Grandchildren Artists

Buck Lake  14x11  oil on canvas

Simon came to visit yesterday. He pulled off his preschool backpack for us to find his important papers: his morning art production. The grandparents offered sincere oo’s and ah’s. He gave us a pleased smile and went on with his three year old life of eating healthy snacks prepared by his grandmother.

Three year old children are amazing, filled with confidence and curiosity.  Simon is my youngest grandson. He came confidently into the studio as I was putting the finishing touches on a painting. He watched for a few seconds and asked if I needed some help. Looking down at this three foot tall child my thoughts zipped to many years ago watching my own father as he painted. I must have been annoying because I was soon on dad’s lap putting paint on his canvas.

Helene's Cosmos  20x16  watercolor

On Simon's visit, I was so involved in the finishing touches of my studio painting that I was surprised by the little voice in another room telling his grandmother, “I guess grandpa doesn't need my help.” Next time the little one pops in for a visit we will paint together for sure. 

Enjoy the little things,

Joel

www.joelellisart.com

Picasso Answers: What Is It?

       Viewing art is an art itself. When we go to a museum or gallery to view the works, we want to see and feel a new view of our world and be empowered and nourished to go out and accomplish our goals. Or if we just want to feel good by being in a pleasant environment, a few hours walking through the galleries can bring us to a pleasant state of mind. We become involved with the artists history, the why and how and when the art pieces were created and the influences that sparked the creative outcome.

Spring Marsh Song, 36x36  acrylic on canvas

       A few days ago we were exchanging some paintings at a medical venue when a fellow artist said, “Joel, I think I know what the painting is, tulips.” She was very pleased with her guess because the title of the painting included spring, Spring Marsh Song. The pleasant moments from my childhood often emerge in a mystical surprise as the marshes near my family home slips into a painting. The spring sounds of  red winged black bird songs used to leave a lasting imprint that appears in a painting many years later. 

       Picasso said, "Everyone wants to understand painting. Why don’t they try to understand the song of the birds? Why do they love the night, a flower, everything that which surrounds man, without attempting to understand them?”

       Artists call upon their environments that have made an influence on their subliminal levels which can influence the creative outcome. When the viewer places tulips in her question, “what is the painting all about” she makes a personal contact with the painting and the artist.

       This drive to understand a painting by relating it to images that seem “real” in our personal history helps viewers to feel in control of the sometimes abstract world around us.  The artist expressing sights and sensations abstractly will continue to respond creatively from floods of input as in a spring walk in a very busy marsh. 

       

What is it?  (see below)

Go to a museum or gallery this month. Keep on viewing art.

Joel     

(We call it Earth Cycle, 18x24, acrylic on linen)