White Rooster Studio

The fifth artist that will be highlighted is: LEE KRASNER:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Lenore “Lee” Krasner (October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong specialty in collage, who was married to Jackson Pollock. This somewhat overshadowed her contribution at the time, though there was much cross-pollination between their two styles.”

To learn more about Lee, please check out the rest of her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Krasner

Lee’s story is closely entwined with Jackson Pollock’s, so quite a lot of information about her… also includes Pollock. It would be remiss to neglect to mention their bond and the influence that they had on each other and their work:

The home that Lee and Jackson shared in Springs, NY  is now known as the  Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center and is open to tour and for exhibitions:

You can also check out the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, whose mission is: “providing financial assistance to individual visual artists of established ability through the generosity of the late Lee Krasner, one of the leading abstract expressionist painters and the widow of Jackson Pollock.” For more information about their work and applying for grants, please visit: http://pkf.org/

You are all probably tired of me mentioning “Ninth Street Women”, but I hope you will check it out. Lee is featured prominently and gets the recognition I feel that she deserves. Please also check out her biography:

 

Most of us are familiar with the Ed Harris film “Pollock” and if you haven’t seen it lately, it is worth another viewing:

I know that the film is primarily about Pollock, but you can’t have Pollock and his breakthrough without Lee.

 

Samples of Lee’s mosaic tables:

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of October for more photos of Lee and images of her work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Last Friday we traveled to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA to see the Renoir and Ida O’Keeffe exhibits on view. It was Basil’s first visit to the Clark and he couldn’t wait to check it all out!

First stop at the Clark was “Renoir: The Body, The Senses” – this exhibit will be on view until September 22nd, so if you are in the area and would love to view the show you still have couple of more days. I loved seeing the evolution of Renoir’s exploration of the human body over the course of his career and the opportunity to view some of his pictures that I had only seen reproductions of was amazing. Being able to get up close and actually see the brushstrokes and how the picture was constructed aided my understanding of Renoir’s work.

Please check out some of the image highlights at https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Renoir/Image-Gallery. The Clark’s website also has a lot of great information to check out in addition to the images, so if you have some time, please check out the additional links.

Of course I couldn’t resist walking past the reduced book table at the gift shop, so it really wasn’t any surprise that I walked out with a couple of new books:

And, of course, the “Renoir’s Dancer” book proved too “shiny” to resist… so much so, that I put the Isamu Noguchi biography I had been reading aside to start it, and now I can’t put it down!

Next stop was “Ida O’Keeffe: Escaping Georgia’s Shadow”… I only wish that there were more of Ida’s work on view as I completely feel in love with her Highland Lighthouse Series: https://www.clarkart.edu/Mini-Sites/Ida-O-Keeffe/Image-Gallery

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of information online about Ida, just a short Wikipedia entry, no written biography, just a tiny catalog of the exhibition (see left):

I certainly hope that Ida will receive more recognition soon and that someone writes a biography so we learn more about her and her work.

Before leaving the Clark, we sat in the sun and enjoyed the view at the water installation:

We then headed into North Adams in search of sandwiches so we could enjoy our lunch at the Natural Bridge State Park:

After touring the state park, we headed back east along Route 2 and stopped at an overlook so Basil can check out the valley:

We’ll be keeping a eye out for upcoming exhibits at the Clark and are looking forward to our next adventure!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

The fourth artist that will be highlighted is: SARI DIENES:

I will admit, when I began this project, I had no idea who Sari Dienes was… but anyone who looks this happy and confident is someone I want to learn more about!

 Honestly, it is a complete shame that more people aren’t aware of her and her work.

According to her Wikipedia page: “Sari Dienes (8 October 1898 – 25 May 1992) was a Hungarian-born American artist. During a career spanning six decades she worked in a wide range of media, creating paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, ceramics, textile designs, sets and costumes for theatre and dance, sound-art installations, mixed-media environments, music and performance art. Her large-scale ‘Sidewalk Rubbings’ of 1953–55 – bold, graphic, geometrical compositions, combining rubbings of manhole covers, subway gratings and other elements of the urban streetscape – signaled a move away from the gestural mark making of Abstract Expressionism towards the indexical appropriation of the environment that would be further developed in Pop art, and exerted a significant influence on Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.”

To read more about Sari, please check out her Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari_Dienes

You can also learn more about Sari at the Sari Dienes Foundation: http://saridienes.org and at The Drawing Center: http://www.drawingcenter.org/en/drawingcenter/5/exhibitions/9/upcoming/811/sari-dienes

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a biography for Sari, but I did locate this video of Sari creating one of her snow paintings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6CEU2WASWc

Here are some images of Sari at work:

I won’t pretend that I am not disappointed about the lack of information about Sari… but this only makes me more determined than ever to make sure these artists are not forgotten and that their work is still being shown.

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of September for more photos of Sari and images of her work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

Yesterday we took Basil to Willard Brook State Forest for the afternoon. We had been there before with Basil and we were all looking forward to a sunny afternoon by the brook to work on projects… unfortunately, when we arrived at the park, we realized that somewhere along the way, Basil had had an accident:

Yep, somewhere between home and the park, Basil lost his foot 😦

Happily, we were able to locate his foot and we were still able to enjoy the afternoon.

I was able to get Pismo 12 (L) to a point where I believe that I can officially call it completed:

I do think that there is something “missing” from Pismo 20 (T), but I am sure that I will be able to figure it out this week:

Basil was still able to offer assistance despite his injury:

This morning, we were able to perform minor surgery on Basil and he is now – awkwardly – recovering: 

©Jenn White, Basil Recovery 1 & 2. Photograph.

Basil isn’t a young mannequin anymore, I realized on the way home yesterday that he must be about 17 years old by now. Not sure how what that translates to mannequin years, but I am going to keep a watch out for him from now on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

I have always wanted to go on an artist’s retreat… but could never find one that I really wanted to attend. And then I realized that what I really wanted was simply an opportunity to be alone for a couple of days with my art projects.

Thankfully, I have a partner who was looking for the same thing… well, kind of, he wanted time to work on some writing projects. And so the the idea was formed: we would look for a location where we would be able to split the week, each of us would have a couple of days alone and we would spend time together in the middle. A perfect arrangement… now, to just find the perfect place…

I honestly think we spent more time looking for this location than we did on our summer vacation at Harvey’s Lake last month! First off, we wanted someplace quiet, semi-secluded, with a screened-in porch and WIFI. After some debate, we chose to stay in Hanover, NH in a chalet next to Pierce’s Inn with views of Vermont:

My partner headed north on the 17th, loaded us up on supplies for the week and settled into his part of the retreat.

The only real disappointment at the chalet was that the WIFI was not functioning properly. It was down when my partner arrived at the chalet and it remained down for our entire stay, so everything that we had planned to do involving WIFI was pretty much tossed out the window. Not the end of the world as there was plenty of other things we had both planned on doing, but it would have been nice to have it.

I left work early on Tuesday afternoon and headed up to join him. The plan was that he would return to work on Thursday morning and I would begin my part of the retreat.

So, of course, our one full day together, Wednesday, pretty much rained all day.

And then it was my turn!!

Day One: Bright and early Thursday morning I set up a work area on a table on the screened-in porch with everything I will need for the next couple of days: my laptop for notes, the six Pismo Series pictures that I started while at Harvey’s Lake last month, my art supplies, my current book: “de Kooning: An American Master” and, of course, BASIL!

I spent a little time coming up with an outline of a couple of things that I planned to try to set in motion as a result of this retreat:

• Write Artist Pages… regularly: pretty much EVERY SINGLE word I have read about living a creative/artistic life recommends some kind of writing to spark creativity and inspiration.
• Find and connect with my own tribe: I need to connect more with other artists.
• Start entering shows again.  
• Check for local art fairs and markets and start researching them.
• Try to attend at least two art shows per month.
• Work in the studio more. Take more chances. Push boundaries.

Then I got settled in for the day, alternating between working on Pismo 23 & Pismo 2 (B) and reading de Kooning.

I think that I have finally come up with a solution for the B & W that I like: because both of the letters take of so much real estate, I think by relaxing my restrictions about not filling in the letters a bit more than I did with previous pictures, it will (hopefully) give the illusion that the design is wrapping itself around the letter.

Day Two: I am going to be honest, I am not a huge fan of Willem de Kooning’s work, but I am interested in what made him the artist that he evolved into and since he was a huge part of the New York School world that I can’t seem to get away from lately, it just seemed natural to read his biography now and I have just come across a very profound passage and now I can’t stop thinking about it:

From “de Kooning: An American Master” by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, Chapter 19. Darkness Radiant:

“No outsider can follow the winding, internal path that leads a man like de Kooning from despair to discovery, abandon old commitments, embrace new ideas, and, finally confront what must be said or acknowledged. De Kooning, when there seemed nothing left to lose, was helped by a profane, “damn the consequences” overlook in the art world of the time that encouraged doing whatever it took to make important art. An attitude best described – this being a period in American history that could still recoil in shock – as f*** it.”

This just hit me. Hard. Total epiphany. This is essentially what my partner has been telling me for years: just f***ing play.

I think that most artists tend to get to some point in their work in which they overthink the next line or color placement and eventually finds themselves stuck. Kind of like where I am now with my work. Inspiration and creativity comes and goes… I get what seems like selective blocks of intense work, where everything seems to be going perfectly… and then when I try to recreate that feeling at a later studio session… I can’t. I become frustrated… and depressed… and worry about the time that I a “wasting” and then I end up sitting in my studio, looking at the pictures and am completely unable to continue the work.

It is time to LET GO and just f*** it.

Once this sunk in, I found that I was able to complete so much more. I also concluded that restricting myself to working on just one or two pictures and being determined to finish them only caused undue stress, so I pulled out ALL of my work in progress and spent the rest of the day working on one picture for a little while and then moving on to the next and so on. By not forcing the creativity to happen and by being more flexible, I was able to accomplish more that I could have anticipated:

A good portion of the T and some of the F had been worked on prior to the retreat, but I like the direction that it is going in and I was able to incorporate come of the ideas I came up with on Day Two.

At one point, I spread out all of the pictures I have for the Pismo Series and I realized that I have completed more than I had thought. The only picture that I have in progress that I was not able to get to is the I.

While you do not have to go to the extreme of going on a solo art retreat, as I did (it is not for everyone), I do highly recommend spending some time alone with your art, whatever you pursue. There is a sense of liberation while you are on retreat, away from daily responsibilities and you are able to re-focus and re-dedicate yourself to your work.

I honestly had a hard time coming home Saturday afternoon: I had a wonderful (and long overdue) epiphany, completed a lot of work, and let go of a TON of stress. I can see us doing this regularly going forward as I believe that we each got what we needed out of our time alone and I am looking forward to the next one 🙂

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Basil and I have just returned from our first ever artist retreat!

Lots of new works on progress to share, but we have to get down to business first. The chalet that we stayed at was supposed to have WIFI so we could continue to post on FB daily… alas, there were some technical difficulties so we are a little behind now.

Please check out Basil teasing one of the new pictures and please check out all that we had meant to share while we were away below:

Wednesday, August 21st: Happy Birthday, Asher Brown Durand!!

Happy Birthday, Aubrey Beardsley!!!

Happy Birthday, Christian Schad!!

Happy Birthday, Jean-Baptiste Greuze!!

Happy Birthday, Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Pena!!

Thursday, August 22nd: Happy Birthday, Archibald Willard!!

Happy Birthday, Henri Cartier-Bresson!!

Happy Birthday, Jacques Lipchitz!!!

Throwback Thursday: All three of my White Women pictures #TBT #WhiteWomenSeries:

Friday, August 23rd: Happy Birthday, Alexander Mile Calder!!!

Happy Birthday, Hannah Frank!!!

Saturday, August 24th: Happy Birthday, Alex Colville!!

Happy Birthday, Lavinia Fontana!!! LOVE this self-portrait!

Sunday, August 25th: Happy Birthday, Charles-Amedee-Philippe van Loo!!

Happy Birthday, Dorothea Tanning!!!

Happy Birthday, George Stubbs!!

Happy Birthday, Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato!!

Happy Birthday, Jacob Maris!!

Also, WRS is continuing to celebrate Artist of the Month: Hedda Sterne!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

August 13th is “Left-Hander’s Day.” Launched in 1996, this yearly event celebrates left-handedness and raises awareness of the difficulties and frustrations left-handers. experience every day in a world designed for right-handers.

To help celebrate, I thought it would be a good idea to showcase some left-handed artists… in no particular order:

Vincent van Gogh and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec:

 Albrecht Durer and Hans Holbein the Younger:

Karel Appel and Leonardo da Vinci:

MC Escher and Michelangelo Bounarroti:

Paul Klee and Raoul Dufy:

Rembrandt van Rijn and  Peter Paul Rubens:

… and Raphael di Santi:

I am sure you are all wondering about any female left-handed artists… well, I looked… and looked… and came up with a self-portrait of Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun using her left-hand to paint:

Of course, this doesn’t 100% prove that she was left-handed and I couldn’t find anything stating that defiitively, which was frustrating.

There has to be more female left-handed artists out there. If you know of any, I would be very happy to learn of them so they can be celebrated. Please comment or email WRS!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you enjoy the projects, pictures and posts, please see free to comment – feedback is encouraged and is always welcome.

Please check out White Rooster Studio:

• If you enjoy this blog, please enter your email address by going to the Menu, then the Home Page to have White Rooster Studio’s blog sent directly to you once it is published.
• You can also follow White Rooster Studio by using the direct links from the blog’s headers. For FB, please click on the FB button, and if you click on VIDA COLLECTION or ETSY SHOP you will be directed to those sites immediately.
• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.