the art: surreal + symbols

Welcome to the studio archives (2009): you're in for a BIG surprise, there are actually THREE entries for this entire year. Woohoo! Ok. You can hit me, I deserve it. You're reading for real and I'm being a smart butt. Never mind me, I just get embarrassed by this stuff sometimes. Read on baby. We're into 2009 now.

 

  • Belated posting of the annual Christmas card (& song)...

    Dec. 29, 2009: You know... I haven't posted an updated news item since March 2009 because I REALLY wanted to leave the announcement up promoting Jack Barrett's sketchbooks. BIGtime. That was SUCH a weird/beautiful moment and he was SUCH an artist ...that I hated to let it go off the main page. I KNEW that eventually it would have to be taken down and... I guess "eventually" is now. The link is still available, the story is on the site news page. Ok. As for NOW (the holidays): no excuse, it's just that I'm REALLY BUSY almost ALL THE TME ....so this is a belated holiday greeting. Woohoo!!! Click here for the annual Eisenbraun Christmas card AND song. This year Gary went a la James Brown and the songs is, "Santa Clause (Say It Loud)". Enjoy. We are on artist retreat and are NOT being "normal". For us, this is THE time for making ART. Happy Holidays everyone!

  • A Strange Coincidence.

    March 16, 2009: Here's the ironic part, I'm going to give you the postscript to the Strange Coincidence story first: click here for limited edition replicas of three of Jack Barrett's sketchbooks. Ok? To see all three, click the "author's bookstore" tab. Now, that the link is in an easy place to find later on ....let me go back to the beginning and tell you about this strange circling of reality that recently occurred in my vicinity.

    Last weekend I was in the studio, puttering around and generally getting things in order to start a new work of art. I happened to run across two articles about Jack Barrett that I had misplaced quite some time ago. I met him once (June 2006), it was very inspirational. One of the newspaper articles was about Jack Barrett's sketchbooks. This made me do a LOT of thinking about sketchbooks in general. It's an easily overlooked deal-io for the adult artist: the simple sketchbook that is. You know, I used to ALWAYS have one within arms reach. Jeez. Thoughts were running round my head like: jumping from project to project does not allow the experimenting and playfulness that sketching for fun does. Another thought: a sketchbook within easy reach encourages a more artistic way of thinking/living. Etc. Etc. There were many more thoughts along those veins. I took the two articles and taped them to the walls of my studio.

    So Jack, sketchbooks and ART were on my mind and circling for days. It's been a while since I initially had those thoughts and it was GOOD to feel them running rampant in my mind. I want to be the ARTIST I always meant to be. This is another step on that path.

    So....Thursday night (about 5 days later), I get an email from a stranger, G.B. Pellone. It came off the website contact form. The email mentions my blog about meeting Jack Barrett and the fact that G.B. Pellone showed that blog to Louise Barrett. The email also mentions that they have collaborated and created limited edition replicas of three of Jack Barrett's sketchbooks. Wow. This is SO SURREAL. Jack Barrett name comes up AGAIN (after so long) and... there's that subject again: sketchbooks (which is the very same subject Jack and I talked about when we met). So, I go online and check them out. Very cool beanies (I am trying to budget in to get one of them). BIGtime. But...when I get to the third sketchbook, I read: "Just draw a line a day" and I have to tell you that it got to me.

    Once again, I remember reading the newspaper article about how Jack was so sick he couldn't get out of bed and the fact that he was STILL painting. He just HAD to have a brush in his hand. He was so FULL of art. I cried on and off the entire day that Jack passed. There was a whole LOT of life, passion and ART bursting out of that man. Jack Barrett was a BIG inspiration to me. And you know what? Gary nailed it when he said to me, "See, Jack is STILL inspiring you."

    Wow. Talk about coming full circle in the weirdest way. Guess what I did today. I picked up my sketchbook and did some doodling :)

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  • The Eisenbraun (2008) artist retreat.

    Jan. 04, 2009: I am (actually) on the very last minutes of the (Eisenbraun 2008) annual artist retreat. This is the third year running that Gary and I have done all of our normal peeps stuff in advance, then pulled up the drawbridge, let the gators loose and sat back to be ARTISTS. Usually, you only get a hour or two here and there (if you're lucky) and it's normally at the very end of a long day, in between making dinner, going for groceries, mowing the lawn, watering the plants, etc. etc. etc. Even weekends can be so packed with normal people stuff that you can only squeeze in an hour or two of artistry (the advantage is that you are not quite as tired on the weekends). Sooooo. Every year we devote at least one week to JUST BEING ARTISTS. No normality is allowed. In fact, it's downright BANNED! hehehe. Just art, barbecue, a good bottle of wine and a little plug 'n play action. This year, because of my problems finishing that last artwork, I was on the computer a bit more but ONLY working on our stuff (which is waaaaay behind) and only in-between a LOT of artistry :) But anyway. It was a GREAT success. Not as anticipated but life rarely is. A LOT of good stuff got done, not the glamorous artistic stuff but the REAL stuff that helps you keep on being an artist all year long (when it can sometimes get difficult). All the daily vibes that can bogg down artistic efforts were cleared out and the art waves are zinging again. Free and clear (as of NOW). LOL. Anyway :)

    So at this point (re: new artwork), I am looking through my stockpile of collected pictures and magazines. I have a box (right inside the studio door) where I, sometimes on a daily basis, put interesting pictures cut out of the newspaper (primarily), magazines, advertisements, etc. etc. I never really know why certain pictures are cutout, they just are. I have a VERY bossy subconscious. BIGtime :) But, I'm okay with that. LOL.

    I'll look through the picts until something ...encourages me to put one aside. Eventually I'll have a small pile of picts which I'll scan into the computer. It's not a rushed process, it happens at whatever pace is just right for that one work of art. Then it's into Adobe Photoshop and I just start playing around with them. When it's right, I'll know and that's when the printer gets turned on and the brand new surreal artwork collage gets printed out. Basically: that's it in a nutshell. It will probably take a little while because I am currently de-stressing from HOW LONG IT TOOK TO COMPLETE THE LAST ARTWORK. Argh. I HOPE this one will be simple and beautiful. That sounds REALLY good. Anyway. You'll know when I know :)

    I am also finalizing a new mini-website for Gary Eisenbraun -- featuring another CD of free mp3s/downloads (donations encouraged and accepted gladly). THEN I need to translate his artist website AND mine to cascading style sheet format. Ugh. That's a LOT of pages (all done in the old-fashioned html format). Oh well. When I learned web design, cascading style sheets were VERY unreliable but...that somewhere along the line that changed <g>. So it's time to go to infinity and beyond. Especially since the browser support for html is going bye-bye. Hopefully, I'll get the change done BEFORE browser support disappears entirely. ROLFMAO. You know the old saying: it's always the web designer's website that gets updated last. Too true! Anyway. Happy New Year! Hope it's going well for you :)

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  • The studio archives.

    Ok. NOW I feel like I can just pull out ye ol' "glutton for punishment" label... wouldn't you say??? You are down here and reading THIS, which means that there is a small chance that you might want more? Whoosh. Just bring it on eh? Ok. Suit up. It's go time :)

    MORE >> go to 2008.