Sunday, May 1, 2011

Discovering Painting Blogs


This week was pretty intense... trying to learn new tools, facilities on my computer... all day, every day... I felt as if I was wearing my "L" plates. I kept crashing into problems. BUT there was no instructor sitting next to me... I was in the driver's seat on my lonesome getting headaches and scratching my head!


Like this one: Bought a new camera weeks ago. Took photos here and there ... especially on trip to Noosa over Easter + photos of some paintings! Hard to remember what I'd taken really.


So... having located the CD-disc and bits that came with the camera I tried to download photos Friday. Tried .... and tried! Did other things in between attempts. The Royal Wedding was unfolding so I ducked into the Living room to distract myself with some serious right-Royal Pagentry, sublime choral singing and the delicious heart-shaped scones my mother had gone to the trouble of baking for the occasion.
Then ... my mood lightened somewhat I came back to try and fathom this camera download issue.


No Photos yet ... instead  ... having just cleared my in-tray of saved links found via Twitter these painting blogs were among the finds ... in no particular order:


(fundamental) PAINTING is a "catalogue of essential painting (and a bit of opinion)" from someone in London. The most recent post features artist Damien Flood whose work is shown below. 





A brief excerpt from text posted with this work: 
"At first glance the most striking thing about Damien Flood’s recent paintings (and the theme that connects them,) is a feeling of other-worldliness. Much of the imagery has something of the sci-fi about it; bleak unpopulated environments (land, space and sky); unclear and often ominous. They are depictions of curious places that don’t throw up conclusive answers." Read more.



STUDIO CRITICAL: A behind the scenes approach to contemporary Painting is a relatively new blog but provides studio images as well where possible. Here's a post on artist Ky Anderson whom I posted on early last year... Read the brief interview there.



Sewn, 22'' x 22'', acrylic and ink on paper, 2011


2010 studio

future studio



'Pushing up'


THE BONE DRY BLOGSPOT : This one contains images from artists ranging from the likes of 'BALTHUS"



Balthus



TO WOELFI

Adolf Woelfi ( 1864-1930)
To

Emily Noelle Lambert



Werner Mannaers


Wannes Lecompte

To Lecompte ... no text... simply paintings posted with artist's name.


PAINTTUBE .... read about this blog here h1 

About painttube 

- established by a research group of staff and post grad students at the national College of Art and Design in Dublin. 

h1


Provisional Painting

March 11, 2011

Painting by Richard Aldrich. Click on image for more about Richard Aldrich
An article by Raphael Rubenstein entitled Provisional Painting from Art in America 5/4/09 explores unfinishedness in contemporary painting practice. Read it here.
Posted by Robert Armstrong



PAINT CLUB: not a blog, but a website link for a newly established research network for staff and research students at the University of the Arts London.



Paula Kane - Studio wall


on a bit of a tangent... (you know I like tangents)

At Paint Club I found my way to the blog of the Central Saint Martin's College of Art & Design ... to this post which caught my eye!




Livingstone’s Medicine Chest. Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London
Livingstone’s Medicine Chest. Courtesy of Wellcome Library, London
We are excited to announce First Time Out, a new collaboration across five London art institutes – the Horniman Museum, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Natural History Museum, Science Museum and Wellcome Collection, coordinated by Caterina Albano at Artakt, Central Saint Martins.
Each organization was asked to select one previously unseen artefact from their archives and display it for the first time. After six weeks each object moves around to a different institution and is displayed with a new label, written by the curatorial team at its host venue, allowing millions of visitors across the five institutions to see how different experts interpret the same object.
First Time Out runs until 21 August 2011.


Jean-Piere Roy
a long list of artists and their images to trawl through...


Till Rabus


I found artist Elizabeth Heppell on twitter but had found her blog before that.
She posts her own work as below... and features many different painters as well. Her blogroll lists many painter blogs as well.






Studio View

E Sheppell ESP 48x48 mixed media on canvas
This is a new piece in the studio. This is a quick picture of it. Lots of layers and textures. It's a bit electric.



Margaret Neill "Scout" 2010 oil on canvas 36x40



Neil's work is featured in Heppell's latest post.From Heppell to 




Drooel.com - Contemporary painting from around the web ... where I noted Ryan Humphrey's 'Lost in the Woods'

                                                       Ryan Humphrey‘s “Lost in the Woods“.







Jaq Chartier





And as its getting late now...I'll close with the blog of Lorraine Glessner which I found my way to some months ago and liked the diversity of painters she posts ... a visit to this blog is an invitation to open one's mind to perhaps some of the possibilities to be found in one's studio that are being overlooked... to think again about new departures, fresh seeing. There's something about trawling through the trail of visual explorations ...coming across the unexpected or simply appreciating the unique seeing, interpreting and ways people work with visual elements to bring such a cornucopia of offerings to life.
  


Tom Burckhardt








phlip-phlop, 2001, enamel on wood, 60x48wake the town, 2001, enamel on wood, 48x36i have overeaten my snack, 1997, enamel on wood, 48x40gong jr, 1999, enamel on wood, 60x48

bold form, delicate pattern, vibrant color....see more here.






Toby Sisson













Timeline of Seemingly Unrelated Events II, 2010, Encaustic, Oil, Charcoal, Graphite, 
Pastel on Wood, 24 x 48Everything Is Happening All The Time, I, 2010, 
Encaustic and Oil on Wood, 12 x 12Timeline of Seemingly Unrelated Events I, 2010, 
Encaustic, Oil, Charcoal, Graphite, Pastel on Wood, 24 x 48

bold, sensitive marks...see more here.


This post could go on and on linking excellent blogs with diverse styles of painting to view and muse on. Don't know about you...but its not always the work I find really comfortable or strongly  appealing that speaks to me... or arrests my attention.
At different times, in different moods, I will look at things very differently... and it's for this reason I relish the multiple pathways avialable to us for investigation.


What are your thought on this?


As for me... its late... good night!
S

19 comments:

annamaria potamiti said...

Really exciting finds!!Thank you for all these treasures Sophie!

Sophie Munns said...

glad you came by Annamaria - so many links within links here!... how did your show go?...I must pop over!
S

Mlle Paradis said...

sophie you are a treasure! and isn't the internet great for this, although some of us with access to great museums SHOULD be dragging our tushies off the sofa and into them to see good painting in real life. for others, chez sophie is a good alternative. i can't now remember the other painters' names that you have posted, but great finds and the painting by balthus - one of my all time faves, i have the postcard and know exactly where it hangs in the lehman collection at the met in nyc. if only mr. lehman had let me know at the appropriate time, i would have married him and all of his collection in a heartbeat if only he had asked! now he is no more and it's too late for me.

good luck with the computer. i know that you will get that thru much aggro and perseverance - you are a better woman than i!

nathalie et cetera said...

you are such a busy bee! i can't believe the amount of info you share here. all great too!

i hope you get to know your camera soon. looking forward to see what you captured with it!

undercover painter said...

Thanks Sophie, there are a few here I didn't know about :)

Sophie Munns said...

MP....had to laugh... sadly Mr Lehman went without bequeathing his art collection to you! Damn that man!
As for me down in the new world city of Brisbane not many Mr Lehmans around...
In Tasmania however they've just had a Mr Walsh open a brand new "Museum of Old and New Art" he intends will be "a subversive adult Disneyland" so... not sure when I'll get there!
In the meantime the mundanity of talks like clearing the in-tray, posting on painting blogs etc etc will hopefully get me over this "L" plate phase tilI, for one, I can download my own photos and start posting them again.
S
ps many of the painter's blogs are sharing material on artists not yet in the museums that we might never otherwise find... THAT'S the beauty of these sites for me... glimpses into the hidden and wondrous diversity of painters out there rather than the usual suspects line up!

Sophie Munns said...

Nathalie,
Thanks ... I think Monday morning I might be calling someone about the camera!
Till I download I cant see what Im doing with it...am not tech savvy with cameras in general!

I had fun sharing these links... an MFA I commenced in 2007 went by the wayside due to sudden illness and subsequent major relocation to live with family ... so last night's excursion took me back to that time of thinking about painting, researching what was going on around the world in terms of ideas, 'trending' preoccupations and such.
I guess in the past I would have done all this searching, maybe saved some links...but now I often search whilst posting... that way its saved, more extensively researched ... and shared ...all at once.
Hopefully win-win.
Ciao
S


Undercover painter...
delighted to share... saw you over at Fundamental!
cheers,
S

roz said...

heart shaped scones ...how precious!
we at least donned hats for the royal occasion!

Sophie Munns said...

Hats.... why did we not think of that... the scones were good too 'r'!
S

Kelly M. said...

incredible assortment, tantalizing to follow the paths you've offered -- could be hours before i surface again -- many thanks!

Sophie Munns said...

Hi Kelly,
know absolutely what you mean...easy to end up far from where one started! ... its exciting to have them to refer back to as well.
Thanks for popping in!
S

Sally Tharpe Rowles said...

Wow Sophie, So much great information here!

Don't feel bad about your technical skills, I have had a new camera for almost a year now, but dew to lack of ability, I prefer my old much easier to use one.

Tanks for all the great links!

Sophie Munns said...

Hi Sally,
you've made my day... I've been going around wondering how others manage all this stuff... thinking surely some in my generation (born before 60's) also get stumped reading current manuals, wondering why computer instructions and manuals don't seem to be saying the same thing etc...

Thanks for telling me this... I'd have reverted to the old camera had it not been broken and simply wont any longer work!
A brother of mine visited over Easter and found my Mac address book where its been hiding in trash for well over a year... and Adobe for the past month making downloading pdf's impossible. I'd spent considerble time here and there looking for these things

Sometimes it can get all too much... which is why I gave myself to this post ... it was easy... compared to all the things Ive been trying to do of late this post was a totally straightforward and also an satisfying and interesting task.... like a holiday for my poor brain ...
So thank you Sally!
S

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous work, links, etc. And as for the scones? Swoon! My mother had a "wedding party" at 2:30 am US time. All the gals arrived in silk PJ's, pearls, and hats. They had quite a time.

xo

mary

Sophie Munns said...

What a hoot Mary.... 2.30am pj's and pearls...
it was a civilised 8pm wedding start on Australian TV (EST)... guests arriving from 6pm... so when I broke off to have dinner from my work it was very easy to get caught up watching who was arriving whilst nibbling scones etc...
xo

blue china studio happy said...

Hi Sophie! What great info here, you always provide such interesting links etc. I'm sorry about your technical troubles. I have spent many an hour at my computer trying to figure out something that seems so simple yet is not! Glad you took a break to eat heart shaped scones and watch the fanfare.

Sophie Munns said...

Its reassuring to hear of other's predicaments Jaci!...not because I wish that kind of bad time on anyone... but just to know I'm not a complete twit... that it's common experience!
Its sanity to distract oneself isn't it... its made everything else seem like a breeze after that stuff! Love whatever you did with those coastal photos...
good to hear from you!
S

Valb said...

Hi Sophie,

Thanks for the STUDIO CRITICAL link.
Love your blog and your work.

Cheers,

Valerie

Sophie Munns said...

So glad you visited ...
love what you are doing at Studio Critical... must make a point to see your work too... such a pleasure to share info... link people
S