Joy Through Observation

The last two weeks have been utterly chaotic and challenging.  With very little notice I was invited to participate in another online, international interview event.  I was also asked to create a free gift for listeners that was based on a solo exhibit I had back in 2008.  With very little time, I hunted down old image files, filmed, recorded, edited and did my best to pull it all together be meaningful whether you are an artist or not.  With less than five minutes to spare, I pushed the PUBLISH button and the mini-course became my free gift for the duration of the two-week event.

In progress photo - I experimented with glazing over underpaintings using the complement of the intended color, i.e. orange underpainting for blue sky. These are all oil paintings.

Thirty of the seventy-five paintings in the solo exhibit, Unveiled - The Anatomy of a Painting, were landscapes made up of the same three subjects; sky, trees and road.  The economy had gone belly-up and I knew few, if any, paintings would sell.  I decided to create the thirty similar yet different paintings as a way for viewers to discover their personal visual preferences, to understand the basic five elements that are the most important elements in creating a painting (though all paintings don't incorporate all five) Line, Shape, Value, Color and Texture/Pattern.

I loved the color in this one so I never did glaze over the orange sky with blue.

In spite of the pressure of the deadline creating this course, I had a fabulous time gathering my thoughts together again about the exhibit and breathing new life into the idea of guiding both artists and artists to uncover their personal preferences and responses to what they see around them in their everyday world. 

This video is the intro video for the Joy Through Observation mini course.  When the online event is over, I'll make it available as a course here on ExploreWithChrisCarter.com.  You can obtain it now, for free, by following this link and gaining free access to the inspiring interviews in the InStory Event.  All of the interviews, including mine, are now live and accessible. Link: InStory Event .

I'm finding many of the other interviews to be very inspiring.  This evening, there will be an impromptu conversation between the host of the event, Devorah Spilman, Australian artist Tracy Verdugo and me.  I'm hoping to be able to obtain a recording and share it with you later.  You might enjoy listening to Tracy's interview, too.  In mine, I share a few anecdotes I haven't shared before.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Chris Carter