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~ July 2009 ~
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July 2nd ~ Experimentation
| I feel experimentation
in art is necessary for continued growth. When trying something
out of the ordinary, I usually come away enlivened, seeing new
possibilities and things from a different perspective. It's a
way to keep one's inner child alive and well. |
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"Experimentation keeps new
ideas rising to the surface." ~ Joseph Orr
"All life is an experiment.
The more experiments you make the better." ~ Ralph Waldo
Emerson
"Only when you free yourself
to be a mere beginner again, which implies experimentation, do
you progress to the next level of excellence." ~ Stella
Reinwald
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Now license this image through iStock.
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| Today's image is
an experiment. It is a shallow depth of field, abstract macro
shot. Here orange and tan mold and fungus grow together on an
old cut log in my boggy forest. |
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July 13th ~ Gratitude
| I'm back home from
Colorado and I am feeling content and a deep sense of gratitude.
With so much to be grateful for, I know I don't voice it often
enough. My sincere thanks to you, my dear friends and family
for being an important part
of my life. It's a wonderful feeling to count blessings. Go ahead
and try it for yourself! |
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"Silent gratitude isn't
very much use to anyone." ~ Anonymous
"There are moments on most
days when I feel a deep and sincere gratitude, when I sit at
the open window and there is a blue sky or moving clouds."
~ Kathe Kollwitz
"The essence of all beautiful
art, all great art, is gratitude." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
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| This picture was
taken last Sunday in Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes, Colorado. |
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July 16th ~ Color
| Guillaume Apollinaire
said,"Color is the fruit of life". Having just returned
from a trip out to the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the subject
of color has been dominating my thoughts. In the mountains, the
air is clear and the colors are extremely vibrant. The flowers
in the towns we visited were almost fluorescent. I think this
is partially due to the long sunny days and cool nights. Or perhaps
it is just because the blooms are all trying to compete and outdo
their grand surroundings. |
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"When the color achieves
richness, the form attains its fullness also." ~ Paul Cezanne
"I never met a color I didn't
like." ~ Dale Chihuly
"Color is the language of
the poets. It is astonishingly lovely. To speak it is a privilege."
~ Keith Crown
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| Today's photo is
one of my many shots from Colorado. See more pictures on my web log. |
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July 20th ~ The Value Of Helping Others
| Albert Einstein
said, "Only a life lived for others is a life worth
while." There are many people in my online world who rank
high in the "Helping Others" category. One such
person is Ralph Serpe, webmaster of the Creative
Spotlight Art Instruction Blog It's the best resource I know
of anywhere for free art lessons which cover a variety of different
mediums including oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, pencil
and more! Perhaps people do not use or value this resource as
much as they should because it is free. Thomas Paine said,
"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. It is
dearness only that gives every thing its value." Last
year, my demonstration
received much feedback there, including this kind note from Kenneth
Muir; "I was indeed happy to come across your 'six simple
steps'. It gave me the feeling that I can do that! Maybe I never
will, but at least I got the 'feel good' spirit! I thank
you for sharing your talent with the wider world. It is so uplifting
to know that there are still good and generous human beings like
yourself around." See
the new July 8th interview I did with Creative Spotlight here. |
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"Kind words are cherished
morale boosters that lift my spirits in times of self doubt."
~ Sandy Sandy
"If nobody ever offers an
opinion or takes the slightest interest in one's production,
one loses not only all pleasure in them, but all power of judging
their value." ~ Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
"Anything scarce is valuable;
praise for example. " ~ Anonymous
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July 23rd ~ Advice
People are always giving me advice. Often complete strangers
I meet at shows go into great detail about what I should be painting
or how I should be marketing. Usually, it is well intentioned
yet not really applicable or even inappropriate for me. Then
there's the well meaning friends who flood me with career suggestions
constantly, sort of like the patient telling the doc how to perform
the procedure. I listen because sometimes there's a morsal of
an idea that might spark another. The advice I relish however,
comes from my mentors and peers who unselfishly offer task specific
feedback and guidance that can only be understood through having
been there, done that. Arthur Maderson said; "We need to
be terribly selective about whose advice we absorb. We are under
attack from a vast range of often contradictory approaches and
it is all too easy to feel confused and lost." |
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"If it's free, it's advice;
if you pay for it, it's counseling; if you can use either one,
it's a miracle." ~ Jack Adams
"The secret is to follow
the advice the masters give you in their works while doing something
different from them." ~ Edgar Degas
"With the advisers you trust,
you better listen to them. It may be bad news but that's the
only way you're going to improve." ~ Ben Heppner
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| Today's image,
"Hopped Up Hydrangea", is an 11" x 14" Acrylic
painting on gallery wrapped canvas. $499.00 includes sales tax
and S & H. |
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July 27th ~ Originality and Growth
| Whatever an artist's
medium is, if it is worked at and skills are honed, eventually
an original voice will emerge that is as distinctive as a fingerprint.
As I said in my
recent interview with Ralph Serpe of Creative Spotlight,
"There are no short cuts. The only way to get better and
find your unique style, is to do the work. I often say, if someone
has average aptitude with a passion for exploration and improvement,
they will quickly surpass the individual with lots of "talent",
but a weaker desire. It's not easy being an artist. One can become
disheartened by slow growth, however with strong determined focus
and practice, I believe anything is possible." |
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"It is necessary to any
originality to have the courage to be an amateur." ~ Wallace
Stevens
"Every artist dips his brush
in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."
~ Henry Ward Beecher
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| Today's image,
"White Magic", is an 11" x 14" Acrylic painting
on a gallery wrapped canvas. $499.00 includes sales tax and S
& H. |
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July 30th ~ Relationships
| I had a photo shoot
yesterday morning with Sid and Shirley. I meet them several months
ago and took some photos of them at the historic Smithville Mansion.
The delightfully charming couple work at the mansion giving tours,
teas and overseeing maintenance. They agreed to let me shoot
them again, so we set the date for yesterday because they were
having a tea there at noon. At 10:30, I met them and my
assistant at the mansion. What a fun, action packed shoot it
was! Their love, admiration and joyful attitude for each other
was evident in the many wonderful poses they graciously and comfortably
slipped into. |
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"I like her because she
smiles at me and means it." ~ Anonymous
"Present your family and
friends with their eulogies now - they won't be able to hear
how much you love them and appreciate them from inside the coffin."
~ Anonymous
"Basically, the only thing
we need is a hand that rests on our own, that wishes it well,
that sometimes guides us." ~ Hector Bianciotti
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Now license this image through iStock.
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| This is one of
the many shots I took yesterday of Sid and Shirley Venitsky.
Go to my web
log to
see more pics of this cute couple. |
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~
August 2009 ~
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