shepaints wrote:Famous muses must be Gala (Salvador Dali),
La Giaconda (Da Vinci) Helga (one of the Wyeths)
Jacqueline (Picasso) etcetera..................
Don't forget Ruben's wives.
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi - well, they don't quite know his name, but something like that...) had a male muse, and a male "angel", as I remember..
truth
Portal Star, and don't forget Gilbert's George.
I agree with what Asherman said, but it is always nice to have a muse when one is available. Sometimes I see a face or figure, or even just a weed in the desert that inspires me and makes me want to capture its beauty. With human subjects, however, I am generally too timid to ask, too afraid of being misinterpreted. It's easier with the weeds.
Try making a portrait of a cat. They lay in the same place ALL day until you pick up a pencil and then ZIP they have better things to do.
We are having - for the first time, a theme show, The Dog Show - at our gallery this next month (opening tomorrow night.) Thirty two artists have entered a total of 45 pieces, and let me tell you, it was a hell of a show to hang, to make it not look like a complete jumble, but "sing" from piece to piece. We have bronze dog poop on astroturf, and ethereal paintings, and concrete castings, and paper and wire feral curs. Took us all day to arrange and type up.
It's interesting, because you can see the love in some of the work... and the attachment. All the work had to be for sale, a bit of inspiration I had when I wrote the Dog Show Rules, since we can't survive with walls covered with not for sale signs. It about killed us to refuse a large piece by a really good painter because he can't part with it (he put in another he can part with). In our regular one person shows we do accept NFS, so it was new for us to refuse.
All the art works will get ribbons, little snippets of gold for the artists to wear, and we will serve waters and biscuits (cookies) plus the usual... wine and cheese etc.
A really odd phenomenon occurred, back six months ago when I sent out the Invitation with Dog Show Rules to the artists .... two mentioned that they would have pieces at another gallery in town, actually a sort of gift shop/craft/art place. We have very strictly tried not to take another gallery's artists. (The concept of a gallery stable is very weakly understood here, but we try to act it out.) But this time we issued invites to anybody we had seen locally who did dog imagery plus all our artists, most of whom don't do dogs at all, most being landscape painters and several working in abstract. It turned out that that place was also going to do a dog show in March (we just found this out, the dog show part.) So, the muse struck twice, either serendipitously or with evil intent.
When we first started our gallery, I wanted to do themes, but what worked out was that we featured one artist a month and we had enough to do keeping up with that. Themes would have been about land use, man/land, gardens, water, movement, whatever, but also on my list were horses, dogs, cats (I love them all, of course, but it did occur to me that perhaps someone would BUY something.)
We are in the throes of giving up, as sales are really down, down, down. So, we hope the muse hits some of the people who come to the opening, upside the head.
I was looking through some of the previous posts on this thread and saw one by MuzikQueen79, who said it would be a great compliment to be someone's muse. That made me think, what would it be like to have a fellow artist as a muse? Many artists have done paintings and drawings of fellow artists, but I've always wished I had someone I could do an extended study of, a series, interpreting that person in as many ways as I could. But would I feel intimidated if the other person was an artist? Would you?
truth
Not at all, DesertArtist. I would be least intimidated by another artist. Artists, as I said before, are more likely to appreciate your creativity, and both your successes and failures. Indeed, I paint first for myself, next for artists who do more or less what I do, next the aesthetically sophisticated public, last of all people who just want pretty things.
truth
Right now I'm working on a painting that seems to serve as its own muse. I hope she does not abandon me.
ossobuco wrote:We are having - for the first time, a theme show, The Dog Show - at our gallery this next month (opening tomorrow night.) Thirty two artists have entered a total of 45 pieces, and let me tell you, it was a hell of a show to hang, to make it not look like a complete jumble, but "sing" from piece to piece. We have bronze dog poop on astroturf, and ethereal paintings, and concrete castings, and paper and wire feral curs. Took us all day to arrange and type up.
It's interesting, because you can see the love in some of the work... and the attachment. All the work had to be for sale, a bit of inspiration I had when I wrote the Dog Show Rules, since we can't survive with walls covered with not for sale signs. It about killed us to refuse a large piece by a really good painter because he can't part with it (he put in another he can part with). In our regular one person shows we do accept NFS, so it was new for us to refuse.
All the art works will get ribbons, little snippets of gold for the artists to wear, and we will serve waters and biscuits (cookies) plus the usual... wine and cheese etc.
A really odd phenomenon occurred, back six months ago when I sent out the Invitation with Dog Show Rules to the artists .... two mentioned that they would have pieces at another gallery in town, actually a sort of gift shop/craft/art place. We have very strictly tried not to take another gallery's artists. (The concept of a gallery stable is very weakly understood here, but we try to act it out.) But this time we issued invites to anybody we had seen locally who did dog imagery plus all our artists, most of whom don't do dogs at all, most being landscape painters and several working in abstract. It turned out that that place was also going to do a dog show in March (we just found this out, the dog show part.) So, the muse struck twice, either serendipitously or with evil intent.
When we first started our gallery, I wanted to do themes, but what worked out was that we featured one artist a month and we had enough to do keeping up with that. Themes would have been about land use, man/land, gardens, water, movement, whatever, but also on my list were horses, dogs, cats (I love them all, of course, but it did occur to me that perhaps someone would BUY something.)
We are in the throes of giving up, as sales are really down, down, down. So, we hope the muse hits some of the people who come to the opening, upside the head.
I love the dog show idea for the gallery! (Oh the water and biscuits!) How did it go?
I'm sad to hear that you are in the throes of giving up. Could you possibly sell something else on the side to keep going?
We sold one thing out of 45 pieces, that being a photo of mine. Grrrrrrrr! On the other hand about a dozen people came in to look at the show yesterday, unusual for a weekday. The show is loved. People are just hanging on to their wallet contents.
To sell something else means we would have to buy something else. We don't have funds to invest. (besides, we love art...)
Hmm. I dunno what I was thinking... but it would have to go along with the art, of course. What are people willing to spend money on in that town? Here, people love coffee & a nice place to sit.
I'm not surprised a bit that people loved the show. It's sounded great from your original description. Of course, being a dog-lover, I can easily see how dogs could become "a muse." They're so amusing.
Congratulations on your sale! That must have felt good.
Very interesting everyone. Once I was asked to be an artist's muse, alas, I was a little afraid to say yes. However, I should have as he supported his painting my running a Meditarnian resturant in San Diego and had a great art history library.
What was I thinking not to at least take the chance and see what happened. I think I was afraid.
I think whenever an artist asks someone to be their "muse" they are usually wanting sex.
PS I agree with you that is why I never took him up on the offer, hehe. But it was nice for an old person like me to get an offer.
truth
Hi, Joanne. Welcome back. I too am sorry to think that Osso's gallery might have to close. There is something about book stores, art galleries, museums, small parks and nice little places to eat, drink and just visit that justify urban living. I think that cities should try to help such enterprises survive, but I can't think of any help they might give other than tax breaks.
Small enterprises get tax breaks?
truth
Pardon the idealism, Andrew.
Oh no, Osso's gallery is closing. I did not know that. So sad I to love small locally owned businesses. I like the feeling of neighborhood but alas it seems strip malls and the crawl on the 24 hour nees stations are what people are most interested in.
