Painting demo on YouTube

This is the first of four parts of a painting demonstration by US artist and designer, Janey Kenoyer:

This is an artist who knows how to "make love to" the camera, don't you think?!

If you watch the whole four parts you might gain some painting tips.

Just in case you're planning to upload a video to YouTube: apparently the picture which represents your YouTube video is taken from half way through it, so if you're organised &/or rehearsed enough to know how long your video will be, you need to pose for a moment, or otherwise make sure there'll be a great, representative picture on screen, at the halfway mark.

Painting from memory

Do you paint from memory? I like good reference photos. I know I need to train my mind to remember details.

How would you like a memory, and drawing skills, like this?

French woman arrested after expensive art kiss

"A Cambodian-born French woman faces prosecution for criminal damage after planting a kiss on a painting by the American artist Cy Twombly, leaving the imprint of her lipstick on the otherwise immaculate white canvas. "

Read the rest of the story here.

More on Cy Twombly here and here.

Keep up to date with news about painting, here!

The Art of Procrastinating Art!

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." (Henry Ford)

I envy those of you successful artists who truly enjoy, and relax by splashing paint around on a frequent basis.

Most of the time I have to think for a long time to decide what to paint, which is why a theme challenge works so well, ie when an art group, whether that be local or online, all create artworks on the same theme, to be completed by a deadline.

Our local art group, BAVA, (Biloela Area Visual Artists) did this recently, together with the Biloela Potters, to accompany "Coffee & Tea Works" by Corrie Wright, which is a QAC travelling exhibition. I've just been in to see it, in the Biloela Library this morning. Maria has some photos of opening night on her art blog.

If you find procrastination funny, read The Procrastinator's Creed. I can identify with #12: "I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan."

I knew I could count on WetCanvas to have some interesting forum discussions on the topic of procrastination. Here's a quote from the "What Causes You to Stall?" discussion which I can identify with: "...anticipatory dread can paralyze me for weeks..."

It's amazing, the other tasks I can complete while procrastinating on painting! In this essay by John Perry, he calls this process "Structured Procrastination" - which, in my opinion, is so much more preferable than doing nothing/wasting time. Check out the funny author photo!

I've found two books to aid in kicking the procrastination habit: "How to Avoid Making Art" by Julia Cameron, who also wrote "The Artist's Way" [excerpt: "Make your first project really big"](!);

and: "The War of Art - Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" by Steven Pressfield [excerpt: "...any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity...Any of these will elicit Resistance.]

I wonder when, if ever, I'll be as brave as Rich Hawk: "I tamed my personal art demon – the tendency to think about painting rather than actually painting – by throwing the stuff on the blank paper and telling myself I didn't care about the end result. I believed it and was saved."

Painting: "Tea or Coffee?"

I was waiting until after the Coffee and Tea art exhibition opening night to post this painting: "Tea or Coffee?".

This is the 'tea' half:



It's acrylic on 300gsm watercolour paper. The background was inspired by the backgrounds in paintings by Debi Hubbs, one of my favourite artists.

This gives you an idea of how it is framed (in a very dark brown frame), yes I know I didn't follow the correct art photography rules (see an earlier post), you can see the flash glare, and it's not aligned properly, tsk tsk: