Monday, February 28, 2011

This Artist's Journey


Capt Joey of www.goodmorninggloucester.com recently sent me a questionnaire to fill out to be posted on his blog. I gladly obliged. One of the questions was: who is your favorite local artist. My immediate response was 'me'. The more that I thought about my response I realized that there are local painters that I have admired, that have informed and guided my journey as an artist. This post is about my first art teacher Ken Gore. His studio is where I began my long apprenticeship (17 years) to becoming a 'master' artist.

The first Cape Ann artist that I have always admired is landscape painter Ken Gore (1911-1990). Ken was a member of the Northshore Art Association and The Rockport Art Association. He had a studio and gallery on East Main Street across from the The Beacon Marine where he taught painting on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. My father, a student of Ken's, arranged for me to have lessons with Ken. My paintings were not very good, but Ken saw ability in my drawings and encouraged me to seriously pursue art. I was 13.

The photo is Ken's painting "The Willow" that was auctioned through Blackwood March Auctioneers of Essex, MA a few years ago. I chose this painting to accompany this post because of the sheep, as well as his trademark use of the palette knife. Ken told me that when he was first learning to paint he was given a 2" brush to paint and 3 colors: red, yellow, blue and white. The subject? sheep. He could paint them in his sleep. Ken said that anything one could do with a small brush, could be done with a big brush; but, a small brush cannot do the work of a big brush. This advice has guided me through 40 odd years of painting, My preferred brushes are 1-2" bristle chip brushes that can hold alot of paint.

btw: my first lesson was to draw a portrait of another student's husband, then to paint his portrait. the drawing was true to the man's age. the painting made him look so much younger that his wife bought it. i didn't get the money, it was paid to Ken for my very first lesson. In exchange for future lessons, I posed for Ken's classes.

best,

deb.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Wall of Figure and Effect 3.wmv



I gave my drummer boy David a camera. A few nights ago he had to calibrate one of his lights for a performance and used the large "Four Stand" painting. He liked what the lights did to the painting, so he composed some music and synced it to the shots of "Four Stand", throwing in some other paintings to vary the visual image.

Maybe we will have a black room show someday with spots hitting the paintings under his direction.

I like the music and his unique way of seeing of my work.

best,
deb.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Paul Frontiero Buttons from Zazzle.com

I wish I could post a pic of Paulie's button. Oh, well. clickie, clickie on the linkie and paulie will appear.

best of glosta!
deb.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

clarkeAHHT flash panel


See more personalized gifts from Zazzle.

grr...i'm wanting this in the sidebar...and don't know how.

clarkeAHHT product!

Beacon Marine button
Beacon Marine by clarkeAHHT
Shop for a different button design
Finally! set up the clarkeAHHT shop on zazzle.com. It's an image licensing site with tons of product. still playing around with the options for my images. so far i like the idea of pin badges and refrigerator magnets. not so sure about the posters, image size, etc.
stay tuned. this badge is made from a detail of an oil painting of the beacon marine that i found in the archives.
best,
deb.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Perfect Strangers - The Dance of Joy



I am so over-the-top full of happiness...

dancing the dance of joy!

deb clarke's drawing space.

how am i going to stay in this skin? must dance with my cherubs!
AWESOME!

Deb Clarke's Drawing Space!

YES! Just secured teaching space in downtown Gloucester. I met with Erika of the Cape Ann Business Incubator (CABI). They are going to build a room that can be used for drawing classes! Just one big room with 4 walls, no windows, privacy. Figure Drawing! Drawing Marathons!

I will be renting the space on an as needed basis until I get back on my feet. Maximum class size is 10 and I can work on the walls. I'm so excited!

Classes will be offered on Monday and Tuesday nights 6:30-9:00 pm. other nights or Sundays as needed. This is just so awesome. So much potential.

will need to find models, put up fliers, start enrolling folk...omg...just dancing on air.

Drawing, Drawing, Drawing.

best,
deb.

Monday, February 7, 2011

answers to a few blogging questions

A young friend recently asked me about starting a blog:

1: wordpress? blogger? why?

i use blogger and wordpress. this nest is my blogspot. my wordpress is somethingsketchy.wordpress.com.

i find wordpress a bit clunky and i have been having issues getting my photos to post from my flickr site, as well as from my computer. sometimes blogger is cranky...so i went back to the basic uploader. my suggestion: use the site with the editor that is the easiest for you to use.

i continue this debbieclarke blog, because it is a commitment i made to myself when i started it. a public blog to post art, art thought, engage folk's imagination, share my journey and keep customers up-to-date with any commissions that i may be working on. maybe make a bit of money along the way (NOT) through ads on my site. the monetary benefit dreams have been left long behind. now the only focus is art: what i'm working on, what i'm thinking about, work i am looking at, art materials/process and answering questions along the way. i am surprised by the growing audience of like minded folk that continue this journey with me. thank you for your company! your presence inspires me to put my best foot forward.

2: How do you get people to read/look at your blog?

good question...i'm still trying to figure this one out.

my suggestion is to first figure out your personal objective.

fame? fortune?

set your blog up first. get used to working with it. develop your focus. then let's talk about seo (search engine optimization).

i am not a professional blogger. i am a professional artist using blogger to enrich my art experience...in fact, i think of my blog as an art-in-progress, as varied and colorful as my experience.

following is a site to a pro blogger that has lots of great information. i refer to it frequently as i redesign this nest of mine. have you noticed the judicious use of orange?

the link doesn't allow a share here. it is onecoolsite.com. put onecoolsite in a google search and you will find it. it is a wordpress site.

best,
deb.

ps: if you view this blog regularly and would like to share your thoughts about why and other observations, let me know. and any thoughts about the design of this blog is greatly appreciated.