CREATING A SIGNATURE STYLE FOR A BODY OF WORK

2010 is the year I want to move forward in my art career business. To help facilitate this, i have begun working with art advisor Aletta De Wal with Artist Career Training throughout the year. I am learning to set up a foundation upon which to build my business. This involves going back and setting up a database to build a mailing list and to track my artwork, as well as getting a business license and separate bank accounts, the list goes on and on!


However, this month's exercise is one of the most important steps an artist will take in their artistic career - developing a "signature style". To do this, you have to have a body of work and assess the direction your art is taking. Luckily, I have continued taking part in critique groups, as well as taking classes and workshops. Through this, I saw a style emerging that differentiates my work from others. No matter what series of paintings or drawings I'm was working on, I began seeing pieces that were heavily layered, with details that emerge upon closer inspection. I was experimenting with different mediums, which further gave my pieces a "story" (i.e. using salt, of coffee and tea and why).

Now, it is time to perfect and expand this style.

To do so, I approached my friend and fellow artist Lance Carlson to take part in an exercise. I feel my work is very different from Lance's, but because we use similar techniques, we have found our work very compatible to show together. Is it too compatible??? To answer this question and see if our styles are our "signature" individually, we have set up an exercise.

We are both going to create a series of 10 works, measuring 12x12 each on 100 lb Lenox paper. The theme of our personal series is music. We have given ourselves roughly a month to complete this task. At that point, we are going to mix them up and show them to our friends in the Shadowline Artist Group. We'll see if they are able to discern my pieces for Lance's!

Now - I have to figure out how to incorporate my "signature style" into my collages, etc. Please leave your comments about your journey in developing a signature style!

ART EVENTS

I had a goal to get my artwork out and noticed. Now that I look at this list I can honestly say I have am pretty sure I have achieved that goal
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WHERE MY ART IS CURRENTLY:

Emerging Art Scene, located in the Stacks in Cabbagetown in Atlanta. Sign up to be part of the group on Facebook, because there is always something going on.
Michael Joseph Gallery, located in Ft. Lauderedate, through 8/31 - The show is celebrating 100 artists.
Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, the Canvas Project with the Arthouse Coop

COMING UP

Artlanta Art Festival, September 12-13. I will be demonstrating the art of collage in Piedmont Park, details to follow. I'm very excited about this opportunity and I hope some of my collage friends will stop by and help me demonstrate.

East Atlanta Strut on September 19th, This is one of the funkier parts of Atlanta, so come and enjoy the day!

Alliance Theatre - September 23-27. The 2009-2010 season's opener is "Come Fly Me To The Moon", with vocals by Frank Sinatra and dance by Twyla Tharp. I have been given the opportunity of setting up my work prior to the performances the opening week of the show. I will be in the lobby an hour prior to the show and during the intermission.

October - the Atlanta Collage Society is having a group show at the Georgia Perimeter College. Details to follow. However, it is important to note the National Collage Society will be held at Mason Murer Gallery in the month of Novembert, so look for alot of collage events around town in October and November.

Chastain Park Art Festival - October 17 and 18th
Because I know the promoters of this event, I expect this to be a high quality professional art festival.

December - The Atlanta Collage Society will be having a group show at Quinlan Art Center in Gainesville. I am excited about being part of a show in such a prestigious venue.

December - Winter Solstice, group show of the Shadowline Artist Group at the Limelight Gallery in Binders in Atlanta. We began as a critique group and have been together since 2004. This is our first group show in a couple of years!

THINGS NOT CONFIRMED:

Oakhurst Art Festival October 10th
Cabbagetown Chomp and Stomp - November 7th
Terrific Thursdays in Decatur in November and December.

STROKE OF THE BRUSH AWARD

My blogging friend Kim Bennett forwarded the Stroke of the Brush Award to me. She writes very inspirational blogs about painting as well as travelling between the UK and the US. Thank you Kim for your generous award.

Of course, it comes with a catch! I have to list 7 things that are not really known about me, and send the award to 7 bloggers. So, here goes.

1, I don't know my right from my left - and I've always blamed it on being left-handed!
2. Being left-handed is what made me pick up a pencil to draw. When I found out your creativity is in the right side of your brain, I began to understand why I've always been drawn to art and artists.
3. I hate to fly. It makes me nervous.
4. Jeopardy is my favorite show on television - yes, I love it more than Law and Order
5. I secretly would like to win big on Jeopardy.
6. I want to put together a class on the History of Atlanta to teach to adults.
7. My dream job is to be a dog-walker, to make enough money to support my art life and get out of the corporate rat race! or replace Alex Trebeck!

I want to pass this award on to some of my favorite bloggers

Of course, I have to include my life partner Joel Conison. I think he is really one of the best photographers around anywhere. He knows his stuff!

Lance Carlson and I have exhibited together repeatedly. I love his work, and his quirky sense of humor. I hope his recent fight with a runaway car resulting in a broken finger doesn't waylay his creativity for long.

It has been fun to watch Jacqueline Allison really grow as an artist and really pursue her art education seriously. Her work is amazing to me, and she really loves to experiment new techniques.

You have to check out the vibrant colors in Alisha Kay Ard's shoes!!!! I'm glad she found me on Facebook so I can continue looking at her work!

Someone else I connected with on Facebook is Suzanne Clem-Wheeler. She recently took an art vacation in Europe and it was a pleasure reading her blog throughout the trip. I highly recommend you scroll through it and find the story about painting and attracting a group of children!! I hope someday to actually meet in person!!

I connected with Magdalena Castaneda through taking a class on blogging from Alyson Stanfield's BLOG TRIAGE class (I highly recommend the class!) and was instantly struck with her passion for art.

Last but not least, Kipp Mullis's blog BoyohBoyohBoy. I felt Kipp could be included in this because he paints with words. I've known Kipp the longest on this list, being co-workers for quite awhile. But unemployment has shown us all a talent we didn't know he had! Take a look at the blog and subscribe to it - all the posts are beautiful

So - you guys need to write on your blog seven things about yourself and send the award to seven other artists of some sort. If you don't have seven to send it to right now, then take you time and get out there on the internet and start following other blogs like yours. You will be amazed by who and what you will find!

AN INTERVIEW WITH FINE ARTIST LANCE CARLSON

Lance and I have not only painted together for years and we have even shown our work together many times.I was intriqued about his new "Face" series and I wanted to learn more about his process. I knew he began by seeing a face in an inanimate object (i.e. the more obvious ones are seeing a face in a house or the front of a car), but I wanted to know where he went from there, so I posed several questions to him.Read on and see his answers to his interesting approach to art.



I know you are an architect by trade, but when did you begin shifting over to fine art? I took a painting class about 15 years ago and was hooked immediately. It brought back alot of memories of creating art in my youth. (Painting to the left is FAMILY+REUNION)

Has your style changed from when you began as an artist? I don't think I really had a style to begin with, it was just a matter of putting paint on paper. As I progressed, a certain style emerged. For a while, I vassilated between abstract and something more representational. But, I have pretty much adapted an abstract style. However I make personal connections to literature, music and pop culture.

Can you explain this series? This series began with finding a face (of sorts) in the still life (basically a grouping of objects). I find a rudimentary face and base my initial composition on that. As the painting progresses, the face may appear and disappear and the composition that remains becomes the most important thing.

What medium are you using? For the face series, it was back to basics for me. I had become enamored with mixed media where I could throw together a bunch of varying media and then solve the final composition with a little drawing. I wanted to see if I was using the drawing (on top of paintings) as a crutch. So, I limited myself to acrylic paint on canvas for this series. There was some collage in a few, but this was from "painted over" previous paintings.

Of the 4 images displayed here, I see the palette is very similar. How did you choose the palette? Because I work on several pieces at the same, I am using the same colors on all when I'm finalizing the image.



I see the relationship between the titles and the paintings, except for the one titled "Without at Name", will you explain this? That is the name of a song by Kisschasy. I know it is pretty obscure, but it held meaning for me. (Painting to the left is WITHOUT A NAME)

What visual elements do you repeat in this series? There are alot of curves, to make it lyrical. There is also a good change in values, and I use some form of stripes and bands in each one.

How do you know when a piece is finished? I like to get outside the critique, because for me, an internal knowledge or satisfaction that I know it is complete works for me.

Do you have any plans to exhibit this series in the future? Sure, any ideas? I have submitted it to competitions and galleries. I will keep you posted when it is up somewhere.

Who is your favorite artist? I don't know if I have a favorite, as there are several artists that speak to me. I get an adranline rush out of Ann Hamilton, but I was super excited when I recently saw the back of a Rubens/ I am also influenced by great architecture for le Corbusier to Graves to Calitrava

Who do you consider your biggest influences in art? My mom and dad and brother had plein air outings when I was a kid. They all had easels while I did somersaults in the grass. I think in some ways Franz Klein and Rodin. Wierd combo, eh? But, their work both dealt with human figures and also drawn to bodies and faces.


What do you see in your future as an artist? My future is so bright. I will just continue to create art and see where it takes me. I am taking paths as they come, but not really forging new territory or looking for wealth of fame. I wouldn't turn it down if it came. (Painting to the left is WISE AND DEEP AS THE SEA)


Thank you Lance for taking the time to answer these questions thoughtfully and honestly. However, I have to disagree on your last answer. I think you are forging new territory by continuing to learn and explore new techniques in art.

After reading this, if you think I have left anything out, please leave a comment. And you can continue to follow this series with Lance on his blog.