Politics in Peterborough

I'm gonna file this post under "Politics & Religion" - the two topics I was told should never ever be discussed in polite company if you want to get along with folks.

Bah humbug! I trust we're all adults and I'm not going to bash anybody. I am fascinated by politics and read a lot about what is happening on a daily basis. 

I now live and work in New Hampshire - the state that has the first primary election. It is a big deal around here.

I have to giggle as I thought we had a huge number of people show up as in the photo above of our "crowded" Diner.  

Ha! Here is the same candidate in Portland Oregon yesterday speaking to a record crowd of 75,000 people. It boggles my mind.

Barack Obama in the Peterborough Diner. I had a chance to chat with him for a couple of minutes or so about healthcare after he finished his slice of  home made cherry pie. I found him to be very candid and a very good listener who asked questions - unusual for a politician...and I've certainly met a few....

Michelle Obama in the Cafe at Noone Falls in Peterborough spoke to a group of nearly 100 people. She moved us to tears and got a standing ovation at the end. She is a very compelling speaker and even the children in the audience sat still and paid attention.

Bill Clinton spoke at Town Hall in Peterborough to a crowd of about 150 people. I could hardly take my eyes off  his feet - he wore the fanciest pair of cowboy boots I'd ever seen (a rare item in this neck of the woods). He kept us spellbound for an hour and a half. Although I was only in the second row I didn't get to meet  him personally. Drat. 

And this is my husband who still likes Adlai Stevenson. When John McCain and Hillary came to town I had the flu - so you get a pix of Peter instead (above).

I also saw and have pix of Rudy, Huck, Mitt, Joe, Chris, Mike and Dennis when they came to town - but now they're history and I think Peter is cuter.  He'll get my vote - early and often.

BUT, if you care about what is happening in this country and want to see some major change for the better, I trust that you'll read-up on the issues, stick to facts, ignore the spin, and vote accordingly.

Here are THE ISSUES spelled out in detail by each candidate:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/issues/

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

“Landscape Nocturnes”

Full Moon

8" x 10" Oil on canvas, framed $895

Although I am primarily a classical portrait painter, I often make time to focus on landscapes. 

I find my inspiration in the poetry of nature’s drowsy hum lost in dreams. The mood is often hushed: moisture-laden air, clouds before the rain, the clearing after the storm, mists, vapors, fogs, smoke and hazes.

The mysterious colors of dawn, dusk, twilight and moonlight challenge me to work within the narrow range of color that the mysterious and moody scene allows. To these themes, I apply the musical term “nocturnes.”

I avoid the literal in copying nature but suggest the broad simplification with a darkened palette rich in sensuous appeal. 

Sometimes to capture the mood, I use scrubby brushwork, particularly in the skies, where the strokes are applied so quickly that the color of the underlying painting shows through. Oftentimes thick juicy brush loads of light illuminate spots on a canvas. 

My goal is to find the spiritual in landscape: to create order out of chaos and to blend the “real” with the “unreal.”

Landscapes

Rolling Thunder

8" x 10" Oil on canvas, framed $895

Sunset

9" x 12" Oil on canvas, framed $895

Granite State

10" x 8" Oil on canvas, framed $895

A little reminder on my easel says...

Oh yeah, It's nearly impossible for a painter to always be "right." In fact it is only through mistakes (and sometimes disasters) that I've ever learned anything worthwhile.

Sometimes I even stumble into same mistake multiple times - like sticking my finger into wet paint to see if it is dry and messing up something it took hours to paint...but I eventually learned that it takes Ivory Black much longer to dry than my other colors. Duh. 

And for pete's sake, there are so many goofs that I make each time I pick up the brush that I often wonder if I am painting or merely "correcting." And truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way.   ;o)

Historical Portraits

These are some examples of Historical Portraits that I am asked to paint from time to time. Before the Impressionists, most portraits were painted using a grisaille method (i.e., underpainting). Because I use the old methods, techniques and the Old Master's earth palette, it isn't hard for me to recreate these historical artworks.

I guess word is getting around because I find that I am getting more and more requests for this kind of portraiture.

The particular client whose paintings I show below, "lost" the originals to another branch of the family. So he asked me to re-create them. The research for this project was a heckuva lot of fun.

Because of the poor reference materials that are usually available for these paintings, I usually have to "make up" the colors.

I don't "fake" paintings - I sign and date them - but I do take the time and make the effort to have them appear as if they were painted by different artists - each in his own time.

Oil on Linen 16" x 20"

"Bodley" was painted from a black and white old photo of a much larger painting - artist unknown. The client wished only a head and shoulders detail and requested that the coat of arms be added.

Oil on Linen 20" x 24"

I had a "not-very-good" photo of the original "Shortridge" - but I copied it and "made the same mistake with the mouth" that the original (unknown) artist did. It was a huge effort for me to not correct it.

Oil on linen 24" x 30"

"Pennicott" is my favorite. The original artist was Sir Thomas Lawrence and I had a lot of fun re-creating this one. Originally all I had was an engraving by a not-s0-good artist who had copied the Lawrence original. Later, thank heavens, I found a copy of the original is a book and relied heavily on that image to paint this.

The Secret Revealed!

Solving the mystery of making those dratted rolls of clear plastic wrap (and/or aluminum foil) work for you.

      

I've been using this in the studio (mostly to cover paint) and in the kitchen (mostly to cover foods) for more years than I care to remember. 

Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The dratted roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end". Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place.

Check the ends of that box!

How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

Heavens! Am I the only person that didn't know about this?

Sell a Painting, Make a Loan, Change a Life

When I sell a painting I make a loan to someone in the developing world using a revolutionary new website called Kiva.

Each pre-screened entrepreneur is hard-working and hopes to maintain a sustainable livelihood. All they need is a small loan.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business. There are lots of people who need loans and it is fun to read their business plans.

I like to work with people (mostly women) who like to work with their hands and/or are involved in creative endeavors. I get reports from all the people pictured above and enjoy following their progress.

When the entrepreneur pays back their loan I get my money back or I can pass it on to another person who needs it.

I can loan as little as $25.00 if I wish and 100% of every dollar I have loaned will be sent to my designated entrepreneurs, and will be used by them to build their businesses.

I even get updates letting me know how my entrepreneur is doing.

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for.

And best of all, helping them build a sustainable business will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Please consider joining me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

And you can do it instantly through PayPal right from your PC.

So who is it, Albert or Marilyn?

Close up this picture looks like Albert Einstein. Blink or peek from a little distance and she looks just like Marilyn Monroe.

Who would have guessed they could ever be mistaken for each other? Wacky, eh?

I adore a little visual trickery and in any event I think that "reality" is highly overrated and for people who lack imagination.

So here are some great thought provoking quotes from my favorite theoretical physicist (Albert, not Marilyn, of course) who thought that "Mathematics is the Music of the Universe"...and I tend to agree.

"Two things inspire me to awe -- the starry heavens above and the moral universe within."

"Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty."

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity."

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18."

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new."

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."

All the quotes in blue above are from Albert Einstein

"Here's to the crazy ones..."

"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in a square hole, the ones who see things differently. 

They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo.You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. 

About the only thing you can't do is ignore them, because they change things. 

They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, and are the ones who'll do it." 

From an Apple Computer TV ad

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible." 

Walt Disney 

"...that enthusiasm is half of the journey to success, and

all of the journey to joy.

If you're going to do something, do it with gusto. Don't

do anything half-heartedly. That dishonors the doing

and the doer. So go for it. Hold nothing back. In life.

Or love. Or anything at all."

Neale Donald Walsch

"Mickey Mouse" Copyright Bill

Pix of Mickey Mouse, presumably laughing at the current Orphan Works Act? 

This is explained so well by Robert Genn in his Twice Weekly Newsletter that I have quoted his entire letter below.

It arrives in my email inbox twice a week, it is free and I look forward to each and every one of them.

Book (cover shown above) by the multi-talented and very clever Robert Genn.

May 6, 2008

Dear Karin,

The principle of post-monetization says that nothing is worth anything until somebody wants it. Those of us who make art for a living--outside of commissioned work--essentially operate on this principle. We make the stuff and put it out there. When somebody decides, for whatever reason, they want it, then the amount they are willing to pay is exactly the value at that time. If we choose to resell, reproduce or replicate, that's our business too. We still own the copyright. 

The convention of putting a little c with a circle around it became redundant in the U.S. in 1976. In current copyright law, every drawing, painting, photograph, poem or play is simply owned by you the author. If somebody swipes it, or uses it without your permission, you have the law on your side to chase them down and get paid.

That's why the current Orphan Works Act now being considered by the U.S. Congress is particularly baffling. Promoted by dough-head non-artists who are obviously listening to big-time lobbyists, this bill says that you the artist must now officially register every single work you wish to protect. The on-line registries, presumably fee based, haven't yet been established.

Big boys like Disney have always felt the necessity to register copyrights. Can you imagine what's involved in owning and protecting Mickey Mouse? That's why I'm calling this the Mickey Mouse Bill. It continues to protect Mickey but leaves little guys like you and me with another layer of paperwork and expense. While in the guise of a last ditch attempt to locate 

and release unclaimed (orphaned) work, it's my opinion this is very bad legislation indeed. If someone can tell me the possible value of the Orphan Works Act, I'd really appreciate it.

Post-monetization is our life blood. The choice to defend an extant work should always be in the hands of the creator or his assigns. That's why the current law works so well. A few years ago a car company decently asked me if they might use one of my (already sold) paintings in the background of a car ad. I named a reasonable fee and they readily agreed. We used a "one time only" contract and we didn't even use a lawyer. If the Orphan Works Act becomes law, without an author's prior registration, Mercedes-Benz could just help themselves. No ask. No pay. Nutz.

Best regards,

Robert Genn

PS: "The problem is that very few of the billions of images will ever be registered. No artist that I know of has the time to pull out every work of art they have ever produced and register them with all the upcoming electronic databases." (Mark Simon, artist advocate)

Esoterica: The advent of the Internet has been somewhat responsible for this turn of events. Some pundits think we're about to enjoy the sunset of copyright. As it is, Chinese artists are ripping jpegs from the Western Internet, cloning and reselling our stuff like crazy. We can't get at them because they're in another jurisdiction. Now the U.S. wants this in their jurisdiction? Nutz. In the meantime the big boys like Google and Microsoft would like to see Mickey Mouse 
happen. They've got the deep pockets to get what they want. I don't know about you, but I haven't, and besides, I don't like filling out forms.

This is the back cover of Robert's book (above). If you click on the picture, it will be big enough to read.

Creative people worldwide appreciate the level of informed inspiration and information provided by Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Newsletter. It arrives in your inbox every Tuesday and Friday morning - and best of all it's free.

His website has something for everyone - demos, videos, links, and a whole lot more. 

Be sure to check out Robert Genn's archive - it is a rich resource of creative content...and fun to read.