White Rooster Studio

The tenth artist that will be highlighted is: Helen Lundeberg:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Helen Lundeberg (1908–1999) was a Southern Californian painter. Along with her husband Lorser Feitelson, she is credited with establishing the Post-Surrealist movement. Her artistic style changed over the course of her career, and has been described variously as Post-Surrealism, Hard-edge painting, and Subjective Classicism.”

Wikipedia continues: “During the 1950s, Lundeberg moved towards geometric abstraction and Hard Edge painting and away from the representational sensibility that had informed her early work. Though always based in reality, Lundeberg created mysterious images that exist somewhere between abstraction and figuration. Repeatedly described as formal and lyrical, Lundeberg’s paintings rely on precise compositions that utilize various restricted palettes. Paintings from this period employ the idea of “mood entity”, a concept in Post Surrealism that was concerned with evoking states of mind, moods and emotional content unique to each work. Lundeberg and Feitelson were part of a loose group of Post-Surrealists that also included the artists Grace Clements, Philip Guston, Reuben Kadish, Harold Lehman, Lucien Labaudt, Knud Merrild, and Etienne Ret. During this period, Lundeberg was one of the most prolific painters working in Southern California.”

You can check out more about Helen and her work at: https://www.helenlundeberg.com

Please make sure that you check out some of her later work from the 1970’s and 1980’s – they are stunningly beautiful and the color is simply amazing.

What I find encouraging and completely exciting is that, unlike most of the other artists that I have highlighted in this blog, Helen’s work is still being shown with two exhibits last year and even more in 2018…. Unfortunately, it appears that I missed a chance to see her work last year at the Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts… fingers crossed that there will be another opportunity soon!

Unfortunately, I was unable to locate a biography for Helen, there was a listing for a documentary: “Helen Lundeberg: Americal Painter” (1988)… but I am still on the lookout for it.

I found a quote of Helen’s that interested me, mostly because her ideas on art are essentially the opposite of mine:

“I don’t like disorder, or confusion or violence. I know they exist in the world but why should I have to paint them.” – Helen Lundeberg

I love not knowing the outcome of my pictures, they are not planned and rely on patterns once the design has been completed. And, yet, at the same time, I can understand Helen’s point of view.

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of March for more photos of Helen 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 @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

 

It’s been an absolutely incredible week and a half!

You know those weeks, when everything just seems to click and goes right? That’s been my week and a half and I am going to accept it for the gift that it is.

First off, I was presented with not one, but TWO, job offers – on the same day, no less – last Wednesday. My previous position was outsourced this month and it was my goal to get myself into a new position as quickly as possible.

I had known about this situation for almost a year, so I had a lot of time to think about my next steps and what I wanted my next position to be and I had plenty of time to prepare for the dreaded endless rounds of interviews.

After some deliberation, I made my decision and am gearing up to start my next challenge on February 18th.

I completely believe that with the stress of acquiring a new position taken care of, my stress level completely plummeted and this past week in the studio have been incredibly productive.

This week I have completed Pismo 6 (F) (this would be the 2nd version) AND Pismo 13 (M):

This make the Pismo Series ~38% completed… there are five that I have decided to re-do: Pismo E, I, J, L, &W, which leaves eleven that I have not experimented with yet.

I still have another week before I start my new position, so I certainly hoping that my good luck continues and I am able to post another completed picture (or two?) soon.

I have updated my Pismo Series portfolio page, so please check it out if you are interested in checking out all of the completed pictures.

I will be taking the completed pictures out for professional scanning within the next couple of weeks and once I have the scans back, I will be busy creating new items for my VIDA Collection and Etsy Shop.

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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

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

The ninth artist that will be highlighted is: LOUISE BOURGEOIS:

According to her Wikipedia page: “Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (25 December 1911 – 31 May 2010) was a French-American artist. Although she is best known for her large-scale sculpture and installation art, Bourgeois was also a prolific painter and printmaker. She explored a variety of themes over the course of her long career including domesticity and the family, sexuality and the body, as well as death and the unconscious. These themes connect to events from her childhood which she considered to be a therapeutic process. Although Bourgeois exhibited with the Abstract Expressionists and her work has much in common with Surrealism and Feminist art, she was not formally affiliated with a particular artistic movement.”

Wikipedia continues: “In 1954, Bourgeois joined the American Abstract Artists Group, with several contemporaries, among them Barnett Newman and Ad Reinhardt. At this time she also befriended the artists Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and Jackson Pollock. As part of the American Abstract Artists Group, Bourgeois made the transition from wood and upright structures to marble, plaster and bronze as she investigated concerns like fear, vulnerability and loss of control. This transition was a turning point. She referred to her art as a series or sequence closely related to days and circumstances, describing her early work as the fear of falling which later transformed into the art of falling and the final evolution as the art of hanging in there. Her conflicts in real life empowered her to authenticate her experiences and struggles through a unique art form.”

 

MOMA is a wonderful resource for images of Louise and her work, please check out https://www.moma.org/s/lb/curated_lb/

There is a interesting looking documentary on Louise called: “Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress, and the Tangerine” that I have managed to locate and will be viewing it during the month.

 

 

I am also in the process of hunting down a good biography of Louise and there are a couple of strong contenders: “Louise Bourgeois” by Frances Morris and “Louise Bourgeois: An Intimate Portrait” by Jean-Francois Jaussaud:

Please check out the White Rooster Studio Facebook page during the month of February 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.

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 @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

 

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing like the feeling of conquering an especially difficult design challenge!!

As many of you know, I have been having a very difficult time with Pismo 2 (B) and had  recently begun a 5th version of this picture. I am happy to announce that as of this afternoon Pismo 2 (B) is completed!!!:

I value and have saved all of the previous versions of Pismo 2 (B) because I learned so much from them: what worked, what didn’t, what could be used in other pieces…. Art is a continual learning curve, constantly evolving as you do – as you push designs and materials and test new ideas.

To show just how much this project has evolved since it’s conception, please check out all previous versions:

With the completion of Pismo 2 (B), this makes eight Pismo Series pictures completed – ~30% completed – and the 2nd picture completed in 2020!

On to the next one!!!

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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

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.

New Year, New studio goals!!

Since initiating the Pismo Series in July of 2018, there has been a LOT of trial and error in the development of the overall look of the project. All of which has been incredibly beneficial for me as an artist, but still left me with the feeling that I should be further along with this series by now.

My initial goal was to work out the design issues in 2018, complete half of the project in 2019 and the 2nd half in 2020… I have to let go of my self-imposed deadlines and simply allow this project to develop at it’s own pace.

As of January 12, 2020, there are six completed pictures in the Pismo Series: 

There is also one that is ~90% completed… (I am conflicted, there is a part of me that feels that Pismo 9 (H) needs to be re-done to resolve some lingering design challenges and another that feels that it is fine the way it is)…

… and seven that I have decided to re-do: Pismo B, E, F, I, J, L, &W, which leaves thirteen that I have not experimented with yet.

I had been hoping to add another picture to my complete list today, but it was not to be. So, Friday afternoon I was working on the 2nd version of Pismo 5 (E) and I made a fatal mistake:

Do you see it? Yep, the red circle on the left has the intended shading while the red circle on the right has the incorrect or inverse of the shading design 😦

I have to admit that I was more than a little bit upset with myself for this glaring mistake – I honestly DO NOT know what I was thinking while working on this section, but, stuff happens, right? I was THIS close to completing the picture and I really liked the way it was coming along, so…

Good news, I can re-create this design relatively quickly.

Bad news: I have to re-create the design.

I did mention in the title of the post: NEW OBSESSIONS, so here they are: handmade books and scrolls!

I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to make handmade books and during a recent visit to the Western Ave Studios, I came across a postcard outside of a studio advertising handmade book classes. So I looked into them… which led to getting several books out of the library on how to make them and watching videos online for small book projects.

I made a small investment in a beginners bookbinding toolkit, some sample packets of handmade papers as well as a pad of scrap-booking paper that would be perfect for my color scheme:

In one of the books I borrowed from the library, I became fascinated with a small section on how to create art scrolls… so between learning how to make my own books, I am in the process of developing a project that would allow my work to be translated onto scrolls.

So far, 2020 is off to a very interesting start and I can’t wait to delve into these two new projects and well as seeing where the Pismo Series will take me!

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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

White Rooster Studio

Copyright @2020 White Rooster Studios. All Rights Reserved.