Change is the only constant

Well the time has come now for my life to take a step in a new direction. It never ceases to amaze me how things can so suddenly come into play and change everything just as your settling into what you currently have going. It is not always an easy thing to reframe your priorities so often or suddenly, but in todays world mobility and flexibility are key.

GEORGIA HERE I COME

I have been given a great opportunity to move down to the peach state this summer and experience a new aspect of my field through a position at a minor league baseball park, in marketing and sales. I am really looking forward to the networking and experiences I will be able to gather from this awesome chance. I also look forward to incorporating my creativity into my roles in order to define myself within a successful business community.

NO SMALL STEP

As much as I am looking forward to this opportunity, I will be leaving behind certain aspects of myself and my inspiration up north. People will be missed as I step out of my normal surroundings and support systems, but those people are as pumped about the chance as I am, the support and love is strongly appreciated and credited for driving my motivation to be what I am supposed to be and to do what I am here to do.

THE BLOG LIVES ON

I will continue to post for this blog and hopefully with much more of my own work and content as I plan on bringing you all sorts of photography and local art stories and features through out my journey. I look forward to sharing my travels and hope to have all my great followers along the way!

 

Home Grown and thriving

Over the weekend, Our local gallery was refreshed with a new set of works by a Western MA artists named Dale. He works with a variety of painting styles but brought us an especially diverse selection this time around. He has only been partially trained, but still managers to pull of some pretty impressive stuff.

The paintings went up Saturday morning and will remain for about a month. Most of the pieces are oil based paints layered either with a palette knife or other alternative means to brushes, Dale was looking to experiment with some texture. He hung everything from abstract self portraits to cinematic and comic fan art (often the most popular pieces in the show). The fan art included everything  from paintings depicting characters from movies like 300, V for Vendetta, and the Joker from Batman. Close by hangs a portrait of the three masked Ninjas from the 90’s video game mortal combat!

The gallery is located in a tucked away pub, in an underdeveloped part of a small town in western MA. The outside of the venue is quaint and deceiving. a small and weathered store front frames an ornate and oversized bright red door. Many who pass never even realize it is a functioning pub and art gallery. But once they stop in the reactions are always extremely positive.

As a bar tender at this establishment, I am always pleased with peoples faces as they walk through the front door. The bar is decorated with mahogany trim and 14 foot ceilings lined with decorated copper colored tin plates. The interior appeal is only emphasized by the unexpected art gallery hanging all around the bar. With bare face brick on one wall and refined woodwork on the other, the venue is truly unique in great way.

 

It truly is awesome watching a bar customer get up from their stool to walk around browsing the art.

Naturally I would bartend at a establishment like this, supporting local arts has helped us thrive as a business and create a reputation that is unique to anyone else’s in our town. We are excited to continue this art program and have even extended it by hosting Instructional Painting classes, of course accompanied by martinis and wine.

The local art aspect also bleeds through into our musical selection. Every saturday we feature another local artists on our stage.

 

I will be working to get pictures of the gallery up asap! I am sure the artists would love some feedback from the blogging community. Check back soon for some sweet pictures!

selfies actually worth taking

So today I dare to enter a realm of pop culture that I myself find very interesting….. and that is the selfie.

This social phenomena has recently been most popularized by modern camera phones and the ability to share ridiculous, seductive, or otherwise “worthwhile” images…

Even our own grown government officials can’t seem to resist an impromptu lean-in snap shot

Now isn’t it nice to see GOV officials smilings rather than scowling.

Unfortunatly these days in the selfie community you see more butts than faces, sometimes its hard to tell the difference, people have far exceeded my expectations for the human capacity for vanity, insanity, and overall ridiculousness. But this is why the world is so colorful…

Now don’t get me wrong, I am NOT hating on self portraits or the idea of personalized inspiration, but that is not exactly what we find in most “selfie” art…please note that I am using the word art extremely loosely.

Leave it to people to push something beyond the natural limits and go completely to the point of nonsense.

Now, I AM NOT about to instruct on how to compose the perfect selfie, with that I can not help you friends. Especially because the selfies that I consider worth while, tend to be composed in a life or death situation. I would advise that you stick to the fail-proof mirror shots and duckyfaces. But these guys here have really pushed the selfie envelope.

This kid has taken some really incredible shots, giving amazing perspective of the cities that he has climbed and captured

The Huffington Post also had some amazing pictures like this one to offer an idea of just how far this kid will go to take what he says is simply an “good composition”.

 

This got me thinking, how many other people are taking the selfie to this level. So I explored.

NOTE: the internet is very saturated with selfies, its easy to get lost amongst them.

Here is what yahoo says are extreme selflies worth you’re time….CRAZY SELFIES

BUT IN MY OPINION

This gallery below holds the most worth selfies that I could find, I was impressed, we see the artistic elements of timing as the camel munches her skull, composition with the curve of a wave, and sculpture in the physique of santa in the off season, along withs surrealism!

Somebody once asked me if I could choose any particular reader to write directly to, who would it be?

Easy question, Easy answer…

I would write to somebody who HATED art.

What might that look like?… you may or may not be asking yourself…

Dear Art Hater/s,

Why do you hate art? Are you colorblind? Did your teacher gaze with disappointment on your lack luster renditions of your seemingly sedated imagination?

I bring no animosity to this front, but I, like you, do not understand.

First of all, do you even exist? Is their really a place in nature for the dis-appreciation of all art? Is that possible? I think not.

If you are out there though I guess maybe you are confused about what art is.

This would ultimatley result in some negative perspectives.

But who am I to tell you what it is or is not, what it can or never will be. I alone cannot explain with words what art was and continues to be. I do not know such things.

I do know that in caves, our animalistic ancestors swatted their stories on the rocky walls. For what? We can not know for sure the relative function to the time, but we recognize a story, and a message.

Proof there was life once here, and by the complexity of expression in symbolic illustrations, it shows us there was a soul present. I think that is something all people can draw from. Knowing life was and is and strives to be. Not with a static concept of purpose, but rather no concept of purpose except for what we create.

We have that ability in this world, to create. It is a divine exersice of the mind and soul, to create something from the combination of vision spirit and worldly materials.

But if you hate art, then this mumbo jumbo must mean little to you. Your beyond the natural characteristics of our most basic human needs, social expression and acceptance.

But if you ever wish to feel trust in yourself and the satisfaction of creating, or even just the warmth of appreciation. Don’t hesitate, turn towards the arts. They are an open door to discovering yourself as a being.

 

 

 

warmer mornings

Spotlight on WordPress Artists

As a follower of Joe’s, I really admire him and his blog. To me, Mixing Colorz is the place to go to see what’s happening across the art community. It’s a living, breathing hub of artistic expression that covers the entire spectrum of creative thought. And if that isn’t cool, I don’t know what is!

Running a blog on WordPress myself, I’ve stumbled across dozens of wonderful artists that call WordPress home. And since Mixing Colorz is such a hub for what’s happening in the art world, I figured I’d send some WordPress artists his way to help him build greater connections across this platform.

One WordPress artist I’m so excited about is Jennifer Redstreake Geary. Representing Tennessee, Geary has fallen head-over-heels in love with watercolors. And boy does it show in her work!

She’s currently working on an A-Z challenge featuring Legos and antique Ball jars, and I can’t get enough! These pieces are so whimsical and fun. They’re the perfect combination of pop culture and fine art, and her playfulness and creativity will keep you wanting to see more. Plus, every fifth commenter on her posts will receive a FREE signed print of the painting you comment on!!

Another lady artist that I’ve discovered via WordPress is Shaylene Reynolds. Slightly more unknown (since I don’t know what to do about Gravatar profiles…), but her work can speak for herself!

Embracing watercolors as of late, she’s done some stunning botanical studies. Beautiful plans and flowers, very true to their natural form, but she exaggerates the color. Just look at the greenery on this flower – absolutely gorgeous!

Moral of the story, WordPress is the home to some serious talent. And maybe if we worked together more and networked a little more, artists could stumble upon people like Joe. People who love art and want to share it with the world, while maintaining the proper credit to the artist. And more of the world would enjoy the talent and creativity of the masses.

Define who you are and what you create: Branding

Yesterday I kicked off an exciting week dedicated to emerging artists with this post (aka, all the things I wish I had learned 5 years ago!).

Before we start talking about branding please get the idea of logos, packaging, and web design out of your head.  That is not branding.

A brand is a bundle of emotion and ideas.  It is an aesthetic that your product or creation effortlessly embodies.  You comprehend it in a glance, it resonates with you, and before you know it, you are aligning yourself with it, bringing it into your home, and raving about it to anyone who will listen.  THAT is good branding.

Thinking about branding in this way makes it super appealing to artists and creativies – emotions and aesthetics?  that’s what we live for!

The first thing to think about is your portfolio. How does it feel as a whole?  Think like…

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