A lot of my favorite artists are painters that never really give up using the pencil (line). Painterly paintings are good but so are paintings that look like drawings. I guess I like painterly drawings or linear paintings. I like painterly paintings and linear drawings too

Anthony Lister – Terms of Engagement, 2010
Mixed media on canvas, 39.5 x 39.5 inches

Anthony Lister – BET, 2010
mixed media on paper, 6.5 x 9.5 inches

Anthony Lister Super Girl 1, 2010
Mixed media on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

From the Lyons Wier Gallery blog here..
“Known in the Low Brow movement for his intriguing, playful hybrid of street art, expressionism, and cubism all manifested in non-traditional media such as spray paint; Lister’s new body of work shows the tongue-in-cheek frivolity of his earlier pieces developing (or decaying) into a more mature and disturbing direction. The deformities and un-done aesthetic resolve of Lister’s work provides viewers with a concretization of contemporary societies’ psyche – or, as the artist himself states, “making the obvious more, well, obvious”.”

OPENING: Fri. March 19th, 2010 6-9pm
DATES: March 19th – April 19th, 2010
See more Anthony Lister works from the exhibition here or see the artist’s website here.

I create lists that are too ambitious as I rarely ever complete the jobs on them. Which in some ways shows the masochist in me as I know I’m setting myself up to fail, but in other ways it gets me off my fanny (I have always wanted to use the word “fanny” in a sentence as it makes me laugh. In Australia the fanny is different to what a fanny is in the US).

Here’s my To Do List for Art News Blog this year. I figured if I published the list it would make me more likely to do it.

• Create or pay for a new blog design. Art News Blog has a pretty ordinary design and it hasn’t changed much in more than 5 years. I might even get a designer to create a new logo. I might even add a little color to the design.
• Move the blog to another blogging platform. Blogger is making some hosting changes so I figured now might be a good time to jump ship. Not because I don’t like Blogger but because I just want change.
• Post at least 5 times each week.
• Allow more guest posts by other bloggers and artists.
• Monetize the blog. I currently make about $0,000.00 on the blog so it shouldn’t be too difficult to increase that amount. I’m thinking, offer advertising spaces to artists, which might be a challenge as artists are TIGHT, like duck’s ass tight when it comes to spending money on marketing themselves. So I might look at approaching some art supply companies, galleries, art publications or just go the affiliate route.
• Post reviews on more products. Encourage companies to send products to me (I love receiving gifts in the post) and mention them. It could be win/win/win if done right. I get a surprise in the mail, the company gets exposure, and you learn about a wonderful new product! Competitions could be an option too, where I just tell the company to send the products to a reader of the blog.
• Respond to emails and comments!! Argh, sorry if I haven’t replied to you! Don’t take it personally, I suck. I do read everything, I just haven’t been replying to much lately.
• Keep up to date with what is happening and write about it! Pretty straight forward this one, I just have to look at my domain name to remind me; artnewsblog.com.
• Do more artist profiles. If I find an interesting artist online, I should do a post on them.

Anyone know of reasonably affordable blog designer that can make me a spiffy new blog and tranfer Art News Blog from Blogger to.. umm.. Wordpress or that other blogging platform that I can’t think of right now? Perhaps I should see a logo designer first.

That’s not my white bum on the bottom left of the image as I chose not to scare the locals. I’m not much of a morning person either.

From the Sydney Morning Herald.. “The official name of Tunick’s installation was The Base. Yet after waiting two hours for the sun to come up, it became apparent that Blue Poles might be an appropriate title as a brisk wind hit the Opera House steps.”

Bernard Lorjou – Bull and Bullfighter (The Friends)

Bernard Lorjou – The Jazz Pianist

Bernard Lorjou – Circus Horse on Hind Legs

Bernard Lorjou – King David

More of his work can be seen at Lorjou.com (it’s a little challenging to navigate but worth the effort) or at the official Bernard Lorjou website.

Procrastination may result in stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, severe loss of personal productivity, as well as disapproval by others for not meeting responsibilities or commitments. These feelings combined may promote further procrastination. While it is regarded as normal for people to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological disorder.”

So, I have a label I can hide behind now. It’s not me to blame for the lack of posts, it’s the “psychological disorder” of “chronic procrastination” which I suffer from to blame. I knew all along that it wasn’t my fault and wikipedia has proven me right.

Sorry if I haven’t replied to your emails or comments lately, I really have been pretty vacant. I’m back on the horse now and holding tightly to the feisty little filly.

I wonder what has been happening in the world of art…

Relax
Dion

The santa painting was stolen here.

Relax
Dion

The santa painting was stolen here.

Here’s my self portrait entry..

Here’s their blurb..
“Entrants will have the chance to win one of three great prizes. Our first place winner will receive a $500 gift certificate to Blick Art Materials and have their artwork featured on the cover of the March issue of the magazine! They will also be interviewed by one of the Art Calendar editors for a one-page profile, where we’ll feature a picture of the winner and their winning work. Our second place winner will receive a $150 gift certificate to Blick Art Materials and our third place winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Blick Art Materials. Both our second and third place finalists will have a half-page profile with an image of their work and a short biography about them inside the magazine.”

Find out more about the art competition on the Art Calendar website.

Here’s my pathetic excuses for not posting lately..

1. There’s not enough hours in the day
2. I have been overdosing on art
3. I need a break (those close to me would find this excuse funny)
4. My head has been in the clouds
5. The blog doesn’t make any money anyway (well duh, put ads on it!)
6. When I paint everyday I become sensitive to everything and everyone
7. Sometimes I have nothing to say and all the news bores me
8. I don’t feel like it
9. Just because
10. C.

Here’s a recent painting of Melbourne (click for larger image)..

It’s hard to make a good artist look interesting as they’re usually just working.