Joel F Ellis Art Web Log: Let There Be Light!

We are having a gentle slide into summer, with dry days and cool nights, not like a month ago when we thought summer would never come. Recently, we visited a patron who has collected a few of my paintings. He wanted to show us how one of the pieces responded to light conditions throughout the day in his home. His excitement about having the natural light create its own effect on the colors and texture of the painting is a good selling point for this very “living” art.

Milky Way 16x20 acrylic on linen

When we visit art shown in those well lighted galleries, we miss the chance to let the painting put on its own show for us in natural daylight. To test a painting in progress I often change the studio lighting to see what is happening on the reflective surface of the painted canvas. Over time, artists learn the tricks light can play in reflecting that image to us. Notice how I avoided talking about the cones and receptors of the eye. That’s the science of what is happening. The bottom line is how the image affects you, the viewer, and do you want this experience displayed in your environment to stimulate your life day after day. To me this is what makes living with original art so invigorating, the actual living with the art.

I have been reading, yes I vowed not read too much this summer, but this really sounded too good to miss, so… I got involved in the upper level of the art collecting business again. This time the book is The Supermodel and the Brillo Box by Don Thompson . The book is a good peek into the world of many very rich art

Light Flashes 24x30 acrylic on canvas

collectors and the art houses that support their craving. It appears that some collectors have a genuine love for the art and the artists. They are happy to share their art pieces in galleries around the world. Then there are others who use the world’s art expressions as an investment, storing their art treasures in vaults never to be seen and experienced, locked away in temperature controlled darkness waiting for the right time to be released for profit.

I feel that for visual arts to exist the treasures must be experienced to make an impact on our lives as the creative artist had intended. The art has to see the light so we too can see the light.

Light is the most important thing. It animates a picture: it can change everything.

Paul Collins, portrait artist

I have to get out into the sunshine right now, and you should too. I hope you are reading this where you can enjoy this glorious Spring Day.

By the way, I have the three paintings shown here at the Technology Innovation Center, downtown East Lansing, second floor of the old Barnes and Nobel Building. You can reach it from the skywalk connected to the Parking Ramp off Charles Street. The show with other fine art artists exhibits June 8 – September 28.