Where do you steal your inspiration from?

I was just at http://www.maxkiesler.com/2009/11/02/jim-jarmusch-on-creativity/ (Cool design related blog- lotsa cool infographic stuff!) Where Max posted a quote by - Jim Jarmusch.that resonated with me.
"“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photos, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.”
My comment on this...

It's not only what you steal or process into your visual vocabulary, it's how you take the stimuli into yourself and transform it with your own voice. That's where you need to keep watch of your authenticity and motivation. It's good to see things as a child see them, delighting in the nuances.
I also think it's important to be open to all kinds of stimuli because you never know where that spark is going to come from. I'm currently intrigued by the patterns of reflections on building. This hasn't made its way into my work yet, but I'm curious if it will and how.

Art Supplies at the Supermarket.

Borrowed this from Franck de Las Mercedes' blog .Frank is an amazing artist who I had the pleasure of painting for my artists & their work series.

photo by Felix Natal Jr.

Art supplies at supermarket

by Franck on 01/14/11

    I am sharing a couple things that can save an artists $ and a trip to the art supply store. I've been using Pledge floor wax for many years to mix with acrylic paints.

I love the texture and viscosity you get from it when mixed, and you can add water to get different densities.  It can also be used to varnish as a clear coat when the painting dries. The effect is pretty cool it seals and adds a great shine, and people ask if the paintings are oils.

Another great product is bar laundry soap. It is one of the best things to clean brushes with and it is great if you work with oils too, cuts all grease and paint residue. I buy this at my local bodega, but I am sure they're available in supermarkets. 

The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

Thought this was an important article.- r.
The Top 10 Arts Policy Stories of 2010

via Fractured Atlas Blog by Ian David Moss on 12/30/10

Everybody likes a Top 10 list, right? Especially the nerdy ones! So here's my contribution: the second annual list of the top ten arts policy stories from the past year. You can check out the 2009 edition here.

10. Intrinsic Impact Research Marches On

WolfBrown's groundbreaking work on measuring "intrinsic impact" (the intangible, hard-to-define effects that arts experiences have on patrons) got a major boost in 2010, with a large project to bring the research to 15 theater companies in five cities around the country. Led by Theatre Bay Area, the endgame of this project involves a web-based toolkit that will allow rank and file arts organizations to adopt some of these methods themselves, without having to pay WolfBrown a pretty penny first. Audience surveys are already underway, and the final report and toolkit will be up and running by the end of next year.

9. Fine Arts Fund Reinvents Itself

In January 2010, a longstanding Cincinnati-based fundraising and grantmaking organization known as the Fine Arts Fund announced the results of a very interesting research study examining the attitudes of members of the public toward shared responsibility for (and benefit from) the arts. The political science perspective used in the study may have been a first for the field of arts research, and the results suggested that the field would be better off if the economic-impact- and arts-education-focused arguments that have characterized arts advocacy efforts over the past couple of decades were discarded in favor of a focus on vibrant neighborhoods and connected, engaged communities instead. Not satisfied with simply releasing a study and going about its business as usual, Fine Arts Fund took the additional, and frankly astonishing, step of wholly transforming its name (to ArtsWave), branding identity, and grantmaking priorities to bring them in line with these findings. (Disclosure: Fractured Atlas will be working with ArtsWave in early 2011 as part of this last initiative, though it had no role in the research or the strategic planning process that led up to this point.) ArtsWave's very public metamorphosis shows that even an 83-year-old institution can still be on the leading edge.

8. Dance Theatre Workshop and Bill T. Jones Merge (And They're Pretty Much the Only Ones)

Two years after the stock market crash of 2008 led numerous observers to predict a rash of mergers and closures in the nonprofit sector, the greatest carnage in the ranks of arts organizations has come not from the market but from the IRS (see item #7). While virtually every arts nonprofit has suffered stress in the wake of the economic recession, most have survived intact, with only a few exceptions such as the Honolulu Symphony, NYS Arts, and the Baltimore Opera — and that last one might even have been a good thing. DTW's romance with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company is without doubt both the most high-profile and the most interesting arts merger to come out of the recession so far, as the choreographer-led company joins forces with a presenting/service organization to create New York Live Arts. In the process, Bill T. Jones gets a dedicated space, and DTW gets access to greater financial resources. It looks great on paper, but then mergers often do…

7. IRS Revokes Exemption for up to 300,000 Nonprofits

This story went virtually unreported this year, but those who continually bemoan the rise in the number of nonprofits in this country had a bone thrown their way this year. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 required that all nonprofits, even those with budgets of less than $25,000 per year who had previously never been asked to file annual returns, complete the 990-N "postcard" form requesting basic information like addresses and website URLs. Those who failed to file for three years in a row risked having their tax-exempt status revoked by the IRS. Well, it turns out that nearly half of the 714,000 organizations in this budget category in fact failed to file, and after a number of temporary delays and reprieves, an unknown number were thrown overboard (the IRS will publish a complete list early next year). While most of these were likely dead organizations (indeed, some of them may never have been alive in the first place), an examination by yours truly of some of the organizations "at risk" for revocation in the San Francisco Bay Area revealed that a disproportionate number were arts organizations, and their ranks included a few that were observably still active.

6. Net Neutrality Has a Bad Year

This is a story that is very much still being told. For several years now, technology activists have been raising awareness of the issue of "network neutrality," warning that without legislation to codify existing practices, there will be nothing to prevent internet service providers in the future from selectively crippling or blocking entirely websites that compete with their own business interests. Many see net neutrality as particularly important to the arts, given their usual position outside of (or even in opposition to) the corporate sphere. With the 2008 election of President Obama, a supporter of net neutrality legislation, there was hope that such legislation might become a reality with the current Congress. But things got complicated in 2010. First, a federal court ruled earlier this year that the Federal Communications Commission did not have authority to tell Comcast that it had to treat bittorrent transmissions on its networks the same way as everything else. While not the final legal word, it provided a strong negotiating hand to anti-net-neutrality forces. Then, Google, one of net neutrality's staunchest supporters in the corporate arena, got into negotiations with Verizon, one of its most trenchant opponents, and came out with a compromise that left most neutrality advocates unsatisfied. Finally, just last week, President Obama's FCC announced new guidelines that hew fairly closely to the Google/Verizon compromise, prohibiting discrimination on "wired" services but leaving the increasingly important mobile universe a veritable Wild West. (This hasn't stopped Verizon from making noises about a legal challenge right out of the gate.) We'll have to stay tuned to see what happens next, but with a Republican House and little evidence of broad-based passion for net neutrality among the populace, the chances for a legislative solution (the surest means to the outcome that advocates desire) seem slim for the moment.

5. State Arts Agencies Continue to Struggle

After a disastrous 2009, this year saw little respite for beleaguered state arts agencies. Despite a few success stories, such as in Rhode Island where the governor tried to cut the budget of the state arts council by over 50% only to have the cuts fully restored by his own legislature, these remained the exception rather than the rule. States and territories suffering double-digit cuts in 2010 (i.e., to their FY 2011 appropriations) included Arizona (down another 28.9% after a brutal 54% cut last year), DC, Georgia (which nearly had its council eliminated but "escaped" with only a 66% massacre), Kansas, Louisiana (where Gov. Jindal finally succeeded in squeezing nearly half the money out of the coffers), Missouri (where state officials are raiding a fund intended to provide dedicated support to the arts and humanities), New Hampshire, New York (with the largest total dollar decrease of the year by far), Northern Marianas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania (already reeling from an exhausting and only partially successful advocacy campaign last year to save the agency), South Carolina (another state council to overcome near death in 2010), Texas (28%), Virginia, and Washington. Only Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, and Wyoming saw increases of a comparable magnitude.

4. Culture Wars Simmer

Ever since the 2008 election, there have been signs that American right wing might return to the hostile stance it had adopted toward public subsidy of the arts starting in the late 1980s and continuing through the 1990s. Some of the evidence is in item #5 above: massive cuts or threats to zero out funding to arts councils by Republican governors in "red" states like Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina; last year's brouhaha over former NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant's attempt to involve artists in President Obama's United We Serve initiative comes to mind as well, as do Glenn Beck's occasional editorials on artwork associated with perceived enemies. With the election of a majority of Republicans to the House of Representatives has come new pressures on the funding of NPR, which got into an unfortunate fight with conservatives over the firing of right-wing commentator Juan Williams a few months ago. The most dramatic confrontation yet took place just last month, when a conservative news service publicized a gay-themed exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery that included a video by deceased artist and AIDS victim David Wojnarowicz with images of a crucifix covered with ants. After the controversy found its way to the ranks of Republican House leadership, the director of the Smithsonian ordered the video removed, even though the footage in question occupies only 11 seconds of the four-minute video, which itself was not a centerpiece of the exhibition. The action, unlike previous skirmishes, has produced a gigantic backlash in the visual arts community, with dozens of museums and other institutions around the world showing Wojnarowicz's work in protest. The Andy Warhol Foundation, a major supporter of the exhibition, has also threatened to deny future funding requests from the Smithsonian. The situation seems to be under control for the moment, but don't be surprised if things start heating up again in 2011.

3. The UK Tries American-Style Arts Funding

Feeling pressure from the economic recession, the new conservative government in England imposed cuts of 100 million pounds on the primary grantmaking agency for high-profile arts organizations on the island. The UK's arts system has been described as a "hybrid" between the near-total private-sector dominance of American arts funding and the near-total government support seen throughout continental Europe. These cuts, totaling more than 22% of Arts Council England's appropriation, represent a clear move toward the American side of the equation, especially when coupled with ACE's decision to require prospective grantees, for the first time, to submit applications for funding (previously they had simply been selected by the agency though a noncompetitive process). The development is significant not only for its implications for England's arts scene, but also as a potential bellwether for the rest of Europe, where politicians have been making noises for years about cutting back historically generous government support of artists and arts organizations and moving in the direction of greater privatization.

2. The NEA Charts a New Path

We knew that when Rocco Landesman arrived last year to take over the reins of the National Endowment for the Arts that, whatever the results, they would certainly be interesting. On that score, the agency has delivered in 2010. "Creative placemaking," the role of the arts in revitalizing local communities economically and otherwise, is emerging as Rocco's signature issue, with a raft of urban-focused Mayors' Institute on City Design grants given out in 2010 and more coming in 2011 under the rubric of a new program called Our Town. The NEA has pursued a public engagement strategy beyond any in the agency's previous history, webcasting the meetingsof the National Council on the Arts (the NEA's equivalent of a board), accepting questions via Twitter during panel discussions, and inviting a huge bevy of service organizations to take in the announcement of its strategic plan for 2012-16. It's gone on a hiring spree, bringing marquee names like the Commonwealth of Massachusetts's Jason Schupbach into the fold. A revitalized research department is pumping out new publications at a rapid rate, incorporating new media elements into some of them, and embracing its role as a convener, having brought together an A-list group of practitioners to consider how to measure "livability" this summer. What may turn out to be Rocco's most far-reaching project, however, is his efforts to make inroads with heads of other federal agencies around ways in which the arts intersect with their work. Given that the budgets of departments like Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation dwarf the NEA's and that the Endowment has continually been vulnerable to attacks on culture-war battlegrounds, this attempt to break down silos and "embed" the arts in other arms of the federal government is one of the smartest gambits we've seen in a long time.

1. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Passes

For years, the high cost of health insurance, especially for freelancers in our employer-centric system, has been identified by researchers and advocates as one of the biggest impediments to a thriving artist workforce. In 2010, after decades of failed attempts, Congress finally passed a comprehensive health insurance reform bill designed to counter some of the worst excesses of insurers while sharply reducing the ranks of the uninsured. To do this, everyone will be required to purchase insurance, even healthy individuals (although this mandate is currently being challenged in the courts). Fractured Atlas has a primer on the implications of the health care reform act for artists here; the short version is that by 2014, insurance companies won't be allowed to discriminate or charge you a higher rate based on your gender or health status, take away your coverage after you get sick, deny you coverage based on a pre-existing condition, or set annual or lifetime limits on benefits. Although you will be required to buy insurance, if your income is in the low 40s or below, you'll qualify for government assistance in paying for it. And if you're a small business (like a theater company or gallery), you'll likely be eligible for tax credits for giving your employees health insurance. While the full impact of the law won't be known for years, if not decades, its provisions should disproportionately benefit artists and faciliate a significant improvement over the status quo.

Honorable mention:

• Low Power FM Radio bill passes
• Americans for the Arts introduces the National Arts Index

And as a bonus, here are my picks for the top five new (in 2010) arts blogs:

5. NYFA Blog (Michael Royce)
4. ArtsAppeal (David Zoltan)
3. 2am Theatre (various)
2. Your Town Performs (Craige Hoover)
1. Jumper (Diane Ragsdale)

(Note: had Devon Smith started 24 Usable Hours a couple of months later than she did, it surely would have made this list.)

BBC E-mail: Colourful ancient art 'is alive'

I love petroglyphs. They are one of my favorite arforms. I saw this story on the BBC News website and wanted to share..
Colourful ancient art is alive;
A particular type of ancient rock art in Western Australia maintains its vivid colours because it is alive, researchers find.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/news/science-environment-12039203
(spoiler- it's fungi in the pigments, not the actual rocks that are alive.)

Spinning Tag Device

Spinning Tag Device: "

“Looptaggr” is a graffiti tagging invention by Ariel Schlesinger and Aram Bartholl. Learn how to make your own tagging tool here.

How to Create the Illusion of Distance in a Picture

Excellent advice from Shana James by way of the always helpful Empty Easel. I enjoyed her blog at http://shanajamesartist.wordpress.com/

How to Create the Illusion of Distance in a Picture: "

Recently a couple of my students have asked questions about creating distance in a picture. Luckily, whether you’re drawing, painting, or printmaking the principles are the same.

To start with, you’ve got to get the structure of your picture working first. By that I mean that the perspective (and the relative scale) of different objects in the picture need to be accurate.

But even with all of that correct, you can still have problems with depth. And although you want your picture to create the illusion of depth, and you want to feel like you could walk into it, instead it feels flat.

You may have even seen a painting where the background is coming forward or the foreground feels like it is going back. If that describes a picture you are working on at the moment, then read on. . .

4 general rules for creating an illusion of distance

1. High contrast comes forward, low contrast goes back.

If you are working in black and white, you want black and white near each other in the foreground, less contrast in the middle ground and less again in the background.

Less contrast can mean going greyer and paler in the background, or it can also work going darker into the background. (Choose one or the other but not both.)

2. Bright colours come forward, dull or neutral colours go back.

This rule is relative to other colours in the same picture. You don’t have to have bright colours in the foreground but if they are brighter than those in the middle or background they will come forwards.

If you want to put a bright colour in the background you may need to add a bit (and I mean a tiny bit) of the complimentary colour to push it back a bit. For example, adding a bit of purple to a yellow makes it a slightly duller yellow. (If you get brown you’ve added too much!)

3. Warm colours come forward, cool colours go back.

Again, this is relative to other colours in the picture and requires all other things to be equal. The previous two rules trump this rule.

4. Large marks come forward, smaller marks go back.

This one is pretty obvious. . . if you are painting, use a smaller brush for details in the background than you did in the foreground. If you are drawing, use larger marks in the foreground than you do in the background. If you are carving a linocut, use a larger cutting tool in the foreground.

Of course in art rules are made to be broken, and for any rule you can find an artist who has broken the rule and made it work. But these four rules should get you started. Now go back to your flat painting and give it some depth :)

To learn more about Shana, please visit her website at ShanaJames.com.

"

.Best blogs for watercolor & other types of artists.

From http://www.webdesignschoolsguide.com/library

They also have articles on cheatsheets for computer graphic artists, lists of blogs that help with creativity,

cost cutting for small businesses, and a bunch of stuff on webdesign and keeping clients happy.

50 Best Blogs for Watercolor Artists

Watercolor artists have a tight-knit community of talented, ambitious and inspirational individuals. With the use of blogs, watercolor artists can share their work and kindly critique each other, as well as exchange insider tips and business strategies. For those who want to expand their knowledge, improve their skills and get their art into galleries, here are the 50 best blogs for watercolor artists:

Watercolor Demonstrations

These watercolor demonstrations will keep you on your toes and challenging yourself every stroke of the way.

1. Watercolor Artist Blog: Watch online seminars, browse art videos and enhance your painting skills with this interactive watercolor art blog.
2. Create38: Artists of all skill levels will learn something from this watercolor instruction blog that has demonstration videos, painting tips and a public forum.
3. Art Instruction Blog: Here you’ll find helpful watercolor painting tutorials and interactive videos from watercolor artists like you.
4. Watercolour Courses: This blog collects instructional YouTube videos and lessons that teach artists about different watercolor techniques.
5. Creative Spotlite : Check out this site’s free watercolor lessons and techniques donated by professional artists.
6. Splashing Paint: Here you’ll find watercolor painting demonstrations and tips from this artist’s watercolor workshop experience.
7. Debi Watson Watercolor: Try your hand at painting sea shells, sunsets and clouds with these watercolor demonstrations from professional artist and teacher Debi Watson.
8. Roland Lee: Art Lessons : Acclaimed watercolor artist, Roland Lee, provides more than 40 step-by-step watercolor painting demonstrations that will blow you away.
9. Yong Chen: Learn Watercolor Painting: Learn how to paint a watercolor portrait from a photograph, mix colors and properly care for your brushes with these step-by-step demonstrations from watercolor artist Yong Chen.
10. Art Graphica: Get free lessons on how to paint landscapes, animals, still lifes and other beautiful images using these simple watercolor demonstrations.

Watercolor Artists

Get inspired, improve your painting skills and receive helpful advice from one watercolor artist to another.

11. Frank Eber: Frank Eber, a watercolor landscape painter, blogs about his latest pieces and discusses techniques and tips you can use at home.
12. Carol Carter: This accomplished watercolor artist talks about her travels and current collection of Italian-inspired art on her blog.
13. Watercolours With Life: Check out the fine art of Jean Haines, whose watercolor paintings focus on nature, animals and the beautiful things in life.
14. Carol King: Check out this New York artist’s rants and raves about painting, drawing and everything in between.
15. David Lobenberg: Follow this art professor, workshop instructor and commission artist as he paints still lifes, landscapes and portraits in watercolor.
16. Brush-Paper-Water: Check out the exquisite watercolor paintings from this blog’s featured artists of 2010.
17. Leslie White: Browse this artist’s watercolor paintings and mixed-media artwork for inspiration and education.
18. Stephen J. Quirke: Check out this watercolorist’s paintings that almost always come from an everyday observation or adventure.
19. A Painting A Week: This watercolor artist has challenged himself to do at least one painting a week, in which he focuses primarily on real life experiences and people.
20. thomas w schaller: Check out this watercolor artist’s fine details and excellent use of color in his graphic architecture paintings.
21. Davidtripp’s Blog: Follow this watercolorist’s blog, as he paints the rugged landscapes and nostalgic images of Texas and the great Southwest.
22. Watercolor Works: Check out this Florida-based artist’s landscape, portrait and beach scene watercolor paintings from start to finish.
23. A Painting A Day Blog: This watercolor artist is challenging himself to do a painting a day, while exploring a variety of subjects he is not used to painting.
24. A Passion for Watercolour!: Take some pointers from this watercolor artist, who paints vivid images of animals, flowers and landscapes.
25. Doris Joa: This watercolor artist loves to paint little girls, flowers, cats and all things that are pretty and share them on her blog.
26. Keiko Tanabe: Follow this award-winning watercolor artist as she travels around the world, painting Parisian cafes, California beaches, Venetian gondolas and other lovely sites.
27. Watercolour Artist Diary: Check out this watercolor artist’s nature paintings and see how she achieves such fine detail on her colorful blog.
28. Watercolors by Laura Trevey: Get inspired by this artist’s colorful blog that features her lighthearted images of beach chairs, high heels and flowers.
29. Watercolors and Words: This watercolor artist always accompanies her paintings with something insightful, including personal critiques and questions to her readers.
30. Watercolorings: This blogger took a 20-year hiatus from painting and returned as an eager student who has produced a lovely collection of watercolor paintings.

Art Business

Improve your marketability and get your art into a gallery with the help of these art business blogs.

31. Art Biz Blog: This inspirational blog will help any artist learn how to promote themselves and sell their artwork.
32. Art Licensing Blog: Artists who are interested in licensing their art or learning more about the process should check out this helpful blog.
33. Art Print Issues: Learn how you can get your work in galleries and make a name for yourself with the helpful advice of art marketing guru, Barney Davey.
34. Absolute Arts: This contemporary art blog sells art, discusses current art trends and provides useful information for artists of all fields.
35. FineArtStudioOnline: Increase your exposure with the help of this web site creation tool that artists can use to make their own web site and start selling their art.
36. Original Impulse: Find effective ways to market yourself, maintain creativity and get helpful feedback from this experienced writing and creativity coach.
37. Making a Mark : This industry insider shares her art business and marketing strategies that could help you launch your work online.
38. Fine Art Tips: Take some tips from artist Lori McNee, who blogs about standing out in the art industry, achieving your goals and maximizing your profits.
39. Daily Painters Gallery: If you’re a daily painter and want to get your work in a gallery, you may want to join this large gallery that is home to more than 30,000 paintings from 150 daily painters.
40. Joanne Mattera Art Blog: Check out what this artist and writer has to say about marketing artwork, gallery representation and professional ethics for the art industry.

Art News and Reviews

Stay in the know about the latest art happenings in your area and around the world with these news blogs.

41. ArtsJournal: You’ll find just about everything you wanted to know about visual arts, culture and media on this comprehensive art blog.
42. Art Blogazine: Peruse this online art ‘blogazine’ for current art news, marketing and hot topics within the industry.
43. Alltop: This blog sifts through online art news to bring you the most popular articles and hot topics in one convenient place.
44. Artworld Salon: Get the latest news and debates about the global art world from this moderated discussion blog.
45. Akrylic: Here you’ll find tons of reviews, artist interviews and essays from this accomplished art critic.
46. The Art Law Blog: Read news reports and cases involving copyright and plagiarism, art theft and much more.
47. ArtsBeat Blog: The New York Times art blog is a great source for the latest art and design news, must-see exhibitions and artist updates.
48. WetCanvas: WetCanvas provides a professional forum for artists of all fields and skill levels to discuss techniques, art news, products and even critique each other’s work.
49. ArtForums.co.uk: Here, watercolor artists can have their work critiqued by fellow art lovers and discuss techniques, business practices and any other art-related matters.
50. NEWSgrist: This blog focuses on the politics of art and culture today, specifically copyright laws, censorship and intellectual property.