Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Still Point Gallery selects two nanoscapes & a small friend for new exhibition


Purple Glaze: A triptich
The Still Point Gallery selected two nanoscapes and one small friend for The Abstraction Distraction, an online exhibition that runs from 11/16/2011 to 2/14/2012.
Trilobite Four by Five
Theresa & Tommy Trilobite










Each piece is part of the new digital family of nanoscapes and small friends. Balloon and Purple Glaze are nanoscapes, and Trilobite Four By Five, is the portrait of small friends Theresa and Tommy Trilobite

Balloon
PHOTOSHOP IS MAGIC  Having found that the magic I see in watercolors can be multiplied when manipulated in Photoshop, I have the privilege of learning something new and surprising everyday. 

  • New vocabulary with new meanings for words that I already know: brightness, contrast, levels, curves, exposures, vibrance, hue, saturation, color balance, posterize, invert, and on and on.
  • The joy of experimentation. What happens if I posterize! and then invert! and then work through the image choices, one after the other? Sometimes the result is beautiful; other times, I am glad to be able to revert to the original.  

AVAILABILITY:


  • Trilobite Four By Five: Theresa and Tommy's portrait is available in a signed limited edition of 20. Each 20x17.9 portrait will be printed on archival paper and signed. 
  • Balloon: The Balloon is available in a signed limited edition of 5 (20x20) for $75 and 5 (10x10) for $50. (click on the link and then on "thumbnails)
  • Purple Glaze: A triptych is a part of "The Glazes," a series of geometric abstractions that allows me to celebrate my life-long love of stained glass with paint and paper, thus avoiding the need for safety equipment. Each 20x13 inch print of Purple Glaze is part of a Limited Edition of 50, signed and printed on archival paper with museum matting.  $75 each. (click on the link and then on "thumbnails."  

ENJOY these works and all of the beautiful pieces in The Abstraction Distraction!!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Chain Links: a new nano-D

Chain Link 2011
I have a worktable which has been a bad storage solution for so long that I feared what might turn up after excavation. Recycling an old tv, which took up a third of the tabletop, opened the door for a Domestic Archaeological Expedition.

I found long-forgotten treasures.

Among them was "Chain Link Fence," an original postcard painting from 2006. Cropped, copied, flipped, reversed, and inverted, it is magic for the morning.

It is part of a group of nanoscapes called nano-D, for work created at the intersection of geometric abstract watercolors and the magic of the technology of Photoshop.

Signed Limited Edition of 20. Chain Link 2011: 10w x 7h. Archival matt. $75. 
Available through the nanoscapes website under nano-D in Portfolio.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Gregory Blackstock: an inspiration


Blackstock's Collections:
The Drawings of an
Artistic Savant
GREGORY BLACKSTOCK: An inspiration Part of my inspiration for my image-a-day project is the work of the autistic savant and genius Seattle artist Gregory Blackstock. He is a draftsman, an artist, a compiler and chronicler of everyday items, animals, birds, airplanes, tools, and much, much more.

Blackstock can look at an item once or twice, and reproduce it exactly. That he is autistic, and has found national and international markets for his art is tribute to its power and is one of the wonders of this world. His is a genius that I admire.

Please look at this jaw-dropping work, and think about purchasing Blackstock's Collections for an artist in your life..  

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Missing from an artist's toolbox: a lawyer on retainer

Tall Cat
The "small friends"
Spokescat
Tall Cat, the small friends' Spokescat, recommends a blog post from the small friends blog: Missing from an artist's toolbox: a lawyer on retainer.

Whether you are an artist, a writer, a filmmaker or a musician, a key element of your gear should be an attorney on retainer who understands your business as an artist.

Why? Unless you are an expert on contracts, copyright, trademark, licensing, tax, business law for small businesses or any of the other problems that lurk around the edges of your artistic life, you might not know that you need a lawyer until it's too late.

My own lawyer, Blake Iverson of Friedman Iverson, saved me from one of my "bright ideas," which could have sparked potentially embarrassing, tedious and expensive litigation.

When I launched susan-cooks, I wanted the blog's wallpaper to be a photograph of some of my 800+ cookbook collection. Blake said "NO!" and pointed out that the copyright holder of each one of those books could have sued for infringement. While not a likely scenario, I have slept better for having avoided it.