I coveted. This watercolor was hanging in our motel room in Wolfeboro and I wanted it. I wanted it so badly. I was pleading with Denise to offer the owner 10 bucks for it. I even thought we might be able to trade Emma for it.
Now, I’ll need some help from all of you art afficianados. It is signed by one, Marty. It reminds me of a Maxfield Parrish, but I’m not sure why. I don’t think it’s his style, but I believe it may reflect his palette.
I’d like to introduce a new feature to our tens of thousands of readers. Krazy Kitsch serves to provide you with a virtual tour of our Home on Piety Hill, which Denise is transforming into a varitable museum of off beat, kitcshy kollectibles and questionable art, furniture, kitchen utensils and, well, just about everything else. Now, mind you, some items will not actually be kitschy at all, but we’ll use that as a sort of catch-all label for just about anything we think is cool. Here’s a good definition of kitsch from Wikipedia:
A term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an existing style. The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.
Because the word was brought into use as a response to a large amount of art in the 19th century where the aesthetic of art work was associated with a sense of exaggerated sentimentality or melodrama, kitsch is most closely associated with art that is sentimental; however, it can be used to refer to any type of art that is deficient for similar reasons—whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is said to be a gesture imitative of the superficial appearances of art. It is often said that kitsch relies on merely repeating convention and formula, lacking the sense of creativity and originality displayed in genuine art.
Take it away, Denise…
This collection now on our bedroom wall was started with finding one of the ballerina prints at a garage sale. I found the two wall pocket ones on Ebay which were being sold by a lady who lived real close to my daughter so I was able to drive over and pick them up instead of paying shipping! The largest one is a paint-by-number that is so sweet.
Emma just completed her first semester at Sacramento State University with a Big Four Point Oh! She’s pursuing a degree in design — leaning toward architecture. This was confirmed to Emma on her latest visit to Chicago, the birthplace of the modern skyscraper, as well as home to the Prairie School and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Emma’s strength, I think, is in photography. She has always had a good eye for an interesting composition and Photoshop is the logical extension for the skills she learned in the dark room years ago. Here we see two Photoshop projects and the final example is a graphic design assignment using Adobe InDesign. I really like that application for page layout, but I think Emma found it a bit overwhelming. However, she never used Quark, so she probably cannot appreciate the advantages InDesign brings to print.
I really think she’s on her way and will probably find a career in a design related field. And, that makes me happy.
Sam’s show in Switzerland is drawing to a close. Of course, you can always catch some of his latest work at Marc Jancou Contemporary or on Artnet.
JF has a blog and it’s totally boss! Comments are switched to “on” and the posts so far are fab.
Denise and I picked up our couch in Concord CA and decided on this brown leather chair from Scandinavian Designs. So, our living room is complete… for now. For those with an eye for art and design, yes, those are toothpick legs on the couch, resin grapes on the Eames era end table and an original Crisell oil painting on the wall in the corner. And, no, they are not for sale.
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Last week I completed a painting of Frank Zappa that I began in high school, over thirty years ago. I hung it up in my office along with the acrylic painting of John Lennon and the large watercolor of John Cipollina, both of which were begun about the same time as Frank, but completed in the past few years. This has been a goal of mine for quite some time. I am terrible at finishing things… all kinds of things. So, I thought I would work through some unfinished projects, one by one, and see if I could develop a habit of completing whatever I start. So, why do I call these three the Gallery of Dead Rock Stars? Well, when we lived in Maine, Denise had taken my unfinished art out of storage and nailed it to the exposed framing around the family room “down cellar.” Sue and Mark were visiting and she was surprised to learn that I was once an aspiring artist. She asked who the subjects were and I realized they were all dead… they were dead rock stars. So, that’s when I came up with the concept. As I thought about it a little more, I remembered that I had begun a painting of another rock star at about the same time. It was a large oil of Steve Winwood from a photo, taken by a friend at a Traffic concert we went to. I was experimenting with airbrush, “floating” Mr. Winwood in mid-air ala Magritte. As I reflect on it, it was really very good but I was stressing out over it. It became a turning point for me as I crumpled it up and walked to the trash can at the curb and stuffed it in the barrel. I walked away from art and didn’t return for 30 years. Anyway, I think I may have saved Mr. Winwood’s life by not painting him. Everyone else I painted died young. Even in the portrait of John Cipollina, you can see the back of Greg Elmore — he’s still alive. Creepy, eh? Actually, I’m not superstitious at all. It’s just a strange coincidence. And, if you are concerned about the little boy in the pencil drawing next to Frank, don’t be. First of all, it’s a drawing - not a painting. More importantly, little two-year-old Sam is not a rock star, so he’s safe. |
I had another living room epiphany last week. But, before I go on and you get all excited and ask me to come work my interior design magic on your place, remember that I only do this for pleasure… no silver will cross the table.
We looked into putting an insert into our fireplace, but new regulations made it prohibtive, both in cost and efficiency. So, I sat gazing at the center of our living room, the locus of fellowship in our home and thought, “now what?” Should we put a large flower arrangement in front of it? Or, pile up a bunch of
candles inside the fireplace, like the hipsters in Rocklin do? Then, it hit me like a ton of bricks (get it?). I ran in and logged onto eBay… r-e-t-r-o c-r-a-c-k-l-i-n-g l-o-g and enter!
I found a few promising auctions, but they sold for way too much. That sent me onto the web, where I found a number of companies that manufacture some very nice fake burning logs. These were also too pricey, but then I happened onto a pile of faux embers I’d seen advertised for around $100 over at Penney’s Home for $49. It came in a couple of days and I got it right into the fireplace. Denise even had to admit I’ve got a real eye for design. So, what do you think?
On Sunday, Denise and I went with Sam to the MOMA. She got in free with Sam, because he’s a member… they even bought a couple of his pieces, but he doesn’t know what they are or when they were shown. How do you like that? Anyway, hope you like the photos here.
Young People Flock To Second-Tier Sites Amid Shifting Tastes
This is welcome news, as far as I’m concerned. I just signed up on Facebook and the interface was noticeably less cluttered and usable. I’m not a huge fan of these new-fangled social networking sites, but from a design perspective things are starting to look up. As I pointed out when Ditty Talk rolled out, the MySpace design is just plain ugly and whenever someone adds a photo or video to their page, it gets pushed all out of shape and the user ends up scrolling in all directions.
These new contenders have some neat features that MySpace lacks:
Among the new social-networking sites is one called XuQa.com, run by San Francisco start-up business iVentster Inc., which lets users play games against their online friends and offers awards to the top scorers. Hi5.com, operated by San Francisco company Hi5 Networks Inc., comes with a built-in music player. Piczo, meanwhile, is similar to MySpace and Facebook Inc. in that it lets its mostly teenage users create personal Web pages filled with photos, video and lists of their online friends.
Best of all, they just look a lot better and seem to conform to web standards.
We immediately replaced the carpet when we bought our house ten years ago — the hardwood (oak) floors underneath were pristeen and beautiful. So, we decided to pull them up some time ago to eliminate the haven for dust mites and provide a beautiful contrast for modern furnishings (which we hope will come later). For now, the floors are beautiful and should be wonderful after they are sanded and refinished. Camille and Sean helped us pull up the old stuff.
Levi at Culturezoo has come up with a smart and sassy little blog accessory: It’s called Audiozue and it tells your readers what you’re listening to on iTunes, displays the album art and provides a link to purchase the music. You can customize Audiozue to display up to fifty songs and you can build your own skin to match the stunning design of your blog. If you look at the sidebar, you will see it in action.
Oh, and by the way… check out this great photo titled “Macintosh Repair Tool Kit.”
I saw a couple of paintings by Shane Grammer at The Underground Cafe… we were there to see Mike Roe perform (Kendall Payne was the headliner and she was very good, too). I checked out the website and was a bit intimidated, but ultimately inspired. He is not only a painter and illustrator, but designs spaces, as well. Amazing. Check out shanegrammer.com
Today, I received my copy of the new 77s DVD Collection, featuring seven official music videos by my favorite band, The Seventy Sevens, as well as another disk of “live bootleg” concert footage going back to 1982!
It was just like Christmas in July, as Sean and Emma watched me excitedly tearing the cellophane off the case. They were also very understanding and patient as I rushed to the DVD player and cued up the first video, Mercy Mercy, which I had seen years ago. It was just as I remembered it. I was at a number of the featured concerts and, though they were 20 years ago, it was as if I had seen them just yesterday.
But, the most exciting discovery was yet to come. As the videos were playing and I was checking out the insert and liner notes, a familiar image caught my eye. It was a photo I had taken of the 77s at a concert back about 1987. When we went to see Mike Roe perform a few months ago, I had given him copies of the photos from that concert — he and his daughter got a good laugh out of them. But, they were actually pretty good b&w photos and he used them as a background on one of the pages. Check out the insert and my copy of the original photo.The credits on the back list a few photographers and then I am honored for my contribution:
Additional photos provided by Chris Knight, Brian Heydn and many others.
Yup, that’s me… many others!
Sam finished his “retreat” on St. Barth, Virgin Islands with an exhibition of his drawings and paintings at the Me•di•um Gallery. I paricularly like this classic still life. This will probably be the last public showing of Sam’s work this year, but he is working steadily and preparing for some big events in 2007.
This was a joint exhibition with Sam’s good friend and former Chicago roommate, Chris Vasell. I really like Chris’ work. Check out this watercolor and Prismacolor.
Yes, it’s back to the drawing board one more time. My beginning drawing class is ending. This is an 18″X 24″ graphite drawing of Sam from a photograph of him, when he was about two years old. I’ll finish it up today and work on my sketchbook. Our instructor is also the head of the Grass Valley Downtown association and our class is on Saturday, so two times when they were having special events, we took our sketchbooks downtown to draw buildings, people, wine bottles and, this last Saturday, classic cars. I have a drawing of the tailfin on a ‘61 Cadillac going now. I still remember the day I took this photo, as a novice following Sam and our dog, Jet, around the yard, photographing anything and everything. By the time I shot this one, he had just about enough and wanted dad to play with him. Denise and I decided to work opposing shifts, so our kids would not have to go to daycare — I did when I was a little older than Sam’s age and look how that turned out! Anyway, it was challenging and fun, because Denise and I were both constantly tired, working lots of overtime and rarely saw one another. On the other hand, I had an experience most fathers didn’t back in the ’70s, going everywhere together — buddies. 
Sam and I had a ten-speed bicycle with a child seat on the back. In those days, helmets were not in vogue, but Denise and I were fairly progressive. Not only did Sam eat smashed up fresh vegetables and wear sun-dried cloth diapers, but he had a bicycle helmet! I didn’t wear a helmet, so it’s a wonder I didn’t end up with a brain injury, eating smashed up fresh vegetables and wearing sun-dried cloth diapers. Anyway, each day we would go peddaling through the orange groves and pastures in the hills above El Toro. We would finish our ride by flying down El Toro Blvd at about 35 mph. I would get down like a racer and Sam would put a hand on each hip, with his head down on my rear end and we looked like a racing team. Uh-oh, I’m getting misty… I’ll stop here.
Sam’s on a sabbatical in St. Barths and enjoying his time in the sun. So far, highlights include seeing David Letterman driving around a couple of times, in a beat up jeep, and finding an excellent hamburger. He’s painting a bit and relaxing at the residence/artist retreat . Images of Sam’s latest works are up at the Me•di•um site.
So, we had this assignment… a perspective drawing using Conte’ crayon and charcoal, combining one-point and two-point perspective. Other requirements were some sort of grid or pattern, vanishing into mountains in the distance, at least one building and an amorphous shape. My first attempt was way too ambitious with tons of figures, shapes and a building with windows and doors. No way. Then, I thought I’d put a rocket on the moon, greeted by blobbish locals, with multiple moons orbiting. Again, too busy. So, I arrived at this abstraction of the axis of evil and their quest for the bomb.
Sam’s show in Belgium opened today at Galerie Rodolphe Janssen and a few of the works are posted on the gallery site. A number of his paintings pre-sold and he said he felt pretty good about this show.
This was the weekend of the arts at our home and my drawing class is going well. Sure, it’s nothing but endless still-lifes and I feel pretty crappy about the results most of the time, but I am really learning a lot. And, it seems to be true… the key is practice… drawing and learning to observe and see what’s there. I think the most surprising thing I have found is that, in the class, after we get going on our final drawing I’ll “get lost” in the whole thing and find myself standing, holding my chalk or pencils differently than I ever have, using them freely and uninhibited, moving around the subject and whenever I have to blend anything, I’ve immediately got my hands or fingers in it. I just sort of dive in and I think what’s surprising is that I’m doing what comes intuitively and I’m way more “tactile” or involved than I would have thought. It’s kinda exciting.
Denise was feeling creative, too, after finding a vintage Mosette crushed stone kit at the thrift store. The composition came titled already, so that part was easy. She grabbed some Wilbur’s glue, sat down at the dining room table and voila! Bedtime Boy is now proudly hanging in our stylish boudoir!
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