Goya, Picasso Speak from Courage

       Have you ever gotten lost in your favorite art museum or art gallery going from painting to painting ooing and awing and the next piece before you is a light switch? Our first reaction usually is wow what is this cool art piece? We quickly come out of our euphoria and hide a little laugh. The moment of seeing the “real world” is that moment, that sweet moment, wishing we could always see our world with that feeling.

       Now how do we get this “light switch as art” feeling in our daily lives? We could visit as much of the art that we can take in but that might be too much of a good thing. Artists prepare for the mysterious trip into their creative place each in their own way. If the artist is apprehensive and doubtful, their work will show it, but if they plunge in bravely with confidence it too will sparkle and speak to the courage it took to present the soul of the artist to the world. Picasso created some of his best art during the occupation of Paris and Goya told his stories through his creative art during the inquisition.   

       We like to think the lives of artists are courageous and confident, but in a careful reading about the lives of those well-known and remembered creators we learn they come in all backgrounds and levels of influences in their lives. In Goya’s The Third of May 1808, to help the world to experience his pain and passion, we are thrust before the firing squad. Picasso takes us to the bombing of a modern day city to experience his pain in his massive work Guernica.
       Remember the “light switch as art?” We are sensitized by our personal experiences and the times we live in. Our personal life, our circle of family and friends and beyond all blend with the events of the world we live in. Hopefully we feel the enrichment of life the artists have presented to us, the viewer. The artist’s goal is to help us see the world a little clearer and more intense so we can make a better place to live on this big blue marble slipping through space. 

The Third of May 1808 by Francisco de Goya

Enjoy this art summer, 
Joel  www.joelellisart.com 

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

Perseverance 22x27 acrylic on canvas  Joel F Ellis

Jan van Eyck Was Here, What's in a Signature

Cool of the Dunes  20x24 oil on canvas

       Signatures - we all use our personal identification every day. Artists, too, have the special identification mark we use to make things legal and official. Think back to our first checking account when we had to sign the bank paper work. We learned to practice the name over and over until we got something that looked presentable and official. The artist has the same issues to consider, our official ID and one that says, “I am the creator of this work of art.” In the beginning we do wonder, should the signature be a squiggle or a bunch of letters from our name?

       One of the first detected signatures was placed on the room’s back wall of Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait. It said “Jan van Eyck was here. 1434.” (Source: Secret Lives of Great Artists, Elizabeth Lunday )

       As we stroll passed the paintings on the walls of our favorite art gallery or museum take time to look at the artist’s name, is it big and bold or small and hard to find. There is a purpose for the personal ID. The artist is saying to the world “my work is finished and ready for its own life.”  Sometimes it is on the bottom right or in the painting texture of the images. The date completed can be near the inscription as well. Some artists like to put this information on the back of the support or on the stretcher bars for stretched canvas. 

When one of my favorite paintings, Cooling of the Dunes, was awarded Best in Show the judge discussed light and shadows, complementary  colors, then added that he liked the signature within the paint of the dune's edge.

Morning Fog 18x24 Signature in the painted right corner. Original sold, giclee available
Giclee uses exact matching pigments in a digital capture to reproduce from the original work.  

     Collectors of art do want to have that signature as well as the art itself. We all know the famous names and their personal note to us. Don’t we all hope to find that famous signature waiting for us in grandma’s attic?  So as an artist I pledge to sign all my work and hope my creative attempts may get into that attic of dreams just waiting to be researched in the online indexes of artists’ signatures.

       PS   Let’s not forget all the artists facing that cave wall thousands of years ago hoping to be remembered for their artistic expression and wisdom. They too left their name or even better their hand print on their communication to the futures viewers. Thanks to the cave painters and petroglyph artists in our past for showing us the way. 

Enjoy the views of original art,

Joel

www.Joelellisart.com  

Lellow 24x24 acrylic on canvas, signature left corner up the side

       

Joel preparing signature on Lellow

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. 

Splash  20x24 acrylic on linen

I hope you are reading this in a place where you can enjoy such a glorious day.

Joel  www.joelellisart.com

Taking A Local Art Trip: Saper Gallery, Technology Businesses, Favorite Artists

Friday May 16, 2014 - A beautiful day and most of the university students have turned the town over to the locals. That means less student traffic and more art festivals and music events in the streets.  We went to the big art museum but it was closed until noon so we went to other art venues in town, what a great treat.  

Fortitude, 18x24 oil on canvas, currently at MMAG show

       In previous blogs we have noted visits to interesting venues to display our art. The last few weeks we have placed paintings in a variety of businesses supporting the local art scene. The first was the newly renovated Okemos Library, Mid Michigan Art Guild (MMAG) member show. The show highlighted the talents of members in the local art guild. The second is a start-up incubator office space for a very creative business community, the Technology Innovations Center (T.I.C.). The show was launched by live music and libations and a bonus, Maureen Ryan, one of the visual artists is also a fine vocalist. The third is a similar venue, a service center for several businesses relying on the new technologies for expansion, Force by Design. It too has wall space just waiting for the creative touch by artists. A big thank to you all for letting for us brighten your days.  

Autumn Dune Grasses, 16x20 acrylic on linen currently at Force By Design

       Our local art adventure on this brilliant day was moving along just fine, the kind of adventure that nourishes the soul, and we were not done, the morning was still young. On to our top notch and highly acclaimed art resource, Saper Gallery of East Lansing, Michigan.  We were greeted by a charming assistant who was willing to discuss the local art and how it is shaped by the bigger art world. We started discussing the works of Tunis Ponsen, a Michigan native originally from Muskegon. Tunis Ponsen is a fine mid-century oil and water colorist. Roy Saper of Saper Gallery holds a number of Ponsen beautiful works for sale. There were several fine works by other Michigan artists in the gallery. The work of an artist friend, Barbara McCleary, was its usual top form and a real treat so see in such a

Cooling of the Dunes, 20x24 oil on canvas, currently at T.I.C.

magnificent gallery setting.

       While we were having our local art adventure in East Lansing, the activity pace in town was picking up as 180 artists were moving in for the 51st East Lansing Art Festival. This should be a fun weekend. We hope some university students come back to see their city in its best artsy party mode.

Look about you for some fine art,

Joel

www.joelellisart.com  

Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, Peggy Guggenheim Winter Companions

Winter is almost over, spring will be short and summer will be here soon. As I was looking back over my winter reading, (yes, I should have been painting, but it was a long cold winter), I found that the reading list was quite interesting and gave me a better background to this fun and crazy world of art. The main standouts were Thomas Hart Benton, Jackson Pollock, LeeKrasner and Peggy Guggenheim. The biographies all had a same theme and general geography, New York. We artists, not in N. Y., often think what would our chances be of making it big in The Big Apple. Austin Kleon’s latest book ShowYour Work points out that the new technologies such as what you are reading right now put us all in touch, artists and patrons, all over the world…. So hello world!!!

June Morning  16x20  acrylic on linen

Cosmic Spin  20x24   acrylic on linen

There were some new paintings completed this winter; one can be seen on the latest website (www.joelellisart.com), We Are Stardust. The other paintings on the website are on display around the capital city area, Michigan.

Tech advisors also say to blog and blog often and show your works in progress. Maybe I’ll try to show work in progress but, but, but that sounds like a big studio clean up session.

Enjoy the Spring flowers.

Joel 

Iris Window  16x20   acrylic on linen

Peace   20x24   acrylic on canvas

Imagination in the Technology Innovation Center East Lansing

Helene's Cosmos 16x20 watercolor

When we get started talking about the artist’s process of creating that masterpiece, the phrase, you have a lot of imagination, often comes up. If an artist looks at a vase of flowers and paints what is seen, the rendering is much like the vase of flowers, but if the flowers “spark” to the artist, a creative flow begins to takes over and a deeper meaning of flowers is revealed. The result is a piece replete with imagination. That spark is the energy that fuels the imagination for the creator and the viewer, we have completed the circle. 

We can say the art piece spoke to us, and so the circle is completed. The artist has made contact with the mysterious part of our being and we are moved.

Flowers are a source of universal beauty, but what about the painting that does not have a clear  object, that splash of colors and swirling shapes that we like to look at and try to make the canvas-dance speak to us. The artist is inspired to find an avenue of expression through the creative imagination. Another level of experience is added to take the viewer on a deeper journey. If for some reason we, the viewers, have subtle reason to resist the higher level of exploration, we might slide past the work and mutter, interesting or nice try or I don’t get it.

Eleven Wonders 16x20 acrylic on linen

Imagination can be for everyone.  We have all heard folks with their hands to their face say to no one in particular, “I guess I’m not creative enough,” or “Where do they come up with stuff.” With the non-object view of the art, the artist is trying to take us on a deeper journey to enhance the enjoyment and beauty all around us. The simple things in life take on a more significant place in our environment. We can absorb the artist’s “spark” and enjoy the experience of the creative flow.

Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures. – Henry Ward Beecher

Flowers are coming, just imagine!

Joel

www.joelellisart.com 

paintings@joelellisart.com 

Post Script:

If you are out Sunday, March 9, and in or around East Lansing, you may want to enjoy some good music and snacks and fine art for the Miscellany exhibit at the Technology Innovation Center, 1 to 3 pm. upstairs of the old Barnes and Noble building. Use the walkway on the second floor from the parking structure.

Getting Started in 2014

     

      The January thaw has come and gone and we didn't fully appreciate the warmer weather. On the positive side we do have a real winter this year with lots of snow and school closings.  Oops, there I go again, must stay positive. The New Year usually means time to make goals we hope to work on and find new paths to carry us into other directions.

       After a few weeks off, the studio needed its usual new start of cleaning and restocking painting supplies. That done, it is now time for pleasant music, a good cup of tea, and inspiration with that wonderful feeling of starting the new season. Sounds idyllic, but the first few starts this year were, well, not so good. Never fear, with a little repainting and, dare I say a little luck, new works are coming.

We are stardust 36 x 36 acrylic on canvas

       Last year I had the honor of making a presentation to the Jackson Civic Art Association. I brought the tools used in my style of moving paint over a surface. Some of the kind folks in the audience were surprised to see the ways paint can be applied. Yes I do use the traditional paint brush, but there are also many interesting and novel/daring ways to apply paint.

       After a little dumpster-diving a new tool was found - a wide vertical window shade section. The result

might have been accomplished with a painting knife but maybe not. The size and flexibility of the new tool worked well with the viscosity and volume of paint. The resulting work rendered in this challenging manner means a lot to the creator and I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did creating it.

       Hope those of you in the northern climes stay warm during these wintry days.

Joel