Forgotten Herd

Forgotten Herd




re-posted 5/15/07
I felt this painting was too flat. Here's the revision with a new I added a light source from above.

Fishing for Flies_on the easel

SVMA Biennial 2007

"This Side Up" is 15 x 7, Oil on discarded wood.
It's an honor to be juried into the Sonoma Valley Museum's 2007 Biennial.
For me, it's unbelievable, as I have such high regard for the jurors, Richard Shaw, Philip Linhares, Leigh Markopoulos.
I still don't understand quite how these shows work and feel very lucky. Several of my classmates also submitted amazing work. It's my belief that no matter what the outcome, we still need to continue to paint. For me, it's a newfound creative passion that comes from an place untapped, deep within. I'm still waiting for my skills to catch up with my ideas; and yet, I find that my best work comes during the times when I don't try to paint anything, but the work just, as it is said "comes through me."
The paintings I submitted were "La Vie En Rose" and "This Side Up."
The latter is the painting that will be in the show, which will run June 21st - August 19th.
The reception will be Thurs. 6/21/07 from 6:30 - 8pm, at 551 Broadway near the square in Sonoma, CA.

Ob.scur.antism in 2007: on titling a painting

In my desire, to rename this painting, I was looking for a word that BEST described the current state of affairs in 2007. I think it's also a reasonable title, given the kind of art that I create:

"ob·scur·ant·ism in 2007"

n.The principles or practice of obscurants.
A policy of withholding information from the public.
A style in art and literature characterized by deliberate vagueness or obliqueness.
An example or instance of this style.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary

obscurantism, noun
1. a policy of opposition to enlightenment or the spread of knowledge
2. a deliberate act intended to make something obscure
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/obscurantism

nico scolieri, on the easel

this is a work-in-progress commission for my dear friend jane

"audible"

spring break '07 work

aggregates*: (āg'rĭ-gĭt)s

*The sculpture is cast plaster, the portrait is drawn and pasted in a box. The inside box lid text reads "Inside_ box, _oxymoron could think of nothing but (non)conformity." Bottom half of box has the word, "Challenge one's own..."
The box hangs beneath the bust.


ag·gre·gate (āg'rĭ-gĭt)

adj.
Constituting or amounting to a whole; total: aggregate sales in that market.
Botany Crowded or massed into a dense cluster.
Composed of a mixture of minerals separable by mechanical means.

n.
A total considered with reference to its constituent parts; a gross amount.The mineral materials, such as sand or stone, used in making concrete.

v. (-gāt') ag·gre·gat·ed, ag·gre·gat·ing, ag·gre·gates

v. tr.
To gather into a mass, sum, or whole.
To amount to; total.

v. intr.
To come together or collect in a mass or whole.

Source: American Heritage Dictionary

things on my easel

things on my easel vs. things on my mind...

Excerpt of Elephant Head: Opener of Doorways
(by Michael McClure)

Great Ganesh, with your single tusk
and conch shell in your hand,
what is on the other side
of the Blackness?

purple ink

composition and the beauty of cropping

(more photos by alex lee)
with his permission, i've cropped the photos to slightly alter the content.

tools, efficiency, and old fashioned

After tweaking images by hand today, and posting them and
re-posting them the old fashioned way, I just wanted to make art.
This after the last 7 weeks making molds for sculptures rather than making new sculptures.
My heart craves creativity and newness, rather than repetition of the old.

However, I realize duplication or variations on a theme are sometimes necessary for personal "furtherment."
We have to rehash and rework the old in order to learn the new.

Here is a new photo (see also profile photo) by a wonderful photographer, Alex Lee.
I highly recommend his portrait and figurative work.


As for posting paintings. The answer is "duh...,use the tools!"
Photoshop. Sometimes we just make life harder for ourselves than necessary.
Look at this great, simple interface:
http://www.tsark.com/tsark_mar07paintings_tnails/index.htm

la vie en rose

tonight was a good night for art. i worked on a couple of polyU sculpture molds, and this painting titled
"la vie en rose."

the painting is on glass (which was given to me by my friend linda -- who's a fantastic painter), with the butcher paper behind it.
i decided to rip the paper off my easel and include it in the piece.
one of those random impulsive moments...

(p.s. my DVD recommendation for the day is "The Songcatcher")

still more napkins

napkin from the archive

i created this last year while on a flight somewhere.
since i am posting napkin art, thought i'd dig this out of the archive.

more napkin art

considering both days' napkin work.
am looking for feedback as to which of these napkins works best for ya...
comments appreciated. thanks. (votes or comments can be made right in the "comments" link below each section. just click on the link)

napkin art

reworked paintings and WIP

The "Trainstation" is part of my "On The Road" series for the Midterm at COM.
The WIP is part of a series of paintings based on groupings. (The flash seems to work in my favor here; I might paint it in.)
Onward to the month of March '07...

studio walls

more tao from the studio

as i was clicking shots of current work, realized i'd never documented some of these others.
curiously, the "tao" label came through unintentionally. (these were indeed the first three letters of a title on some magazine caption).

Midterm Paintings

Here are a couple of midterm paintings.
The topic is "On the Road."

inquisitive adventure '07

reality?

it's been a while since i've shared some philosophical meanderings, so i felt due...

does something become a reality because we believe it to be so?
does a dream continue to be (by definition) a dream-- even when it comes true?

these are the swimming pool topics of the week.

by virtue, dreams fuel our hopes and our fantasies.
when we stop dreaming, we often stop hoping; thereby grounding us in our own realities.

how, why, when, where
can we
bridge that gap?


(*paintings compliments of linda lieberman)

lunchtable

richard goldman portrait

the practice continues

Fire and earth... 2007

2007

'007...already quite the year. lots going on.
and in spite of it all, it took the loss of a dear friend and a great man to stop me in my tracks and slow down a bit.
john w. flynn.
i'll write a separate post as a tribute. (to follow in the next week).

for now, some friends asked me to post some new paintings to my website and i'm a little too entrenched to create new "pages." the easier way was to post them here.