Online art buying

I dropped off a painting at the gallery this morning. It will be included in next month's group show, with the opening next Saturday. That was a nice surprise.

Gino, the gallery owner, had a friend who bought a painting from an artist's website, and was disappointed when it arrived. The painting did not look like what he thought he was buying. Online buying is fine, and I do sell paintings from my website. However, what you see on the screen is going to be quite different from what the actual piece looks like, no matter how good the photographer. There are too many variables. Computer screens differ dramatically from one to the other and no photo ever truly looks like a painting. I do my best to post images on my website that depict the painting as it is, but it never looks the same.

So if you see something online you like, be sure to see it in person before you take it home. And that makes the gallery system even more valuable.

Cycling

Got out on the bike again today. I have a sweet Canondale road bike that I got 5 or 6 years ago, rode a few times, and hung in the garage. So I have put on some weight and decided I'd had enough. So I dusted it off and started riding again on Monday. I'm out of shape and can barely make it up a hill equal to a freeway onramp. Today I got a new set of Continental tires that are nice and sticky. Prices have gone up quite a bit.

The only way I can exercise is by doing something I enjoy. Cycling is a great way to see things and it's fun to go down hills fast. Plus, when I'm active it gives me energy to do other things, too.

There are surprisingly some great rides to go on from my house. Basically, if you want flats, you have to brave the idiots in suv's. But if you like hills, the possibilities are limitless. With very little major crowded valley streets, I could go in the foothills to a road that parallels Topanga Cyn. Blvd., then onto Mulholland to Kanan Dume or any number of roads over the Santa Monica mountains to PCH, then up to Point Magu. That's my goal, but it won't happen for a while. So until then, I'm slowly making my way back.

As for art, I have lots of canvases to stretch and get finished for the Santa Fe Art Colony open house in May. Hopefully if you see me there, I will look less like I do now and more like I did here a few years ago:

The little known, multifaceted day of a geisha

Writing a novel

Showing her insurance card at the doctors office

Milking a cow

Enjoying a jacuzzi

A book and a rant

Looking at a book I checked out at the Brand Library in Glendale today, called Pretty Vacant. I have not yet read what little text there is, but flipping through the pages (it's a small but thick picture book) I can see it features apartment buildings in Los Angeles and Santa Monica from the 50's to the 60's.

I grew up visiting friends in places like these since I was a kid, so there is sort of a nostalgic connection. But all of these buildings, mostly 2-3 stories spanning parking spaces, are such Los Angeles icons. They have various script fonts in their names and many have this bizarre metal signage graphics of the sun.

What I like about these buildings is that they had a hopeful quality to them. All in the same general style, yet unique one to the other.

I tend to notice these buildings more today than before. Why must we build Mediteranian style buildings here? Stop borrowing, it's L.A. Mediteranian and Spanish style buildings were built based on materials in the area and technology at the time, and that is beautiful. But we are living in a very different time and need to use our own materials and aesthetic. Borrow/ steal from the past - yes, but don't pretend to be that period type of structure. Perfect example of disasterous aesthetics, Irvine cookie cutter developments.

Anyway, it's a good book.

Weekend in San Diego

We took a tour of the Midway on Saturday. After spending 2 hours there, we still did not see everything. It would have been amazing to have seen it in action with the planes taking off and landing. It is like a small city with everything needed to be self sustaining for long periods of time. Not for the claustrophobic, however.

Sunday we went to MCASD in La Jolla. There was a Jasper Johns show featuring light bulbs. It was not a bad exhibit, but was interesting that somebody could make so many sketches and sculptures about... light bulbs.

San Diego is expensive, and La Jolla is beautiful. We really want to move there, and are starting to gear ourselves to that. The only thing about San Diego is that it is expensive. Not the most action packed place to be, but much more relaxing than LA. And, of course, there are so many great surf spots.

25 Random Things About Me

I never go anywhere without my sketchbook.

I like living in the quiet suburbs, but like working/ being in an active urban environment.

I don't like the telephone.

I have been married for 15 years and have 2 kids (daughter & stepdaughter) that I could not be more proud of.

I grew up surfing and skateboarding, stopped both in the 90s, and now do both again and love and appreciate them more than ever.

I don't care that my hair is half gone, and am pretty sure it's not coming back.

I go to art galleries and/or museums at least once a week.

I love good food and good wine.

I miss living close to the beach.

I used to race bicycles.

The actual Gidget was my friend's mom when I was a kid. She was the coolest.

Agnes Martin's Writings is my favorite book.

My dad was a press photographer, and I got to go to Superbowls & World Series' as a messenger on the field.

I have met, and continue to meet, a lot of fascinating people in the artworld.

I find wearing a suit embarrassing.

I hate to dance. Unless it's a slow dance, it aint happening.

I am a recovering Catholic.

I only started painting around 1999, and don't know how I lived without it for so many years.

I have been represented by an art gallery for 5 years now.

When I was a kid, I used to skateboard down Temescal Canyon Road, while carrying my surfboard at 6 AM. Note that it gets steeper as it approaches PCH.

I am a cancer survivor.

I have a green thumb and planted over 40 trees around my house. I also like privacy.

I listen to most types of music, but love hardcore punk, and play it at an unreasonable volume when nobody is home.

I can make the perfect martini (traditional, no appletini, etc.).

Religious people scare me.

Look kids, aquatic fowl

I was reading a book today, when I heard a loud splash in the pool. Thought it was a tree branch or something falling in the pool, but it was... ducks. Not a common sight here. My wife's first question was, was it photoshopped?

Hanging hardware goes on first

I was finishing a painting the other day, and put the hanging hardware on the back. I always do this before I start a painting, but this time I didn't. Anyway, while screwing in a hanger, the screw driver slipped and rammed into the wood panel. Yes, on the other side the layer of ply had broken. Luckily, I can fix it. After the paint dries, cut out the wood sticking out and put some hard sandable gesso on, then wet sand it. Also fortunate that the damaged part of the painting is not an extremely detailed part that would be hard to recreate.

Still, I was fit to be tied. But once I knew I could fix it, it was alright. Even had I painted over the damaged part, chances are that I would be the only one who knew or noticed anything wrong. But I cannot bear the thought of selling a painting with any type of damage to it.

Hope or Panic

       

Art Talk

Last night I went to a discussion with artist Lisa Adams and Shana Nys Dambrot at Lawrence Asher Gallery on Mid Wilshire. The gallery was packed and it was an excellent talk about Lisa's thought process in painting. I have known Lisa for many years and studied under her, and have always loved her work.

One of the things that stood out for me, was her take on the artworld. Like most artists, she wanted to get into the museum/ fame/ recognition scene. But the artworld, as I am finding, wants none of that. It is establishment. And, to be fair, I can understand galleries wanting to play it safe, as a solo show equals 1/10th or more of their income. Which is why it is so great to see work, like Lisa's, that is not mainstream in a major gallery. And many paintings have sold.

The other point she made, was one I had heard from other artists in art schools in the 70s, was that  nobody taught technique. You know, figure drawing, perspective, color theory, etc. It was said that if one is a true artist, one will figure out a way to create the image in one's mind. So all of Lisa's technique is self taught, and I find that incredible.

Show runs through Feb. 14th, if you get a chance, it is excellent.

Oh this isn't good

Laptop's dying. When I got my Apple iBook G4 a few years back, I got extra ram and other features to make it run well with graphic applications. I got my daughter a basic MacBook a few weeks ago with nothing added to it. So today I compared the 2, and her basic laptop smokes my machine in every way. Good news, because I can replace this without spending huge amounts of money. Although I don't want to spend right now. So everything works exept the Return key and the key above it with the backslash that I never use. But the return key is not a good thing to be without, and explains why this post is done in one paragraph. ugghhhh.