On the Easel - Attack!! 01/06/2010
Peace and Love Art Friends! And may I add a…BRRRRRRRR! WOW, Mother Nature has really decided to Chillax this winter! Ahhhhhh, but don’t let that bother you too much! There is plenty of warm stuff to do inside. Like, for instance, Attack the White coming up on this Friday! All of my fellow studio artists from The Artists Upstairs Studio Group will be working up a sweat and attacking a 4’x15’ canvas! I am SO excited about this event. Sure, the weather outside is indeed frightful, but the event is going to be just delightful!! Eight plus artists, each of their own discipline and design all spontaneously working off of one large canvas with music pumping in the background…wow, I say Let the paint fly! We will be attacking this canvas with no forethought or pre-designed notions. We are just going to let our emotions, our talents and our ‘what the hell’ instincts kick in. We will be responding to each other, the music and the crowds. At the end of the evening we will either have a complete mess, or a beautiful and collaborative work of art! Nothing like this has been done before to my knowledge, so I think it is going to rock this conservative little mid-west place on earth! ![]() Click to ENLARGE What excites me the most about it is the collaboration with the other artists. We are going to all be working together and just letting it happen as opposed to being hidden in our studios all snug within our comfortable little worlds. Many of the artists have mentioned to me how they are going to have to put aside their inhibitions and fears and break outside of their comforts zones. That, to me, is just cool as hell. So…if you are in the area, and are looking for something to do, and a warm place to break the cabin fever winter blues – then consider coming out and witnessing ‘Attack the White.’ You can click HERE for Directions. You can also click HERE for other stuff going on as part of the on-going 2nd Friday events! Below is an article that ran on the front page of the local paper about the event! ![]() Click for Larger Image On the Easel – I have been working away at some new work in my studio. I have finished a couple of pieces. The first I am calling “Dead Dreams.” It is a mixed media piece with the primary media being pastel. I used to do quite a bit with pastel, and it felt really good to go back to it. I have to admit that I was very much inspired by an exhibition I went to at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Spain of the work of Paula Rego. Seeing her work up close and personal really inspired me to get back into pastels, especially on a larger scale. ![]() Click for Larger Image The next piece I am calling “Re-Born.” This piece came about in my continuing journey with textures. Constantly working with new material ideas, the combination of materials and the resulting textures is so exciting to me! This piece involves for example the result of some studies that I did involving carpet glue, wall paste, concrete, cat litter, marble dust and tile grout. I know, I know...I can’t help myself. As you can tell, a walk through Home Depot takes on a little different meaning in my world. But after working with the various materials, I have come upon some textures that I find visually exciting and fun to explore. So as you look at this abstract piece, I hope you will see how they have all worked together to create a motionless emotion. I also have some other pieces in concrete that I am still working on. They are not quite ready to reveal yet, but I am getting close! One I am going to call ‘Taking Control of Horizons’ and the other I am debating between ‘Drip’ or ‘Don’t get Wet’ I can’t decide. Perhaps in my next blog I should reveal the painting and let you decide the title! That would be cool. I think I’ll do that! Be ready to put your thinkin’ caps on! And lastly on the Easel is a portrait painting of the beggar lady that I discussed back in an April post. (http://www.cagneyking.com/1/category/april%20show/1.html). I have FINALLY gotten back into it and have started blocking in some colour and will soon begin on my skin tones. She is up on the easel in Studio 8 – so come by and check her out! And, since she is in what we artists call the ‘ugly’ phase you can go ahead and paint on her at this point to if you want! Just ask me and I’ll hand ya a brush…just don’t be upset if I cover it up laterJ I hope everyone has buckled down and is ready for a whole new year! I hope to see everyone very soon! Keep your e-mails and comments coming…I just love it! Until next time – Rock on! CommentsWed, 06 Jan 2010 12:49:29 Your new work knocks me out. Cannot WAIT for your ATTACK on Friday! I'll definitely be there in the front row screaming and cheering and generally making noise. It will be so much fun! Studio 12A Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:01:59 Sure looking forward to the collaboration on Friday. We made the Daily Reporter tonight, front page. It mentions you and the ideas behind the activity. I still need to dig out the paint trays, rollers, etc. This could be the trademark of our artists colony. Let's see. There were the Ashcan Five, The Impressionists...painters of Light...wonder what we are called? The Artists Upstairs!! Or the art attackers. Denise G Wed, 13 Jan 2010 07:00:39 Your video is awesome! The paintings look really interesting on separate canvases. I really didn't look at them like that when we were there. Studio 12A Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:22:54 The video is awesome. Got a glimpse of when it was really fresh! Learning when to quit is always the challenge. It was a lot of fun. When can we do this again? Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:00:06 great work. your workshop is quiet homey. i especially enjoyed the current work as i intend to pursue the collage domain for my master project. keep up the good work Leave a Reply |





