Stendhal Syndrome

I heard a while ago about a psychosomatic illness called Stendhal Syndrome which apparently happens to people while they are looking at art. Very bizarre. Shows you how incredibly powerful images are....

Coming soon to a book store near you!

Ricë Freeman-Zachery who wrote Living the Creative Life: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists has written a new book that is due to come out very soon called Creative Time and Space. This is what the editorial review says about the book:

"With a fresh approach and an A-list group of contributing artists, Creative Time and Space embraces the idea that making time and space is at the core of creativity. It is not just about managing your time or setting up a studio space, it is about your mindset and about making room in your life for your craft. Enjoy active sidebars alongside photos of the work and workspaces of the featured artists, as they speak with refreshing candor about how they carve out creative time and space in their own lives."

I am thrilled and honored to have been chosen by Ricë to participate in this amazing book with an incredible list of artists who work in a variety of media. Ricë asked wonderful interview questions that really had me digging deep and thinking about how I work, live, make art, the choices I make and priorities I set in order to find the time and space to create. I really look forward to reading about how everyone else answered Ricë's questions. This is sure to be a great read for all of us who love creating. Be sure and click on the book above to see the preview, you might want to pre-order a copy now, it is sure to be another must have for the bookshelf from Ricë.

West Virginia Trip.....

Wow, so the question is how to get back to work after four days in the West VA wilderness?? I am tired and sore today. I think Reuben has not moved since last night.

I do feel refreshed after immersing myself in river water and breathing in sweet mountain air. There is something about the fragrance of damp earth and all sorts of bushes and blooms mingled with some faint wild animal scent that makes me so full and contented. I have always sensed the presence of God in His creation and in quiet a place like we were, it is almost emotionally overwhelming.


You can see the photos here.




Reuben outside the Purple Fiddle in Thomas, WV making sure the hippies obey the sign...

I want to catch up with you all, so off I go to your respective blogs... looking forward to seeing what has been going with each of you......

Home....

....it is hard to return home.....after this.

West Virginia

Craig and I go to the beautiful Canaan Valley in West Virginia each year on our anniversary and we head out today to celebrate our 10Th. We have very generous friends who have a ski home there, which is what most people go there for, so it is fairly empty when we go in August. I woke up with a horrible sore throat yesterday, so hopefully I will be ready for a hike tomorrow.
I am so thrilled to be able to get back deep into the woods.

from our 2007 trip...Otter Creek Wilderness in the Monongahela Forest

I leave you all with this article one of four from Alyson Stanfield's brilliant blog:

The first of four steps to selling you art: Devote yourself completely to a studio practice

Talk to you all next week!

Little Tokyo

When ever we go to Los Angeles one thing we can not miss is a trip downtown to Little Tokyo, on a quest for paper, cool new pens and pencils and books.

Our favorite drink is green tea Boba with soft sweet tapioca balls, many places refer to this drink as bubble tea, but in LA everyone calls it boba. In Chicago we have had a hard time finding boba that tastes as good as they make it in LA, usually our biggest complaint is the tapioca balls are a little hard and flavorless here. Nina has begun making it at home, so we had to make a stop in a grocery to stock up on green tea powder and a few bags of the large tapioca.

When we arrived at Weller Court I was pleasantly surprised to see these beautiful illustrations hanging on the walls of the courtyard.
The store we like visiting the most is Kinokuniya, a large bookstore that has so much more than just wonderful books.The stationary department always has the coolest stuff!
I treated myself to a new mechanical pencil that holds .3 mm lead! It draws with an incredibly fine line. One of the cool features of this pencil besides holding very thin lead is that you can adjust the top of the pencil to indicate what type of lead (2B, HB, H, 2 H) you have in the barrel.

I also bought another eraser holder with spare white erasers. I love using one of these when I am drawing, the narrow diameter of the eraser helps you pinpoint and erase just the areas you want. The last package holds a glue pen.

















I love this turquoise anodized metal pencil case with three separate compartments to hold tools.

Art?

Why is it that often I read an artist statement and come away from it feeling like "what??" Why is that when I look at contemporary art and mostly feel I just have been exposed to an expression that exists solely for the purpose of uncovering self-mania, obsession, and often, perversion? (I am in no way speaking about art that addresses hard issues.)
Anyone but me? Can anyone explain?
Can anyone be an artist? Is art really in the eye of the beholder? What makes a piece of art last over generations?
I realize this is as old a question as "what in art...."