Don's Still Life's week 10 - 16 APR, 2006

All,
this week I decided to set up my own still life's at my home.

Rose with Sea Shell's
Pastel
22" x 28"
(This is Pat Bessey's Rose given to me at 4T's class)

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Don's Livingroom
Pastel
22" x 28"

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Nude Statue with Still Life
Pastel
22" X 28"
This is a "take-off" of Amedeo Modigliani's Caryatid

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Still Life #12
Pastel
22" x 28"















Some Comments from last week:

Don - I especially like the item entitled "still Life #6". Love the colors and mood.

grins
Alana Dill

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I absolutely love Still Life #6! There is something about it which makes me think of jewelry.

Perhaps it is just the season, but, as much as I liked the next four, I just couldn't help thinking of Easter eggs.

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Don, your work has gotten better, improved since last time I saw it, that's awesome! I hope you don't take that the wrong way, because I liked it before, too, and never noticed anything wrong with it, but I noticed something really striking about where your work is going, about the quality of poetry/emotion in these pieces and your technique, or style seems more mature, like you hit the core of something. How much to draw, paint? Your work has a really nice quality to it, like you are at home with it.
Very lovely to be here now with you sharing this process. Thank you for inspiring me.
Love Mercy

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These are great! I really love still life #6. Your use of color is fabulous. You have such a unique style, and such a fresh outlook on a sometimes tired subject (stilll lifes). You continue to push yourself and tackle different subjects and approaches. I admire you for that, and it inspires me to do more!
At the reception Fri, I talked to the woman who bought your painting from the Cat's Meow show. She was talking about how much she loves to look at it, and how happy it makes her feel. That, to me, is the essence of art.
Chris

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Dear Don,

I really liked your still life's. They almost had the feel of the South Sea islands about them; food that people would eat as well as paint. Nicely done.

Tom B.

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DON, DID YOU DO THESE???? They are beautiful. Hope to see you soon,
love ya
vicki

Paul Cézanne still life study

There is an underlying, in-dwelling creative force infusing all of life--including ourselves.
- Julia Cameron

Paul Cézanne still life study

Still Life #6 (flowers in vase)
pastel
22" x 28"

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Still Life #7 (flower in vase)
pastel
22" x 28"

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Still Life #8 (Watermelon with glass)
pastel
22" x 28"

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Still Life #9 (cherries)
pastel
22" x 28"

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Still Life #10 (fruit in basket)
pastel
24" x 36"

Still Life

All,
I'm really having fun exploring Paul Cézanne's still life works. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I like making them.


Don Watson
http://donwatsonart.blogspot.com/

"Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God."
- Julia Cameron

Still Life # 4
Pastel
22" x 28"















Still Life # 5
Pastel
22" x 28"
















Still Life # 3
Oil Pastel

"Horror vacui — fear of emptiness

Gardens and Flowers Blog is below. This is Part two of that blog with some back and forth correspondence about Horror Vacui with Ken pasted below.

Figure with Composition
Pastel
22" x 28"




















Iris 2006
Pastel
22" x 28"

Thanks, Don. I like these new pieces. Seems like you are finding your own creative voice. They are especially interesting in light of the discussion some of us (Tony, Mercy, e.g.) I have been having about pictorial space in the past couple of days. It's made me have another look at your other works too, to verify my impressions.

You didn't ask for feedback, but permit me to make a couple of comments, more of the perceptual kind than the judgmental sort.

Your work usually references things from the real world - flowers, people, coffee mugs, pills and such. It also uses graphic symbols and patterns such as spirals, logos and the like. But I notice that the spatiality in all of them is quite consistently similar. Not hard to discern that the same person did all of them.As Cezanne was quoted as saying in later life, "It has taken me 40 years to learn that painting is not sculpture." I think you understand this instinctively. There is rarely any "negative space" in your work; the overall form of everything seems knit together in a relatively shallow - yet restless - picture space (i.e., rarely any references to deep space or solid forms set against "emptiness").

This got me to thinking about your adaptations from works by other artists, and the kinds of choices you've made with those. I.e., when you start with a model that's already flattened and pre-composed in a certain way (The Scream, e.g.), there is a kind of mindset that comes with that. But it's an interesting question about which came first, the chicken or the egg? I.e., did you pick those works because of your prior sensibility, or did your spatial sense grow out of working with such examples? Probably a bit of each, I'd guess.Anyway, you are very aware about how to activate a surface, and send the eye around on a trip; your stuff always has that feeling of freshness. Keep on keepin' on,KPPs. Question: I'm curious about your use of color, which suggests to me that you are also musical. Is that true?

Ken,
In reference it your question.

Ps. Question: I'm curious about your use of color, which suggests to me that you are also musical. Is that true? I do love to sing a long with music, even in public places. I did play the trumpet when I was in High School, but never had talent, only skill after playing for 6 years Much Like Cezanne's quote only talent v.s. skill instead of painting v.s. sculpture. My good friend Tony Hall calls my work horror vacui. Below is what I found on the interesting subject.

Feel free to post this email to the group.
Don
horror vacui - The compulsion to make marks in every space. Horror vacui is indicated by a crowded design. In Latin, it is literally, "fear of empty space" or "fear of emptiness." Some consider horror vacui one of the principles of design. Those who exclude it from their list of principles apparently interpret it as possessing an undesirable, perhaps obsessive quality, in contrast to the desirable, controlled principle of limitation, or perhaps to that of emphasis or dominance. (pr. horror vack'wee)
Example:
Richard Dadd (British, 1817-1886), The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, 1855-64, oil on canvas, 54.0 x 39.4 cm, Tate Gallery, London. After murdering his father in 1843, Dadd was diagnosed as insane and spent the rest of his life in asylums. Cut off from the outside world, he produced a series of paintings which combine a remarkable attention to detail with an individual, manic intensity. The horror vacui seen in Dadd's pictures may be a result of his severe mental illness. See art brut.
Quote:
"Horror vacui — fear of emptiness — is the driving force in contemporary American taste. Along with the commercial interests that exploit this interest, it is the major factor now shaping attitudes toward public spaces, urban spaces, and even suburban sprawl."Herbert Muschamp, contemporary architecture critic, New York Times, August, 21, 2000. See architecture and taste.

Gardens and Flowers

All,
I have been working on some garden scapes and flowers for the last two weeks. The Artist Gallery is having a Garden and Flower show. I have also been studing some works of Paul Cézanne, spicifically still life. I have also been dabaling into some compisition work, trying to use my works in Figure Drawing Class and insert composition into the drawing. Hope you enjoy looking at these works as much as I did making them.

Gardens and Flowers
April 7 - May 6, 2006Judged for Awards, an exhibition of fine art, celebrating the Virginia Garden Club Open House Tours with paintings by regional artists. Joan McConnell Memorial Award for Best in Show. Opening reception on Friday, April 7th, 2006 from 6 pm to 8 pm. Award ceremony 7:30 pm.

Still Life
Pastel
22" x 28















Iris Garden
Pastel
22" x 28















Still Life II
Pastel
22" x 28



















The Dream (Narcolepsy)
Pastel
22" x 28"














"The refusal to be creative is and act of self-will and is counter to our true nature. When we open up to our creativity, we are opening up to God: good, orderly direction. As we pursue our creative life fillivement, all elements of our life move toward harmony. As we strengthen our connection to the cCreator within. Artists love other artists. Our relationship to God is co-creative, artist to artist. It is God's will for us to live in creative abundance." - Julia Cameron

Abstract, Yoga and Kitchen Sink

This Abstract is hard to photograph due to flashback from silver color.

Abstract 2006(sliver)
30"x40"





















Abstract II, 2006 (silver)
16"x20"















Yoga 2006
18"x24"















Kitchen Sink
18"x24"

Figure Drawing 2006

Results from last week's Figure Drawing. Some good, some bad.

Don
"My dreams come from God and God has the power to accomplish them."

More Cat's, More Black & White Figures

This week more Cats and Figure Drawing on Black Paper.


Cat II (2006); Green Eyes
White and Gray pastel on Black Paper
22" x 28



















Cat with Goldfish II (2006)
Pastel on Pastel Sand paper
22" x 28"




















Lovers I (2006)
Pink and Light Blue Pastel on Black Paper
22" x 28"




















Lovers II (2006)
Pink and Light Blue Pastel on Black Paper
22" x 28"



















Black and White nude II(2006)
White Pastel on Black Paper
22" x 28"



















Black and White nude III(2006)
White Pastel on Black Paper
22" x 28"

Cat Show

All,
I've been getting ready for the Cat Show at the Artist Gallery. Opening night is Friday, from 6 pm to 9pm, 10MAR, 2006. A CATegorically exquisite exhibition of feline art by 50 local artists. Cat attire welcomed at the reception. No Dogs Allowed. This is our anual fundraiser for the Virginia Beach SPCA. Admission fee: one tin of cat food. PEOPLES CHOICE AWARDS. ***********************************************************************************

Cat (2006)
Acrylic
16" x 20"



















Cat with Goldfish
Pastel
unframed at this time estmatied size 30" x 40"
















Body and Hands
Pastel



















Peeping Tom
Paper Cut
22" x 28"















White Horse
Pastel
22" x 28"















Figure Drawing
white chalk on black paper
22" x 28"





















Nude #1
Pastel
22" x 28