Friday Feature: Whistler

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket by Whistler

Another dead artist to light at candle for:

James Abbott Whistler.  

One of the first artists to proclaim that the purpose of art was simply, "art for art's sake" Whistler wanted for art to not be a slave to reality but to "bring forth from chaos glorious harmony."  His work gives a delicate sense of atmosphere making him an influential 'pre-impressionist.'  

Rather like shit, Whistler declared...

"Art happens- 

no hovel is safe from it,

no prince can depend on it,

the vastest intelligence cannot bring it about."

Venetian Scene by Whistler

Mayan Calendar

Mayan Calendar
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas

Most of you would probably look at this image and it is just another Mayan calendar harbinger of doom for this year but for me it is something else...

About 13 years ago (has it really been that long?) I moved in with a certain man friend who shall remain nameless.  He had this Mayan calendar that was made of metal.  I decided that I hated it because it had a big dent in it... and, well, I am ashamed to say, I threw it away.  I am really amazed now that I look back on it that he wasn't livid.  I mean... I totally would have dumped me.  Then again... around the same time period he barfed on my face while I was in a deep REM sleep.  So maybe we were even?  Regardless I still feel bad about the whole thing and recently decided to make him a new Mayan calendar as a peace offering.  Thanks to him for his friendship!  I am so grateful.

Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.

-Picasso

The Perfumed Flower

The Perfumed Flower
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
24" x 48"
Prints Available from Fine Art America

Little flower with its perfumed stamen,

singing,
sipping from the stream of you-

our song continues.

-Ikkyu Sojun

Blooms at Each of my Steps

Blooms at Each of my Steps
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints Available from Fine Art America

Now I am going to reveal to you something which is very pure, a totally white thought,

it blooms at each of my steps...

the Dance is love, it is only love, it alone, and that is enough.

I would like to no longer dance to anything but the rhythm of my soul.

-Isadora Duncan, Founder of Modern Dance

Before and After

Before

After

After

My daughter was assigned to do a community project.  I gave her a couple of choices and we decided to clean up the "no-man's land" between our neighborhood and a section of businesses.  This is a spot that a lot of people pass through and use as a trash can.










 
We cleaned up the space (3 large trash bags worth!), painted bricks to decorate the path, and planted flowers.









And one really cool thing... since we spruced up the path no one has dumped any litter there!

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears.

-John Locke

Friday Feature: Hundertwasser

Abstract by Hundertwasser

Another awesome dead artist to honor, Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

To express his distaste for unnaturally structured society, Hundertwasser renounced the straight line.  His paintings are spontaneously abstract and colorful.  In architecture he pushed organic shape to the edge and planted trees on the tops of buildings.  

Hundertwasser Building

 How can I not admire this out of the box, environmentalist who had no qualms about taking his clothes off in public?  He was rad I tell you.

Here is his story...

In 1928 Friedensreich Stowasser was born in Vienna, Austria.  His mother was Jewish and his father was Catholic.  During World War II Friedensreich and his mother lived in fear that the Nazis would discover their Jewish heritage.  After seeing the geometric marching formations of the Nazi soldiers Friedensreich grew to detest the straight line.  To him the straight line represented oppressive totalitarian governments.  When he later became a painter and architect he incorporated organic flowing lines into his work instead.

Friedensreich wanted to encourage life to be free from oppression and more sync with nature.  When he designed buildings he used no straight lines and put trees on the rooftops.  He felt that if trees had to be torn down to build a building people should replace them on the tops of buildings.  He felt that the closer humans are to nature the closer they are to their true selves.  He wanted for buildings to fit the  human body and cater to its needs.

Friedensreich changed his name several times.  He became most well-known under the name “Hundertwasser” which means one hundred waters.  He also went by the names “Renentag” which means rainy day and “Dunkelbunt" which means darkly multi-colored. 

Thoughts:  Hundertwasser is best known for turning things upside down in a revolutionary way.  He brought a breath of fresh air to the world of architecture.  He wasn’t afraid of changing his name, splashing bright paint everywhere and even taking his clothes off in public!  Sometimes when someone has experienced extreme oppression and seen the horrible consequences of it they can open our eyes to new ways of seeing the world, changing it for the better.   

Classroom Ideas:  For painting projects students can create designs using no straight lines but spirals and circles inspired by Hundertwasser’s work.  I’ve also done an architecture lesson with children where we redesigned our elementary school.  The school had no playground because it is in the inner city of Indianapolis so many of the students added playground equipment to their designs.  Imagine our delight when the next year the school was renovated to include a playground on the roof!  Hundertwasser would have been proud

Crickets on the Canal

Crickets on the Canal
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints Available on Fine Art America 

The spirit of the valley never dies... 

it is continuous, 

and is always existing.  

Use it and you will never wear it out. 

-Lao-Tzu

Seeing a Thing

My Palette

There is a great deal of difference between looking at a thing and seeing a thing.

And one does not see anything until one sees its beauty.

-Oscar Wilde

The Tree of Life

Tree of Life
Copyright 2012 Addie Hirschten
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"
Prints available on Fine Art America 
Original painting available on Etsy $485.

He who plants a tree, plants a hope.

- Lucy Larcom

The Goddess Brigid

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

The Celtic Goddess Brigid represents light and wisdom, the hearth, the home and childbirth.  According to the legend she married Bres, an Irish king of a rival tribe in the hopes of uniting the people of Ireland and ending the war.  One of her sons died in the battle that continued despite her efforts to create peace.  

Here Brigid stands pregnant with the energy of life flowing from her.

You never understand life until it grows inside of you.

-Sandra Chami Kassis

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

Get my daily paintings sent directly to your Facebook news feed!

Click here...

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