Ever since childhood I’ve made frequent trips to The Cincinnati Art Museum. One of the oldest art museums in the United States it’s 88 galleries and permanent collection of over 80,000 works of art spanning 6000 years has been very influential throughout my life. Each visit is a delight as they rotate the work and have special exhibitions, giving you the pleasure of seeing something new and unexpected each time.

Aside from the artwork, the building’s architecture has a wonderful variety of style and color. The lighting is fantastic.

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The top floor is devoted to Contemporary Art featuring works from Ohio born  Jenny Holzer.

The second floor contains paintings from Renoir, Monet, Gauguin, C’ezanne, Picasso, Warhol, Rothko, and Judd.

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As if being surrounded by 6000 years of amazing artwork wasn’t enough, I happened upon a entire wall of the gallery devoted to everyone that wanted to pick up a pencil and start drawing.

I became light headed.

After composing myself, I found a spot, sat down and drew for a few minutes. This was a great experience, unknowingly being granted a opportunity to be creative in a public place. So many people have left their creative mark, I could spend hours looking at it all.

I’m very glad that I visited the museum this morning,  I saw many pieces for the first time. Amazing.

If you reside any where near the Cincinnati area please make  time and go  look for yourself. It’s one thing to look at a photograph of a piece, it is a entirely different thing being in the direct presence of glistening marble, reflective bronze or glossy paint that show the signs of something worth spending time with.

The Cincinnati Art Museum official site

Wikipedia History of the  Cincinnati Art Museum

Acknowledging the fact that this is “Reality TV” I base my opinions on the footage that was shown. How much do we really know of what really happened as interactions are contextualized and abbreviated.

As a artist I most certainly thought that this show would show more of the process of creating a piece of art and it’s relation to the artist and his/her’s surroundings as this is what interests me the most. Last night’s episode has caused me to lose all faith that this was the goal.

Having said that, every artist that has appeared on this show is a winner in the sense that they have gained fresh new viewers of their work and have made connections that they might not have otherwise.

For the past few years I’ve been predominately a artist that paints and draws. The last painting that I was working on “PASSION” looks to be one of my best but while working on it I felt numb. My drawings that have been created for the #draw365 project have been more and more difficult for me to concentrate on and enjoy. Normally excitement courses through my veins as I plunge the brush into the canvas or let the charcoal glide along the paper. This has not been the case as of late. Unfortunately this was not a suprise to me as I’ve seen it coming for a while. I keep mindful to refrain from complaining but accepting the fact that I’m not happy with painting and drawing anymore is something I must accept.

Numerous reasons are behind this. The job I hold during the day to keep a roof over my head tends to get very stressful during the summertime which is taking a toll on my demeanor. Stress is something I yearn for as I convert this bundled up energy to creative fervor in the studio. But there is a point where the stress reaches levels that are too overwhelming and I would rather just lay around, relax and sleep during my off time.

Also my never-ending string of productivity in 2009 took a toll on my health. Very rarely did I get more than a few hours of sleep before I was back to working, working, working. My body went from a strong 180lbs down to a worn out 160lbs before the year was over. I’m still re-cooperating.

Another reason would be Bravo’s new reality TV show “Work of Art: The Next Great Artist”. Watching the artists work has me reevaluating my work in ways I never would have prior. They extend their work beyond canvas and paper into avenues that immediately reignited my fire that was dwindling. I am making a post covering more of my thoughts about this show. Expect it soon.

All this leads me to the work I have been delving into recently. It has been almost a full decade since I sculpted anything but that didn’t stop me from buying a whole new set of tools to assist me in starting again. My excitement has returned to a level that I thought not possible.

My knowledge of sculpting materials is rusty and I made a ill choice using wired armature underneath air drying clay and allowing it to dry too quickly. This doesn’t upset me or deter me from continuing at all. In fact I’m glad this has happened as it teaches me what works and what doesn’t. Hopefully the learning will continue as I plan to keep sculpting until I’m drawn into another path.

I’ve been starting a habit of moving on to a new piece before finishing the last. Here is one that has had a very good start last year and has patiently waited for my return.

Thank you Mr. Postman for tackling the snowy roads today to bring me this 58 year old classic.

CITY

And so I’ve just got back from seeing AVATAR for a second time, this viewing in 3D. I already wear glasses and was wary about my comfort level having to put on another pair and sit for 2+ hours. The last 3D movie I saw in the theater was decades ago, back when they used red/blue lenses and it was a bit hoaky. This current experience was much different.

I found myself comfortable with the 2nd pair of glasses as they rested on the top of my frames, not my nose. The 3D was much better than I expected, but it continually pulled me out of the movie to look and analyze the 3D effect. About half way through the focus on the 3D began to subside and I fell into the film. Overall a this was good experience and I’ll probably go see 3D movies in the future.

Now for what has been on my mind for many years after I heard about the deveopment of this movie; I was upset at this film before it was even finished for purely selfish reasons.

I endured a almost 13+ year hiatus from creating art. There were certain key factors that pulled me out of my self punishment and back to the craft. One of which is the work of Yukito Kishiro. Namely his series, Battle Angel Alita, known in Japan as Gunnm 銃夢. Yukito’s presentation of movement and expression completely fascinated me from the moment my friend showed me the 1990s animation. Shortly thereafter I devoured all of the original mangas and continue to read each new episode as he releases them. Beyond his incredible artwork, the story and landscape captivated me, most of all the main protagonist; Alita with her epic and tragic quest for self understanding and transcendence.

I consume a lot of media and very little of it evokes such  a strong emotional response from me like this magna does.

When I heard James Cameron was reported to sign for the rights to make Battle Angel Alita a few years back I was nothing short of ecstatic. Then hearing of him putting Alita on the shelf to produce AVATAR dropped my heart on the floor. But the wait has not been as bad I as thought it would be. If Cameron can build upon what he accomplished with AVATAR and pump it into Alita I will be more than a little bit pleased.

This year’s art journal should be the most extensive and interesting yet. In 2009 my journal was kept for the sole purpose of doumenting when I started a painting, what brand and color of paints I used and a general guide of my color mixing.

I started to write down the information last year after having worked on a painting, sat it to the side for a few months and came back to it realizing I couldn’t remember what color combinations I used. A very frustrating experience I didn’t want to repeat.

Now I’m combining the technical info with short entries of how I was thinking on each day of work and what media I was consuming at the time. With the additional writings I might be able to revisit the state of mind I was in to assist me with finishing a piece. Not to mention giving myself the option to one day, say 10 years from now, sit back, curl up in the chair and have a interesting trip reading this.

The past few days I’ve put the brush down and started changing the way I do things here in the studio. Since the beginning of the year I’ve been focused on building a body of art work with web promotion as a second priority. Currently I have 68 paintings sitting here around me and there is little room to walk.  So while taking the time to rest and allow my creative endurance to recuperate, a clipboard has been sitting on my lap as I plan a balanced weekly schedule for the remainder of the year.

I’m always going to bias painting over promotion. I do enjoy the latter but I need visual reminders to devote time to keeping up with regularly updating my blog with progress pictures like the one below and beginning to put the majority of this years work up for sale.

There are only a few pieces up for sale at the present moment since there has been a long internal debate on how exactly to make my work available. Weighing the positives and the negatives while experimenting with eBay, ETSY, and my own blog store, the decision arose to make a presence on all three. My highest price paintings will be listed on eBay, many of my drawings will be on ETSY and newly finished works will be in my blog store. On occasion I will put a special piece up on eBay;  99 cents, no reserve!

Also the massive amounts of video filmed while I was painting has been sorted and is in the process of being edited. Before the end of the year there will be a interview released so you all can learn more about me and take a look at the man behind the curtain.

Possibly sometime early next year I will be accepting portrait commissions so you can have a unique piece of art made by me sitting in your home.

Now that my blog is the central hub of info about my undertakings I’ve taken the gallery style of my website; JasonBarre.com and Jabinya.com and incorporated it right here within my blog. The gallery will updated with each completed artwork located at the link at the top tab.

It was just a few minutes ago I found a www.yooouuutuuube.com demo that displayed a cascading video of a reedit of  Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland”.

This requires a faster computer and connection so be prepared ->  Alice

As I watched this over and over trancing out to the music and the motion, my focus drifted out.  Afterwards I straightened up in my chair and pulled my focus back. Suddenly I was taken aback when the images looked as if they had moved backward a couple of inches from the monitor frame. A very exciting surprise!

The flowing video creates a moving Autosterogram effect without the 3D.  Autosterogram images are what seem to be random patterns, but when you sit, relax and take control your normally automatic coordination between focusing and vergence, you see a three dimensional scene.

To view a Autosterogram image focus your eyes on a point beyond the image until the repeated patterns converge, this allows you to perceive depth as the shapes of the object.

To put it simply, you let yourself go cross eyed. As you sit cross eyed, slowly pull your focus back to normal, then a 3d image appears.

The first time I encountered one of these images, I had no idea what they were. I stood for a long while till my eyes could relax and then it was revealed to me.

Stereo Gypsies by ~LuVdV on deviantART

Can you see it?

If you can master seeing the gypsies go back and visit the video I mentioned earlier, practice the same viewing method and you will see the video recess backwards. A very strange and amazing demonstration of how our mind interprets what we perceive.

I was graciously asked by @Gillie (Co-Founder) to give a interview with @EBSQ, the awesome online art community that got me on my start to share my artwork online! It was through EBSQ that I landed my first 3 exhibitions and many new invaluable contacts!

They asked me many questions that drove me to some deep thinking as to what my origins and motivations are. Read and enjoy!

EBSQ Interview with Jason Barre