Monthly mailing

I thought I’d try this way of reposting my Monthly Newsletter.  Nope, my html isn’t good enough to get rid of the squares…..

 

View this email in your browser There are many ways in which government can get involved in art, aside from their involvement in the creation of public art.  I had two such significant encounters in the last month, one negative and three positive. The first positive encounter was somewhat by proxy.  Ontario Airport has a few display cases in the concourse where the art of regional artists is displayed.  I was very happy to be informed recently that my application to show work there was approved and on Feb 19th five of my paintings were installed via the intermediary of Chaffey Community Museum of Art.  The paintings will be there until mid August. Art fair promoters have to work with local authorities on the locations for art fairs and any permits that are required, rules to be followed and registrations of individual artists to be processed.  I’ve done hundreds of fairs over the last decade and one of my favorites is in Palm Springs.  A few years back we had an issue where the city decided to move our venue from the center of town (loads of foot traffic and drive-bys to supplement our other advertising) to the civic center for the following season.  We appealed to the council and they relented. A few weeks ago our promoter commented that the permits for the two March shows hadn’t been approved yet.  We protested further and pointed out that the reason they’d given was no longer an issue.  Then more burning hoops were given.  This from an eblast from West Coast Artists: After meeting with the City of Palm Springs’ Special Event Team today here are the new requirements for the Desert Art Festivals. Loading: We are allowed to reserve 7 parking spaces in the small parking lot for loading at the end of the event. We are to stagger the loading process so that all of the 60 artists use those 7 spaces. There is no parking on Alejo and no parking on Palm Canyon Drive for the purpose of loading. We are not allowed to close the parking lot for loading or unloading. Cross Walks: We are to have crossing guards at the crosswalks because some people neglect to push the button for the crosswalk. This is perhaps a safety issue? Parking Attendants: We had contracted with the property owner across the street from the park, 4 acres, and we must have Community Service Officers patrolling the lot and showing people how to park during the event. Two officers at $55.00 an hour. Police Presence: We are required to have 2 Palm Springs Police officers at the event on Saturday morning for a minimum of 4 hours to make sure everything runs smoothly.  Traffic Plan: We are required to have a Traffic Plan for the parking lot across from the park where we intended to have Patrons park. The spaces in the dirt lot should be delineated so that people know how to park…. After all of these new requirements and the fact that the City Manager, Mayor, and several of the City Council Members have made untrue, disparaging remarks regarding the event to the public, I can’t help but feel like they do not want the Desert Art Festivals in Palm Springs any longer. After the meeting in Palm Springs, I attended the meeting in Rancho Mirage. They have welcomed us with open arms and are going to push the Permit application through the City at an accelerated pace.  At The River in Rancho Mirage management had very few requirements. They have opened up their facility and are very excited to welcome our events. Our events are actually WANTED in the City of Rancho Mirage. The comment was “We would love to take the events from Palm Springs!” Later on it became apparent that The River were not able to accommodate us on the 21st/22nd due to an existing event scheduled, but Indian Wells welcomed us back too, for that weekend.  Not all cities are the same! Here’s my schedule for the month: Fairs: Mar 7th: 29 Palms Art Gallery Spring Art and Craft Fair, 29 Palms, CA. Mar 14th: “Art on Main St“, Old Town La Quinta, CA Mar 21-22nd: Desert Art Festivals, Indian Wells, CA  (Their website might not be up to date yet, it’s on the corner of Cook and 111). Mar 28th: “Art on Main St“, Old Town La Quinta, CA Shows: Feb 2020-Aug 2020 Ontario Airport.  Show case at terminal displaying 5 mixed media paintings. Mar 2nd-26th: Artists 55+.  Walter N. Marks Center for the Arts, College of the Desert, Palm Desert, CA. Reception March 10th 5-7pm Mar 5th-22nd: 29 Palms Guild Members Juried Exhibition. <29 Palms, CA.  Reception  March 7th, 5-7pm.  Classes: Mar 19th: Painting for Absolute Beginners, Borrego Art Institute. $110.  Contact me to book.

Riverside Dogs

In September I attended the Riverside Art Museum fundraiser ‘Art Bark in the Park’.  Selected artists had been given a metal dog to paint on and they were auctioned or sponsored as a fundraiser for the museum.

The reception was held in White Park in Downtown Riverside one warm evening.  There were a lot of dogs there.  I was really surprised how many.

All dogs were well behaved!

Oh look. Jeni and a Beagle. It inevitably has the poem about dogs painted into it.

Some dogs were painted on the back too (mine is the colorful one in the middle)

The crowd matched the amount of dogs

No on had to pick up after their dog!  The perfect pooch.

One up for adoption

None of them used the tree…..

There was a huge variety of decoration

…and they all found a new home…

Riverside Art Museum Membership Show

For the second year I entered a painting into the Riverside Art Museum.

Arriving at the reception. Quite well attended.

I got there a little after the reception started and soon got talking to a lady named Anita Sylvestri.  She is a docent at the museum and has a painting in the show.

Quite a variety of mediums!

Anita had a mixed media collage in the show.

Anita Sylvestri with ‘The Impossible Dream’

We both explained our work to each other.

She returned the favor and took a pic of me with my painting.

When the awards were given, Anita won best of show!

 

The Puppy project

Riverside Art Museum is holding a fundraiser called Art Bark in the Park to which I applied and was assigned a pup. I decided to paint the pup in oil – a skyscape with lawns on the bottom of each paw with dogs on, and my sonnet about dogs painted into the clouds.  So far I’ve done the sky and the lawns.  I will need to wait a week or so until that is dry enough to add the dogs and poems.  I didn’t know until I picked up the dog that I was getting a beagle.

The blank canvas. I’d had to fix the undercoat in a few places. The difference in undercoat color won’t affect the painting.

My fellow artist Mary Foote came over to see this as a demo so took some photos of me in action

I was showing Mary how to blend clouds in oil

Photographed this one at an angle to get the entire dog in.

And it’s possible to paint on the back, so I have another canvas to dream up!

Another nice little surprise

Yesterday I went to pick up my paintings from the Imperial County Fair.  I often enter about 10 paintings but this year only had four that fit the categories well (you can only enter two in each category).  I was pleasantly surprised to find that ‘Arrows‘ had won 3rd place in “Non-objective or abstract paintings, any media”, and “Hope Rising” had taken 1st place in the same category.

Following the county fair, one of our local museums, Pioneer’s Museum, hosts the first and second place winners in each category, so I had to run off to drop Hope Rising at its next venue.  My good friend Ginger Ryerson who curates the art wall there and the art shows was there for the intake.  Hope Rising is a heavier piece so I helped her hang it.

Just leveling it a little more….

Monthly Newsletter

Here’s the monthly what’s-happening-in-the-skyscape-world newsletter.  Powerful storms!  We certainly live in a wacky climate.

La Quinta Museum show

Last night I went to the reception for the La Quinta Museum suprise show ‘Local Color’.  This show happened because the planned show of Generation Z artwork and musings turned out to be a much physically smaller show than anticipated and the museum suddenly had a lot of bare walls.  A little social media work to local artists to bring in a piece first come first served quickly fixed the problem.

The lady in the black dress bottom left is Alana – the gallery owner at sm’Art studio in La Quinta. Finally caught her on camera!  Behind her is Michael Angelo (Hernandez) who also sells work there.  Yes, my work hangs next to that of MichaelAngelo!

Nice of the museum to paint that floating wall to match my painting. Shame about them not putting up the sign I gave them that wrote out the Shakespearean sonnet written for and painted into the painting.

 

Veteran Arts Start-up

One of the galleries I work with, Vanguard Gallery in Moreno Valley, is on a mission to create a Veteran Artists Cooperative.  Rick’s ultimate hope is to create a Museum of Veteran Art in Southern California – but the cooperative is a good place to start.  It would be wonderful if you feel you can contribute a few dollars to the project.  Or if you are willing to share this to others who might.

Veteran Voice Project.

Riverside Art Museum Membership Show

I arrived at the reception for the Riverside Art Museum Membership show later than intended (ah, traffic in Temecula) and just caught the tail end of the awards.  Ran into a friend of mine – r. mike nichols.  He hadn’t won an award, and neither had I, apparently, but his friend Mike had.  Here are some images from the show.

Did you guess which one was mine?  It’s the one behind the pig’s ear…..  Actually I kinda like that pig. 

An art book with a difference

This is definitely an art book with a difference:  “La mia idea de arte.” Pope Francis’s ideas about art.

One idea, quoted in an Artnet article:

“The Vatican Museums have to be the most beautiful place and the most hospitable. It must throw open its doors to the world,” wrote the Pope in his book, noting that based on the teaching of the Bible, the poor’s inability to pay should not prevent them from seeing the church’s impressive art collection.

The book, co-written with Tiziana Lupi is also now a documentary, apparently available on youtube.  The book doesn’t seem to be available (bummer).