Analyze Art by looking at Intensity, Complexity and Unity

I was recently contacted by Emily Tenenbaum, a Savannah College of Art & Design painting student because she was doing a paper about my work for her Color and The Painted Image class, analyzing it for "Intensity, Complexity and Unity".  I also enjoyed seeing Emily's work, here is one of her paintings. Nice to meet you Emily-Best wishes for a wonderful painting career! Here is her essay reprinted with permission.

"My Boobs Look Way Too Small in This Dress" by Emily Tenenbaum

Terry Strickland Introduction
by: Emily Tenenbaum
Terry Strickland’s energetic paintings are important additions to Contemporary Art and Realism. Her paintings provide an important female perspective not only with her narrative content, but also by incorporating strong metaphors and symbolism. Her intensity derives not only from her execution, but also by addressing the traditional themes of life, death, and love.   The work has historical ties to literature and also some of the influence of masterful figurative painters such as Titian and Ingres. Strickland’s paintings reinvent subjects like the reclining nude, aspects of magic realism, and even the depiction of superheroes.

Surprisingly, Strickland does not have as much  notoriety as some of her other female contemporaries, yet she continues to excel especially with her upcoming show “Women Painting Women”.  She also has been a part of other feminist painting projects. Sadie Valeri, a San Francisco artist and teacher created the Women Painting Women blog to highlight the work of living, realist women painters who use the female subject in their paintings. They've listed over 300 artists and can now be found on facebook as well.

Women Painting Women & Robert Lange Studios in the press!

 I just got my American Art Collector for November, It's so exciting to see the article about the Women Painting Women Show at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC. Counting the days to the opening Nov 5, and a chance to meet many of these artists.

 

 

 

 

Charleston Art Magazine

Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, Alabama

My work will be on display November-December 2010, the museum's 2010 Alabama's Finest Artists Series solo show. Last Friday, the museum gallery director, Steve Temple and I delivered 36 paintings, oil sketches and drawings to the museum. It was work from 2001- 2010, sort of a mini retrospective. I call the show "Myth and Magic in the Modern World".

 The postcard design is by Dan Hampton, museum graphic designer. I have a gallery talk on Dec 12  about my work and will do a two day workshop on November 13, and 14. The class consists of two stand-alone workshops that complement each other. Class size is limited to 12. Each day is a complete workshop and may be taken singly or together. 

“It’s All Relative!” Sat, Nov. 13, 2010, 10am-5pm
Learn to see and paint correct value AND temperature, the often overlooked 4th property of color.  You’ll create a limited palette painting incorporating the principles as you go. Once you learn to see this way your painting will be changed forever-it really is all relative! 

“So Many Colors!” Sun, Nov. 14, 2010, 1-6pm
A methodical and rational way to organize a palette and mix true colors that cuts though the confusion! Why reinvent the wheel when you can explore traditional painting methods from beginning to end? I will share my painting method condensed from 30 years experience for you.

Other points covered in both workshops:
~Using edge control
~transparency vs opacity
~learning to see reflected light

$95 per day or $175 for  both days. $50 deposit to hold your place.
Contact Gadsden Museum of Art to register (256) 546-7365.
Here's a short video I made of for the Museum about the work.

Work Drop-Off at Robert Lange Studios

Last Friday I dropped off "Voice of the Tiger" and "Fast Lane" to Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, SC, for the Women Painting Women Show.

It was exciting to meet Robert and Megan and see their spectacular gallery and their beautiful work. What's more there were quite a few paintings already delivered for the show so we had a preview of some of the work that will be on display next month. As usual the work is even more fabulous in person!

 Robert and Megan being very patient with my picture taking.

The gallery is in a very charming area of downtown that will be fun to explore when I go back for the opening Nov 5.

The gallery has a webcam and will be broadcasting during the opening. If you go to the RLS website and to the "News & More" tab it will take you to another page where you can choose "Webcam" to join us virtually.

To see previous posts about the Women Painting Women Show click here.

Women Painting Women in the press.

Excitement is really starting to build, press and blogs are being posted and printed everywhere about the upcoming show at Robert Lange Studios in Charleston, Opening November 5, 2010, 5:30-8:30 pm.

Check out The Digital Charleston, an article "Robert Lange gives it up for the ladies" and here's the cover for the Charleston Art Magazine.

Here are a few blogs by artists in the show to check out: Sadie Valerie,  Diane Feissel, Sara Scribner, Amy Lind, Candice Bohannon, Ali El-Bermani

Here's a sneak peek at the Women Painting Women show at Robert Lange Studios.

Women Painting Women on Expedition!

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be joining eleven Women Painting Women artists in November 2010 on Sullivan's Island for a week of painting the figure, the city and the beautiful marshes and beaches surrounding Charleston, South Carolina. 

This will be a fun and challenging experience for me since I've never painted en plein air.

And it gets even better...this painting expedition will be followed by a collective exhibition of work completed during – and inspired by – the trip in March 2011 at Notion Fine Art in Laguna Beach, California. 

This painting retreat and the subsequent group exhibition are part of Women Painting Women's initiative to build community and visibility for contemporary women painters. 

Other artists on the retreat and a few examples of their work:
Alexandra Tyng – Narberth, PA, here's Alexandra's blog post about the show.

Alia El-Bermani – Cary, NC, here's Alia's blog post about the show.

Catherine Prescott – Harrisburg, PA

Cindy Procious – Chattanooga, TN

Diane Feissel – Philadelphia, PA

 Linda Tracey Brandon – Phoenix, AZ

Mia Bergeron – Chattanooga, TN 

 Rachel Constantine – Philadelphia, PA,

Sadie Valeri – San Francisco, CA, Here's Sadie's blog post about the show. 

Stefani Tewes–Laguna Beach, CA               
Katherine Stone – Toronto, Ontario 
  
See my previous posts about the WPW show as we are affectionately calling it.          

The Elements Series

I've done a series of the four elements. Each one is represented by a female figure from Greek mythology. The idea of essential elements is found in many cultures and intrigued me. They are considered natural observations of the phases of matter. The paintings are oil on canvas over panel and 16x16 inches.

The first is "Gaea", the primal Greek goddess personifying earth, the Greek version of Mother Nature. She's a deity of the ancient Greek pantheon and considered a Mother Titan. I wanted her tied to the earth and was inspired for this one by driving through farming communities of the south.

Next is "Hestia", Greek goddess of hearth and home, keeper of the sacred flame. The hearth fire of a Greek or a Roman household was not allowed to go out, unless it was ritually extinguished and ritually renewed, accompanied by impressive rights of completion, purification and renewal. I liked the idea of an eternal flame, so she became my representative of fire. 

When thinking of the element of air I thought of the powerful forces of nature. "Cardea" is a goddess of health, doorways and hinges also associated with wind. Ovid said of Cardea, "Her power is to open what is shut; to shut what is open." We are not in Kansas anymore...

"Tethys", daughter of Uranus and Gaea was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess. She was mother of the chief rivers of the world known to the Greeks.

Other paintings in my Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends and Literature inspired series can be found here.

Principle Gallery's Drawing Show

The drawing show is up until October 12, 2010. The gallery is on King Street in Old Town, Alexandria, VA.

I have two drawings in the show and thought I'd share a few of my favorites from some of the other artists. To see details about the drawings of mine in the show and the previous post about the drawing show in general click here.  

 Dana Levin, Still Woman - 24 x 18, Charcoal & Chalk on Paper

Douglas Fryer, Standing Model - 9 x 7, Graphite on Paper

 

 Anthony Velasquez, Profile Portrait - 5.5 x 5.5, Charcoal on Paper

Jeremy Mann, Cityscape in Black & White - 45 x 45, Charcoal on Paper 

 

Warren Chang, Migileta - 22.5 x 18, Charcoal on Paper

Terry Strickland Drawings

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"Women Painting Women" at Robert Lange Gallery, SC

In addition to "Voice of the Tiger", "Fast Lane" will be shown at the Women Painting Women Group Invitational at Robert Lange Studios.

"Fast Lane", 47x32

From the gallery:

“This is our most ambitious show to date,” says gallery owner Megan Lange of the galleries upcoming “Women Painting Women” group invitational. Robert Lange Studios will be bringing together fifty female painters from around the globe, with an opening reception on Friday, November 5 from 5:30-8:30PM at the 2 Queen Street location during the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association’s (CFADA) Fine Art Weekend.

The female form is one of the most painted subject matters of all time. Works like Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, Whistler’s Mother, Mona Lisa, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Madame X, are all considered among the most recognized paintings in history, and were all created by men.

The November exhibit at RLS, featuring a variety of paintings depicting the female form, displays a shift in notoriety towards contemporary women painters.  Starting in 1707, this historic shift began in the United Sates when Henrietta Johnston began to work as a portrait artist in Charles Town (now Charleston), South Carolina, making her the first known professional woman artist in America.

“Few people outside of the art world can name female painters, with the exception of perhaps Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe, and even fewer can name a painting of a women created by a woman,” says Lange. “However, there is a sensitivity to the female form that perhaps women can only truly understand.”

 

The "WPW" show, as we affectionately call it, is in conjunction with the Charleston Fine Art Dealers' Association Twelfth Fine Art Annual Weekend, which includes exhibits on Friday, plein air demonstrations in Washington Park during the day on Saturday with the Charleston Art Auction to follow Saturday night. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy music, food, and at least twelve of the ladies will be on hand to answer questions. This event is open to the public.

Here are previous posts about , "Voice of the Tiger",  "Fast Lane" and the Women Painting Women show.

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"Women Painting Women" from a Blog to an Exhibition!

Last year Sadie Valeri, a San Francisco artist and teacher, created the Women Painting Women blog to highlight the work of living, realist women painters who use the female subject in their paintings. The blog proved to be so successful that Sadie enlisted the help of fellow artist friends Diane Feissel and Alia El-Bermani to help maintain it. They've listed over 300 artists and can now be found on facebook as well.

I met Sadie through cyberspace when she posted one of my paintings of my daughter as "Sharazade Illuminated" on the WPW Blog. It came to her attention through the Art Renewal Center's Annual Competition in which we both had work. Since then I'm a regular visitor to Sadie's website and her personal blog which is filled with great information on all aspects of art.

 "Sharazade Illuminated", 42x28

This year, inspired by the blog, Robert Lange Studios of Charleston, SC is hosting "Women Painting Women-A group Invitational". The show has been judged and my painting, "Voice of the Tiger" will be included along with the work of almost 50 artists this November.

 "Voice of the Tiger", 33x32

The opening is November 5th, 5:30-8:30 and I'm making the trek to Charleston! I wouldn't miss the chance to meet these women and see their work in person.

The gallery says "The artists chosen for this show are the ones that refuse to play it safe. Those who don't adhere to traditional painting standards and are creating truly unique works, including:

Adrienne Stein, Diane Feissel, Kerry Brooks, Amy Lind, Ali Cavanaugh, Jessica Dunegan, Karen Silvestro, Sanna Tomac, Terry Strickland, Candice Bohannon, Sadie J Valeri, Rachel Constantine, Jennifer Balkan, Abby Heller-Burnham, Lisa Gloria, Stanka Kordic, Cindy Procious, Lique Schoot, Suellen McCrary, Katherine Fraser, Francesca Marzorati, June Glasson, Francien Krieg, Jennifer Present, Kirsten Moran, Mia Bergeron, Joyce Polance, Elisa Rossi, Jennifer Nehrbass, Sharon Sprung, Jazz-minh Moore, Haley Hasler, Stephanie Rew, Lee Price, Karen Kaapcke, Sharon Allicotti, Sandra Flood, Lacey Lewis, Tiffany Sage, Gail Potocki, Anna Killian, Karen Ann Myers, Sharon Knettell, Alia El-Bermani, Sara Scribner, Catherine Prescott, and Shannon Runquist."

(I'm including links for the artists websites that I could find... my apologies in advance for the time you're going to spend browsing, cause there's some amazing work out there.) 

And all because Sadie Valeri had an idea for a blog and made it happen.

There's more info about the show on the RLS blog. If you're in the Charleston area, stop by! It's sure to be an amazing show.

"Myth and Magic in the Modern World"

My work will be on exhibit the months of November and December  2010 at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, Alabama as part of their annual Alabama's Finest Artists Series.

I'll also have a two day oil painting workshop on Nov 13 & 14 at the museum. Contact the Museum at www.gadsdenmuseum.com to sign up for the workshops.