Nude of the week – lace
I am currently painting this. If I thought, for one moment, that copper pipes were bad, well, let me tell you, lace is no picnic to paint! It’s funny, this is such a simple pose, but getting the feel just right took weeks of painstaking work. The painting is practically flying by in comparison! Except for the lace. I am enjoying it though, this entire series is a huge challenge and delightful fun. It also looks like it will be extended into a full exhibition later this year!
Nude of the week – aviatrix
Aviatrix – 20×30″ oils on canvas
$1000
http://www.bit.ly/jraviatrix
Here she is! The completed Aviatrix. I have to admit i am thrilled with the way these pieces have come together. As usual, the more I paint the more inspired I get and this series is pushing me to improve and tackle new things. No sooner do I start on one than I get inspiration for another!
Time machine, the event I created these paintings for went very well. Sadly I couldn’t attend, even though I held out hope until the last minute! The photos are outstanding. I only had the two paintings but they received such a wonderful reaction that I am inspired to continue and put together a steampunk exhibition with some other artisans.
Nude of the week – pipes, steam punk burlesque nude render
Pipes – a steampunk nude Dazlstudio render
I have yet to photograph the finished aviatrix yet so here is the render of the painting I am currently working on. it’s working name is pipes, but I don’t have a title for it yet. Sorry I didn’t post this last week, I had a migraine and couldn’t move. I painted, because I paint every day, but even that was a struggle, it was painting and sleep for pretty much a week. Ah, the glamorous life of an artist!
I’ve been obsessed with inverted poses lately. This one kept ringing in my mind for ages, I have sketch after sketch as I tried to refine it and bring it to the surface. I may be doing more as I work out this latest itch! I get poses stuck in my mind like a song and the only way to fix it is to paint and paint and paint!
Products used
Figure: Victoria 4 *free*
Character: Reby Sky
Morphs: Morphs++ NGM for V4
Chair: Girl Play
7 reasons why life models are better than virtual models
Life models vs virtual models: round 2 (round 1 is here)
Last week I wrote about all my reasons why I prefer using 3D models for my painting reference over live models. This week I thought I would flip the tables and write about the limitations of 3D and why a life model can be better.
1. Speed. if I change a light in a live model situation it doesn’t take another two hours to check that the shadow is better. It’s instant feedback.
2. Brains. Mindless bots are just that. I can control every aspect of my model but I can’t just tell them to raise their arm a little more, or assume a contraposto pose, or cock their hip a little. It doesn’t work that way. A live model will just do what I tell them to do.
3. Rigging. I’m at the mercy of the rigging on my model. They try to make the most natural model they can, and they are improving, but Victoria 4 can’t bend quite as naturally as a human. It really requires a good grounding in anatomy to fill in the gaps.
4. Hair. No matter how good the hair model is it just won’t move quite like real hair.
5. Collisions and gravity. Flesh interacts with itself and moves when it touches something, It’s subject to gravity, It pushes aside and wrinkles. 3D technology is improving, with things like weight mapping and so forth, but it isn’t the same. You need a good understanding of the human body and how it moves to ensure you get realistic gravity.
6. Imperfections. Humans have them, it makes them human. 3D models don’t.
7. The learning curve. Many people don’t have the patience to learn how to get the results they want from 3D, it’s easier to hire a model, it’s hard to have to do all the thinking for your virtual model and move them how you want, it’s frustrating and slow and repetitive.
7 reasons why virtual models are better than life models.
Life models vs virtual models: round 1
Something someone said to me the other day made me think of the many reasons I choose to use 3D as reference material for my art. In my mind, 3D has so much potential for artists, in so many ways. I often laud the cost savings of using virtual models as opposed to real ones, but that is such a small part of why I use it now. I have models lining up to work with me, I spend a lot of time and money on my 3D and I frequently bang my head against the wall while working on a render. So why do I prefer it? You see, the beauty of 3D is that it is based in reality, but only limited by your imagination.
1. It’s always available. Unless you live with your model you are going to have to wait for them to get to you- losing valuable inspiration time!
2. It’s patient. Even the most professional model won’t sit in their pose while you adjust the lights, the surface textures, the colors, the room, their skin, for hours and hours. And hours and hours. Then go away for a day and come back to it and tweak it for a few more hours.
3. It’s forgiving. I don’t want to offend my model of the day by telling them that I need to add a little more here or shave off some there, and If I change things up in the eventual piece it’s not going to create an issue. I know most models won’t care, but I always worry offending people- and worry gets in the way of art. There is no place for misunderstanding in 3D.
4. It’s flexible. I can have a model hovering in a backflip for as long as I need, I can freeze a moment in time while I tweak the lighting and the colors, the volume and the mood. I can use any angle, I can make the pose very mundane or I can take it beyond the realms of the human norm and distort and abstract things while still maintaining a sense of reality.
5. It’s quiet. I’m introverted, I need privacy in my studio and i’m very demanding. 3D allows me to do what I need to without worrying about feelings or being interrupted. I can be my own, caustic self without feeling like I have to put on a front. It also means that the only person I talk to is myself, and I talk to myself a lot! It gives me space.
6. It’s..3D.. A lot of you may be thinking that I could achieve a lot of these with photographing the live model and using the photograph for my reference. And you would be right, but photographs are a limited painting resource. The reason so many pieces taken from a photograph look flat is because they use a 2d resource. Now I can hear you thinking, ‘but isn’t that what render is?’ And yes.. But days later when i’m trying to work out what that dark blob is or where the arm went because I changed the angle of something I can virtually walk around the model and see. I can rotate it, change it up as often as I like, and everything is crystal clear. I don’t have to try to re-create it, it’s there exactly how I left it.
7. It’s a guide. The render is not the finished piece, it’s a path along the way.
It really is the best of both worlds! As long as you have the patience and understanding to make it work. It’s harder than life models in a sense, but, for me, it’s the best choice. This may be because i’m a control freak who prefers mindless bots that do my bidding, it may be because i’m a geek and it’s cool and requires no human interaction but mostly I think it’s because I can take my time and get the exact results I want, how I want. It’s my process and it works for me!
The art market bubble, about to burst or merely change?
What goes up must come down. It is a law of physics, and of economy. While many are looking at the recent succeeds at Christies and Sotheby’s as the best art sales we’ve seen, others are seeing it as the beginning of the end for the arts market.
Personally, I see it as possibly the beginning of the end for some of the secondary arts market. Some art is like blue chip stock and will forever be a sound investment. But I also see it as the beginning of the rise of the primary market. More and more middle class people and baby boomers are becoming interested in collecting art, and they are on the look out for emerging artists and established living artists. They are looking for the blue chips to be, the next Picasso, the next Van Gogh. They are the new patrons and I predict that we will see further growth in the primary art market as Internet sales of art rise and the mystique surrounding art collecting fades away.
Art is no longer only for the rich, As artists work to represent themselves, connect with clients online around the world and make wonderful art, this new group of patrons will be here to build the next generation of blue chip art.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Nude of the week- iPad painting
I still don’t have a studio, but that’s ok, because i’m consuming myself with learning to use my iPad as a serious medium. I’ve been drawing and painting on it every day, in multiple apps. It’s very interesting, they all have something to offer in different ways. This is painted in sketchbook pro and often feels like pastels to work with.
I really miss having a studio though! Soon, it’s progressing more and more every day.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
6 years on – why I started Blogging
Redhead, 2005 (my first full ochre piece)
What made you decide to start a blog? If you’ve blogged about this before, go back and read it. Is that still the reason? What’s changed?
[From Topic: Why did you start? | The Daily Post at WordPress.com]
I started a blog because I was bored and in pain and everyone was doing it. no seriously! before I had heard about blogging as a marketing tool, before I rediscovered my art, I was in a bizarre limbo state as part of my dealing with my pain and the loss of my job and ability to work a full time desk job ever again. I oscillated between different varieties of denial and came up with a million random entrepreneurial ideas (I suffer from chronic entrepreneuritis – symptoms include glassy expression, a constant flow of business ideas, inventions, books, applications.. anything you can create a business around. I get it from my dad) and decided to write a book. my blog was a way for me to get those book ideas down, and to be emo and stuff. but I didn’t like being all emo and whingey and I really didn’t like writing a book! so I started painting again to while away the hours, and blogged about that instead. you can see the blog click over from random nothings to art and how excited I was about it all! it turns out, the more I experimented with painting and enjoyed myself, the less pain I felt. and sharing with the world enabled me to create the career I have today.
sometimes I wonder about taking down those old posts, they’re a long way from where I’ve come today, and I worry that they aren’t in keeping with my “brand” but I look back fondly on them, they’re part of my journey. this blog is the history of my career from the beginning, an online visual diary and a fun diversion. I lost some aspects of that along the way, but I’m hoping to recapture some of the best aspects again.
I’ve come a long way!
Over to you- why did you start a blog?
ditch the nagging b**** and reclaim the most important thing
bewitched – 36×24 Oils on Canvas
I’ve had a hard time getting started this year, the weight of so many things to do has left me running around in circles wondering what to start first. in my usual style I start things in dribs and drabs then get caught up in something else, then something else, then I get lost and end up adding more to my list than I took away!
which is why, when I saw this post topic from wordpress’ post a day and post a week challenges I decided I needed to write about it.
What’s the most important thing you’re putting off? And why haven’t you done it yet? What do you need to make it happen?
[From Topic: What’s the most important thing? | The Daily Post at WordPress.com]
The most important thing I’m putting off has to be painting. I always put it off. I don’t know why, painting is one of my greatest joys. I haven’t done any real painting since moving as my studio is still very much under construction. it will soon be in a useable state and then a huge pressure will be relieved. because I’ll tell you a little truth about being an artist- the less you paint the less you want to paint- the reverse of my statement in my post 8 reasons why making art is like making love
but that leads me back to my goals for 2011 and what I want to do about #5 on my list: I want to paint. I want to be disciplined and work effectively to create the paintings that are inside me. I don’t have a shortage of inspiration, I have a shortage of oomph. And that is something I want to correct!
it’s easy to say that I will paint when I have a perfect studio, but we all know there is no such thing, and I won’t even know what will make it a perfect studio until I get in there and paint in it! ah-ha! a catch 22!
but here is another truth about being an artist: suck it up princess, you just have to get in there and create! inspiration will come from creating, getting better will come from creating, feeling that wonderful sense of achievement and drive will come from creating
everything I want in my career can only be had if I paint. that’s the most important thing.
I will achieve my goals and paint more than ever by ditching that nagging bitching in my mind that tells me I can’t be perfect so why start.
how about you? what’s your most important thing?
Nude of the week – iPad painting
I still don’t have my studio in a useable state at the present so I have been taking the time to refine my skills on sketchbook pro on my iPad. This is my first real painting on it that i’ve liked. I feel I am beginning to get a handle on using the different features such as layers and zoom to create good works. It’s not as awesome as the work the real digital pros are doing, but I’m feeling better and better about it as a tool. It still feels like finger painting though. It’s always Fun to learn a new medium!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
My goals for 2011
I have been thinking about my goals for this year.
Emerging - A3 Watercolors and Pencil on Paper by Jennie Rosenbaum
They are broken down into personal, marketing, online, offline, exhibiting, creating art, learning and other revenue streams. At least so far…
Last year was a wonderful year for me, I finally achieved one of my long term goals and gained gallery representation. I’ve been building my abilities and my connections and I think things will go very well this year if I can maintain momentum.
This year, in a nutshell, I wish to achieve these things (in no particular order):
I want to get my new studio up and running, have it functional as well as beautiful and spend time in it! It’s a garage workshop so it will take a lot of work but the beauty is that when it’s done it will be all mine.
I want to write a business plan and actually stick to it this time.
I want to build up my blogging, and my affiliate earnings, I want to add on some extra revenue streams as a fun funds funnel (yes that is what I’m calling it!).
I want to build up my online presence even more. Build on what I have created and refine my practices. I also want to add some YouTube into the mix. I hate YouTube, but I cannot deny it’s power. I also want to finally make a landing page for my facebook fan page!
I want to paint. I want to be disciplined and work effectively to create the paintings that are inside me. I don’t have a shortage of inspiration, I have a shortage of oomph. And that is something I want to correct!
This year may finally be the year of the website redesign. It might be time.
I want to work on my online galleries to make my listings as good they can be, I also want to increase my sales.
I want to continue to learn, to grow and to add to my knowledge of 3D, of anatomy and of painting techniques.
I want to give more back to the arts community! I want to continue the fight for the rights of nude art and to help out other artists.
How will I do all these things? stay tuned…
Edit: 2011! how could I get that wrong?
Nude of the week – Peace
Peace - A4 Watercolors and Pencil on Paper
The title of this piece is at odds with how I feel at the moment, I wanted to create an image of serenity to try and help myself feel more at peace. it worked while I was painting anyway!
I’ve been so busy. we’ve moved house so many times it’s not funny but this time it’s with a baby. once you have a baby everything seems to take three times as long. this time we are ‘doing it easy’ too. we’re getting all new furniture and having it delivered to the new home, only the most precious bits are coming with, and of course all our books, dvds, clothes, books, baby things, art, art supplies, oh everything! but not our old crappy furniture.
easy right?
except that of course there have been months of furniture shopping, planning our aesthetic, purchasing the furniture and arranging delivery, sorting out painting and colors, realizing the quoted delivery dates are going to be longer than expected. the usual packing, planning my studio, trying to get everything organized in time for a family celebration just before christmas – aarrrghh!
I thought everything was organized, then the closing arrived early and it all went to hell in a handbasket. but the first of the furniture has been delivered, and utilities are organized, netspace are trying to do our reconnection with a minimum of disruption and if only our old place would stop looking quite so much like a bomb hit it I would be much happier!
I don’t know how much I will be able to keep things updated over the next couple of weeks, bear with me and hopefully I won’t have to go to the looney bin!
now go buy some art so I don’t have to move it!
Art, motherhood and religion – oh my!
Expecting
Again, Robert Genn has given me much to think about in one of his twice-weekly letters. this one strikes very close to home for me as well and I followed the links with interest. The letter is in response to an artist asking for advice on how to balance her art career and motherhood. Imagine how saddened I was to read so many of the comments. so many women saying that it was just impossible to be bth a mother and an artist, that it can’t be done, that it’s selfish to try and that it’s wrong to deprive your child. all the things, in fact, that Robert seemed to be concerned about in his letter.
Also, I want to mention the extreme expectations that current parents have for their children. Children have taken on a god-like role and have become the focus for everything from prepping for stellar futures to daily parental companionship. Parents sacrifice their own lives for the potential brilliance of kids. For better or for worse, raising kids well is the new religion.
Further, I wanted to say that letters like Cedar’s come in here like leaves from a shaken maple. I’m conscious that many artists, both male and female, use the advent of parenthood as a scapegoat for failing careers. Artists in this predicament need to examine their true motivation for this popular complaint.
It’s been my experience that dedicated artists will always find a way. I’m also happy to report that selfishness need not prevail, nor need the baby lie unchanged in its crib. The creative mind is always working, even during the application of nappies. Household workstations can be set up and work can continue between feedings and other downtimes. The intermittent business may actually benefit the art–for many of us, contemplation is a much needed ingredient to our progress.
[From Art and motherhood]
I worked throughout my pregnancy (despite many complications) and continue to work with my 5 month old baby. Part of it is luck, I have a wonderful baby and husband that helps me out enormously, but part of it is also sheer determination.
I am also worried about this new religion, it seems to be leading to a sense of entitlement and selfishness amongst children. I worry about women who lose their identities to their children and submerge themselves trying to be the perfect parent. Post Natal Depression is also up, I just can’t help but believe these numbers are linked. There is no such thing as the perfect parent and what works for one family may not work for yours. the best advice I’ve received is to do whatever works for you.
all of these subjects make me think about relative roles in the home and workplace. there is still an expectation that women will stay at home to raise their children, that their careers are temporary (as evidenced by the very large gap still in pay rates) and that we have a duty to surrender to our children. a few artist dads spoke out in the comments of this post, they find it just as challenging to balance their careers with their children. all working parents have this dilemma. the problem is that because so many artists are passionate about their jobs (and enjoy them!) it doesn’t always feel like work. this leads to a sense of guilt – I’m having fun so it can’t be real work! I’m not saying that women should all run back to the workplace, or that there is anything wrong with staying at home to be a full time parent. I’m not saying that any one option is the right way to go, I’m saying that it shouldn’t be assumed that the women are the ones to stay home and we certainly should not be penalized for it
Edit: in a rather amusing twist, this was supposed to be scheduled for later. as I was scheduling it Erica hit post.. apparently part of being a mother and businessperson is submitting a blog post even when you aren’t ready! I tried to stop it, but once it’s in the feeds there’s really nothing that can be done so oh well!
Runtimes – your Daz content and you
apex
A recent crash ruined my careful Daz|Studio content library sorting. after the dust (and language) cleared I found out about a lovely free backup script for your content library – entirely too late of course!
This however, provides me with the ideal chance to re-install everything properly from scratch, clear out things I don’t like any more and to tidy it all up. you don’t have to of course, but when you get a runtime as big as mine it makes sense to do a periodic tidy at times.
in fact, as I went through everything I found I had three iterations of the entire program on my computer! so.. I’ve done a complete re-install, I’ve cleared my content and will completely re-install that as well (sigh). all this is just in time to install my brand new content from the sales! (soo much content…)
I thought I might also take this opportunity to write about sorting your daz content for ease of use.
your Runtime is where your 3d content is stored on your computer. it has it’s own sorting system which, mostly, goes according to plan. some people have several runtimes to keep their content separate. or keep them on separate hard drives for portability and protection. I used to have one large one, with this new install I will be running one for my paid content, one for my free content and a special one for the content I beta test (as a ninja – shhhh!). but I don’t recommend you have anything so complicated to start out with.
if you are using the Daz installers they will give you nice prompts and install where you tell them, or to their default location in applications/dazStudio/content. if you buy from Renderosity, or download freebies, you will get a .zip file with your content. the .zip files will have all the directories and everything laid out, but you will need to merge them together (or you will overwrite your existing content!!). in winzip I believe it’s automatic, however with a mac it’s actually not the default. I recommend you use stuffit to extract your .zip files on a mac. if you enter into the preferences and go to destination you can select the merge option there. I found this out the hard way which is why I’m telling you now! after that it’s just a simple matter of dropping the file onto stuffit and telling it to decompress the files in your content library. (you are fine if you just select content – I created a shortcut to make it faster – sometimes it will expand with a different structure, but, if you use the content manager then it won’t matter, it will still work.
to put it all together, and sort it in the content manager I highly recommend this guide I created a quick video to show how I do it but it’s being pretty buggy on me and I’ve got a lot on my plate atm – I’ll see about getting it together soon!
Some of you may be asking, what does this have to do with creating art? I know all about expanding archives and sorting.. well, as I have very recently found out, if you don’t have a well sorted runtime or content library then you spend more time trying to find your content than you do making art- and by the time you do find it, the inspiration is gone… if you have it at your fingertips, like a well organized studio, you have more time for creating art!
15 cost cutting tips for artists – and where to draw the line
Extend - 5x7 Oils on Canvas
- many places provide cheap canvasses. these are a mixed bag. take a look at the thickness, the composition and the stretchers. whatever you do, get 100% cotton, if the canvasses are a cotton/poly blend they will warp and age badly. if they don’t state their composition you can bet they aren’t cotton!
- there are some companies that create excellent inexpensive canvasses, it pays to shop around and the key for these is the stretchers – often the thin stretchers on less expensive canvasses will warp, but the double wide ones not only look better but are more stable as well! plus you can save on framing.
- if the gesso is a little thin, or toothy you can fix that yourself by adding more or sanding it down – companies will save money by providing less ground or by not refining the surface as much.
- use natural earth pigments wherever possible. pigments such as sepia and umber are very common and cheap so they are inexpensive to produce in paints (no this isn’t why I use those colors.. well, not the entire reason!)
- buy a limited palette and blend your own colors. not only will you get better results but you can save on the more expensive real pigments by buying them in bulk
- use hues instead. if you have a family or you are just lazy about hazmat safety (me on both counts!) while painting you can get reasonable substitutes for the pure pigments. I have both types and while the pure pigment is often brighter I’m not sure it is worth paying double the price and having to constantly worry about heavy metals. it is pretty hard to distinguish the two in a painting in the end
- buy the best for the colors you use the most, you can substitute student quality or a lesser brand for tiny touches- no need to go out and buy a whole new tube of the best quality for one painting or a small accent.
- invest in some generic tube squeezers. my grocery store has them near the toothpaste – you will be amazed at how much you can get from that seemingly empty tube!
- duct tape fixes tube leaks.
- save your old student quality paints for playing, experimenting and random events. you never know when someone will want to borrow them. in fact, save everything – you just never know.
- wrap your palette in recycled plastic bags or use lunch wrap to save that unused paint for another day.
- buy really good brushes and take good care of them or buy cheap brushes and don’t worry as much. personally, I take the middle road and buy medium quality brushes because sometimes I take good care of them and other times I forget. this way I don’t mind so much.
- online companies like moo create wonderful supplies like business cards and exhibition postcards with different images for each card. Vistaprint often has free offers on their newsletter.
- check online art supply stores like dick blick and jerry’s artarama and sign up for their newsletters. keep an eye out for their sales and get a bargain!
- the most important tip I can give is to assess your 6 monthly expenditure on supplies, your output of art during that time and use those numbers to factor into your art pricing. ideally you want to make back your art supply expenses on one sale. keep track of those numbers and it will help you keep your pricing current and appropriate.
the miserly artist at work
Interlaced - 12x12 Oils on Canvas
But it’s not about saving bucks. It’s about volume of paint and the potential for juicy creativity. Expensive paints bring out your resident miser. Cheaper paints, used discretionally, are more likely to be lathered on in abundance and bravura.
Fact is, for some of us, inexpensive materials bring out the magic of playfulness.
I love reading Robert Genn’s letters, they have a range of interesting observations, views, tips and ideas spanning the whole gamut of being an artist. I felt a need to write about this one in particular as it’s a subject very close to my heart. especially right now as I’ve been considering buying some new pencils currently on sale. my husband’s comment is, yes but you’d never use them- they cost so much you would want to save them for best.
this is so true of everything for me. I hate spending money (yet, ironically, I love shopping) especially if it’s on something that’s important. when I started painting again I went to a place called art shed which had enormous tubes of paint for under $5 and inexpensive 100% cotton canvasses. knowing that I hadn’t paid that much meant that I could play with paint and if they didn’t work out it wasn’t a real loss. I was free to experiment. in a way, my main style has come from my inner miser, I didn’t have much left in a tube but I wanted to make it count. it was heavily dilute and very thinly applied and I realized by accident that I could create really cool effects with it that thin.
I finally splashed out on real professional quality oils only a couple of years ago (after a large sale) because I wanted to try windsor and newton water miscible oils. my studio is in my house and Liam can’t stand the smell of turpentine. on top of that we wanted to start a family and I didn’t want harsh chemicals around (much better for the cats as well!). I do love these paints, they are wonderful quality and the clean up is very easy. but it took a very long time to get out of the saving mindset. I put the paint on very thinly (even for me!) and I tried to make it go as far as possible. The funny thing is, the tubes are not as robust and splitting. the lids are breaking too – so I have to keep using them as much as possible and not worry so much. the threat of losing the entire batch is freeing me up to play once again.
I still buy art shed canvasses, they have a range and I buy their upper range now rather than the cheapest. it’s still affordable enough that I don’t feel too bad if the painting goes badly – at least not about the cost! I also use one of their easels, which, as far as I can tell, is just as good as any other. the trick is knowing where to cut the costs.
What I Like Most About My Job – Artistic Freedom!
Silf - Acrylic and Gesso on Canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum
Being an artist is like being a kid in a candy store. the world is full of colorful possibilities- ideas overflowing, shiny packages and tasty treats waiting to be explored. there is always something new around the corner!
at other times it’s like being the owner. you get the same surroundings, but you get to make money from it and work hard for your passion.
I love having a job where I am paid to let my mind wander. where I can live on my imagination. I also get free reign to be a complete disorganized mess (read: artistic), to be grouchy randomly and to wear what I like.
I also have Pink hair. or purple, or teal or whatever I want. it’s ultimate freedom to be myself.
Even more free nude models!
free nude models at Daz|3d
Update to my free nude models (and other stuff) post – Daz are now offering all of their base models for free!
go here for all the free models you could want for artistic reference.
for the bundles including morphs, characters, hair, clothes and more check out this link
Personally I am very excited about this because it gives me the opportunity to start looking at a series I am interested in pursuing in protest of the new legislations currently under debate in Australia. that’s right, no sooner do I start one series that another pops into my little pea brain and I get all excited about that one instead! don’t worry, I am still painting my burlesque series.
and no amount of free will be cheap enough for me to clog my runtime with The Girl.
the decade that was – part two
Most of that was 5 years ago. since then I have:
had many exhibitions, solo, group, juried, international and local
developed signature styles
studied photography at RMIT and drawing and painting at Curtin University, all online
learned how to use 3D modeling to give me access to all the models and lights I could ever want
worked through many of my psychological issues on canvas
produced a large body of work
sold a large body of work
received awards and acclaim
fought legal battles, won some, lost some, still going on others.
became a pensioner, received my parking permit, got a cane to help me walk and used it to walk and walk and walk
saw many many many movies
formed groups for nude art online
formed a group for disabled artists
met my artistic hero
became an activist for nude rights and the fight against censorship
started a pretty successful blog
used my previous business experience to propel my career forwards while learning new tricks
discovered the joys and the addiction of social media
got a tattoo
learned how to budget, manage finances and save
got knocked up! it’s a difficult pregnancy but i’m still pushing ahead with my work and my strength building- some may say I’m insane but as long as I have my work to focus on I can get through anything. including pukeahontas.
been truly happy.
Nude of the Week – Composed
Oils on Canvas
10 x 12 in
$250
This painting has been quite a struggle to finish. I started it a few months ago and although it started really well, every time I went to work on it I would almost pass out from nausea and dizziness. my techniques rely on fast work using wet paint and as I use thin washes it dries quite quickly (especially in Australia). I almost threw it out and started again but I knew there had to be something there. the past couple of weeks have been easier so I have been able to tackle what once felt so impossible to me. I feel a deep sense of satisfaction in finishing it. like I claimed part of myself back by refusing to let it slip away.
this is my first work exploring volumetric lighting. yes I am obsessed with it, I see it everywhere. it’s quite difficult to capture because it’s.. well.. light.. it’s easy to overwork the beams or to underwork it but I am learning so much about the nature of light.
perfectionism adjustment
I think the key to overcoming a block is to just go into the studio and paint. the trick is that you have to surrender to the possibility of creating crap. this is something I’ve been warring with internally for months now. this may have been one of my longest blocks yet. I could create ideas, I could sketch, but I couldn’t seem to create paintings. this happens to me quite a bit. often it is followed by a surge in creativity and an upgrade in skills. however, these days as a professional I don’t have the luxury of just waiting for it to come back to me in it’s own time. I have to create. I have to produce. I am also a perfectionist so every piece must be the very best I can do and an improvement on the last. anything less than an improvement is seen by me as a failure. and I don’t like to fail, it’s be perfect or don’t do it at all.
this is an attitude that needs adjusting.
I’ve been increasingly aware of my own anxieties about perfection and failure. I have also been learning the key life lesson that I have to make mistakes in order to grow. that my need for perfection and completion is holding me back from my dreams and goals. this probably seems stupidly obvious to most of you, but for me it’s been a real struggle to comprehend- and it’s something that has to come from within. one of these stupid things that everyone can tell you but you still have to work it out for yourself.
so last night I couldn’t sleep. I decided to hit the studio, see if a different time slot could shake things up a little. I am reassured that at the moment I am experimenting with volumetric lighting and that experimentation necessitates mistakes. this is a good way for me to move forward and hopefully progress beyond this block.
Censored for censorship
Interlaced – 12×12 Oils on Canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum
Last week I received a rejection phone call. not a form letter, but a call to explain why my proposal regarding censorship had been rejected.
A couple of months back I submitted a proposal for an installation. it was for an art project set in a series of empty shops in a suburb of Melbourne. I decided rather than submit a series of paintings to be put on display I would go for something different. I would test myself and the people running the project. I decided to do an installation.
the concept was to show a gallery forced to close because of the subject matter in the artwork. I took real examples from national and international censorship issues and decided to show my works covered up in the same, brutal, methods used. duct tape, paper plates, garbage and paper bags, and empty spaces where the works were obviously so controversial as to be removed entirely. everything was going to be applied carefully to not damage the works but look as harsh as possible. the look was to be of a gallery that kept trying to appease everyone and still had to close down because nobody wanted to buy works they couldn’t see. and that clearly there was nothing wrong with the works to begin with. The reason for wanting to use my own works was accessibility, I needed to be able to install this at the drop of a hat, and the sheer lack of contention surrounding my works. I also don’t mind treating my work this way to make a statement but it’s a lot to ask of anyone else.
The proposal raised a lot of debate among the committee. some were in favor of the idea as original and well thought out, a chance for discussion and publicity. others saw all of that as a bad thing. they were concerned that it would be over the communities heads, that debate was not what was needed at the time and controversy should be avoided. some were worried it was too conceptual, others were worried it would be too real and spark real problems. apparently the debate grew quite heated. so much so that I received some quite confusing postal communication. the outcome is that it was just too controversial and contentious for the neighborhood.
so how do I feel about this? oddly elated. my proposal was debated, it raised voices and contention. it got people thinking. it may be that it wasn’t right for this project but I count this rejection as a success. I will be submitting the proposal to other galleries and storefront projects – I am confident that it will be taken up by someone. not as a profitable venture but as a statement. one that needs to be made.
if you know of a project or gallery that might be interested I welcome your suggestions 
Sketchbook Library Over The Top – Burlesque Series
Digital Art
I’ve been a little slack in updating these images on my blog. I’ve been adding them to my Facebook Fan Page pretty much as they are done but my foggy brain forgets that I need to add them here as well.
This is the render in response to my original sketch. After creating a quick sketch I ‘flesh’ the idea out with a 3D render of the subject. this is where I can really play with lighting, mood and get the pose just right. The final oil painting is a combination of the two. I’ve been very excited and inspired by volumetric lighting recently (the beams of light like there were dust motes or fog in the air around the model) and am looking forward to getting into the studio to work out how I will produce these effects in oils.
Loss
WIP – Loss
Last week I was in kind of a numb shell. one that I’ve tried to appease with retail therapy and mindless facebook games. why do bad things happen to good people?
This is a painting I have been working on for almost a year. I am not sure if it will ever be finished. it’s a highly emotional work created at a very emotional time. I bring it out, work on it for a while and put it away again. I feel that now is a good time to bring it to the light of day. I need to stop hiding it and hiding from it. I created it to try to explore some difficult feelings and to try to communicate them somehow. in my mind it was dedicated to a very special and very strong couple. it is now dedicated to two.
I am very sorry for your loss.
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