Artoura:

A place to experience and share art with the world.

Artoura.com is social platform created to specifically promote art. It is also thoughtfully designed to help “galleries/artists/educators like yourself interact with other patrons and enthusiasts. My team and I would like to personally invite you to join Artoura and explore the new Renaissance.

We are thrilled to meet you and are grateful for all the enthusiastic support from the local art community. We believe together we can make art more accessible and engaging in the state of Washington and beyond. 

Artoura in 3 simple points.

• Artoura is an online art community. 
• Artoura helps you to experience and share art from the collections of the world or from your own collection.  
• Artoura is free and always will be. 

Become an Artourian now on artoura.com

and join the community today.

Visual Language Magazine published my new article.

 "What should I paint" Examines the issue artists face when thinking about subject matter for their creative process.  

http://issuu.com/visuallanguage/docs/visual_language_may_2014_vol_3_no_5/1?e=6736121/7380433

Life goes on as we remember those that have made a difference.

Spring is upon us and it is time to think about being outdoors, the blossoms are budding, new green is appearing on the barren branches and Spring flowers are working their way up from the ground reaching for the sunlight.

I am now back at work in the studio carving whimsical shapes into pieces of apple wood tree that got trimmed in my back yard. Judging by the rings in the wood the tree is between 100 and 150 years old. This age gives the wood a rich color and a heavier then expected weight. It is a beautiful wood to work with. As I strip away the outer bark, a necessary step while the wood is still green and not dried out, I have time to think about many things.

Contemplating the shapes my new sculpture may take and the two canvases partially begun with under-painting drying and waiting for the next coat of paint in the upstairs painting studio. I am still unsure of the direction they will take. Thoughts of the new gallery I am signed with and how I can help them become successful in this soft market. It is a warm spring day filled with soft billowing clouds and blue sky a good day to be sitting out doing this chore in the sun-breaks that warm the air.

Now my mind turns to my old friend and teacher and I am thankful for all that he taught me. In my last few blogs I wrote about him, and this month Visual Language Magazine published the 13 pages of his work. This morning I got an email from Northwest Watercolor Society Magazine and they will publish a short article I wrote in the May-June issue of their magazine. It made me feel good to know that he will be remembered by more then a few close friends and family. His life impacted so many people in so many ways. Here is the short article...

Summertime

It's hot out and i'm thinking that it's too hot to work today. I wish I could work all the time on my art but hot summer days like this make it difficult to get into the studio. If I could be anywhere, I would love to go a white sand beach of some blue water Caribbean Island... but that's not going to happen today... the daydream passes and I am back at my desk, a bead of sweat roles down my cheek. I have a trace memory of seeing a fim about Picasso walking on the beach he has an umbrella and a stick and is drawing images in the sand. A creative mind finds a way to be expressive where ever it is.

Fall is coming soon and when it gets here I will wonder what happened to those warm long summer days filled with light from early morning to late evening, memories are often better then the reality. It is natural to forget the pain in favor of the sweetness don't you think?

new ways to work

I cant help wonder how I got so much done before computers, it must have been my youthful exuberant blind devotion to making art. I was on a quest to discover who I was, so the more I made the more I found out. I am grateful to Steven Jobbs for his hand in bringing about the computer age in time for me to take advantage of it. Today, I use my digital camera to capture imagery, my brushes to shape style and Adobe Photoshop to organize the composition. I can't believe how much time it all saves me and the compositions are symphonic in complexity.
With less experimenting on the canvas I save time and money. I know that many artists long to hold on to the old ways, the smell of terps and oil paint in the studio is a necessary evil, I know that we love the hand crafted mediums we add to our colors, The color mixing on the palette to get the pant just right. The daily drawing in our sketchbooks to perfect an image. But I have not given up any of that, I have only added a marvelous way to save time and effort, and produce more better work in less time then I ever thought possible.