10 Days

Off for 10 days!! In my other life, I am a fashion manager in a busy and large retail environment, and while I enjoy the creativity involved in this field of work, I was counting down the hours until I had10 days of rest and relaxation, self-paced days, gallons of coffee, tea and paint ... Giddy with anticipation yet slightly overwhelmed with how much I hoped to accomplish. There are works-in-progress and blank canvases everywhere, not to mention several blogs posts backed up in editing, and pictures awaiting re-sizing! Frank has an immense 7 foot abstract scroll painting on the go that is showing great prospects!

Let the creative juices flow!!

And watch for the backed-up blog posts, one including one of my favorite artists for the Great Artists Series, the irrepressible Emily Carr!



"This suspense is terrible. I hope it will last." ~ Oscar Wilde

Ode to Emily

I grew up on Vancouver Island, home to famed Canadian artist and author Emily Carr. Before I ever knew anything about art or even considered myself an artist, I was awed and inspired by Emily's works, especially her portrayal of towering trees... this is one of those pieces inspired by Emily Carr's "Odds and Ends"...



Ode to Emily
Julie Cooper Young
Acrylic Mixed Media on Canvas


" They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality."~ Frida Kahlo

Danse de Deux ( A Tiny One)

Most of the Danse de Deux series are larger in scale, averaging 2 -3.5 feet tall, but this delicate little piece would fit into the palm of your hand...

Frank's approach to these branches changes how I view things when out on a walk in nature, I see dancers everywhere now!



From the Danse de Deux series
Frank A. Waits
Natural Wood Sculpture


"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit." ~ John Updike

Great Artists - Installment 3 : Jean Philippe Dallaire

Jean-Philippe Dallaire ( 1916 - 1965)


"I work according to my intuition and whim..." ~ Jean Philippe Dallaire


Jean-Philippe Dallaire, known as a stylistic painter and illustrator was raised in a working-class family of 15. He started drawing at age 11. While he was known to have attended some art classes, he was known to be self-taught. In 1938, Dallaire left Quebec and went to Paris, where he attended the Atelier d'art sacré, the Lhote studio and worked in his Montmartre studio.

Dallaire is known to have favored the surrealists, most notably Picasso. He worked in oil, watercolor, gouache, crayon, pencil, and mixed media. His best known subjects included fantasy, people and humor.

Dallaire moved back to Canada and taught painting at the Ecole des beaux-arts in Quebec city from 1946 through 1952, and later in Ottawa from 1952-57 where he illustrated films for the National Film Board . Dallaire eventually lived and painted in Montreal and in 1959, moved back to Europe where he lived and worked until his death in 1965 of heart failure.

In 1968, the Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal and the Musée du Quebec, Quebec held a retrospective of his work.

*Please note, this is not a comprehensive biography, click on the links provided for further reading...

The first time I ever came into contact with Dallaires work was a result of photos of his work in a discarded Sotheby's Auction Catalog back in the mid 90's. I was fascinated with his whimsical and spontaneous style.


He has remained one of my all-time favorite artists ever since ... I hope you enjoy this brief snippet of one of Canada's artistic treasures...

(These images posted are some of my favored compositions of Dallaire's and not intended to represent his body of work as Dallaire worked successfully in a number of styles)





"One could say that I do not take life seriously. I always had a fondness for birds, little flags and the texture of fabrics. Perhaps it is a bit decorative, but so what." ~ Jean philippe Dallaire (1957)

"As it is in Surrealism, it is the subconscious that I express, and that is made explicit through form and color in the painting."

Frank's Work in Progress

Here's a series of photo's of Frank's current work-in-progress ...untitled as of yet...usually one particular figure emerges that inspires the title. It was mid-day when he started the piece, and as you can tell by the changes in light, he worked well into the night... finished results to follow next post!

Frank started with a roller on an extended handle... he likes the randomness created by the distance in some of these earliest stages...


Bring on the yellow! (And a few inquires from my color-blind partner: "...Are you sure this is yellow?? " )


And out come random brushes of the cadmium red ....



The daylight was long gone but he continued to work with splashes of cadmium red medium, cadmium red deep and wet rags...

Frank peering down and waving off the camera....


Now the figures and faces (with a healthy sprinkling of nudes) start to appear all over the canvas ...


A close-up of one section that is currently in-the-works ...



"Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not." ~ Pablo Picasso

Organic

This current as yet untitled W.I.P was inspired by a photo of a rock face ... I never pass up an opportunity to play with texture ... and I am grooving on the organic feel of this larger work ~ a few issues with camera and lighting but I will post a better picture for the finished result ...





"Paint what you feel. Paint what you see. Paint what is real to you." ~ Robert Henri

Danse de Deux 5 (Series)

Another piece from Frank's "Danse de Deux" series ...what was once a dead branch comes alive as dancers ...

Danse de Deux 5

Frank A. Waits (© 2010)

Natural Wood Sculpture


"No great artist ever sees things as they really are. If he did, he would cease to be an artist." ~ Oscar Wilde

Meet the Artists

Meet the artists ... well, sort of. We decided to do these two loose portraits and these hang at the head of our bed. Thanks to Picasso for lending us the 'wayward' eye idea... just having a little fun ...



Frank's goatee continues to appear and disappear ... and we have taken a little license with our ages in the paintings by erasing the smile lines, an artist's perogative! ;-)

So, I will include a picture of the real us... with the wayward eye intact.




"Are we to paint what's on the face, what's inside the face, or what's behind it?" ~ Pablo Picasso

Waiting

Waiting
Frank A. Waits ©2010
Old School Photography - Hand Inked


"All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator." ~ Henry Moore

Sunshine and Roses

Easily one of my favorite pieces by Frank...

He teased me a lot in our early days about being "sunshine and lollipops" or "sunshine and roses". True enough I guess... while I am not without my melancholy moments, I believe as long as we are drawing breath, we might as well enjoy ourselves!

So, along came the inspiration for one of Frank's more recent nature sculptures "Sunshine and Roses". The "hand" of the sculpture is actually a dried rose root with an actual rosebud attached, mounted on a piece of driftwood we scrounged from a beach one day on one of our walks...

I find myself gazing as much at the interesting shadow that this piece casts on a wall as the sculpture itself. Even the shadow lends itself to magic of the art...



Sunshine and Roses
Frank A. Waits © 2010
Natural Wood Sculpture


"Great art picks up where nature ends."~Marc Chagall