Six Appeal

Despite the recent slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in my life I made it back to the art table yesterday. It was one of those days that left me searching high and low for the creative flow. I did, however, complete one small canvas, 6" X 6". The background is composed of a blend of water color crayons after which I decided to employ the Jonathan Talbot technique of "liquidless adhesives". (I had the pleasure of participating in a fantastic workshop of his a few years ago.) If you are working on a collage composition with many components you are likely to want to play around and reposition the elements numerous times. Once you get the exact arrangement that you want it's difficult to deconstruct, coat each piece with adhesive and then re-assemble exactly the same way. In Talbot's method you coat each component, as well as the substrate, with acrylic medium. This "busy-work" allows me to ponder composition as I prepare the individual pieces. Once everything is dry I create my composition and adhere it all with the use of a tacking iron which melts the medium and sticks everything together neatly. The theme of this piece is Asian with a whimsical twist. If you'd like more details on this technique check out Talbot's book "Collage A New Approach, Collage Without Liquid Adhesives. http://www.talbot1.com/book.htm

Florida's Own Art Heritage

Being a native Floridian and artist, I have always been intrigued by our very own group of artists known as the Florida Highwaymen. Circa 1950 there lived a modestly famous landscape artist by the name of A.E.Backus, nicknamed "Beany". He was born and raised in Fort Pierce but lived, at times, in the Carribean including Jamaica. Although racism and segregation were still very evident in the deep south at the time, Beany, a white southerner, became mentor to talented young African American artist Alfred Hair (shown above). Hair quickly learned the money making potential of oil paintings and was able to recruit his friends who were eager to rise above manual labor wages. Together they produced local Florida landscapes and took to the road often bartering or selling out of the trunks of their cars, thus the name Highwaymen. There was, in fact, at least one woman in the group as well. Sadly, Al Hair was murdered and without his organization skills all the artists went their own way. Many continued to produce. Apparently several of the original artists are still active today. Highwaymen art is most notable for the crazy color pallettes they used. Are the colors really that far fetched? Some say that for a moment in time, during a sunrise or a sunset, just for a second these colors really do exist. What do you think?
Check out the documentary here on Netflix.
http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Highwaymen_Florida_s_Outsider_Artists/70024933?trkid=490909

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year!

Best wishes to you all in 2009. Join me in holding thoughts for healing and the highest good for our amazing country and the world this year. My laptop could use a prayer as well. She is very sick at the moment and we're trying to bring her back from a very nasty virus. However life goes on, so for now I'm reporting from 508 Lake Ave. Yes, I've been away BUT I have been busy networking on Face Book. If you have an account you can find me under Gloria Graham Brunk and PLEASE check out the Masters Kitchen Gallery page where you can see some of my kitchen creations. You can also become a fan.

One thing I have already done is clean out my most honorable art cabinet. Everything is ready for me to make art! Yes, you're looking at it, THE DOOR TO CREATIVITY! Note the pile of, as of yet, unread books to the right. Alas!!

Red Rider Christmas!

Here's to hoping we all get our own versions of Ralphie's-

"official Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time"

My favorite moment of the classic movie "A Christmas Story" is when Ralphie is about to find out that dreams do come true. Thanks to all my blog readers. Have a fantastic Holiday. Looking forward to lots of art and fun in the new year!

New Digs!

I'm back! As some of you know, most of my time lately has been consumed with the BIG MOVE. That's right. Masters Kitchen Gallery has now officially moved 3 1/2 blocks to 508C Lake Avenue cozily nestled in between a to-die-for Indian import shop and a soon-to-be kava kava bar! We are on the same block as Starbuck's and Kilwin's (dangerous). We just finished accessorizing the displays on Friday so I thought I'd take some photos of our new creative haven to share with you. Spread the word!!

Beloved India

Tomorrow marks the seventh anniversary of my visit to India. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I carry the spirit, color and love of India in my heart and my amazing visit certainly sealed this within me forever. My favorite thing about India is the people. They were sweet, kind and unfailingly looked you straight in the eye. As we traveled through villages I would remove my sunglasses so I could connect in some small way as we looked at each other with curiosity but also with the recognition of our commonality. It breaks my heart to hear of current events on CNN but instead of dwelling on this I would like to share something incredible I read. This is from today's New York Times.

The writer Suketu Mehta captured brilliantly the dogged, resilient compassion of Mumbai in his book “Maximum City: Mumbai Lost and Found.”
In remarks he has given based on the book, he spoke of asking a man named Asad bin Saif, who worked at an institute for secularism, whether the chaos and slums and filth made him pessimistic about human beings. Here is how Mr. Mehta continued the story:

“Not at all,” he responded. “Look at the hands from the trains.”
If you are late for work in the morning in Bombay, and you reach the station just as the train is leaving the platform, you can run up to the packed compartments and you will find many hands stretching out to grab you on board, unfolding outwards from the train like petals. As you run alongside the train, you will be picked up and some tiny space will be made for your feet on the edge of the compartment. The rest is up to you; you will probably have to hang on with your fingertips onthe door frame, being careful not to lean out too far lest you get decapitated by a pole placed too close to the tracks. But consider what has happened: your fellow-passengers, already packed tighter than cattle are legally allowed to be, their shirts already drenched in sweat in the badly ventilated compartment, having stood like this for hours, retain an empathy for you, know that your boss might yell at you or cut your pay if you miss this train, and will make space where none exists to take one more person with them. And at the moment of contact, they do not know if the hand that is reaching for theirs belongs to a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Brahmin or untouchable, or whether you were born in this city or arrived only this morning, or whether you live in Malabar Hill or Jogeshwari, whether you’re from Bombay or Mumbai or New York. All they know is that you’re trying to get to work in the city of gold, and that’s enough. Come on board, they say. We’ll adjust.

New Encaustics!

Here are my first attempts at encaustic painting since the California experience. It has taken me a while to amass all the accoutrements. I was able to purchase encaustic medium which consists of purified, bleached beeswax and damar resin on line. However, I found the actual encaustic paints to be just too expensive to buy ready-made. Instead I decided to make my own paints. To start with, I selected three pigments, which are in powder form, from my local art supply store. I chose black, white and Indian red. I also found a jar of gold metallic pigment amongst my supplies. Whereas I'm not so sure I love the results, I did enjoy the very sensual process. First there is the heat and the texture of melted wax and my favorite perk of working in encaustics, the wonderful aroma. Mmmmmm.