In the name of the iron-jawed men I will stand up and say yes till the finish is come and gone. God of all broken hearts, empty hands, sleeping soldiers, God of all star-flung beaches of night sky, I and my love-child stand up together to-day and sing: "Thanks, O God."
Fire Dreams, Carl Sandburg
This post is formatted for the Mac. Click on the video to view on other platforms.
Casey Klahn deliberates among the final eleven pastel paintings at Everett's Schack Art Center.
The annual Holiday Art Show for the Northwest Pastel Society is ongoing in Everett, WA, from November 21st through December 28th. I judged the awards and conducted a demonstration of a large artwork, which featured the subject of my barn. I may have more photos in the near future, so please return here for those. Holiday Art Show. Northwest Pastel Society.
I spent the day cleaning my studio (if tape wads were quarters, this would've been a fine day). I look forward to photo sessions the next couple of nights, and you should see some new images posted here and Facebook. Might have to have an event.
Artist Janice Wall following her pastel muse in Gig Harbor, WA, October 28th., 2013. This image needed to be posted now, because the frost is on the ground, and for many of us this last season of outdoor painting is in the memory books.
Typical for me, I just did a few plein air sessions. I did paint a number of images out the window, though. Does that count?
"Unpacking" the art created during our 3 day workshop in Gig Harbor, WA.
At the See Differently workshop in Washington last weekend, we mixed intuition and response with the formal elements of art. Rules/Break Rules. We discussed rule-breaking tactics at length. I encouraged the artists to "jail break" their artwork, and I said I wanted "Grand Theft, Auto" from them. That is my way of describing how big an art crime I was looking for.
Friday night demo. I met numerous blog readers and Facebook friends on this trip.
We worked hard to plumb our reasons for creating pictures - our Artist's Ideas. These are your personal agenda, apparent in every artwork you make. Here you see a rare moment of fun in an otherwise demanding workshop.
Music is art. This statement needs no explanation, except I came to it late in life! Of course music is art, and those who teach and play instruments are my brothers and sisters. I stumbled (or is it youtubed?) onto Nadia Boulanger and was taken instantly by her genius as an instructor and by her authority. Anyone animated by art will learn from her.
MademoiselleBoulanger quotes Paul Valéry: "The gods kindly offer us the first verse. What is difficult is to write the next ones, which will be worthy of their supernatural brother." Although I am the world's worst music patron, I find Mlle. Boulanger's stature and teaching style to be a very cool drink of water. I am listening to the longer video posted below as I type this, and although I am also the dimmest bulb at French, I am learning. "It's always necessary to be yourself – that is a mark of genius in itself," Nadia Boulanger.
Nadia Boulanger
My friend at Art and Music, Katherine van Schoonhoven, well understands the bridge between these two arts. Another friend and blogger is Rosemarie Kowalski, who blogs at Peaceful Ones, and she also celebrates the connection between the two.
This longer video, in French with subtitles, I recommend to you.
In the vernacular, whack means good. Here are the ways my Mac is whack: Whack: 1. Speedy. I have yielded back a treasure chest of time by having a computer that just starts up, for now, and goes to either the internet or the program I want right now! 2. Big screen, especially nice for Pinterest surfing. 3. Finding Photoshop alternatives via iPhoto and Pixlr (online) - no problem. 4. Watching movies! Looks great on 27" screen. 5. The mouse is crisp and sleek compared to my Microsoft mouses. 6. Speakers rock! My wife, the audiophile, approves of the great sound from the built ins. 7. For some reason, I find it faster and easier to use my laptop PC in the stand-alone studio for getting music stations. I guess it's because I am not desperately fiddling about from program to program with the start-up and lag that I experienced before getting the Mac.
Not Whack: 1. The area I have to "mouse" is so large I have to reset the mouse on the pad to cover the space on the diagonal. Must be a setting for this. 2. Organizing files is hampered by my OS Ludditity. I am having trouble creating documents when I want. Same problems with organizing photos. I will need to go ask the nerds at the Genius Bar the best ways to do these organizing tasks. 3. No preloaded games, except chess, and it won't let me "take back" a bad move. Sheesh. Also, cannot play against another person. 4. Not the fault of the Mac, but our internet is patently notwhack. We receive out feed terrestrially. That means from a ground based antennae. Fiber Optics is out of the question, and the last time we had satellite it was disappointing. Our current system experiences much interference, so we sometimes have blackouts or brownouts of internet speed. Groan.
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