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I was saying G’day to the good people over at Motto Agency yesterday and it struck me how amazing the internet really is. Yesterday was of course Australia Day… and I was discussing this fact with the innovative duo who just happen to be half a world away in South Carolina.  [It was raining... and we had Bob Marley in common. Grin]

Motto Agency is a brand strategy and design firm who also happen to be reggae aficionados.  [Just knew I liked these people the minute I heard Bob Marley on their homepage]  As it turns out they were celebrating right along with we Aussies on our national day…

“We’re celebrating Australia Day here too… Motto style. We have our sunglasses on and the movie Australia is on loop in the conference room!  Enjoy the festivities!”

To me… these are the small conversations that glue this big [cyber] world together.

koalaHangin’ in there

Like I said… yesterday was Australia Day… but I won’t be commenting further about that.  I believe I well and truly covered our National Day way back in January 2007… leaving pretty much nothing left to be said for the rest of the decade!

Reading back over the archive… I had to laugh how I really came out swinging from that very first post three years ago today [give or take a day or two]!  Ever the emphatic idealist!

Here is the link for those of you who are up to it! Grin.

BloggingCartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2007 Jean Burman

Read Blogging On here

So yes… it’s been THREE YEARS since this blog began and I can hardly believe it.  So much water has gone under the bridge since then… so many topics hashed and re-hashed… and so much has changed.

In those early days I wondered what on earth I was going to talk about each and every week from that day forward… but you know what?  So far something has always turned up.  Sometimes just in the nick of time! Grin.

And I’m happy to report that life not only goes on but just keeps getting better and better.

And the best is yet to come!

So thank you for being here with me… and living it along with me.  It’s been a whole lot of fun!

fireworks

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The Creative Dilemma

November 30, 2009 · 24 comments

JB for the blog 2Join me on You Tube (see below for the link) but read this first!

Well it’s been a crazy week of revolving doors for me as new doors swing open and old doors slam shut . Generally speaking though that’s great news… and a sign that things in my Universe are starting to shake out!

You know… it’s kind of fun to stand back and watch from a distance all the action happening in your own life. Letting go of outcomes and allowing things to just be can be a bit scary at times… but it’s fun nonetheless. And I could get used to it. [Grin]

The global economic climate (not to be confused with climate change per se- grin) has given everyone quite a bit to think about. But for creative artists of all persuasions (be they painters potters or musicians) the struggle to do well at what we do well… has always been pretty difficult. And historically nothing has changed.

VincentCartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2007-09 Jean Burman

Vincent Van Gogh was creatively and financially supported throughout his entire career by his brother Theo.  He never sold a painting. We may well laugh now at how wealthy he might have been in his own lifetime. But he wasn’t. He was a man ahead of his time. But no-one really got that. Not even his fellow artists. Especially not his fellow artists. Consequently without the creative endorsement he craved… he was condemned to continually question his own worth as an artist.

Sound familiar?

The upshot of course was that Vincent finally sliced off an ear and died in a garret with two bullet holes in his stomach partly because he couldn’t handle it anymore. He gave up. And it’s easy to give up on a world that doesn’t know that stars are blobs of swirling bright light circling the evening sky… [grin]

Vincent 2Cartoon Pen & Watercolour

Copyright © 2007-09 Jean Burman

Creative spirits live in a world of their own. There is no clear direction forward for us… not to mention… very little endorsement or feedback for what we’ve already done.

Yes… we know what we want. But what the rest of the world wants is an entirely different matter. Complicate that further by saying that much of the rest of the world doesn’t actually know what they want… or what they like [without being told]… and we have one very perplexing problem!

In the end… fame and fortune pretty much comes down to the “hype” around the product… and not necessarily the product itself. The people who eventually gain recognition… are not necessarily those with the most talent… but those who are best able to bring their product to the marketplace via the best most expedient method.

But this is all terribly left brain stuff. And most artists (well the creative ones anyway) are incredibly right brain orientated. That’s what makes them… surprise surprise… so darned creative!

For my part… well… I don’t want to be famous but I do want to get my stuff out there. So that means I have to spend at least some of my time in the left brained world. It’s a funny nuts and bolts place to be… but it can be a whole lot of fun as well.

Check out my new You Tube clip here.

It was a challenge to put this together and the best fun you can ever have all by yourself in iPhoto and on YouTube. Would also like to thank Paul Simon [the voice and lyrics of my childhood] for the use of Punkey’s Dilemma… the cornflake song… what a great little song it still is!

For my part… I just want to paint and write… live… laugh and love. Whatever comes after [in/around and between] all that… who knows and who even cares? It’s my life. And I’m only going to get one chance at it. I make mistakes like everyone else. And have suffered probably more than my fair share of sadness. But I am also blessed in so many ways.

And the great thing is I am finally beginning to realise that absolutely nothing is ever set in stone. Doors open and close all the time with intermittent regularity. And all that’s required of us is a willingness to step through the next open door to see what’s on the other side. It’s as easy as that! *wink*

The real prizes in life go to whoever opens the most doors… and investigates as fully as possible their own individual potential. There are no guarantees we will survive this life… in fact… it’s a pretty sure thing that we’re not going to make it out alive!

So heck… while we’re here we may as well give it our best shot. With or without any thanks… or claps… and regardless of the heckles… [or the people who would persist in placing obstacles in our way]

Doing our creative thing… whatever that may be… is our gift to the world as much as ourselves. And you never know… maybe someday… someone… somewhere…. might just get it and go WOW!

If not… well… we had a whole heck of a lot of fun doing whatever it was we got to do!

Didn’t we?

Would love to hear your comments about YOUR creative life and experience.  Drop me a line here!

Oh… and before I forget… the 2010 Universal Artist Calendar is now available for immediate shipping over at RED BUBBLE [in case you didn't get that already LOL]  Okay… that’s enough shameless self promotion for me… back to painting… writing… more dreaming *sigh*  :-)

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p1010190Exercise from the 2008 workshop – Taking a Line for a Walk

Copyright Peter Griffen 2008

“I believe that to make discoveries, risks must be taken, the traveller must get lost. 
A well planned journey can only lead to an already known destination. 
At some stage the painting must go out of control. 
From chaos the universe was formed. 
The artist enters chaos and by taking control, synthesising and simplifying, new images are discovered – images that are potent and speak from the past.” – Peter Griffen – Manifesto

In a week that delivered more than the usual number of serendipitous occurrences… here is but one!

Last week my mail server died and I was without emails for a few days. For me… that is nigh on catastrophic… as I do seem to receive an inordinate amount. Consequently… when the glitch was finally ironed out… in excess of 80 emails poured in all at once from all over the place… and I spent the better part of Monday sorting them all out!  

Amongst the important ones was an email from renowned Sydney artist Peter Griffen… whose workshop you might remember I participated in… and reported on… at last year’s ArtEscape. A few weeks ago I bumped into Peter again at this year’s event [yes... it's been a whole year!] and asked him if he would consent to an interview on the Blog. The email as it turned out contained his ‘considered’ responses to the interview questions along with the heads up about his upcoming appearance on ABC TV’s Landline going to air on SUNDAY… which featured his recent [so cool to be there] workshop in Birdsville… outback Central Queensland.    

As I sat there reading the email on MONDAY… realising I had already missed the program… the phone rang. It was a non-artist friend of mine. She asked me if I had ever heard of the artist Peter Griffen. I said I had… and that coincidentally… I was reading an email from him as we spoke. She then told me that she’d watched Landline on Sunday and had thought how much I would have enjoyed seeing it… and that in case I had [in fact] missed it… she was ringing to tell me the program was being aired again on Monday night.

[Insert spooky x-files music here]

Funny how life is [lately] kinda like that.  And I’m loving it.

You can view the ABC episode here… [take a look - you won't regret it - Peter delivers one of the most instructive and entertaining workshops on the planet - and well worth it - even if you have to travel all the way to Birdsville to catch up with him!]

 

Anyhow… without further ado… here is the Interview.

When did you first realize you were an artist?

Over a very long period of time I got used to the fact that I was gradually changing from being a high school teacher to being an artist. I suggest that it happened during the period 1972 [when I first exhibited a painting] to 1986, when I finished my four years at art school.

p1010168

What artists have influenced you and why?

Australian artists

Fred Williams for landscape and colour
Guy Warren
Sidney Nolan
and Arthur Boyd for lyrical stories in the landscape

Arthur Streeton
and Tom Roberts for atmospheric landscapes.

The New York school for abstract expressionism

St Ives artists for abstracting the landscape

The Fauves for wild colour

The Russian constructivists for highly ordered pure abstraction

The German expressionists for aggressive freedom

The CoBrA group for painting from primeval instinct

Cezanne for structure

Picasso

Miro

and Klee for imagination

Matisse for wisdom

Vermeer for attention to detail

Rembrandt for a bench mark

Pierro della Francesco for spiritual intimacy

Boticello for simple beauty

Anselm Kiefer for raw bold honest statements

and there are more that I cannot think of at the moment.

p1010209

What inspires you?

The Australian landscape, the deserts and the Kimberley mainly. Also estuaries, rivers, headlands, colours in the landscape and man’s interaction with the land.

How do you stay motivated?

I love painting and everything else is an interruption.

Do you consider your work to be evolving?

Yes, always, but themes started several years ago are continued or revisited.

Advice for the struggling artist?

Join the club, anybody who is any good always struggles, and if you find that you don’t have to struggle then it is time to stop.

Aspirations for the future?

To keep painting better.

Funniest thing in my career?

I have experienced a lot of good luck which I am happy about but that’s not funny is it?
I will give this question more thought.

INTERVIEW ENDS

Thanks Peter for being such a good sport and taking the time to compile your responses for us here!

Peter Griffen’s artworks can be viewed online at his website www.petergriffen.com

Take care everyone… until next week…

and remember [in art as in life] to… be there or be square! (((chuckles)))

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Going with the Flow

August 31, 2009 · 4 comments

sunset-flying-south“Sunset Flying South”

1/2 sheet Watercolour Pour

Copyright 2009 Jean Burman

It is for sunsets like this one (below) that I love this place.  I walk in the late afternoon and enjoy the lovely light that pervades the foreshore at this particular time of the day. It’s August [and late winter] in the Southern Hemisphere… but already the air is balmy and warm… and fragrant with frangipani.

p1030018

I find it interesting that despite the economic downturn our small city is still teaming with tourists from all around the world.  Young Europeans especially… who tend to gather in groups to discuss their adventures.

I had to smile the other evening.  While collecting the makings for spaghetti bolognese in the pasta aisle of the local supermarket three young Italian women were vigorously debating brands.  I stood back and waited hoping to learn what Italians themselves would choose… but alas… despite the wide choice… they still chose the no frills generic brand… leaving me still none the wiser!  Nevertheless it was fun to hear the lively discussion taking place in ‘fluid’ Italian… especially when peppered with slang which is pretty much universal in every language!

Earlier I had enjoyed another exchange between an older couple as we passed each other on the Esplanade. The man was instructing his wife [as much as himself] that they must try to remember the street they had just come down to get back to their hotel.  ”We have to remember where we came from… so we can know how to get back home” he said with great emphasis. That made me smile.  As a metaphor for life… I couldn’t have agreed more! Grin.

mystical-migaloo“Mystical Migaloo”

The White Whale

1/2 sheet Watercolour Pour

Copyright 2009 Jean Burman

Saturday’s workshop went well as we moved into painting “from the imagination” using broad generous pouring techniques… choosing pigments with specific chemical characteristics and allowing the paint to dictate the subject and establish  the mood.  I think this will be the way I will be moving toward teaching in future workshops.

There is so much to be learned about the properties of paint and paper in the pouring of watercolour paint. Besides… it’s a lot of fun.  And for the beginner in watercolour… fun is not generally something that people have come to expect.  Watercolour is a demanding medium.  And it has a reputation for taking very few prisoners.

But taking a broad approach… away from traditional techniques of graded and variegated washes and intensive brushwork… (at least in the initial stages) allows newbies to experience the possibilities of the medium and to see it at it’s glorious best.  It will be ’soon enough’ later to discover the drawbacks… so for now at least… it will be a lovely random and purely creative process.

In art… as in life… it doesn’t get better than that.



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