Vote for your favorite 20th century artists

The TimesOnline of London is having a contest to select the best visual artists of the 20th Century. They started with a list of 300 -- painters, sculptors, photographers and graffiti and video artists. So far more than a million people have voted.

Sadly there are problems. First the site sucks and the list is problematic. It's hard to see the second half of the list (starting about M). I was unable to vote for Lee Krasner no matter how many times I clicked on her name and half the time her name disappears from the list entirely. I know I voted for Morris Louis but he disappears too. Artists left out? How about Andrew Wyeth (no Wyeth's actually), Joan Mitchell, Winslow Homer, Annie Liebovitz, Romare Bearden? And I'm sorry but Jeff Koons, who's on the list, makes me retch.

Still it's fun and the list includes many I'm not familiar with (including links to their work that sometimes - sigh - work). Go vote! (Just not for Koons.)



Joan Mitchell. Land, 1989 at the National Gallery of Art.

Attempts at Becca

I took the usual photos this past Xmas in Baton Rouge, the kind one takes just to remember the moment. There was one that I liked of my wonderful niece Becca who lives in Brooklyn. I had done a couple of stylized portraits recently (one in the previous post) and figured I'd give a try with Becca.

I'll start with a quick print of the photo from my old Epson that I played with some. Just the photo with some ink and oil pastels.



Here's the first real attempt. I did some this past week and set it aside but I started working on it again today. Oil pastels with some watercolor and pencil on watercolor paper. Quite unfinished....



Here's the next one and Karen seems to like this one. It's further along. I'll keep working on this one too. Oil pastels, watercolor and pencil on watercolor paper.

Some more small pieces

These are done on 10.5' x 14' paper using oil pastels and, with one, watercolors. As I've said in the past, oil pastels are for when I'm lazy and want to sit on the couch and piddle around. I've started to discover that it is more than that. I really like them. I like to move them around with my finger. I enjoy taking linseed oil and making puddles on color or maybe using an old toothbrush to create interesting textures. They are also fairly easy to repair when I screw up.

Recently I've started to combine them with watercolors. The oil pastels serve to provide a resist and the watercolors can fill in between oily areas easily. I like some of the patterns that can be created too.

This first one is a dark (scary according to Karen) piece. Still I've tentatively called it Forgiveness. Don't know why.



Next up is a companion piece to Marcel Duchamp's Chin that I did a while back. This doesn't have the nuance of the other yet but I'm working on that. Working title Duchamp's Face.



Next up is the piece with watercolor. It's called Ant's View. The watercolor is much of the blue. The crooked nature of the piece is intentional. I'm not sure what I'll do with the area around the frame.



Lastly we've got a portrait of a young sort of goth woman. Titled Suzy because I was typing this during a Randy Newman song in which Suzy is a character.

Hope you enjoy them. Comments, suggestions, criticism are encouraged.

A couple of small, quick pieces and some links

I'm on the mailing list for the wonderful artist Linda Carmel of Chapel Hill. (The website was designed by dear friend Jackie Helvey of UniqueOrn Enterprises and owner of Carrboro.com.) Her latest email noted that her work is being shown in a brand new online magazine called ArtSync: the Art Magazine of North Carolina. It looks interesting. I'm particularly happy to see a focus on young (read teen) artists. Check it out.

Next. When I am lazy and/or uninspired I will sit on the couch with a cheap little crude paper book and my fancy crayons (oil pastels) and just play. Here are a couple of recent doodles.

A Wee Landscape. This is sort of a study for a larger piece.



The Other King. A version of the holiday card that didn't make the cut.



Folkart Grandma. Done after a visit to Ginger Young Gallery which is dedicated to Southern self-taught art.

What a day!

I'm overwhelmed. The emotions wash over me. I stare out at the snow continuing to fall in big flakes and get little work done. I watch the people in the Inaugural crowd - white, black, brown - bundled up with huge smiles and tears streaming down their faces.

My mom called me last night to tell me about when she was teaching at Provine HS in Jackson, MS the first year of integration (62 or 63?). Her principal apologized to her for putting some of the black students in her class. She made everybody sit in alphabetical order. Her voice cracked as she reflected on her small role in this great journey that is this country.

More photos of the snow in Carrboro are here.