The seventh artist that will be highlighted is: LOUISE NEVELSON:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Louise Nevelson (September 23, 1899 – April 17, 1988) was an American sculptor known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures.

Born in the Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), she emigrated with her family to the United States in the early 20th century. Nevelson learned English at school, as she spoke Yiddish at home.

By the early 1930s she was attending art classes at the Art Students League of New York, and in 1941 she had her first solo exhibition. A student of Hans Hofmann and Chaim Gross, Nevelson experimented with early conceptual art using found objects, and dabbled in painting and printing before dedicating her lifework to sculpture. Usually created out of wood, her sculptures appear puzzle-like, with multiple intricately cut pieces placed into wall sculptures or independently standing pieces, often 3-D. One unique feature of her work is that her figures are often painted in monochromatic black or white. A figure in the international art scene, Nevelson was showcased at the 31st Venice Biennale. Her work is seen in major collections in museums and corporations. Nevelson remains one of the most important figures in 20th-century American sculpture.”

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

There is a great site dedicated to Louise: http://www.louisenevelsonfoundation.org:

To learn more about Louise, please check out one of her biographies: “Louise Nevelson: Art is Life” (2016) by Laurie Wilson and “Louise Nevelson: A Passionate Life” (1990) by Laurie Lisle. 

Please check out some of Louise’s sculptures below: 

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

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

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I have been thinking quite a lot about the origin of the Pismo Series in relation to my love of Celtic illuminated letters… mostly remind myself of why I have taken on this project, but also to draw some inspiration from them as I progress even further into this series.

I have always loved illuminated letters and fonts, beginning with my early days in college art history and graphic design classes to the nine years I spent as an image-setter during the 1990’s – I am quite sure that that job title may be a tad obsolete now as the printing industry has changed tremendously since then and it is pretty much digital now.

Essentially, my job was to take PageMaker and Quark design files and turn them into film so they can be sent to magazines and printers, mostly for ads but also for brochures, letterhead and presentation aides. I used to love making color keys that were used to confirm that the CMYK plates were going to print correctly. 

Each plate would print out one for each of the four colors and each layer would need to be added onto the previous one using registration marks to ensure that they all line up correctly in order to create the final color image.

I was also trained to develop and create slides as well as print posters and presentation transparencies… some of these mediums were considered cutting edge in the 1990’s, but, alas, are no longer in use today as technology has advanced so far ahead of all this and the industry has changed dramatically.

I firmly believe that my tenure as an image-setter further instilled my innate love of fonts – I used to have a thick book containing hundreds of fonts that I would thumb though for inspiration to use in my creative work. The idea of combining words and images has always fascinated me and I have struggled incorporating words into my work unsuccessfully for over 20 years. Combine this with a love of Celtic illuminated letters – like the ones below – and one day I found myself thinking about how to create MODERN illuminated letters… and if it could be done: 

Which brings us to November of 2019 – I had begun the Pismo Series in August of 2018 and had set a goal of completing this project in two years. At the time, I had thought that completing 13 letters a year seemed to be a realistic goal, but I have since concluded that the shear number of design challenges – that change from letter to letter – have made this an unrealistic goal. To date, I have only completed six of the letters and am on my 5th and 6th versions of two of the letters.

At first I felt that I was obsessing about the overall designs and how the letters were coming out, but I now see that each letter has its own personality and that, for some of the letters, it is simply a learning curve and that I need to listen and observe how the design is evolving – there is no shame in re-doing a picture that you feel simply is not working. Each version teaches you something and there is ALWAYS some element that you can take away and use in another picture, so your time is NEVER wasted.

For example, I started Pismo 4 (D) last week and I really liked how the Knot and the biomorphic design came out, but when it came time to start filling in the shapes, I had the idea in my head to have the red circles rest on black ones:

As soon as I started filling in the black circles, I immediately regretted it and started to overthink it, feeling that i should have chose to fill in the circles with slate gray. I have since stepped away from the picture and am now seeing that perhaps it isn’t the “disaster” that I had originally thought it would be and have continued to start filling in some of the biomorphic shapes.

Some days, you just have to let it all go and allow the design to work itself out.

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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.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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It’s been a little while since I have posted an update on the progress of the Pismo Series… and the reason for that is, quite frankly, since my return from my artist retreat in August, there really hasn’t been much progress.

I have experienced several health issues over the past couple of months that have prevented me from spending time in the studio… which, as you can imagine, has been a real issue for me.

I am happy to say, that there has – at last – been enough improvement in regards to my health that I have finally been able to start spending time in my studio again.

For the past two weeks, I have been able to start spending gradually increased time in the studio, first by determining which letters have been completed: A, C, L, R, T (final touches were completed on 10/31/2019) and V.

Of the Pismo pictures I have started during my vacation at Harveys Lake and the Artist retreat this summer, I have decided to re-do most of them. So I can honestly say that only my re-do of Pismo 5 (E) will continue to be worked on, which leaves 19 Pismo Series pictures to prep and complete.

So, at the end of last week, I started prepping enough paper to complete the series. The paper comes in a 30×22 sheet and it needs to be trimmed down to 20×20. Then I penciled in the borders and added the letters. Once all 19 pieces were completed, I spent the last couple of days inking the letters and filling in the borders (Basil was so happy that I am able to work in the studio once again):

 

I have a couple of ideas on how to solve the design problems that I have been experiencing over the past year and am hoping that this new inspiration is the answer that I have been looking for and that from this point, the project will be not only back on track, but progresses much more smoother going forward. Just because I have not been able to work in the studio, it doesn’t mean that any internal work on the project has stalled 🙂

For the rest of this week, I will be experimenting with these new ideas and am hoping that I will have more to share soon!

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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.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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The sixth artist that will be highlighted is: ALICE NEEL:

According to her Wikipedia page: Alice Neel(January 28, 1900 – October 13, 1984) was an American visual artist, who was known for her portraits depicting friends, family, lovers, poets, artists, and strangers. Her paintings have an expressionistic use of line and color, psychological acumen, and emotional intensity. Neel was called “one of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century” by Barry Walker, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

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

You can also explore Alice’s website at: http://www.aliceneel.com/home

There is a documentary film of Alice that you can check out:

 

 

There is also a biography of Alice: “Alice Neel: The Art of Not Sitting Pretty” (2010) by Phoebe Hoban.

 

 

 

 

Please check out some of Alice’s work below: 

 

 

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

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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.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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As we are coming to the end of the leaf-peeping season, we decided to take advantage of the bright sunshine yesterday and take Basil to Miller State Park in Peterborough, NH and check out the view from the summit.

We had taken Basil to the park during the summer, but he had never been leaf-peeping, so he was excited to see all the colors:

The colors were a little muted the higher we traveled up the auto-road, but there was still enough color to make the trip worth it. The park was VERY busy and we were worried that there wouldn’t be any parking spots left at the summit, but we were extremely lucky and found a spot with this amazing view:

Basil was keen on visiting the Raptor Observatory again – he really wanted to see an eagle… but, we had just missed the bald-eagle sighting earlier that morning 😦 We did have a chance to see some ravens, so maybe next time we will have better luck.

Basil loved the pops of red color still on the bushes:

And we lingered a bit to enjoy the views from the Raptor Observatory:

Basil loved just sitting on the warm rocks, listening to the team stationed at the observatory talk about their job recording the bird sightings and tracking their migration:

The raptor team will be at the park until November, so if you are interested in checking out the summit – and, hopefully, seeing about some amazing birds – they are more than happy to answer your questions and give you some viewing tips.

Looking forward to the next adventure!

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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.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

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.

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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

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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!

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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.
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• Any questions, comments? Please email whiteroosterstudio@gmail.com

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Copyright @2019 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.