Normans Paintings and Quote from Dickens

The Barber Shop, by Norman Rockwell

'I should never have made my success in life if I had been shy of taking pains, or if I had not bestowed upon the least thing I have ever undertaken exactly the same attention and care that I have bestowed upon the greatest.'-Charles Dickens 

Norman Rockwell painting the Soda Jerk, 1953 Oil on board by Rockwell

Charlie Hatless video (Post no. 101!)

 Here is the short movie my Nephew and I made recently. Inspired by Charlie Chaplin, just couldn't find the right hat! 

Norman Rockwell's April Fools

      I have been reading a book on Norman Rockwell and am enjoying it immensely! I find the artist very inspiring there are so many paintings of his and so much in them. They speak volumes, and illustrate the old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' Each one tells a story, he was an artist and a storyteller which makes an illustrator of the very best kind.

   Since Norman Rockwell's 118th birthday is coming up on the the 3rd of February I shall post a few posts about him during the next week and share a few interesting things I find out about him. If you want a biography on him I advise you to Google it! :)

   The paintings in this post are a series of covers for the Saturday Evening Post one April when letters to the editor pointed out mistakes in his illustrations. Well he decided if they liked finding mistakes then he'd give them some--the more the merrier!

  In this painting of a curious old shop Rockwell challenged his readers to find the 57 mistakes he had painted.

Here are the answers

Julie Greg- New Zealand Artist

  As part of an unofficial new years resolution I have been looking at work from New Zealand artists for I realized that I know shockingly little of the New Zealand art world. I actually don't like the usually New Zealand contemporary style or 'unrealism'. However I am discovering their are allot of artists from my country who are really brilliant artists.

Julie Greg, for example. I have known of this artist for some years and she has been a big inspiration for me. Whenever I wanted to draw something and couldn't come up with good ideas I would look at her beautiful pastel work. Here are some samples:

Catherino II

Learning to Fly

Power and Grace

  I love the style of her work with the very realistic and detailed horse and abstract textured background.

  I lie how she has done the background for this, it is abstracted to show off the dear but you can tell it is a grassy woodland scene and can even see blue sky through the tree tops.

  Julie Greg has also done a series on shepherds with their horses and dogs. Beautiful pieces are they not!

You can follow her on her blog, though she dose not post very regularly, or see more work in her website gallery. Julie Greg on Facebook

So what do you think? Recon I could become that good an artist one day!

Welcome to my Studio!

  I am one of those people who loves to change around things like furniture and rearrange rooms. I have rearranged my room many times, on average about once a year! Because my room is also my studio my roll-top desk serves multiple purposes and often when I have a painting underway I can't do anything else for all the space is taken up with it.

   Today I got out a canvass but didn't know what I was going to paint. I decided to do a still life from life, but after trying to arrange things on a chair I decided I had better spent my day rearranging my room. I now have a solid old kitchen table at right angle to my desk so I have sort of cornered of a space in my room as a studio and have a lot more table space now! On the other side of the table is my bed so it also serves as a large bedside table.

An awkward view of my studio corner. Sorry about the  bad quality images I was using my webcam!

 

Unimportant things get a much smaller space now!!

                                

The four hundred plus books in my room overflow the shelves! (Yes I have counted and read them all!!! It's not really crazy, merely normal healthy behavior of a book worm!)

We being snobs! And Pansy more interested in the curtains.

The cat is Pansy, this is her territory. And she has allot more hair in winter!

I may get out the paints tomorrow now that I have a bigger space to work in.... =)

Charlie Hatless-- A Plotless Production

 I did nothing about everything I should be doing something about today, and feel a little guilty.

However, I was not entirely useless I did sign a painting -- and sell it. 

Pearl Grey, Oil on Canvass. SOLD

But mostly today I have bee movie making with my nephew, Zion (9). I have introduced him to Charlie Chaplin and he loves them, he also loves making movies so we made a Charlie Chaplin movie ourselves. We had none of our usual Plotless crowd around so it was a two man band but I think it turned out quite well! 

Here is the star himself! With his walking stick he made of a crow bar and stick! We have called the movie Charlie Hatless as we couldn't find a hat like Chaplin's, and what is Charlie Chaplin without his hat! So we are not pretending to be Charlie Chaplin, just big fans of his style! 

I'll share the movie with you once it's on You Tube. 

Here are our last two Plotless movies to entertain you.

Michael Blow--Amazing Artist (who I meet(!))

   We are finally home from a month in Napier, the Art Deco City of the world. 

   It was all very interesting and fun and great to get away for a while, (though not so great missing my horse, Tigger). The weather was a topic and disappointing, but I'm not going to talk about the weather because I have something better to share with you--or someone.


  A second cousin twice removed (as I finally found out) kindly took me to meet a friend of his, one Michael Blow, who also happens to be one of New Zealand's leading professional artists! (I had never heard of him, but then I hardly know the name of any artist from my native country which I must remedy as son as possible!)

My favorite work of my Favorite subject. 

   I was rather nervous for I didn't know what professional artists are like, never met a real one before! But I discovered that the species are really the same as other humans, much to my relief since I don't relish the thought of turning into anything weird myself! He is a very nice, gentle man with a charming wife who served us tea and cake. 

Evening Showers, Paris
Oil 36cm x 46cm

   Many of his paintings were on the walls and I could hardly keep my eyes off them. They were the real thing! Real art and a style of painting I have always loved. Now I know how different it is to see beautiful paintings in the flesh and not just on the computer screen which is where I have always seen them. (Everything is always so much more exciting when you are young and inexperienced so forgive my enthusiasm!)

My Ladies, Art Deco Napier
Oil 23cm x 31cm

    Here's what one gallery has to say about the man:

    "Michael Blow is considered one of New Zealand’s foremost representation artists.  As a full time professional, he has been painting for thirty five years and in that time has exhibited in over one hundred solo and group shows. 

Plums & Persimmons 
Oil 41cm x 51cm

His training began at Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Art and after graduation, in London, at the Sir John Cass School of Fine Art.  In 1971 he returned to Napier and tutored for the Hawke’s Bay Art Gallery and Museum in painting and drawing, before beginning his career as an artist.

Fairy among the Camellias

Michael has entered just two art competitions, the Kelliher Art Competition and the George Harrison Award, both of which he won.

Evening Walk, Myajima, Japan
Oil 51cm x 76cm

But his main quest and energy has been towards an understanding of the beauty and intricacy of the world around us and the honing of skills to bring it to life on canvas.In that quest he has studied and painted in many countries including Europe, Scandinavia, Africa, Australia and Bali as well as New Zealand.  Most recently, he has visited Japan and this exhibition shows his first works from that intriguing country, full of charm and history.

Peking Ducks
oil 23cm x 31cm

Michael has always had a special feeling for people, flowers and still life and they are on display, as well as some studies from Europe."

     It has really inspired me meeting him and I intend to try allot of new things this year and explore more possibilities. This year I want to actually carry out some of the vague ideas which are always floating about in my head. But that is another post. Happy New Year!!

You can see more of Michael Blow's work here and here .

Svetlana Cameron, Brilliant Portrait Artist

As usual, having just discovered an artist whose work I admire, I must share the enthusiasm! Now, this artist is truly brilliant! 

           'I am a classically trained artist dedicated to the revival of realist tradition. I admire quiet art of great poetic beauty expressed through mastery of technique, and believe that a good work of art is the one that reaches your heart and mind without the help of art critics.'                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   -                                                                                                                                                  -                             =                                                                                                              Svetlana Cameron

    I love her style of portrait painting, they are the kind of pictures I would like to create one day. So lifelike, and yet, so obviously not photographs.

                                  Svetlana Cameron (what a lovely name!) has a website here. I spent ages looking at each of her accomplished works and reading through the site.