A Painting a Day
Doesn't that sound like a great idea, creating a painting a day, or doing anything every day? Imagine all the work you would accumulate, how much you would improve your skills, what you would learn..... I've heard of people writing a play a day, a poem a day...
At one time I decided I would spend some time every day for a year working on my tiles, not even completing one a day, just putting in the time every day. Never happened. I would love to be that focused, that dedicated, that passionate about one part of my life. But ain't gonna happen.
I seem to work best in blocks of time. I'm really gung ho about something for a few days, or even weeks, then I have to let it go and move on to something else for a while. During the time I am interested in that one thing, I can work on it intensely, then work on the next different thing just as intensely. Some things drop off my list of interests forever, but the things I love always come around in the circle again.
One person who seems to have mastered the art of the "one a day" is Diane Hoeptner. Well, almost every day. And not just any old painting, but beautiful little paintings that I happen to love. I especially like her paintings of cut flowers in containers. Her flowers are not "still" lifes... they have a life of their own. The flowers are leaning, swaying, reaching across the canvas... they don't how to sit still!
She also does paintings of toys such as rubber duckies and pinnochio. I have to admit these are not my favorites, but they are fun, and I can imagine other people liking them, as toys seem to be popular on the art scene lately. She put nine of her pinnochio paintings together as a group which gave them new meaning and even I found that approach fascinating. I also happen to like the rubby ducky with the flower.
Her latest (December 20) posting is A Pair of Red Amaryllis Paintings. Separately these paintings are wonderful. Together makes them, oh well, doubly wonderful!
Of course, I have to mention that she paints cats too. But not enough, in my opinion!
I have known Diane for many years. When she lived in LA she was a member of the Culver City Art Group. I was in awe of her colored pencil portraits. But now I like her looser style of oil paintings even more. I hope you will check out Diane's blog on a regular basis and her postings will inspire you to do more art work yourself! (Hmmm, maybe I'm saying this to myself...)
http://dianehoeptner.blogspot.com/

Happy (Creative) Holidays!

Every year I set up my Dickens Village between Halloween and Thanksgiving to welcome in the holiday season. All the Village People have come out to wish you peace, love, harmony.... and most of all, ART... during this festive season and in the year to come!

(Photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Holiday Boutique Sale in the Marina

For those of you who couldn't come to the art show last weekend because you had to de-flea the dog or weed-whack the lawn, ha ha, here is your second chance!! You can now visit my ceramic tiles, some new, some not so new.

Holiday Boutique, Saturday & Sunday

November 22 & 23, 9:00am to 4:00pm

Santa Monica Windjammers Yacht Club

13589 Mindanao Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90029
Located next to Burton Chace Park.

For questions contact Pat Salcedo (310) 578-9912.

Looking forward to seeing you!

(Flyer design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Gauguin and the Tuxedo CatI was looking through some old photos on disc and found my cat Friday staring back at me from the screen. The image was screaming "TILE!" For the background I immediately thought of the rug in Guaguin's "Arii Matamoe (The Royal End)" which I wrote about recently.
He is a handsome guy, isn't he?
Ceramic tile, 6"x6"
(Photo and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Lucky 13th Annual Culver City Art Group Holiday ShowDon't miss our show. The Culver City Art Group has some fabulous artists (far better than me, thank goodness). And if you don't like art, come for the snacks!
I will be showing a handful of new tiles, four Photoshop digital "paintings" that I experimented with, a couple of mosaics and two small acrylic paintings. I also have three entries in the "Colors of Fall" exhibit. How's that for variety?
Saturday, November 15, 2008 from noon to 6:00pm. Meet the artists (and those snacks) between 3:30pm and 6:00pm). Rotunda Room, Vet's Building, Overland and Culver in Culver City. Plenty of free parking! See you there!

(Flyer design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Ancient Mosaics Among the Saguaros

One of the many niceties about going to the Getty Villa for an event is the drive along Pacific Coast Highway with the view of that seemingly endless blue ocean... LA has so many facets to it, and the Pacific Ocean is certainly a good enough reason to live here, even if I don't make the attempt to see it as often as I could... but I digress (my favorite thing to do).

And so, Thursday morning my car was headed back to her favorite parking spot at the Villa, this time to take me to the one-day class, "Ancient Stones in Modern Contexts" taught by Lillian Sizemore. In the morning we discussed ancient and modern mosaics in general, toured the four mosaics on display (which I pretty much know by heart now, although always noticing something new each time I see them), then visited the exhibition "Jim Dine: Poet Singing (The Flowering Sheets)", a contemporary installation inspired by scupltures in the collection.

The idea was for us to design our own mosaic based on the ancient mosaics we had viewed that morning. I did a preliminary sketch of grape leaves in a geometric pattern but I had no enthusiasm for it. After a short meditation I saw a vision of saguaros in the southwest with mountains against a sunset. I had no idea where this came from or how it would translate into what was supposed to be a geometric mosaic, especially as we had to use the pieces without cutting them, but there it was, so I proceeded to lay it out on my board.

As the design progressed I realized I had gotten myself into more than I could deal with and part of me had the strong desire to wipe all the mosaic stones off and start over with something more organized, but as we only had a couple of hours to work it was too late. Nevertheless, another part of me was compelled to see the outcome of this mess.

Regardless of my design choice, I have to say I enjoyed the process, of being in the moment, and the realization that no matter the outcome I was creating something that had never existed before. That, to me, is the beauty of the creative process: the opportunity to give birth to an entity entirely new with a life of its own.

Even though, as one of my classmates expressed, the Jim Dine exhibit was not my cup of tea, I "got" what he was doing. This mosaic was my expression of all the influences of that day and of my entire life.

Later, reflecting on what I had done with the mosaic I understood where my inspiration came from. Looking at the mosaics had tapped into my love of archaeology in general and specifically, the project I am working on currently, drawings and photos from an excavation in the southwest US. The images in the mosaic are not just saguaros, but as another classmate commented, look like some of the Indian petroglyphs and pictographs to be found on rocks and cliffsides. So perhaps my subconscious mind was weaving together the designs left by the ancient Romans with those of the Indians. Stones hewn from the mountainsides, rocks and cave walls painted, pebbles and clay taken from the earth. It's all the same. Art is what ties us all together.

[As a side note, one of the many things I learned this day was the technique of dry grouting. Because these mosaic stones are very porous, it's not a good idea to apply wet grout. Instead, you can sprinkle the dry grout over the finished piece, let it fall into the spaces and brush off the excess powder. Then spray the piece with water, carefully clean off any grout that has bubbled up over the stones and let dry. Repeat this process until the grout is as you want it. I am in the process of doing this. Very useful advice for grouting my framed tiles as well, as the wet grout sometimes mars the wood frames. I'm going to try it with my latest tiles.]

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

A Beautiful End to a Beautiful Day
The two Gettys are pretty much my home away from home these days. Each time I visit I tell myself I have been so many times this year I don't need to go for a while, and then I find myself returning to either the Center or the Villa, so I give up. Of all the cultural venues in the LA area (probably hundreds, possibly thousands?), the Gettys are the ones I visit the most. I let my MOCA membership lapse because I found myself intrigued by an exhibit maybe once a year. I do believe in supporting the arts in LA, even the ones I don't necessarily enjoy that much, but my dollars only go so far these days. I remain a member of LACMA because its diversity of genres holds my interest, even though I don't go there as often as I used to, mainly because I keep getting sucked in by the must-see exhibits at the Gettys!

My most recent visit to the Getty Center was on Saturday. I started out in the morning at the Getty Research Institute library to research an archaeology project I am interested in. The time went by too quickly and I realized I had to meet a friend for lunch and then to see the Bernini exhibit which was ending (I had seen it previously but decided as I was there anyway, it was worth a second look). I generally don't like going at the weekends as the crowds are too much for me. On the one hand I think it's wonderful that the Getty Center has retained such a high public interest. On the other hand, too many people can spoil the ambiance for me, so I was glad I had seen Bernini under quieter circumstances.

But my primary reason for writing this particular blog is to mention the Getty's recent acquisition of Gauguin's "Arii Matamoe (The Royal End)." Before leaving for the day I had to take another peak at this painting. Naturally, I have read all the discussions about it. (You can read about it here so I won't repeat any of it.) I recognize all the influences, etc. but I have developed a personal relationship with the painting. When I walk into the room filled with paintings by other favorite artists such as Monet and Van Gogh, this is the one that attracts my attention. I find everything about it to be perfect. (Just a note: I saw the online photo of the painting before seeing the painting in person and was not impresed by it at all. Seeing it "in the flesh," as with all paintings, is a totally different experience.)
The subject matter could be thought of as grisly and abhorrent. Gauguin could, indeed, have chosen to show all the blood and guts associated with it. But I don't believe that was his intention. Instead, the scene comes across to me as serene and harmonious. I feel very much at peace when viewing it, even though, intellectually, I think I should not. The reactions of the people in the background are temporary, and life will go on. The head is surrounded by vibrant colors, exquisite designs and exotic scenery. It is not at all somber. Perhaps that is the message I am getting here: death and destruction are a part of us, but at the same time we must find the beauty all around us in order to move forward.

(Paul Gauguin French, Tahiti, 1892 Oil on coarse fabric 18 7/8 x 29 1/2 in. 2008.5
The J. Paul Getty Trust
© J. Paul Getty Trust)