Found on Flickr: Visual Diary, September 2009

Flickr has a new feature for its users: Galleries. The gallery feature turns any Flickr member into a mini-curator. Give it a whirl! Some of my favorites so far are Minimalism Squared, 2x a Frame, and Kid+Cat Scream.

Stella Im Hultberg painting in progress from Thinkspace Gallery (website here). Click image to view source.

I've been using Found on Flickr as an ongoing visual diary, so I'll make monthly galleries for awhile and see how it goes.

Here is my Visual Diary for September 2009.

I can't include the following in my Flickr gallery, but they are also what I'm looking at these days:

Esra Roise, My hands are cold but my heart is on fire. Click image to view source.
Cat Panel Diptych by Dara Engler.

I’m exploring the possibility that a lot of Americans “relax” by entering a zombie-like state of hibernation. We choose diversions that allow us to zone out and ignore things in the world that are difficult. I paint secluded, vacant, zombie-like figures who have relaxed in their habits until they have lost time. ... They are sluggish, jaundiced, and so lacking muscle tone that they hang over their chairs and defy anatomy. -- Dara Engler, from her Artist Statement

Beverly McIver, Dear God 3. Click image to view source.

Hiroshi Watanabe, Baba, Ena Bunraku. Click image to view source. (What are bunraku?)

Annual 12x12 Exhibit Saturday 2009.09.26

Self Portrait with Deep Background, aka What About Pickles? Acrylic on canvas, 2009. Click image to view source.

12x12 Art Show & Sale 2009 Saturday, September 26, 2009, 7pm

Fred Jones Industries Building 900 W. Main, downtown OKC (map link)

Featuring 150 of Oklahoma's finest artists, delectable food from 26 area restaurants, panoramic views of the OKC skyline, live music and cash bar.

The 12x12 Art Show & Sale is the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition's only fundraiser, with proceeds benefiting the organization's many programs to support visual artists in the state of Oklahoma.

Music from The Stringents, a rock string quartet, and the Millwood Drum Line.

A preview of artwork is online now and images will be added weekly. You can also view some of the artwork during a preview exhibition in the Lobby of Leadership Square, 211 N Robinson in OKC, September 1-20.

Click here to read more about this fabulous event and purchase tickets.

My friend and colleague romy owens will be bringing her Photobooth to this event. It's not to be missed!

Worldwide Sketch Crawl Day, 2009.09.19

This is what happened today, mixed media on paper, 2009. Click image to view source.

Get your sketchbooks out, tomorrow is Worldwide Sketch Crawl Day # 24.

Sketch Crawl is an excuse to draw whatever's in front of you or inside your head for a whole day. (It's like a pub crawl, but a lot more productive.) Challenge yourself, and don't forget to stretch first. Click here to read more about participating.

I am at the end of my summer sketchbook, an upcycled beauty made by Lindsey Zodrow at Collected Thread here in OKC. I'm transitioning over to another upcycled sketchbook by Sparrowtracks, and I may dip into some Moleskine kraft-cover books.

Looking for some ideas? Have a look at the sketchbooks of Doug Chayka and Debby Kaspari. Or, download one of two pocket guides created by artist Michael Nobbs, 75 Ways to Draw More and Start to Draw Your Life. Go!

Project Idea: Object Sketchbook

Are you looking for a way to jump-start your creativity? Get a small sketchbook and devote it entirely to studies of a single object. Draw (or represent) your object as many ways as you can think of, using as many media as your book will hold. Here are some ideas, with links to examples, mostly of my work, some from other artists:

Mary, figure session 2, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
STYLES AND TECHNIQUES gestural, blind contour, continuous line, sketchy, graphic or hard-edge, fat lines, thin lines, no line, busy, calm, realistic, abstract, cartoony, calligraphic, using your non-dominant hand, local color, non-local color, cross-hatching, rectilinear, curvilinear, verbal description, typographical illustration, dark, light

Two sketchbook heads, acrylic on paper, June 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
MEDIA AND TOOLS pencil, pen, marker, colored pencil, conte crayon, crayola crayon, charcoal, digital, photograph, collage, frottage, xerox, watercolor, pastel, ink wash, fabric, thread or stitches

Valuables in here and Non-tweets, ink on paper, July 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.
POINT OF VIEW close up, far away, all positive space, all negative space, static, dynamic, alone, with other objects, from above, from underneath, in profile, on edge, repeated or in a pattern
That should keep us busy for awhile, yes?

Last week to see Back to Normal

Normal, OK: Wayne Payne, acrylic and ink on canvas, 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Click image to view source.

This is the last week to see my current solo show, Back to Normal: Normal, OK Revisited at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum in Oklahoma City (map link). The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday. Click here for hours and admission.

My sincere thanks to everyone who attended the reception last week! It was great to see my friends and meet new people.