I thought today would be a relaxing day. And it was for the most part. I didn't do much all morning and had a two hour meeting this afternoon. Then later I called a friend of mine and we decided to go to an art opening at the Johnson Art Gallery. Jasper Johns Works on Paper. It was a beautiful show. There was a mixture of lithographs and colored prints all on loan from the Ryobi Foundation. I am ashamed that I had never heard of him before this evening, but feel priveledged to be in the presence of this well know American abstract minimalist. Now I can do some reading up on his work. I have always been intrigued with the process of printmaking. And what better way to learn than through studying the works of an accomplished artist?
After the show, my friend and I went to a new wine bar in town. I had heard of it, but hadn't been yet. We just sat at the bar and had a cup of coffee. I really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a clean, contemporary space with an art deco feel. And the art was catchy. Right behind the bar were two large paintings of abstract nudes. I recognized the artist immediately. It was that of Joseph Gonzalez. I've always admired his work and it was nice to see that he's still painting. Anyways, I had a very pleasant evening with my friend. We had great conversation about art and what the future holds.
When I came home I was inspired to do a little work myself. So I turned on the crock pot to melt some wax. Yep. I started another sculpture. Now I'm thinking that this one piece will consist of three seperate figures. I'm really liking the way they are turning out.
Yesterday we went out house hunting again. ALL DAY. We finally found one that we really like. It has a lot of upgrades and has a few things that we can do to it ourselves that would make it the perfect home for our family. So we made an offer and will find out tomorrow if the accept, counter, or reject. We're keeping our fingers crossed!
Last night when we finally made it home from our house hunting, I was checking my email. And low and behold I had an order. I am always excited to see what sold and who bought it. Where is it going? Well, this time I had a HUGE surprise! This one order consisted of THREE paintings!!! Poly in Motion, Tragedy of Melpomene and SUNUP are all going to Michigan to a wonderful lady whom we'll call Ms. C. =) THANK YOU MS. C!
I never thought that I would ever make enough money to actually live off of it. But I'll tell you what..If the rest of the year is like January, I might have to quit my day job! LOL
I painted quite a bit today. Here are a couple images of what I've been working on. They have since changed a little since the pictures were taken. They look a lot better now. =)
I hope this isn't any indication of how my year is going to be...hmmm. Nope. I won't let it! Happy New Year's anyway!
So far this year has been great! I started back to school yesterday. It was a teacher work day, so I was able to get a few things done that I've been needing to finish. I still have a long road ahead of me until the end of the year. But I'm going to be positive about it. Gallery Night is coming up sooner than we know it. I believe it's in April, but I don't have an exact date yet. Gallery Night is the last big fundraiser of the year for the art program at our school. I figured out that I have six/seven more classes with my students before the big night. Which means we ALL have a lot of work to do. I can't wait to get started. I'm going to introduce pinhole photography and digital. It should be interesting...
On another note, I already have a nice commission that I'm working on. I'm very excited about it. It's a similar painting to one that I was commissioned to do last year of a man and a woman. I'm making it as similar to the one before, but I'm hoping to resolve some issues that I was having with proportions. So far so good. After working on them yesterday I wasn't too happy. But I sketched on them a bit before I went to bed and came into the studio today feeling very positive. One thing that I'm doing differently is that I'm working on them both at the same time. Last time I did one and then started the other. By working on them together I think they won't look so seperate and have a continuity that I'm looking for.
