Went out this afternoon for a long walk, a bite to eat and an art opening later this evening - but I didn’t take my sketchbook with me - it was hot and I left home suddenly. It had rained a lot earlier in the morning and afternoon but was clear, sunny and humid after wards.
As I sat in Windsor Terrace, in an air conditioned cafe, I wished I had my notebook/sketchpad with me, but I didn’t - though I had my new 3G IPhone on hand and decided to see if there was a sketching or painting program I could download and play with - and I found only two - but found I liked NetSketch better - so I bought it - and here’s a review of the NetSketch iPhone Application on Gizmodo - Apps We Like: NetSketch Collaborative Drawing Shares Your Chicken Scratch Over WiFi along with the video that goes with it - though I didn’t share my screen - it brings up interesting ideas of what one could do with it (who knows, perhaps teach art - or collaborate on art and design):
I also did 3 Sketches of my own this afternoon and decided that I’m going to do many more - I still have to figure out how to get the level of control I’m used to in traditional media - but I really had a good time on these drawings and felt, that perhaps, I got a glimmer of a new direction for me. Here’s the drawings I did:
This was my very first drawing using NetSketch on the 3G iPhone - it was done at the Connecticut Muffin on 15th Street and Windsor Terrace - looking into the park circle and movie theatre in the background,
Painting the inside of the cafe, was somewhat challenging to do that with the level of control I have in NetSketch - but I enjoyed what I created, even if it’s not accurate, per se, to the image in frount of me.
Kept thinking I should try abstracts - so I did.
Tired, also went to an opening at the Red Horse Cafe on 12th Street and 6th Avenue in Park Slope; found I may be able to have a one month show there if I want, as early as November.
Here’s a couple more sketches that I haven’t yet posted. I will say that I’ve been focused more on living and doing stuff this summer than painting - I suppose I should not feel guilty about it because I’m living - but I also wondering what happens when it’s no longer summer, this fall.
I did this drawing about 6 weeks ago but didn’t post it, unless I did post it and forgot about it - not entirely impossible - I’ve been struggling since this spring to find what the next direction for me is - and I think this drawing, in subtle ways, reflects the struggle.
I also did this sketch last week, but didn’t spend long on it. In a way, I’m doing so much Social Media work, and getting ready for my speaking engagements in California in the next few weeks - that I haven’t really focused on my painting at all.
But that’s not surprising, as I’ve often found that I grow best, by not focusing on any one thing for too long - which is partially why I paint much faster today than I did 20 or 30 years ago. I know exactly what I’m after, and when I reach it, or feel I do, I stop.
I waited for Amy Crehore to review the movie I made last week at her opening and decided not to post it online till now (though it was up on YouTube since last Saturday, I simply didn’t tell anyone about it). I brought a friend, Nancy, with me and met many of Amy’s friends and admirers of her art.
Here’s the movie
Amy Crehore also put some photos of the opening on her blog in a post titled Photos of the NYC Show.
And that reminds, me, I’ll have to go soon and pick up my two paintings that are still hanging at Heart And Soul in Williamsburg since early May.
It was nice meeting Amy Crehore last week, I got to spend 3 hours with her in a diner in Chelsea, just talking - we’d known each other virtually for a few years, but hadn’t met till then - and then I saw her at her opening two days later. I hoped to go with her to a museum while she was here - I’m sure that’ll happen next time she visits - hopefully for another show.
I was glad Amy Crehore had a show here in New York for a change, most of her stuff shows in Santa Monica, Los Angeles or Las Vegas - but that’s a whole different art scene and I believe the Art World is a lot more real and substantial here in New York - I know that’s an opiniated point of view - but I bet a lot of artists, writers and art critics would agree with me.
