It's Time To Go

 

When Time Flies....this is Time to go. In order to show you how fast time can fly I made him into a goose. This is Time. He acts out and makes fun with words.

Free Time:

 

 

Once upon a ...

Did you ever wonder what time looks like when it flies. Does it fly this high:

Or does it fly this low:

My book will explain it all  www.penzart.com/PenzBook.pdf  

Since I have no one elses material to critique I'll do my own work.
This was taken on my way to work and although I will praise my self for making the decision to stop and grab the shot. Stomp through mud as I was on my way to make other people look pretty as a makeup aritst. Besides liking the dichotomy of it, I was in heaven out there with the fog, dew, mud and beams of light. However, this shot needs just a little more width. Don't ya think? One way of looking at it is that it leaves the viewer wanting more, the other way is that it was rushed and yes it was. Dramatic as it is it needs more depth of field. The cattails infront should be in focus as well and they could have been had I took a few minutes more to put the camera on manual and opened up the aperture.....So, Lesson, take your time....be all there and conscious when doing any kind of art work. This could have been truly spectacular instead of just another pretty snapshot.

Art story

 Once upon a time, there was a little bug. normally he lived outside, as far from people and all the noise and nonsense they bring.









One day minding his own business he scurried out of the rain into what he thought was a giant red tree. Instead it was a giant red house with a box that sat on the floor and made pictures and words dance all over it's self. Slowly and as quietly as he could he tiptoed around the wall to see what was making the picture and found long, black vines that led to a purring, silver animal. Funny, he thought, this animal has no legs, no arms, no eyes or mouth and yet it's purring.

Making his body as skinny as he could he entered into the purring animal through one of it's gills. It didn't look like the insides of any animal he had ever ventured into and soon his world began to change. His first step created a kind of an electric pulse.





Then every time he put his foot down different things happened, New colors splashed around him and soon he found that if he moved just right he could create some spectacular images.

Was he swimming in a chrysanthemum?

or was this a grove of tulip trees?

 

As his dance got more complicated so did the picture.

Finally his little feet got so tired that he had to stop. The animal purred on and lulled the little but to sleep.

When he woke, he sheepishly went back out side of the giant red tree and left the purring animal lay where it was.

Was it a dream? he questioned himself.

Home wasn't too far and he vowed he'd go back and visit, but for now he was happy to be back with all his brothers and sisters.

 I found this little painting of flowers. It's small and unassuming. I wish the person had gone a step further and put in a window or a little night table or something. Wouldn't it had been great if the petals and the faces of the flowers went in a few other directions. So that we saw the backs of some of the flowers that would normally have been in the back of the vase. A single light source would have made it slightly more dramatic, something in the background too would have added a little depth and dimension, clean paper maybe? But for some reason I find something charming in it. Would I ever buy it? Now that's a different story. The artist wants $75.00 for it. Perhaps if it was in a gold frame? I'm not even so sure that would help me out. Once upon a time I would have tried to sell something like this myself. Now I give pieces like this away as birthday cards or book marks. They're sweet but I'm not sure they're worth a price tag.
If you did this painting, would you try to sell it and for how much if you did?

I've been told that I am being a bit like 'Simon'. So be it. Anyone can call themselves an artist but does everyone have talent? Or are these cute little paintings exercises and practices? Are they masterpieces?

Thanks for your thoughts!

How do we know when our artwork is worth anything especially money?

I don't know who the so called artist is but I am having trouble with this piece on several levels. Am I crazy? The pricing seems to be on a size basis alone and not the quality of the work. This painting, a watercolor, is about 18x20 or so and has a price tag on it of $300. Is this painting just not speaking to me and is there something really worthwhile here and I'm not getting it or is it simply an exercise in painting folds in material? I have so many negative issues with this $300. painting that I'm embarassed for it:  bad perspective and handling of the two basic objects in the frame, choppy, uncomfortable manipulation of  the medium (streaky, unflattering, inconsistencies like in the blue and green sections), object in the middle of the frame making it uninteresting with no story to tell, no apparent light source and so on. Aesthetically, it has no value, I just can't see it hanging on a wall, even in a mud room.

Perhaps the wisdom of one very learned person is applicable here. He says that he loves to write, it helps him clear and organize his thoughts, however, he would never expect someone to pay money for those thoughts, he's simply not a writer. So when and how do we know that our art work is worth money?    

If you google: painting of a raincoat. The first picture of a red raincoat comes up. This painting is seemingly simple and yet it's intriguing and tells a story . The medium moves with the painting, in other words the brush lines can be interpreted as wind rather than just filling in space. Even though the painting is impressionistic with little detail it's far more complex than the above painting. I don't have permission of the artist to give a link to the painting so I hope you will google it.

I will never discourage creativity, ever, ever! However, either on ones own or with the help of another artist (no one in the family, no moms! - sorry but they're way way too biased), we need to get an honest critique before put dollar signs on our work. I'd love to hear what you think about both images. Perhaps, I'm missing something important in the above painting.

Thanks!

Tear it apart

I am going to go through some of my own art until someone suggests I critique someone elses work.

There is an artist whose work is hanging in the nbc galleries right now. Out of perhaps 30 paintings, maybe 3 of them are little gems. The rest either have no story to tell the viewer, are rushed and undefined are poorly planned, or are plain boring. Even so the prices she puts on them are huge except of course for the three little gems which she still has priced on the unbelievable side. I wish I could give you an example. Unfortunately I can't. So we'll move on from here.

What makes a painting or photograph sing? Lets look at two examples of the same graveyard in Boston. Why does one of these pictures work and the other not as much?

 This is subtle but what's the difference and if you could only chose one which one would it be?