The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.
~ Pablo Picasso
I was supposed to go camping this weekend. Reserved the site months ago, had a group of friends and neighbors going, most of the gear and food was packed… the whole shebang. Then I called it off the morning of.
Even though we love camping and had been looking forward to the trip, we were dreading it as it grew closer. We had in-town commitments, chores to do (eg: someone has to feed the chickens.) It would have caused more stress and thus not been fun.
Instead, my family and I spent a delightful weekend at home. We played and ate and worked through a backlog of yard projects. We ran errands and did chores (and even went to art class!) We ended up happy and rested after a full weekend.
- This week’s artist is – ZeroPopArt – whose work my sister recently shared with me! For even more, check out their website and instagram!
- Raoul Dufy would have been 147 on Monday!
- The Louvre Museum looks to rehouse the Mona Lisa in it’s own room. I read a suggestion to have two rooms, 1 with the original painting (timed entry, no photos) and 1 with a fake (free-for-all, selfies, usies, etc.)
- Celebrities and their art doppelgangers. I particularly liked Robert De Niro’s.
- They used to award Olympic medals in art!?
- This video shows how a 300-year old Pastel stick maker creates nearly 2,000 colors.
- 100 years ago in photos.
- Up until her death last year at the age of 93, Concha García Zaera wielded the relatively simple graphics editor Microsoft Paint like few others have.
- Hal Lasko, the Pixel Painter, also made art in Microsoft Paint.
- Why did the artist go to jail? For sketchy behavior!
Fun Fact: The first known use of the word “art” comes from 13th-century manuscripts.- Mount Etna is volcano in Sicily that blows perfect smoke rings.
- Here’s drone footage of an erupting volcano. It gets right in there!
- You can see the moon in astonishing detail here (1.3 gigapixel image).
- This is a video slideshow of some of the best images from the Mars missions — Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance — presented in 4K resolution at 60fps.
- What if ruff but too much? Here are some absurdist portraits of over-luxuriated nobles in the style of Rococo and Baroque European painters by Volker Hermes.
- New Yorker cartoonist Zoe Si coached Ayo Edebiri through the process of drawing a New Yorker cartoon. The catch: neither of them could see the other’s work in progress.
- The entire history of the United States has unfolded in the time it’s taken Pluto to orbit the Sun once.
- It’s the time of year when there are lots of live music events, open mics, live jam sessions, etc, scattered about the area throughout the week. There are too many to list here, so if you’re looking for such things, head over to WhatsHappeningDurango.com.
- There are classes/workshops/projects available at the 4 Corners Gem and Mineral Club, the Bayfield Library, Create Art and Tea, the Dancing Spirit Center for the Arts, Durango Sustainable Goods, Let’s Letter Together, the MakerLab, the Scrapbook Nook, Seed Studio, and the Durango Arts Center. There are a lot more things happening that I don’t include – so if you’re ever looking for something to do, start at WhatsHappeningDurango.com.
- It’s been in the works for a few months now – going back-and-forth with the company, but the new wall of color finally arrived! Yes, we’ve switched from Montana Cans to Montana Colors (the originals). We’ll keep caps for both on hand, but otherwise we expanded and brought in more colors of spray paint – at a better price. So… we’ve got your spray paint needs covered. Swing by today to check them out!
I have had art projects and commitments I’ve made that end up being like my camping trip. They started out sounding fun but then became drudgery. (This is part of why I don’t offer commission work.)
Just because something is good, doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Just because something’s good for you doesn’t mean it’s good right now.
Everything ebbs and flows. We change over time, and over different periods of time. What season are you in?
Whenever I’m at the register I give the reminder to “have fun”! After all, creating is supposed to be fun. Or it’s supposed to be hard in order to clear the way for more good things afterward. If you’re not getting the results you’re needing… maybe it’s time for a different kind of spring cleaning.
No matter what it looks like, the world needs your art!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew