I worked on a new still life tonight and the ideas that came to me was the phrase “color of thought“. 

The pink in my painting is, to my way of thinking …..”thinking” and communicating with the pink in the flowerpot.  

Also, the lavenders are making a musical note and playing against the green of the plant leaves.

Found I need to resolve this work by going with pinks and purple in the background. 

That was a deliberate pushing of the colors beyond what was actually in front of me.

Sometimes, I’ve noticed that I can get what I want by just seeing what I believe is in-front of me and rendering it - and other times  what’s there needs something “beyond” …. like colors and shapes that clearly are not “there” - but appear in my imagination.   

I feel OK enough with my own “instinct” to try out a color, to push a painting in a certain direction - if only as an experiment - to see where it will lead.  Also, I’m desperate … I see the painting won’t work without something - and it’s not in front of me - so I need to pull it out of my imagination.

Worse than can happen is I’ll mess up my work - but I’m not afraid of that ..and honestly, it hasn’t usually happened that I’ve messed things up by pushing a painting in a certain direct.  What gets me messed up is when I don’t feel “anything” about what I’m doing - when I don’t have any passion about it, then I think it’s messed up.   But I have a solution for that one - if you don’t feel “something” about what your painting …don’t paint it.  Don’t draw it.     If there’s no emotional response, it’s not worth painting it.

By habit, I don’t chose anything to paint that I don’t already have a feeling about - and usually, I know something about what that feeling is.   I suppose, the painting then, is really about that feeling - and how I work it out - and if I can go beyond the beginning feeling, to something else.

I also looked at all my work over the last 18 months or so, and was overall, satisfied with what I’ve done - All of my work is posted in ArtNewYorkCity.com

In 2005 Forbes Magazine wrote an article on New Collectors On The Block which highlighted “…13-year-old boy who spent his bar mitzvah money on a Rembrandt etching at a 2003 art fair. In a few years, after finishing his education and landing a well-paying professional gig, our young friend may find himself with plenty of disposable income and empty walls in his loft that his tiny Rembrandt won’t fill. “

Around the same time the Wall Street Journal’s Real Estate Jouranal wrote an article about Young Buyers Become Art’s Newest Market which actually is about younger adult professionals buying art, not so much children: “Get out your auction paddles. A whole generation of new collectors — hedge-fund managers, technology entrepreneurs and others in their thirties and forties — has plunged into the world of contemporary art. Result: Prices are surging. Over the past three years, even as world economies flagged, prices in the closely watched top 2% of the contemporary-art market shot up 72%, according to London-based Art Market Research. In contrast, prices of top-tier works in the Old Masters and French Impressionist markets fell by 40% and 29%, respectively — and the Dow was down 5%.”

Even the Guggenheim Museum has a group dedicated to young collectors: “…The YCC is the Guggenheim Museum’s dynamic leadership group for young professionals who seek to further their understanding of contemporary art and culture. The mission of the YCC is to champion the work of emerging artists. Each year, a portion of membership dues are dedicated to purchasing works by young and emerging artists for the Guggenheim Museum’s permanent collection.”

However, the reason I’m writing this post today is a Wall Street Journal Article on Small Collectors that I heard about from Amy Crehore’s blog, Little Hokum Rag; Amy wrote a post titled: Kids Are Collecting High-End Art :

“…Kelly Crow writes about a new wave of children collecting art in an article called “Small Collectors”. “Encouraged by wealthy, art-loving parents, children are collecting Warhols and even Rembrandts.”

It’s a surprise to me, but it shouldn’t be, that art collections might be driven by the taste of wealthy children.   I’m just wondering if an art collection based on a child’s taste (which is bound to change a lot as they grow to be an adult) is such a good idea as an investment.  I suppose, as long as the works are valued in some recognizable way, Art is still an investment.

I saw this exquisite large drawing by Joseph Stashkevetch tonight during an exclusive opening for another show at Von Lintel Gallery; I was transfixed by the quality of this large drawing and asked if there were more at Von Lintel (there weren’t - but I was directed to Stashkevetch’s site where I could view the rest of his work).

While some of his work might get tiring to look at, at times, the total mastery of the medium and the scale at which Joseph Stashkevetch works is phenomonal.