Yes. We. Did.

"Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence." Lin Yutang

Punta Sur & the 5 Blues of Cozumel

Back to work after an incredible 2 weeks scuba diving in Cozumel.

I've been captivated by the blue water of the Caribbean, specifically the water surrounding Cozumel where locals claim there are 5 distinct blues.

I've been trying to capture them, but not like the lady I heard about who boarded a boat one morning with 5 glass ball jars in a quest to collect all five!

Rather I've been using my camera, painting plein-air at different times of day from the balcony of my room overlooking the ocean in Cozumel, studying satellite imagery and playing with a plenitude of blue paint: phthalo blues and greens, cobalt blue, cobalt green, cobalt turquoise, ultramarine and cerulean.

Creating color charts to guide my work in the future. Brightening them with yellows, lightening with white and neutralizing with burnt umber and a variety of reds.

This is deeply satisfying work. If you're in Indianapolis, please come see Punta Sur, my newest painting which plunges deeply into this magical blue space.

Summertime Blues, is a group show at the StutzArtspace Gallery on Bearcat Alley at the Stutz. The show opens Friday August 1, 2008, from 5-9 pm.

New color class began today

I really enjoy teaching adults. And I especially enjoy teaching practical color theory in a color mixing class that I developed last year. This foundation course is based upon the Michael Wilcox School of Color, Ltd.

I'm teaching the class in the new StutzArtspace Classroom located just off of Bearcat Alley on the ground floor of the Stutz. This is a new non-profit teaching space for artist/instructors who are residents of the Stutz.

I have always loved color and studied color theory informally for more than 30 years. My art education in college was seriously lacking in instruction about practical color theory. After college I created a small study group with several colleagues to study color, but we only succeeded in learning about the physics of color and the theoretical research of color pioneers such as Faber Birren and Josef Albers.

Eventually I stumbled onto the work of Albert Munsell and the Munsell self-study educational tools. About the same time I found an early self-study workbook by Michael Wilcox, who eventually founded the School of Color, Ltd. These two programs unlocked the secrets of paint color mixing for me, which I now pass on to my students in a very hands-on 4-day color mixing workshop.

If you are interested in learning more about my color classes, please send me an email or register for my color class email list in the guestbook on my website.

Open Studio Tour at the Stutz April 25-26, 2008

The Open Studio Tour was exhausting and exhilarating as usual. The annual studio tour was one of the main reasons I decided to locate in the Stutz in 2005 and each year seems better than the last. I finally figured out how to manage the crowd, including my friends and patrons who enjoy spending time socializing in the studio.

This year I had a preview party from 5:30 - 6:30, which gave me a chance to spend time with friends before the crowds arrived around 7pm. Several friends used my corner wine bar as their homebase as they ventured out to see the work of the other 60+ artists who have studios here.

Here's a shot of my studio (same angle as the messy shot) right before people arrived. My very gracious brother-in-law tended bar for me all evening. I wish I had gotten a photo of my very own "Cheers" bar in action!

For those of you who couldn't be here this year, I missed seeing you and hope to see you next year!

Slammed!

Over the weekend I got slammed by a bad cold. How does this happen? Going along just fine, nice little critical path of things to do before the Open House and WHAM … a scratchy throat, then that little bugger takes a dive straight for my lungs. Within 24 hours I knew that bronchitis was on its way.

I knew I was pushing too hard but I loved what I was creating and couldn't stop. But getting sick 6 days before the big show was decidedly not on any of the checklists.

Fortunately, I already had an appointment scheduled on Monday morning with an acupuncturist who is also an RN and he had a plan. He set some needles, put me on the most amazing homeopathic remedies and nipped it. In the normal course of things I would have been flat on my back by now, but thanks to Tom Hammett I'm still functioning and still pretty much on track with that checklist.

The art went up yesterday and the studio looks fantastic! I really believe in the work I’m creating right now and I’m excited about having thousands of people see it. We anticipate 8-10,000 visitors in the building for the Open House this coming Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. It’s one of the big art events of the year in Indianapolis and one of many reasons why I chose to locate my studio in the building.

The building is an old Stutz Bearcat automobile factory, recycled into alternative studio/office space in the early 90s by a visionary developer who is also a painter. The Open House started out with a couple of artists and a plastic swimming pool filled with ice and beer, inviting their friends over to see their art. This weekend there will be more than 60 artists opening our studios to the public.

Exciting times. I’ll post some pictures soon.

Behind the Scenes: 10 days before the spring studio tour at the Stutz

Ten days to go before our big spring studio tour at the Stutz and I thought it might be interesting to post a few before and after pictures of the studio.

The past few days I've been working ridiculous hours and my studio looks like it. This is a shot of the part of my studio were I exhibit my work during the open house. I also love working in this space. Tonight I'm sorting through the sumi drawings, choosing the best to frame and hang for the studio tour.

When I create these drawings I create literally hundreds of images and most end up in the recycling bin. Less than 10% make the cut and only a few of those will be framed for the studio tour, although others will be available for sale unframed.

These drawings are magical to create. And people tell me they are magical to experience. In between the magic there's a whole lot of tedious work, as you can see from this picture of my workroom.

Here I'm sorting, selecting the best images, and cataloging them by linking the drawing and it's photographic counterpart on the computer.

So I'm taking a break to post this, but now it's time to get back to work!

More later.

Preparing artwork for the web

Ay yi yi!

Well, this website stuff is entertaining. I know just enough to be dangerous.

Actually, FolioLink (the web hosting site where my website is based) is terrific. The templates look great and are easy to use. It just takes time! Lots of time. But everyone at FolioLink is extremely helpful and I'm very happy with the results.

I'm still photographing and working with photoshop to get the images right so bear with me. There is a great article on FolioLink about preparing photos of your artwork for the web. There's a steep learning curve but once it's right, it's easy.

I've also been learning about how to protect my artwork on the web. Evidently con-artists are snatching images from artists online portfolios, duplicating them, transfering them to canvas, painting over them and selling the art as originals on Ebay. Who knew?

There are several options, such as watermarking your images with photoshop before you post them. However, it seems that protecting your art by managing file size and format is the first line of defense.

OK, back to work. I hope you find this information as useful as I did.

So it begins ...

With this post I am joining the world wide web of bloggers.

This weekend I am also creating a website to showcase my artwork. So far the whole process has been entertaining, enlightening and relatively painless.

My website is still under construction, but you can get a sneak peek here. Once this link stops working you will be able to find me at www.janetchilton.net

Cheers!