Spotlight: Stan Kurth

Lunatic Fringe
gesso & acrylic on Yupo, 25" x 19"
Stan Kurth

A self-described "evolving painter," Stan Kurth approaches figurative work with archetypal rather than narrative imagery. Working primarily in acrylic and gesso on Yupo, he uses a subtle palette to create rich, multi-layered pieces that hint at other levels of reality, partially hidden from our understanding.

Stan's work has been widely exhibited and collected and he has an impressive string of awards to his name. He recently became a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society and is featured as one of the ten "Ones to Watch" in the December 2011 issue of Watercolor Artist magazine.

Please hop over to Stan's website and his blog to read more about him and see more of his work.

TOYS...

  
Fe Fi Faux Fowl
acrylic on canvas, 30" x 30"
Chris Beck

I got word over the weekend that this fun fellow will be flying east in a few weeks. He's been accepted for the show TOYS: Re-Invent, Re-Imagine, Re-Discover at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center in Solomons, MD (about 60 miles southeast of Washington, DC on Chesapeake Bay). The show runs from October 14, 2011 to January 8, 2012 and includes 62 works by 32 artists.

This painting was quite a departure for me -- both size and medium. I made a brief foray into the world of acrylic a few years ago but scurried back to watercolor with no regrets. I do like the oversize presentation here and the fact that it doesn't need to be framed under glass, but I prefer the process of painting in watercolor to that of acrylic.

A Celebrated Jumping Frog...

Ribbit-ribbit, acrylic on canvas, 6" x 6"

Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" inspired the Calaveras Jumping Frog Jubilee, a contest that began in 1928 and has been held every year since. Today's newspaper featured a story on the record-setting jumper from 1986, charmingly named Rosie the Ribiter. My mind drifted back to a simpler time...

Back in the 70s, friends who were renovating a home invited me to draw something on a blank wall that had been taped but not yet painted. Although I don't remember why, I drew an anthropomorphic frog who was burning her bra. (What can I say? It was a time of liberation!!) My friends laughed and, a day or so later, painted over the frog with primer. As soon as the paint dried, Ms. Frog reappeared. "Not to worry," said my friends, "we'll put two coats of the finish paint on and everything should be fine." First coat dried, Ms. Frog reappeared... second coat dried, Ms. Frog reappeared... I think you're beginning to get the idea. As I recall, it took something like 20 coats of paint before Ms. Frog's reappearance was so faint that only the in-crowd could find it. They christened her the Phantom Phrog and, by extension, me too!! And then people began giving me frogs -- plastic frogs, carved wooden frogs, stone frogs, plush toy frogs -- endless numbers of frogs. I will admit that I collected a few myself.


The acquisitions dwindled over the years, but I still have a fondness for frogs, so when I saw this little charmer on eBay, I jumped at the chance to bid. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!!) I painted "Ribbit-ribbit" as part of a series of vintage tin toys last year during my "acrylics phase."

Doing the happy dance...

Fe Fi Faux Fowl, acrylic, 30" x 30"

I went a little off-the-path last year and did a few paintings in acrylic. This one turned out so well that I just had to enter it in The Artist's Magazine's first All-Media Online Competition. I heard about a week ago that I'd won an honorable mention for this painting, but I didn't realize it would be displayed in the online exhibit. Check out the other great paintings in their show too!!

In other news, I will have paintings in several watercolor shows around the country between now and mid-summer. My painting "Moonlit Cactus" will be showing at the Western Colorado Watercolor Society's exhibit at the Center for the Arts in Grand Junction, CO. "Morning Glorious" will be hanging in the Watercolor Missouri 2009 exhibit at the Winston Churchill Memorial & Library in Fulton, MO. I will have a painting in the exhibition book for the Richeson 75: Small Works 2009 show. And last but not least, "Heirlooms" will be hanging in the Transparent Watercolor Society of America's show at the Kenosha Public Museum in Kenosha, WI. Stop in for a look if you're nearby.

Rare Bird...

"Peck-peck"
6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

I had so much fun painting this one! There's just something kind of sassy about this little bird. The bright colors and the fun, cartoony shape go so well together. To top it off, this toy is just plain fun to watch in action. It's very basic, but the hopping and pecking just make me giggle. I have to confess I'm a total eBay addict at this point -- trolling for cute tin toys and silly salt shakers almost daily. It's gotten so a lot of the offerings are sadly predictable, but every once in a while, something like this jumps off the screen. Delightful. Click here to go to the auction and a chance to place your bid.

One more time now...

Been dining on humble pie lately. I had a large serving courtesy of eBay. My first auction ended without a single bid, and I finally had to admit that perhaps I didn't do quite enough research into the finer points of writing a listing title. I've relisted the little snail painting with some revisions to the wording and will be running the auction for 10 additional days. Click here to go to the auction for a chance to place a bid on this cutie:

"Zoom-zoom"
6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

The other helping of humble pie came from CafePress. You may recall that I ordered a pair of tote bags printed with two of my recent duck/bird images. Due to some faulty advice, I ended up with very sad, washed out images. But CafePress stood behind their guarantee and I uploaded a new, darker image with the promise of speedy turnaround. The package never arrived. Back to CafePress again where the customer service rep ordered up a reprint. Two days later, I had a second sample set -- of the original faded images!! Aargh!! They printed the wrong file. Once more, CafePress stood behind their guarantee and ordered a duplicate printing of the darker files. Even speedier delivery this time. Alas, the darker files were TOO DARK, and it also became clear that primary colors are much more successful than some of the funky purples and oranges that I like to use. So it's back to Photoshop to see if I can tweak the duck image to print nicely. And just maybe one of the other primary color bird images will print well too. I have to try one more time....

I'm planning to post another painting Friday afternoon. Check back later in the day.

"Zoom-zoom"

6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

I'm thrilled to have my first auction underway. This little vintage toy snail was itself an eBay auction purchase. I love the patterned shell and the little wheels and I'm sure it goes faster than any snail known to nature. (A note about the image: my scanner is so sensitive that it picked up the minor variations in the weave of the canvas, giving the wee beastie a rather streaky look. That's not visible when you view the actual painting.)

Click here to go to the auction page.

Almost there...

Hang on just a few more seconds. I've got the auction listing all ready to go, but it seems absurd to have it end at 11:15 p.m. some days from now. So I've saved it and will post sometime tomorrow. Look for this little guy at auction, starting tomorrow:

Zoom-zoom
6" x 6"
acrylic on gallery-wrap canvas

As for the CafePress tote bags: when I was setting up the print files, the online preview image was very dark. I spoke with a customer service rep who told me to adjust the image file until it appeared right on the screen. Sadly, when the bags arrived on Monday, they looked like they'd been through 20 laundry cycles -- the images were so faded and blah. A call back to customer service revealed that instead of telling me to lighten up my print files, the first rep should have reassured me that the actual prints would be MUCH LIGHTER than the online preview. In fact, she probably should have told me to darken up my files. Fortunately, CafePress has a fantastic customer service program and I'll have new bags by week's end, no charge. As soon as I see how they've turned out with my revised print files, I'll either be opening my shop doors or crying in a beer.

Patience, my pretties...

Early readers of this blog may recall my near-death struggles with Feedburner. Their use of somewhat non-standard English didn't always help. However, I had to admire the silliness involved in creating the word "troubleshootize" to complete the sequence of operations Feedburner provides for blogs: "analyze, optimize, publicize, monetize, and (of course) troubleshootize."

I promised I'd start posting my 6x6 paintings for auction in a few weeks. That's still the plan. I've set up the Paypal part, but when I started to read about setting up an auction, I soon found myself in a veritable maze of information, much of it labelled "Must reads for newbies" or words to that effect. So as soon as I "educatize" myself in the ways of eBay, I'll be online with some art. Please hang in there.

I'm planning to put my acrylic on canvas paintings up for auction initially, but I may follow that with some small watercolors. Here's a prime candidate:

Cockamamie Cockatoo
6" x 6"
watercolor on Winsor Newton 140 lb. cold-pressed paper

Señor Terremoto and I are off on a little road trip for a few days, but I plan to go into high gear when we get back. Plans are in the works for some CafePress goodies too -- you'll be able to go green with canvas bags that feature vintage tin toys and other delights.

Swan song??

Ta-da!! So here's my big surprise, finished just in the nick of time. I put in my first all-nighter since college to get this little fellow done for my show and I'm here to report that I recovered a lot more quickly at 20 than I do now!! This is a snapshot taken under less than perfect lighting conditions, but it came out pretty close to the real thing.

Fe Fi Faux Fowl
30" x 30"
acrylic on canvas

The idea for this painting grew out of the show of small works that we hung last fall. I was one of the people who pushed for that show, so when I chose "Out of the Ordinary" as the theme for my feature show, the logical creative step was to "supersize" the little toys I'd painted in the fall.

I love the concept of taking a very small toy and blowing it up to such a large size, but the technical challenges of painting this in acrylic made for many frustrating moments and a lot of very long painting days. I know that working in oils would have made this a much simpler task, but I have a long history of chemical sensitivity that has made me wary of oil paints. As it turns out, I may have to back away from acrylics too. By the time I finished this piece, I was feeling weird and woozly at the end of every day. At first I thought it was just because of the long hours in the studio, but a few days after I finished it, I opened the sealed palette-keepers that I stored my paints in and the odor of the acrylic just about knocked me over. So, in addition to loving watercolor as a medium, it may truly be the only one I can tolerate. But I'm hoping that if I back off acrylics for a while and only work on small pieces when I start using it again, it may be OK. Acrylic has so many unique properties that I really want to be able to play with it some more. I feel like I've barely begun to discover what it can do.

Now I have to get ready for next weekend's outdoor show. There's a whole bunch of framing to do, prints to make and mat, and assorted other tasks. I've recently redesigned my publicity materials and have to update my booth signage to match. It should be a busy week.

In Progress

Yep! I'm still here -- my computer was in for repairs and I'm painting away on my big surprise for my upcoming show, so I haven't posted for almost a week. Much remains to be done, so I'll be getting back to the studio now, but here's a sneak preview of the painting. Any guesses?


Look for more clues next week...

Homage to Homer

No, not the famed author of antiquity, nor the renowned 19th century watercolorist. I'm paying homage to a much more recent Homer: infamous donut-eater, father of Bart -- yes, the Simpsons. I am particularly fond of Homer's signature exclamation -- D'oh!! -- as a way to express a moment of sudden enlightenment. (I suppose some might argue that this is really nothing more than awareness of prior stupidity, but it sounds so much better cast as enlightenment, don't you think?)

So this week, I started on an acrylic painting that dwarfs my usual efforts. Using the same brushes that I use on my 6x6's, I gamely started on the larger piece. Frustration multiplied by frustration!! In desperation, I finally resorted to some stiffer brushes designed for acrylics that I've been avoiding because I don't like long-handled brushes. Paint moved when I wanted it to, stayed where I put it, blended together easily!! Truly a Homeresque moment.

Since I'm going to keep that painting under wraps until my gallery show, I'll share the most recent 6x6, just being varnished today.

Quack-quack
6" x 6"
acrylic on canvas

Enjoy the weekend. I gotta go paint now.

My Monet period...

Back in the fall, my gallery decided to do a group show of 6x6-inch canvases. I was eager to try my hand at acrylics and decided to experiment with a looser, more impressionistic style after having followed Karin Jurick's blog for a while. Things started out well -- this little snail was my first painting:

Zoom-zoom
6" x 6"
acrylic on canvas

Notice the painterly approach on the shell, the suggestion of treads on the wheels, of light reflected on the face. I was pleased. I started on the second painting:

Buzz-buzz
6" x 6"
acrylic on canvas

Notice the slightly more controlled style! But there are still impressionistic elements in the piece. I started on the third painting:

Waddle-waddle
6" x 6"
acrylic on canvas

OK!! At this point, there's no denying that I've completely returned to my realistic roots. And in only three paintings!! A veritable nano-period in the history of art. Ah, Monet, we hardly knew ye....

Whew!!

I've done battle with the blog setup options, and I *think* I won.... It really is mind-boggling. If all went as planned, you can now subscribe to a feed and see updates when I post them.

This week has been a flurry of computer work here at the studio -- website and blog all in one week. And the unfortunate downside is that I'm paying for it with back spasms caused by sitting in front of the computer for about 18 hours a day. But I'm being good and taking care to move around more, so things are improving.

For anyone interested, I used iWeb to set up my website. I found it to be easy to use and lots of fun. But I set it up on my studio computer and then wanted to copy it to my laptop so I could work on it outside the studio. To my utter amazement, there is NO WAY to simply move those design files, and a trip to the local Apple genius bar confirmed this. I can laboriously copy over individual elements and rebuild the site page by page, but c'mon.... computers are supposed to be here to serve us! Right?? And as a longtime Mac user, I can't believe they put out a piece of software that is so unfriendly. Very un-Mac!!!

To close, a little eye-candy from my upcoming show:

Peck-peck
6" x 6"
acrylic on canvas

Now, I'm off to update our gallery website for the new month's featured artist.