An Artist's Ramblings

I have always wanted to learn how to blow glass. The Netflix series, Blown Away, is an excellent inspiration. We visited a shop once where we chose colors and an object and watched an artisan create a glass ornament and an ashtray for us. One of my neighbors has played around with stained glass, which would be another specialized glass medium I'd like to try. It might also be fun to try making a portrait or landscape out of small glass mosaic pieces or scraps of paper.

I'd be just as happy to take a sculpture class. Even learning to throw a pot using clay and firing it in a kiln would be fun. My family and I have painted ceramics at a Clay Café a few times. The finished product is such a surprise! I also painted on some gnome statues.

Sower (After Millet)
(1889),Van Gogh

Working in three dimensions and trying other mediums are great ways to explore the visual arts. Draw your inspiration from your surroundings and from the work of other artists. Van Gogh copied several of the works of Jean-François Millet and also emulated some Japanese artists.

Dave the Dog (from PwC)

I am inspired by the people that I teach, my brother and his artwork, my colleagues from the Art Alliance, and from the community, volunteers and the shelter animals we support at PawsWithCause. I am in awe of artists who can paint outside of the box. And I'm inspired by the color scheme of the Buffalo casino game's mascot.

I'm always looking for opportunities to share art with others. Lately, I've been helping out my niece by homeschooling her boys in art. This is leading to other teaching gigs in the Enumclaw area. I'll be teaching art classes at the Enumclaw Senior Center and doing an art camp for kids this Summer.

Another type of painting I'd like to try is abstract expressionism. I've always admired artists like Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Jackson Pollock, and Helen Frankenthaler (one of a dozen women of abstract expressionism from the 1950s). For my next animal portrait, I'd like to try using non-traditional colors. This is what my portrait of Jeju and Bryce might have looked like through the eyes of Vincent Van Gogh (from the J Paul Getty Museum and Google Arts & Culture site). Check out my charcuterie board portrait of Jeju & Bryce in my post entitled, Animal Portraits Revisited.

I've also used the Prisma app to transform photographs into well-known works of art. The background of this blog sports a photo of my daughter with a filter that makes it look like a painting by Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch.

Another app I need to learn is Paint 3D. My brother uses it as a tool in lots of his art. Recently, he was inspired by artist, Daniel Horine, who produces nostalgic comic book covers in honor of baseball greats. My brother's cover immortalizes his own all-time favorite player, Andy Kosco.

I, too, have been inspired by baseball greats. For example, when Edgar Martinez was inducted into the Baseball HOF in 2019, I decided to make a collage in his honor using pictures I had collected and Mariners colors of tissue paper in the background. I had it framed and it hangs in my office along with several of his bobbleheads and (recently) the miniature version of his statue immortalizing him outside of T-Mobile Park. I even had a phone case made using my design.

Buffalo by Donna Gatlin

Bubbles by Donna Gatlin

Although I can't see myself ever taking up the art of quilting, I can still appreciate what my retired friend from Arizona has created. She artfully selects the fabric for her beautiful landscapes.

I also marvel at the stitching patterns that embellish her pieces with rich texture. She combines patience, skill, and an artful eye to make these wonderful masterpieces from scraps of fabric and thread. Amazing!

by Mickey Culver

One of my Art Alliance colleagues who is primarily an oil painter has been working in charcoal of late. Doing value studies with a limited palette is a great way to practice, understand, and learn how to create a range of shades from light to dark.

by Ken Patterson

I remember (as youths) my brother and I drawing wildflowers using pen and ink, then going back over them with watercolor embellishment. I painted a series of watercolor flowers last year while vacationing in California. Perhaps I should try Japanese Sumi-E painting next!

Bryce and Friends, Ken Patterson

I should definitely do more pastel paintings and try this medium on some more animal portraits. Here's the one I did of my dog with his friends at a California dog park.

So, no matter what media you choose, the techniques or applications you employ, or where you find your inspiration, the key is to have fun creating art that you and others can appreciate. Challenge yourself and get blown away!

My Art Bucket List

In the 2007 movie, The Bucket List, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman portray unlikely buddies who both prepare lists of things they want to do before they 'kick the bucket'. (The origin of the phrase has a much darker side which I won't go into here.) Suffice it to say that many people write down their life goals, career aspirations, milestones they wish to reach (e.g. financial stability, retirement), resolutions (e.g. spending more quality time with family), travel destinations, and even daring activities (e.g. skydiving, bungee jumping). Maybe we shouldn't wait until retirement to begin crossing them off!

Hammering Man (1991-2), Johnathan Borofsky

Well before my own retirement, I began to volunteer, acting for the most part as an art docent who taught art in elementary schools. I also devoted my time and energies to assorted charitable efforts, mostly associated with fundraising. I then joined the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), hosting gallery events, serving on their executive committee, and applying to become a museum docent. I didn't make the cut. This iconic in-motion sculpture almost didn't make it to SAM when a crane dropped him in 1991, sending him back to the foundry for repair for another year.

Urns ('buckets') inside The Hermitage Museum

As a family, we also began to do more serious travel abroad roughly ~5 years before our retirement. This is how I was afforded the opportunity to visit famous art museums around the world. It turns out that I've visited the top 4 museums -- The Louvre Museum in Paris, France (2011), The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY (growing up), The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia (2019 Baltic cruise), and Tate Modern in London (2017). I've also been to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) in NYC (growing up), The Musee d'Orsay in Paris (2011), The National Gallery of London (2017), and also the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy (2011). That crosses off 8 of the top 14 museums.

Apollo (1963), Henri Matisse

Although the Louvre and Hermitage are certainly impressive to visit, you'd probably need a few days each to do them justice. Maybe some day I'll return (another bucket list item?)! Probably my favorite museums that I've visited are the Matisse and Chagall museums in Nice, France in May 2011 and the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden in June 2019. It's exciting to finally see the impressive size of works of art that you've only seen in books, online, or in thumbnails.

A trip to Madrid, Spain would cross off 2 more museums -- The Prado and Reina Sofia, with maybe a side trip to see Salvador Dali's museum in Figueres. A trip to visit my brother in Florida may require a side trip to St. Petersburg to see the other stateside Dali museum. I have no intention to visit Towada, Japan or The Hague in the Netherlands. That just leaves our own National Gallery in Washington D.C. and the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois.

Smokey Joe Williams (1985), Mackie

I'd love to return to New York City and revisit the museums of my childhood. Although the Baseball HOF wasn't on my bucket list, I did travel to Cooperstown, NY with my brothers in July, 2019 for the induction of Seattle Mariner, Edgar Martinez. The Art of Baseball museum was amazing! Love this painting of Smokey Joe Williams by Deryl Daniel Mackie.

Tough Call (1948), Norman Rockwell

And of course the iconic Tough Call by Norman Rockwell.

Seeing the works of HOF artist, Justin Farano was definitely a highlight, and I snagged prints of the Class of 2019 and Ken Griffey Jr.

Sculpted Gate inside the Park, Oslo

Turning to sculpture, I was lucky enough to finally visit one of the top 16 sculpture parks -- the Vigeland Installation within Frogner Park -- on my third trip to Oslo, Norway. I missed it on my first two business trips. The only other venue (from the list) that I've visited is Olympic Sculpture Park in my native Seattle. There are 5 that I could visit here in the USA and 7 more that don't seem as likely. I'd have to return to another part of Italy or venture to the Netherlands to catch sight of the final two parks.

When you go to almost any art museum, expect to be surprised. When you travel to almost any city, expect to witness visual art around you and explore the local art museums. You'll discover things that weren't necessarily on somebody's bucket list but still create wonderful memories to last a lifetime!

Teaching Art for Any Age

I've recently embarked on a project in which I get to teach art to home-schooled children. This means teaching to multiple ages in a single lesson. When teaching 3rd- and 5th-graders in elementary schools for my grand-nieces and grand-nephews, I had already experienced the reuse and adaptation of projects. It is important to choose the right project that employs an element or principle of art while taking advantage of or enhancing the existing skills of your students. Here are nine projects that I have adapted for any age from elementary school age children to retired seniors.

1. Salt Painting

• Works for all ages
• Requires watercolor paints and salt
• May also paint with spices

Watercolors is a great medium for teaching any age. Adding salt is a great way to add texture and fun to the project. My Color Wheel Sky project was inspired by the colorful artwork of German Expressionist, Franz Marc and Russian Abstract Expressionist, Wassily Kandinsky. Kandinsky's concentric circles was always one of my favorites. When using watercolors and salt, the colors blend together with the salt accentuating the effect, turning the sky-scapes into Impressionist works.

My 5th-graders went outside the box and created some wonderful color schemes and interpretations of my project constraints.

Spice Girl, Patterson

Seniors from my class at Franke Tobey Jones Senior University created their own watercolor compositions, learning resist techniques, and experimenting with salt in their paintings. Since watercolor painting is such a popular topic at FTJ, I had to offer my version as Salt Painting.

Later, in an online Circle of Love class, sponsored by Heart Art Healing, we learned to paint with spices. Using spices instead of traditional watercolors or experimenting with salt is a way of incorporating science into an art lesson.

2. +/- Space

• Leaf project works for younger students (used for 3^rd-graders)
• Manet ‘Vase’ project works for older students
• Requires 12x18 construction paper and an ability to draw (used for 5^th-graders)
• Manet ‘Notan’ Project works for older students (would be fun for teens)

5th-Grade Japanese Notan Project

3rd-Grade Leaf Project

Positive/Negative Space is one of my favorite concepts to teach and the projects may be adapted to any age. 

While I haven't done such lessons with Seniors, I can definitely see both of my Manet projects being used in a 2-day session with them. I'll have to see what the FTJ Sr. University Administrator thinks about such projects.

3. Contrast

• Dali ‘Hand’ project using opposite color washable markers works for younger students
• Adding Zentangles makes it a great project for older students, even adults

My Contrast lesson is inspired by Spanish Surrealist, Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory. It is the perfect example of the use of contrasting color and value. Everyone can trace their own hand. And Zentangles are amazing!

Contrasting Construction Paper &
Sharpie Zentangles

Concentric Circles &
Washable Markers

I enjoy teaching students about color. You can use the color wheel to teach vocabulary: analogous,  primary & secondary, opposites (contrasting), or warm/cool colors. 

4. Self-Portraits

• Picasso Cubist self-portraits worked for 3^rd-graders
• Reynolds wrapping paper self-portraits worked for 5^th- and 6^th-graders
• Also had success using magazines, patterned paper, and wrapping paper for seniors

Self-portraits are common to many artists, such as Rembrandt and Picasso, with portraiture being popular in art galleries throughout the world. 

5th-Grade Patterned Self-Portraits

3rd-Grade Portraits

A Cubist self-portrait inspired by Picasso is an elementary way to introduce drawing the proportions of a face and learning what a profile is.

More challenging is making your selfie from patterned wrapping paper cutouts, inspired by portrait artists, Gilbert Stuart and Sir Joshua Reynolds. My collage portrait class with seniors was also a great success.

5. Op Art Weaving

• Worked for 5^th-graders. Referenced a video demonstration.
• May work for younger students with some assistance from an adult or teen helper.

Op Art Weaving Inspired by Victor Vasarely

Op and Pop Art are genres that can intrigue young students, especially when showing them optical illusions. Since many of my older students prefer not to get messy, I chose to use scissors and paper and weaving to create our Op Art. The results were spectacular!

6. Pissarro Ocean Scene

• Requires warm and cool colors of chalk pastels and white tempera paint
• Worked for 5^th-graders and should also work for much younger students
• Older students won’t want to get messy and may find it more like finger-painting

5th-Grade Seascapes Inspired by Pissarro

There are many ways to teach budding artists about warm and cool colors. A fun project for younger students is to make a torn paper collage using either warm or cool colored tissue paper and your Grandma's liquid starch. The resulting artwork may then be used as a background for follow-on projects. A messier project involves chalk pastels and white tempera paint to create an ocean scene or seascape. Younger students may like this project more than older students.

7. Movement Compositions

•  Requires cutting out complicated figures from a template
• Younger students may use their own stick figure drawings or get help from an adult
• As this project is also about composition, an option would be to skip the figure cutouts

Movement Composition Inspired by N.C. Wyeth

Students may find this project challenging because of the scissor skills that are required and the repetitive cutting of complicated figures out of oaktag. The project may be adapted to younger students by simplifying the cutouts. Everyone should be able to cut out geometric shapes (from scraps) for the background.

8. Miró Composition

• Works for all ages
• Requires cutting our simple shapes from construction paper
• Requires using recycled newspaper and collecting it prior to class
• Can highlight any element of composition, but works great for balance and movement

My Sample from Online Class with Adults

This Miró Composition lesson is my favorite, second only to my Manet +/- Space lesson. It also worked for my adult online class on Balance. Miró is an acquired taste but his People and Dog in the Sun is fun and may be used as a warmup exercise for visual observation. I actually found seven figures (mostly dogs) in this painting and made stick puppets out of them to help students visualize them.

9. Millet Layered Landscapes

• Worked for 5^th- and 6^th-graders, but should be fine for younger students
• Requires some simple drawing skills and some help with shading
• Requires chalk or oil pastels.
• Crayons may not be as good for blending and
• Colored pencils may take too much time to cover the paper.

5th-Grade Layered Landscapes
Inspired by Millet

Perspective is one of the more challenging concepts to teach about. You can also teach vocabulary like foreground, middle ground, and background with my Layered Landscapes lesson, which was inspired by French Realist, Jean-François Millet. Simply drawing three different sized trees and arranging them properly helps students understand how size and placement create the illusion of space. The shading of the hills also shows how color saturation, light/dark hue or value also contribute to the effect.

Palm Trees and Tropical Art

This month's online class was called, Bountiful Beauty, Palm Tree Designs. We learned how to draw these tall, graceful, hardy, and resistant trees. We marveled at their upright growth, abundant fruitfulness, and flexibility. My first example was an upward-looking view using a curved trunk and feathery fronds. I used watercolor paint and embellished with markers.

My second sample showed the progression from a watercolor landscape to a much more vivid scene. I decided to compromise on the silhouetted trees of my inspiration and instead experimented with different colored Sharpies.

For my demonstration, which I finished after class, I decided to paint a closeup view of a palm tree with its dying fronds hanging down along its trunk. This one also turned out to be mixed media.

The Heart Art Healing sponsor of this Circle of Love event was inspired by this photograph of palm tree bark that I took while vacationing in Palm Springs. She was hosting our event from Hawaii. I am anxious to see her interpretation of the bark. The value range and intricate spiky shapes will make an unusual and abstract design.

I also took some photos of the native trees of Palm Springs. This one is a particularly lovely trio I captured while walking the dogs along a somewhat busy street. I love the composition with its low horizon, cluster of three palms, and the small tree off in the distance.

Palm trees on Martinique (1887),
Paul Gauguin

Not many famous artists used palm trees as subjects in their paintings. I did find one or two by Claude Monet that captured my eye. Due to copyright restrictions, I am unable to show you Monet's Palm Trees at Bordighera (1884), which he painted while visiting the southern coast of Italy with Renoir in December 1883. You may also appreciate the palm trees painted by Paul Gauguin. Gauguin captured the light using bright yellows and oranges, as well as creating a mood with his contrasting purple sky. Impressionists like Monet often used purple to replace black in their paintings. See The Color Purple, Violet, or Lilac in Art.

Celebrities Who Dabble in the Visual Arts

Taken from gardenandgun.com

Continuing with the theme of celebrity art, I thought it would be fun to showcase art created by celebrities. This post is inspired by my wife's suggestion as well as People Magazine's 21 Celebrities Who Are Also Artists. In 2020, I posted Presidential Portraits, highlighting the portraits of George W. Bush. He has painted the portraits of over 66 American military veterans. They are collected in his book, Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors. You may also enjoy Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants. You may be surprised to know how many U.S. Presidents spent their free time painting. Three other presidents -- Ulysses Grant, Dwight Eisenhower, and Jimmy Carter --  fancied themselves as painters. Even Prince Charles of the UK has painted watercolor landscapes and sold them to benefit his charitable foundation.

Cancer (1989), Pierce Brosnan

Two years ago I posted Movie Art Cameos, including René Magritte's "The Son of Man". It was spoofed in the 1999 version of the movie The Thomas Crown Affair starring Rene Russo and Pierce Brosnan. Apparently, Mr. Brosnan started out as a graphic artist prior to being bitten by the acting bug. He paints while on vacation, a tradition I have started myself during Palm Springs visits.

JM (1979), John Mellencamp

Another celebrity who started out as a student of the visual arts is singer songwriter John Mellencamp. I like that he is mainly a portrait artist and that he was influenced by German Expressionist Max Beckmann (one of my favorites). This one is an early self-portrait. Other musicians who paint include Bob Dylan, Tony Bennett, and the late David Bowie. Joni Mitchell dropped out of art school at the age of 19 to pursue a career in music. Her art can be seen on her album covers.

Endless Highway (2017), Bob Dylan

Singer songwriter Bob Dylan began painting in the 1960s, then studied art in 1974 at the Ashcan School, a movement in the Modernist style of early twentieth century America, and learned to paint what he saw rather than what he imagined. Dylan's urban landscapes are particularly compelling and have been exhibited all over the world.

The above landscape reminds me of Edvard Munch's The Scream, mainly for the color scheme and the mood it projects.

Night Time in St. Louis (2020), Bob Dylan

I also enjoy his Night Time in St. Louis, which reminds me of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. Dylan is a true multi-media artist, who has drawn, painted, and sculpted a huge body of impressive work spanning six decades. His urban subject matter includes his German and Asian Series, but always with an American flair.

Kickin' Up Dirt 1 & 2 (2001), Benedetto

Tony Bennett (born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in 1926) is best known as a singer although as a child he wanted to be a painter. In 2001, he was commissioned as the official artist of the Kentucky Derby, producing the watercolors seen here.

Berlin Landscape with JO (1978),
Portrait of Iggy Pop (James Osterberg),
by David Bowie

Few people knew about the paintings of David Bowie (1947-2016) until his DHead portraits of family and friends were made public in 1994. In 1974, he and his friend, Iggy Pop, traveled to Berlin, Germany where he painted in a style similar to German and Neo-Expressionists. You can see the influence of artists such as Francis Bacon, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and even Max Beckmann in his paintings.

Hercules O'Clock, Sylvester Stallone

Most impressive are the works of action film star Sylvester Stallone. Having painted over several decades (like Bob Dylan), the artist turned to writing and acting after his early paintings, inspired by the art of Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock, didn't sell. In 2015, Stallone exhibited a retrospective at Galerie Contemporaine du Musee de Nice, France. Recently, in late 2021, Sylvester Stallone: The Magic of Being, an exhibit of 50 of his paintings, opened at the Osthaus Museum in Hagen, West Germany.

Murphy Brown's Candice Bergen (now 75) paints portraits of animals on one-of-a-kind handbags and totes and sells them for $1,000 each. Apparently, she has been doing such customized paintings for years. Who knew?!

Aloha Nui Loa (2009), Hopkins

Even actor/comedian Jim Carrey paints. Much of his artwork is politically motivated, so I won't display it on my blog. I do find it curious that actor Anthony Hopkins paints, since he portrayed Pablo Picasso in the 1996 film biopic, Surviving Picasso. I'd call his art 'primitive' because his faces look somewhat generic. Some even look like self-portraits. In this painting, he seems to be channeling Gustav Klimt.

Forever Goodbye (2010), Lucy Liu

Actresses, Michelle Pfeiffer and Charlie's Angels' Lucy Liu also paint. Liu is an all around artist who creates paintings, ink drawings, collages, silkscreens, and sculpture from recycled everyday objects in her New York studio. She has created this erotic lesbian embrace even more reminiscent of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt.

While I am surprised to find so many celebrities who could have second careers in the art of painting, I am even more amazed at how long some of them have been at it. I appreciate how some of these artists use ordinary house paint and large 6-inch wide brushes in their large-scale artwork.