It just goes to show…
When inspiration is on your side you can do anything! I did the sunset. it looks pretty good I think! It isn’t realist so much as impressionistic but I think it works. it’s now the backdrop on my phone because I still can’t believe I did it!
I did a mad slog last night. I was absolutely on a huge roll, I was in the zone! I don’t count time so much as musicals so I painted through Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland. oy vey! I could hardly move when I finished, but it was all for the good because now I’m almost done! I have a bit more to do on my two latest and then i need to sign them. Tomorrow is allocated for adding hanging hardware, Sunday is bump in and then I am set.
I have even picked out my outfit and everything (if it arrives in time! mm eBay), so I will have a lovely long relax before the opening. I will be able to let out a huge sigh and let the feeling of a job well done wash over me. Unlike the last show I really feel like I have done my best. It’s a good feeling.
Edit: the colors look a little muted, it looks much better in real life!
Technorati Tags: artist, exhibition, painting
yipes!
Suddenly Sunday is looking a LOT closer.. Yesterday, I had plenty of time.. now? no time! but I think I will be done anyways. even if it kills me. I want these works to shine, they are looking like a great group and I really want them to look polished and finished.
oh ye gods! panic!
it’s a good thing I don’t feel pain, sickness or fatigue when i am painting… after, not so much.. I will have to pay it back with interest, but hopefully not until after all this. Am I insane for taking this on? probably, but it’s too good an opportunity to pass up! the same thing could be said for an art career 
but I just gotta and this feels so right!
Technorati Tags: artist, exhibition, painting
Attack of the dreaded Lurgy!
Well, I lost the long battle with the lurgy. it has invaded my system and is making me do sweet FA. 
I am in pretty good shape for the show and the amazing power of painting that helps me to ignore my pain also helps me ignore being sick. I am trying not to abuse this new power, I must use it for good, not evil
anyway, it’s all coming along really well. I want to do two more new paintings, but if I don’t get them done it wont be a drama. I am finishing up the details on a few paintings and I feel so excited about them, and the show – it’s coming up so fast! In addition to finishing my paintings, I need to add hanging hardware, finalize the lineup and work out pricing and titles for each one. about half are titled currently but I need to resolve that pretty soon as the plaques are getting done soon now. I can’t believe it’s next week! luckily, we are hanging on the weekend so I will have some time to rest up before the opening. everything is shaping up so well! I am getting very excited. 
Technorati Tags: art news, exhibition, painting, lurgy
Crisis Averted
I was worried that I was running out of inspiration.. but crisis averted! now I have even more ideas. I am very excited again. I can see them blossoming in my head. speaking of blossoming, I laid the groundwork for one today with an enormous flower in her hair. I seem to be gong a little insane on the color details, I am working on new things I have never tried before, bringing in all the stuff I learned doing my Flemish technique stuff. So far there will be eyes, tattoos, jewelry, flowing and richly colored fabrics (including chiffon!) and plant life. I am contrasting a lot of the sketchy nudes with detailed bits and bobs – some of which are bloody hard! do you have any idea how insane it is to paint crystal?
My current setup is to work a couple of days on the nude, then let it dry and slowly glaze up the detail piece. The eye above had about 4 or 5 glazes added. I am overlapping while everything dries, I have about 4 pieces on the go right now. I still don’t know about pricing, I am concentrating on painting right now, the prices will follow soon.
The press releases are going out, I have sent what I have done to the gallery and to Melinda and Frank. I have also sent out the local ones (which reminds me to follow up tomorrow as my email is down still). we will probably sort out the catalog soon, and the invitations are arriving in the next day or so – I am so excited! It’s really coming together.
Technorati Tags: art marketing, art news, artist, exhibition, painting, nudes
Still Procrastinating..
For the people who this it is all fun and games being an artist and the easiest job in the world, well phew! do I have news for you! Today I shipped the Two (count ‘em 2!) orders made through Boundless Gallery and bought more canvasses for the paintings I am doing for the upcoming show. I haven’t written my press release yet (still!) but I now have three works near completion. Then there is advertising, and more advertising for when I can’t stand anymore. Luckily I can lie down at my computer when I am exhausted and keep working..
I am thinking of adding some of the impasto paintings into the show as well for visual interest and difference and to save my poor bod. What do you think?
Tags: art, artist, career, exhibition, Painting
Bawdily Fluids
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT AND DEPICTIONS THAT MAY DISTURB. Signs such as this are plastered all over P.S.1 Art Center’s exhibit “Into Me/Out of Me” in this MoMA-affiliated museum in Queens. Curated by Klaus Biesenbach, it’s an audacious, exhilarating and occasionally nauseating group show, whose theme is all of what passes into and out of the human body.
ok, much of this show sounds incredibly gross but boy I’d love to see it! and big snaps for the Headline from the New York Blade.
Why do I look at things like this? It’s very simple, I am trying to gain marketing ideas and snap to add to my non-existient press release.
Tags: art, art news, exhibition, Nudes
Hype
I am so excited about this show, I have many ideas I can’t wait to see come into fruition. I am going to be a bit of a tease here and I am not necessarily going to post everything here or on my website. So you will have to come to see them I am very excited about working larger scale again. I am drawing at a mile a minute in my visual diary and am picking canvasses to fit the pieces perfectly. oh I am so excited! I may be doing a mixture of my ochre ones and impasto ones or not.. it depends how I go really…
hee hee! I’m off to paint! I’m doing fun glazing things.. and no you can’t watch!
Here we Go Again!
You know how I said I wasn’t going to do another show until i had build a bigger body of work? um.. yeah.. Well, sometimes opportunities come along and they are just perfect. Sometimes, when fate bashes down your door you just have to grab it with both hands.
Northcote in September is home to the High Vibes Festival. For one day and evening High St lights up in a huge music festival. Last year had 90,000 visitors. High St Northcote is also home to Vanguard Gallery, who contacted me the other day to see if I was able to do a show from the 19th of September through to the 7th of October. I had concerns about being able to get a complete solo show ready in 5 weeks so, rather than compromise my vision, jeopardize my body or produce less than a-grade art I decided it would be best to work it as a group show. Eugene, the curator, hooked me up with two talented artists that he thought might mesh well and I think that this show is really going to Pop!
There will be two big nights. The opening and the High Vibes festival day. The festival will have a band going in the gallery and I am hoping it will be really big! The show will be running for 3 weeks and I already feel that I have made some better decisions. I have a strong vision for my paintings and am really hyped. I learned so much from the previous show that I will be able to bring to this one. I feel very well prepared- even if the show is on in just over a month.
Tags: Art, artist, exhibition, festival
Post Mortem
I have put the photos from the opening up as promised and created a flickr set for the exhibition and photos photos of the works. I pick the works up tomorrow, it has definitely been an experience, I’m really glad I did it, Artholes were great to work with and Jess was great fun. I learned a lot from the experience and I am already planning the Next Big Thing.
In order to facilitate my new plans I undertook a marathon event today, I cleaned the filthy mess that was my studio. In all the pre show preparations my studio got very very mucky. It killed me, I’m exhausted now, but my studio sparkles again, I cleaned my palettes and softened brushes and found colors I forgot I had! It was greulling but it’s done now and it feels good to have it done
Wot I learnded..
It turns out that the exhibition took much more out of me than I thought, I have moved back to square one again and have been unable to even do my basic walking.. I hate that even the slightest exertions make me worse. Anyway, I am coming a bit better and figured it would be a good ideal to re-cap what I learned from my first exhibition experience.
- Galleries who hang your work for you are worth their weight in gold.
- Trusting the professionals to do their job is worth it
- Make sure you are comfortable in working with the people you are exhibiting with
- Edges should be worked on as you go, not all at once in a horrible fit of wet paint and pain
- all time spent marketing is worth it
- take it easy as much as possible before the exhibit
- let the people you are exhibiting with do their own price lists or put a moratorium in last minute price and name changes on the day of the exhibition
- Sailor Moon is excellent watching when you are very sore and weak.
- Springvale road is never a good option in the evening
And last but not least..
I think that is it for now.. I am going to rest some more and watch Sailor Moon..
The Reviews are in
Here are a couple of reviews the show has received so far. I think they are quite glowing reviews personally..
From Polly Morgan
I went to Jennie’s exhibition last night (Olav couldn’t make it because he was sick) at Artholes, which was really good. The photos on her web page (like most photos of art work) don’t do them justice. I got the shivers when I saw Ugly up close and adored Glow.The other artists’ work on exhibit at the same place was also very interesting (although several of us compared one display to the iTunes visualiser, which may not be the reaction the artist intended). I particularly liked Jessica Bowden’s work – it’s dark and interesting.
And from the toughest critic of all – a 7 year-old girl
“I liked the paintings, ’cause they were pretty. My favourite ones were Cinderella, Bottom and Redhead, but I don’t know what Bottom and Redhead were really called, though.*“I liked Bottom because it had a bottom and bottoms are funny. [giggles] I liked Redhead because all of the other paintings have peach or brown hair and that one had red hair and was different and pretty. I liked Cinderella because I love Disney Princesses and I love Cinderella best now.
“The other person’s paintings with the butterflies were pretty colours but looked like kid paintings. But they were still nice. And I liked the poems.”
Whew!
Well, The opening night is over, what a whirlwind event! I’ve been to so many openings but it is very different when your works are on show..I Thankyou all for coming and showing such support 
It was so great to see everyone! The display was done very well, it was right to trust Tony to hang them, he did a beautiful job.
Now I need to recover.. I pushed myself a little too hard to get this all ready and now I am paying the price but it was worth it
I’ll do a proper post mortem later with some photos from the opening but I wanted to give a shout out to everyone who came and supported me. Right now even typing hurts 
Invitation
The invites are here! this is the online publication one (click on it to enlarge), there is also a postal invite that will be sent out over the next couple of days. Newsletter members will also receive an email invite. If you would like to receive my regular newsletters to be updated with show information, news and more you can subscribe here
News!
Redhead
Image by Jennie (c)Remember this one? Well, it’s the central point for my new collection for the upcoming group show I’m in!
Thats right! Yours truly was invited to participate in a group show and will be exhibiting at Artholes gallery from the 7th of July for two weeks! Some of you will remember that gallery as the one that Avril exhibited at a while back. I am looking forward to it immensely. So, I was looking at my works and the space I am thinking of building a striking display around Redhead in this technique. Redhead is huge and will be the focus with all the other works being small and square. they will be nice wide profile canvasses which I love. with nice neat edges they don’t need framing, or they can be if the buyer wishes later..
In addition to this, I am working on a proposal for my next series (the impasto one) and my marketing kits and presentation. I am working on two series of paintings and the two sets of portraits for the SCA as well. The busier I am the happier I feel! I try to spend a bit of time painting each day (or night) and I schedule time to do the business side as well. The plan is that I have enough time for everything and to rest too. luckily I can do a lot of business work while resting with my computer set up.. I think the trick is to stop!
Tags: Art, artist, exhibition, marketing
Art Melbourne 06
Art Melbourne 06 previously known as the Affordable art show has been and gone once more. I enjoyed it more this year, it was less crowded, the booths were set further apart and there were some really interesting galleries displaying. I was able to talk with quite a few galleries and artists about the works and picked up some leads.
I think one of the best reasons to go, however, is to see trends that seem to be developing. Last year the represented works involved many hyper realist still lifes and pseudo Jeffery Smart urban landscapes as well as many traditional representational art such as seascapes and bush scenes in gilt frames. This year I saw more organic and contemporary pieces. very few traditional works and several more contemporary nudes than last year. This bodes well for me. Frameless appears to be fashionable as well with wide profile canvasses, neatly finished off.
I am feeling quite inspired although I have a lot of work to do. I have some website work to do, and I need to move on some more marketing. My mailing list will be up and coming soon, thankyou to all the wonderful people who have joined (if you haven’t yet you can join here. It will not be a high traffic list but I will be sending out information on where you can buy my work, exhibitions, news etc. If anyone knows of a good mailing list manager I am having difficulty finding a good one.
I am looking forward to getting back to painting too. I want to experiment with color some more and variations on my turps washing technique. I also want to do more period paintings (I have some lovely subjects begging to be painted). I need to paint badly and will probably get some done tomorrow.
Shag at Outre Gallery
Dr Scorpio’s Lair
Image by Shag (c). I went to see a wonderful opening last night at Outre Gallery in Melbourne. Shag is a wonderful artist who has really hit it off in the last few years. His work is typified by pop-art imagery, highly geometric, strong composition and evocative of all that wonderful imagery of the 509s and 60s. I personally love it. especially when he adds random elements of the absurd like aliens and monsters. His use of color and line is superb especially.
The Opening was Packed full of people. generally people dressed as ‘characters’ from his work, I have never seen so many 60s dresses and bouffants in my life! The gallery was so full noone could see the original paintings or move except in the general direction everyone else was. it was a reasonably dangerous for someone short and disabled to be! I kept getting stepped on and knocked, it was most painful.
So I beat my way to the door, miserable, wishing I had never dragged poor Liam out on such a cold night. he was parking the car and I was going to tell him to just take me home and apologize profusely for wasting his time. I waited outside, looking at the works in the window and the press of people through the window… And several hours later was still there having a great time! it turns out that the real party was outside where I got to talk to some fantastic people about interesting things and even got to wax artistic for a while with Shag himself (who didn’t seem to enjoy the press of people either as he was outside most of the night as well). At about 9:30 I got to go inside and view the ground level works in peace with other enthusiasts who were there for the art rather than the experience.
It is really inspiring to see such a successful artist in one of his natural habitats. Shag was signing autographs, having photos taken with his works all with a great smile and a comfortable disposition. He has a fan following, a wonderful wife and is an international star, A celebrity of the art world. It is just inspiring to see that it is possible to have your cake and eat it too, I am enormously glad I attended the opening.
Show update
Well, the show is over, I didn’t win but I wasn’t expecting to! (with over 1000 pieces entered the competition was fierce!) the level of artwork was quite varied actually, some were very good and some were very bad (the dove soap bars glued to a canvas come to mind…) it wasn’t at all like I expected but it was a really interesting experience and well worth participating in.
I am a little disappointed in that I was hoping for some constructive feedback on my pieces (apart from some of the staff saying that they were beautiful!) but ah well. It was quite like the affordable art show in a way, and I have learned heaps from the experience. I have some ways forward now in my career and I am very excited to see where it will lead me!
Discovery Art Show
Ok I am quite afraid of jinxing things here but I am going to risk the wrath of the powers that be and post the details of the show in which I have entered works.
I am quite excited. it all feels very real with my pieces framed and the labels and everything.
I am planning on listening to the artist talks and I am going to go to the cocktail party to schmooze.
Believe it or not but I am actually quite nervous about schmoozing even though it is something I used to do quite well. I guess this is a different kind of schmoozing than corporate schmoozing.
I love the word schmooze.
Framed!
Welcome to the Mulgrave Art Gallery
I have found some excellent framers very near where I live. This couldn’t be more ideal so I decided to try them out for the show I have entered. Well, not only were their prices some of the lowest I have seen but their work is excellent and the consultations on the frames was ideal. My pieces look wonderful!
This all feels real now, I haven’t been writing about the show because I didn’t want to jinx it – but I am dropping the works off on Monday and the opening night is on next Saturday.
I have received my labels which is an indication that I have been accepted in. But I guess I am still afraid that something will go wrong and they wont be shown!
anyway the Show is the Discovery Art Show, I will post some details very soon.
Picasso is Coming!
(sorry, normally I would link this but I received it in an email)
Picasso is coming to town. In a coup for Melbourne, more than 150 works by legendary Spanish painter Pablo Picasso will be exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria next year.
Premier Steve Bracks made the announcement after a tour of the Musee Picasso in Paris yesterday.
The exhibition, Picasso: Dora Maar 1935-1943, is expected to open in June next year for a three-month season. Exclusive to Melbourne, it will be the third of the National Gallery’s Winter Masterpieces exhibitions.
Work by Pablo Picasso’s partner, Dora Maar, will be featured. She is the subject of the gallery’s own Weeping Woman, which will be part of the exhibition. Picasso (1881-1973) met Croatian-born Maar in 1935.
Among the works to travel to the National Gallery are the sculpture Head of a Bull (1942) and the paintings Portrait of Dora Maar (1937), Man with a Straw Hat and An Icecream Cone (1938) and Head and Shoulders of a Woman with a Striped Hat (1939).
Mr Bracks said yesterday that the first of the gallery’s Winter Masterpieces series, 2004′s The Impressionists, was Australia’s most successful art exhibition, with more than 380,000 visitors at an average of 3728 a day and had been estimated to have generated $25.7 million for the state’s economy.
The second of the Winter Masterpieces exhibitions, Dutch Masters from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, will run from June 24 to October 2.
Mr Bracks said he had no doubt the treasures from the Musee Picasso would be a successful third winter exhibition.
Musee Picasso curator Anne Baldessari said the exhibition would include more than 200 works, including paintings, photographs, sketch books, documents and sculptures.
“Maybe in Melbourne we will have a very important display, maybe more than in Paris, because the space here in Paris is not so huge,” she said.
Droool… The NGV is getting some really good things these days,
OK so many many people ask me what I see in Picasso. some have even had the nerve to say that he was a bad artist which is why he abstracted. *slap!* ok, now that is out of the way, to appreciate Picasso you have to go back to his roots. the masterpieces he created at 15 rivalled most masters. in other words, the man was so full of talent he needed to find something more. as you follow his career you can see the progression of cubism and his style. you can also gain an appreciation for the skill involved in the abstraction of forms because it stems from something very real. everything is deliberate and well planned as it should be in a cubist piece. I have seen appalling works of cubism direcly derived but with none of the intelligence and skill executed by Picasso.
a Must See if you get the chance, is to go to his House in Spain. This has been made into an amazing museum and houses the best collection of his pieces arranged in chonological order. this is the best way to see his works as
How Vintage!
Wired News: Vintage Video Games Go Highbrow
Some people are debating the worth of vintage games for art subjects but i submit that it is an original treatment and one that will resonate well with children and geeks alike. the artworks are good and interesting and vintage toys have been a long standing subject so it makes sense as we move into the future that the theme of toys is updated to reflect “newer” pastimes.
The gallery of images is here with links to the artists as well.
I have been asked when I am painting again, I am cooking up some ideas in my head but currently the pain is too much to work through – I am hopeful for soon though!
Affordable Art Show
I went to the Affordable Art Show with mom yesterday, not only did we have some great conversations on the way and way back where we talked candidly, she was most supportive and I feel better for everything we talked about. But this isn’t about mom and I, it’s about the show.
The Affordable Art Show (AAS because I cant be bothered typing) was fascinating. Some works were truly inspirational and original. I was highly impressed by a series of concert images (exhibited by Bus) which had an amazing energy, the use of color and the individual tiny portraits that all had character. There were some really amazing paintings, Several awful ones and many average ones. It was interesting to see the trends and the artists who tried to do something different and the ones who wanted to create something in fashion.
Ok, what is with this Trend of the highly distorted cartoony faces with the wide set eyes, eyelashes and oval faces? I must have seen 20 galleries exhibiting works like this all by different artists but all vaguely similar. How dull. I will do an impression of one and put it up (rather than take an artists representation and offend them – I do have some scruples).
I am, however, intrigued by the realism trend which seems vaguely Jeffrey Smartish with tiny brush strokes meticulous composition and detail. I am glad many artists seem to be inspired by his work but many of their emulative pieces appeared to err on the side of sterility. Smart Balances this up with the bright colors and offset symmetry but many of these pieces had subdued colors, perfectly symmetrical compositions and ended up being blah. a very interesting contrast.
the other ones I took a bit of exception to were the ones that looked like they were from changing rooms. You know the type I mean. But anyway, the wierdest thing of all was that mom and I would look at a piece and she would ask about the techniques involved, the imagery and why she liked a piece. It is really bizarre to be in a teaching format with a parent. It was also bizarre that I have retained everything I learned in Art History and have osmosed techniques I have never tried before.
Anyway, so now I feel vindicated regarding paintings, realism appears to still be popular as do nudes. Classic realism with a contemporary twist appears to be best! So I am pretty much on target I guess, these art shows are so interesting!
Waarrg!
Well that’s several hours of my life I wont see again – damn you World of Warcrack! grrr..
in other news I went to the MGA today with Liam. There is a fascinating exhibition of celebrity Photographs by Robin Sellick, Australia’s premiere celeb photographer. The exhibition reminded me of Leibowitz, but mostly in the nostalgic memory of a Leibowitz exhibition I was lucky to see in the States with dad. Robin Sellick is no Liebowitz but the work is very nice, intriguing. I particularly liked the Barrie Humphries portrait and the Rove Mc Manus one for the sheer energy of it. Believe it or not, but the Eddie Maguire one was really great, I guess because you could barely see his face.
What is with the MGA becoming primarily photographic now? That’s a little limited isn’t it? I remember Years ago they hosted major installations, paintings and one really amazing historical toy exhibition. I remember that one as it was one of the first gallery openings I had ever been to and I sang there (in front of the mayor no less!). I guess I am a little sad, the MGA is the premiere gallery in the SE suburbs and it is limiting itself to only photographic works? (no I have nothing against photographic works) but it has some great spaces and it seems to me to be a real pity.
It Figures
There is an exhibition on at the Highway Gallery in Mount Waverley starting on the first of April. It’s called ‘figuratively Speaking’ and is based on the human figure. I am thinking of submitting a couple of paintings, I may as well as the human body is my specialty. I have been thinking of exploring sexuality but that might be a little forward for Mount Waverley (considering I went to school there…) but I will see. It will be fun to do some more painting in any case.
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