Castleberry Studio restored

It's fun to dig out old photos, scan the print and restore it with a computer.

In 1985 I was living in Cumming, Georgia and building a painting studio. Our daughter, Katherine, was on the way and there was a rush to set up a place to work. I built it out of rough sawn pine from a small local mill. The lumber was fresh and heavy but low cost. I attached it to an old aviary shed that came with the property.

These photos were pock marked with white specs of dust and tiny hairs. One was originally a Polaroid print, which has no negative. It is remarkable how one can balance the colors, bring detail back to the shadows and sharpen the features.

I never did finish the building with glass windows. It stayed dry and was fine with a little heater in winter. There was excellent light from a clerestory above and I made some things I really liked there. I call it the Castleberry Studio.

Visit to Gainesville, Georgia

Spirals on Stage
1981
watercolor on paper

A significant amount of my art work is in the collection of The Arts Council at the Smithgall Arts Center in Gainesville, Georgia. I had not seen much of the works on paper since 1986. Among the drawings, prints and watercolors are two lithographs I did when I was 19. Gladys Wyant graciously invited me back to Gainesville for a chance to go through the print drawers. It was intriguing to see things I had made in New York , Germany and my studio on the Neely Farm in Norcross, Georgia. I made a lot of spirals in those days.

Bob Bowden had donated all of these and several large canvases that he bought from me back then. Bob's generosity was widely admired and I was fortunate to benefit from it. Sadly, Bob passed away in 2009 but I had the surprise pleasure of a visit with Shirley Bowden, his wife. Her charm and warmth gave me that rare pleasure of catching up with a friend from the past. Shirley's stories filled in the last few years of their art collecting adventures.

I was able to lay out the pictures across a large conference table and privately take the time to sort out and examine them. One day was not enough. It was the kind of work done by curators and archivists, comparing subjects and recording titles and dates. It was a good day.

New Drawings

Drawings

Dali in Atlanta

Here's Ken outside the High Museum in Atlanta along Peachtree Street.

The High Museum is featuring an exhibit of Salvador Dali's paintings. My friend Ken and I took in the show recently. I brought with me a certain disdain for Dali as a self promoter.  I was quickly impressed by the man's skill, intellect and hard work. He was clearly a master whose paintings challenge your visual perception with their scale, detail and bizarre subjects. Ken's son, Will, put it most simply, "weird!".

There were two documentary films featured in the exhibit which I had not seen before.  I listened to him narrate a "happening" which featured a pig sty and female model while he directed a small crew in a TV studio. It gave me a better understanding of his thinking and the term, "Dada".  He had a wonderful accent speaking English. If you follow along you hear him rattle off directions and nonsense that becomes a kind of "blah, blah, blah". That is until you pick up a few more words.  He brings you back to a sudden understanding of his idea. He entices you in, lulls you with run-on sentences, then snaps you back to attention. He was very amusing.

There is also a scene or photo I recall where he kissed Andy Warhol. This section of the exhibit labeled him a favorite of the "jet set". I came out of it with a genuine admiration and affection for the man and his art.

Returning home to St. Augustine I found a postcard on my office wall with a Dali painting. I had forgotten it was there. Its not featured in the exhibit. I have it because of the bicycles.

Art Walk Jacksonville

The Jacksonville Art Walk is held each first Wednesday evening of the month. Registration is free once an artist is approved and space is available in Hemmings Park right across the street from the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Downtown Library.
I took the time to prepare an exhibit of my prints for the September Art Walk. My focus was to promote online print sales which feature images based on my paintings on canvas and recent paintings with a computer. I am very pleased with the quality of the printing and brilliance of the inks on paper. These prints were framed and matted examples with complex designs, subtle colors with intense brush work. My web site, http://michael-velkovich.artistwebsites.com, does a good job of displaying the image with a special magnifier to zoom in on the details of texture and brush strokes.

Space is limited in this setting and it is a challenge to produce a display that must be very portable and quick to assemble and take down. It all has to fit inside an SUV! I was thinking of all the trade show designs I had seen. Inside the pop-up display tent you might notice projected animations of my paintings. These were like time lapse recordings of the drawing and painting process. The coated cloth inside the "big top" served as the silver movie screen. As it got darker the animations could be seen through the fabric from a distance.

Carolyne could see that the crowd flow was behind us. We quickly reversed the entire display to take advantage. I hadn't done a sidewalk show in decades but the location encouraged me to try it this time. I captured some photos of our visitors and folks in the park but I wouldn't post them without their permission. People were very nice and took interest in the pictures as they enjoyed their evening walk. Heavy rain spoiled the ending as we hustled to pack up and protect the pictures.

Waves Do It

"Waves Do It"

This picture represents the challenge of transforming a quick, imaginary drawing into colors. It defies words that can label the objects, action and meaning in the image. As the practice of painting can include a mental exercise akin to synaesthetics, this image is the visual record of that performance. There is a special decision-making process, which connects a gray-toned form in a drawing into a color seen on a palette. Forms come forward or backward suggesting the illusion of depth. Some lines refuse to dissolve entirely into the shape but remain around it. The drawing dominates the painting. But they all have color now too.
This image does not include a horizon. It suggests a visual world outside its frame. These things are passing through, falling, bouncing and wafting like heat waves. And that can be my title, "Waves Do It".
I imagine this under some viscous media like liquid or thick gas. There are characters with sharp edges and segmented bodies reminding me of sea horses. There is a bulbous form with something inside and a hole to look into. Some things are gone leaving only tracks and trails. Is it possible to paint a form that does not remind one of a natural form with a name? This business of art is the root of the artificial.

Art Walk

We drove up to Jacksonville for the monthly Art Walk produced by the Downtown Improvement District. Other cities like Denver and St. Augustine also have events like this to promote art and their businesses. They do a great service to artists in Jacksonville and it looks like a good opportunity. It's very accessible. You could even arrive by boat! There was a big crowd around the London Bridge Pub at Ocean and West Adams St. Artists in the old public library building really suffered without air conditioning and lighting. I realize it's free.
I also came for the table tennis demonstration but it was just too hot for me. We wandered around until we found Hemming Park and the Museum of Contemporary Art. The staff there was very nice to let us in late after hours. They deserve more recognition as an art destination. It's up to artists now to improve their contribution to the event. I wish I knew who to credit for this mural with the UrbanCore.com sign in it. It was the most memorable thing I saw.