Better with Age?

Like fine wine we love the analogy that men and women get better as they age.  We even borrow cooking terms such as 'seasoned' and 'marinated' to describe how the years bring out the flavors in our personalities.  But what about our art?  Does our product improve with age as well?  Having passed a milestone in the birthday business I have been giving that question a lot of thought.

Lucky for me I came across a recent article in ArtNews Magazine that seems to support the idea that much of their best work was done by artists in their later years.  Unlike some professions that are body-dependent ( like basketball!) the art field is full of folks who continued to forge new paths well into their senior years. The article lists Bellini (who died at 86), Michelangelo (d. 89), Titian (d. between 86 and 103, depending on your source), Ingres (d. 86), Monet (d. 86), Matisse (d. 84), Picasso (d. 91), and O’Keeffe (d. 98)as just a few.

As a late bloomer in art I admit to occasionally regretting the fact I opted not to study art in college. But I have to admit that at the time I was not blessed with the drive nor the dedication such a study would require.  I wasn't ready in so many ways.  And many of my colleagues now admit they did not get the education they needed to prepare them for the real world in the art field.  Either they were not prepared to receive what was taught or the teaching was too restrictive. It was only as they experimented over the years that they have had the courage to find their own style and voice. So why is it that longevity and creative genius seem to go together?  

Many of the things I concluded personally were also borne out by interviews with thriving artists who are well into their eighties. For instance: I no longer feel paralyzed by the fear of failure (well less often anyway); I recognize that time is precious and I have very little to waste; I freely admit to understanding the value of play and lots of experimentation; I really don't have anyone I must please (for a passing grade) other than myself; I have a perspective that only miles on the road can offer. The list goes on and on.  It has as much to do with my interpretation and perspective on life as it does with expertise in technique.

This wonderful article in ArtNews is inspiring for any field but especially for those of us who hope and pray that our best work is still on the drawing board of the mind, ready to emerge in the years ahead.

So if you are considering a late start in creative expression, take heart, my recommendation is to dive in!  You bring much to the drawing board (or instrument or tablet) that can't be taught, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  I think you will be surprised.

Cindy

P.S.  please don't construe my thoughts to mean that one MUST be this side of geriatric to be a fine artist!  I am aware of some phenomenal young creatives and my guess is that they will be even more incredible as they age...marinating and becoming seasoned as they experience life.  Their work will be richer and even more captivating as time goes on. I only share this article as a way to remind us all that as long as we don't stop producing we have every hope of the next piece being our very best.

www.cindymichaud.com

Saints I Have Known

Anyone who knows my work knows that I enjoy working in "series."  A series is several pieces that somehow relate to one another whether it is by subject, by media or some other connection.  I love this because it keeps me focused (therefore I learn a lot!) and it makes for a cohesive collection to show or hang together.  Sooooooo

A new series..."Saints I Have Known" is in the works. With apologies to Modigliani I am painting saint-like portraits of real people I have known who have influenced me with some outstanding quality.  The humorous explanation is that being raised a Methodist I was deprived of all the benefits of the saints my Catholic friends came to rely on and I was, indeed, a bit jealous.  As I got older I realized that I had plenty of saints in my life, they just had not been cannonized.  So I decided to honor them in my own way!

But I have to laugh as some may not feel so "honored" when they see "their" painting and wonder why they look as they do......ah, the beauty of artistic license!!  Me and Modigliani...we see a reduction of detail, the nuance of line, the power of symbols and the vehicle of color....that's my story.

 

 

You will also note that the sidebars are a collection of symbols done in line.  I've never been very expressive with my doodling and figured this would be another way to get plenty of practice as well as lend itself to a subtle frame.  Working with the gold gesso has also provided a few challenges and the lettering you see on these pieces was a photoshop mock up for notecards so that is yet another task I have to tackle in paint!

 

 

These will all be 20 x 16 when the series is finished and so far I have not run out of wonderful women to honor.  Hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I have enjoyed thinking of them and painting them!

Cindy

p.s. I tried to make the 2nd and 3rd photo large enough for you to read them but the "enlarger" button refused to appear once again....probably an operator error, my apologies.



The Art of Curating

If you have visited a museum you have heard the word "curator".  One definition for the post of the curator is that of 'content specialist'.  Often, depending on the size of the museum, the job also includes acquistion and interpretation of a collection.  And, in small towns, the job of curator usually includes the responsibility for hanging an exhibit.  (The word curate comes from a Latin word meaning to "take care.")

With shows I've been in I must admit that minimal care or thought went in to why a piece hung where.  Usually expediency or size dictated where something went.  But we all grow and for the next Pieces of 8 show we have given the job of curator a lot of thought.  Well, one of our members, Fay, has given it a lot of thought!  Fay was an interior designer and can spot a 1/4" off as easily as some can estimate the yardage to the tee.  I can do neither so I was thrilled when Fay stepped in and offered to design the hanging for our summer show: "Black and White and Red All Over."

We are scheduled to be at the King Center for the Performing Arts, in their Harris Gallery, during the month of July.  Fay asked for a detailed floorplan of the space (got it) and copies of all proposed art including sizes.  Then she got to work.

Fay took care to note the traffic pattern of persons entering the building.  What is the first thing they see she asked herself.  She also recognized that there was no automatic flow of traffic so she elected to design the walls based on symmetry of painting size and by alternating realistic work with more abstract pieces.  (In some shows progression of time or style may be a consideration for the order in which you see the work.)

Fay actually built a mock up or diarama of the room to scale.  She then did likewise with our art so that "hanging" them on the walls would give a true idea of space.  You will note that she chose to hang art with the center of each piece at eye level.  This is the way most museums hang work for maximum ease in viewing.  Each piece should have plenty of breathing space so that work does not compete for attention.  Curators note that eyeing the neighboring piece peripherally is fine as long as the art itself is not in focus.  The most common mistake amateurs make, one expert noted, is hanging too many pieces.

Many times the job of curator is also to select the work to be shown.  In this case we all decided that we would each submit our best 2 (self juried) and hand in one additional piece to be used at the discretion of the curator (Fay) as needed or desired to round out the show. 

Finally, the curator also has to decide on the placement of any verbiage, tags, labels and headlines used in the presentation.  We were just tickled that Fay stepped up for the job...having a pro-eye on the presentation can really make or break a show.

Here's one of my pieces for the show, titled "Black & White & Dead All Over." It is large, 40" x 30" and is a collage of newspapers with ink and paint, and, I hope makes a comment on the state of newspapers today.

You'll get another invitation to view the show as we approach July but since the behind the scenes work always interests me I thought I'd share with you some of thoses logistics.

Next time you visit a show or a museum take a little time to see if you can see what the curator had in mind in electing to hang certain pieces as he/she did.

Cindy



Welcome Spring

It's been a long dreary winter here in the mountains of western North Carolina, wet, muddy and overcast when it was not cold and windy.  I arrived to find my usually creative friends suffering from a bad case of SAD (seasonally affected disorder).  Convincing them that spring would surely come was no easy task.  But it did....we finally saw the sun and all the trees got together for one glorious day and showed their best stuff.

The yellow green emerged as the trees decided to open their leaves but what always seduces a Florida gal is the color....the blossoms that appear even before the leaves.  We have a lot of pink here backed up with the white of dogwood.

"Welcome Spring"

10" high x 5" wide, oil

purchase without frame here

 

 

This was sheer joy to paint ...came in after walking the dog and decided to paint my impression of the walk.  I feel some more itching to get out!

 

p.s. after all the discussion on frame suitability I decided to offer this one without a frame so that you can choose how you wish to display it: easel, wall or bookcase.  Doesn't the color just make you feel like dancing around?

 

Cindy



Approaching Storms

Thanks for your input last week regarding the choice of frames for my painting of Long Key.  Wish I could say it was a conclusive vote....but I cannot, it was fairly evenly divided; I even had a strong recommendation for no frame at all and several others suggested something entirely different.  We'll discuss frames on another post.

Palate knives....there was a question as to what I meant when I referred to using one.  They come in all shapes and sizes but here are a few of mine:

These can be used in addition to brushes or all by themselves to paint a piece.  You will know a palatte knife was used when there is an exceptional amount of texture in a piece or when it seems to have a lot of linear marks.  If you try to get a smooth area with a knife it is much like using a trowel, where the paint gets too thin you will have skip marks, where it is thick it will spread like butter. 

Here is a detail of another piece, this was done on top of a gray background so you can see parts of the canvas below the oil paint:

This closeup shows several different marks that can be make with the knife, sideways drags as well as vertical marks.

Here is the entire piece created once again from the picnic table at our Long Key campsite just as the weather was taking a change:

 

Approaching Storm

5" high x 10" wide

oil on board

 

framed piece ready to hang or place in an easel

 

 

I'm not finished exploring how to move paint around using the knives.  I like that it prohibits me from getting too engrossed with the finer points of detail (or as art teachers are fond of saying "painting the flea on the dog's tail).  It also provides a different look when mixing the paint colors right on the canvas.  Feel free to send me your questions and I will do my best to answer them.  Meanwhile, if you know someone who would enjoy having this piece, you can purchase it for them here.

 

 

Have an art full weekend,

Cindy



Do You See What I Sea?

Long Key

10" x 5" oil on board

 

 

Do you see what I see?  The gorgeous turquoise waters of the Florida Keys?  Can you smell the briney air and feel the island breezes?  Do the colors make you wonder why the horizon is dark and there are shadow patches here and there of dark blue and green?  Of course this could be any beach you are fond of but this was painted at a picnic table from our campsite on Long Key.  For fun I pulled out my palatte knife instead of a brush and went to work.  Not that it took less time than a brush...but somehow holding the knife made me attempt to capture everything BUT the detail.  I went back to it several times while it lay there drying, tweaking it and playing with it.  But finally I was satisfied.  Now and then I really like something I produce, I mean really like.  And this is one of them.

 





(I tried two different frames on it.  This is brown wood.  I haven't decided which I like better.)

 

 

Until I decide I can't live without this piece you can literally steal it here.  And you may choose the style frame you like best for it.  Meanwhile I have a few more palatte knife pieces to share with you...and I look forward to doing some more!

 



(here is the gold frame)

 

 

Do you think one of the frames is better for the art or that it is a matter of where you would place it?

Would love to hear your opinion on that. Maybe frame selection tips would be a good blog subject some day.