Add Color, Add Light, Part 2

How about another image of flowers, on a snowy day? This one was taken in the Conservatory at Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington.

Yes, I think it is a good idea!

Souls

We were rearranging some paintings in the house the other day and the above work, which I did over two years ago, looked pretty good hanging on the wall. It has been in storage since the paint dried. I was surprised at just how good it looked, because this is one of those works which is disturbing and pleasing, all at the same time. Well, sometimes that is a good thing. Still, you don't always want to see those works on the wall every day. With all the competition for wall space, with some thirty or forty paintings displayed at one time, the painting didn't make the cut.

I will try again sometime soon to find just the right place for it. It is one of those works which is a bit different for me, and, I like that.

Add Color, Add Light

Add color, add light, add art, add flowers, add visual splendor, add joy, add life.

Homage, Part 3

When I was back in design school, I had the privilege of studying, for four years, with the enormously gifted, Lubomir Tomaszewski. Even now, some twenty years later, I can't recall seeing another artist, sculptor or painter, with as unique and compelling a sense of form and beauty as Tomaszewski. The manner in which he renders the human, or animal form, whether in metal, stone, ceramics, or as he sometimes does, painting in large format with a blow torch, defies words. Whether a small figure that you could hold in your hand, or, a massive sculpture sketched with boulders that look like they are levitated, he has a way with materials that is all his own, and, it is wonderful.

As a professor, he said that his job was to make geniuses of us all. I thought it impossible, but now I understand what he set about to do.

Wounded several times while fighting in the Polish resistance during World War II, Tomaszewski is a man of iron. Yes, as Picasso rightly said, "Art is war." Tomaszewski fought back by creating images that show how life should be.

Abstract Notion

Picasso is quoted as saying "There is no Abstract Art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality." I won't argue with that!

Accentuate The ...

As the lyrics go,

"You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative",

or, is it the other way around? With the interplay of positive and negative space, known to the Japanese as "notan", you never know. Therein, lies the fun!

Port to Port

This blog, "Hope and Fury", launched in January, 2009, now celebrates one year in the blogosphere. For me, it has been a fascinating, creative journey, one of wonder and of fun.

Know that I sincerely appreciate your readership. All the best to you in 2010 for joy, fun, and every good thing. I hope that you will continue to check in for new observations on art and design.