you the truth I really do not want to sell them. My husband and I grew kind of attached to them.)

If you live in driving distance from Danbury, CT - come see what a great job they did and at the same time you can see my art :-) Come to the opening on Thursday. More info is HERE.

Below are several images from "Art Hanging" with my friends.

The "Art Hanging" crew

Our little helper is a very handy boy

Stana's doing it right

Karolina and Helenka are patient for sure!

I tried my best to attach labels

Abstracts in pastel colors

Abstracts

I could not resist to include some of my DailyDraw365 in the show

City Center is another location where my art is displayed

My first "Hairstyles" painting looks great on this City Center's orange wall

THANK YOU HELENKA, KAROLINA AND STANA (AND OUR LITTLE HELPER). I COULD NOT HAVE HANG THEM UP WITHOUT YOU.

Announcements And Promotions

The opening of my exhibitions has been announced on HVCA's web site. I am still waiting if my press release will be accepted for local newspapers. My promotional material (image to the left) is being now distributed in the area.

The exhibition is almost here :-) Everyone is welcome to come and have fun at the opening party (31st March 2011, 5pm in Danbury's City Center on Main St.). We will be serving light refreshments along with nonalcoholic beverages and some wine :-)

The Artists Networking Event At Aldrich Museum

I decided to get away from my brushes and, instead, do some networking with artists and friends at the event which was hosted by  the Ridgefield Arts Council. It was well prepared event and "the house was full". All attendees had a chance to see several exhibitions, munch on appetizers, sip some wine, listen to the music (Thank you Aldrich Museum). The keynote speaker was Richard Friswell, Publisher and Executive Editor of ARTES, an international, on-line fine arts magazine.
Mr. Friswell's presentation was fun and informative. He talked about the history of sculpture and focused on the importance of sculpture as a public symbol, and about sculptures that celebrated people, religion, politicians etc. Mr. Friswell also talked about sculptures that were defaced and decapitated by people. He finished with  current examples of sculpture in the public arena in Connecticut and elsewhere in the world. I especially enjoyed his talk about a very controversial Czech artist David Černý who is known in the United states with his "Babies" (his Babies made it to the United States, but now "reside" on the Czech TV tower) and another great sculpture, "Metalmorphosis", which is installed in Charlotte NC (see below).

Below from left: Myself, and my artist-friends Emilya Padlowski and Katushka Millones Bojko

And, if you ever are in Charlotte, NC go see "Metalmorphosis" - it's worth it.

My Name

Here I am sitting at the computer and submitting my art to organizations, e-mailing people etc., when my dear husband looks up at me from his computer (he is helping me with a press release) and tells me. "You should use only your first name as your artistic name. It is so complicated for many people, that just first name, which is unique, will be enough for them to remember."

So now I am sitting here and thinking about his point and questioning myself - how do I sign my artwork then. Until now I signed my art with my last name only, which is also fairly unique - not too many artists with that name. Should I listen to my husbands idea? Would love to know people's opinion.

January Paintings No. 40 Through No. 45

Many of you know that I am getting ready for my first solo exhibition in Danbury, CT. The news, which I found out just before Christmas, took me by a huge surprise, and of course I jumped with joy. MY FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION! What a great gift, right?

But, I really didn't realize what I have gotten into. One day in the beginning of January, I heard, that I will need about fifty paintings. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as I was saying "Fifty paintings?"At first, I didn't believe it. So I drove to Danbury to see, where the exhibition will take place. Actually, the exhibition will take place in two buildings. That I knew, but I did not realize how much wall space will be available for my art. When I saw "City Center" walls (in Danbury on Main Street), I didn't panic. 

"I'll have to paint couple more paintings and the space will be filled. I can do it,"  I thought. 

Then I took a short walk up the hill to the Town Hall, where where more wall space was available for my art, right next to mayor's office. And that is when I started panicking. I walked around the walls while looking at the Eric Gottschalk's images on the walls leading toward mayors's office. And then.... I looked around the corner and there was more wall space and more of Eric's images. I stood there and stared at the two additional long walls. I decided to take pictures with my cell phone for my reference to the available wall space, then I looked at and enjoyed Eric images (I fell in love with three of them) and hurried home. While I was driving, I was thinking that I will have to be very organized and manage my time well in order not to get distracted from thinking about my art. Only that way I can pull it off.

Here I am, one month later, and my body of work is slowly growing. I am moving forward. I think I can do it, since I am thinking about my art and painting it just about "around the clock". Fortunately, I have an understanding family. 

Below are paintings (some abstract, some pop art) finished in January (which I didn't publish yet).

"Kyvadlo"

Dimensions: 18" x 18" x 1.5"

Acrylic on canvas

2011

"Up"

Dimensions: 18" x 18" x 1.5"

Acrylic on canvas

2011

"Hairstyles" theme on a smaller scale.

"Blond"

Dimensions: 24" x 18" x 7/8"

Acrylic on canvas

2011

"Electra"

Dimensions: 24" x 18" x 7/8"

Acrylic on canvas

2011

"Monika"

Dimensions: 24" x 18" x 7/8"

Acrylic on canvas

2011

© 2011 Bronislava Slagle, All Rights Reserved