People talk about architecture and often they refer to homes and offices. Industrial architecture is getting increased attention, though.
This is especially true with waterfronts. Buffalo’s riverfront/lakefront areas are a good example. Where once heavy industry and commerce monopolized these areas, now urban planners and cultural custodians are moving in. There are complex issues to solve, though.
Buffalo is where the grain elevator was invented, and it turned the city into a massive rail and shipping center as Midwest grain needed to come through the port, once one of the world’s largest. So simply tearing them down is a denial of a rich history. They are wrestling with these issues in the 1st Ward, a riverside area where Irish immigrants (such as my ancestors) lived, and worked as longshoremen, lake sailors and railroad men. Or, as in my Grandmother’s case, clerks at the famed Frank Lloyd Wright Larkin Building, now gone.
I toured the area with my Dad, looking at childhood haunts. There is a revival going on, with parks and music fests planned for old industrial sites like Republic steel.
I took this picture near the Ohio Street Bridge.
By the way, I’m posting this with the WordPress iPhone app, which I’m finding very easy to use.
Shorter, darker days. There’s actually time for reading, and the cat settles in for a lap snooze as I actually watch entire movies on DVD. I get my exercise on trips to the Library, and I’m combing through the PBS listings.
I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, which is as thought provoking as you’d expect, and another book, also on ways of thinking called The Black Swan by Nicolas Taleb. I bought and started Bleeding Edge, by Pynchon, which like all Pynchon requires time and space for total immersion, so it’s awaiting the first snowy weekend. There’s any number of old movies, interesting documentaries and strange sitcoms on TV, too.
Oh yeah, I’ve also rediscovered the comic store. So now seems a good time for one of my periodic Pop Culture digressions: the State of the Comics.
I haven’t made regular trips to a comic store in years. Not because I don’t like comics anymore, but because most of the artists I follow, alternative auteurs who emerged in the 80’s from the punk/underground movement that encompassed music, fashion, urban culture and art during the Reagan years, had been discovered by mainstream, upscale publishers such as The New Yorker, and have made the switch from the traditional comic book magazine format to the European-style hardbound album format. They’re now available at good indy bookstores such as Tattered Cover and on Amazon. There was no need to enter the somewhat ratty and obsessive environment of the comic shop anymore. But I got curious as to what was still there and popped in on Free Comic Book Day in May. The answer: not much. To be sure, to someone like me, there’s always something worth a browse. I have a life long obsession with comics and graphics, which may have led me into printmaking. I grew up with the infantilized, post-Wertham-censorship-crusade, spandex-clad sci fi of the 60’s DC books. I then was galvanized by the Marvel “Pop Art” era, with its tormented urban superheroes and fantastical universes in bright dot-screen colors. When Marvel degenerated into pure bombast ( where it mostly remains now), I started picking up undergrounds. That led me to Raw Magazine and its cadre of punk/intellectual/autobiographical euro-style auteurs, typified by Gary Panter and Los Bros. Hernandez. Here’s an earlier discussion of Los Bros., and the LA barrio/punk world they turned into one of the more unique graphic literary efforts ever seen.
The comic store I chose for my survey field trip was Mile High Comics a huge, warehouse/mega store that had never demonstrated much interest in the alternative comics scene, preferring to stick with the over-muscled and overdrawn spandex-clad, pneumatically endowed bimbos and himbos of DC and Marvel’s many, densely overwrought multi-verses. Not much has changed there, though there’s been a bit of reduction in exaggerated cleavage and other visual tics of comics’ “Mannerist” age. Progress! The two giants have embarked on reboots, cleaning up their tangled back-stories while concentrating on their strongest heroes/brands in a rapidly shrinking market place. Marvel and DC villains became so addicted to bombastic evil doers delivering long monologues that Pixar made a gag of it in The Incredibles. Pages were subdivided into minute panels and choked with dialogue. They lost sight of the visual power they’d had with such artists as Kirby and Steranko as hack writers took over.
That began to change with Allen Moore and Frank Miller. But however innovative their plots ( Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns ), Moore and Miller brought a dystopian gloom and now a different sort of visual poverty afflicts comics. The Marvel/DC Universes, possibly reflecting their apocalyptic sales figures, have become very dark places. I refer not just to the panel after panel of ultra violence and carnage, but literally. The covers and interior art are steeped in stygian tonalities of blacks, dusky browns and violets, with a sanguinary red, naturally, being the brightest the palette ever gets. Zombies, the muddy, gray-green warhorses of cheap horror, are everywhere. This possibly reflects cinematic fads, as both companies are now owned by larger media conglomerates and have become feeders of Hollywood’s need for more action/horror movies. But white space, that heavenly refuge for the eye in any graphic endeavor, that airy infinity that allows an artist’s “hand” to breathe free, is so rare, that in browsing the endless racks of Bat– books and X-mags, one is almost compelled to pick it up the rare times it appears. And freshly limned pencils and inks drowned in computer color screens and apocalyptic chiaroscuro are not the only thing suffocating comics. Unreflective violence and faux-libertarian/anarchist paranoia pervades every corner. Even Wonder Woman, last I saw a fashion designer in go-go boots in swinging London, has now been returned to her Greek mythological roots and felt compelled in a recent issue to run her mentor War (the Greek God) through with a spear in order to dispose of the psychotically evil “super villain” First Born.
There is a full line of “undead” Archie comics, too. I’ll pass.
In short, it’s even harder to find a light-hearted (and still reasonably thoughtful) tale in the comic shop than it is in the multi plex. For an antidote, I recommend Tintin or John Stanley-era Little Lulu comics ( I’m serious. They’ll brighten your day, and make you laugh out loud, because they’re… “comic”). And I will return to the alternative artists, such as Los Bros., Chris Ware, Dash Shaw and Gabrielle Bell in a future post.
My budget and schedule make an exhaustive survey impossible. But here’s a brief summary of what I’ve found, the good, the potentially good and the icky:
Recommended, After Several Issues:
The Massive (Dark Horse Comics): A thus far unspecified environmental collapse has taken place. This story follows the small crew of a Greenpeace-type activists’ vessel which is searching for its much larger partner ship (the mysterious Massive) and trying to determine what their mission has become and where it might be safe to land for fuel. It’s episodic, with short story arcs concerning a school of sharks driven mad by surface noise penetrating the depths; and a rogue anarchist who has hijacked a nuclear sub. The art is open, evocative, filled with misty, oceanic light; and the characters seethe with complex motives.
FF (Marvel Comics): This spin-off of one of Marvel’s superhero mags, Fantastic Four, revives characters and the style of the title from when it was created by Jack Kirby, a comic book legend from Marvel’s seminal “Pop Art” era. Its present creator, Mike Allred, is one of the few of the 80’s alternative comics auteurs (Madman Comics) to move into big corporate comics. In this title, a replacement group of superheroes takes over for the regular group, lost in a time warp. This includes care taking a group of precocious, super-powered children being mentored by the original FF. Allred injects humor and pathos in all his titles, and while the book is still finding its stride with a rather large cast, its straightforward, attractive art and candy colors make it fun to read. One child has recently come out as transgendered, an example of the book’s edgy, yet inclusive wit. This title is often laugh-out-loud funny while still tapping into the pure fantasy of 60’s Marvel.
Growing On Me, after one or more issues:
Wonder Woman (DC Comics): WW doesn’t hurt to look at, natch. But she is realistically proportioned, at least in her own intriguing title, illustrated by the graphically savvy Cliff Chiang. She does appear in other titles in significantly more hooter-licious form (She’s also started a relationship with Superman, which brings up the question whether Supes’ fans just wanted a little, you know …more; but I’d better not go there). What’s also intriguing about this title is the decision to return her to her original, faux-Olympian roots, minus the overtones of lesbian bondage and dominance & submission so beloved of her 1940‘s creator, the exceedingly fascinating psychologist William Moulton Marston. Again, the art is straightforward in that the artist’s “hand” is allowed to show through- avoiding the mannerist, photo-shopped sameness of other titles. The coloring by Matt Wilson is also sophisticated, airy and light when called for, returning to the crepuscular only when WW hoists her petard. “You will make an interesting God of War”, the book’s Hades-figure notes when WW, uncharacteristically in the comics universe, calls a halt to the carnage. He could be right.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC TV): This spin-off of the Avengers movie “franchise” dates to another title of Marvel’s “Pop’ era, now long gone. I couldn’t resist because I miss that comic, a real ground-breaker by legendary Jim Steranko, whose innovative, collaged, candy-colored sci-fi panels were inspired by Kirby. I was hoping for a bit of that childhood magic. What I GOT was a fast talking, fast-paced cinematic small screen action drama by Josh Whedon’s crew, not a bad thing. A larger context needs to emerge, but it’s far more fun and exciting to watch than the usual cop show dreck on TV (I don’t have cable). And it beats the pants off DC’s offering, Arrow, which looks primitive, dour, under-budgeted and routine by comparison.
Marvel’s “Pop Art” era featured garish colors, bombastic villains and Sci-Fi gimmickry, and escaped Nazis instead of Zombies. Brilliant! Strange Tales #157.
Hawkeye (Marvel): Marvel’s version of above-mentioned Green Arrow is a second-tier character, a sometime Avenger. Here, he gets a second-tier life ( like us!) and a graphically simple and appealing illustration, reminiscent of alternative artist Adrian Tomine. Ick, One’s Enough:
Poison Ivy (DC) The Batman titles pretty much invented the “dark hero” genre back in the 70’s and started the rush to Hollywood with Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. They remain interesting, albeit gloomy. Not so this “Villains Month” spin-off, which takes the botanically-obsessed redhead and tries to explain her psychopathy ( with domestic abuse and muddy, Earth-First style ideology) while still retaining her boobalicious adolescent appeal.
Miss Fury (Dynamite Comics): Like Wonder Woman, a veteran of comics’ quirky and unrestrained Golden Age. Unlike WW, poorly drawn and awash in murky air-brushed tones. Like Poison Ivy, this is a morally confused hero, who steals museum-quality jewels for thrills, but is then hurled into an alternative future where America is still fighting off the Nazi invasion of New York. It could have been interesting with better writing and art. She does have great tits, though.
Joe Higgins Monotypes “Superheroine With Burning Boat” Stage 1
I’ve been layering Mylar stencils for transparencies, spatial density and complex colors. I hope for rich interactions of negative and positive space, with new visual textures. But a real danger can be overworked, cramped images. Planning becomes an issue.
Good, rich color often involves planning, with transparency and color designs interacting in fresh ways when planning works but becoming muddy or overbearing when it doesn’t. Spontaneity for me, is in the soul of a monotype. Hit it just right, and you get a richness combined with graphic power that people understand as its own unique medium. Overwork it in trying to correct for texture, registration or tonality, and you only make them wonder why you didn’t use paints or colored pencils, anything more controllable.
This image highlights that delicate ballancing act. The first image above, “Superheroine with Burning Boat “ had real potential after one drop, but was fragmentary and lacked real depth. That, along with a tighter, more integrated (meaning less random) blue/orange tonality.
The second, below, I tried to add a unifying, transparent dark blue over the oranges in the waves but succeeded only in confusing the issue with a heavy blue /black. The trees of the ship are better but still lack any real depth or unity. It still has potential, but needs another layer, though it is dangerously close to being overworked. I’ll keep you posted on this one.
However, this is a time for experimentation for me and the overall idea seems good. Perhaps a more open, less claustrophobic composition, and a lighter touch on the colors might be a good thing. Thoughts?
I have another series of “stage” progressions I’ll post later in the week or next week. It’s one that seems to be coming together more successfully.
Joe Higgins Monotypes “Superheroine With Burning Boat” Stage 2
Color reappeared in my new work in a large way. I had put increased attention on color in my summer evening monotype class, because I realized that most people at that level of experience anyway, can use a little background in color theory. Most artists at that level don’t have an intellectual program for color. They tend to pick up a bright looking tube, and go for it. But color is complex, and especially when brushed on to a plexi plate, can turn to a muddy mess so easily.
My Summer workshop was a rockstar class. In my 4 years of doing this, I hadn’t seen one so ambitious and engaged. I decided a nice little talk about color theory was in order, and they responded well. Here’s what I told them:
The three primary colors, Yellow Red and Blue, when mixed, equal secondary colors Orange, Green and Violet, of varying brightness and warmth depending on what ratio of a certain color is used. Red and Yellow make Orange, for example. Red and Blue make Violet.
Each Secondary color when paired with the remaining, complementary Primary not its parent, yields a neutral tone, depending on ratios used. A little Orange mixed with Blue equals a bluish Gray; a little Blue mixed with Orange equals a rich orangey Brown. These are the Complements. Along with the Primaries, they are key to any of the thousands or even millions of hues available from just the 8-color tin paint set you used to get at Christmas. You may have, like I did, experienced unneccesary jealousy in that each color in the giant sets your well off school friends got could be quickly concocted with your own set.
My new class has started Tuesday. A very experienced class; many of them have returned after taking the class in the past. I hope that means they liked the things I talked about, and I hope it means they’d like to try new things, because I’ve added some.
I’m also leading discussions about the work we produce. This sounds intimidating, but most artists tend to concentrate on their perceived failures in a given work, while most other people tend to notice things that are working well in that same work. So it’s of great value to discuss the work. I’m also giving “ghost” prints” ( second impressions from the ink remaining on the plate after the first run through the press) new emphasis. They can provide a way forward when artists get stuck, and torpedo our natural tendency to be results-oriented.
Everyone, even the instructor, can benefit from pushing through the first iteration of an idea and letting the “ghosts in the machine” take over for a bit.
From my latest gallery show at Zip 37. I had been taken with Emily Dickinson’s several poems on the subject, but also saw a contemporary commentary in the reversal of roles: it’s the man who wears the Hijab in this scenario. The sudden color burst was as much a surprise to me as to anyone. They are mostly secondary colors, as even the bright Yellow has a touch of Green, and most of the darks are actually a dark Violet.
Some shots of my Zip 37 show with fellow Monotype artist Randy Hughes. It was a fun opening with quite a few visitors since then.
I’ve been writing a post about color, as it has seemed to pop up in my work lately, but as always, it has bogged down a bit it the first draft state. Soon!
Core New Art Space is at 900 Santa Fe Dr, in the Santa Fe Art District.
I was recently asked to jury a show at Core New Art Space, a co-op gallery I used to be a member of in the 80’s. The show’s theme was “Horizontal Line”. Here are some thoughts from a Juror’s Statement I wrote for the entrants and show-goers.
Jurying a show (my first time solo) is fun and tough. Fun, in that there was a lot of great work, and I’m sure I’ll be meeting new artists at Friday night’s opening at Core New Art Space.
Tough, as I had to leave out a lot of work I did like to create a tight and focussed show, which was a priority. Above is a teaser photo. This was taken just after jurying finished, so any work glimpsed here is in the show.
One can never explicate a set of hard and fast rules for such a time-specific and ad-hoc process as jurying a show. It is common to say that jurying is subjective, and not so common to explain how that affects a given set of choices, so I’ll address that here. My objective was to give a good accounting of work that engaged the theme “Horizontal Line” in the context of a professionally presented art show. If work engaged the theme in an original and professionally adept way, I wanted it in the show. If it failed on some level, I wanted it out. A complementary concern was to find a show that fit the space well, and that created some very tough decisions.
In addition to work that thematically or technically excelled and which I juried in immediately; or alternatively, work juried out quickly as it fell short of the mark; There was a t least 50% of the work that required a real decision on my part. I’ll give you some of my intentions, and beliefs and define some terms here to illuminate that process.
As to theme, I confess to a bias in favor of metaphor and visual complexity, as I tried to outline on my own and Core’s Facebook pages: “‘Horizontal Line’ is a very simple theme but carries complex implications, including landscape, narrative and time. I’ll be looking for entries that have thematic energy…”. So some entries were well presented and fit the theme in a basic way, but were left out in favor of more complex works that presented narrative or visual metaphor. This is defined as complex colors that communicated tension or ambiguity, surprising or subversive forms within the theme, or hidden narratives. However, I’ll admit to inconsistency here, in that there were a couple of pieces that were somewhat tangential to the theme, whose strength in conception and execution made them impossible to leave out, no matter how many times I tried.
Technical concerns: Core New Art Space has been around for 30-plus years, and has presented a lot of young artists early in their careers, including me. Though work with marginal presentation or technical skills is always welcome if it is thematically strong, I recommend self-jurying your own work before entering. Then devote more time and resources to conception, presentation, and materials and enter fewer, stronger works. It’s good to try a number of shows, yes, but three pieces that are marginally presented and tangential to the theme aren’t better than one that engages the theme and is attractively presented.
Also, I believe larger work, though it’s often hard to sell in this city often provides the best route to developing and finishing an idea. This can be seen in my choices for “Best of Show” ( not a hard choice; its sense of narrative from an idealized, abstract, distant horizon to an all too real foreground fenceline ), and “Honorable Mention” another large piece with a real sense of depth and conceptual resolution. Many smaller pieces in the show might’ve made honorable mention, but I decided on only one.
Thanks to all that entered, even those who were not included. I could well have made a second, smaller, non-thematic show that is just as attractive. Thanks to Core members who left me alone to make my own decisions and mistakes. I’ll discuss and advocate for work in the show at a Gallery talk at 3 Pm, Sunday July 28. It will be hard for me to comment on work not in front of me, but I’ll be happy to dialog about the show and theme in general.
I talked last time about organizational things that make the Art Students League Summer Art Market a favorite show of mine. Details like this make a show meaningful and worthwhile for both artist and public. But what makes it personal and fun- people. The SAM has retained, throughout its growth, the feel of a neighborhood block party. That makes it fun to do all the work.
I’m following up on this show in case anyone wondered how it went for me. It was great! I had a lot of help this year, so physically it was easier, though it’s always draining, especially when the heat hits. But just talking to all the people is really rewarding.
I get a lot of returning buyers at this show. They are very loyal, very enthusiastic about my work and the League and the SAM as well. One woman, Nicole, told me that her entire art collection comes from this one show!
The usual Saturday morning feeding frenzy didn’t really happen this year. Instead, it was steady traffic all weekend long. There are a lot of events in Denver every weekend now, but somehow people still made time for SAM. It’s become a destination for longtime and beginning collectors alike. I can’t recall this happening before, but this year, Sunday had more sales than Saturday. Overall, it was my 2nd or 3rd best show ever, so I was very happy.
Owen and Jennifer, my brother and his wife, always come down to help break down. We had beers toward the end of the show, and my friend Dee and her friend came by, we had a lot of laughs when we should have been packing up, but when we did, the traffic and loading was smooth and easy. Then Owen and Jen and I went for pizza and tasty craft beers in our neighborhood. The show pays bills yes, but also serves as a great social occasion. I meet new friends there, too, then have to be reminded of their names next year, though I try to remember.
It usually takes me a week or two to get back into a steady schedule after this show, but I don’t have that luxury this year. A workshop begins tomorrow, a large piece is being shipped to Connecticut, and this web site needs a bit of fleshing out. So I spent a couple of days watching soccer and now- back to work.
Related side note: I was really too busy preparing for the show and didn’t notice that several comments had come in on the new site. It turns out that though I criticized WP’s clunky, glitchy publishing software, their spam defense is great. Too great- among the many links for “Fake Oakley Sunglasses” etc, I found several comments from friends and comrades. I must have assumed I didn’t need to check the “approve” list- rookie mistake. I’ll learn, and I apologize for late replies.
I welcome comments and discussion of any topical matter, really, and in the next few weeks I’ll link to some of my favorite blogs and sites to get the discussion rolling.
Art shows of the street fair variety have become popular.They come in a wide range of styles and sizes, but what makes for a good one?
Many new show are popping up along with the many that already have long histories. Organizers of art festivals typically charge $4-500 for a booth spot for the opportunity to meet those new potential collectors. It’s a real benefit for artists, especially emerging ones. At my favorite show, the Art Students League Summer Art Market, I see more new and returning collectors and would-be collectors than I see in all the year’s other shows combined. It’s a lot of work, but worth it. Other attractions are thrown in to create a crowd: food, music, merchandise sales. But the main attraction at a show should be the art, and there, not all shows are created equal.
Some shows, especially newer shows, don’t seem to put much thought into just who is showing. With the drive to sell all available booth space, there’s a temptation to welcome all comers. Democratic, yes, but often repetitious and limited for this reason: If not deliberately balanced by a jury or by category quotas, most shows are heavy on photography and crafts such as jewelry and stained glass. These are the people who have always found the art show circuit to be a good way to make money, and they apply in large numbers.
A new festival, such as ArtStir, which was held for the first time at Denver Pavilions downtown this last weekend, can be flooded with these sorts of exhibitors, leading to a large spread of artistic intention, and wacky pricing. Some booths seemed to feature unique personal visions. Many others showed fairly routine wildlife images, or tchotchke-like items for home decor. Photography, though clearly one of the century’s great art forms, is also often used as hobby or craft by those who simply love wildlife and mountains. Jewelry can be creative and fun, but low prices and stock-in-trade designs don’t attract the kind of crowd a show needs to sustain itself. An art show, even a street-level one, needs to be curated for diversity and creativity, or dedicated art buyers get bored and leave, leaving only lookers and strollers. Hey! Where’s the beer tent?
Another difference in a quality show and a newer or less curated show? Reproductions. These mostly take the form of “art prints” or “Giclee prints” which are digital images printed onto canvas or good paper. It’s one of the nicest forms of reproduction one can find, but essentially, they are fancy posters.
Giclees and “art prints” can really muddy the waters for traditional fine art printmakers such as me, since they are deliberately marketed as “fine art prints”, even though they are machine reproductions. Some shows control for this confusion by setting quantity limits on clearly marked reproductions that can be sold, but many, such as last weekend’s ArtStir, clearly do not. I saw one booth that was nearly ALL giclee-style reproductions with only a small legend, e.g. ‘canvas print’ to help customers distinguish. The organizers should know better.
By contrast, the Cherry Creek Festival places a target on number of exhibitors in each category and clear, strict limits on what can be displayed. Exhibitors juried in to the show tend to be polished in their work as well as their presentation, but this, along with high end booth fees naturally leads to a higher price scale.
The Art Students League Summer Art Market offers one of the more pure selections in town, as it controls by category and no reproductions whatsoever are allowed. By coincidence, this means no jewelry or photography since only things taught at the school are allowed ( this may change, as the school has formed an alliance with Colorado Photographic Arts Center to team up on photography classes).
At the same time, the League resisted charging market value booth fees for a long time, allowing novice artists to try their hand and learn the trade. Even now, fresh new faces and students can enter by demonstrating involvement at the League, and simply teaming up to defray costs. Faculty and established professional artists make for a nice mix of work. Yet prices remain within a reasonable range, since many showing have talent, but no commercial track record.
The Summer Art Market features food and music, demos and kids’ activities. But the League makes few mistakes when it comes keeping the focus on the actual art and artists. The show is very interesting and walkable with wide lanes and a variety of styles. Many people make it a must-see each year and the dynamic, especially on Sunday morning, is relaxed and sociable. That makes it a favorite destination for people looking to add to or start their collections, and for artists like me, our favorite show of the year.
Unfinished larger work that features mostly inked mylar inserts with some quick brayer accents.
I posted a brand new Monotype that features brush work, something I haven’t done in a while. I’ve also been experimenting with mylar inserts and stencils. I cut simple shapes out of mylar, ink them, and lay them into the image, which in these examples is often made with a brayer (ink roller). This creates a hard edged, graphic, somewhat cartoon or designerly look.
I try to contrast that with the brayer effects which tend to be more painterly and soft edged, though I also use the edges of the mylar as a stencil for other harder-edged lines. In some cases, soft, almost watercolor-like ghost images from the earlier prints are layered with the darker, harder edged inks in a second “drop”, or run through the press.
These are mostly small (12×16″) studies that I hope to refine and use in larger prints. Let me know what you think. I try to answer each comment, though it sometimes takes a little while.
Mostly brayer (roller) effects with some mylar inserts laid in.Combines a ghost image with insert/stencil effects and brayer work.Color study, mostly brayer work. Ghost of this appears in a later imageDarker imagery printed on top of ghost image, combining brayer and insert/stencil effectsA ghost image, created mostly with the brayer (roller).
Welcome to JoeHigginsMonotypes.com. It’s taken a while longer to get up and running than I anticipated. This is partly due to a wicked busy schedule, and partly due to just not being savvy enough to navigate WordPress’ rather clunky, but undeniably cost-effective software.
As you see, the site is a rather skeletal affair right now. But I’ll add more each week, including a “Contact me” form, some downloadable publicity materials, many more pictures, and eventually, a way to actually buy them.
The main obstacle to going live has been importing my Blogger blog “Squishtoid” into this site. It actually turned out to be easier than say, changing font sizes, a frustrating fact that has to do with the fact that WordPress software is free and open source. “Free” means no money for the fancy, drag and drop, WYSIWYG software that one can buy from Adobe, etc. “Open Source” means anyone can create related software. The software widget for importing another blog turned out to be easy to use. The software for easily changing the look and feel of one’s site, not so much.
But eventually, even the most tech-challenged artist can learn the basics, and the pickiest of design geeks can learn… to accept the glitches and things that one cannot change. I will go more into detail on the process for those who may want to venture into it when I’m closer to a finished product, with a bit more perspective. Suffice it to say, if I can do it, anyone can. And in less than 4 months, probably.
May is a very busy month for me, so how many more wings I’ll be adding on to my humble home (page) right now I can’t say. But I will definitely try to keep you up to date on shows, workshops and studio doings here. And the blog is searchable, so many images and rambling thoughts are available there. In June and July, I’ll get back to site construction.
“Still Life in Perspective”, Monotype, 2013, 15×21″. This is my most recent monotype, it’s not even dry yet. I’ve spent the last three years telling workshop students to put away their paint brushes, then suddenly got the urge to use a paint brush. I’ll hear about this.
