at the end of my Mendocino Artist in Residence – huge studio space!
Hi art friends.
This weekend over 100 artists exhibit in our lovely TriValley. 10-5:00, May 4-5, with a special sneak preview Friday night for 8 of the smaller private studios.
I’ll be showing at the Bothwell, Saturday and Sunday. Maybe I’ll see you there! I’m bringing out some abstract figuratives to show and offer for ridiculously low prices as well as quite a few of the layered ocean pours, including a few underwater pieces.
I am giving away this piece for the grand prize drawing for the third annual TriValley Artist Studio Tour.
I totally believe in Open Studios as a format for building an arts career and for helping supplement the income and following for artists in any career stage. Having a vibrant open studios to participate in is golden. It’s also good for the communities we live and make art in. I believe in it enough to donate a piece I love to entice at least some people to make the full tour.
Open Studios gave me wings early on in my career. I met so many people, made sales, and was buoyed by the interaction of the attendees so much I fell in love with the concept. I started ArtWalk Livermore in 2002 because our local Open Studios was cancelled, and I was crestfallen.
For artists, Open Studios work in many ways. Like I said, sales, of course. But sometimes when you are just painting, alone in your studio, there’s no interaction from others with your art. And artmaking starts a visual conversation, whether you intend that or not. And sometimes for various reasons a painting sits in a closet or in storage or on a wall where no one but you sees it. It’s silent.
There is something inherently gratifying about getting the chance for a number of people to engage with your work – especially when people really “get” it. It is a completion of that conversation you started, alone with yourself and your art tools. And people that really “get” your work tend to start following you – on Facebook or at other exhibitions, and in the next open studio. And eventually one piece might actually follow them home.
What Lynda Briggs said in her IG post a while back about how you will find your people and your people will find you at open studios rings true.
It’s also super amazingly good for the community. Not only can they discover the creativity going on in their neighborhoods, but by watching demos and new techniques they can be inspired to create themselves. Super good for young people, too – not only seeing a multitude of art and artmaking, but to realize that people out there actually do art after high school. Some professionally, some at their kitchen table. You don’t have to silence your art voice. And – people can be changed, when a work of art really hits their heart and their being. The effect is transformative. I’ve seen it and had it happen to me.
So all of that is to say, I’m donating because I think it’s important. I’m called Director of the event but honestly I’m only doing less than half of the copious amount of work this takes -and I’m doing that, too, because I think it’s important.
Nice, after the events of the last four years, to find importance and focus and meaning.
So that’s why. And by the way, first weekend in May! Gonna be a good one!
Surfacing 2.1 by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
Surfacing 2.2 by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
Lionhead Rock (Cove #1) by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
Griphon Rock by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
Play Misty 1 by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
Play Misty 2 by Linda Ryan (C) 2019 all rights reserved
The Fog (Spivey Pt. 2)
Blake’s Gold (Spivey Pt. 1)
Above Works are from Surfacing, an Artist’s Journey
I’ve been working on this solo show for a long time, and am happy to say that it’s now hanging at the Gallery at Glendeven Inn & Lodge, Mendocino now through May 15, 2019.
Happy, and relieved. Creating a meaningful show that hangs together well is sort of like giving birth. Less painful, but anxiety-provoking. I was ready to be done with anxiousness. And then another atmospheric river hit the West Coast.
By the time we packed up for the trip, they were evacuating Guerneville and Monte Rio, beloved little towns on the Russian River, and strange weather was creating havoc all over Northern California. Crazy amounts of rain. Both Highways to the Coast off of northern 101 were closed due to flooding. I am told that this is not unusual for Highway 128 when the Navarro is full and the tide is high, but they were turning people away even at Highway 20, a more northerly route we rarely take but that has always been an alternate. One of my Mendocino friends said that the day we were traveling up, the winding road through Comptche that is always the back route for locals had been plagued with mudslides and trees falling from the sodden hills. She said, and I quote, “you’d be crazy to drive up here today”.
Geez. That was enough for me. I love Mendocino, but I must say I am not fond of these highways where the winding rarely ends, even in good weather. After almost 7 months of living there and coming back to Livermore at least once a month, I can drive them without whiteknuckling it all the way, but give me a threat of a tree landing on us with the Explorer loaded with 21 paintings representing over four years of dedicated experimentation, study and intense work and the personal safety of my partner and me and, well…
My partner, Duane, is so understanding and a great travel companion. The radio didn’t help, and neither did the Maps app on my iPhone. Weturned around and then turned back north first on the rain drenched Freeway 80 Berkeley and started to head home again after Santa Rosa. Then, I checked the weather again for the next day and it looked like it might really clear up – and he looked at me and said, hey, we are so close, let’s head up to Cloverdale and get a motel room and try again tomorrow.
We did, and the rain and even the fog suspended over 128 began to clear by 8:30 am the next morning. The drive was beautiful, as it always is – oak woodlands, lovely Anderson Valley, the ethereal redwoods, and finally the sea – but disconcerting, still. Small mudslides, too many to count. Lots of standing water, some flowing over the roads still, streams pushed to their limits, mostly small downed trees chainsawed in half and tossed to the side of the road (Nancy Puder, a good friend that has lived in the area since the 70’s, tells me that locals drive these roads with chainsaws in the back during periods of heavy rains).
Yes, we need the rain. Yes, I’m thankful this won’t be a drought year. It would be nice, though, if it would come down a bit more sporadically.
We got to lovely Glendeven early, in time to have coffee and biscotti in the Farmhouse and watch the sea rolling in to Van Damme Beach and the llamas kicking about and the chickens doing their chickeny things while gearing up to lay Glendeven’s free-range eggs. It was sunny and almost warm. When it was time to hang, Nancy Puder joined us and we put the show up in record time. Having capable Duane on my team is mandatory; having Nancy and her designer eye join in created one of those magical art hanging days where it all just seemed to work. Some people are just easy to hang with in more ways than one.
Oh yeah, about the show! Surfacing, An Artist’s Journey, explores the progression of the pour paintings up from underwater – the reef and coral pieces I painted previously – and exhibits the still-evolving coastal rock formations and the sea battering them which were my struggle and goal during my term as Artist in Residence 2017-18 at the Mendocino Art Center. There’s more to it than that; I’m working on a blog about how they evolved and what happened to me during that program (now that I finally understand it), but this is getting really long and I felt that the journey to actually just hang the show was part of gestating these works and the bringing them up for viewing was part of the journey’s story.
So. The coastal rocks are joined by several Underwater works in this exhibit. Standing in the middle of the gallery, it’s as if you feel the undulation of the movement of water, like you are in the Pacific but oddly not cold. Peaceful. At one with yourself and your evolutionary journey. Where you came from, where you are now, and where you are going become one.
That may be taking it too far. Sort of.
The paintings look great hung together. Yes, I said that. Those who know me personally know that while I’m not really a braggart (or at least I think I’m not, how does one know for sure?), I am far from humble – at least about painting. It’s a good show, if I do say so myself. Pour painting taken to a different level, all painted with a reverence for our ocean and copious amounts of that art explorer thing I think I might be addicted to that I find so fascinating with this medium.
Plus it’s just so cool to see them dry, go from milky to glasslike ahh-ness. I wish you could see that.
Or see the show. They are so much better in person.
This is a previous gallery showing. The gallery is open 9-12 and 3-7pm daily.
About Glendeven Inn & Lodge
This place is beyond charming, a serene getaway in an amazing setting. They earn the accolades they’ve gotten from so many magazines with attention to detail and caring for their guests, so much so that they have been expanding and purchasing neighboring property to make the experience available to even more.
Even their website is fun to explore. They give each guest a packet of chickenfeed so that they can become acquainted with the hens that will lay their breakfast eggs! And, you can participate in llama feeding!!!
You won’t find much on the site about the gallery as they are starting a reboot of it, but they are part of the Mendocino Whale Festival – their weekend is March 8-10, and they’ve done a nice writeup of my exhibition here.
I woke up early again, but instead of rushing down to the studio to see how the paintings dried, I wrapped up in a shawl and sat on my landing to watch the sky lighten, my first coffee of the day warm in my hands.
I can hear crashing waves from the north Headlands and from the south, where the Bay meets Big River. There are songbirds greeting the morning, rumblings from the ravens, frog song to the south, and occasionally a seagull cries in the distance. There is an occasional car – it’s not quite tourist season, yet, so human noises are wonderfully quiet on weekday mornings.
I love this process, the freedom and happy accidents that occur with it. If you pour, you know what I mean.
Sometimes the results are wonderful. Sometimes parts of it are.
I saw an ad a popular arts & crafts store did for pour painting, and I thought, you know, I need to put something out there about focusing on pouring to make art, not just arts & crafts. Because it’s fun, like crafting a marble effect, and freeing, it’s become crazily popular. But man, if you saw that commercial, you might see it as fun but their examples left the art out of it.
How to make pour painting art? Simplified, I’d say keep art principles in mind –
COMPOSITION: Composition, perhaps using motion and assymetrical balance as your guide, and unity. You may have a great innate sensibility already tuned to this – don’t discount that. But the classic lessons on composition can really help you create more artful and satisfying pieces and less pieces that end up stuck in the back of the closet.
For a more thorough read, you can’t get any better than David Lauer’s Design Basics books. I’ve burned through and given away just about every edition, including the old black and white version. It’s college level, but easy to read and for artists, the short explanations with copious amounts of illustration and photographs are easy to embrace. Visual learners, this book is key.
LAYERING (and gelskin hack):
As you progress, you may find that some pieces have promise but just aren’t satisfactory as they are. Yes, you can layer this stuff. I can tell you from experience that you can layer, and layer, and layer … and soon it will start taking a really long time to dry in between layers. And note – with transparent paints, it’s much easier to go darker in layers than lighter, unless you start adding some opaques, which can be tricky.
You’ll also find that you can also ruin a painting pretty easily by not really knowing what you want to do in that next layer.
Hack: Try the type of layer you want on a piece of plastic sheeting, polyethelene, or even a large Ziploc bag. Let it dry, and check it on top of the piece. If you get an effect you like, you can either recreate it on your piece, or simply peel the gelskin off, and brush on some gloss medium or pouring medium, and apply it to your art making sure to squish out any bubbles. MAKE SURE NOT TO LAY YOUR GELSKIN DIRECTLY ON YOUR WORK, especially if it’s sticky at all. They may become one. And, Yes, your surface will be bumpy – try doing a pour over the whole thing (I usually wait until it’s all done, do a final pour and Art Resin to clear up surface issues.
This is only one example of layering – experiment!
COLOR THEORY (and hack): The David Lauer book is good for a bit of this, and there are tons of books out there. Color Matters offers a fairly concise description – but what you are interested in here is how they are going to react on the painting. And, especially, what you might want to layer on. Sometimes a very light transparent glaze is all you need to tie things together in a beautiful way.
Hack: Use sheets of mylar or scraps of plexiglass from your framer, and mix a little of your transparent paint with pouring medium. Pour a large enough puddle of each in sections on your mylar and let it dry thoroughly. Us this to hold over your painting and see what you might want to add in a layer. They keep for long use if you put a sheet of polyethylene (painter’s tarps) around them when you store them. Note – The paint will stick to the mylar – this is not a way to make gelskins.
USE THE SPECIAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIUM: I’d go a bit farther, too. The nature of Liquitex Pouring Medium is that it has wonderful clarity and creates spectacular light-bounce. This creates especially lovely effects with transparents, metallic and interference paints (called color-shift by some companies). If you want to use opaque paint, you might save money and try one of those cheaper alternatives like Floetrol* or Glue, like many demonstrate with this on YouTube. I don’t use them so don’t ask me for advice on that!
Listen, however you want to paint, do it. If you hit those paintings that are pretty but just don’t make you happy, seriously consider doing a bit of study. You might find it fascinating and fulfilling to use it in your work.
What would you expect of the great-great granddaughter of a Circus Strongman and a Russian aristocrat who fled to marry her love and perform as the Circus Snake-Charmer?
That she would be strong? bold? That she would grow up to cherish powerful, rebellious women?
Absolutely. Meet D.O.M., (Dominika Zurawska), a strong, capable woman who has found a way to share of all of this through her powerful art. Her strong coloration and bold women full of life are impossible to pass by in an exhibition without feeling their impact.
D.O.M. cherishes these female rebels with each big fat paint stroke.
And who was the bold woman who inspired her the most? Madonna – first as her inspiration in life, and then as her muse.
“When I was young, I had to be the strong one. I had to support my parents and younger brother, it was a difficult time,” says D.O.M. Back then, even her art was difficult. “I went to Art School, and my teachers told me I should never paint. They said I could sculpt or do other art but my paintings were worthless.”
While working in a coffee house, she finally really listened to Madonna’s messages. She realized how strong Madonna really was, what a rebel she’d been, and found a hero in spirit that has helped support her own bold spirit through hard times. Madonna made a huge impact on her life.
After a leg injury left her disabled for a time, she decided to paint on the canvases she’d bought for school to pass the time. Her Manager saw them and suggested that she hang them at the shop and have an exhibition. D.O.M. said, “but my paintings are worthless!” The Manager hung them anyway. There were 9 of them. 8 sold.
Detail, Madonna Painting by D.O.M.
D.O.M. married, and eventually took an office job to help support her young and growing family. Thirteen months ago, with a one-year-old baby, D.O.M. was laid off. In a bold, Madonna-like move, D.O.M. decided that she should pursue her artwork. And that she had one year to make it.
Since then, she has been in 8 different exhibitions in 3 countries,with another coming soon in Glasgow ( January 2016 ), the next in Lost Angeles (April 2016) and after that, New York (November 2016).
One of D.O.M.’s Rebel Women Paintings in the Underground
I met her at the Parallax Art Fair in London, where she was showing several of her Rebel Women series, http://bit.ly/1TPMskN all based on her muse, Madonna. “I didn’t want Madonna to think I was using her to get publicity and sales, so I changed them”, says D.O.M., of the Rebel Women works, “but she (Madonna) inspired them all.”
D.O.M. was the busiest of all of the 200+ artists at the Fair. We joked about making up t-shirts that say, “Buy My Art so I don’t have to go Back to the OFFICE!”
She didn’t need the t-shirt. She’s now selling well and has several commissions lined up. Her art is now collected in 6 countries. She has won awards. But is that enough?
Nope. “I really want Madonna to have my painting of her,” says D.O.M., “and I want to be there when she sees it! She changed my life.”
When we Skyped to interview for this piece, D.O.M. was busy painting a masterful Madonna, whose eyes dare you to see her as anything but powerful. Madonna’s just gotta see this one.
Help her out! If you have connections or have connections that have connections, pass along the word, would you? Help this talented painter meet her hero and her muse, and give Madonna the painting.
New Series of Underwater acrylic pour paintings Dreams of the Reef at Dawn by Linda Ryan Copyright 2015 by Linda Ryan
I recently posted a YouTube video (link below) where I demonstrate how I created this underwater painting using Liquitex Pouring Medium, acrylics, a spoon and my (gloved) finger … ok, and a couple of tarps and stuff like that.
It was one of those magical afternoons when, after four days of painting mostly bottom layers, it all came together and just flowed. Sometimes, in the words of Audrey Flack (Art & Soul, a wonderful book), everything disappears in the room except the art and you … and then it’s just the art…
I happened to get lucky enough to get that on film!
Once in awhile it’s just you and the art, and then…
ARTISTS: If you are an artist and want to try it, please spend some time exploring the medium on a smaller scale, first! It took me a couple of years of experimentation to get to a good understanding of how each different pigment is going to react to the medium. Some float, some like to sit on the surface, some like to be by themselves and some overpower everything around them.
Nowadays there are a lot of videos out there that demonstrate how to use the medium, and you can also use my earlier “DIY” blog to get a little grounding in the medium.
Then, be brave, get your gloves on and start pouring!
Several of my new underwater series will be exhibited at Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair, a juried, high-end art fair exhibiting 500 artists’ works in gallery groupings and interesting themed exhibits at Balboa Park in San Diego.
The VIP reception is Thursday evening, November 5th, and the show continues 11-6 until Sunday November 8th. My work is in Booth 321.
Seeing these pieces in person makes such a huge difference – photography flattens them out and you don’t get the sense of luminosity that you would if you were standing in front of them.
If you are in the area, stop by and say hi! I plan to be at the booth at least between 2-4pm each day, and again towards closing each day I do want to check out the fair and all the galleries exhibiting!
When we Skyped to interview for this piece, D.O.M. was busy painting a masterful Madonna, whose eyes dare you to see her as anything but powerful. Madonna’s just gotta see this one.
lindaryanart.com 
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