Art for the Week

The Mid-Atlantic Home and Flower Show is this weekend, March 4-6, at the Virgina Beach Convention Center.  If you go to the show, please stop by the art exhibit near the entrance to the show. There you will find three of my paintings, one of which is pictured here.  The theme for this year is gardens and this entry is an oil painting of a lotus garden. 
There are two events that I attended this past week that I will write about.  First, the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Show was held in Hampton last weekend with an impressive display of amazing and varied talent.  The meticulously crafted examples of every possible design from complicated geometrics to unbelievable realism was awesome. 
One of the quilts had recently been in the news because of controversial display of nudity.  I found that particular quilt to be beautifully crafted and a poignant reminder of the plight of the homeless.  This quilt was part of an international display of quilts on the subject.  The quilt was created by Kathy Nida from San Diego, California.  Congratulations to her for helping to change the perception of quilting from copied patterns made by little old ladies in a quilting bee to quilting as an original art form that is creative, symbolic, and conceptual.  Kathy describes her quilt as "depicting a homeless woman and her unborn child living in a cardboard box....and about being one paycheck away from desperation and begging for help." 
Also, this past week I saw the movie Wasteland, directed by Lucy Walker, about the renowned artist Vik Muniz.  It is a phenomenal movie that I highly recommend.  Vik Muniz has gained my utmost respect and admiration as an artist who had the genius to take materials so disgusting and transform them into images of beauty and worth and along the way, change the lives of the Brazilian people who became the subjects of his photographs.  These inspiring characters worked in the world's largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, in Rio de Janeiro.  The movie sheds light on the utter despair, but proud dignity, of these people and leaves you with much thought for discussion. 
Art has many purposes and both Kathy Nida and Vik Muniz use art to bring attention to deploring social conditions in order to change and lift the human spirit.

A New Year

Okay, a new year and a new goal for my blog....to be more faithful to my blog commitment. So, here goes..... I have posted a new painting of Zinnias, finished about a month ago. Seems funny now to be painting zinnias in the middle of winter, but they do brighten the grey days of winter cold and snow. Actually, I had the photo of the zinnias for a couple of years and had always planned to use the photo as inspiration for a painting and then my friend Claudia Finn inspired me with her beautiful paintings of zinnias. Inspiration often comes from other artists. I remember hearing that when Picasso went to visit other artists, they hid their paintings because if he saw them, they know he would copy what they had done. I like to think that was true inspiration from one artist to another.
A couple of posts back, I was writing about feelings of doubt and fear. So, I got out one of my favorite books, Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland......always good in times of doubt, and we all have them. To summarize some points that hit home.....making art is chancy and it's revealing and personal and a lot of hard work. There is always uncertainty. Challenging your fears about artmaking is part of the process. Good art is not made without lots of work ....follow the path of your heart....make "your" art.