2022 Getting Back to the Studio

          I always start a new blog post by reading a few of the comments covered in previous posts. So today past epistles have been reviewed and with a subtle smile and hope new insights and connections are revealed on the stuff of art . 

Purple Dune

         The spirit, inner light or whatever you wish to call the inner drive to create, can at times be defused, as we all know, by outside forces, and sometimes we have very little control over this mysterious impasse. A young artist I know who is full of bright ideas and not fettered by fancy art training but full of the joy of life suddenly stopped creating and was very solemn for weeks. A few days ago the joy of art making slipped back into place and a very complex drawing came back to the relief of all. To quote the artist, “I thought I lost my art.” 

          One of those outside forces, The Pandemic, is still here and as I write this I am still in my PJs at 10:30 in the morning. Oh well, we soon will be back to the studio. Galleries are waiting and we are making plans for another season of exhibiting new art. 

         We currently have four works at the Shiawassee Art Center (SAC). If you yearn for filling your heart with quality, original art in a beautiful winter setting you should plan for a visit to SAC this month in Owosso Michigan, open daily. These folks know how to decorate. 

          We are also happy to have two paintings in the Mid-Michigan McLaren Physicians building on Lake Lansing Road, Lansing, MI. We were scheduled to present a number of paintings at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, 300 Washington Ave, Lansing Michigan, for a newly renovated opening, but the show has been put on hold because of , guess what –the haunting Pandemic in Michigan. Please where ever you go this season to see the art that lifts you, please wear a mask and be sure you are fully vaccinated, be a warrior against the virus and its friends. 

         Wishing the holidays will bring us joy and hope for the New Year and may we all find our art.  Joel       Joelellisart.com

Florence at Dawn

                      

Rue du Nord

Peaceful Morning

                

Joel Ellis Art needs Flowers and Journals

I must have flowers always and always –Monet          

Ten Tulips
Favorite of
Helene's Mom

It is the end of summer with all its tricks, heat, humidity, mosquitoes and the end of waiting for the stuff of life to get back to, well you know do I dare say, normal.  We all hope to get that summer trip in before we are tied into our autumn routine. And, of course, we always hesitate regarding the pandemic.

O yes flowers, I hope you have noticed the flowers wild and planted by well-intentioned humans. What a year for flowers. As I type this last sentence, I looked around the house and see several new flower paintings mixed with old favorites. Careful traveling has helped put most of us in touch with things of beauty and meaning and given us time to reflect on the elements of our life that are so important to us.

Purple Pair, once in a botany
exhibit at Rackham Hall, 
University of Michigan

For years I have tried to keep a journal of the events that have been presented to us on this very interesting art journey. The hard cover journals keep piling up. A few years of the records were miss placed but after a thorough search the history records have been found. Reviewing the years in these pages is quite the long and revealing read. The journals became an important element of an ongoing and evolving inventory. After years of good tries at record keeping, we have finally a professional IT grandson to help with this daunting task on the location of missing paintings - where is it? Or where was it? Do we still have it hidden like the journals? Ryan’s good skill with Excel is proving to be a wonderful gift to help us into a more accurate record of the art inventory.

  

Elizabeth's Iris
For my Mom in her
last years

As for me and painting I am reminded of a good friend’s encouragement many years ago, “Bloom where you are planted.” Thank for your advice Janet S. and Claude Monet 

These are a few of my flower paintings over the years, most are in private homes.

Summer Joy, 36x36
(recently sold, displayed 
 the owner's charming
bathroom)

  

       

            

           Lellow (named by a darlin child)

Golden Flowers, 30x40
For our favorite granddaughter.
(Our only granddaughter)

Is It Over Yet?

 Could it be over? You know, the Covid thing that has changed our lives so much. It seems so strange how the world’s people have been put to the test of a century and humanity is coming out of its greatest challenge with a new compassion for all the subtle joys.

I have been hoping to compose that paragraph for months and it looks like we will truly be back to our former routines with a greater appreciation for the thing we took for normal.

The fine folks at Shiawassee Art Center (SAC) have strived to keep a positive arts environment alive through these times with variations on their shows and they, too, are back. SAC requested keeping three paintings from the recent featured artists show to display currently with my newest painting going in mid-June for the Membership Show.

Tranquility, 24x28 oil on linen. One of three Joel Ellis paintings, 

popular in the virtual Featured Artists Show in March, 

invited to be retained in the SAC gallery for summer 2021. 

Let me tell you a little about the latest painting. I had taken an especially dynamic photo a few years ago that continues to stand out when I am getting ready to paint. Of course the image was on a Lake Michigan dune. All the things I like to paint were on full glory display that day - sky, dunes, clouds and water. The 30x40 canvas was ready, dreamy Debussy music and sweet memory of a perfect summer day. The paint and the music blended to create a strong work. I finished and walked away feeling great. A few hours passed, so I took a sneak peek at the new masterpiece. I was surprised and deflated. So I put the canvas away for another day trying not to beat myself up too much. 

Pine Bay 20x16, currently displayed at 

McLaren Physicians Building Lansing, Michigan

After a few days I carefully took a quick glance at the dune painting. With a couple of changes it began to show improvements, not there yet but a little better. My patience was wearing thin. I took a crumpled paper towel and dabbed it in yellow and orange paint, plopped it on the foreground and suddenly the painting popped to life. I will include that painting in a future blog.

If you have read this far you know painting is an adventure, a touch of this, a touch of that and each work of art becomes a kind of magic that artists try so passionately to convey to viewers.

If you are in Michigan this summer and seek a lovely place to view art, include a visit to Shiawassee Art Center in Owosso in your plans.   Happy viewing. Joel  

Starting Again from a Hard Year

It was a dark and stormy night. … It was the best of times. … It was love at first sight. … whew. … Hard to get started again. Picking up the pieces of art work from where we left off many months ago, and knowing that some things will be forever changed keep us going. We still look for beauty and goodness all around us and hope to nurture that goodness in us all. 

Tranquility 20x24

We still have art shows and moments of inspiration that keep the new paintings coming. A few paintings have reflected the difficult times we all have experienced but for the most part we are able to start again in the paintings to come. We are very happy to be part of an elegant art show for the next few weeks at one of our most beautiful venues, Michigan’s Shiawassee Art Center. Over a dozen of my paintings are on display and online and in the gallery. The online experience is quite easy to use and fun too. 

Follow the link for a virtual tour: https://shiawasseearts.org/current-show/. Five artists of various genres in the greater Lansing area are presenting at Shiawassee Art Center from March 16 - April 25. Scroll down the fine art works of two or three other artists to see the Joel F. Ellis contribution to the show. Tap on a piece of interest to enlarge and view details of the work. 

Goldenrod Summer 24x30

Wait, wait there’s more – Sunday March 21 is an Open House for both in person or the virtual show from 12 to 4pm. There is a 20% discount for one piece of art purchased during the open house hours. 

AND To watch a brief video interview of Meet the Artist Joel Ellis click the following link: https://youtu.be/HYQtNGh4AAA 

This has been a very busy recovery time from the hard last year. We would like to thank Jennifer Ross, staff and volunteers at Shiawassee Art Center for a great job organizing the many parts of this exhibit. Thank you also Honorable & Mrs. Gerald Lostracco for their sponsorship. Finally, much thanks to my colleagues and their inspiring art: 

Autumn Embrace 16x20

Jane Reiter, Rhonda Sherwin, Sheryl Stephens, Pamela Wilburn. 

I hope you enjoy the art as much as I have enjoyed producing it. Joel

Keeping an Artist's Journal

Never be without your little pad. - Leonardo DaVinci

(Including samples of Joel Ellis art) 

Ok, I confess I do keep a journal. Well the thing keeps me on track in those moments of low inspiration. The goal is to record the activities of this very unusual journey through the creative process and yes, it is a big plus helping with the business part too.

Ephemeral Moment, sold at Shiawassee Art Center 

Everyone who uses a journal develops their own way  and purpose. Is it a record of the works produced or is it a commentary of the Times influencing the work? Working under the restrictions of a world-wide pandemic, for instance, may call for a lot of comments.  For me the art journal is a piece of evolution regarding my art, consequently, it has also been an ongoing process with many comments like, “darn, why didn’t I think of that sooner?’’ Each artist will develop their own style based on purpose. Here’s something to think about - along the way the journal itself may also be collected as art.

Autumn Dune Grasses, expressionism

Earth Cycle, an exercise in abstract

Here are some points for a record keeping journal that also turns into a business record.

•             Create an art journal in a notebook that has a wide left hand margin to record several items, dated, about that piece of work. The entry on the more spacious right hand side should include a description and rough sketch of the piece.
•             Develop an inventory numbering system for each piece of art - place it on the back of the actual work and in the left margin of the dated journal entry. 
•             With the inventory #, dimensions, medium, here’s  the fun part - when sold place a big $ sign under the date of entry, and any other fun information on that entry such as where it was shown, when, and if known who purchased the piece.
•             The commentary parts of my journals, based on what is going on around me or notes of the Times, are also dated and blended into the record keeping part. I also note quotes or books I have read for future reference. This works for me, but like I said, everyone has their own way. 

The last few months I have been recording world events affecting me that give future viewers a look into the environment the paintings were created. These journals become a time capsule for future generations.

Thank you for visiting the Joel Ellis Art blog. Best wishes in the coming season to you and those you love.

Joel

Helene's Cosmos, water color on paper

Epiphany of Three Elements

        I was asked recently what goes through my mind as I work on a painting. If the working environment is conducive to the task, the elements of working a painting seamlessly usually come together without great effort. For me, there is always a tug of war with the natural flow of where the painting seems to magically appear or when it seems to fight back. The fight back experience makes the finished product sweeter. We artists like to call this the learning curve. For me the learning is ongoing and is intensified with the unusual struggle that sometimes makes the successfully completed painting even more rewarding.

        But what is going through my mind?  Why do I put myself through this arduous experience … why was I not a potter or maybe a blacksmith?

       The important elements that I want to be present at each creation are the basic factors that make a painting “work”. These are the times to step back, sip some tea and review the basic elements of a good painting. Are they here in this painting, I ask, and do they work together to tell the story that was intended? One last filter that helps me review the nearly finished painting include a check of three painting elements:     simplify, intensify, and unify.

       Recent works still challenge that process. I love dunes and paint a lot of them. Once in awhile a painting of these fine physical gifts of nature rises above (pun intended) other painterly expressions. Strait Ahead, was finished a few days ago, completed in two long sessions. It began simply – a horizon meeting a summer sky. But then the work began to intensify its surroundings. Using the pallet knife, brushes, fingers, I felt exuberant with the motions. Finally I knew I had to unify the elements before me – clouds, grasses, sand path. Three simple measures led me to a comforting satisfaction.  

As Joseph Campbell said,
Following your ‘bliss’, As much as you can, do what you love. (The Art of Fine Art).

An Artist's Life in the Pandemic

       It has been a long time and much has transpired since the last blog post in February. We all have experienced seismic changes in our lives. The daily routines that glue our lives together have been severed and new ones put into place that we have started calling the new normal. I will say that making good use of time we tackled the old inventory records with lots of cross referencing from very early works to the most recent paintings. We are now able to look at a clean slate of years of painting and know the history of  this pleasant job.

       Last year was our most rewarding and affirming art year with many sales and positive connections. Thanks to all the wonderful folks sharing positive feedback for my work. As this year unfolds there are early indications of continued interest in the arts with venues making plans for new and interesting openings, though most for 2021.

       The paintings that I have been working on have a sense of darkness that goes against my personal reason for making art, so I take a deep breath turn off the media and get a sun brewed ice tea to face the darkness with courage and do what painters do… paint.

Again, thank you friends and patrons, here are a few of the new pieces from the new life.  Joel

Wash Away   16x20   oil on linen

Pine Bay  20x16   oil on linen

Forest Dreams   30x24   acrylic on linen

Flowers on the Wall  12x16    acrylic on linen