In Memoriam - Goodbye Eddy Miller

My dear friend and friend of my family, Eddy Miller passed on this week. I'll blog later when I'm ready. You can read about Eddy here.

I'm Writing a New Blog - Color Conversations!

So many people come to this Create and Relate blog looking for color answers that I've decided to devote a blog just to the subject of choosing colors. Titled, Color Conversations, it's a blog devoted to the process of choosing colors. I love helping clients choose colors for their homes or business projects and have been actively color consulting for over 5 years. 

Color consulting is a business that I enjoy and that I find enriches my perceptions as an artist. I love the process of guiding clients to discover their best colors whether it's a home or business. Stop by my new blog to say hi. I'd love to hear your color stories.

www.ColorConversations.com 

Learning Printmaking

I've spent as much time as I could the last two weeks at Pat Clark's printmaking studio, Atelier 6000 (A6), in Bend, Oregon. Pat, her helpers and fellow printmaking artists have been especially helpful guiding me through the world of printing. Here's what I've learned so far.

Printmaking is FUN! It's also exacting, engaging and messy. I've been learning mono-printing as everyone tells me that monoprinting is most like painting, therefore an easier segue into printing for a painter.

I especially love how I can't predict anything (yet) during the printing process and that results in surprises that always lead to something even better. It's a fun and relaxing way to fill my creative well. I'll post of few of my learning prints when I have some I really like.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Nature Influences My Art

The well of experience that I draw from to create includes everything I experience. To keep the waters of creativity flowing, it's very important that I continue to experience new things and experiment with different viewpoints.

Changing my viewpoint is a lot easier when I try something new that always pushes me to learn. One of the easiest methods to bring fun and positive change into my life is athletics. Stand up paddle boarding has become one of my favorite sports. This is my third summer of paddle boarding and I'm hooked. I've learned to surf ocean waves, wind-driven lake waves, and paddled rivers. Besides being fun, stand up paddleboarding puts me in to intimate contact with nature. I'm often on waterways that have their own life rhythms and images.

Last weekend I went on a 35 mile downriver paddle with some of our local stand up paddling group. (You can read more about paddle boarding on the SUP Stand up Paddle blog my husband I and share.) The nine hours we were on the Deschutes River in Oregon, filled my senses with both obvious imagery and more subtle experiences.

I work animal and plant images into all of my paintings regardless of the style I'm working in. Here are a few examples of oil paintings I've done that focus on animals. The Blue Heron is a large 4' x 6' oil of an experience I had watching a Blue Heron fly through the forest before dawn. The Eagle is a raptor that I see often on the High Desert Plateau near my home. The Deer Herd is often in my garden (eating or drinking!). Flora, fauna, madonnas and figures populate my imagery and flow from my actual experiences. Figure drawing once a week keeps me in touch with on of my favorite artistic disciplines, stand up paddle boarding is another type of discipline. It's all good!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine

This exhibit is up for Summer 2009. The artist statement describes the personal context of my art and about the intent behind these pieces.
_______________________________________________________________
Reshaping the Divine: Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine

Cristina Ortiz Acosta – Artist Statement 2009 - Exhibit at El Museo Cultural, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Click here to see this series of Hispanic Retablos.

Over the past twenty years, my series of Madonna retablos came to me in ebbs and flows via a series of powerful dreams. The dreams started during my pregnancy with my daughter. For the entire pregnancy I dreamt of being a woman on a journey north across dusty plains and through arroyos as I mostly walked behind an oxcart. The dreams ended in a room lit by a wooden candelabra filled with tallow candles and the birth of my daughter, Isabella Pilar in 1993.

I called these dreams my Maria Dreams because in the dreams, I/she was named Maria. Seeking the meaning of those dreams over the years brought me down a path I could never have imagined and deepened my understanding of my cultural heritage. Searching for the meaning of my Maria Dreams eventually lead me back to New Mexico, the land of my Ortiz ancestors.

My paternal grandmother, Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta, born in 1904, was the daughter of J. Nestor Ortiz and Maria Elena Salazar, descendents of the original Spanish settlers founding the cities and villages throughout New Mexico. Researching my family genealogy (my grandmother spoke vaguely about her ancestors), I discovered that my direct ancestors had participated in the initial 16th and 17th century migrations of the Spanish, traveling North from Mexico City into the region that is now the State of New Mexico. I read books about the era and became fascinated by the types of experiences my female ancestors must have had while living on the New Mexican frontier for generations. With this research nurturing my experience of my personal history, my calling to paint Madonna’s began to take shape.

Born in Los Angeles to an Anglo mother and Hispanic father, early on I was aware of cultural concepts because of the differences between the two sides of my family. Despite their differences, Catholicism was the central theme for my parents. Celebrating their devotion resulted in religious images from the Americas and Europe scattered throughout our home and those of our relatives. Images of Mary the Mother of God as the Guadalupe, Conquistadora and many other versions were always present. Along with those images were displayed American Indian items from the Ortiz ranch.

The artifacts from the Ortiz family ranch consumed my imagination from as far back as I can remember. Handmade Indian blankets and pots, and even a gold menorah (referred to as a “candelabra” by my grandmother) made by Ortiz ancestors generations past (some of the men were renowned filigree gold smiths). Those as well as the chili ristras hanging in my grandmother’s kitchen hinted at another world far from the Southern California beach scene of my childhood home. For reasons I can’t sufficiently articulate, the mix of these images and experiences coalesced into my calling to visually explore and create new images of the Madonna as an expression of the feminine divine.

Each of the retablos I paint results in a new vision of the sacred. For example, painting La Conquistadora opened the door to re-balancing the dominant patriarchal and European view of the divine with the North American native and feminine. In La Conquistadora I layer symbols of the Dine Spider woman and the Puebloan Corn Maiden, seeking to blend the indigenous ancient female images and concepts harmoniously with the Catholic image of Mary. The result is a Madonna that hints of ancient goddesses many thousands of years old at the same time she conveys the current blend of cultures in the Southwest.

I create my work in the traditions of the Spanish/Mexican retablo to reinforce my expression of reverence and convey the intimate experience of sacredness. I find antique, reclaimed timbers for the substrate. I mix gold, silver and copper metals into my oil paintings to both embellish the image and in homage to the gifts my ancestors created for me with their existence. The vintage gold glazed ceramic tiles come from a tile company that operated near my childhood home in Southern California during the 1950’s and 60’s. When I finish a retablo, I write a blessing on the backside of the retablo to convey love to all who view the images.

My Maria Dreams from over a decade ago continue to influence this series of work. May you find your own meanings and blessings within these images.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

West of the West Art Exhibit - A Celebration of Ranch Life

Ranch living in Central Oregon was a true culture shock for me when I moved from Southern California to Bend, Oregon in the 1980's. Though I'd lived at both the beach and the mountains, rural ranch life was like nothing I'd experienced. I moved to a ramshackle almost-100-year-old ranch of about 20 acres (it was a bank repo of a ranch that originally numbered near a couple hundred acres). Here are the two original oil paintings I am exhibiting in the West of West exhibit. They are both direct expressions of my life experiences during that time.
____________________________________________________
When: Saturday, May 30 – Sunday, June 28, 2009 - Artist Reception
Where: High Desert Gallery, 281 W Cascade Avenue, Sisters Oregon 97759

West of West, A Celebration of Ranch Life at High Desert Gallery
Fine Art Group Exhibition and Sale featuring work by Central Oregon Artist including, Cristina Acosta, Kathy Deggendorfer, Kimry Jelen, Grace Bishko, Paul Alan Bennett, Cary Weigand, Trisha Hassler, Glen Corbet, J Chester (Skip) Armstrong, plus special guest Central Oregon artists, Jerry Werner, Sue C Smith and Jean Wells.

West of West , A Celebration of Ranch Life
hosted by High Desert Gallery from May 30 through June 28, 2009.

An Artist Reception on Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 4-7pm will include great art by regionally and nationally acclaimed Central Oregon Artists, refreshments, live music and a darn good time. A Hoot For Sure! West of West, A Celebration of Ranch Life is in collaboration with Sisters Art Works, Ranch Life and Rodeo Show a day long celebration and special exhibition of the Western lifestyle and living history.

Artist Reception: Saturday, May 30, 2009 4-7PM
High Desert Gallery – 281 W Cascade Avenue at Oak Street, Sisters Oregon 97759
For more information: www.highdesertgallery.com, 541-388-8964 / 866-549-6250
Gallery Hours (Spring): Open Friday through Monday 10am to 6pm, Tuesday through Thursday 10am to 2:30pm. Summer Hours starting June 14, 2009 Open Daily 10am to 6pm.

Co-Teaching a Workshop at A6 in Bend, OR

Patricia Clark and I are co-teaching the class, "Infringing Upon Barriers - Icons & Iconography" at Pat's beautiful print-making studio, Atelier 6000 or A6, in Bend, Oregon next week. It's going to be a lot of fun and very interesting. A6 is a "green" studio which means you won't be smelling toxic oil based printing inks. The light is beautiful, the workspace serene and well-balanced and Pat is lovely.

Here's what you need to to know about our class:

Workshop: Tue–Fri, Jun 2–5, 10:30 am–3 pm
Invite freedom and flow into your art and jump-start your creativity in this exciting class that breaks down the barriers between the artistic practices of painting and printmaking. Veteran artists Pat Clark and Cristina Acosta will demonstrate their process and techniques for you. You’ll learn to combine painting and printmaking techniques to create something new and different on canvas or paper. Not only will you be inspired, informed and empowered, you’ll have accumulated class techniques and processes to inform a portfolio of unique drawing and painting outcomes.
Adult. $151 + $35 studio fee.
389 SW Scalehouse Ct. Suite 120, Bend, OR 97702, 541.728.8527

We'd love to see you there!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Exhibiting my Madonna series in Santa Fe

I'm in New Mexico this week delivering my paintings to El Museo Cultural in Santa Fe, NM. This series of contemporary paintings is from my Hispanic Heritage Series. My work is based on the traditional retablo form, but with contemporary imagery of Madonnas such as the Guadalupe, Conquistadora and others. What puts my images into the contemporary definition is that I "remake" the traditional iconic images rather than painting a verbatim image. 

The art exhibit  at El Museo Cultural is titled: Reshaping the Divine - Contemporary Hispanic Retablos Exploring the Sacred Feminine, by Cristina Ortiz Acosta.  I use a longer version of my name for my Hispanic Heritage Series in homage to my New Mexican ancestors. 

In New Mexico, my grandmother's family were referred to as "Spanish", a term that is still used today. In New Mexico, being a Mexican American or Chicano has a different meaning than in the rest of the United States because those terms do not specifically denote the Hispanic people that have been in this part of North America for over 4 centuries and still refer to themselves as Spanish. The variety of ways to describe oneself or others is  kind of confusing if you're not aware of the meanings.

The reason I'm bringing this up is to describe the cultural context my series of retablo paintings are part of -- the conceptual foundation is the New Mexican or Spanish retablo and ex-voto traditions of my Ortiz ancestors.

It's very satisfying to work with the Madonna theme -- I love the nuances of meaning I consider with my choices of imagery, shapes and color. 

This exhibit of my contemporary New Mexican Spanish retablos of madonnas is through Summer 2009 at El Museo Cultural, 615 #B Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM. 

Note: Image is titled  Running Meditation

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sidewalk Chalk Murals for Kids

Drawing in public can freak out a normally well-adjusted adult, sending them shyly scampering at the mere question. On the contrary, most kids will excitedly step into the project. After my career as a window painter and billboard artist, I became so used to people watching me as I paint, that I can easily block them out, as long as they don't start talking. Even then, if I get very focused I can block them out.

That's why I was excited to help my friend Cameron Clark of C3 Productions. Cameron hired me to help with a neighborhood Earth Day event at Northwest Crossing in Bend, Oregon. My job was to facilitate the kid's chalk drawing mural.

It was a fun project. Cameron gave me a bucket of chalk and pointed out a 20 foot long section of sidewalk I would oversee. I drew a border around the area, then segmented out land, sky and water so that the kids could draw something within the Earth Day theme. The plan was for all of the images to come together into one large casual mural.

The kids did it!! I started a few drawings so anyone wanting to fill in the lines would have a start. Quite a few kids made their own drawings. After they finished and walked off I'd add a few bright lines to delineate the work or to freshen it after small feet and other body parts inadvertently rubbed off some of the chalk.

As you can see by my pant legs and shoes, I managed to sit on a drawing more than once!

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Susan Boyle's Got Talent

Susan Boyle stepped onto the stage for Britains Got Talent show today. Frumpy, 47 years old and volunteering that she'd never been kissed, Boyle unwittingly primed the audience to expect her to fill the "self-deluded wannabe" slot where the Got Talent staff interject awkward contestants for comic relief.

Wow - did Susan Boyle rock the house!! She surprised everyone with her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream, from Les Miserables. Watch her video and see for yourself. I got chills watching Susan realize her dream as she sang the audience to their feet.

When youth and beauty are sliding into the rearview mirror (or are firmly behind us) many of us put our dreams aside and resign ourselves to the "reality" of our lives. Thank you Susan for inspiring all of us to have the courage to reach out to our dreams. May you have a blessed creative career.

Read the BBC article about Susan Boyle for more information.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Bid on this Painting and Help a Non-Profit!

Arts education gives young people not only an opportunity to play with art materials and enjoy their school day, art education develops the creative right hemisphere of the brain. And we need more creative thinkers. The tough challenges in this new economy of global financial troubles paired with the environmental concerns of global climate change predict a future that's going to take a lot of courage and creativity.

The tiny town of Sisters, Oregon (about 20 minutes from Bend, Oregon) has an amazing philanthropic community. The Sister's Folk Festival organization organizers a fund raiser for arts in education called My Own Two Hands. Artist's from the Central Oregon area donate original paintings, sculptures, musical instruments and more for the event.

Because I enjoy the birds visiting my bird feeders, I painted a original acrylic painting in my Paint Happy style titled, Something Wild Outside My Window. My painting is on display at High Desert Gallery (they represent my work locally).

Bid on this painting (or any of the other beautiful pieces by other artists). Not only will you have a beautiful piece of original art and a tax deduction, you will be supporting the arts.

_________________________
P.S. (After the party) THANK YOU!!! The My Own 2 Hands fundraiser was a fun party. Great music, great food, lots of local art to bid on and best of all -- fun people!! Thank you to the winning bidder of my painting. Your generous bid will support the arts programs in Sisters, Oregon.

Staging Your Home Can Sell it Faster

Today's real estate market is a buyer's market. Presenting your home for sale puts you in competition with an incredible amount of inventory. Look in most any neighborhood and you'll often find a combination of bank sales, short sales and regular sales. Standing out positively among the crowded MLS Multiple Listing Service pages takes special attention to detail.

Many years ago I had a Real Estate License. I sold residential resort real estate in Southern California for a couple of years before going to college to complete my training as an artist. I learned many things from that experience, including this realization: Selling real estate was no fun for me, but I loved to look at houses. It's no surprise that years later I developed my color consulting business in Bend, Oregon, as part of my creative work. Home design is a passion of mine.

Last weekend I staged a client's home in Portland, Oregon. The young family has lived in the home for about 7 years (2 children and a dog). They've had wonderful luck in this location and experienced a happy family life. Their good fortune has resulted in a move to another area, and they were ready to sell their home. They wanted to be sure that their home conveyed a clean, warm and well-cared-for first impression that would welcome buyers.

You can see a fly-around video of the home at this link http://tour.circlepix.com/tour.htm?id=719435&mls_tour=1 or, view the Portland, Oregon family home for sale on the John L. Scott Real Estate website.

Keep in mind this concept when you stage your home. When you style or stage your home for sale, you are creating home design that barely whispers your presence while it loudly invites the visitor to imagine themselves living in your home. You want to create a similar feeling to the one you get walking into a well appointed hotel suite or rental house, only with a bit more personality.

Here are a few staging tips to help you sell your home:

• Have on hand: Moving boxes, tape and markers. Prepare a space in the garage or other storage area to store the filled boxes. Uniform sized boxes are easier to stack.
  
• Clear out storage areas and closets to about half full. Arrange items that are left so that they occupy the space without filling it full. Buyers like to open cabinets and closets - make the shelves look spacious.
  
• Empty full bookshelves to about 10% to 30% of their former selves. Arrange remaining books with decor items to add interest.
• Hide and/or lock away any valuables including prescription drugs.
• Remove family photos - including any refrigerator photos and notes.
• Ask yourself if you can remove any furniture in the room to increase the sense of spaciousness. Be strict with yourself, you can always add pieces back.
• Remove any broken or damaged things from the room.
• Repair any broken or damaged parts to the room including: replace cracked windows, fill nail holes and touch-up wall and trim paint, replace caulking in bathrooms and kitchen if needed, clean and restore flooring as much as possible.

Staging, styling or restyling your home for the purpose of selling it can be your chance to flex your design skills. Learning to see your same old stuff with new eyes opens you to discovering new ways you might live with your furnishings and decor in your next home.

For assistance with home staging, home styling and decor ideas in the Central Oregon or Portland, Oregon areas, call me for a consultation 541-388-5157. I also include color consulting as part of this service.

Fairey Fudged! The Garcia and Fairey Copyright Incident

How much of an image does an artist have to change so that they are not infringing on another artist's copyrights? Can you take an image off the internet, change a few things then call the image yours?

Usually, egregious copyright problems involve businesses deciding to "save money" by stealing an image without payment to the creator of that image, then using that image in their marketing, manufacturing or sales process. I wrote an entry about Orphan Works legislation and copyright regarding an incident where the multinational corporation Virgin used a family photograph in an international ad campaign.

Now, two artists are in a legal tussle over just such an issue, and it's about an image you may easily recognize: An Obama poster titled HOPE. The graphic poster was created by Shepard Fairey from the work of freelance photographer Mannie Garcia, who took the photograph the poster mimicked. L. Gordon Crovitz wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal, The Fine Art of Copyright that details the incident. The New York Times also weighed in with the article by Noam Cohen, Viewing Journalism as a Work of Art.

Terry Gross, host of the NPR's, Fresh Air interviewed Fairey for the show, Shepard Fairey: Inspiration or Infringement? She aired the followup show, Mannie Garcia: The Photo that Sparked "Hope", giving the photographer an opportunity to discuss the situation.

These professional journalists have done a wonderful job covering the issue. The only thing I can add is my opinion, one I've developed through personal experience. After publication of my book, Paint Happy, I had my images stolen and had to spend a lot of money defending my copyrights.

I was curious to see the two images of the photo and poster because, words aside, the visuals speak for themselves. What struck me immediately was the sameness. Fairey's image was what I would term a stylized copy of the original Mannie Garcia photograph. Fairey cropped Garcia's image, and changed the background elements by simplifying the background to a flat color. He tilted the head so slightly that I wouldn't have noticed it as an alteration of the photograph until I listened to Fairey confidently list the tilt as one of his original contributions to the final image. I presume Fairey used a software program like Adobe Illustrator to stylize the natural colors and value transitions of the photograph into flat shapes of color.

Fairey fudged. As a professional graphic artist, Fairey knows about copyright laws. (He is quick to reveal that knowledge when Terry Gross asked about potential parodies of the HOPE poster.)

Here's what happened. He searched for images on the internet until he found an AP image he liked. He didn't bother to research anything about the creator of that image. He took the image for his own purposes without any credit or compensation to the original artist.

Fairey did not show any respect for the work of a peer. He acted like a pirate then calmly explained his actions to Terry Gross as being innocent of anything more than accidental oversight. Only Fairey knows if he would have ever told the truth if this hadn't come to light.

The latest news is that Mannie Garcia is now selling signed prints of the photograph. Many artists work diligently aiming for a break that launches their career to a higher level of visibility and sales. Maybe the light of truth cast on Fairey's actions will lead to increased fairness towards creators of all types. We can hope.

(Thanks Mannie for permission to use these 2 images for this blog entry.)

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Sketchbook: Drawing a Portrait in Pen

Drawing weekly from life is my artistic touchstone. I love working in a peaceful room with other artists. Our figure drawing group, run by artist Dawn Emerson at C.O.C.C, is a happy one. Mostly it's quiet, with Dawn's eclectic music playing as background music. But sometimes there's cheerful banter between artists and the model.

During each session we start out with 2 minute drawings and end up with poses that are about 30 minutes long at most.

Today I glanced to my right and noticed that the artist sitting next to me had a beautiful profile. So, while he concentrated on the model, I took a break from drawing the model and drew him. His name is Tripp. The drawing is ink on paper.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

How to Keep Working when Sales Drop

Staying inspired enough to work when there is little in the way of art sales can be a challenge. I've been an artist for a over 2 decades and have had to adjust to this challenge more than once over the years. With the dire economic reports now dominating the news, keeping up my enthusiasm and inspiration to work is more of a challenge than during good economic times when commissions, exhibits and sales opportunities kept the money coming.

Here are a few things I do to keep inspired when times are tough:

• Keep up my exercise/sports routine. In fact - I look for an exercise goal like a race or strength goal to focus on. It's often easier to see results within a couple of months from an exercise routine than from work.
• Pay attention to nutrition. Eat and drink moderately.
• Find consistent time to work on my creative work and stick with my self-imposed discipline.
• Look at the work of other artists -- both present and past. Support other artists with encouraging notes or comments. When I can -- buy gifts from artists and artisans who make their own work.
• Be on the lookout for new experiences and insights to "fill the well". Even if I can't travel, I'll explore a subject or place on the internet. Or I'll make an effort to experience a well traveled path in a different way.
• If I have to stop working on my art for a while to find other work that results in more immediate money, I make sure to fit some sort of creative activity into every day. This really helped when I had a baby and realized that my time was no longer my own. With this attitude I was able to slip back into the habit of my artwork without a lot of trouble.
  

Photo: I took this photo in Albuquerque. This cactus bush had such a gorgeous combination of color, shape and texture. Sometimes a closer look at a ordinary thing -- like a plant alongside a path I'm walking -- can inspire.

Read more on my website: www.CristinaAcosta.com