August 27, 2021 Weekly Musings

Christine Alfery

Posted on August 26 2021

Announcements

"Inspiration" Accepted Into PWS Aqueous Open

Posted August 24, 2021

"Inspiration" was accepted into the Pittsburgh Watercolor Society (PWS) Aqueous Open Exhibition with juror, Carla O'Connor, AWS, NWS.

For this exhibition PWS received 249 entries from 26 states and 13 countries by 145 artists. Juror, Carla O'Connor selected 76 works from the entries. She stated, “Entries came from all over the United States and the world in a celebration of achievement of watermedia with a diversity of voices, rich in beauty and social modern day concerns.”

Online Exhibition October 1- November 30, 2021

www.pittsburghwatercolorsociety.com.

"Listen To The Music" Accepted Into Peninsula Art League Open Juried Art Show

Posted August 24, 2021

Listen To The Music has been accepted for display in the 2021 Peninsula Art League Open Juried Art Show at the Harbor HIstory Museum in Gig Harbor, WA. Oct. 8th-Nov 27, 2021

Opening reception and Awards Ceremony on Oct. 8th.

Blogs

Moral Perfection I

Posted August 21, 2021

Featured Image: She Leaves a Trail of Stars Wherever She Goes

Moral perfection is not about how “smart” you are. Moral perfection is not the degree of intelligence you have. Moral perfection is the full and relentless use of “your” mind. It is not the extent of what you know but rather the acceptance of your uniqueness, and everyone else’s uniqueness. It is realizing that with all this uniqueness that “reason” is an absolute morality.

Moral Perfection II

Posted August 22, 2021

Featured image: July's Garden

As a unique individual you have one very basic choice, “to think” or “to not think.” Your morality is not based on the thinking choices of others and what they think is right. Rather, it should be based on the choices you have made in response to your own thinking and what you have learned or not learned from this.

Honoring and Respecting, Value For Value

Posted August 23, 2021

Featured image: On The Road Again II

As an artist, one of the most important things for me is my freedom. My freedom to choose, my freedom to move about, and my freedom to think. All of me, my self, my spirit, my soul, my whole changes when another tries to cross my threshold and cast shadows on my path. Sometimes I don’t even realize it is happening to me, until I feel it. Then, ask myself questions and I think about what is going on. I feel a tightening, a pressure and my personal space closes in on itself, protecting itself.

Someone, something tells me not to think that way. They don’t say, "Have you thought of this or that possibility?" Rather they say, "Don’t do this, don’t do that." They add on to that direction by stating, "It’s too risky," or something to that effect.

I need to experience, to see and to feel my own losses, my own gains, my own kudos or not due to my risk taking. I need to experience my own gains, my own fortunes or not, and to make my own bets, and live with my choices. If I do not, then I am submitting my choices, my self, my spirit, my soul to another. Then, they, with all my energy and surrendered spirit, will move forward and I am left behind to wonder what happened and to have nothing, absolutely nothing to trade, value for value.

To be free, for my self, my spirit and for my soul to be free, they must be sovereign to me. I need to protect them from being sold, stolen, borrowed, stamped upon, or door shut upon. I need to honor them, and make sure that they are always free.
If I honor myself, then and only then am I able to honor and respect another’s battle, fight to maintain and honor their souls and spirits. Value for value, this is fair. This is just. Otherwise, I not only devalue myself and what I create but I also devalue others and how they honor their spirits and selves.

As always, I return to the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It is the only way to maintain and respect all individual freedoms.

Pricing Your Art

August 24, 2021

Featured image: The Ripples We Make

First let me say that all trade should be voluntary and not coerced or forced. It is not trade if it is coerced. Trade, for the most part, is understood as an exchange for goods and services. It there is not a voluntary agreement for this exchange, then it is not trade.

I believe in the concept of trade, and I believe in fair trade, un-coerced or forced. So how does an artist determine the value of their work? It is its fair-trade value. If the exchange is uneven then the artist will either be sitting on a lot of their creations, or the artist will not be able to keep up with the demand for it. Either way – the value of the work, too much or too little, is also linked to one's value of one's self. If one over values or under values their self, their soul and their spirit they either think too much of themselves or they think too little of themselves. Finding that wonderful middle is the key here.

How do I value self? Spirit? And in turn, my work? The only thing that determines the value of an artist’s work is whether they used their mind when they created it – whether they thought about what they were going to create. So it follows, if the value of your work is too little, or too big, is determined by how much you thought about the work beforehand. It makes no difference how smart you are, or how much education that you have. Simply, it makes a difference if you personally, uniquely thought about the work and then attempted to create it.

Contemporary artists today are leaving behind a history. What is the history they are leaving behind ? It is histories that they have read about, learned from, and expanded upon and discovered and explored from. It is extremely important. Why? Because that means that the artist is thinking about their work. Discovery and exploration are limitless. It is when there are no fresh, new ideas or concepts that we need to be worried, for that is when an artist stops thinking and merely does what has been.

Just a quick note here – new and fresh do not make the object and authentic art object.History has shown that – examples of the shocking are plentiful.

A Planter Of Seeds

August 25, 2021

Featured image: Planting Seeds

Would you expect a farmer, a planter of seeds, a tiller of the soil, or a caretaker of new growth to work for free? No, you would trade the farmer's wares for yours, value for value.

So, why then would you ask an artist, a planter of seeds, a tiller of ideas or a caretaker of new growth to work for free?

Authentic artists work for decades and convert spirit, soul and a whole life. To give their work away for free would be to also give away their value.

Imagination - The Current

August 26, 2021

Featured image: The Real And The Imagined

The current within us.

Imagination is infinite and is a wonderful current within us. Sometimes we swim with the current and sometimes we don’t. But imagination is always the current within us – let's keep it alive.

Fox II

Posted August 27, 2021

Featured image: Fox II

My goal this past week has been to teach myself to do watercolor washes again. It has been hard. Some of my pieces are great and worked out while others I found myself reverting back to a way of painting that I was comfortable with.

Part of my process to teach myself is to research and remind myself how others have done washes in watercolor. To research tutorials, and YouTube videos and actually trying to copy what another is trying to teach. I am learning a lot. But, I don't feel comfortable yet creating a large watercolor wash so I am going to stick with doing my smalls and while I continue to learn.

When an artist views another’s work to learn from it, it is no different from an academic writer reading the papers of other authors who confirm the writer's thinking or challenge the writer's thinking. Writers frequently put footnotes in their papers to acknowledge another writer's thinking and process. It is no different with a visual artist. So, in this case with "Fox II," I acknowledge the work of painter, Dean Crouser, in this piece. I learned a great deal with the colors and the washes and that was wonderful. So this footnote goes with the Fox.

Fox – Ode to Dean Crouser