looks like another holiday card in the making. hmmm, color traditional or photoshop?

Once in a while you get to actually meet a hero. We were in the crammed auditorium to see and listen to Wayne Thiebaud in conversation with the noted art critic Kenneth Baker at UC Davis, yesterday, ruminating on the artistic process, the amount of habit and dedication needed to continually explore what it is of interest to the artist to stay in process, to live in reference to the thousands of years of art history of which we are all part, and to put down a lot of paint. At 90, he is up and at work (work, as he quoted Matisse, "Is his paradise") at 6:30 until he goes and plays tennis for two hours. He then has lunch with his wife, and after that returns to the studio for a few more hours to produce over 100 paintings a year, of which he says many are disasters and thus DESTROYED, but that disasters fuel the successes. GO TO THE SHOW AT THE CROCKER and see the successes.
Baker teased out many comments on the need for art, that artists have to love making painted worlds, that art is a terrible career choice (great laugh from the audience of artists) but a great privilege at the same time. He paid homage to the world of commercial art from which he came, his love of cartoons, and how caricature, close to his heart, influences how he sees shape in his paintings. Thiebaud expressed how linked he is to looking at art for inspiration, and to drawing, both objective and from memory as a gateway to painting. Baker made the observation, at the end that art "sums up the inexpressible feelings about our lives through the visual compaction of information" Thiebaud said, "I painted cupcakes because I like cupcakes".

AUGH! I could go on, but the primary takeaway is this: Get up, go to the studio, paint!

We went to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento yesterday as there is a massive retrospective of Wayne Thiebaud's career as a painter. I am an unabashed fan, and at 90 years old he is still hitting them out of the park with new and very abstracted forms that take his vision well past the multiple perspective point mashups of the Sacramento River delta series, which in person are a great delight to the eye. Downtown Sacto. and the new Crocker expansion are well worth the visit as the setting is wonderful and the new wing has a very comprehensive collection of painters, largely west coast, from the 19th to the 21st century.
The below is a quote from Crocker Museum site:
OCTOBER 10 - NOVEMBER 28, 2010

"This exhibition celebrates Sacramento’s most famous artist, Wayne Thiebaud, as he begins his 90th year. It is, for both the artist and the Crocker Art Museum, a homecoming. Nearly 60 years ago, in 1951, Thiebaud held his first one-artist exhibition, Influences on a Young Painter, at the Crocker. This new exhibition, featuring approximately 75 paintings and drawings, spans the entirety of his career, from the artist’s early works to paintings fresh from his easel. Iconic edibles—work that linked high art with popular culture—are included alongside pieces that showcase Thiebaud’s skill in rendering the human figure and the California landscape. Among the latter are river-delta views from the Sacramento area, cityscapes from San Francisco and beach scenes from Southern California. No matter the subject, these works uniformly attest to the artist’s ability to sensuously manipulate pigment and capture clear light and vibrant color. It is this technical virtuosity, along with the artist’s tongue-in-cheek humor and ability to capture the realities of our place in time, that have helped to make Thiebaud a uniquely American painter."

If you paint, you must go see this show!

Chgeck out the new lower price point. reduced price for recession times.

At the Academy of Art University we will be hosting Greg Spalenka's "Artist as Brand" 2 1/2 day workshop. It is a great opportunity to revitalize and envigorate your career, and hopefully your wallet! See the newer jpeg FOR REDUCED PRICES!