Thursday, October 30, 2008

Art Advice: Moving the Checkers

I was talking with a young artist recently and thought that this basic explanation of making incremental progress, what I call "moving the checkers" might be interesting to others. It applies to a lot of endeavors which include multifaceted skills, responsibilities and opportunities--especially when you have a family and a full time job. The idea is simple; imagine a checkerboard with two lines of checkers. The first line of 8 pieces closest to the center of the board represent all of the things you need to begin establishing and moving forward across the board. I'll name a few examples:

1. Painting (the obvious one). 2. Learning, studying, improving your skills. 3. Making contacts in the art world, visiting openings and galleries, etc. 4. Ordering supplies, trying new materials. 5. Entering contests and shows. 6. Building and publishing your website. 7. Building your clientelle. 8. Updating your blog (check!)

Establishing and moving those 8 pieces are already a few years' worth of work. Here is the critical concept of this whole approach; DON'T MOVE ONE PIECE TOO MANY SPACES BEFORE WORKING ON SOMETHING ELSE! I spent years painting, studying and adding things to my website, but I got caught up in one thing for a while and neglected other important pieces. While one piece was moving forward across the board other pieces were dormant for months at a time.

The second row of pieces represent things that are related to the first row but can't begin moving forward until the other pieces have already made a little room for them. For example, after studying and taking classes from others I'll not only improve, but eventually get to the point where I could teach someone else (the piece behind it). Maybe I'm not ready to teach at the local college, but I can teach some beginners and give them the basics.

For my next Art Advice I think I'll explain Naomi's concept of "One stitch a day" because it works really well for people in our situation who are busy.

Please leave a comment if this helps you in any way or if you have some suggestions to add to the discussion.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Drunk Paramedics now showing in National Small Oil Competition


Hello again. I almost forgot to mention that "Drunk Paramedics" was accepted to this show. I was very excited to hear the news and receive the brochure for the show. It is being held at a museum in Kansas so I won't be attending. This piece is only 6x6 so it's very small and I was a little disappointed to see that they accepted pieces up to 16x20 for the show. Not that big of a deal, but that's not exactly small, is it? The show goes into November then they'll send it back if it doesn't sell.

This painting is from a photo of when I was in Kazakhstan. We were watching a game and knocking back a few brews with the paramedics, who were on duty, by the way. They were cool guys but it's fortunate that they didn't have to spring into action.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Painting demonstration

Well, I'm back from the demonstration in one piece. There was a good turnout and I received a lot of questions, primarily about why I paint upside down. There were about 12 artists total in attendance and we were treated well. One lady asked if I'd be willing to teach a watercolor class so we'll see if that actually comes to fruition or not. It was fun to actually paint in front of people. You'd think it would make you nervous, but unlike other times when you're "on stage" you can get lost in your own world and forget everyone's there.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Painting demonstration tomorrow!!!


Hi there,


I've been signed up for an oil painting demonstration tomorrow at a big lodge out near Arco Arena. This is an event put on by Hovnanian homes and I imagine they are trying to drum up business and get some of their homeowners together for a little wine and cheese. There will be other painters there as well, although I have only heard David Peterson's name. He'll be doing a demonstration too. I have already picked out the subject I'm going to do.


While preparing for the big Delta show at the 20th street gallery, I drove around the delta taking photos and doing sketches. I took some photos of an old mansion and it's definitely California style. It has that victorian architecture that you find in San Francisco but it's out in the country with palm trees around it and large gardens. I thought it was a bed and breakfast but it was a little eerie because there wasn't a soul to be found. Anyway, I didn't complete a painting for the show, having run out of time, so I'll give it a try tomorrow-surrounded by semi-wealthy drunk people.


Directions: From north 99/I-5, take the Del Paso exit and turn left. Turn left on Natomas Center drive and a right on Hovnanian. It's a big lodge on that street.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

New Show at Coffee Break Cafe in Carmichael

I woke up early this morning and went down to the Coffee Break Cafe to hang about 18 pieces for the month of October. The owner's name is Nuvia and she's a very cool lady from Panama. Her 3 children work there with her so the place always has a friendly vibe to it. They get a lot of business from regulars who hang out there to talk local politics or whatever strikes their fancy. I'm hoping to get a few extra customers in there to see my paintings and order a few cups of Joe from Nuvia.

Location: The cafe is located in the Home Depot shopping center on the corner of Madison and Manzanita in Carmichael, California. There's a Garcia's Mexican restaurant right next door to the cafe. They close pretty early in the afternoons but they're open throughout the day and on weekends. Hope to see you there!

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Back in Nashville, Tennessee at the Quality conference

Hello,

I'm attending the QATC conference here at the Gaylord bio-sphere here in Nashville. It's definitely nice to be back here after spending a number of holiday seasons visiting my sister's family in Mount Juliet. My big brother Danny bought a really cool fishing boat so he took me out 2 days in a row to go fishing. I used to fish when I was a kid but my techniques were woefully insufficient for the modern mind of the blue gill, the cunning tricks of the crappy, circa 2008, and the catlike flexibility of the new millenium striped bass. No sir, the days of throwing a sinker and clam into the water then waiting for 40 minutes have been cast (pun intended) on the trashheap of history.

Danny showed me all kinds of stuff, like how cool it is to have a boat, as we went from one cove to another. The first day we went to Percy Priest Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous and we had a blast, finally leaving after the sun was really baking down on us. The second day was at Old Hickory Lake, which is connected to the Cumberland River. It was even more gorgeous and relaxing. There was nary a soul out there and we were free to catch fish and discuss marriage, ad infinitum. It was overcast too so the weather was just right. I was shocked by the variations in depth in both places. He has a sonar device that would read 8-feet one second then plummet to 75 feet the next. That was definitely an eye opener.

So I am now attending the conference here at the Gaylord Opry center, which is an immense glass covered dome so large that it leaves you under the impression that you are outside. The conference has been pretty good and my presentation is tomorrow. It's called, "Take your Ed dept. to the next level" and I'm very excited to show people what we've been up to at LifeMasters. I've brought along an assortment of training tools for everyone so we'll see if they're beneficial to people upon returning to their work environments next week.

I fly out on Friday morning.

As for the art world, I am planning to take down my paintings from the Level Up Lounge on Monday and put them up at Coffee Break on Tuesday. Things are moving along.