Bill Henson: my impressions

The speech last night was excellent. Listening to Bill Henson discuss various cultural references, I looked around at a variety of young, blank, faces and I felt how true some of his statements were. we do need to expose our children to art, to history, to culture. art is the expression of history and the cumulation of our civilization. I was struck by Henson’s self effacing nature. watching him you would never know that someone so apparently shy was embroiled in such a shocking controversy that rocked the art world two years ago. It was interesting how little he cited his own work, preferring to discuss literature, composers and classic painters.

Bill Henson responds live in Melbourne

Our zeal to protect innocence should not come at the cost of violating artistic experience.   If we believe that art is a high form of education, that its basis is moral and its goal truth, then we should resist the impulse that would deny the artist the right to deal with what may sometimes be ambiguous, complex and disturbing.

Nude of the Week – Bewitched

I sent out messages venting my frustration to the world on twitter and facebook. this inspired many comments from friends , artists on twitter and even a discussion on fine art views (which sadly, I was unable to respond to, something went wrong in the comments for me) it’s amazing how everyone’s encouragement helped me bounce back and turn it around. this painting went from being a failure to being, well, something of a success if the comments are anything to go by!

nude nazi mickey enflaming viewers

I admit that I find this work fairly unimaginative, it reminds me of the sort of thing you see first year art students creating as they rail against the status quo. it’s angry and designed to offend. the good news is that this time it isn’t the nude that’s causing the furor- thank goodness for that!

Nude of the Week – Musing

I became obsessive and detached and thoroughly engrossed in my work. hands have always been one of my favorite subjects, they speak volumes in each tiny gesture. in quite a few of these recent pieces the face is blank and all the expression is contained in the hands – what do they say?

Artfire, Discovered Artists and Etsy.. oh my!

Arched – 7×5 oils on canvas by Jennie Rosenbaum I’ve been working hard on updating my new pro account at artfire . adding new artworks , updating a blog there with tips, feeding the new stuff to twitter and then wash, rinsing and repeating. some of my descriptions have become a little stale so I am revamping some of them and trying to make these pieces pop.

Nude of the Week – Emerging

I loved reading everyone’s suggestions because it gave me so much insight into what people see in the piece. sometimes you are just too close to something to really get it. the colors are very bright and happy in this one, I very much enjoyed playing with the colors and experimenting. click on the link to see the detail images.

Nude of the Week – Pensive

Pensive – a new watercolor nude Watercolor and Pencil on Paper 16.5×11.7in $200 I’m having a lot of fun layering colors to create different effects in these watercolors. no doubt I’m breaking a million color rules, I never had much patience for the science of color theory. usually my system is to know the rules so that I know how and when to break them. to know them so well that usually obeying is second nature and breaking is a conscious decision. this is a good plan but lately I find I’ve been having so much more fun working on relaxing that old rulebook completely!

Nude of the Week – Ennui

Ennui Watercolor and Pencil on Watercolor board 16.6×11.7 in $200 Watercolors are suiting me very well at the moment, I can fit them in with my schedule easily allowing me to enjoy studio time more often- even if it is only for 10 minutes!