Joel F Ellis Back to the Studio

     The big summer events of late summer and early autumn have been covered with the usual angst. The biggest jobs, Art Prize and the featured-artist show in the lower wing at a large physician’s building consumed a good deal of organizing time. The Physician’s Building show, through October, has twenty-five paintings in a grouping titled, “Blue Skies Smiling” (because I smile every time a clean canvas begins). These big projects took most of the creative energy, while the real fun part of this trip, painting, has been set aside.

       So the tension and guilt to paint builds. My usual starters seemed to fizzle out, building more tension. The two old friends that help in the painting restart mode were employed, Art and Fear (Bayles and Orland) and Hawthorne on Painting (Charles Hawthorne, 1938, available from Dover). Both books have many passages tagged by sticky notes. I am ready for their soothing guidance. The note markers lead to a quiet confidence drifting over my creative soul and yes the process worked. I did go back to the studio and painted the way that felt right, free and spontaneous.  

       The newsstand magazines encourage artists to blog and blog often, almost like vote and vote often. The articles also encourage showing the latest work. Sounds good and worth considering but for many the process of creating is never quite completed. My studio work space has quite a few paintings I know could use “just a little more something”. So when do I call a painting completed? For some, including me, this is one of the most difficult moments in the painting process - when to put the brushes, tubes of paint, stirring sticks, pine boughs or whatever is being used in playing with the paint, down and say, “finished”.

       With all this prattle about getting started and then stopping I humbly announce the completion of my latest painting . . . well maybe.

Harmony, acrylic on linen, 20x24

       The acrylic on linen canvas was birthed, after much shall we say struggle and the usual wow feeling on its possible completion. So here’s to the latest, I hope, Harmony!!!   

Enjoy, Joel

Please check out www.joelellisart.com 

ArtPrize 2012 It's a Real Trip!

        Art Prize is in the final voting stage of the top ten public selections which ends October 4, the show ends Sunday October 7. Check www.artprize.org to see what the folks chose on this very interesting journey. We put Blue Niagara, the already award winning 30x40 acrylic on canvas in the Tapas restaurant - San Chez Bistro, 38 W. Fulton, Grand Rapids. The owners and staff of San Chez have been cordial hosts and great supporters of this terrific art experience.

We went to their opening party and greeting for the artists; then to the B. O. B. (Big Old Building) for a very crowded reception with many artists to get the huge art show off and running.  The  big ol’ B.O.B. hosted several large works on its four floors of walls and outdoor sculptures in the parking lot. Busloads of visitors have come from the Midwest and all over North America to Grand Rapids for this huge art exhibition, ArtPrize 2012.

The installation of some of the large sculptures was art in itself. Some pieces required heavy lifting cranes to get their entries in place. Our installation required a brick wall and a screw to put Blue Niagara in place. With the addition of two spot lights, the painting has a stunning setting in the San Chez Bistro Dining Room with a view of the city.

Don’t worry about the voting or the competition,  if you have time by Sunday October 7 go for the art, the mind blowing art.

As for me, it is time to put together works for a number of other shows including a twenty painting display for the Lansing area, which includes the selection, framing and putting together the show catalogs, and oh yes, time to paint again.

If you get a chance to get to Art Prize in the next few days Go,  go and enjoy the fine art and even some not so good art and enjoy the interesting city with it fine dining and party atmosphere. 

A unique work of art getting ready to exhibit.

Joel

Cycling Salamander Gallery Artists Reception Tops

We just returned home from a big weekend of travel and visiting art venues around the state. The highlight was an opening show at the Cycling Salamander art gallery just south of Charlevoix, Michigan. Years ago the gallery was a pottery studio of potter extraordinaire, Bonnie Staffel.  The building has a funky rambling charm that comes with years of creating art. The owner is a gracious and talented artist, Rebecca, who put together a cohesive and stunning show around the theme of Ancient Forests.  The turnout was great as well as the food and live music.

Rebecca, owner of Cycling Salamander, and buddy John

If you are in the Traverse City/ Charlevoix area this fall stop and see the Ancient Forests’ show as well as all the interesting items in the gallery and say hello to Rebecca.

Art show receptions are unique events in the entertainment world. We think of the image of the large urban shows with people holding a glass of wine gathered in little groups to study the details of a particular work. I have been fortunate to be involved with a little different image through the kind work of volunteers in community galleries such as Shiawassee Art Center in Owosso, Michigan,  that includes classical piano and super finger snacks along with, of course, very good art in several gallery rooms throughout the building.

The Mid-Michigan Art Guild shows are presented in various places in the Greater Lansing Michigan community: Framers Edge in Okemos, Michigan, Absolute Gallery in beautiful Old Town Lansing, 1212 Gallery and Delta Library in west Lansing, always with flare and good snacks. One of my favorite featured artist shows was at the Hope Borbas Library Gallery a few years ago. Again, good food provided by classy volunteers. This show stands out for me because of the patrons who were willing to talk about the creative process of art.

 

After the working trip Up North, I was home again in the studio trying to get inspired to paint. To encourage the process I was perusing art magazines in hope of getting the creative juices flowing. In an old Art Calendar Magazine, June 2010 (now known as Professional Artist Magazine), I read an article on “14 Tips For Creating Outstanding Art Events”. It was a good read and matched up well to the really fine art opening at Cycling Salamander.

The art input for the weekend did help get the paint flowing again. Tapping into a vision/dream another unusual painting materialized thanks to all the stimulation.

The next big art event in Michigan is ArtPrize . Keep reading the joelfellisart blogs and we’ll explore this unique art adventure together!

Joel   

The Day I Ran A Painting Marathon

[This blog is taken from an entry in my art journal from a few years ago – thought you would enjoy it.  Pictures are from the Marathon session. Don't try this at home.] 

            The painting process really appeals to me. Sometimes, however, I can get lost in time and end up over-working a painting. I tried to use techniques to help prevent this problem, but nothing seemed to help until one day while watching a Marathon running event I got an idea.  What about a timed event for painting, something more than “a painting a day”, why not one painting per hour? Maybe a Marathon of 26 paintings in 24 hours.

            Now we’re talking some serious painting.     

            Yes, its quirky, but artists tend to experiment with all sorts of quirky exercises. The best day came, a day free of the trials of daily life, a whole twenty- four hours worth. My stash of canvas surfaces all lined up, studio cleaned, well, almost. Ready to paint. Then I leaned down, zing, a muscle in my back let lose. Oops, should have stretched before the big race. Eight o’clock starting time became 10 o’clock. Have to stay focused, get this race going.

            Lining up reference photos that were taken from last summer’s trip gave a sense of being in the forests and dunes of Michigan. By matching the photo to the canvases I should have the first painting completed soon, right?

The first pack of three canvases had ripples in the weave. A little gesso should help to solve this glitch. Good enough. I just blew most of an hour.   

            Eleven a.m. the first of many canvas boards hit the easel. I like to paint much larger so this should be easy. My fast drying acrylics were working great but forty five minutes into the first of twenty-six paintings was going slower than expected. Could it be that I was dabbing and dallying? The whole reason for this marathon was to speed up the painting process with simplicity and discipline. I’ll have to keep better track of time.

            The first painting was finally completed in less than one hour and not too bad, if I say so myself.

            To celebrate, I did some stretching exercises for the stiff back, and took a long look at the couch. Maybe I should test it for upcoming naps?

             Wow! Fifteen minutes into my second painting and I’m on the couch sleeping. After doing some self-reaming, I got back at the goal.

The process continued through the day. I would have to work through interruptions like the maintenance person coming to fix a sagging light fixture. Paint, stretch sore muscles, and rest through the afternoon and into evening if the marathon was to be completed.  

            The safe place for completed work was beginning to fill up. To my surprise some paintings were pretty good. The weaker were ones off by a few brush strokes. The overworking problem seemed to be under control at least for now.

            Dinner break came and yes I succumbed to the human cravings. Food, I need food. After wolfing down too much dinner, the inner voice was yelling, “get back to work.”

            In a small college town where I once lived, the townies came out to watch a Marathon spectacle - Young people running twenty-six miles. How strange that was for us, seeing the college kids plod their way up the steep hill to the main street, their faces etched in pain, bodily fluids leaking.  This vivid image crept into my thoughts as I too plodded along. The many cups of tea had to be dealt with or I, too, would be that ominous soul on the up hill of this painting marathon.    

            I painted on into the evening.  The sun set, night came over the sleepy town as my studio light shone onto the empty streets. Paintings kept getting finished and still they looked pretty darn good. What was going on here? Was I in some kind of time warp?

            Breaks between paintings were getting longer. Late night talk shows could be heard coming from the next room. The specter the marathon runners began to appear in my mind as images of exhausted, plodding, tragic apparitions. My back was stiff and sore but thoughts of crossing the finish line with twenty-six finished paintings dogging me on. This was a rare moment in an Artist’s life. I had to keep going. But for how long?

            Late Late  shows wafted into the studio. The sore back turned into back pain, the nasty kind. We’re programmed not quit, right? Those gol darn blank canvases lined up waiting for the artist’s hand. I could not drop out; too many people knew I was out to do a painting marathon.

            Then inspiration hit me. I know how the Half-Marathon was invented. Yes, high fives all around, I just finished 13 paintings, a glorious half painting marathon, none of them overworked, all of them colorful and bearing the gift of simplicity.

Joel

A Road Trip To Remember

       I am sitting at the computer and glancing at a completed painting that turned out great if I do say so myself. The photo inspiration came from a photo revisit. Let me explain. When I was in my a child my family took a Michigan road trip. My father stayed home to manage his business. In his place my grandfather became our tour guide. He took us up the middle of the state across to Lake Michigan by car ferry boat and into Wisconsin then up to the Upper Peninsula and down the straits of Mackinac. We had many stops at historic sites and rich scenery of Pure Michigan. When we stopped we would pile out of the car stretch our tired bodies and take pictures, lots of pictures.  

       Many years later these stops  were revisited on my own family’s road trips. One such site stands out for its extreme beauty. I stopped the car in the Upper Peninsula (this time we took the impressive Mackinac Bridge) to stretch our legs at a parking pull off. We walked down a dark and shady worn path that led under a huge iron bridge over a little stream with moss covered boulders. Cameras were clicking away as we tried to capture this majestic scene to remember at home. Standing in this pristine site filled with cool texture and a symphony of sounds it suddenly occurred to me that this wonderful place was one of the stops on my childhood family journey so many years ago. Some things actually may stay the same at least for one lifetime.

       I got an email from an art gallery that has a summer theme of forests of Michigan. The image was there in that pleasant place in my memory, dense forests, pure tumbling water and moss covered rocks. After finding the second generation photo of my journey into that beautiful scene, my interpretation was on course. As things go in the arts, the gallery might or might not take this forest painting. The process of art in this case reminded me that the first step – inspiration - is motivated by many sources. In this case, I am so happy to have returned to a very special memory.    

       As we watch parents do their parenting thing, we have to marvel at all the effort that goes into raising and nurturing a child. That family trip many years ago is fondly remembered. Here’s to the family road trip and may we all have many more. 

Joel                                         Upper Peninsula scene, second time around 

The Passion of Original Art

Great Lakes Passage by Joel F Ellis, 27x35

During a featured artist show of my works a few years ago, a woman brought her older blind friend to “see” my paintings. I was a little startled, but more honored to give a personal tour of the work with the woman.  I described various pieces as we came to them when she stopped me and said that her friend liked the texture in my work. She wanted me to help her see through feeling the textures with the descriptions. We came to a large painting, Great Lakes Passage, with palette knife ridges and defined brush strokes of dune grasses, she moved her fingers over texture that can only be experienced in personal viewing. No flat copy or digital image shows the true sense of the work. She stayed with the painting a long time, moving her fingers along the sand passage to the great lake, when she turned to me and said, “It is a beautiful original painting, reminds me of camping in the dunes.”              

Original art, what is it? Though much of my work ranges from heavy texture to smooth color on canvas, the whole experience has been lingering with me as technology changes so much for us. The art community is a buzz with the shakeup of digital possibilities. With so much reprinted work available they ask, what will the art gallery look like in the next few years and how will the art community ignore or embrace the changes? These are some of the questions swirling out there in our Saturday morning gathering of artists.

Original art, as the name explains, is created by the artists and has their finger prints all over the piece, so to speak, and sometimes actually embedded in the material. The patron who receives the original has the only work by that artist, there can only be one original. This is the promise or compact between artist and patron. Replicas are another art form depicting the original using today’s technology with impressive exactness of color and image. Not texture. Even Giclée , which I offer of some of my paintings, can capture finite details with options such as size changes using almost exact pigment replicas of the original, but never the texture unless added in to the final replica product by the artist, noted and signed with limited edition documentation for collectors. As I said, Another art form.

The digital world is astounding us with its infinite possibilities, many challenges and new avenues that can lead to unlimited potential for the adventurists. Digital art itself presents a whole new consideration of the concept of original. New to the field of fine art – digital art has the potential to explore so much beyond liquid colors on canvas. Digital art today is well into the discussions just as photography as a fine art has been discussed since the medium took steps beyond true image, leaving a collector to wonder which is the original, and does it matter any more?

I think it does. Online art galleries are out there waiting to wow the customer with their wares and some very fine looking art.  Comparing the art markets to the vast food industry in America, the online art would be like a huge chain store, while the artists down the street would be in the local farmers market. Buying original art allows the patron the opportunity to get to know the artists, to put a hand on the same materials, to feel the passion that the artists felt in the production of the work.

All this is not to say that the miracle of the internet does not play an important role in exposure to original art. I do have an on line presence, web site (www.joelellisart.com ) and yes this blog. The discussions of original art, though confusing in the new digital age, are invigorating, almost like a sensory finger climb on great lake dune.

Joel

An Artist? What do you really do?

 We’ve had a busy beginning to the graduation/summer season visiting friends and family. Often  folks at these get-togethers look at me curiously and ask how things are going.  Are they waiting for the confession - yes I am an artist doing what artists do, whatever we do in the studio. Maybe they wonder: Could there be nudes in the studio? Wild parties, loose women, drinking strange substances and cutting off earlobes? No, nothing so dramatic in this life as an artist.

I pulled out an article I wrote a few years ago about confessing to an upscale art gallery that , yes I am an  artist. The gallery liaison looked me over and stifled a snicker – no funky clothes, no beret. I wanted to defend my statement but that would have taken that incredulous look off her face.

 It is not easy putting your hopes and dreams out there for people you hardly know to examine your soul. But look how far I’ve come, me, writing a blog on the creative process for the whole world to see. That process includes endless questioning and self-doubt, rushing me back to my worn copy of Art and Fear – Observations On The Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking  (Bayles & Orland).

Yes, I am an artist, I can tell by all the painted clothes hanging on hooks in my studio, by the storage bins swelling with comfort smelling oils on canvas, with a bookcase full of painter’s catalogs, and best, the genuinely positive comments from dear friends, family, and customers regarding the new works displayed on the website (www.joelellisart.com).  Most importantly, I think I am an artist because I know creating the forms and colors is really fun and exciting, even though I still have all my earlobes (with apologies to Vincent Van Gogh, who I greatly admire). 

Enjoy these lovely days of summer,

Joel

                                                     Cooling of the Dunes by Joel F. Ellis

                                                       Best of Show, Mid-Michigan Art Guild, 2012