Mary Elizabeth Kimbrough Painting A Day

Commencement

2013-05-21T09:27:00.005-07:00

My niece graduated from high school on Saturday, and, of course that merited a road trip to music city for me, my folks, and my aunt. Seven hours and one BBQ dinner later, we hit Nashville, and commenced to celebrating. The graduate is a wonderful young women who excels in many academic areas, including the fine arts. She won awards this year for her artwork, which is not surprising. After the ceremony my brother and his wife threw a big party for friends, family, teens, children, even dogs! We dined on Caribbean food (so good) and toasted this girl's bright future. These was a ton of love all around...Great Good Luck to everybody graduating this spring....onward and upward! Cheers from MEK.

The Market

2013-04-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Each year our market in Cathedral Square opens the last weekend in April. This is one of my favorite days of the year because everything is so beautiful, and I am inspired to paint. This past Saturday was that day, and I have to say our cool spring has made for a later harvest. I did get a few things such as kale, squash, purple carrots, and some sunflowers. I started this painting on Saturday, and finished it today. This is a full sheet of 300 pound cold press arches watercolor paper. The paint is Golden Fluid Acrylics, with watercolors and graphite. The painting looks alive, which is what I strive for when painting flowers. The colors please me, too. It came quickly and easily, which bodes well for future paintings. Sunflowers are my go to subject when I feel rusty....they do not disappoint. Next weekend there should be more flowers...I am looking forward to delphiniums, snapdragons, and bells of Ireland....xoxo MEK.

Paperdolls Uncut

2013-04-14T13:18:00.001-07:00

Use this link to read about a group show I was asked to be in. The show is in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, at the Mary C. O'Keefe cultural center. The Mary C is just wonderful, with rooms for art classes, recording and performing music, cooking classes, and a swell gallery. Curator Mary Hardy included me in this wonderful show, with 33 other artists from the Gulf Coast. Here are a few images from the opening on Friday night. I am sorry that I did not take names....but there you are. Go to Ocean Springs and see the show, stroll around the pretty town, visit the Walter Anderson museum, have something to eat, you won't be sorry! XOXO, MEK

Layers

2013-04-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hosted an art party at my house on Friday night...we had a potluck and played around with my Gelli Pad while Lydia sketched us all at work. It was exhilarating and fun. Having artist friends is one of my greatest joys in life, as they are accepting, smart, funny, irreverent and pretty much unconcerned about the demands of polite society. Not that they don't clean up and act right, but convention does not dominate their lives. I tried for so many years to fit myself into a more "normal" slot, but it always ended badly. Mostly they are joyful people, which I think is the best thing you can say about a person. Joy, curiosity, the beauty of fellowship, communication, and yes love, were all present at my home on Friday night. Did I tell you I am grateful? I am so very grateful.

So I was printing on old atlas pages. I then placed an acrylic skin (the lady with the purse) over that and used gel medium to attach it. Then, using a chevron stencil, I blocked her in with some dioxazine purple. Working on more like this...with thanks to Provie Musso for bringing me the lady with the purse along with some other cool items. Hope Tuesday brings good things to you. I am headed to the funeral of a man who lived a long life, and his son and grandchildren are some of the best people I know. R.I.P. Mr. Hedberg. XOXO, MEK.

2 RBIs

2013-03-26T15:23:00.001-07:00

In baseball parlance that is "runs batted in," and finishing two pictures today makes me feel like I have had a successful at bat. Yes I have been working on these two for a while...but I am proud to have not overworked them, or turned them to mud! Also proud that I can still do this after such a long hiatus. There is much to celebrate in MEK's studio today...not only are these completed but my big canvas is coming along, and I started a mixed media piece last night. The invite for the paperdoll show I am in arrived in my email today <3 a="" agnes="" and="" art="" arts="" at="" beloved="" class="goog-spellcheck-word" completed="" fine="" for="" from="" heard="" her="" i="" mom="" my="" of="" plans="" portion="" retrospective="" s="" span="" st="" style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;" teacher="" that="" the="" visual="" we="" week="" work="">Taugner
) will happen in Auburn this June. I will get to attend the show and see so many old friends, artists all, who loved Agnes and were influenced by her. Also my friend Becky is on facebook so I am in touch with her again.
So I hope you like these. Give me your feedback ...positive or negative is fine! XOXO, MEK.

Updating

2013-03-24T14:04:00.003-07:00

The three pictures I am currently working on...each is close to completion. The little ones well I cannot work on them long because I will wreck them. Have to let them dry overnight before I complete....and the big one is coming along nicely. You see I am a very fast painter, maybe due to necessity, or maybe because I am a speedy Gemini...I don't know, but I am quick. This is good, and bad. But I refuse to start another picture until these are done! Painting the big picture is so much fun due to the fact that my hand and arm can dart around freely. I move close to and away from the canvas, and it is exhilarating. The small ones well they do not supply the same kind of high. Mostly I am close up with a tiny brush just hitting the places I need to. For this reason I find painting small aggravating...but I love little intimate pictures....you will never find me in a miniature show! Also sent my info in for a show with the theme of paper dolls that I am in over at the Mary C. O'Keeffe center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Very excited about this...and so grateful to Bryant Whelan and Mary Hardy!!! XOXO,MEK.

Study

2013-03-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

Spent a few days down at the beach with Ardith and Gayle...and it was heavenly! We relaxed, caught up, laughed, drank a bit, and painted. I worked on this 8x8 study of the next one in the dinner party series. This is on a cradled panel, and all acrylic. The paint is spare, which is good because when my paint is spare, it signals to me that I am being accurate. Tomorrow I will go over it and (I hope) finish it, with oils. The gal with the eyes is me, and the other gal is my pal, Lydia. I love that I am utilizing a triangular composition! This snuck up on me, probably as a result of the relentless teaching about Renaissance compositional techniques a la DaVinci and Raphael, both big fans of the triangle. Check back tomorrow for the finished piece...happy Saturday night everybody! XOXO, MEK.

Frida and Diego at the High

2013-03-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

A quick trip to Atlanta was my spring break trip to myself...and I was accompanied by a wonderful circle of friends, all of whom are great travelers. Atlanta is a BIG city but quite manageable if you know how to navigate. And how hard is it to navigate these days with so many devices to help you? I digress...the show was fabulous...so many paintings that I had never seen before and some sweet photographs, too. Frida's pictures are so small and intimate....that took me by surprize just a little bit...but so beautifully painted in an honest and brutallly realistic style. Not unlike Dali. Easy to see why she was lumped in with the Surrealists. I loved the fruit pictures, which felt like the way I descrive my own work, aggressively pretty. This hard hitting in your face style really emphasizes Frida's own interest in merging the male and the female in her art and in herself. The big truth of this show for me was ...drum roll...Diego's pictures. I mostly saw him as a muralist, and here I looed at his paintings. They have a feel of Gauguin about them, but are a bit more realistic. The colors are amazing....more intense than those of his wife, in fact, in some instances, glowing. The "Mexican-ness" is so very apparent. And his flowers are supremely gorgeous...oh the calla lillies! I recommend a trip to Atlanta for this show...and for Ikea, Trader Joe's, the Artmore Hotel, Buckhead Diner, etc....and sometimes you might meet a new friend....like I did. Good times yall....art is the common denominator! XOXO, MEK

Salon

2013-03-11T18:56:00.000-07:00

I hosted my first meeting of the Salon today. This group has been together for many years, and my mother is a member of long standing. The group is a combination of book club and study group, with smart members who do not read or study fluff. I did not join for many years due to the fact that I had several jobs, and did not have time. Now, with my remodeled home, I am able to work just one full time job (joy joy joy), and enjoy having people in.

I served celery stuffed with pimento cheese, a shrimp mold, Italian cream cake, and everything turned out great. Is there anything better in the afternoon than cake and coffee? We had a fantastic guest, Tom Perez, a wonderful writer of the satirical variety, and a swell raconteur as well. Perez has written several plays, most recently Don't Frack With Society Shell, and from years back Society Shell. He has published a novel and at least one memoir, too, and you can see those on the Amazon link provided. Perez is a native Mobilian, who left for the middle east, and tons of travel, and has now returned. His brand of satire is broad and irreverent, and his status as an insider who also is outside the magic circle gives him an entertaining voice. I loved hearing his tales of "old" Mobile, and I even filled his ears with a few tales of my own! This group of women is special to me, many of them being dear and close family friends, so I am honored to be in this group, and proud to be able to entertain them on a rainy, spring afternoon. Here is a photo of the group, and a photo of my Italian Cream Cake, which turned out to be delicious!!! I share the recipe I used, too. Y'all be well...XOXO, MEK

Surface Treatment

2013-03-07T08:04:00.002-08:00

Regardless of the art form, I love density. Think of a good, rich, gumbo (an analogy I often use when discussing art with my students), or music that is so rich and heavy that you can hear 10 different things happening at once, and you love it. Probably this is why I prefer Baroque to Renaissance, or anything to minimalism. Artists that do this well tend to be my favorites, too. Think of Klimt, packing so much into a canvas that your head spins with all the beauty. And Hunt Slonem, a contemporary artist that I am fascinated by. Minimalism is steeped in theory and intellectualism, which is grand. Still I prefer dense, packed out, thick, in your face, and glorious, beauty. Working with students this morning on building a dense surface using stencils and Golden modeling paste. Here is an example. We will see where this goes...Oh and one year ago today...my Achilles tendon was repaired. Thanks to a good doctor, nurses, one physical therapist, PTAs, my family, and my friends, I recovered and am back to my old, sturdy self. If you have a sick pal, help them out. It meant so much to me just to be taken out...because sitting around waiting to heal can become very dull and also lonely...thank you all. And I am so grateful to have insurance! My gosh people who do not have insurance are in a terrible place. Well that's all for today. Be well! XOXO MEK.

The Frog Pond at Blue Moon Farm

2013-03-04T07:44:00.001-08:00

Spent yesterday afternoon/evening at the Frog Pond over in Silverhill, Alabama in Baldwin County. Ummm such a great event, Sunday social is what the proprietress, Cathe Steele, calls it. We motored over in my wonderful pal's luxurious automobile, chatting so much that we missed our turn. Being a chilly day, we took our blankets, bottles of wine and other beverages, into the seating area, settled in, and enjoyed the music. My brother played, as well as Eric Erdman, Lisa Mills, Christine Santelli, with guest guitarist Luther Wamble, and my friend Lisa Oliver-Grey (down from Nashville) doing vocals and singing some of her own songs. Beautiful music, blues, gospel, folk, and rock, from terrific musicians. The setting was classic Gulf Coast winter...cool, clear, sweet smelling with fires going on all around us. Nice people gathered, bringing food, too, for true fun and fellowship. By the time we departed, it was dark. I glanced up and saw a clear sky with so many stars and constellations visible, the North star so big and bright, the big and little dippers...a velvety Prussian blue sky. An evening like this reminds me of the best kind of church service because it renews and refreshes ..prepares you for the week ahead and lifts your burdens...XOXO, MEK

P.S. Get well soon Gayle Alexander!
P.S.S. Congratulations to my neice who got in a magazine with her artwork!

Lean

2013-03-02T15:29:00.001-08:00

Painting with thin glazes of oil paint now, getting the parameters of the painting established, and starting to work on the foreground. Because this is an oblong canvas, I will be moving it up and down on the easel, and today I put some pigment down on the three figures in the bottom of the picture. From left to right they are McLeod Turner, my mother Kay Lindsey Kimbrough, Janet Nodar, with a small bit of Gayle Alexander's arm. Behind them is my living room, and of course above the chandelier in the dining room. I am excited about this painting, and, being a fast painter I have to slow down, constantly reminding myself to keep the paint lean until I get close to the end. I do not have a clue what this will be in the end, but I plan for it to be the first in a series of 10 paintings. Hope your Saturday is nice....mine has been positively lovely and there is a night out in my very near future. XOXO, MEK.

Painting Class This Morning

2013-02-26T08:06:00.001-08:00

I spent the morning teaching my students how to use modeling paste and stencils to build up textures and pattern in their work. I adore this technique because it is a very simple, and non toxic, way to create interest and depth. You simply take a stencil (you can buy them or make your own), lay it down on the painting surface, and spread the modeling paste over it with a palette knife. It is funny how such simple little things can change how one sees immediately. What I love in any art form, be it visual art, music, literature, you name it...is a rich a varied mix of elements. Minimalism is never going to be my thing and that is fine with me. This method just introduces a new method into the mix. I am using Golden Modeling Paste because it is wonderful to work with, and it is not toxic. Here are a few images from class this morning. Try it you will like it. You can do this on canvas, board, paper really any surface. Happy Tuesday...we are finally getting sunshine in the tired old town and it is making me feel exuberant..XOXO, MEK

Under Paint With Acrylic

2013-02-23T11:21:00.002-08:00

Started another dinner party painting today...just putting down the under paint. The canvas is much thinner than the photo but I do not see that as a problem. I like the looming chandelier and the arch, as well as the fact that the figures are dwarfed by the interior. My home is not a bit vast but the angle that this photo was shot from makes it seem so. The night this was taken, people were taking photographs willy nilly with my new (then) Ipad. I have no idea who the photographer is, and that is what I like. I composed nothing, except the guest list and the arrangement of my home! So I love that I am painting another's view of my own world.

And the under paint, well it is Golden acrylics very thinned down with water. I like to paint very pure and intense colors at the beginning of a picture. I have a real need to cover the whole canvas quickly....then I can get going with the oils!!! The colors I have selected are not random but instead based on color theory. I tend to use the opposite color that the object will be in the end. Sometimes it is not so clear what that color will be, and, in that case, I just use a cool color where there will be warm, or a warm color where it will be cool. You get the picture. Happy Saturday. XOXO, MEK.

Second Pass

2013-02-19T08:24:00.002-08:00

Working on a painting series from a dinner party I hosted back in November. The lady on the left, who currently wears a red shirt and has yellow hair, was telling us about her experience of being a clown. Most everyone was in stitches. I was trying to breathe as I had some wicked asthma at that time...it was a grand night at my house. Not only was it fun, but it looked so pretty. We consumed quite a bit of wine and the bottles, glasses, flowers on the table looked gorgeous. I loved the reflected light and the warmth of the evening. So I am doing a series. This is a tiny study that I started, 8x10 on cheap canvas. I am using acrylic underpainting, and that part is complete. I am not happy painting small but I wanted to get some practice in before I started the real piece. Why am I not happy with smallness? Well it eliminates the gesture, the arm movement that the artist makes when sweeping paint across a surface, and that is what I like to do when I paint....and what I like to see in paintings. I am also trying to make my students see the need for vibrant colors at the beginning of a painting. Sure they will mostly be covered but they add richness to the surface color. Next I will apply oils on top of this...very carefully and with a teeny tiny brush...ugh...xoxo, MEK

Please Come!

2013-02-15T09:08:00.001-08:00

Come on out on Sunday afternoon for a show of fantastic art, fellowship, fun, and even some nice snacks! See you then!

Celebrating Life

2013-02-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in my city, and even though the weather is pretty nasty, the celebration will go on. It always does because it is the time of year when we need a party. Winter is dark and dreary, and long ago, the ancients decided that this was a time to feast. The Christians picked up the celebration and rolled it into their calendar, placing it before lent, and so it goes. This is a party for all, the swells and society folks have their traditions, but all the "classes" in town do it much the same way. Everybody has their "royalty," their miscreants, their mockery of the powers that be....anybody and everybody can participate. It is a big old free for all.

My family was here from out of town for the weekend's festivities, and we were feted all over town. My friend Ardith opened her place for a party on Friday night. Saturday we were included in a Barn Party (you go and see the floats before the parade rolls), where we saw all kinds of friends, ate fried oysters, bacon and grits. You see it is important to indulge yourself before lent starts. We saw the Floral parade on Saturday afternoon, then spent the evening at The Frog Pond over in Silverhill, Alabama, at a fabulous concert with Grayson Capps, Will Kimbrough, Sugar Cane Jane, Corky Hughes, and Luther Wamble. This is an amazing venue created by Cathe Steele where you can sit under the stars and listen to some of the sweetest sounds around. My friends were there too, and at one point I just felt tears of joy running down my face. The music was so wonderful I felt it down in my toes, like that Tuscan wine, Brunello.

Sunday morning came and we were at another barn party, this one had many old friends, hot dogs, bloody marys, and pretty babies. We then headed across downtown Mobile to my friend Kelly's amazing home in the deTonti Square neighborhood. This home has a gorgeous courtyard and of course so many interesting features of old Mobile, well it is a lovely setting for a party. We partied, saw more friends, dined (amazing mini corndogs created by Bill Host, plus a vast selection of King Cakes!), went down and saw the Joe Cain Parade in the rain. Oh it was such fun! This was a weekend of escape from the trials and tribulations of life, from trouble of any kind. We, and really everybody, needs this kind of celebration every once and a while. Life can beat you down, but Carnival can pick you up! XOXO, MEK.

Drawing

2013-02-07T12:37:00.001-08:00

I had a drawing teacher in undergraduate school called Frank Ozereko. He was an excellent teacher, quite remote and scary to an 18 year old girl, but he was cool. I loved hearing him talk about drawing because he called it "drawring," in an accent that I now know is Boston. Anyway I think of him whenever I draw with students. This semester I am not teaching drawing but my Art Appreciation students all do some sort of drawings....and today was that day. I am constantly amazed at how well folks can draw, IF THEY JUST RELAX. My class today was one half lecture and one half hands on. They fell into the drawing activity as if they had been doing it for years. The room was silent, except for the low buzz of the students who were listening to music. Here are some of our efforts. Be well...XOXO MEK

Red

2013-02-01T10:22:00.001-08:00

My friend Tricia Graham is on a TV commercial that encourages women to wear red today...to promote hearth health for women. This is an important topic, and we should all be concerned about it. Sadly here at work, hardly anyone is in red. So give yourself time today for a walk, a bit of meditation, some good, healthy food, or just a breather. I do not want to live forever, but I do want to be healthy and happy.

So red of course is associated with a heart with our own physical hearts and also the imaginary one symbolized by the <3 .="" a="" about="" all="" an="" apple="" be="" blooded="" communism="" could="" did="" ere="" etc....how="" evil="" fruit="" get="" hot="" how="" href="http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-messages-meanings/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-red.html" idea="" image="" interesting="" is="" its="" killed="" little="" name="" nbsp="" of="" or="" out="" paradise="" passion="" poison="" red.="" red="" sent="" site="" snow="" t="" target="_blank" that="" the="" tied="" to="" us="" while="">http://www.sensationalcolor.com/color-messages-meanings/color-meaning-symbolism-psychology/all-about-the-color-red.html

Meanwhile contemplate the connections and see these two images, one an innocent and beautiful apple, and the other an image of Eve, tempting with her apple in hand, made by Jan Van Eyck, on the Ghent altarpiece. Be well. Eat an apple. XOXO MEK

Painting Demo

2013-01-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

My beginning painting class is doing great work this semester, this despite the fact that we are working in a tiny space, overcrowded and hot. They are an enthusiastic bunch though, and we have figured out some strategies to make the small space (our studio is being renovated) work. When I do demos for them I am reminded of how much I love the simple act of painting, and the pleasure I get from it. It is no wonder that I majored in painting. I did not want to go to college because I thought school was such a drag. I was a good student but I was tired of sitting around with books. When I realized that my education could be about an action, one that created a product, well I got on board. So I have spent so much of my life doing this, and then studying more and more about art and philosophy, but I have lost sight of my original intent of making paintings. So I am back to it, rededicating myself and all that. Much of that is due to the artist I am sharing with you today, and not for the first time. The gorgeous painterly quality of Beverly McIver's work makes me want to get dirty and sticky with paint, and just to let it flow. I am attempting to let go of my need to be smart, and or thoughtful, to be noticed (especially in the community I live in), and just get it done. Happy Thursday to all....Parades rolling all week here in Mobile...Carnival is upon us...XOXO, MEK

The Last Art Exhibit I Ever Saw (Outside of Mobile)

2013-01-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

I use that title with apologies to Rob Trucks, who I am liberally borrowing from. I spent Christmas in Nashville with family. On the day after Christmas, we visited the Frist, and we saw two wonderful shows. One was a show of student art from the volunteer state, and this show had an etching by my amazing niece. How cool that kids get to see their art in a bona fide museum! E is a terrific artist, a terrific young woman, and I am very proud of her.

Next we saw a magnificent show of photography by the great Lorna Simpson. Simpson is a contemporary artist the the northwest. She left home when she was young, making her way to California, and a career as a groundbreaking artist. Simpson deals primarily with race and gender, which are major themes in Postmodernism and in American culture. It was a thrill for me to see her work all together, and in person. The images are large scale, powerful, humorous, thought provoking, beautiful. Here is the first piece of Simpson's I ever saw, a piece about hair.

What I am trying to get to here is that we need reminding, regularly, that all art is not for the mainstream marketplace, and that it does not need to be traditionally pretty, or charming, or cute, or crafty. Ask yourself why you do what you do? I have made art for strictly commercial purposes, but I have never felt bad about doing so. Currently, I am working on stuff for upcoming shows, and I do hope to sell this work!! Sometimes tho it is good to do something that is simply thought provoking. It will nourish your soul and your mind, make you and your viewers think, and even create dialogue, which surely is one of the main reasons we do what we do. XOXO, MEK.

PS here is another shot, one I made of a pineapple upside down cake that I made for an ailing pal. Now this image is more my style...retro, colorful, sensual....enjoy this image. I hope my new artwork is this upliftiing!

Sticky Sweet

2013-01-24T20:02:00.001-08:00

I do not need to remind you that it is 2013, which seems shocking to me, but 2013 it is. The time has come for me to resurrect this blog, and resurrect myself. 2012 was a hard year in many ways....but I survived...and am determined to prosper.

Took a field trip today with my students to the Mobile Museum of Art. Our local museum does not house any big name treasures, and the most famous artist represented is Renoir (a childhood favorite), alto it is an "in doubt" Renoir, and tiny. Still I love the museum. Today we saw a show by Vietnamese born artist Binh Pho. There is a large Vietnamese community here, great Vietnamese restaurants, so it is a natural place to show this work. It is extraordinary work because it borders on kitsch, but does not go over the edge. It sits right on the dividing line, between the two, coming out on the exalted side of art. This art is extremely pretty, pretty like a candy box, or a Valentine's heart. It is sweet with color and pattern, heavily crafted, and decorative, not something one sees much in the contemporary art world.

As I took in this sweet stuff, I enjoyed being with my students, most of whom were excited about this show. Gratifying for somebody who teaches in a two year school where most students have not been exposed to the museum. Gratifying also to see my friend +Jami Buck , who is also an artist and a blogger, and is caring for her mother at home. I have missed my friend so much lately, even tho I know she is completely occupied. We got to look at the work and visit a bit while she pushed her Mama around in a wheelchair. My father has recently had a diagnosis of dementia, and I am seeing Jami and her mother in a new light. Later I had lunch at Spring Hill College with colleagues and +Ardith Goodwin ....

All in all a nice day, but one that reminds me of the fragility of life (sorry it is so cliche but so true), and the importance of caring for loved ones, and those another friend refers to as "the dear ones." Everyone I encountered today is dear to me. That is sweet like the Binh Pho show. Go see it with a friend! XOXO MEK.

Good Morning

2012-09-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

Something has been bothering me lately, something about a show that I was not invited to be in. Seems petty I know since I live in a provincial town, but the feeling of rejection was bad. My town does not have many showing venues, and many of them are located within universities or colleges,and two of these galleries receive funding from the state. The group of people responsible for these shows were at one time deeply involved in curating shows at one of our best galleries, Space 301, the visual arts portion of The Center For The Living Arts, located in downtown Mobile. I love this space because it is lovely, the shows are thoughtful, and they are decidedly not local. This was not always the case. The folks who brought us the current Artcopia invitational also used to curate at 301. Lo and behold they were curating themselves and their friends into shows constantly. It was strange. I did not know that was an acceptable policy, and it turns out that it was not. Now however it is happening again, with the same folks being in the Artcopia show, plus friends and former students of course. There are no people of color in this "invitational" and this is troubling I guess even more than my exclusion. Sometimes I wonder if because I teach at an historically black college that I am excluded for that reason. Humm I suppose I will never know. But why even have invitational shows? I think that if you get an outside curator that it is just fine, but to curate locally is bogus. 301 was correct in stopping this sort of practice. It rose in my esteem when that ended because it legitimized the place, making it a venue free of nepotism. Curating is a strange business but it is best left to the curators! Artists who curate themselves into shows look silly and unprofessional.

And should I keep my mouth shut? Or my fingers off the keyboard? Maybe. For me there is absolutely nothing to lose. I have good relationships with the legitimate galleries here and frankly someone needs to say this. We live in a sort of emperor's new clothes art world, one that needs tweaking on a regular basis. The amazing thing is (ugh the amazing word is so overused but it fits here) that there is an extraordinary amount of talent in this town that goes unseen because of this kind of silliness. I am sorry about that. I would love to put together a salon de refusees a la Courbet. If anyone is interested or willing, just let me know. Meanwhile getting things off ones chest is so swell! I love the freedom...and I love you for reading this! XOXO MEK.

Answered Prayer

2012-09-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

For a few years now I have been praying for a resolution to a problem with a dear friend. Serendipitously it resolved yesterday! A weight of sadness has been removed from my psyche. This friend is an artist, and here is a video of one of her pieces. Be well. May all your burdens be lifted. XOXO, MEK

Baby Steps

2012-08-21T08:02:00.001-07:00

Went to a figure drawing group last night at the Art Center in Lavretta part. I had no business going because I have my bridge group coming today, and my bunko group coming Thursday night, and did I tell you that my home is still disorganized ? But I needed to draw, to get lost in that dreamy place of lines and shadows. The model here is exaggerated...she is smaller than I made her. But this drawing is all right. The colors and shapes work, and the paint is loose. I have been looking at Indian art lately, and much decorative work as well (home decor to be specific), so you can see the Indian influence...and that is Asian Indian not native American. I hope to continue working with this group. Monday night is a good night to get out and do something relaxing. Yesterday was the first day of class. So I needed a break! Be well...XOXO, MEK