Friday Feature: Andre Derain

Mountains at Collioure
by Andre Derain

Since we are getting into the haunting season I thought I would focus on artists for the Friday Feature who are very much...

dead.

Andre Derain is sadly one of the many dead artists that I love.

(Follow my Pinterest postings of Dead Artists that I Love if you want to see more.)  

Fishermen at Collioure
by Andre Derain

What do I love about his work?  COLOR!  Oh gravy how this man really let go and splashed bright colors onto the canvas with bold confident strokes.  And all of his work created during a time when the advent of the photograph enabled artists to reassess what the purpose of painting was.  If it was to depict the natural world how can painting push the boundaries beyond realism?  Derain's work is especially interesting to me because he is inspired by natural form, but he is creating something so delightfully new, a happy reflection of the world around us.

 Art must not be intelligent; art is a jouisance, an enjoyment.
-Derain

Long live Derain!

(ha, ha)

Return to Birth

Return to Birth
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original Available on Etsy

The circle of the return to birth can only remain open,

but this is a chance, a sign of life, and a wound.

-Jacques Derrida

Facebook, Facebook, Facebook....

Venus
Copyright 2011 Addie Hirschten
Prints available on Fine Art America

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Addie May Hirschten, Artist and Storyteller

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.
-Twyla Tharp 

Show Your Love

Show Your Love
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt.

They do not love that do not show their love.

-Shakespeare

The Winds Mix the Dust

The Winds Mix the Dust
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 36"
Prints available on Fine Art America

The winds mix the dust of every land

and so will woman and man.

-Pete Seeger

Friday Feature: Artist Alena Hennessy

Daylight Shade
by Alena Hennessy

"There is so much to love" about artist Alena Hennessy.  I recently finished reading her book "Cultivating Your Creative Life".  It was a lovely mixture of her own art and uplifting inspirational writing.  She is a busy bee with an active art career, workshops (Squam! Wish I could go!!!) and now an e-course.  And, and, and... this chick loves quotes as much as I do!  She is constantly reminding us to keep our eyes on the prize and hold on. 

When you do things from your soul,

you feel a river moving in you,

a joy.

-Rumi

Mother and Child

Mother and Child
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Original painting available on Etsy

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

-The Dalai Lama

The Secret Garden

"Mary waiting for Dickon in the Secret Garden"
by my Daughter, age 6

“I shall live forever and ever and ever," he cried grandly. "I shall find out thousands and thousands of things. I shall find out about people and creatures and everything that grows - like Dickon - and I shall never stop making magic. I'm well. I'm well!”

-Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Within Me

Within Me
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 36"
Prints available on Fine Art America

You were within me,

and I out of myself,

and there I searched for you.

-Saint Augustine

The Secret Language of Symbols

Portrait of a Woman
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

On December 8th at the Indianapolis Art Center I will be teaching a workshop entitled,  

"The Secret Language of Symbols."  

Symbols are everywhere from tattoos, to graffiti, to pirate flags, to paintings. Join us as we explore the art of using symbols to express yourself.  This is a class intended for teens but I already have at least one grown up who will be attending so please feel free to join us. 

Register here:

http://reg131.imperisoft.com/IndianapolisArtCenter/ProgramDetail/38353538/Registration.aspx

Friday Feature: Artist Carrie Waller

Southern Belles
by Carrie Waller
Watercolor on Paper
20" x 16"

The thing I love most about following the artist Carrie Waller's work on her blog is how she gives you a sneak peak at her process.  Step by step she will post the art that she is working on over the course of a couple of weeks.  It is amazing to watch! 

Now I am not a realistic painter. I am inspired by the Fauves.  But I have to admire the skill it takes to render this sort of uber-realism.  You really have to be looking and observing nature to create paintings in the way Carrie Waller does.

Lumos
by Carrie Waller
Watercolor on Paper
6" x 8"

And I have to agree with Carrie that I aspire to be a truly elegant woman...

A truly elegant woman is in harmony with her environment and herself. 

Solitary Places

Broad Ripple Canal in August
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
9" x 12"
Available on Etsy

I love all waste

And solitary places; where we taste

The pleasure of believing what we see

Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

Dayenu!

דַּיֵּנוּ

Me as an "Artist" Age 9

Me at Age 9 dressed as an "Artist"

Yeah... so what was I thinking?  That to be an artist you must be French, wear a beret, have a moustache (and therefore a penis?)

Sigh.

Being an artist has meant a lot of different things to me over the years.  Sometimes it is most about a message of comfort that I want to pass on to people.  Sometimes it is about celebrating the beauty of the earth.  Sometimes I just get so itchy with ideas I just have to make them happen.  I love it and when I don't create I get depressed.

Art keeps me going as it does many other people.
It is part of the human experience.

Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.

-Van Gogh

Titania

Titania
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.

The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.

-Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream


In other words I am holding some fabulous dreams inside me.
Maybe you can read between the lines.

Yes

Yes
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

Thank you for this most amazing day,

for the leaping greenly spirits of trees,

and for the blue dream of sky

and for everything which is natural, 

which is infinite, 

which is yes!

-E. E. Cummings

(cough, cough)

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way- 
things I had no words for.
-Georgia O'Keefe

(yes, indeed, yes)

Friday Feature: Artist Ashley Bryan

Illustration from "All Things Bright and Beautiful"
by Ashley Bryan

I fell in love with Ashley Bryan when I read his picture book autobiography, "Words to my Life's Song."  One phrase in it stuck with me...

I never gave up. Many were more gifted than I but they gave up.

You've got to stand up for what you love.

-Ashley Bryan

Mountain View from "Moon, for What Do You Wait?"
by Ashley Bryan

Bryan's work is a glorious celebration of the beauty of the earth.  All of the color and diversity and music of life shines through his many forms of artistic expression which include puppetry, stained glass windows, singing, paintings and illustrations.  For his books he has been awarded the Coretta Scott King award three times.

Artist Ashley Bryan

His enthusiasm for life is infectious.  I look to Bryan's work when I need light and hope to keep me going.  Thank you Ashley Bryan!  You make the world a better place.

The Evening

The Evening
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
18" x 36"
Prints available on Fine Art America

One must wait until the evening to see how splendid the day has been.

-Sophocles

Pinterest

I admit it.  I am totally addicted to Pinterest!

If you haven't heard of it Pinterest is a site where you can save images in "boards" of any category you want.  Then you can collect images from anywhere on the web. 

For example I have collections of...

"Dead Artists that I Love"

Kupka

 "Current Artists that I Love"

Dreama Tolle Perry

and glory how I love collecting "House Ideas"!!! 

I am such a girl- I know.

You can follow my pins at:  http://pinterest.com/artistaddie/

All is Light

All is Light
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

There is no darkness.  All is light, clear and beautiful.

-James Lewis Pullman, final words on his deathbed

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America

"The Picture of Dorian Gray" painting is inspired by the novel written by Oscar Wilde of the same name.  The character Dorian Gray is a wretched evil man whose true character is expressed only on the face of a portrait painting he keeps hidden away.  While the painting changes over time to reflect every crime he commits, Dorian's face appears unaltered.  The face of his youth becomes a mask that hides his true character to those who are fooled by appearances.

I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die... I wish you would tell me your secret. To get back my youth I would do anything in the world... except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.

-Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray