It's all about the journey...

It's a new year and time is flying.  I usually start the new year off ahead of the game.  This year I am behind due to some health issues (now resolved), but am working on catching up without feeling like I have to do it all.

My last post was prior to going to The Biltmore with my niece and sister to see the Chihuly exhibit and visit some art galleries.  We had a wonderful time and it was a perfect get-a-way.  

In October, the Sanford Brush and Palette Club had its 54th Annual Art Show.  I think it was the best show so far.  This was my third year to participate.  I had been to the show about five times prior to becoming a member.

This year, my painting Rise Up and Shine received first place in the abstract category.  We are encouraged to write a statement about paintings that we submit.  You can read my statement about this one below the painting.

Rise Up and Shine

42"x29"x1"

Rise Up and Shine was inspired by the song Rise Up by Andra Day.

  

When painting abstracts, I often do not have a message or theme in mind.  I am more likely to listen to music while painting, and sub-consciously this affects the outcome of a painting.  Such is the case with this one.

Rise Up and Shine has seven layers of resin with a painting on each layer and a final topcoat of resin. I gave this one a final layer of gold and resin to bring out the shimmer.  

We rise by lifting others. Robert Ingersoll

I submitted a coffee table titled Contemplate It! for the sculpture category. It received first place in that category as well. And most importantly, it found a home!  This table had about 12 layers of resin with a painting between each layer.

Contemplate It!

40"x30"x21.5"

I also submitted the first painting from a new geometric series that I am working on.  I am enjoying this process of working on it as it is different that my usual method o painting. This painting received an Honorable Mention.  My statement about the painting is below.

Threading Geometry

24"x18"x1.75"

My favorite abstract artist is Kandinsky.  His work has influenced my paintings even though I had never worked in geometrics in the manner he did.  

I was fascinated by how he was so prolific and how much music influenced his art, and that he never repeated a painting. Only when I decided to put a different spin on my geometric paintings by doing the elements in layers so they appear dimensional did I realize that I could make thousands of different paintings, but with my spin.  

Threading Geometry is the first in a series along these lines. I chose the needle and thread as a symbol of the line that makes up all of the elements and pulls the individual elements together in this painting. 

Each of my paintings will have a theme unlike many of his and will be dimensional.  When wearing 3D glasses, the elements dance across the board just as the elements reverberate in my other ink paintings.  Without the 3D glasses, it is still easy to appreciate the layering of the elements.

I hope you enjoy a different take on my paintings!

Mighty is geometry; joined with art by a thread, resistless.

Euripedes   

I am now on my fourth painting of this series.  I will be revealing the remainder when I complete the series.

I entered two other juried exhibitions in the past couple of months.  The Fabric of Our Lives was selected for the Finalist Award for Circle Artist of the Year for 2019.

The Fabric of Our Lives

20"x20"x2"

I received a Special Recognition for the 2019 All Women Art Exhibition for The Mystery of Locus. 

The Mystery of Locus

40"x30"x2"

These competitions have hundreds or thousands of entries so any placement is a wonderful accomplishment.

If you are interested in any of my paintings, please feel free to contact me by email.



Wishing you an art-filled year!

Circles: Dots and Spots, Halos and Rings, Saucers and Discs, Globes and Spheres, Spirals and Points

Convergence

Available at Liquidambar

This blog post will be a little different than what I usually write.  

Recently, several have commented on the use of circles in my paintings. They asked, "What do you call your style of painting? Does it have a name?"

Most comments were very positive, and they would explain why they are drawn to circles.  A few asked if I can add straight lines.  Some of my paintings have lines such as the one below, but circles seem to always be what one sees first.

Mystery of Locus

40"x30"x2"

I want to focus in this post on the use of circles in not only my paintings, but of circles in art throughout history. After thinking along the subject, I did a little online research.  

I found a book and Facebook page of The Story of Circlism by Edward C. Stresino, the Father of Circlism.  There is a blog post about Stresino as well which was a planned submission to Wikipedia. Another blog post claims that in 1985 Stresino discovered Circlism and others that make the claim that he is the Father of Circlism. 

I remembered having read an article in an old magazine many years ago about Circlism, and had occasionally thought that my work might fit into that style. I also paint in what I consider an organic process using the properties of the inks and the method of application to make the circles on their own.  I use no paintbrushes to make my circles so immediately felt that my art may be considered Organic Expressionism as well as Circlism. The strict definition as I see it though does not allow for my paintings to be considered Organic Expressionism.

A few weeks ago, I was going through some old issues of Horizon which were hardbound magazine-type books on art and culture.  The September 1961 issue has an article about Circlism.  The artist, Alexander Liberman, who was the former art director of Conde Nast publications, had called his style of art Circlism!  

This is a photo of the article.

This is a photo of the painting that accompanies the article.  If viewed in the book it vibrates.

  

Circles have been used since the caveman wrote on his walls, and since the Aborigines painted on their bodies and rocks up to 20,000 years ago. Since 1971, Aborigines have been known for their dot paintings which pre-dates 1985.  Some African tribes have used dot paintings on their faces for hundreds of years.  

Kandinsky was known for his circles in his paintings.  Circles in a Circle  shows Kandinsky's obsession with the circle as early as the 1920s. Although circles are featured prominently in many of Kandinsky's paintings, he was not the first to make them a featured element in his art.  You can read a good article here about the subject.

If you wish to see some current Circlism art, check out the digital art of Ben Heine.  You will be blown away.  But remember this is digital art, and not the painstakingly mix of paint and application to a substrate.  Nevertheless, it is probably the future of art, and I am a fan.

So where am I going with this blog post?  

Circles have been a concept of man since he probably first looked up at the moon.  To call oneself the Father of Circlism assumes much that can not be lived up to. I doubt if we can really call anyone the Father of Circlism.

NOTE ADDED 4/1/2019  To VM who commented below.  Please read.  Blogger has disabled commenting from my Google account so I cannot comment below.  

VM, I do not quite understand what point you are trying to make.  I am not a hater and neither do I feel the need to write anything except what I can back up with facts.  Sorry if you found this disconcerting.