Neil Gaiman: Make Good Art

Whatever we make or do or want to, we all need to watch Neil Gaiman's 2012 Commencement Speech at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. If he'd never written Sandman or Neverwhere or American Gods or any of it, this would be enough.

Keep Getting Weirder

Ilo Oxa

Facebook has its virtues.  About the time you’re sick of tickers, timelines, political rants, pictures of kids’ feet, you hear from an artist like Ilo Oxa.  This is a drawing on canvas.  More great work on his blog.

Remembering Liz

Remembering our dear friend Liz Gerard at West End Talk. Thanks to LuAnne Gardner for providing Liz's photos of her work, and to my partner Parnilla for this one.

We miss you, Liz.

Parnilla.com

Parni's new site is live. Greeting cards and prints available at Redbubble; for information on available originals, contact West End Gallery, Corning. Thanks for stopping by!

Ramshackle Review 3

Ramshackle Review 3/March 2011 is live at: http://ramshacklereview.blogspot.com.

RR3 is a strong poetry issue, with work by Norbert Krapf, Sam Rasnake, Heather Abner, Caitlin Roper, Bill Yarrow, Darryl Price, Nicole Koroch, Michelle Elvy, Lori A. May, M.P. Powers, Shannon Peil, Rene Foran, Betsy Sharp, Amy Schreibman Walter, Steve Subrizi, Regina Green, Jim Davis, Sara Fitzpatrick Comito, Robert Klein Engler, J.P. Reese, Amorak Huey, Robert McDonald, A.J. Huffman, Susan Tepper, and John Tustin.

Featured are four new poems by and an interview with Howie Good. Thanks, Howie!

RR3 also includes:

Fiction by Darryl Price, Barry Basden, Claire Massey, Justis Mills, Sheldon Lee Compton, Stephen Hastings-King.

Nonfiction by Jane Hammons, Marcus Speh, Matthew Zanoni Müller, Nicole Monaghan, Allison McCabe.

Art: photography by Jennifer Hodgson, Peter Tieryas Liu and Angela Xu; digital painting by Ian McQue; oil painting by Evgeni Gordiets; and etching by James Skvarch.

Thanks very much to all. It's an honor to share your work in RR.

Read, enjoy, share!

Jardine Gallery

I'm very pleased that my drawings are now available at Jardine Gallery, Perth, Scotland. The gallery features fifty accomplished artists working in a variety of media, and I'm honored to be included. Thanks, Julian!

While you're there, check out Julian Jardine's amazing ceramic sculptures. This one's a favorite.

Pamela Wilson

Pamela Wilson, Antechamber of Regret
Oil on Canvas, 42" x 21"

Read Feathered Hopes and Intriguing Dreams: Paintings By Pamela Wilson in Ramshackle Review 1.

Ramshackle Review 1

Ramshackle Review's first issue is up. Thanks to all our contributors for allowing us to share your work, and for making this a great collection. Special thanks to Sheldon Lee Compton for Intruder, and the introduction to Pancake and his work; to Pamela Wilson, for the new artwork and her generosity at a busy time; and to Phil McCray, whose memoir Ulysses In Ithaca closes the issue.

Submissions for Issue 2 are now open.

Updates

Ramshackle Review's first issue is taking shape. Included: Jessica Hollander, Stephanie Austin, Howie Good, Sam Rasnake, Pamela Wilson, Susan Tepper, Felino A. Soriano, Bill Yarrow, Robert Malbin, Karen Keating, Ernest Williamson III, Julie Innis, R. S. Bohn, Phil McCray, James Gurney, Michelle Reale, William Doreski, L. Ward Abel, Sheldon Lee Compton, and others. Friend Ramshackle on Facebook, and stay tuned.

Building: A new website for Finger Lakes printmaker and metalworker Paul Dudley Bishop. If you like the look and need something similar, art & photography friendly etc, email your requirements for a quote.

Cutting: Firewood. Catching up on: AMC's Rubicon. Re-reading: John Crowley's Endless Things.

Paul Madonna

Amazed and marveling at Paul Madonna's All Over Coffee. Read Charley Parker's Lines and Colors post.

Django

A great time last night catching up with our friends Phil McCray & Jean Callahan at Loudeac Tile Studio in Newfield- And when we got home, we found this tucked in the backseat of the car. So cool. Thanks, Phil!

GC Myers: Night and the City

Yesterday I was surprised and delighted to become the new owner of this painting, our friend GC Myers' Night and the City. It was an unexpected and wonderful gift and hangs this morning above my computer desk where I can look at it and smile. Which I am happily.

When I took the painting from its wrapping, I thought Hey I know this guy. I've been writing about this guy. Hey, guy. Good to see you...

Night and the City is from Gary's Outlaws series. Read about it on his outstanding blog redtreetimes.

This is so cool. Thank you, Gary.

GC Myers: Finding Home

A short film by our friend GC Myers. For more, visit Gary's blog.

Aleta Wynn Yarrow: Catching The Dream

Aleta Wynn Yarrow, Catching The Dream
Paper collage, mixed media

Congratulations and best wishes to our friend Aleta Wynn Yarrow, who's been named the new Director of Interpretive Programs at the Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science & Art in Scranton PA.

I first saw Aleta's Catching The Dream years ago in West End Gallery's old space upstairs at 97 West Market. I remember climbing the back stairs, light slanting through the tall window on the landing, and arriving at the top to find this piece hanging on the far wall of the North Gallery. Catching The Dream was my introduction to Aleta's work, and suffice it to say it made a lasting impression.

Aleta's work has always been as personal and uncompromising as any artist I've known. And whatever she does, it's always positive.

The Everhart's gonna like what she brings. She's got all the tools & experience you could ask for- And most importantly, she cares big.

If you know Aleta, these things- especially the latter- are evident. If you don't know her yet, I hope you get the chance.

Honk

Parnilla Carpenter, Honk
Colored Pencil, 5" x 7"

Sure, Parnilla's my girl. But even if she weren't, I'd still love this goose.

This drawing is available at West End Gallery, Corning. Call Lin or Hedy at 607.936.2011.

Paul McMillan

Summerdays in Ithaca, we usually want mostly to be outside, walking the gorges, photographizing, etc. But with autumn arriving cold and rainy this week, we decided yesterday might be a good opportunity to get in touch with an artist whose work we've admired for some time, Paul McMillan. When we called, he was at work in his Enfield studio, the historic former Methodist Church building, and he was happy to give us a tour. It's a unique and impressive space, well suited to both the creation and presentation of Paul's work. On his easel was this night scene. For more on this painting, click here.


Paul McMillan, Oak Tree, Hay Bales and Moonlight
Oil on Panel; 20" x 16"


Photo: Parnilla Carpenter.

Newfield

Near Town Line Road, Newfield. If I were Marty Poole, I might have set up an easel, begun painting. Lacking any such abilities, but determined nonetheless to capture something of the evening, I set up my tripod instead.

Aleta Wynn Yarrow's 'Guardians'

Aleta Wynn Yarrow, Guardians
Acrylic; 18" x 36"

I’ve always enjoyed learning about other artists’ processes. Whatever the media, something nearly always translates, becomes useful, inspires. Recently, I talked with my friend Aleta Wynn Yarrow about her painting Guardians. Here’s some of what she had to say.

Guardians is an intuitive piece that had its genesis in fairy tales and archetypes. I have always loved stories, especially the old stories. There are themes and images that recur, like the number three, a key, a castle, and animals such as the owl, fox and horse. What I set out to do is to paint a narrative painting, not in the sense that it has implied action, but in the sense that it contains archetypes from fairy tales for place, character, and object.

So, there is the night, the cloud, the constellation, the tree and the seed to represent "place." All these symbols have deep layers and resonate in many directions, many dimensions. Night, for instance, is a symbol for refuge, sleep and dreams, for magic and the awakening of the fairy realm, for romance, for mystery, but also for evil and dark forces. Now each of those is just skimming the surface of possibility. One could write a book about the meaning and symbolism of the night. The same is true of the other symbols, particulary "tree."

The "characters" are the birds. Three is the "magic" number: man, woman, child originally, but well adopted by religions over the millenia. In fairy tales, there are always three brothers, or events transpire three times. An artist's magic 3 is, of course, the primary pallette: red, yellow, blue. The "characters" in the painting are a scarlet tanager, a goldfinch, and an indigo bunting. The owl is the guardian, keeper of the key, and symbol of wisdom, intuition, and vision: a sort of artist's muse.

The key is the key to the painting. It is the "object," and the clue that the artist intends more than decoration. In fairy tales, keys open doors to horrors, doors to treasures, and doors to lost loved ones.

You have the pieces and the symbols, but you have no action. That is what you, the viewer must supply. From the vast storehouse of tales in your common memory, from the vast possibility of symbolic meanings, what meaning, what story can you create with the beginning given here? This is what I intended: an illustration for a story yet to be written.

Guardians was painted with matte acrylics on paper mounted onto stretched canvas; size is 18” x 36”.

Aleta is currently working with illustrator Johanna van der Sterre to offer "Nature's Story" wall tiles. These tiles are designed primarily for schools and libraries, and are nature-inspired, combining picture, narrative elements, and words. The project includes both stand-alone murals and series: “Like a picture book,” Aleta says, “on the wall. Children will be able to walk down the hall, reading and touching.”

Aleta’s work will be showcased at West End Gallery, Corning, September 4- October 8. Opening reception is Friday, September 4, 5-7:30. For more, visit westendgallery.net and Aleta’s website, aletayarrow.com.

Simon's Cat

If you're a cat person, or if you just like funny, you need to check out Simon's Cat, a series of short films by English animator Simon Tofield. Tofield creates his films with Adobe Flash, and draws each frame- up to 25 per second are required- with a Wacom pen and tablet. Here's his most recent, Fly Guy.