5 Questions for John Lavin, Artist

Describe your perfect client:
The perfect client has interesting, fun, challenging projects, deep pockets, and a sophisticated aesthetic.

What is your passion?
Dried mangoes, cocktail parties

Where are you from?
Mostly the Northwest (by way of Cleveland, Baltimore, Denver)

What was your favorite job?
Christmas Windows for Barneys New York and Beverly Hills.

Tell us something no one knows about you?
I used to be a political cartoonist.

See John and Carrie's work HERE.
Carrie is John's fabulously talented wife and work partner.

Lori Goldberg is a great painter. Vancouver B.C.

Here's the story: My friend Naomi, who lives in Vancouver B.C., has an amazing oil painting in her dining room. Every time I visit her, I just stare at it and tell her, "If that painting is ever missing, you know who took it."  This past weekend my daughter and I went to Naomi's daughter's Batmitzvah and I met the artist--Lori Goldberg.  Lori is one talented woman and she's also fun to dance with at a Bat party with a bunch of 13 year olds!--R

Take a look at more of Lori's work here.

More on Grey

Thanks to high school friend Caroline Turek Antonelli for turning me on to this artist: http://www.sorengallery.com/Steven-Seinberg.html. She was inspired by Anne's Friday post.

This painting is called "Waiting for Spring." It's hard to believe Steven Seinberg is not from Seattle. --R

Sheri Bakes, artist

This is an oil painting that is 36x48 called "A messy day of roses".
Sheri is showing her art at the Foster White Gallery in Seattle from Jan 7-Jan 30th. I feel something stirring inside when I look at her art. I am amazed at how she sees so many colors in the sky. I think this warrants a trip to the First Thursday art walk. Anyone?
Well Done Drama.

Victoria Raymond

Victoria Raymond is a mom in NE Seattle who so cleverly makes these amazing 3D images to be used in children's books. They are impeccable and fun and oh, you have to see her website.  I mean, she really has to have some focus + discipline+brilliance to do this shit!  Not only does she make these clay sculptures, she paints and makes other awe-inspiring stuff. A little birdie told me that she is having an open studio this weekend in her NE Seattle studio, Sat & Sun 1-8pm. If you EMAIL me I can give you her address.

Can you believe the amazing people that live in this little part of the world? 

Well Done Children's Books, Victoria. Thanks for making the world a bit more beautiful.

The Philadelphia Art Museum is filled with Treasures

I went to Philly last week for my 30th high school reunion. It was great to see all my BFFs who still call me Becky Dietz! While there, I went to The Art Museum. It is a treasure filled with treasures.
I saw:
Salvador Dali, Construction with Boiled Beans, 1936
Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase No.2, 1912
Vincent Van Gogh, Vase with twelve Sunflowers, 1889
Claude Monet, Poplars, 1891
Lee Krasner, Composition, 1949
Next time I am in town, I am going to spend the entire day there.

FYI Seattlites:  The Seattle Art Museum is FREE all day today, December 3rd.  Works by Calder and Michelangelo are on display.

Jane Richlovsky

CLICK HERE for her website!

Jane is a painter, educator and all around talented woman. I first met her as my teacher in a painting class at Pratt Fine Arts Center a few years ago. She takes old 50's and 60's fabrics and uses them as her canvas, leaving the pattern of the fabric showing in key places, like tablecloths or dresses. She is the queen of pattern painting and domestic tension. Her works are available for sale , quoting Jane" I have a show coming up at Pratt Gallery in the Tashiro Kaplan building (December 3) and I'm having a studio sale December 5... and I'm focusing on showing out of town mostly anyway these days" Well Done fine art in Seattle that is not depressing, Jane.

"I and the Village "by Marc Chagall

"Hello, this is the museum calling you and telling you what you should be thinking about when you look at this painting. Please refrain from making your own assumptions about this piece of art. You are not qualified to feel the kind of feelings that an artist has, so don't even try. Now move on to the next masterpiece and be quick, as the average time a person looks at a painting in a museum is 30 seconds. Thank you for visiting, come again"
Do you use those museum  info phones? Do you look at the exhibit first and then use it? Any opinions?

"When I am finishing a picture, I hold some God-made object up to it - a rock, a flower, the branch of a tree or my hand - as a final test. If the painting stands up beside a thing man cannot make, the painting is authentic. If there's a clash between the two, it's bad art"-Marc Chagall

"Still Life with Three Puppies" Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903)

"It is the eye of ignorance that assigns a fixed and unchangeable color to every object; 

beware of this stumbling block"

"I shut my eyes in order to see"

Paul Gauguin.

Click on post title for more about Gauguin.

"Jacob's Ladder" 1957 by Helen Frankenthaler

http://www.artnet.com/artists/helen-frankenthaler/

Anne here,

I am taking you on a mini blog visit of the Museum of Modern Art in nyc. Did you know you could take non-flash photography in there? I took  pictures of my favorite paintings when I was there last and I always look at them for inspiration and thought you might too. Here are some quotes from HF;

-"I don't start with a color order, but find the colors as I go."

-"I'd rather risk an ugly surprise than rely on things I know I can do."

-"I had the landscape in my arms as I painted it. "

-"I had the landscape in my mind and shoulder and wrist. Every canvas is a journey all its own."

-"I've explored a variety of directions and themes over the years. But I think in my painting you can see the signature of one artist, the work of one wrist."

-"To sustain conviction is often a struggle. No one enjoys being alone."

Well Done, Helen Frankenthaler. Thanks for being one of the few women tough enough to stay on the art scene in the fifties.

Click on the post title for more info about HF and watch an excellent video about her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsoaxUcwp3s

Studio tour of NYC jewelry designer,Liz Sims

Nesting: Artist's Studio, Seattle

Kaylee's sanctuary.

Nesting: Inside the Studio, Seattle

More views. Come on in.

Still Nesting Inside, Seattle

Hmmm.

Quick Study

Anne's Sunday project.