October featured artist Steve Arment

Sculptures in wood from Enterprise area artist Steve Arment

Open Studios coming up

Carol Connett is May's featured artist

Short Term Gallery is proud to present the work of Bend Artist Carol Connett as our featured artist for May 2013. Join us on First Friday with food, music and the chance to enjoy her beautiful work on Friday May 3rd.

Carol Connett

Artist Statement

2013

As a child growing up in a suburb of San Francisco, I hated school. When

released from that prison I would take refuge in the twenty or so acres of

undeveloped land across the street from my house. There I would meet up

with my friends; the stray dogs of our neighborhood. We would run and play

and I would pretend they were great beasts, real or imagined. Ever since

those days dogs, birds and the wind in the trees have been my inspiration.

I enjoy creating possible realities; morphing species and the rules of nature.

Cooperation between species is a reoccurring theme; no creature is forced to

work with humans.The landscapes of my mind are a continual presence,

Beasts often pop in and out while I preform the mundane tasks of daily life.

Often I feel these creatures, I become them, imagine how they move or

communicate.............. no wonder I often can’t find my keys. Then I go to my

studio and bring them into this world, hours of scribbling on paper,

crumpling it up and throwing it on the floor (my dog often grabs these and

chews them up) before I finally get it right.

I enjoy adding fine detail to my subjects. I like to create paintings that draw

the viewer in and take them away on a reality vacation. So pack your mental

suitcase and enjoy a little visit to my world.

please visit my website www.carolconnett.com

 

Climate Change

Oil and acrylic on panel

28”h x 36”w

$3000

Whoa, two artsy emails so close together.  You may be asking yourself if I was able to paint this one in the last two days.  Nope, nothing so remarkable as that.

I started Climate Change while I was waiting for successive layers of glaze to dry on the last painting.

The model for this one is, Rebecca, my yoga instructor.  I’ve had the idea of combining my abstract pieces with portraits for a long time.  I did do one last year entitled, The Perfect Windsor, and it was a mixing of the two different styles, my version of abstracts and realism, but it was much lighter, nothing as far out as this.  And this I really, really, like.   

In Photoshop I pasted the photograph I took of Rebecca in front of a photograph of one of my abstracts just to see how it might look and I thought it looked so great that I immediately started preparing the MDF panel so I could get to creating the abstract background. 

I played around with intensifying the color in Photoshop just to see how that background might look if it were even more red or more yellow or more blue and as soon as I saw how the increase of the warm tones looked I thought, wow, this looks like she’s walking through a solar storm … and there was the title, Climate Change.

I used that Photoshop image as my “sketch”.  I primed the panel in black like I usually do, then sketched in Rebecca with chalk pencil and painted in the first layer of her skin tones and the umbrella.  Then I started painting in the abstract parts with a brush, but I did not like the way that was turning out at all.  It was too manipulated looking, too predictable.  The abstracts are always done by my dripping paint onto the surface of the “canvas” or throwing paint or hitting puddles of poured paint with the “drip stick” to create spontaneous splashes and dribbles and configurations that are in contrast to my usual highly controlled painting style, so here I was painting with a brush the areas that were supposed to look spontaneous and it just looked false to me.  I had to mask off Rebecca and her umbrella so I could commence to drip and toss paint onto the panel to achieve the look I wanted.  While that paint was still wet I lifted the mask off and let the painting lie flat for a couple of days until the thick acrylic paint was dry. 

Once it was dry enough to stand back up on the easel I added another layer of skin tones to her face and hand.  Next I did the scarf and by the time I finished the scarf the skin was dry enough to add another layer of glazes to it.  Then came the coat, then more skin glazes and then with a small brush I brought all the abstract splotches of acrylic in the background right up to the edge of the coat and umbrella, which are oil paint.  Then the first layer of hair color and more skin glaze touch ups.  Then I mixed up a thin glaze of red acrylic to paint over the entire background to give it a uniform “hot” feeling instead of it looking so much like the splattering of different colors that it was. The next day the final hair colors were added as well as the final skin tone touch ups.  The day after that I added a slight glaze of orange to the inside of the umbrella and one more final, final skin tone glaze.  And there it was.  Finished.  And I do, really, really like this one. 

This is also my final entry for the show of my paintings at Peterson’s Gallery this month, April.  It is a fitting final piece, seeing as the show is mostly composed of abstracts and portraits and here I combined the two into one.

This coming Friday is First Friday and the opening of that show of my paintings.  Come on in and say, hi, 1925 Main Street, Peterson’s Gallery, I’d love to see you.

I hope you enjoy the painting, Climate Change and as always I invite your comments. 

Smiles,

tom

You are receiving this email because you either asked to be included, signed the guest book at Short Term Gallery in Baker City, Oregon, or you are family or friend and stuff like this just comes with the territory. If you’ve received this email in error, my apologies … if you are not interested in receiving these emails just send me an email saying so and I will remove your name from the list. 

If you know of someone who may enjoy receiving these emails please feel free to offer them my email address: tnovak@eoni.com :  have them mention the ‘patron’s list’ in the subject box.

                                               

                                                  Earth without Art

                                                         is just, “eh”.

 

 

First Friday, March 1, 2013



 We had a good crowd for First Friday.  Wonderful paintings by Sally Moser and of course the deeeelicious appetizer bar prepared by the ever creative Andrea Stone and her staff.  People enjoyed visiting all the great showings at the other galleries in downtown Baker City.  Fun evening, great art. There is a lot of talent in this town. 

Latest painting by tom novak

This is tom novak, co-director of the Short Term Gallery.  It looks like the numbers of visitors to the gallery are increasing and with that so are sales.  Perhaps as the blue skies return we're all a little more willing to venture out of our cozy wintertime shelters, whatever the reason it's nice to see folks out and about downtown once again.  


 

Things Change

45”w x 36”h

Oil on panel

Sold

Here is the latest painting to come off my easel.  It is  part of a series of portraits I’m putting together for my show at Peterson’s Gallery (1925 Main Street, Baker City, OR) in April.  The name of the woman in the painting is Judy Price, a very nice lady I met a couple of years ago.

Even when I first met Judy I thought there was something a bit special about her, something I found remarkable and something I wanted to try to paint.  I still can’t quite put a name on that something.  As with all of us, this quality that I find noteworthy is no doubt an entire community of attributes all come together in one person which does make it seem like one could put a single name on that complete package, like saying she’s capable or she’s nice or she’s tough and with that one word you could so easily sum up all those ephemeral qualities that we each possess.  But it’s not so easy as that is it?  Of course not.  But for some reason I became aware of the difficulty involved as my mind sifted through all the adjectives I usually fall back on to make sense of my surroundings or to unconsciously explain or quickly sum up individuals in one fell swoop … and that which I was struggling to put into words I knew I could paint.  You, know, the old “picture being worth a thousand words” idea.  So I eventually got around to asking her if she’d consider posing for me.  I think it was during a chance meeting in Albertson’s that I actually found myself telling her I would like to paint her portrait.

I still have no name for that quality in Judy that I find so remarkable and felt the desire to paint, but whatever it is I feel comfortable saying that I did capture some of it. 

I wanted to paint her as being comfortable, even secure, regardless of what her surroundings were up to, so I painted her with an implement in hand, a shovel or pitchfork handle as if she’d been out working in the barn but just now took a moment out to look across the valley, perhaps she heard something, the screech of a hawk soaring overhead or maybe she’s thinking about the fence she’ll have to mend later today or even the grandkids coming this weekend … while still another winter storm rages in the mountains that make up the background.  Maybe she’s thinking how it’s time for yet another winter, how another change of season is at hand.  Change.  Things Change.  And through it all, season after season, the woman in this painting is prepared to weather that change, to not only weather it but to come out the other side, still there, still strong, still at peace with what is. 

Or maybe she’s just wondering if her husband has lunch made yet.

Judy and her husband Tom came into the gallery last week just as I was putting the finishing touches in on her face.  They liked the painting ... which pleased me beyond measure. 

As I’ve mentioned perhaps too many times before, the paintings I create have to satisfy me first, they are all about me, my growth, my becoming vulnerable to my surroundings.  They reflect my ability to become aware, to be able to take down the walls of protection I have built around myself so that the beauty or the sorrow or the wonder or the sheer joy of this world can flow into me without restriction.  I have to be able to go beyond merely looking at what is around me, I have to be able to really “see” what I am looking at in order to portray it which means I have to be as clear of energetic bottlenecks as is possible for me at the moment, only then am I, to my satisfaction, able to absorb what I am “seeing”.  Only then can I get beyond what my mind says a thing looks like and allow myself to be in the place of really seeing that thing.  Only then am I capable of simply being in the moment with whatever that thing is, whether it be a person or an orange or even something more abstract, like a thought.  That state of being is actually a kind of non-structured mediation.  And THAT is what being an artist is all about for me … the ability to bring myself to a place of peace by simply being completely in the moment with what I am looking at, studying, inspired by.  It’s that state of finding that place of peace that is primary.  The creating of the artwork, the actual “doing” is the vehicle by which I get to experience this, and it is secondary.  The artwork that results from this process is simply the end product.  Once I am finished with the creating of it, it takes on a life of its own and is appreciated or is dismissed by critics and the viewing public and all too often brings about the awakening of my ego.  

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as long as I recognize what is going on.  But I have plenty of friends and family to keep me humble in those moments when I start to slip into that abyss of thinking how good I am, or am not.

Anyway, when Tom and Judy were in the gallery appreciating the painting and so by association the one who created this fabulous work of art, that would be me, I was also able to totally and absolutely enjoy that moment of appreciation and the stroking of my ego.

And, once again I remind you, that all this I’ve been writing about as I attempt to make sense of it in my own head and shamelessly use you as a catalyst and captive audience for doing so, is simply my opinion.  Other artists create for completely other reasons.  And the paths to peace are to be found everywhere and by anyone who cares to look for them.  Art and its practice is simply the means that works best for me. 

February Yart Sale Coming UP

The annual "Yart" Sale starts February first through the end of the month. This is when artists clean out studio space, and bring in seconds, slightly damaged work, surplus art supplies, or anything in the studio they're tired of looking at, and set it on tables in the front of the gallery. It's all stuff that's too nice to throw away, and priced to sell. You can pick up some nice work, and help our artists get space cleared out and a bit of pocket money to buy new supplies and start some new works. 

January First Friday and great winter creativity

Glass coral paperweight by Tom Dimond

Happy New Year! We made it through the mayan apocalypse, a few snowstorms, and the fiscal cliff and are looking forward to a great 2013, and our first First Friday of the new year.  Winter may mean quiet, cold, and stillness, but many of our gallery artists seem to be finding more creativity and are bringing in some beautiful new paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and glass pieces.

First Friday, January 4th, 6:00 pm to 8:30ish.  Live music by Zack Freiwald. Finger foods, and lots of friends and art lovers.  Several new works by gallery artists.  See you there!

Photograph by Ellen Feely

Wood wall sculpture by Mary Prantil