“Procrastination refers to the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting and/or completing any task or decision. There are three criteria for a behavior to be classified as procrastination: it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.

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…

Since discovering the iPod I now rarely listen to whole albums while I paint as I just create play lists to suit my mood. But some albums just play well all the way through so I still use them in the studio.

Here’s Ten albums that have kept me company during the completion of a painting or two..

1. Leonard Cohen – Songs of Love and Hate
   Anything by Leonard is good to paint to though.
2. Antony and the Johnsons – Antony and the Johnsons
   This self titled album is a beauty. Antony Hegarty sings like an angel. All his stuff is good.
3. The Cinematic Orchestra – Ma Fleur
   Lovely album.. how could you not love this?
4. Angus and Julia Stone – A Book Like This
   Australian brother and sister duo.
5. Eddie Vedder – Music for the Motion Picture Into the Wild
   For some reason, this album always makes me want to give away all my possessions and travel. Perhaps it’s because I saw the movie.
6. Joan Valent – Insula Poetica
   Beautifully haunting music.. yum.
7. Moby – Go: The Very Best of Moby
   I sometimes need a lift in the studio.
8. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – The Boatman’s Call
   This album has a habit of taking me back to darker times, so I’m careful how I use it.
9. Hope Sandoval & the Warm Inventions – Bavarian Fruit Bread
   Her Mazzy Star albums are nice too.
10. PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
    I no longer have a working version of this CD but that’s because it used to live in my studio.

I really do like a lot of different types of music though. What are your TOP albums that you couldn’t live without in the studio? I need some new tunes on my itunes.

Art News Blog is FIVE years old. That must make me some kind of blogger or arts writer or something. I’m most comfortable with the “something” label though. Someone called me an art critic recently and I didn’t know how to react. He said it in a way that was supposed to be flattering but I was actually very offended.

If I was forced to label myself it would be Wanderer or Watcher of things. If I had to put something serious on my business card (which I don’t have.. even though ALL artists should have one) it would be Painter.

I’m really not a fan of labels and boxes though. We get too comfortable wearing them and before long we can’t live without them. It doesn’t matter if the label is one of power and influence or it’s one of lack and degradation, we cling to them like our life depends on them. A lot of opportunities are missed and interesting paths not taken because of labels and our fear of peeling them off.

Ok, I’m starting to rant and getting off topic. Happy Birthday Art News Blog!!

Thanks for reminding me Woo

Here’s the art studio of the Australian artist Leith O’Malley. Leith’s work was recently showing at the The 4th Wall Gallery in Dallas, Texas.

Art in various stages of completion.

Artist, palette and portrait.

This is Leith in front of a Rory Gallagher portrait.. sharing the same shirt.

See more of Leith O’Malley’s work on his website here.

Or more artist studios here. Also, if you have sent me photos of your studio I will post them, I just thought I would spread them out rather than posting them all at once.

I’m in Sydney for a few days as a family member was passing through town and needed a place to stay. The problem was that he may have swine flu or at least a bad case of regular flu. Either way, I wasn’t hanging around to catch any flu! So it was a great excuse to jump in the car and drive.

Today I went to the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney to see Intensely Dutch, which looks at Dutch artists after world war 2, including artists from the CoBrA movement. Artists include Karel Appel, Gerrit Benner, Bram Bogart, Constant, Corneille, Edgar Fernhout, Willem de Kooning, Theo Kuijpers, Lucebert, Jaap Nanninga, Wim Oepts, Jan Riske, Jan J Schoonhoven, Bram van Velde, and Jaap Wagemaker.

Karel Appel
Ontmoeting (Encounter) 1951
oil on canvas, 130 x 97.5 cm
Collection: Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (on loan to Centraal Museum,
Utrecht) © Karel Appel Foundation/Van Lennep Producties, Amsterdam

It was a smallish exhibition, but one that got me excited. I had just walked around the whole Art Gallery of NSW and was seriously bored (apart from a few favorite paintings that I have seen countless times). It was Intensely Dutch that got me wagging my art tail and I was probably dribbling in front of a few of the works too.

I love line, paint, texture, and childlike abandon in painting.. and this exhibition has them all. I didn’t take my camera with me and the art catalog had sold out, so I can’t show some of the works that I liked most. While Karel Appel has never been on my top ten list of painters, I would give up my car and widescreen TV to own a few of his drawings!

Lucebert
Dierentemmer (Animal tamer) 1959
oil on canvas, 88 x 128.5 cm
Stedelijk Museum, Schiedam © the estate of the artist

If you’re a lover of paint you’ll love Intensely Dutch. If I had to complain about something I would say that it needed 50 more works hanging! Oh, and running out of catalogs is no way to run a business. It’s on until the 23rd of August in Sydney at the AGNSW.

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 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.”

Thanks to everyone that entered the studio slash office chair giveaway. I invited my good friend around, filled him with coffee and chocolate biscuits, then asked him to pick a winner.

The winner he chose was Corrine (Jafabrit) and she chose the Topstar Sitness 5 Fitness Stool. Here’s why she chose the chair..

The topstar in lime green because it looks like a work of art, because it rocks, because it looks goofy, because it would fit in my studio, because I LOVE it, because I WANT one, because I want to hear my husband say, “what the hell is that”, and I can say smugly, “why darling it is my ergonomic stool” humph!


I would have liked to give everyone a chair but I don’t think CSN Office Furniture would have been open to the idea of giving away 60+ chairs!

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.