Nothing Like I Planned: The Art of John Mellencamp is now on view at the Tennesee State Museum in Nashville. The exhibition features forty-nine of the singer and artist's paintings and runs until June 10, 2012.
View selected works from the show here.
Visit John Mellencamp's website to see more.
I always liked him. Now, even more.
My sister Sheila Cameron is one of the most creative people I know. You may remember her FREE KATIE empire from 2005. Since then, she's focused on her two greatest works, daughters Layla and Sabrina. But this month she decided she was ready to get back to her art and launched a new blog combining her passions. It's called Watching the Paint Dry: 365 Days of Motherhood, Art, and Clichés. She recently posted this darlng Yorkie painting, possibly inspired by her late and beloved little guy Danny, who never looked so fancy, but had the same sweet eyes. Stop by Sheila's blog and say hi.
Moti
Visit If It’s Hip, It’s Here for an excellent profile of dog artist Paul Boddum. Lots of amazing works. Thanks, Laura.
Master Bedroom
My favorite Wyeth dog painting, and one much beloved by his fans, is Master Bedroom. The unadorned room and the grey tones coupled with the warmth of the sunlit shadow and the cozy dog project an astonishing warmth for a painting that borders on melancholy.
His critics, who have diminished over the span of his career, pegged his style as Realism and called it sentimental. I completely disagree. I see it as soulful. Wyeth called it "thoughtful."
And, I am not even sure the category of Realism applies to his work. Yes, his paintings depict realistic subjects, ones he stayed true to as the 20th century Pop Art start dug into abstraction, but spend some time with his paintings and you'll see the surreality of his world come through, from the dazzling effect light can have on a newspaper left on the ground, to the complexity of what it means to be alone with one's thoughts. Yes, Wyeth captured the daily life of simple Americans, but through the brilliance of his brushstrokes and mastery of composition, he showed us that nothing is more surreal than life itself.
The Intuder
Ides of March
If these paintings or Wyeth's name are not familiar to you, you probably know him by his most famous painting:
Christina's World
A very small measure of warmth
I am looking forward to what looks like a powerful show at Lawrence Asher Gallery this Saturday November 22. Kim Kimbro's haunting images, including these three dog oil paintings, were inspired by archival photographs of the doomed 1912 exploration of the South Pole by British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott.
The show's title, To My Widow, is taken from the letter Scott wrote to his wife and was found on his body 11 miles from the warm supply hut stocked food. The paintings' titles are derived from passages from the letter as well.
I could tell you of this journey
Waking or sleeping
Visit Kim's website to see all the images.
Or stop by Lawrence Asher Gallery for the opening reception 6-10 pm. Show runs until December 20, 2008.
Info: Lawrence Asher Gallery 5820 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90036 Tel.: 323.935.9100
Blue Strokes
The best thing about writing this blog is looking at the world through other artists’ eyes. This might be my favorite story about finding beauty in everything…
Beth Stafford is an accomplished artist whose award winning abstract paintings are collected and shown throughout the world. She also is the owner of an energetic Airedale named Cassie. They live in rural North Carolina where Cassie spends hours with her nose to the window, desperate to get outside and play with the deer, the birds, and the squirrels that taunt her from their yard.
Cassie at work
One day Beth looked at Cassie’s nose smudges and saw them not as another round of window washing, but as exuberant statements about life. She saw Cassie as an artist expressing herself.
Eager to collaborate, Beth took photos of Cassie’s window markings and added her digital painting skills to produce inter-species originals she calls PiCassieOs.
Crazy Quilt
Cassie’s Nose Garden
West Wind
Wild Blue
Almost every dog artist I feature has a muse, a pet who inspires them. Beth has a partner. A dog who directs her work and focuses her talent and I think the results are simply wonderful. This is not to detract from Beth’s individual work, but for me the unbridled joy and spontaneity of Cassie combined with her owner’s appreciation and clever manipulation of mundane nose smudges is something truly special.
Beth and Cassie’s paintings are available as prints from Team PiCassiO’s blog, and on t-shirts, mugs, ornaments, and more at their CafePress store.
Early May at Qualicum Beach by E. J. Hughes, 1966
Somehow there is a gaping hole the size of Canada in my art history knowledge. I know absolutely nothing about Canadian artists of all eras. So it’s such a pleasure for a know-it-all like me to discover new works by Canadian masters.
Early May at Qualicum Beach by E.J. Hughes (1913 – 2007) is one of my new favorites (click on image for larger view). It will be up for auction on November 19, 2008 in Toronto at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House. Estimate is $250,000 – $350,000 CAD. Read more about the painting here. Read more about the auction here.
Now What?
In honor of the start of the World Series tonight, here are some fabulous dogs from Seattle artist Nancy Schutt’s Play Ball series.
I think a slideshow of her work would be perfect for the pre-game pep talk in the Phillies or Rays locker rooms this evening. These paintings illustrate the fundamentals of baseball: stay with the ball, concentrate, relax and have fun. In terms of unbridled passion and going “all out” every single throw, no animal on earth can match a dog with a ball. But for a major league player, it sure would be inspiring to think about such a creature as you head onto the field. Go team!
Sadie and Milo
Chloe
Morgan
Bart
Chaco
Visit Nancy’s website to commission a portrait of your pet. And stop by her store to purchase her beautiful dog art on note cards, posters, prints, magnets, t-shirts and more.
Tashilhumpo Monastery Dogs
The show, Constance Coleman's Tibetan Journey; The Dogs and Animals of Tibet, opens tomorrow October 16, 2008 at the William Secord Gallery in NYC. Coleman has been a prominent pet portrait artist for 30 years. After turning eighty and traveling to Tibet, she was so inspired, she returned to paint the animals in the Kham region. There, Colman…
"…found many dogs of mixed Tibetan breeds to paint. Some of the dogs were kept as pets, some were guard dogs or shop dogs, and some were the cherished temple dogs. These temple dogs are believed to be the reincarnation of monks who have not yet reached Nirvana, and are therefore very precious to the people of Tibet. Despite their differing roles in society, Coleman found that all of the dogs she encountered were loved, honored, and respected. All had a calm temperament and serene nature, mirroring that of their owners and guardians."
Her paintings capture this serene beauty of this majestic land, and are a true delight for dog lovers, art lovers and anyone who aspires to live a life of adventure and wonder. Amazing!
Protecting the Home
Guard Dogs Playing with the Princess
Shop Dog in Pompi
Guarding Mastiffs in Ganden Monastery
Tibetan Mastiff in Lonang Valley
Show runs until November 22, 2008. Click here for more information.
Giorgio Cornaro with a Falcon by Titian, 1537
Tittian's Giorgio Cornaro with a Falcon, 1537, has been part of Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum's permanent collection since 1942. But 475 years of neglect and tinkering rendered it a drab, shadowy artwork known more for its Renaissance provenance than its mass appeal.
Then, in 2006, Joslyn's head curator, John Wilson, contacted the J. Paul Getty Museum's senior conservator of paintings, Mark Leonard, and asked if there was any hope for the aging masterpiece. Leonard took a look and felt that, "[he] had absolutely no doubt that it could look better, that what remained of the great power and force of the portrait could be recovered."
X-rays showed that Titian changed the position of the dog's head many times to get it just right.
After months of painstaking work, based on x-rays, science, and gut instinct, Leonard brought the Titian back to its full glory. It was recently returned to the Joslyn where it now claims a place of honor as one to the true gems of their collection.
Read Dane Stickney's Omaha World-Herald article to learn more about the painting's long journey back to art stardom. It's a great story.
P.S. Titian is one of my all time favorite dog artists. See more of his dog art works here.
