I try not to give advice I am not willing to take myself.(GRIN)
I do believe the Artist's Way is truly wonderful. As long as you DO the work, not just read the book and say "oh YES, how absolutely brilliant!".
So today I took my Inner Artist on a (cheap) Date.
We went to a pre- Gallery opening in our nearest quasi-big City. It is a University town which THINKS it is the cultural center of the Universe. I hate to disappoint these well meaning folks, but (sigh), Venice, Paris, New Yawk it aint. Not even Cleveland....
HOWEVER. Having said that, I was stunned to find myself at a hoity toity gallery with oh so pretentious social climbing aspirations....LOVING the work.
TRULY. Woman painter I had not had the great fortune to see before...and because they were JUST finished with the hanging of the show and the opening is not for a few days....OH JOY, OH BLISS.... no titles, no prices, no critical reviews instructing me what and HOW to think about the Paintings...just clear, halogen-lit WHITE gallery space with little ole ME and my Inner Artist...ALONE with the paintings.
Orgasmic. Truly.
Clear, RICH, vibrant color. Brilliantly, simply framed. Anthropomorphic trees and WELL...at the ridiculous risk of becoming one of those self involved reviewers myself, let me just say this woman ROCKS. I will be attempting to find out who she is and what she is all about in the days to come...and of course hoping beyond hope that she is not already DISCOVERED and totally unreachable.
My favorite painting was one of the smallest (this is often the case as I am obsessed with detail and LOVE miniature illuminated manuscriptic paintings....) and just HAUNTED me the rest of the afternoon.
Morning pages should be VERY interesting tomorrow morning...
I shall keep you Posted.
xox
Oh, that sounds heavenly--a real gift.
And yes, I do often dream of trains, and occasionally I've wanted to be an anglepoise lamp. I had an idea that you would get it--it can't be that far a leap from "Vatican Rag" to "Uncorrected Personality Traits," can it?
We will kick some serious charades BUTT!
Posted by: Em | September 29, 2003 at 10:50 PM
Greta, I used to work for an art handling co. I loved my jobs at various times, I hated it at others, I am entirely OVER it now. I miss a few of my coworkers, but perhaps even more, the art itself. I worked on the administrative end of things, but the folks handling the art would stop what they were doing and make sure we upstairs got to see...no, be with...the truly extraordinary stuff that passed through our hands. Dubuffets resting on a cardboard-covered packing table, all sorts of wonders (but my laptop battery is about to fail me)...
Posted by: Ann | September 30, 2003 at 02:32 AM
Hey, I know the Vatican Rag! I'm dying to know who the artist is and whether there are pix we can see. Was it the town with a two-word name? I managed a gallery in Charlotte in the '80s and got to meet Romare Bearden before he died, so I want to take an artist's date to DC to see his show at the National Gallery.
Posted by: Maggi | September 30, 2003 at 02:01 PM
song-a-long with me children:
"Bow your head with
great respect and....."
Posted by: greta | September 30, 2003 at 07:14 PM