Electronic Dust Bunnies - 0

Greetings All -


All technical difficulties have been overcome and dealt with.  The problem?  Well, it's...uh...technical. Electronical stuff.


As you recall, last week I was reduced to describing a painting for you. the image I intended to share was trapped somewhere between my camera and your computer screen, caught and kept prisoner by a giant electronic dust bunny. The irony of it all was that I had hoped to coast for a week by merely posting an image and then putting my feet up.  As it turned out, I ended up spending a couple of hours describing this painting to you out of shear determination to not be beaten by computer bugs. 


Let's try it again, shall we?

Pictures are so  much better than words, wouldn't you agree?

 

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Cool Shallows 16 x 20 oil

See this and other paintings at The Burkholder Project, 719 P St. in Lincoln, Ne. during the month of July.  I'll be sharing exhibit space with ceramic artist Sharon Ohmberger.  Our opening reception will be Friday, July 6th from 7 - 9:00 pm. 

Stop by and see what a thousand words will get you.

Scarborough - 1, Electronic Dust Bunnies - 0

A Thousand Words

Well, this is beyond annoying.

My plan this week was to show you an oil painting I completed this week. It’s for my exhibit, with  ceramic artist Sharon Ohmberger, at The Burkholder Project opening on July 3^rd.

(Insert image of fabulous picture here)

However, my camera seems to have eaten my photograph.

For unexplainable reasons I cannot retrieve the image from my camera, feed it to my computer and upload it into the World Wide Web for all to see.  It’s there, I promise, somewhere in the wiring or circuitry. Hiding behind an electron or something.

(Image of me wild-eyed,  shaking camera)

And what’s really frustrating is that I was hoping to slide by on just that photograph. I was planning on enticing you with a simple image. Skip the words. A clever way to take the week off.

(Insert image of me with my feet up)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Let’s just see, shall we?

Imagine a 16 x 20 format.  A line of distant trees on the far side of a river, painted in cool, dull greens about a third of the way from the top. Moving through the green are marks of dull lavender to give interest and subtlety. Where it meets a river, few slashes of dull yellow paint to indicate a rough bank. 

(Insert close-up of fabulous marks on fabulous painting.)

On the left at about midpoint are three gangly trees on a spit of land. They remind me of teenage boys, all skinny and elbow-y and a week overdue for a haircut.

(Insert another close-up...)

On the right, across an inlet, stand 7 of their friends, their feet hidden in dashes of rich green paint. The trunks of the trees are dull purples and greens, sunlit with short strokes of pinky-orange.

(...and another.)

Tucked into the dark green at the base of the trees are patches of more intense orangey- pink patches. Up close they are globs of paint. From across the room they become warm rocks and sand.

(Too many?)

A clear sky in prussian blue mixed with ultramarine weaves in and out of the trees, a puff of clouds accenting the trunks on the left.

The same blues are seen in dashes of paint taking up the bottom third of the painting.  How to describe shallow running water tumbling over stones? This area is created from dashes of dark blues and greens mingling with brighter variations of the same hues. Heavy paint marks of orange and pink meant to be sunlit rocks erupting from the water’s surface interrupt the march of blue lines angling toward the middle of the painting.  From there they blend quietly into the smoother marks of the river flowing beyond the tree line.

(Really, this one requires a close-up, maybe two.)

So far I've shared only the big landmarks. I’ve used up just a third of my allotted thousand words.  It would take that many and more to describe the nuances of color and brush stroke that I’ve yet to share.  Even twice that many words wouldn’t suffice.  There’s a reason I’m not a writer.

(This is where I would have posted a perfectly taken photo of this fabulous painting. You'd have been impressed.)

Allow me a few days to figure out the problem. When I do, I promise to share the image as planned. With as few words as possible.

Festival Season - Again

Greetings Dear Readers -

To be honest, I'm feeling rather lazy this week so I'm sharing a post written in June, 2010. It's art festival season again and after some thought (not much, admittedly) I decided that nothing much has changed.

It'll be like watching a re-run of your favorite show; great plot, and familiar characters that make you feel right at home. The best part is you can sneak off to the bathroom and grab a snack without feeling like you've missed something important.

***

If it's summer it must be Art Festival Season!

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Cloud Break 6x8 oil
Created specifically for Art on the Green, July 4th, 2012 here in Geneva, Ne.

Art festivals are a bit like being in a zoo. People come and stare a bit before wandering off to look at something a bit more interesting.

To make the whole affair a bit more civilized, Handsome Husband and I created a few guidelines for folks who plan on attending an art festival in the near future.


Forthwith our helpful hints:

Artist's don't bite. Well, at least the ones I know don't. It's okay to look at us and say hello.

Resist the temptation to ask the artist if they plan on being famous after they die. Most of us are working on it now.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Country Lane 6x8 oil

Join us for Art on the Green, July 4th, 2012 here in Geneva, Ne.

It's really okay to visit with the artist. Please understand, though, that the artist is there to sell their work, and while your Aunt Ruby and her purple-ribbon-winning county fair watercolor entry is truly fascinating, we must sometimes interrupt to attend to others. No offense intended to you or your Aunt Ruby.

The artist knows you can't draw a stick figure. Neither can half the population of the free world, including the artist with whom you are sharing that bit of information.

Please do not allow your jaw to drop or your eyeballs to bug out when you inquire about prices. Spitting out your lemonade is also unnecessary. Simply take a slow, deep breath and back away from the booth without bumping into anything with a price tag on it.

©2012 Patricia Scarborough Pastoral Variation 6x8 oil

See this and other terrific art during Art on the Green, July 4th, 2012 here in Geneva, Ne.

Absolutely bring your children to art festivals. Probably shouldn't let them in an artist's booth with their quadroople-scoop bubblegum pink icecream cone, however.

No, the artist is not starving. Ha ha right back atcha.

Enjoy your phone conversations somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Enjoy art. Don't be intimidated. It's okay to ask. We love talking about what we do, and it won't cost you a dime.

***
 Back to current events - Looking forward to seeing you under the shade trees at the Celebrate Geneva Patriotism event on Wednesday, July 4th on the grounds of the Fillmore County Courthouse. I'll be hanging out there with some very cool artist friends. Stop by and say hellow!

More Stuff I Lernd

Greetings Dear Reader,

As you know, it is - or should be - a goal of the creative individual to continue learning, regardless of age or skill.

What I’ve learned this week:

1.  If you walk into your workspace wearing clean clothes, you will most certainly get paint on them whether you touch anything or not. This is especially true if you are wearing expensive, or new clothes.

2.  It is possible to hold 7 brushes, 2 palette knives, a wad of paper towels, and hang a little mirror off my thumb with one hand, while simultaneously clenching 2 brushes in my teeth, while actually painting with the other hand – standing on one foot and singing the national anthem. (Only kidding about that last one.) I’m not saying this something to which one should aspire, only that I happened to notice myself in this situation.

3. This week I learned that if you get a molecule of Prussian blue on your right elbow, it will migrate to your left palm, slide up to your ear and perch lightly on the end of your nose. This small but mighty molecule will rest unseen until you are out in public, whereupon it will leap into action, leaving a trail across your cheeks  and down your chin.  Furthermore, if you are at Walmart, you will fit right in.

4. Tossing paint laden paper towels into the trash will ensure that Handsome Husband will stick his hand deep down into the trash to compact the load before taking it outside for the garbage hauler.  4a. HH has a newly discovered ability to speak in tonques.

5.  Brushes are not fully broken in until they are nearly broken. Then and only then will they give you the kind of mark you need.

6.  The best way to understand weaknesses in a painting is to send it in an email to someone.  The multitude of errors you made will reveal themselves instantly as soon as you poke the ‘send’ button.

7. You don’t need a fancy-pants arrangement for photographing your images. A cloudy day on the patio will do just fine. 
7a. Birds are attracted to fine art on the patio.
7b.The finer the art, the bigger the bird.
7c. Gusts of wind created by flocks of birds which are attracted to fine art on your patio will often blow your fine art off the easel that was just pooped on by the aforementioned flock of birds.

7d or 8.  I learned that during construction of our patio an errant piece of lumber was left underneath. In just the right spot.

9. The better grasp you have on your concept, the more smoothly your concept will be realized. 

10. The more expensive the canvas, the more tenuous the grasp you have on your concept.

copyright 2012 Patricia Scarborough 30 x 40 oil  on expensive canvas

Version 12. Or maybe 13.

Side note related to Numbers 6, 9 and 10; I see one more teeny tiny thing to correct...

I know lots of other stuff, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. Take notes, and someday I’ll share a few more nuggets of artistic elucidation to help you in your artistic journey.

 Until then, keep creating.