All posts filed under: Creative Close-Up

Creative Close-Up: Inside the Contemporary Art World

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1.28.19 Hello everyone! The last few days of January are upon us and it’s time for a creative close-up of a documentary film I just have seen on Netflix. Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World, explores the value of contemporary art. The film was released in September 2017. The docufilm directed by Barry Avrich speaks to gallerists, journalist, collectors, art critics, even the artists such as Marina Abramovic, Rashid Johnson, and Julian Schnabel.  The value of art can be tricky business, how about trying to find your target market…that is tricky too. I found this short review from Shayna Weingast on the Tribeca website.  “As one art scene insider proclaims, the contemporary art world can be summed up as “rich people trying to prove how rich they are,” but is that all there is to this billion dollar industry? Well-researched and expertly constructed, Barry Avrich’s eye-opening documentary peels back the layers of the art world economy- from production to circulation, and delineates every integral player in the game of art-making, including curators, gallerists, collectors, donors, auction …

My Best Creative Close-Up for 2018…

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12.30.18 I know there was something planned for this month’s Creative Close-Up, but I wanted to do something different of course. So I choose my best creative close-up. Creative Close-Up: Creating Art On My Terms “You can draw…ohhh. Can you do a painting for me?” That’s probably what you get when you mention that you can draw, paint, sketch, you know what I mean. Then when you put a little bit of your work out there, they start to ask if you can do a portrait for them. I can draw, sketch, and paint. I love it because I’m such a creative person and while I’m flattered for people to ask, I just don’t too much like it.  Why? Well, I ask, how big do want the portrait or drawing to be? What do you want it to look like? All these kinds of questions, the ones I hate to ask because I don’t want to step on any toes to hurt feelings. I did accept one from a lady at my church, but this …

Creative Close-Up: The Future of the DC Extended Universe

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10.30.18 The folks at Warner Bros. and DC have decided to push back the release date of WW84, the upcoming sequel to 2017’s success Wonder Woman. Now they are pushing back production and filming of The Flash standalone film and that won’t be released till 2021! What is WB/DC doing?  I wasn’t too happy with the change of WW84, but I can understand why they’re pushing the release date. The first Wonder Woman film was released in June and did fantastic at the box office. The release date has been pushed back three times. Previously the date was set for December 13, 2019, then November 1, 2019, but now the official date is June 5, 2020. The magic month of June gave them box office success the first time, why not try it again? Not only that but if the date was November 2019, the Amazon Princess would be in competition with the new Terminator film, then Charlie’s Angels (why!?)…I can only see WW84 in competition with Terminator, not really. This was a financial business …

Creative Close-Up: Creating Art On My Terms

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9.24.18 “You can draw…ohhh. Can you do a painting for me?” That’s probably what you get when you mention that you can draw, paint, sketch, you know what I mean. Then when you put a little bit of your work out there, they start to ask if you can do a portrait for them. I can draw, sketch, and paint. I love it because I’m such a creative person and while I’m flattered for people to ask, I just don’t too much like it.  Why? Well, I ask, how big do want the portrait or drawing to be? What do you want it to look like? All these kinds of questions, the ones I hate to ask because I don’t want to step on any toes to hurt feelings. I did accept one from a lady at my church, but this will be the last one for a very long while.   I want to create art on my own terms, without the person asking me about the progress, you know, without nosing in on my …

Creative Close-Up: Finding & Using Resources

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6. 25. 18   When your an artist, a singer, songwriter, musician, or photographer you think that you’re at the pinnacle of your craft right? In other words, your at the top of your game and feel that you don’t need to further your craft. Not so. We all need fine tuning…kind of like going to the doctor and making sure our bodies are in great condition. Many creative people like to keep going with perfecting their craft. How in the world find and have the time to do it? There many resources, workshops, classes, conferences, you can even go online and find so many videos on painting, playing an instrument, taking photos, and on and on. For an artist like myself, I always try to keep my skills ongoing. I love learning new things and be creative you find ways of styling your artwork. You soon discover new techniques and ways of sketching, painting, watercolor. Same goes for musicians. Even photographers find techniques to create that perfect photo. I’m always on the lookout for …

Creative Close-Up: Kick Your Fears & Have Faith

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May 30 / 18 FEAR noun 1. an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear. What can we say about the word fear? We have fear in a lot of things and for us in the field of creativity its pretty much the same. I don’t know about you or anyone else, but for me, it’s a whole other thing. For years I let fear take over a lot of things in my life. There were times when I let fear hold me back on a few things. For example, I always wanted to try modeling and I did get that chance, but I was too scared. When I think about it now, if I tried it, I wouldn’t be in the most boring job ever. There were reasons I let fear take precedence over my life. I wasn’t good, special, or pretty enough. I would just think I didn’t have what it takes to try even the simplest things. As an …

Creative Close-Up: Taking Time Away From Creativity

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April 24 / 18 Hello! We’re winding down out of April and into May. This is just a short and to the point close-up. There comes a time when you really are not at your creative best. Let’s face it, we are so swamped with our day to day activities, parenting duties, extracurricular activities, and other things, that our mind and body get clogged and run down. We don’t take the time to listen, really listen to our bodies. Then there is social media. Our lives are dictated by what we Tweet, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Even that takes a toll on our lives. What I’m saying is that there comes a time when we need to just take a step back from our busy lives and take a break. Even an artist, musician, any person in the creative field needs a time to themselves. Let’s recharge ourselves by stepping back from our busy lives, put the phone away for awhile and enjoy some time away from everything, from everyone. You deserve it. We all need to …

Creative Close-Up: Why I Love DC & Marvel….

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November 30 / 17 With the third installment of Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League, Marvel, and DC are busy whipping up superhero films left and right….well, Marvel is. DC is just catching up. You have people who love DC, like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and then there are those who love Marvel, such as Captain America, Iron Man, Spiderman, and the Hulk. Me? I simply love both Marvel and DC. Yeah, I said it. Why? Well…. Both Have Created Complex Heroes DC has their god-like superheroes with their fair share of problems. Let’s look at Superman. For at least the past several decades this Kryptonian has become the fixture your typical boy scout hero, with the power to destroy Earth, but he chooses to not to. Even though he’s forbidden to get involved with Earth’s affairs, he chooses to do the opposite. He wants to be the solution instead of the problem. While people embraced him, some have not. Even though he has his adoptive mother, Martha Kent and the love of his life, Lois Lane, …