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Afterthoughts

September 22, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Elemental Being smYesterday was a day to crash after a somewhat  hectic week, at least by my standards.  It was a week filled with hurried preparation, a lot of driving, some new experiences , meeting new (and old) friends and far more talking than I am used to.  By the time I finally got to stop yesterday afternoon, I laid down on the floor of my studio next to Hobie, my loving studio cat who had her nose slightly bent out of joint by my absences in the past week, and closed my eyes and quickly fell to sleep to the rhythms of Hobie’s incredibly loud purr of satisfaction.  It was the most satisfying little nap I had taken in some time.

The Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery on Sunday started slowly with a smaller group at its beginning that grew and grew as the time passed until the space was crowded.  That’s always nice because it seems that when the group is larger people are more liable to ask questions.  They are almost a little more shy when it is a smaller group and a larger group gives them cover.  But it ended up being a good talk that I think was entertaining and informative with a nice back and forth flow between us.

I know that I enjoyed myself especially when it was time to give away a few things at the end of the talk.  That’s always a fun time for the audience as well as myself.  It sounds goofy and even a little cheesy but I really enjoy being able to do this at my talks.  I’ve said this before but it’s a small token compared to everything that I have received from doing this.  Plus it’s just great to see the faces of people when they get even a small gift.

It was especially satisfying when two small girls, each no more than 9 or 10 I am sure,  each took home something on Sunday.  They were there with their dad and he told me that they had asked to come to the talk.  The family had two of my paintings, one a large Red Tree and another from the Archaeology series, and the girls love them.  One had brought a drawing she had made copying the composition of their Red Tree painting and the other, a lovely small drawing of leaves.  They asked me to sign them for them and I can’t even begin to tell you how much that means to me, how much it moves and amazes me even now as I sit here.

Leija and Scott DeLisi with me Principle Gallery Talk 2015

Leija and Scott DeLisi with me Principle Gallery Talk 2015

Also, another satisfying moment came when I looked over and  saw Ambassador Scott DeLisi and his wife, Leija, slide into two seats.  I was very surprised since only days before Scott was still in Uganda  in his final days as our Ambassador to that nation before taking retirement from a long and distinguished career in our foreign service, serving as our Ambassador to Eritrea, Nepal and Uganda along with prior posts around the globe.  We have had a mutual admiration– they for my painting and me for Scott’s admirable work abroad and for Leija’s wonderful candor– for some time but had never been able to cross paths–I don’t get to Kampala on a regular basis.  So to finally meet them in person  was just great and I felt like I had known them for many, many years.

I am looking forward to seeing Scott’s new role in retirement as he will continue working in the private sector for efforts to improve the lives of people around the world.  All the best to you, Ambassador DeLisi.  Many thanks to Leija and you  for taking the time to stop in on Sunday.

There are a lot more moments and stories to tell from that day as well as my workshop experience of a few days earlier but I am going to wrap this up.  It was  a great week, one that had way more validation than any one more person should get in that time frame.  I am going to let it all soak in for a while then get back to work, refreshed by the kindness of others.

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Gallery Talk Today!

September 20, 2015 by redtreetimes

principle-gallery-talk-2014 GC Myers Phot by Jessica BraunI am on the road today, heading down to Alexandria for my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery,so this is going to be short an to the point.  I’m thinking it’s going to be a good talk today with a drawing for one of my paintings ( and maybe a few other goodies!) at the end.  If you’re in the area, please stop in and say hello.  I hope to see you there!

I forgot to mention yesterday when writing about the workshop that on Friday  the wife of Frank Bocek, one of the participants and a stained glass artist to boot, brought her harp into the Arts Center.  Meredith Bocek is a professional harpist and used the opportunity to rehearse a bit, the sounds of her harp serenading the painters in the second floor as they worked on their new skills.  It was quite a wonderful addition to the tone of the day.

So, I thought I’d play one of my favorite harp songs for the Sunday morning music.  It is, of course, from Harpo Marx in an appearance on I Love Lucy in 1955.  Take Me Out to the Ballgame never sounded more ethereal.  Have a great day and I hope to see you at the gallery today!

 

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Thoughts on a Workshop

September 19, 2015 by redtreetimes

2015 YCAC Workshop- The class hard at workThe best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself.

— Edward Bulwer- Lytton

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I tried to bear these words from English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton (famous for coining the phrase “the pen is mightier than the sword” and the most famous of beginning lines, “it was a dark and stormy night“) in mind when I began instructing a two day workshop on Thursday at the Art Center in Penn Yan.  Having never taken an art course or workshop outside of a disastrous college drawing class thirty-some years ago, I had little reference material on which to base my instruction to the group.  I wanted to show them some of my techniques and have them hopefully incorporate them in their own work or be able to use these techniques as a springboard into something new of their own making.  I just wasn’t sure how to get that across but I knew that just having them leave inspired to want to paint would be my main objective.

After the first day, I wasn’t sure I was cut out for this task at all.

I started with a quick demonstration and then sent the group immediately into the paint with limited direction on where they could  go with it.  I just wanted them to work with the process and get used to seeing the paint move and mix.  But by the end of the day I could see that many of the group were frustrated in trying to master the technique and I was afraid I had put too much in front of them.  Going home that first evening, I realized I was asking them to learn a process in several hours that had taken me thousands of hours to master.  It would be like a musician playing a fairly difficult piece then asking someone who was observing to play it in a few hours.

So on the second day I showed a simplified version of the technique.  The work of the day before, frustrating as it had seemed,  seemed to set the groundwork for making the new work seem easy to handle.  They watched my demo in the morning and they just took off like a rocket after that.

Bonnie B. With her finished painting

Bonnie B. With her finished painting

I was blown away by what happened.  Each member of the group went in their own direction, those with some prior experience seamlessly meshing the technique with their own prior experience and creating pieces that were uniquely their own.  I was amazed at how much solid work was produced in such a short time by this group.  By the end of the day, my frustrations and anxieties were completely lifted and I left feeling that something of value had been transferred to this group, something they could use for to help them find their own path forward.

It was very satisfying.

Many, many thanks to everyone in the workshop.  You were patient, intent, fun and easy to work with.  You made my first venture into teaching a wonderful experience and provided a lot of inspiration that I will carry forward with me.  While I am glad that you may have learned something from me, be assured that I learned as much from you and for that, I can’t express my gratitude enough.  Thank you, Paulina, Jackie, Patti, Suzanne, Frank, Gini, Joy, Bonnie and Grace.  I listed the names from the front of the room to the rear.  Grace was obviously a trouble-maker so she was relegated to the rear table.

Thanks also to Kris Pearson at the YCAC for her dogged perseverance in getting me to head this workshop.  She was determined to have me do this and succeeded despite my initial resistance.  I am glad she did.

Frank B. showing off his distinct style

Frank B. showing off his distinct style

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Next:  TOMORROW, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20–  GALLERY TALK  at the PRINCIPLE GALLERY  in ALEXANDRIA- 1 PM

Come on info a lively talk on art and stuff and you might win this painting!

There Will a Drawing For This Painting at the Gallery Talk on Sunday

There Will a Drawing For This Painting at the Gallery Talk on Sunday

Posted in Motivation, Painting | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments »

Past Present Future

September 17, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Past Present FutureI start my first experience as a teacher today with the  two day workshop being held at the Yates County Arts Center in Penn Yan.  I have to admit to being a bit nervous even though I will simply be doing what I have done nearly every day for the past two decades.  It’s just that I normally do it in the privacy of my studio– silently and without a group watching every move.  I hope all the spitting and swearing doesn’t turn the students off too much.

Of course, that’s a joke– I don’t swear that much in the studio.  But in the weeks leading up to this workshop, I have become very self conscious of my actions as I paint, trying to minimize any goofy traits that might come across when I am standing in front of the group.  I think I have the spitting under control.

During this time, as I was prepping for the workshop and finishing a group of new work to take with me for Sunday’s Gallery talk at the Principle Gallery, I noticed that so many of the techniques that I will be showing in the next couple of days still make up the basis for my new work.

Take for example the painting shown at the top, a 12″ by 12″ canvas called Past Present Future.  Outside of several layers of glazing,  it is very much painted in the same manner as much of my work from 17 or 18 years back.  The shapes evolve and layers are added, but the basic technique is very much the same.

I am excited to see how the students at this workshop adapt this technique to their own sensibilities and their own expression.  I will let you know how it goes.

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Principle Gallery Talk Sunday

September 16, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Living Flame smI give my annual Gallery Talk this Sunday, September 20, at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.  These talks generally are pretty loosely formed and easy flowing conversations between the audience and myself, with a lot of audience participation.  That’s a big part of keeping these talks fresh.  Usually something new or different reveals itself in these conversations.

Over the past several years, an added part of these talks has been the drawing for one of my paintings.  It’s not something I take lightly.  As I’ve said in the past, I want to give away paintings where I feel a pang of loss in giving them away, want them to have some sort of meaning for me so that this is not just an empty gesture.

And it is a real gesture of gratitude.  I am nothing but thankful for all that the people who enjoy my work have provided me both through their buying of my work and in the inspiration which they provide away from the galleries.  Their willingness to examine and respond to my work makes it so much easier to share those things that often stem from places deep inside.  As a result, I try to carefully choose the works that I give away, not wanting to just go the far corner of the closet where I hide those early experiments that make me grimace to look at them now.

I want the selection to matter.  This year’s selection is definitely in this vein.  Shown above, it is titled Living Flame and is a 10″ by 18″ painting on paper.  It is under glass inside an 18″ by 26″ frame so it has some size.  It is painted very much in the style on which my body of work was formed with transparent washes and organic shapes, all surrounding the central figure of the Red Tree.  It is airy and quiet but contemplative, a piece that in many ways could sum up much of my work.

So, I am pleased with this year’s selection and hope you can make it into Old Town for this year’s Gallery Talk which starts at 1 PM.  There are always a few other surprises so I hope you’re there.

Posted in Favorite Things, Motivation | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Sunbeam Unreal

September 15, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- SunbeamThe aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, and not the external manner and detail, is true reality.
—Aristotle
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This new painting, a small 6″ by 12″ canvas that will going with me to Alexandria this coming Sunday for my Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery,  intrigues me on many levels but mainly in the way in which it challenges my own perception of reality.

I wondered how light would appear in a world that gave it different properties.  For instance, what if instead of a sun, that ever-burning orb in the sky, our light was provided by a ring of light that cut across the sky?  And what if the source of light was darker than the light it provided?  How would it affect how we looked at our world?

The odd thing is that my mind accepts the reality that was created.  And that speaks to the words of Aristotle at the top of the page.  The significance of a piece of art is in how our mind interprets the reality of it, in how it connects  with our inner needs and perceptions.

For me, this small painting works on those terms.  It is warm and inviting and familiar even though the reality of the setting is alien to me.  I feel as comfortable–  perhaps even more– in this environment as I would in a perfectly represented image of the real world in which we live.

And that is all I ask of it…

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The Making of a Mural

September 14, 2015 by redtreetimes

Thomas_Hart_Benton_-_Achelous_and_Hercules_-_SmithsonianBack in June, I wrote about going to the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum to see the painting shown above,  Achelous and Hercules, a wondrous mural from the great American painter Thomas Hart Benton.  It was commissioned to hang in a now-defunct Kansas City department store in 1947 and after the store closed in 1984 this masterpiece was given to the Smithsonian.  It is a 5′ high and 22′ wide wooden panel that Benton painted in egg tempera.  It’s a piece I could stand in front of for hours, losing myself in the rhythms and colors.

That being said, I came across a video taken from an old film that shows the incredibly elaborate process that Benton used in the making of this mural, which took about eight months.  It is fascinating and unusual to see a known masterpiece coming together in all its stages.  It makes me appreciate this painting even more.

Here is that video.  It’s about 11 minutes long and worth the time spent.

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Sunday on a Mastodon

September 13, 2015 by redtreetimes

Heidevolk Sunday on a Mastodon Vulgaris MagistralisIt’s a pretty busy Sunday morning as I am in the midst of prepping for a two day workshop I’m giving this week in Penn Yan followed by my annual Gallery Talk at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria next Sunday.  More details on that in the next few days.

So while I am a little tight on time this week I wanted to keep up with my habit of playing some Sunday music.  This week is a bit of an oddity and is nowhere near where I thought the song might end up.  I stumbled across this video from a a Dutch group called Heidevolk which  translates as  “heather folk.”  They consider themselves to be a pagan folk metal band and base their music on Germanic mythology and ancient pagan themes.

Yikes!

Not what I envisioned for this morning but this song and video made me laugh and I found myself myself kind of half singing along by the end.  It’s called Vulgaris Magistralis and is about some sort of mythic figure  who hides from sight like a Yeti  but comes out to ride around on his mammoth.

And on Sunday he rides a mastodon.  So if you’re out there today and get cut off in traffic by a guy on a hairy elephant, be careful– it might be Vulgaris Magistralis.  And his road rage is epic.

Have a great day!

 

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Jazz (Song One)

September 12, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- Jazz ( Song One)The artist is a man who finds that the form or shape of things externally corresponds, in some strange way, to the movements of his mental and emotional life.

—Graham Collier 

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I have been working on dream inspired patterned forms, as I’ve noted here several times recently.  I have been incorporating into the layers that make up my skies in simple landscapes where they serve to give added depth and texture.  It works really well in that context and it would be easy to just use it in that way.

But there is something about some of them that make me just push them to the forefront alone without masking them with any representational forms over them.  Something beyond narrative.  Elemental.  Like it is somehow tied to my own internal shapes and forms and patterns.

I was thinking this when I came across the quote at the top from the late jazz musician/composer Graham Collier.  It made so much sense because I think that is, in general, the attraction of art  for me– it’s an external harmony of internal elements.

I didn’t know much about Collier who died in 2011.  He was a bassist/bandleader/composer who was the first British grad of the Berklee College of Music.  He played around the world and also wrote extensively on jazz but he still wasn’t on my radar.  While I like jazz my knowledge, as it is in many things,  is pretty shallow.  So I decided that i should listen to some of Collier’s music.

The first song I heard was titled  Song One (Seven-Four) and it just clicked for me.  It was so familiar and seemed to be right in line with the piece at the top, a 12″ by 12″ painting on masonite panel.  It made me think about the connection with music, how sounds often take the form of shapes and colors in the minds of both musicians and listeners.

Again, very elemental.

So I began to think of these newer pieces as music.  It creates a context that makes sense for my mind, one that gives me a way of looking at the work without seeking representational forms.  It’s an exciting thing for me and I look forward to some newer explorations in this realm in the near future. For Graham Collier’s clarification, I am calling the piece at the top Jazz ( Song One).  Here it is :

Posted in Influences, Music, Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Quote of the Week: Candle

September 10, 2015 by redtreetimes

GC Myers- CandleThere are two ways of spreading light… To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.

–Edith Wharton

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This is a new piece,  8″ by 10″ on paper, that I am calling Candle.  Working on this painting, I determined that I wanted to keep the composition very simple and stark.  There was so much energy in the radiating forms that adding anything beyond the blue panel at the bottom would change the whole feel of the piece as I was seeing it.  The blue provides contrast and forms a horizon line that gives the whole image a measure of inward depth without detracting from the simplicity of the image, which I see as being essential to the strength of this painting.

Simplicity, as is often the case, translates as grace.  And grace of some form was what began to show in this piece as it unfolded.  I was reminded as I worked on this of the great (in my mind, the greatest British artist) JMW Turner‘s reputed dying words: The sun is God.  There is a spiritual element in how the sun is depicted in his work and I often feel that I am representing something more than a source of physical light and energy when I paint these sun orbs in my work.

Perhaps that something more is a presence beyond the physical.

I don’t know.  But for a moment, my uncertainty is relieved and I feel connected with the warmth and light from the presence that is the sun in this piece.

Posted in Painting, Quote, Recent Paintings | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

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