Janet Reid, Literary Agent: So, I've got some stuff on the web... (and a new rule for writers)

This is wonderful, E.M. Goldsmith "If you believe in something, stick to your guns no matter what because it's better to be hated for who you are than to be loved for who you're not."



BJ, I don't agree. Creative people are not more mentally unstable than non-creative. The problem is that the non-creative ones make the rules and the labels and the systems by which we are tested. Because we HAVE  to be tested (they have to test us) otherwise they wouldn't know what label to give us.



Right brained left brained...



As far as adding personal info to a blog. I think like this. My online presence precedes me into the party. Do I want those people at the party to know my secrets? It's hard to write impersonal blog posts. But there is another thing QOTKU talked about in the cleaning up your web presence discussions, putting a spin on your work. I want people to focus on my work.



I can see OP walking into a party, someone who read OP's book and her blog takes her aside and says. I really appreciate what you wrote. I went through something similar. It's courageous to speak of weaknesses in public.



But what do you want to focus on? My weaknesses, my paranoia, the hate mails and the stalker, family accidents have nothing to do with my work.



This is where I stick to the spin.

Come see my new website and blog

I'll be blogging here for a little bit longer . I'm migrating to wordpress where my new blog is already incorporated into my new website.  The great thing about the new website is that you can view it on mobile devices. I had to register a new name. My old website will still be active for another month then it will automatically redirect to the new site.

Here is the new address Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli.com

Clic on over and have a look.

via GIPHY


Leave a comment on my new blog and let me know what you think. Tell me if it works. Commenting should be easy, because you don't have to sign in to Wordpress. But if you can't comment, please tell me here on this blog.

I can't wait to see you over there.

Live painting demonstration tomorrow in Lille

Tomorrow, 3 October I"ll be in Lille at the galerie Carré d'Artistes for what they call a dédicace.

Come see me paint and I'll write a personalized dedication on the paintings you buy or have already purchased.

In the last six months I've completed nearly 80 paintings for this show alone.  I look forward to meeting you there.

Here is a link to the gallery Carré d'Artistes Lille

Demi Apéro
80x80
oil on canvas 

Parisian Cityscape - painting in Progress

underpainting,  oil on canvas
80x80cm
sold

Graffiti covered delivery trucks are everywhere in Paris.  French artists of the Nouvelle Figuration included tagged trucks in their works. French Nouvelle Figuration is similar to American Contemporary Realism (my style).  So here I go to blend my technique with the French.

Bond's Girl -

 

120x40 cm -

oil on canvas-

One of the gallery managers, requested I paint this based on a smaller painting slightly different. I called it Bond's Girl because the girl in black is a spy.

Summer Rendez-vous - A Contemporary Realism Painting of Paris-

 

Summer Rendez-vous -

50x50 -

oil on canvas

This summer Paris has been delightful. The only thing missing is a beach. This girl is heading to Paris Plages.

Amy - a contemporary Realism painting of Paris -

 

Amy-

80101 cm-

Oil on linen

sold

This is a street corner in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.  Much of the painting was done with a palette knife but the dress of the Indian woman is all veils.

Amy is one of my all time favorite paintings.  It sort of painted itself.  When I look at it I think of the book The Girl on The Train by Paula Hawkins because that's what I listened to while painting.

Le Select, a Contemporary Realsim oil painting of Paris -

 

Le Select -

80x80 cm -

oil on canvas

Le Select is one of the historical literary cafés in Paris. It haunts my paintings.  I've painted the elaborate neon sign, those lovely neons which are quickly disappearing. I've painted the terrasse, the garçons during the day, the interior, and a wide night scene of boulevard Montparnasse where Le Select is on one corner. This composition reflects another Parisian cafe scene I did while living in New York five years ago. The Cafe Flore.

A New Gallery

It's always great to share good news.  My friends tell me I'm a lucky artist and I believe them.
In June I began working with  Paris Art Web gallery currently in Honfleur.  Here is the link.Paris Art Web

Painting in Progress - Amy -

 

-The rough for Amy. -

Why Amy?  See the affiche above the man in blue?  That's the poster for the movie about Amy Winehouse.  I can't wait to see it.  

I love my paintings at this stage.  Most everyone who sees them live when they are merely blocked in like this, yells at me to stop painting, right now.  But I have a compulsion to lick the very edges of my canvases.  Amy is nearly finished and it differs little from what's here.  Lick lick.

- Amy is an F40 size linen canvas.   

The French have the weirdest canvas sizes.  P is for portrait, F for figure, and M is for marine.  Then there are the squares.  While the square sizes increase in increments of 10 centimeters, the weird sizes follow no contemporary rules.  An F40 is 80 x 101cm, a nightmare for framers outside France. These classic French sizes must be some residue of life before the metric system, the euro, the internet.  I've searched for the reason and found it's based on aesthetique harmony.  Yeah, gotcha. 

Time to update.  Even the Italians have adopted the metric system for their canvas sizes.

Rue Dauphine - Parisian night scene -

 

Rue Dauphine-

corner of Cafe Conti-

80x80cm oil on canvas -

sold

I've been too busy to blog.  Painting 80 small works and 15 large to medium size paintings for  upcoming dedicace 3 October in Lille at Carre d'artistes.

Tiger scupltures on Auction

Yesterday the ten tigers went up for auction. 
In this article they chatted up yours truely along with Ara Starck, daughter of Philip Starck. My head is exploding.

No doubts on gender.

New work in Progress

I've been so busy with new work and writing.  Blogging was on the back burner.
Also I'm plannning a new website where my writing blog and painting blog can be incorporated.  It's time for a change.  Writing is overtaking my passion for painting.

Thanks to the gallery Carré d'artistes I am developing a new series.  Children.  This painting is 80x80 cm and will be in the October show in Lille.  Time to bust my butt.  I need 80 small works and 15 larger.

Metro Daubenton -Parisian Night Scene

 

- Metro Daubenton-

-50x50 cm-

oil on canvas

Another Parisian night scene

 

 -UGC Mabillon-

 -50x50cm-

 oil on canvas

These classy neon signs in Paris are disappearing.  One cinema I painted a few years ago was La Bretagne.  Its ornate neon is now a giant white sign with boring red letters.  It's a Gaumont now.

Contemporary realism — urban changlings.

The story of the Tigre l'Heure Bleue

It took me 36 hours to paint this 3 meter long resin sculpture.  I travelled to Metz two different weekends, painted from 10 am to midnight Saturday, all day Sunday, and again on Monday morning. A ginormous suitcase filled with cans of acrylic paint accompanied me and lost a wheel.  Losing the wheel was a drag.

This is a boring video in real time.  See what it's like to sit and paint for hours.



 See the bus on the left.  The background noise was a fan. You can see the tiger is male.

When Sarah Hasch, director of the gallery  In3Arts and owner of Sarah Hasch Fine Art, phoned me to ask if I would consider painting one of the 10 sculptures for the Exhibition I didn't hesitate one second.  I've always wanted to paint one of those cows.  But a tiger? Forget the cow.

The directors of TCRM-Blida offered me a space.  I worked next to artist, Sarah Tuelet.  Here is an article in Le Républican Lorraine with a photo with Sarah Hasch and she.  The TCRM-Bilda was Metz's city bus depot, now a collective atelier for selected creators.  Artists are alloted spaces free of charge. One Saturday I listened to a rock band practising for what sounded like a performance.  Lots of cute guys walked by.  The Blida is dusty because two carpenters create all kinds of things including that chair which gave me splinters. The carpenters' circular saws scream and belch out sawdust.  Dust is abrasive.

Metz is a beautiful town that takes care of its artists.  It is the home of the second Pompidou center.  Metz hosts the magnificent Saint Stephen, a cathedral whose nave is one of the tallest in the world.  Chagall's stained glass windows beautify a chapel close to the northern transept.
 
The ten tigres will be exhibited in the place de la gare of Metz 8-12 April then sold on auction June 5th, 2015 at the Zoo d'Amneville.  Proceeds from the sale of the painted sculptures will go to saving tigers in the wild.

I had a vague idea of what I was going to paint, The Blue Hour. But which images? The two sides of the tiger are different images of boulevard de Montparnasse in Paris.  I hated the painting for the first two days then stepped back to observe it and thought, "Children will love this."  Before this clue moment I was ready bag it and go home.

The painting developed into the idea that the tiger is a silver animal stealing through the streets at night. The feet and legs and uderside are silver.   He throws on his cloak to disguise himself, blend in and hunt his night prey.  The French saying "l'heure bleue entre chien et loup," brings sense to my idea.  The blue hour: when dogs retire and wolves come out.

Sarah Hasch and I decided on the title l'Heure Bleue because it fits with my series the Parisian Blue Hour.

painting process- a Parisian Terrasse and Tabac --

I can't believe it's been over a month I've not posted a new painting. After seeing my agent and speaking with a few galleries the consensus was full colour night scenes.  The Heure Blue series continues.  This Tabac night scene is in the works.  I love how the tree canopy reflects the red light from the red spiral carrotte.

The spiral neon carrottes that indicate Tabac shops are disappearing from Paris. LEDs replace them. Many of the paintings I've done in the Parisian series are now testimonials of how the city has changed in the last eight years. 

Only high quality paints can give you these colors.  Knowledge of mixing colours is a must.  Cadmium red mixed with ivory black or phtalo green for darker reds. Golden ochre, or cadmium orange and quinacridone for lighter reds.  Now white, please!

Art Fair art3F Metz

This weekend my paintings will be presented by Sarah Hasch - Fine Arts at the Art Fair: art3F Metz.  

Metz is close to Luxembourg and home of a Pompidou Center.

Here is one of my paintings that will be in Sarah Hasch's stand.

 

This was a plate of fries at the Double T Diner in Frederick Maryland.  I love the abstraction.

Hop On London

- 80x80cm -

- oil on canvas -

Another painting for the show that opens Wednesday 21 January 2015 at Carre d'Artistes grand format gallery l'Expo on rue Saint André des Arts, 75006 Paris.

I feel lucky to have been selected among the 600 artists of Carre d'Artistes for an exhibition in their prestigious Parisian gallery.  

Note to all those artists who think Carre d'Artistes is an easy gallery who takes just anyone, you are wrong.  They are exigent, they expect the best and are quite selective.  I've worked my hiney off since mid November for this exhibition and I only hope my paintings will be up to par.  Thursday I finished this last one and Friday I felt like I do after finishing paintings for every show, clueless. What next?  I just wanted a day off but that doesn't exist in the life of the creative self employed.

The show starts Wednesday and will run until April. 

Rue Monge Blue Hour -

 

-Rue Monge -

-80x80 cm-

-oil on canvas-

Rue Monge corner of Avenue de Gobelins, close to the Starbucks.  This painting makes me think of the book Maze Runner. That is what I listened to while painting.

Rue Monge will be part of my upcoming show that opens in Saint Germain des Prés the gallery district in Paris's 6th Arrondissement. To be announced very, very soon.

-