Art imitating life

Lovely to see some Sons of Turner at the Academy last night to celebrate the degree show.
There's something wonderful about seeing people I have grown to love and respect moving on into the world to make their mark. Also something of a personal sadness. I shall miss Gabs and Brad, and add them to the list of ex students that I will continue to see sporadically, but never again walk alongside day after day. Many of them are Sons of Turner though and thats a good thing.

Anyhow, nothing lasts forever.

Patrick Vertino sends his best from Guadelehara and regrets his absence on the 8th. see the rest of you then I hope.

Where's My Chippy?

Photo taken by Kim.

See if you can find Caleb.

Togetherness

Hey hey, here's something we did together this summer.

So I've had a good response to my email about a studio afternoon so its all go for Sunday August 8th at 3pm at my studio for a Sons of Turner reunion. I've heard back from some but can everyone give me a yes or no so i can buy the right number of twinkies. And spread the word amongst the brethren. Several are not on the blog. Thanks.

This song makes me miss Georgia even more. I'm thinking maybe sometime in the winter, taking a road trip up there for a few days, just to escape the Windy City winters. Would anyone be interested in joining me? I'm thinking of getting a hotel, which can be split between myself and two to three other people. Just an idea for now, nothing solid!

Coke

did anyone else stumble across this? I was lost one day way out east towards Broad Street, it all got a bit ropey and I was thinking I maybe ought to turn back and keep my hand securely on my painting bag and then there it was....delicious and refreshing.

This one is 12 x 12 on claybord.

I'm dreaming of seashells and passing dolphins lately. I miss Savannah's warmth and those enormous plush beds at the Forsythe house. Does anyone else have an itch to go back?

Sometimes quiet is a good thing

Sometimes quiet is a good thing and sometimes its not. I've been painting some more Savannah things but havent scanned anything of late. Painted the 9th piece in my bucket and tool series, invented a pea juicer had an idea for a billion dollar industry that I'll never get off the ground and got my air conditioning fixed. But nothing really great to show you yet. I put something new up on my other blog which is now called Mat Barber Kennedy because The Artful Dodger sounds crap. Thats about it though. Oh, unless any of you are thinking it might be time to get a studio..... I have 500 square feet of studio space becoming available here in MBK Studios. It is big enough for three tidy people or two slightly more expansive people and for those of you who have never visited, its quite lovely. Let me know if you are interested and I'll give you all the details about money and so on and so forth, etc etc etc.

Ay caramba lots of questions and never any answers.... just something to think about.

When we develop our different and unique styles as artists, we grow to become accustomed to our painting techniques and the place, objects, people, and things we choose to paint. These things become our habits. But do we ever get tired of painting the same things over and over again, the same style over and over again, using the same colors, the same brushes....etc. We take and learn new techniques but we only add to what we are used to. Do some of you wish to paint differently? With a different personality? With a different mindset? Many artists such as Picasso and Matisse painted still lifes, portraits, then switched to paint abstractly. Will we ever be satisfied with our art and the way we paint? I know that we have to brand ourselves with our styles so that our viewers can recognize us but as we get older will we get too comfortable in our skin or maybe even bored? Are we even allowed (by our minds) to switch into something new? Is inspiration our only fuel? How do we truly inspire ourselves to keep going?

West Virginia

I've just returned from a very short trip to Beckley, West Virginia. I didn't go there to do a lot of art or site see, but I got to see a lot of interesting things anyways. If anyone gets a chance to go through West Virginia, there's a ton of things to do and it's beautiful, full of mountains and trees. I recommend visiting any of the coal mines, the Cass Railroad State Park, the New River Gorge Bridge (to go rafting too), any zip line tour, and the Trans-Allegheny Insane Asylum in Weston, WV. The asylum was my favorite, I could totally see the SOT staying there, getting scared crap-less and painting bizarre stuff. Here are some of my fav pictures: