This news is a little late as I have been a very absent blog editor lately, but I keep telling myself that it’s better late than never.

This month the art news site Art Daily turned 13! In internet years thirteen is almost ancient.. well done Art Daily.

Here’s to another 13 years!

Five years no longer sounds old to me.

Art Capital Group has sued the famous photographer Annie Leibovitz over a sales agreement and a 24 million dollar loan. The portrait photographer needed the funds for “tax liens, mortgages and unpaid bills.”

She first approached Art Capital in June 2008 and secured a loan in September, the company said, and drew down $5 million of a $22 million credit line. In December, Art Capital agreed to extend the line to $24 million and advanced her another $18.9 million, it said.
Leibovitz must repay the $24 million, plus unpaid interest and other fees, by Sept. 8. Without sales of collateral, Art Capital believes “Leibovitz will be unable to satisfy their obligations on the maturity date — a point that was discussed and acknowledged by the parties at the outset of the restructuring,” the company said. Bloomberg

I’m impressed that any artist could get a loan for $24 million! Sure, she may not be able to pay it back and may lose her catalog of photographs and properties, but it’s an interesting story to tell the grand kids. Here’s some Annie Leibovitz photos on Google Images.

The latest art studio belongs to the Vietnamese painter Do Hoang Tuong based in Saigon, Vietnam.

He does wonderful little paintings like these below..

See more artist studios online.

I don’t know if art scammers have started using real artist names or it’s just a coincidence, but there is a scammer currently using the name Crystal Moll and there is an artist with the name of Crystal Moll. They’re two different people; One is a scammer, the other is an artist.

The name or email of the scammer isn’t really that important as they just reuse the same story again and again. Just ask them to pay with Escrow.com or Paypal.com and you won’t hear back from them as their scam doesn’t work with these forms of payment.

This is for those that think I don’t mention “good art” enough. I’m assuming good art means old art that looks like something and bad art is all the “contemporary crap” on Art News Blog. Personally I favor expressive painting but I really do love most forms of art from most movements.

For example, how could you not like this little beauty below?

It’s Raphael’s The Woman with a Veil painting (la velata or la donna velata) from 1516. It will be showing at the Portland Art Museum this October 24 through to January. The painting will be on loan from the Medici collection of the Palatine Gallery, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy and was made possible by the Foundation for Italian Art and Culture.

Marilyn H. and Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr. director Brian Ferriso said “This is truly a major highlight in the Museum’s more than 115-year history. It is a significant coup for our institution, city, and region, and an extraordinary opportunity for the public to see, experience, and learn from a painting that captures fully the ideals of the High Renaissance. Given its historical and cultural significance, this masterpiece has rarely left Italy. Unless you travel to Florence, you would not have the opportunity to view this masterwork.”

This weekend is the last chance to take the HWAT art trail in 2009, visiting artist studios around Norfolk and Suffolk in the UK. Artists will open their studio doors on the 11th-12th of July from 11 am to 6 pm.

Here’s a blurb from the HWAT website.. “The Harleston & Waveney Art Trail Collective is a diverse and lively community of professional artists who live and work in the beautiful Waveney Valley, all within reach of Harleston, a small market town on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk. The Harleston & Waveney Art Trail has taken place every summer since 2005.”

Artists participating this year include..

Nicola Slattery
Clive Davies
Jayne Wurr
Dom Theobold
David Rock
David Page
Dianna McKenna
Bazil Leith
Jazz Green
Jane German
Noelle Francis
Nell Close
Derek Nice
Cork Brick Gallery
Dinny Turner
Mary Spicer
Ian Scott
Christopher Parr / Rebecca Lyne
Dee Nickerson
Val Lindsell
Nick Holmes
Mark Goldsworthy
Alan Frewin
Rosemary Elliott
Frank Beanland

Find out more about the Harleston and Waveney Art Trail at their website here.

I did the grocery shopping today and found some Vincent van Gogh cheese! I wonder what the Dutchman would think of that? There was also a Rembrandt cheese, but I thought I would taste Vincent first before I try Remmie. I will buy the Rembrandt cheese next as Vincent was quite tasty. The only thing missing was a glass of red.

Here’s another artist’s studio. This is the workspace of American artist Garric Simonsen. If you like Cy Twombly or Willem de Kooning you’ll enjoy browsing through Garric’s work on his website.

See Garric’s paintings and works on paper at his Website Here.
See more Art Studio photos.

Here’s an interesting quote from Robert Genn’s latest newsletter called “Transartistic meditation,” which is something like Transcendental Meditation.

“Studies of “flow” and “the zone” have been done using all stripes of artists. This is where the artist gets into a relaxed, intuitive state somewhere deep down in the lizard brain and the good stuff rains down like ripe pomegranates. Tired of rotten apples, I was curious about these concepts as well.” Robert Genn

I have never been able to figure why artists would want to waste their time meditating as they drink from the same pond while they have their tools in their hand. It may be an active form of meditation, especially if you’re an expressionist of any kind, but you’re forced to hang out in places that zen monks would be comfortable in. Personally, I think it’s why so many artists suffer from depression or are just downright wacky; as they can’t handle being in that space. You have to look at yourself naked in silence, which is why television, radio, and any other distractions are so popular with society.

I enjoy looking through artist studios so much that I decided to make it a semi-regular thing. So if you have a few photos of your art studio or workspace and would like to share them, please send them to me.

Make sure the images are under 1mb in size as they don’t have to be MASSIVE and my inbox clogs up. Include a short paragraph about your space if you wish and your website address if you have one. Artist studios from all creative people are welcome and it doesn’t have to be a beautiful working space.. it just has to work for you.

Here’s the studios so far (listed alphabetically so that my studio is conveniently placed at the top..lol)

Dion Archibald’s Painting Studio – Working space of an Australian artist.
Jessica Burko’s Artist Studio – Mixed media artist based in Boston, MA, USA.
Gail Sauter’s Painting Studio – American painter working in Maine, USA.

I’ll add to the list as artists send them in (I have three other studios to add at the moment)