Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Solar Eclipse, Uranus Pluto Square, Mercury Retro...

Wow.
Who's up for a big 'ol transformational weekend?
The solar eclipse in Scorpio is being felt NOW, but it's exact Sunday.  
Where are you feeling it?
What house is it in for you?

For me it's in my fourth, and since Mercury is REtrograding there too, we are REdoing our floors.

Our carpet took quite a beating from a nervous Basset Hound the first week of his stay,
so my very Scorpio husband is ripping it up.

Plus, I hate carpet.  
Especially when diarrhea stained.


I'm sure I'll have lots of "afters" for you next week.

And check out my artwork featured in The Shreveport Times 
in the very colorful home of Bob and Pam Atchison.




Have a great and safe Halloween!!









Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Meet James!

 James Perrin's paintings are chop full of vivid energy and movement.
My eyes simply can't stop darting around at lightening speed!
And I love how he seems to balance both haphazard and deliberate so beautifully.


Photo by Tom Griscom



1. Name, Astrology sign, and location please.

James Perrin, Taurus, Nashville TN


2. What are you currently working on?

I just finished a series of 3 large paintings and a series of small interior studies that I'm currently showing, and right now I'm gathering and working out some ideas on which to build new paintings.  


3. Who are your favorite artists?

A couple of years ago I saw the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met.  I thought it was amazing.  Recently I have discovered Jay Defeo, and unfortunately I missed her recent retrospective at the Whitney.  Daniel Richter is one of my favorite contemporary painters, and I'm always blown away when I view a piece from Anselm Kiefer, and I've always admired Gerhard Richter. There are a few of painters from Boston University (where I went to graduate school) whose work I enjoy seeing. Two of them are Sean Downey and Alfredo Gisholt.  


4. What's the best advice you ever received about your career choice?  

My parents were always supportive.  They always encouraged me to follow my heart and passion, and to base choices on spiritual concerns, rather than to make choices based on what society and culture, or others were telling me was best.

A lot advice I received was probably more about being an artist rather than the choice to pursue that career path; advice that came either directly from professors or from books I read.

My graduate school professor, John Walker, would say "If you are not making art then you are like everyone else". I interpreted this to mean that in order to be an artist you have to actually make stuff, and that your identity as an artist is hinges upon the practice of making art. 

A passage in Caroll Michels’ book How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist has stuck with me over the years.  She addresses a common image of how many artists see themselves, which is through the lens of 19th century European bohemianism, which encourages artists to live out the stereotype of being "provocative, moody, weird, or antisocial". Robert Hughes also comments on this issue in his essay on Carravaggio.  He writes "the late 20th century loves 'hot' romantics and geniuses with a curse on them".  

Going to art school in the late 90s made it easy to act out this stereotype.

Anyway, after college I had to figure out how to pay off student loans and other debt, and have enough energy to make art in the evening after working a day job.  Dealing with that reality involved rejecting some of the ideas that I had developed about what an artist is, and embracing other ideas, one of which is that my brain has a left side that I need to use sometimes. 

Another quote from Robert Hughes that I've always liked is from his essay on Chardin.  "To see Chardin's work en masse, in the midst of a period stuffed with every kind of jerky innovation, narcissistic blurting, and trashy 'relevance, is to be reminded that lucidity, deliberation, probity and calm are still the chief virtues of the art of painting".



5. Favorite place(s) in your city?  

Nashville has so many nice areas that it's difficult to pick one.  I live in Germantown, which is a picturesque neighborhood a little north of downtown, and I really love it.  It is a little too quiet sometimes, but it is one of those up and coming areas of town, which makes it exciting.


6. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?  And while we're at it, what about a different era?  

If I could live anywhere I would probably divide my time between several areas, New York, Umbria or Tuscany in Italy, and maybe Nashville.

When it comes to living in a different era, that's a difficult question to answer.  Most eras are filled with some kind of war or violence, or social upheaval, so even if I would love to live in 1920s I would have to go through the great depression.  Europe during the 1800s sounds pretty nice because there was relative stability. 


7. What do you usually mindlessly doodle?  (do you have a picture of this?)  

When I was younger I would doodle patterns, but these days I like to doodle strange silly creature-like line drawings.


8. First website you peruse of the day?

I usually have several browser windows open at once, so many times when I open my computer  I'll just see a tab, wonder why it's there, and click on it.


9. What's the worst movie you've ever seen, but secretly love?

I watched Bad Teacher recently with my niece.  I would watch it again.



10. Any pets?  Any kids?

I don't have any pets that live with me, but I have a couple of dogs that technically belong to me: a pit bull mix and a chow mix. I keep them at my parent's place, which is out in the country, so they can run and poop where they want.  I've never really enjoyed the idea of "bagging it".

I don't have kids…..



Thank you James!  To see more of his work go here

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Art + Interior

Otto Dix pretty much has the term "Ugly Pretty" nailed, don't ya think?

 He's well known for his harsh realism and dark, humorous paintings. 
This, of course, basically sums up his chart- a double Sag with Saturn on the ascendant.







So in the spirit of Otto, lets take a break from the beautifully styled, house porn we all love so much.
Time to get real people!






 All interior images from this great site

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Back back back back it up!

Here we go again folks, a little mercury retrograde action.
On October 21st to November 10th, 
this little guy will be making it's way through the sign of Scorpio.

Obviously everyone is affected by this in one way or another. You know the usual stuff, snafu's in communication, car issues, don't sign stuff, blah, blah, blah.

So what will happen as Mercury descends into the sign of the underworld?  What deepest, darkest part of you might be resurrected?  Yes.  This is the kind of stuff that will surface during this time.  
It's crazy healing, no doubt.  

Where in your chart will this take place?  Get a reading to find out!


Sebastian Bieniek

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Astro post!

Jeanne Mammen


Can you feel that?  That lift in the air?
That's Venus now in Sagittarius. 
This is some lively, boisterous energy and you better enjoy it while you can.

Venus moves into Capricorn on November 6th and stays there all the way till March.  
Capricorn is kinda the opposite of fun. It's practical and serious.
(no offense, all you cappy's)

So get out there and have some fun!

Friday, October 4, 2013

Meet Steve

Steve Mayse was one of my favorite teachers at KCAI.
Besides being great at what he does, I have yet to come across another storyteller like him.
So naturally, I am extremely excited to interview him!



1. Name, Astrology sign, and location please.

steve mayse, cancer (july 12, '46), 7515 allman, lenexa, ks. 66217



2. What are you currently working on?

currently working on and chairing the complete re-build of the illustration department at kcai. this last year was our first graduates 
(and complete program with sophs, jrs and srs) and our numbers in the program were the largest on campus (approx. 120, total). i have great people helping me. currently, also i have some limited time to return to my work in the studio.




3. Who are your favorite artists?

jim dine, larry rivers and robert rauschenberg are responsible for the process direction of my work. that started in graduate school at the university of kansas ('71-'74) and jim rowland (artist/educator/chair of design at ku, at the time) that suggested to me to mix my ability to draw and paint with my carpentry skills. he said, after a short discussion about my varied skill set, "have you ever thought about painting with a hammer?" he told me to look at the above artists, and my life was forever changed. thanks, jim rowland for your insight, your care and thoughtfulness. a piece on my blog (of the same title) is a piece that i gave to him as a gift some 40 years later. 


4. What's the best advice you ever received about your career choice?

that if doing art for a living was easy, everyone would be doing it. understanding that it was difficult, made me work harder



5. Favorite place(s) in your city?

our home, first, then any road heading out of the city on my motorcycle.




6. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? And while we're at it, what about a different era?

we lived in sydney, australia ('76) for a short while - amazing place. i did a wooden sculpture in prague ('07) for 3 months. that was an interesting place, also. either of those 2 places or new york city, if money is no object.




7. What do you usually mindlessly doodle? (do you have a picture of this?)

i mindlessly doodle connected squares in faculty meetings - no pictures of this - i throw them away :(



8. First website you peruse of the day?

none.
9. What's the worst movie you've ever seen, but secretly love?

i have no idea - sounds like a confused scenerio. cinema paradiso is one of my favorites.



10. Any pets? Any kids? pets? 

kansas and sasnak, both decesased but great dogs. we brought kansas back with us from australia ('77) and after her, we got sasnak (kansas backwards). 
kids - 4. shayne (44), summer jade (36), macklen wood (30) and teale sterling (26) - latter 3, named after our wedding ring materials.

Thank you so much Steve, and I am thoroughly envious of your home and studio!
You can find more here

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Mudroom

I have long loathed this room for it's beigey blahness.  
But no more!
The other day, while Ivy snoozed on the couch (a rarity), and Liam played Wii, I painted the mudroom.

During...

and after...



Please excuse the iphone shots.
Interview tomorrow!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Shark trending

I've been seeing so much shark stuff recently, 
but I wanted to do a post on it after seeing this image from Barcelona....




Other great things for elasmobranchologists? 
(that's someone who studies sharks.
Yes, I can use a dictionary!)



and

sadly, no longer for sale.