20 Years of Clutter

Just finished an abstract painting, 30" x 40". My personal name for it is "20 Years of Clutter." Brenda Belfield, my mentor at the ArtWorks Gallery doesn't like the name (she says who's going to buy something titled "20 Years of Clutter?") So, for hanging purposes, it is called "breaking Boundaries." Well, that sort of fits. I noticed the other day that my file cabinet now mainly holds OLD files that I haven't gotten around to throwing out. My current files are all in racks and boxes and stacks in my "study". Yes, indeed, "Clutter" fits. But you must see the painting. It's not as if the title is disparaging. Actually, I remain quite cheerful about it. (And so is the painting.)

20 years of clutter

I have finished the main canvas in my newest abstract: "20 Years of Clutter". Some, who like my representational art, have wondered why I am branching out into abstract art. (Maybe I should give myself a pseudonym, and paint a whole different line of paintings as "Marcel" or "Etienne" or some such. NOT!)

The reason is actually simple. I have resisted the world of modern art for over 40 years. In college, I felt that I didn't "understand" abstract art, and so it was easy to kind of back away from and sneer gently at the whole subject. After all, wasn't it a case of the Emperor's new clothes — a vast gag on the art-buying public?

Well, I have to say that in some cases I feel that it has been so, and to the ruination of the artist. Too many artists, producing a line of abstractions that "caught on" and were selling, were then stampeded into producing more of the same (as that sold). Art became a business.

But you see, an artist isn't really a business-man. You could say that the artist thinks in futures. He (or she) is playing with the fabric of reality, using the tools available.

In the case of "abstract art", the visual artist is simply playing with the fundamental components of a visual presentation: line, shape, color, composition. So I thought, "Why, I can do that." And perhaps in the process, I'll learn things that will make my future art, whether it be realistic or abstract or something in-between, stronger. Do you see?

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, and himself an artist in many fields (although primarily known as a writer) has some interesting essays on art. I urge you to read them.

Acrylic "How-to" with my paintings included still available

Earl Grenville Killeen included my work as one of 20 artists illustrated different approaches to the use of acrylic in his book, The North Light Book of Acrylic Painting Techniques, authored for North Light Books, in 1995. I thought that it was out of print years ago because North Light took it off their active list. However, I recently located it, reissued in 1998 and for sale on Amazon.com. You can order this book, new ($17.99) or used (from $7.37 -- but watch out for the shipping costs before you hit the order button) at Amazon.
In this book, he includes 20 different artists, illustrating 20 different approaches to the use of Acrylics. It's very instructive for those artists approaching the use of the acrylic medium as it gives you an overview of some of the very different ways to handle this medium.

Upcoming Coulter show: July 2007

How time flies. I've been preparing for a show at the Reston Community Center from July 3 - Aug 8, 2007 and you'd be surprised all that goes into that. It's a big gallery space (often holding shows of more than 100 paintings.) This is a one-person show, and I will have approximately 60 paintings in it. That means that I have had to make sure each is finished, signed, glazed, framed, priced, and catalogued. And I have ordered post cards to send out far and wide. I should do press releases, and I have yet to finish going through my mailing list and paring it down to 500 people.
This show will be a retrospective called: Water Forms, from 1965 to 2007. Since early in my art "career" or "avocation" I have been fascinated by water and the many forms it takes. Ninety-nine percent of the paintings will have water in the painting. A few I included because they refer to water, such as "Sink in Athens" or "Watering Can".
This is a small reproduction of the painting that will go on the postcard. It's called "The Beauty Spot III" and is of a location just a short hike west of the western-most parking lot at the Virginia Great Falls National Park.

Confessions of an RX Drug Pusher - Part 1

Here’s a Youtube video of a lady who sold drugs for pharmaceutical companies for 15 years, gradually realized that the drugs were doing more harm than good, and quit to write a book about the experience. Note well: She’s a Christian, not a Scientologist. She’s worth listening to.

Spring House, Nancy's Place

Last summer, I participated in a 2-day workshop with Ed Cooper, a well-known "plein-air" (outdoor or on-site) painter on an estate in Loudoun county. I painted two fairly good-sized paintings and sold one to the owner of the estate. The other, "Spring House, Nancy's Place" has been acepted in the March show of the Art League of Alexandria at the Torpedo Factory. This is one of the few shows that I regularly enter and it is so competitive that I am always pleased when something is accepted.

You can see more of my paintings at my gallery website: my gallery

Hidden Hope

After some research of painter Robert Rauschenberg's career, I painted Hidden Hope. It's purely non-objective (that is no objects are intended.)












Sorry, I painted over "Pandora's Box." Pandora's box seemed too much into symbology to me.

Pandora's Box Completed

I completed Pandora's Box and submitted it to the November 2006 show (Political theme) at the Art League at Torpedo Factory, Alexandria. It was accepted. Here is the finished painting. It was 24 x 36.

Rescue two hundred horses, the Netherlands 2006

Around 200 horses got stuck on a small island for days after a heavy storm. People feared for the lives of many horses!

I was so touched by this video that I decided it should be posted to my artist blog. If the version I have posted ceases to respond, look it up by goggling "rescue 200 horses, the Netherlands, 2006"-- Pam