Painting again!

quick sloppy color practice portrait, but at leaste I'm trying,
reading "The End of Art" again
looked at finished paintings at the SAM yesterday, The Alice Niel, the two men plaing with bubbles, and the woman standing, to see how they used their paletts.
proud to say I'm back in it to win it. More posts soon.

We've been back from winter break for a bit now

We need to get back into the habbit of posting. Here is a summary of what has been going on:

Back to meetings,

November show: Missy at Bauhaus
December show: Jameson at fresh flowers
                          Crystal: at Bauhaus
February show: Deborah at Bauhaus

Obviously Bauhaus has been a great little venue for us to have private shows. We are all beginning new series of works, and moving on from old concepts.

I personally have been moving into the idea of what humans do when they don't realize they are doing anything. To show insecurities and comforts in sleep is very interesting, I have been looking into how people rest and what their body language means whether they are alone or with another person.
In order to work on this project I have been doing studies of fabric to ensure that it goes smoothly. I have also been photographing friends while they are sleeping (with their permission of course) and studying the differences as I know them and as they sleep.

Aside from this new series, I am currently leaving my art studio which is so sad! I will be studio-less until I come back from France and will keep everyone posted.

paintings from the chris peters workshop...

The Chris Peters workshop at Gage was quite a while ago but its been a crazy month. My cat broke my camera so I haven't had a chance to take any photos of the still lifes I did at his workshop. He is a great teacher and had a wealth of information to share with everyone in the class. It was a joy to listen to his stories and good advice for artists who are trying to push their art out into the world. A weekend well spent!
These bagels and pears are pretty straight forward still lives. I won't be putting them in my masterworks file anytime soon. At the same time, its the first time I've ever tried painting a still life in color so I'm proud of the final result. The thought of painting a still life makes me want to pull out my own fingernails. But these were surprisingly fun and wonderful practice. I'm excited to say I'm actually looking forward to doing more still life painting excercizes when we get back on track after the holidays.

Juxtapz article...

 I'm very excited to have gotten an article on the Juxtapoz website. So far it seems like there's been some great response...

We Are All Animals: The Artwork of Crystal Barbre

Tuesday, 01 December 2009

“We are all animals, and don’t you forget it,” writes Andrew Michael Ford. “While we may still exist in a male dominated world, Crystal Barbre wants to remind you that sexuality is not solely a man’s game.” [Warning: these images are explicit and not safe for work or young eyes.] Read More...

December show at Bauhaus...December show at Fresh Flours

The Atelier is having two shows in Seattle this December. Crystal at Bauhaus and I'm showing at Fresh Flours.

We had the opening reception this past Saturday at Fresh Flours and I was really happy to see some faces I really should see more of. Thanks to everyone who came out!  Despite my sleep deprivation from hanging the artwork the night before and then opening the cafe the day of the show, after a couple drinks and some espresso, my mind returned.  The show has some prints from this past year at Gage and some new, post-Gage prints and drawings up as well. If you're in the neighborhood check it out. 5313 Ballard Ave NW.

-Jameson

Crystal is having a reception on December 10 at Bauhaus (301 E Pine St) for the Capitol Hill Second Thursday Art Walk.  See you there!

liferoom...

My work in the liferoom is still hit or miss but it feels like its getting a little easier. I think the anatomy studies are helping. I actually look forward to being in the liferoom now. I never thought that would happen. Once or twice a week instead of five times a week makes the time spent in liferoom a little more precious. The Bauhaus show in December is coming up fast and has been keeping me out of liferoom the last week or so. I need to be going more consistently before I hit another plateau with my figure studies.

its hard working in the shadows...

I have a show coming up in December - a little more than a week away so I am trying to get as many pieces done as possible while still making them look good. This piece is giving me all sorts of trouble. Trying to bring out color and shape in shadows is proving to be veeerrry difficult. When the focus of the piece is in the shadow there's no cheating away the form and color. Its quite a challenge. Needless to say I'm not exactly satisfied with the results yet. I'm in that frustrating stage of just pushing paint around hoping the right image and color will magically appear. Funny how it never works out that way.
The show in December is at Bauhaus. They have big bookshelves there that the paintings usually hang in front of. I think it looks awkward and distracts from the work terribly so hopefully I'll be able to come up with a solution. They get a lot of good foot traffic there so its worth trying to make it look as good as possible.
I'm starting to get pretty sick of this series so I'll be very happy when I can get back to my drawing and painting excersizes and start thinking about a new project. I don't want to creatively give up on this series though before I've given it a chance to be worked through as well as I can do it. The end is always the hardest for me. The newness of the work I'm doing has worn off so its hard to infuse the paintings with a sense of life and excitement when I'm personally bored with the project. But I think thats part of being a real painter - is being able to harness creative energy thoughtfully and not be crippled without "inspiration". The balance of the love of creating vs. the work of the craft.