confine shea beebread

Being self-taught is the best way to achieve a really well-balanced painting education which suits you. Simply find artists whose style you like and learn all about how they do what they do. 

(Richard Robinson)

(Oops, looks like I have to reactivate the Bullshit stamp again.) Seems Richard hasn't learned anything from what he hates which is something I always tell my students when I tell them to visit galleries of art they don't care for.  The trick is that you have to figure out WHY you hate it and be able to articulate it-  THEN you're allowed to hate it all you want.  Of course the opposite is true too.  We don't ever want to hear the old line, "...but I know what I like..." because unless you can tell us WHY, 

knowing anything is meaningless.

The point is, if you are an artist you have to be a sponge and absorb everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, you see and feel and taste and hear.  It all goes into that garbage dump brain and festers away until one day it's arty compost and can come out again.  We gain our 'creativity' from our curiosity and an ability to synthesize experiences and then document them.  Our joy comes from combining unlike ideas into a new way of seeing and communicating that through our art.

Excuse me while I waddle down off my lecture stepladder here.

HOLD THE PHONE!

Well wouldntcha know, I found this video (keep reading, it's right here below!) yesterday and posted it as a draft to finish up today when I can add a bunch of other stuff, but it's been seen!  I will now finish the post, hope that everybody comes back again to see the new additions.

I am pretty much over quilts, been-there-seen-that, but by accident I saw this video
of an interview with June Barnes in the UK and am blown away. Take a minute...


What I mean is that I have seen so many changes and advances in quilts since the mid 70's when I started that I get quite excited when somebody's work grabs me, and June's sure has me by the throat.  I love the heavy textures, love the three dimensionality, and especially love the subtle color changes, yet she stays within a grid (be still my heart!).  Plus the damn things are all so perfectly straight!  OK, so that was a bit of envy showing there-  this work is beautiful, and something different I haven't seen before.  Hope she entered QN with all this work but probably not since it was 'shown' before.  Too bad.  I have to figure out how to steal that red piece... And thanks, Karen, for the additional info on her! 

Or this could be my next larceny. 

Sydney-based artist Catherine Nelson refers to herself as a painter with a camera, in that she doesn’t see the world as a photographer does but instead uses photos as a medium with which she creates these fantastic miniature worlds. Each work is comprised of hundreds of photographs which she digitally stitches together.  (Seriously, her work is magical, and I really don't steal anything!  Given a bit of proximity and nobody looking, that could change.) 

I don't have anything else today, guess I need to surf later on, but first I am headed to the studio.  I took some images of my new books yesterday and am in the middle of two more so the roll will continue IF I simply show up.  I'll leave you now with a little picture of my favorite short people:

They were getting hungry, hence the sad looks, so next we chased squirrels as a diversionary tactic.  They don't know about my 'squirrel thing' and I'd appreciate it if you didn't spill the beans.  Thanks yew.

Sandy (the script disappeared today!)