Art Romance

Posted on June 5, 2014 by lksukany

What do you think of when I say “hot date night” or “a night out on the town?”

M took me out for one of these. We went and looked at rows and rows – touching every corner of smooth and toothy – cream, white, and toned – thick and thin – pages of sketchbook paper.

M bought me a Canson Sketchbook – 7 x 10 – 98lb and a 12 pack of Derwent Inktense pencils. $$$$

Well, I did say it was a date!

Of course when we got home, I immediately went to my studio to see what these Inktense pencils were all about. Which is probably the downside for M of taking me on an art date.

The Inktense pencils are ink based, so after applying water, the ink dries and another layer of ink pencil can be added. Something else I think is really great about the Inktense pencils – and this is for the printmakers out there – the inktense pencils blend well when working with water based ink. This means that if you print and some parts of your print comes out grainy, you can cover that up with the Inktense pencils.

Pretty cool stuff!

I sketched an owl because I have been looking at the owls from Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas.

I have been drawing this circle pattern for weeks now at work meetings and at Grace Church on Sundays – so I put it in with the owl sketch.

Where do you show your work?

Posted on May 29, 2014 by lksukany

Person you meet: “What do you do?”
You: “I’m an artist”
Me: “I’m an artist.”

Person you meet: “What kind of art do you do?”
You: “Tells the person what kind of art you do.”
Me: “Mumble my way through this question spouting out oil paint, figures, and printmaking somewhere through the murk.”

Person you meet: “Do you show anywhere?” or “Where can I see your work?”
You: “Tells the person where they can see your work.”
Usually Me: “I have a website and I blog. I’m not showing anywhere. I’m not really selling anything. Translation – I make art and hide in my studio.”

“I also kiss baby feet”

Today through the end of the year – Me: “I have a website and I blog. I also have some work up right now at the Arkansas Attorney General’s office downtown in the Two Towers Building.”

How did this happen? Did I get discovered through my website or blog? Was there someone going from door to door in my neighborhood looking for just the right art? Did I go from office to office with samples of my work to see if anyone was looking for my work? It all happened through the Arkansas Arts Council.

I am a member of the Arkansas Artist Registry, and so I get emails of opportunities to show, sell, to apply for grants and fellowship, and other artist things. The Arkansas Arts Council sent a call for submission: “The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office seeks submissions from the Arkansas Artist Registry artists for a revolving exhibition of selected works in the reception area of the Office, which is open to the public for meetings, conferences and other events.” and this attachment

I submitted and was selected! Laurie Jo helped me to hang the show.

Art Studio Series: Neal

Posted on May 27, 2014 by lksukany

Neal Harrington is an artist and Associate Professor of Art at Arkansas Tech University who teaches printmaking and figure drawing. He also manages the gallery at Arkansas Tech University.

I met Neal at the Arkansas Arts Center where we competed in the first round of the Portrait Face Off. It was super awkward meeting an artist and immediately competing, and we both acknowledged the oddity of it from the beginning. While we were waiting to be judged (two women walking around with notebooks whispering to each other), I was able to meet Neal’s artist wife Tammy, who also was competing. Neal won the competition and we parted ways – only to be reconnected the next day in the Sunday morning Arkansas Democrat Gazette. They recaptured the intense and awkward battle of our portrait face-off, and we looked so regal in our drawing stances!

I Facebook friended Neal after that, and have enjoyed all of his news feeds of creativity.

Neal Harrington’s Art Studio – Neal’s studio is a shared space with his artist wife Tammy Harrington. Neal writes about his studio below.

“My studio is in the basement of my house and is crazy messy. Organized chaos. I do clean it sometimes but then I am utterly confused!”

When I commented on the fact that there were instruments in his studio, he replied, “Yes, I can be very loud in there!”

You can visit Neal’s website at nealharrington.com/home.

Art Studio Series: Dan

Posted on May 20, 2014 by lksukany

Dan Bina is an artist and professional living in Brooklyn, New York. I solely know him from Facebook. He went to school with mutual friends at Kansas City Art Institute. I saw his work from another friends post and requested to be his friend. He accepted my friend request, and now I get to vicariously live through his artist life in New York! Dan’s wife Katya Mezhibovskaya is also an artist and her website is katyamezhibovskaya.com

Dan’s website is danbina.com and shop Kahokia is kahokia.bigcartel.com

Dan Bina’s Art Studio – Dan writes about his studio below.

“My Brooklyn based home studio functions as a personal laboratory for developing a multitude of works.”

“It’s primary function is to provide a dedicated space to make messes in and keep them active for a duration of time. This is facilitated and aided by two functional doors and being able to close them.”

“The tight quarters in my studio are a challenge to work around and simultaneous projects do get in the way of each other resulting in this series of pictures which serve to highlight chaos as an aspect to the creative act.”

Cobra Basket, Harry Potter, and Clearance Cookies from Walgreens?

Posted on May 15, 2014 by lksukany

That’s right, another art night – this one for May 2014!
The night started with Ein smelling something delicious!

Ein of course was smelling M’s delicious cooking and baking. What’s on the menu, you may ask? corn chowder soup and home made fresh-out-of-the-oven rolls.

And for dessert, from scratch chocolate chip cookies! My favorite part about these cookies is when you get a bite of a salt piece. It is delicious.

Did I mention that Ein loves chocolate chip cookies (just the bites without the chocolate chips).

As for projects – there was drawing.

There was fibers- yarn and felt.

There was photo editing.

And there was paperwork? Yes! There was paperwork.

There was also writing of stories and playing of clarinet! Also, Micah started a blog!

Some topics of the night: Harry Potter, Enneagram and other personality types, Cobra basket, working with felt, the creative process, Ein loving who she is, cookie display, turning drawings into a coloring book, potential group names (BYOA – bring your own art, Running with Scissors, Art Paper Scissors), and best most recent purchases (a bunny door stop, Moonrise Kingdom, Breyers Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream, A ticket to Seattle, Clearance Cookies – with Belgium chocolate – at Walgreens).