jim dine.....

what a great artist. he began in NYC in the early 1960's with people like claes oldenberg, rauchenberg and andy warhol...he was one of the fathers of pop art - he is known for such imagery as messy hearts ("the hearts of dine" that became postage stamps in the 197o's). the musical "hair" was named that after one of his paintings. he is known for his men's robe series, as seen here above.
i was inspired by his work when i was getting my BA in fine art in college in the 1970's from SDSU...then after about 10 years after graduation, my uncle from new york came to visit me. he said did you know that your cousin is named jim dine? can you imagine?
actually my uncle said it this way: lisa, you love art, did you know that you have a cousin who is also an artist - he has had some success - you probably have never heard of him...his name is dine - jim dine. i never really liked his work, i don't understand it, but he has had some success. i said ARE YOU F-ING KIDDING ME?????
i love his work. then i think i passed out.
my uncle was so shocked that i had heard of him or studied him.
oh well.
so, yep on my father's side. my grand dad owned a hardware store in ohio - jim's grandparents owned a hardware store in ohio. they were brother--sister. his mom who was a gutman (like me)married a dine - she died early - he went to live with his grandfolks the gutmans. jim is older than me - he is in his 70's now. my father married late in life. i was a menopause child....anyway, my dad had always talked about this hardware store - but jim showed us all about the hardware store in his art. there is a drawing - part of the NYC MOMA's permanent collection that jim did of the family tree - our names are there...well, not mine - i was not born yet - but my dad and mom....pretty damn cool.
still, i wish i were half as successful.
anyway, i have been on the lookout for him (he lives in many places and is unreachable) because of a death in the family - i need to give notice regarding a trust. (which i realize sounds very nigerian con-artist) if anyone can help.......it would be appreciated.

the big-ass paintings

this is a painting of my father, max - he is depicted here several times as it is he and his alter egos - moving skyward by an attached party balloon. my dad had a very dry, deadpan sense of humor, so i thought it fitting to show him being festive while celebrating at a birthday party with his non-expressive face. that's my humor.
i have a series of paintings of my dad circa 1949 and often i put him in a party hat. it just makes sense to me.

as you may be able to see this painting is leaning against a tree. it is a big-ass painting. today "Max, the Party Animal" was installed in the bar area of the restaurant in the sophia hotel on broadway and front streets. the restaurant is named the currant - as in the berry. (artist reception to be announced - i think it is august 18)
so, what does big-ass mean to me? something over 3 feet squared. this painting is 4foot by 6 foot. really not that big for some and not that big compared to the stuff i created in college, but big for recent work.
as i started to work on the big canvas, i began to remember what it was like when i first feel in love with painting back in the 1970's at san diego state university. i learned to stretch my own huge paintings back then - and abstract expressionism was what i excelled at.
i remember liqitex acrylic paints had just come out with new colors like pink and light turquoise - and the many other colors that had white added in. it seemed extravagant to buy paints premixed. but these were glorious. i was used to mixing titanium white in cobalt blue, cadmium yellows and reds, etc. i remember the controversy in those days was, is it crappy art and a sellout if you did not mix your own colors? and for that matter - was it a sellout to use the plastic-y acrylics at all. oil painting back then was the prized medium. but i liked acrylics and i liked the new premixed colors because acrylics dry very fast - if i ran out of a color while painting, i didn't have the frustration of trying to mix up a batch to match. i just bought another of the same color. liquitex's system was very good and trustworthy.

(heavy sigh) i really miss the art department at SDSU. it would be fun to go back and soak up the atmosphere of the primal passion of the learning artist once more.

attention ATC lovers:

saturday, august 8 in escondido, CA. artist renee richetts and i are hosting a large ATC exchange - bring your ATCs and trade with us.

ATC (artist trading cards) are little original art pieces the size of a baseball trading card. usually they are made with cardstock as the support - they are signed and traded - not sold. (see wikipedia)

the cards will be hanging in my gallery and renee's gallery (which is just across the hall) - just come on by slip one out and put yours in its place. don't forget to sign, date on the back - optional add: contact info, a message and/or a title for the piece.
This one that i posted here is called "one happy guy".

where: escondido municipal gallery, 262 east grand ave, escondido, CA (north san diego area)
when: saturday august 8 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
what: ATC trade and gallery show - refreshments too.
how: go in the gallery room of renee or me, check out the art, take one and leave one.
its fun.

the glass castle......

i just finished reading this book - i LOVED it. it is jeannette walls' memoir - how she was brought up in something worse the poverty - roaming around like nomads - with her 6 member family. her dad was an alcoholic who rarely worked and her mom was an artist who never showed her work. she was consumed by sentimentality. somehow they raised 4 kids - but not well. the kids had to fend for themselves - not having enough food or money for electricy, the kids loved school because they could find food in the dumpster ---left over food in lunch pails or lunches other kids didn't like or eat. and they found shelter from the freezing winters of west virgina hollows at school.
i remember my first favorite book, when i was a child - it was the boxcar children - i was truly fascinated by their bravery to live in a boxcar and the innovative measures they used to survive on their own. this book reminds me of that childhood book--- only the glass caastle is both sad and unbelievable all at once. makes you appreciate running water.
the author, jeannette walls, works for msnbc - she also hosted a e! tv show.

gracie's bday....

this is the painting of the dog (pitbull) that belongs to my daughter brooke. this is gracie or as we know him, taz. when taz lived with us for a year, we could not bring ourselves to refer to him as gracie. brooke named him gracie because he is not graceful. ok, very funny. but when he lived with us we just couldn't do a girls name on a pitbull boy - so i named him taz - for tasmanian devil. i have a feeling that the name taz is not uncommon espeically amoung pitbulls since they can often act like the cartoon tasmanian devil.
when taz first began to live with us - he still had his balls. he was very strong and very pitbull like. he hated the couple across the street who owned a stupid little yappy, crappy dog. taz would bark at it from our gate. one morning, i guess taz couldn't take it anymore, so somehow he opened the gate and bolted after them up the hill. a few hours later i get a dingdong at the door......it was the husband of the neighbor across the street. your dog got out and ran after my wife and dog. my wife didn't know what to do so she jump on top of a car up the hill.

"jeez, i'm sorry, but where is taz?"
"i don't know i think the owner of the car has him."
yep, turns out the owner of the car up the hill had called the dog to come - she had a treat for him. he came wagging his tail. she caught him and enclosed him in her yard until i was found. the man of the wife and dog on the car wanted to press charges. i told him to go ahead. what could i say? except i thought he was an overgrown asshole -----but that has nothing to do with this incident, per se. i told him that i was truly sorry that his wife had to jump atop a car - i felt pretty sorry for the car owner as well. i had taz fenced in, afterall - it's just that, taz was just very determined to get "yappy". actually i think he only wanted to play with him, but i wasn't there to see for myself.
so my neighbor who is an asshole by anyone's account, came back over a few hours later and said OK my wife is not going to press charges. i didn't ask why not. i suppose i was supposed to kiss the ground he walked on and thank him for his charitable forgiveness....nah.

we had taz for over a year and never really diciplined him enough. he did get his balls removed right after this incident. i'm sure he thinks that is hardly fair. eventually brooke took her dog home (there were no dogs allowed where she lived, but i guess she decided to go rebel in that area.) she deciplined taz very well and went back calling him gracie. so here is a painting of my grandson gracie. its his birthday in this painting.

still painting....

i am still futzing around with the bigass painting. it should be done tomorrow.
tomorrow afternoon and all weekend rosie has a swim meet in north county san diego. it will be grueling.
and grueling for her too. ok that was a little joke.
but seriously, somehow my husband and i find a weekend long swim meet takes everything out of us.

i have been teaching my little neighbor who is 3 to swim - every day about the same time we go in for a little dip in my pool. she is getting braver and braver. she is the neighbor who owned zelda who had to be "put down" a couple of days ago. zelda, the dog, really had become too old and was paralyzed, etc.

yesterday, when i was walking the little one home she asked me if a was old like zelda. i told her yes. funny litte girl. then i began to wonder if my family would put me down soon.
today we were talking about another dog we know who is fat. that dog is my daughter's pitbull, gracie or taz as we called him when he lived with us.
little one asked me, " is he as fat as you? - huh lisa?" she asked this is a very understanding and knowing way.
i had to say, "er, yes" to that as well.
she's such a sweetie even when she insults me. today when we were swimming she told me she loves me. awwww. life is good.

tiredness

i had a great and fulfilling day - i enjoyed visiting in kathy o.'s class at the stamp addict. it was partly my class too, but i was only there to add humor and entertainment. which kathy does just fine without me - so i guess i was there to just share the breathing space. i have to admit, i like going to these classes--- socializing with other artists. it does a soul some good.

later i got to teach my little neighbor girl to swim. i enjoy her company too.
she is 3 1/2.
as for my family, my son is flying home today from buffalo - he rented an apartment there for when he returns to go to SUNY - buffalo for 5 years to get his masters and phd. i think he leaves permanently in sept.
he will visit here from santa barbara in a couple of weeks. we will shop for subzero clothes together.
my daughter brooke got an honor last week. she was on the deans list at her college. she will attend UCSD in january.
my young one, rosie, is still home for the summer until august 12 - then she starts her sophmore year at helix. she has had a tough summer - all her friends have been out of town. thank goodness for swimming and surfing.
i wish i bought comicon tix on time- it would have been nice to go and take my daughter and my nephews. maybe next year.
bot my blog is boring tonight....i better get some sleep.
i just finished reading "little bee" - it was a good book in spots. i liked the voice of little bee in the beginning and last part of the book - all parts inbetween were written as though another author (poor writer) did the book. sometimes i wonder. now i need to find a new book to read.

what the heck, come on in....tomorrow

Chipboard book by Lisa Bebi & Kathy O.
July 20, 2009 10:30 AM
Come and spend time with Lisa and Kathy while they show you different ways to create a great chipboard book with Stampers Anonymous sets, different color mists, decorative scissors, and lots of other fun embellishments. Cost $25.00


should be a crack up.

this coming monday....

i didn't mention this before but i will be a guest teacher this monday with kathy o. at the stamp addict -on el cajon blvd. san diego (619) 667-5060. we are putting together a small book with stamping and a few surprise applications.
www.thestampaddict.com for info. it is a pretty inexpensive class. you will learn some stuff and be entertained too.
maybe i will see you then.

speaking of applications, have you seen the art coming from artists who have iphones? there is a brushes application that permits an artist to have some pretty awesome looking art. there are no pigments, brushes, paper and other things to carry around, just the iphone. and the clean up is nil.
i heard it costs just $4.99.
check it out on youtube.

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computer work...

our netgear expired. it died. so we were on only one computer with internet for over a week until my husband had time to get a new one and install it.
because the computer was down - my daily life changed. i suddenly had time on my hands. i didn't realize how much time i actually spent on the computer. don't tell my husband because that would prove he was right. he is always saying that i spend too much time on (that damn) computer. humph. i told him i do a lot of my work on the computer - i am not just socializing, i am networking!

what does he know, anyway? he never even reads this blog! i could be talking about him and he wouldn't know it. like i am now.

i love it when he is talking to someone, like a client, and that person tells him about things they read on my blog. things about our family. like, how our daughter has done is a swim meet or that we have relatives visiting --- he always looks puzzled - how did you know that?

i read your wife's blog.

ahahahahaha!

i asked him one time, hey, how come you have never read my blog?
he said,
"i don't believe in blogs."

what kind of answer is that?
you don't have to believe to read.

so some of his colleagues read it. many of our mutual friends read it, too. of course.

when he learns of things that involve our weekend - upcoming receptions, shows, swim meets, from clients--- not only is this embarrassing - it kinda snaps him into reality! this proves i am the queen supreme communicator in our family.
that's what blogs are for, aren't they?

i find that we communicate better if i email him at work. the point is understood this way better than face to face or on the phone. i suppose if i wrote him a letter and mailed it, it might work pretty well too.

Dear Gastone:
Tonight we are having roast chicken, please bring home milk.
Sincerely,
The Wife

nah, i would never get there in time.

so, does this happen to you?
come to think of it - it is best to communicate with my kids by texting. they respond much faster than if i phone them or email them or use facebook to talk to them. forget writing a letter - for some reason those are hard for them to read - even if typed.
just texting. try it, it works.

the kids: they read my blog too. they read it to see if i have written something about them that i should not have made public. like i would - er, well, not on purpose anyway. : )

blogs are empowering.

canvas shopping today...

with my new friend -- my new collector!

i'm not rich, but i don't mind it being this way because.......my collector is!

sometimes i am totally floored at the wealth there is around us - i mean, i see people doing "just OK" near my neighborhood in nice houses that probably cost a couple of mil.
but then there are people who own entire city blocks, like my new friend.

then there are people - well maybe only one - that my artist friend joan irving recently finished a large glass public art project for - the one who owns the empire state building, NYC.
yep, the building is owned by one person - can you imagine?
this is what it must be like to meet him.
so mr. $$$, "do you own any property?"
"well, yes, i own a building in downtown manhattan."
"wow, a building in manhattan, must be nice - where is it located?"
"oh its easy to spot, it's the building with a pointy top - you know, the empire state building."

okay, i can't even write a good fake converstaiton about this it is so - well - beyond me.

the fat roll must go!

ARGH! i just saw a photo of myself on jenny doh's blog, www.jennydoh.typepad.com with ruth rae (a true sweetie pie)and all i can see is that damn jelly belly roll. argh. it is so stubborn. i have been swimming everyday and weight lifting (and situps) a couple times a week and walking up my huge ass hill e.v.e.r.y f-ing d.a.y and there that damn roll still sits. so annoying. i almost wish i was not such a (big fat)chicken - and get that belly liposucked out. but i can't --i'm too afraid of going under the knife - i mean, even if i had the extra $$$ to do it.


ok beyond the shock of seeing my own belly - i had a great time at the launch at barnes and noble in orange county. i had a great long visit with ruth rae and jenny doh and then 10 of us went to dinner together, which was a real treat and fun.
-- my family came with me - i mean: barnes and noble - there is plenty to do and its air conditioned.

which kinda reminded me of an old "married with children" episode - when the weather got really hot the "family" went to the local supermarket and found some lawn chairs and parked it with cool drinks (beer) in the refrigerator section for a day. sorta like that.
********* tomorrow:
i'm looking forward to having this big time collector come to my house tomorrow. i'm a bit anxious, but who wouldn't be. good thing the cleaning lady comes in the morning. not that the collector cares, i'm sure. i made a joke on facebook that i was worried what i should wear when a collector comes calling. i thought i was so funny because - of course a collector really couldn't care less about what i wear - or do they? i hope the joke is not on me.

did someone suggest diet?

orange county has weird people

ruth rae and i were sitting together (ruth had her sewing machine out) this lady who looked a bit "off" came up to us and just starred. there was a little box of dove chocolates being offered - she was eyeing that. finally ruth got into a conversation with her - explaining art quilting. ruth is very polite. but the lady wasn't tracking really you could tell. so i asked her, "do you sew?" oh yes she says very proud and suddenly inflated. i sew my husbands costumes. he is a clown in the mall - he does balloon animals.
now i really don't have anything against animal balloons or men in clown costumes hanging out in malls. er, per se.- nor the women who love them. i just couldn't see the connection with art quilting.
finally she asks, "are these chocolates for anyone?"
"yes, help yourself", ruth said.
she popped one in her mouth and was gone.

join me for "launch"...

today, sunday, i will be at the Orange County Town and Country Barnes and Noble for BOOKSIGNING for this new publication. join me, Jenny Doh and Ruth Rae! and others
it's at 2:00 p.m.!!!!

i will be in Orange County sunday

BARNES & NOBLE (HEARTS) ART QUILTING STUDIO
On Sunday, July 12th at the Orange Town & Country Barnes & Noble (791 South Main Street, Suite 100, Orange, CA 92868) ...

Cover artist Ruth Rae and Jenny Doh will be on hand to sign copies of the premier issue of Art Quilting Studio from 2:00 to 5:00 PM.

Hope you'll come by to see some of the fabulous art quilts live and in person, and to help celebrate the launching of Art Quilting Studio ... the heart and soul of art quilting.

paintover workshop

for instructions on doing paintovers you can still order this publication from stampington. i have 30 pages in there.


click sidebar image or

http://www.stampington.com/html/somerset_workshop_0801.html

it's somerset workshop vol. 4 from spring 2008.

summertime.......

my art work has a rhythm. creative juice often ebbs and flows - sometimes i have so many ideas they converge one atop the other - when this happens i have to make notes, sketches and to do lists. other times i feel the challenged to come up with something new. i get painter's block. i have a few tricks i use to overcome artist block. i will share them with you here.
first you might ask, why do you even worry about it - you don't need to be painting 24/7 - you are supported. why stress - if you have a block just wait for it to clear itself before moving on ....like, paint only when the mood is right.
well, this is not how i feel. i feel that i must be working at it constantly - i am very driven -too driven. probably.

besides i have assignments from the somerset studio publications - i am an artist on call for them, so there is deadline work.
which i love.

but overcoming a block --- most people who collect my work know that when i get "stuck" in a painting - i will just incorporate a fish. that's right. i will paint a fish into the composition to get me passed the "almost finished - only it just needs one more thing" feeling. i don't labor over the many, many possibilities, instead i give myself freedom - freedom in the form of a fish. any fish will do - mostly they are of the made up sort. recently i did an entire painting in fish because i was stumped before i started! that piece was recently showing at the escondido arts partnership show called "art and science". the piece was entitled "swim school". the fish were actually painted over photos of myself and others receiving swim awards, circa 1967. fun.

here are other ways i combat painter's block:


1. put the painting away for a day, use the next day's fresh eyes to crack the mystery.
2. make sure there are not too many conflicting colors fighting for attention. if this is so, i paint out one of the offending colors and then look at it with fresh eyes.
3. throw it on the ground, then throw magazine cutouts on top to see if one "works".
4. doodle on a separate piece of paper.
5. find my personal center - sometimes i can't finish a painting because i am not clear in the head. when i realize this, i take some time off and make a to do list.
6. look through my vast collection of artbooks, photography, graphics, letter forms, collage sheets, family album, cartoons and textiles. usually something will grab me - unfortunately what gabs me is not always what will work in the current painting - makes me want to start anew.
7. make a random mark on the painting and then work to resolve it.
8. paint at a different time of the day. usually i paint from 9:30 to 4 with an hour swim break. if i get up earlier - this often helps to break the block. sometimes, i wake up in the middle of the night and resolve my block then.
9. look at other artists work - those artist whose art i cherish - this isn't always paintings, i like to look at photography, dance and listen to music. sometimes i go to barnes and noble to see if there are any interesting new books.
10. go to an art store (very dangerous) look for different tools, different mediums and additives...
11. change up paintbrush size or use a different tool.
and the best way to over come painters block is to ask another artist for a critique.
so, what's your fish? some people use horses, hats, shoes, words, houses, embellishments, transparent papers or scrap papers, certain markings like watermarks, etc.

lost purse...

yesterday.
i think i left my purse in our van - we went to the dog beach at coronado island on sunday and that's when i left it in there. my husband drives the van to work. so yesterday (monday) at lunch time i realize i don't have my purse. i started to look everywhere - in my car, the usually places around the house, then the unusual places around the house. up stiars downstairs. rosie and i are hungry and went on a mad panic search. i called my husband - left a message "is my purse in the van - tell me so i won't panic". but he was out. i emailed him too.
starving, rosie and i decided we could probably scrap up enough money from the change box in the kitchen to have lunch or go buy groceries. we only had dimes and nickels not that many quarters. she found a couple of rolls of pennies that equalled $.50 - eventually we got about $13 scraped together in change. we double counted it on the eating table. we figured we could get cheap hamburgers at jack in the box. (we were panicked - you can tell cuz we are thinking jack's). we put the change in our pockets.
at the same time, rosie and i say "OK let's go".

automatically (without thinking) i reached over and picked up my purse that was sitting next me on the table all along .........i laughed (after i said WTF) but poor rosie is very disturbed she is afraid that she is turning into me - i bet she can't wait for summer vacation to end.

san diego's dog beach.......coronado island...

i have taken a little time off from blogging and painting - this time of year when rosie is out of school and other family members come to visit, i find it hard to get much work done. my niece and her family are in town for a month or two staying with her mom, but nearby - then my son is coming to town for two weeks before he heads off to NYC.... my brother and his sons are coming before school starts again --
every weekend rosie has important swim meets.
i'm going to stop listing stuff now because i am boring myself.

today we went to dog beach (with dempsey and the dog we are babysitting, jammer) on coronado island - what a beautiful beach - white sand with some iridescent silver flecks in it - a little way further south the beach is actually called "the silver strand" .

it really makes the wet sand gleam - these flecks. gorgeous.

gotta love jack

i found this on Onion news - jack nickelson got an even closer seat at NBA games..........





charming.

RIP pina bausch, cancer age 68.....

what beautiful "dance theater" - i can really feel what she is saying with her dance.
very emotional and moving.

one tacky note - uhm, janet jackson - her brief second with her boob out because of wardrobe malfunction -well watch this - this is what theater thinks of that rubbish.
i don't know about you - but i am getting a little sick of the jackson family. i mean i have even been dreaming about the MJ news now -there is no relief -- i feel so bombarded.
do you ever think like me? i think that princess diana and MJ and elvis may have each faked their own deaths so that they could stay out of the public eye so that at last they could have a private life? i don't know -think about it, MJ was in terrible debt - the way things are going, i think that very soon MJ's estate will no longer be in debt because of the rate in which his music and paraphernalia is now selling on ebay.

NYC

 

my dear friend glass artist  joan irving is right this very moment in NYC......why?   she is attending a grand installation ceremony and reception.  the installation of her beautiful glass in a large building.  which large building? the empire state building!!!  are you shitting me??  nope.

the empire state building has been going through changes -retro changes.  in fact they are retrofitting the entire old building to make it more "green".  the owner of the building (i forget who owns it now) began a scheme to bring in the look of the original plans for the building.  so, they needed some art deco glass for the first floor and commissioned joan to do it.

joan is not new to commissioned public art.  her work is all over the san diego airport and the port of san diego - also she has several public pieces in the city of escondido and elsewhere.

if you go to the san diego airport, you might notice a massive pane glass work of hers upstairs near the front of the building, near the security check in the front of the building, second floor - (see third photo here)    she also has her work above the baggage claim, which is a  long massive piece -ribbons in the wind.

the second photo is of her "totems" art glass that she has for sale in our little gallery at the escondido municipal gallery (come visit us every second saturday 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.)

my painting is called "green girls" - i'm still playing with the colors green and blue.

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