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| 10/9/11 | by Melinda Barnett
We opened a really
beautiful show last week called "Embracing Mother Earth." Once again, I
was fortunate enough to be at the gallery when Joan Enslin brought us
yet another one of her beautiful abstract paintings. This one is
entitled "The Coast" and one of the things I particularly like about
this painting is her use of layering and texture to create a sense of
space and movement. She has exquisite color sense, and has
chosen dramatic white and contrasting earth-tones to bring life to the
"wave" in the foreground. I can almost smell the salty air and hear the
crash of the wave on the shore. By contrast, she he has brilliantly
chosen to use a calming blue in the background. This creates a sense of
distance, and inspires a feeling of serenity and well-being. When I look
at this piece, I feel safe, and calm and grounded, while still
contemplating the beauty and power of the sea.
"The Coast" 24" X24" , Acrylic on canvas, $800
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9/26/11 | By Melinda Barnett
Last week I walked into the gallery and was stopped in my tracks by a
vibrant floral painting. "Who's the new artist?" I asked. "That's not a
new artist, that's Joanne Shellan," Gayle answered. Joanne has always
brought us beautiful paintings, but there is something even more special
about the pieces in this group... they are more vibrant, her style is a
little looser and more painterly, and they are so alive that the
subject matter almost dances off the canvas.
In particular, I was drawn to "Floral 101," a simple landscape with a
giant bouquet of sun-drenched flowers in a big blue vase. Sunflowers are
such an icon of summer... we didn't really have enough sunny days this
year, but somehow this bouquet says otherwise. It tells a story blue
skies and never-ending sunny days... it tells the story of summer joy.
"Floral 101" measures 19"X34", framed. You can buy it for $640, a very
modest price for bringing year-round summer into your home! |
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9/9/11 | By Melinda Barnett
John Smith (yes, that's his real name,) is one of the most fresh and
exciting artists we have at the gallery. He creates 3-dimensional
masterpieces using painted pieces of wood. Using this dimensional
layering, and his own personal brand of cubism, he describes his
subjects, both from a physical standpoint, and also from an emotional
one. In his latest piece, entitled "The Passion Of Heidi," he shows his
own personal terrier, Heidi, using her voice as a weapon. She is
pointing it toward anything that dares invade her kingdom... in this
case, she is barking so violently (while imagining doing-in a seagull
and a squirrel) that she has shot her voice through the very frame of
this unique and delightful wooden relief sculpture.
John says that life, to him, is one big emotional experience, and he
constantly challenges himself to experience these emotions honestly and
then convey them in his artwork. Because he is somewhat of a
perfectionist, dedicated to the emotional integrity of each individual
piece, he can re-do each piece a seemingly infinite number of times
before he finally declares it a success and stops working on it. He says
he calls on primal impulse to guide him, and adds, "If I'm lucky, it
answers."
"The Passion Of Heidi" measures 23X28, can be hung either indoors or out, and can be purchased at Gallery By The Bay for $600. |
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9/2/11 | by Melinda Barnett
"Sunday Afternoon" is beautiful, and Ron Pattern is a very talented,
local watercolor artist who exhibits tremendous mastery and control in
his chosen medium... in fact I heard more than one person use the name
"Andrew Wyeth" when attempting to describe his wonderful work. Photos
viewed over the internet simply do not do Ron's work justice... he uses
layer after layer of translucent pigment to achieve strong highlights
and colorful detailed shadows... this is really work that needs to be
viewed in-person to fully appreciate his success with this technique.
Ron says he strives to depict the dynamic interplay of light and shadow
in everyday life... he does this beautifully in "Sunday Afternoon." In
this amazing painting, he shows a dog (his dog, actually, I met her)
lying in the shadows, while light streams in from a nearby window. With
this simple, flawless composition, he has created a mood of pure
tranquility and relaxation... an extraordinary "ordinary moment."
Ron is a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor society, and has been working in Bellingham, WA
as both a commercial and fine artist since 1986. "Sunday Afternoon"
measures 38X28" framed, and can be purchased at Gallery By The Bay for
$1500!
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8/10/11 | Pablo Picasso- the pioneer of modern art. But who is this man?
by Jenn Adamson
The creator of cubism, known for his Blue Period, Guernica, and Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon, Pable Picasso's legacy still lives on. However, strangely for becoming infamous, to most he is famous for something that he never was- an abstract painter. Picasso never considered himself to be one; '"I paint forms as I think them, not as I see them." He strenuously denied that he had ever painted an abstract picture in his life; the demands of sensuous reality were always too strong." (Shock of the New, Robert Hughes.) Indeed, the definition of abstract art today is often confused. Abstract art can be best understood broken down into three separate categories: nonobjective art, abstract expressionism, and pure abstract art.
Nonobjective art is defined as being tied to "the emotional significance of color, form, texture, size, and spatial relationships, rather than on representational forms." Nonrepresentational art is concerned with expressing human emotions and feelings solely through the association and choice of colors used in a painting. Some examples of nonobjective art would include paintings from Picasso’s Blue Period, where in a series of paintings, blue was the most dominant color. The association of sadness with the color blue was popular even in the early nineteenth century.
In Larry’s Dreams, by artist Cheri O'Brien, a dog sleeps on a rug, which resembles a magical carpet. The background is distorted, and looks wavy. Two dogs overhead chase a cat into the sky. A third blue dog swims in the background. A fourth looms menacingly in the background, hiding behind a small plant, staring at a fish. All of the dogs look like giants, they are painted out of proportion to the background behind them. The colors are bright and cheery. The whole scene seems to be all of a part of Larry’s dream. Larry’s Dream is a nonobjective abstract work- the colors are used for an emotional impact, but all of the forms in the work are recognizable to real life animals and scenes.
Abstract Expressionism was heavily influenced by nonobjective art, however, abstract expressionists painted in ways to try and have the painting basically create itself; to have the unconscious mind be the primary creator or force behind the work.
Pure Abstract Art has no associations tied to the real world- none of the forms are recognizable to the viewer. Abstraction is often used as being synonymous with nonobjective and pure abstract art. To often abstract is talking about the negative space uses in a work.
Abstract artists were often concerned with the spiritual/or mystical; including Wasily Kandinsky, who in 1910 wrote, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art. "Their aim in general was to convey feelings with little or no representation of external forms; the work on the canvas conveyed not images of things visible in the world, but intuitions of spiritual realities." The abstract expressionist's aim was to convey the essence of people and places through non -representational forms; to express emotion by heavily relying on color; to them painting was often a spiritual view that they saw as a prelude to some metaphysical reality. And this is the main difference between the abstractionists and Pablo Picasso.
Picasso was very much rooted and concerned with the real world, and only the real world. He clearly states on more than one occasion that he had no time, or interest in creating abstract art: "There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality. There is no danger then, anyway, because the idea of the object will have left an indelible mark. It is what started the artist off, excited his ideas, and stirred up his emotions. Ideas and emotions will in the end be prisoners in his work." (Picasso on Art, ed. Dore Ashton (1972)." He denies the existence of the abstract again with nonobjective art: “Neither is there figurative and non-figurative art. All things appear to us in the shape of forms. Even in metaphysics ideas are expressed by forms, well them think how absurd it would be to think of painting without the imagery of forms. A figure, an object, a circle, are forms; they affect us more or less intensely.” Boisgeloup, winter 1934, quoted in Letters of the great artists – from Blake to Pollock -, Richard Friedenthal, Thames and Hudson, London, 1963, pp. 257-258 (translation Daphne Woodward)
| | I’m Out, by Dotti Burton, could be considered a pure abstract painting; although some of the shapes seem to resemble a cat, or table, the forms are broken down in such a way that they appear differently to each viewer. The colors are not drawn to mirror real life, but to bring more warmth, and expression to the painting. What is so revolutionary about Picasso's work is how differently he portrayed perspective in painting. For close to five hundred years, since the renaissance, painting had always followed the rule of a one- point perspective in painting. This perspective is the same one has when looking at an object, and that object appears to become smaller and smaller as the viewer becomes farther and farther away from that object.
"The eye is clearly distinct from that field, as the brain is a separate from the world it contemplates... If asked to, the brain can isolate a given view, frozen in time; but its experience of the world outside the eye is more like a mosaic than a perspective setup, a mosaic of multiple relationships, none of them wholly fixed. Any sight is a sum of different glimpses. And so reality includes the painter's efforts to perceive it. Both the viewer and the the view are part of the same field.” (Shock of the New.)
Reality, in short, is interaction. And so, to correct this, or to go outside this one-point perspective, cubism was birthed. Picasso and Braque, through cubism, portrayed an object from all possible views, or perspectives: top, sides, front and back. "They wanted to compress this inspection, which takes time, into one moment- one synthesized view." (Shock of the New, Robert Hughes.) So when looking at a cubist painting, one is looking at all possible angles of that object. Picasso changed the limited one-point perspective to an all- seeing perspective: “Essentially, perspective is a form of abstraction.. It is an ideal view, imagines as being seen by a one-eyed, motionless person who is clearly detached from what he sees. It makes a god of the spectator, who becomes the person on whom the whole world converges, the Unmoved Onlooker.” (Shock of the New.)
la femme qui pleure pablo - Picasso. Without knowing any background story, the viewer can guess that this woman is most likely a widow. The sickly colors add a sense of a nightmare quality. The purples appear to be eye make- up, running down the lady’s face as she is crying. The focus is in the middle of the composition, where a tissue is painted in greys and blues, the only neutral colors in the painting. The greys and blues contrast greatly with the bright yellows, greens and reds of the drawing, calling attention to it. Amazingly, cubism animates the lady: she is wailing, blowing her nose, and holding her hands up to her face in distress, all at the same time.
" Picasso's invention of cubism left the academic art world of the early nineteenth century forever changed, as Ambrose Vollard describes, - "Picasso and George Braque radically transformed painting with their cubist constructions, breaking the depiction of reality into fragmented planes." Similarly, the art world after Picasso splintered into countless different sects of art styles and movements, once the classical ideal of painting was shattered. Groups such as the Surrealists proclaimed Picasso as being one of their major inspirations, and Picasso would influence these artists in major ways, but he would never consider himself a surrealist, or abstract painter. Over time, Picasso experimented with different styles and created an immense body of work, but ultimately never changed. Picasso was, and always will be, only Picasso.
For more information,
look here!
References:
Shock of the New- Robert Hughes
Late Modern- Edward
Lucie- Smith
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2 comments | Post comment
 | You are inspiring!!! I just found your blog, I like it because i was seeking for such type of info. I hope it benefits all one who land up here. Thanks for sharing!! http://all4payday.com | -- Susan, 10/30/11
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| Great post, Melinda. Thank you. | -- Bob Hoffmeyer, 8/23/11
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7/26/11 | By Gayle Picken
It was just another routine trip to the post office. I quickly glanced through the stack of envelopes ... bills, ads, checks ... and one that looks like a letter. Hm, intriguing. I opened it and pulled out the typed letter. What magic! A poem sent to me by C.B. Cox, inspired by the painting hanging at the gallery! Thank you C. B.!
ONE ROUTE TO THE SOUND
Something is magical about the back road
that curves along the Snoqualmie
from Fall City to Stillwater and beyond
with views continually in transition
as one season merges into the next.
Leaves of Black Locust along the river
filter sun as it sinks in the west,
start contrast to their bare winter limbs
which reveal lights of Duvall beyond.
Further along, the curving river
is joined by the wild Skykomish
and tames its movements
to the extent it acquires a new name,
Snohomish, and responds to forces
of a different dimension as it becomes
a tidal stream when it nears the Sound.
C.B. Cox
Click here to view Paintings of the Snoqualmie River, Monroe & Duvall by Matthew Waddington
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7/24/11Enjoy this video of Janie Olsen's dog "Arrow" as an artist and then posing next to the painting Janie made of him. All part of the 2011 PAW-CASSO show at Gallery by the Bay.
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7/24/11Saturday's opening day for PAW-CASSO was great! Everyone had a great time ... lots of smiles, lots of laughs, lots of sales ... and lots of dogs! Enjoy this video overview of the Pet Portrait Artist Showcase, the dog painting booth, and a quick tour of the gallery!
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7/14/11 | By Melinda Barnett
One of the best things about being at the gallery is that I am often the
first person to see new work that comes in. We aren't really due to
change art for another week or so, so I was surprised to see that Pamela
Watchler-Fermanis had brought us four new paintings the other
day. Although all four of them are beautiful, the one I was really drawn
to was "Counting Sheep."
First of all, I love the subject matter...
after all, who can resist fluffy white sheep... and these are Suffolk
sheep, the black-faced kind, which somehow makes them all the more
appealing to me. Secondly, there is a beautiful, serene landscape in the
painting, which Pamela has created in her dreamy, impressionistic
style. It's the kind of landscape in which I find myself getting happily
lost. Most of all though, the painting is beautiful because of the way
she has chosen to integrate colorful lines, blocks of color, and the
face of a very interesting young woman. The composition is fascinating.
This is an interesting, well-balanced. well-executed little painting.
The day after dropping it off, Pamela came into the gallery again, and I
asked her about it. "I think someone else who has trouble sleeping will
fall in love with it!" She told me. I told her that I was in love with
it even though I sleep pretty soundly! It measures 9X9 (framed) and it's
only $175.
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7/7/11 | by Melinda Barnett
Last month I took Dawn-April Williams' beadwork class at the gallery,
and it was fabulous! First of all, I thought it was very reasonably
priced... $40 for the class and then an additional $25 for the materials
I used, and that included all of the beads I needed to make a necklace
and all of the tools I needed to make future jewelry for myself... and
that's just what I have been doing!
Since learning the "how-to" basics
of jewelry making, I have been able to repair most of the things in my
jewelry repair box, and reassemble other pieces to give them new lives! I
went to a bead shop and spent $25, and used the skills I learned in the
class to make a really nice necklace, a charm bracelet, and 4 pairs of
earrings. Now if I don't have the perfect pair of earrings to go with an
outfit, I can whip them up in about 15 minutes! This is a very
informative class, and is well-worth taking. She is teaching another one
this Saturday, July 9th and then again on Saturday, August 13th, from
11 until 3 pm. Call the gallery and sign up now! (360)629-4297 |
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Previously published:All 22 blog entries |
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