No Words...

Those of you who personally know me know I teach for a living. When I cam home from school Friday afternoon and turned on the news I couldn't believe what I saw. So tragic, so heartbreaking, so senseless. I can not even begin to fathom what these teachers and their students went through. I could not even imagine what I would do if anyone tried to harm my students. I hope I never have to. No words are sufficient enough to express my sympathy for what happened, and no words will ever be good enough to explain why it did. I'm so tired of hearing things like this on the news! Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and now Newton. It needs to stop! 

As I type this, I am sitting here watching "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" because after all that I have seen on the news, I could use a laugh right about now. I would also like to share with all of you reading this an important message left behind in the film. Yes, there is one, and it's one I especially think we need to be reminded of at a time like this.
BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!!!

Hidden Treasure

I think I may need to shop at Goodwill more often. Just goes to show you really never do know what you'll find there.
http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/hidden-treasure-dollar9k-artwork-bought-for-dollar12-at-goodwill

Small Business Saturday

Don't forget to support your local businesses, not just today but every day. When you buy from a large corporation chances are you're just lining the already large pockets of some CEO. When you buy local you are helping support the people in your community. Two of my favorite places to go are Smithville, NJ and Peddler's Village in PA. Both have lots of small businesses and lots of great handmade stuff that I am sure you or someone on your list would probably love to get as a holiday gift. And in case you get hungry from all that shopping, both have great family owned restaurants and pubs too.

Unite & Rebuild

It's been a while since I have posted anything on here, I know. I apologize. Where have I been? Well, the truth is mostly that I have just been lazy. I also started taking an online design class. Unfortunately, it was not what I thought it was going to be and I wound up dropping it three weeks in. It was free, so it wasn't like I lost any money or anything, just time. 

Also, in recent events, I am sure anyone with access to the news has heard about hurricane Sandy and the devastation it has caused to the east coast US. Those of you who know me personally know I am an east coast resident, and I thank you for your concern about me and my family. Thankfully, the only thing I lost was power for four days. Considering the fact that is all I lost, it makes me realize, especially this close to Thanksgiving, just how much it is I have to be thankful for. It's just heartbreaking to see what has happened to the barrier islands near by. Many people there lost everything.  Some of these people are my coworkers, friends, or friends/family of friends. 

I could not believe the amount of devastation I saw. But I also could not believe the outpouring of love and care I saw in my own backyard. Whether it was a local carpenter helping people rebuild their homes for free, those with electricity, heat and running water opening their homes to friends who didn't have any, or even total strangers simply offering each other a shoulder to cry on. I also must offer my sincerest thanks to the tireless efforts of the police, (volunteer) fire, EMT, electrical crews, National Guard and Coast Guard.

One locally based company has even gone as far as to design a t-shirt (a pretty cool one at that, I think) with the profit going to help those affected by Sandy. Check it out here:
http://jettylife.com/store/Shop_item.php?id=1059&cat=1&sub=0

It will take a long time to rebuild our homes, businesses and  beaches, but I have confidence we will pull together as a community and get it done!

Holiday Gift Ideas

It's that time of year again...the holidays are quickly approaching & as much as I wouldn't like to think about it, they will be here before we know it. 
Soooooo....what is one to do when they have to shop for several people on a tight budget? Why not give people something hand made?
I personally believe that hand made gifts can be some of the best ones. Yeah, it can take hours of wandering around several malls before you find the perfect store bought gift for someone. But, if I know you made it with your own two hands with me in mind it just means a little bit more. 
Often, I like to give a combo of something hand made mixed with one or two small store bought items I know the recipient will like.  So, here are a few ideas of inexpensive handmade gifts for family and friends this holiday season.

* Knit, sew or crochet them something. 
(www.ravelry.com has a lot of free patterns you can chose from too.)
* Paint them a picture.
* Make them a CD of songs that have a special meaning to the both of you, or just a simple CD of holiday music.
* Bake them something.
* Make a scrapbook or photo album filled with favorite memories you share.
* Make handmade Christmas ornaments
* Give them a bouquet of flowers you arranged yourself.
* Make them a piece of jewelry.
* Paint them a piece of pottery at a place like Color Me Mine.

I also have two married friends who rather than giving gifts, simply invite their friends over every year for a "ThanksChristNukah" party. What a lovely thing to do; invite friends over for an evening filled with good food, good wine and good company.

No matter what you give people this holiday season, remember it helps to keep a per person or an overall spending limit so that you are not in a state of shock when the bills arrive in January. Above all, remember that no matter what you give, the age old adage it true: it's the thought that counts.

Cocktails, Canvas & Perfectionists

Tonight I attended "Cocktails & Canvases" with two of my friends at my local Foundation for the Arts. It was great fun, and it totally helped relight that creative spark in me that had been burnt out for far too long. It made me realize something about myself as an artist too though, even after drinking a glass of wine to help loosen myself up, I am still way too much of a perfectionist.

In the same amount of time it took most people to fill their entire canvas, I was still focusing on this one section of the skull I was painting, driving myself crazy cause it just didn't look right to me no matter what I did. I really wish I could just let loose & not worry so much about making the things I paint look absolutely perfect. In the end, nobody but me is going to know exactly how the object looked when I was painting it anyway.

So what's wrong with me? Is it because in all of my years being trained as an artist I was taught to paint what I see, exactly as it is? Is it because most of the people who I've encountered who know nothing about art generally don't like and/or understand abstract art? I don't know. Is it because I always fear the people who do see my artwork will judge it, even if they don't say anything about it to my face? Probably.

The irony of it is, some of my favourite artists worked in abstracts; Jackson Pollock, Lena Krassner, Pablo Picasso, Vincent VanGogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O'Keefe, Frances Bacon, and Yayoi Kusama to name a few. (OK, more than a few.) Maybe I admire them because they can let loose and paint in a manner where they paint what they feel rather than what they see. Maybe one day I will finally let my hair down & paint simply for the joy it brings me without feeling like my piece is going to be part of some juried exhibition where it's going to be viewed by tons of people & criticized to death.

I Love This!

I was in Target back at the beginning of the month (yeah, I know I'm a slacker when it comes to posting. Sue me.) and saw this. As both an artist, and art teacher, I think this is awesome! Campbell's soup has done a 50th anniversary tribute to Andy Warhol's famous print by releasing limited edition cans of their tomato soup in his style. My only regret is not buying a can. I totally should have.

Is It Too Much To Ask?

Oh Pearl, where have you gone? I long for the days you lived on South Street and I would give my mother a heart attack walking past stores like The Condom Kingdom and The Erogenous Zone to get to you. The people who worked there also had, at very least, a basic knowledge of art & the products they sold. They comprehended words like nib, caliper, rapidograph, Arches, Canson, Reaves, hot pressed, cold pressed, gesso, Turpenoid and Prismacolour.

Now, I am forced to shop at stores (which will remain nameless, but I'm sure you know which two I'm probably talking about) where most of their supplies are for crafting. The selection of canvases is at best reduced to 11x14, 16X20 and 18x24. Forget any unusual sizes. Brushes are often incorrectly stocked (in fact, there is an associate at one anonymous store who loves to stock the brushes in their bins bristle side down. I cringe at the atrocity committed against these poor, defenseless brushes.) Oil & watercolour paints are reduced to a tiny selection, and usually only one brand. Acrylics mostly come in the cheap, plastic tubes for .50-.99 cents depending on their quality, and gouache...what is this gouache business? Isn't that some Hungarian noodle dish? And when you buy paper, they love to fold, bend and coil it into the oblivion. (Again, I cringe.) Other than that, it's aisles and aisles of cheap "do it yourself" stuff, picture frames, home decor and floral arrangements.
Sigh.
Is it too much to ask for an art store that actually sells art supplies?

Anyway, I digress...

What He Said

I just finished spending my evening with my niece watching some award show on TV. Considering there were only a handful of people whose names I knew, and the only band who performed whose music I recognized (or liked for that matter) was No Doubt, I felt like a dinosaur at my ripe old age of twenty-something.

I remember the days I used to have to beg my parents to let me stay up & watch the MTV Music awards, you know, back when MTV actually played music. If you're under the age of 20 you're probably scratching your head at the moment and asking yourself  "You mean MTV didn't always just continuously play episodes of Jersey Shore?" No, my young Padawans. In a decade called "The 90's" MTV played music, they did.

But, now more than ever it seems to me like popular music is nothing but generic, auto-tuned, computerized crap. Don't get me wrong, while I admittedly prefer rock, I have quite an eclectic taste and enjoy all types of music. I do also like some new(ish) artists out there like Lady Gaga, Florence + the Machine & Adele. But,  no matter how old it is I like the music I do because I can feel something when I hear it.  Whether it be the tone of the singers voice or the way the instruments are played, it evokes something within me. It doesn't always need to sound perfectly harmonious, voices aren't necessarily auto-tuned, and I prefer it that way. Which brings me to a speech given at another awards show I saw fairly recently. At last year's Grammy Awards when the Foo Fighters won Dave Grohl said in his acceptance speech:

"The human element of music is what's important. Singing into a microphone and learning to play an instrument and learning to do your craft, that's the most important thing for people to do... It's not about being perfect, it's not about sounding absolutely correct, it's not about what goes on in a computer. It's about what goes on in here [your heart] and what goes on in here [your head]."

Amen brother!

Anyone who can afford to can go out and buy fancy equipment. But owning the best guitar money can buy can't make you the next Hendrix, Clapton, Page or Townsend. The best drum set in the world won't automatically turn you into Keith Moon or John Bonham (or Dave Grohl.) Expensive recording equipment doesn't give you the voice of Adele. Fancy word processors don't make you Lennon or McCartney when it comes to song writing. Sorry to burst your bubble filled with delusions of grandeur if you think they do.

This doesn't just go for music though. It goes for anything in life. True talent comes from learning, practicing and perfecting your craft. If in your heart and in your head you know you're a singer/drummer/painter/dancer/whatever it is you want to be in life, than be it! But be the best you can be at it!

After all, the people who are the best at what they do will tell you they didn't have the best of everything, they just made the best of what they had.

Something to Think About...

Far too often I hear friends who are fellow artists tell me how people try to haggle with them over the price of their artwork. I can not stress how annoyed this makes me! (Them too!!) When you are buying a piece of art, most of the time, you are buying a hand made, one of a kind piece. Sure, prints, replicas, posters, etc. can be made, but you are the only person in the world who will ever own the original copy. Furthermore, you are not just buying the piece, you are buying the supplies needed and time spent to create it. It wasn't made on a machine, or printed off a computer. Someone sat down & spent hours, days, months, maybe even years working on it. Do you not think their time is worth something? If you are a fellow artist and you've experienced this then you probably know what I am talking about. If you are not, then I ask you this, would you walk into Wal-Mart or Target, go up to the cashier and try to bargain with them over the price of something? Would you go to the drive through at McDonald's and say "I want a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke, but I feel I should only have to pay $2 for it!" Probably not. So then why do people think it's OK to do this to artists (or anyone who offers their services for that matter)?

Inspiration

     French artist Louise Bourgeois once said "It isn't so much where my inspiration comes from but rather than it manages to survive."  Well, lately, I haven't felt too inspired to create any art. In fact, looking through my work, up until recently when my friend Dan asked me to paint a portrait of Johnny Cash (to say Dan is obsessed with Johnny Cash would be an understatement) the last painting I actually finished was of a peony flower dated 2010.

     Granted, most of my time back then was spent focusing on school. I made the decision to go back and get my teaching certification. So, if I wasn't in class or at work (hey, school doesn't pay for itself) I was doing homework or writing lesson plans for my student teaching internships. That didn't leave much time in my busy schedule to make any art. When I did feel inspired, by the time I could make the time, the need to create just wasn't there any more.

     Now that school is finished, most of my energy is focused on finding a teaching job. But, I have all this paint, all these canvases, tons of yarn, India inks, a brand new memory card for my camera that's never been used, empty sketchbooks, and ZERO inspiration to use any of it.
     So, my question to you is this: what inspires you? What keeps you going when you feel like your creative spark has burned out?