Wednesday, August 29, 2012

New website and blog

Hello,
 I have just finished putting up my new website and blog. It is called uncommonartist.com.
Please check it out and let me know what you all think. I have a lot of different galleries and a lot of different work up there.

I will post to my blog about every week so look for updates there. Here is the link:
http://uncommonartist.com/

David Hartz



Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Society of Illustrators 55th Annual Call for Entries Poster

Art Academy of Cincinnati grad Chris Sickels (Red Nose Studio) did the poster for this year's Society of Illustrators Call for Entries for its 55th Annual and it is really amazing. (I actually just got mine in the mail today.)

He collaborated with renown designer SooJin Buzelli.

He describes the process here with lots of cool sketches: http://www.rednosestudio.com/rednoseblog/?p=1292

So, If you feel lucky, check out the guidelines here:
http://www.soicompetitions.org/?section=competitions&competition_id=83

The deadline is October 26, 2012.

Interesting Blog Link: Art is Hard

Matthew D. Innis has a really interesting discussion about the amount of work one puts into creating good images on his Underpaintings Blog.

http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/2012/08/art-is-hard.html

It will resonate with anyone who has ever agonized over getting an image right and the days/weeks of struggling that can go into it.

It is easy to look at the finished piece and say "that looks easy to do" when it really, really, really is not at all.

(I suppose you could say that about a concert pianist or ballet dancer as well... It looks so effortless when thousands of hours have been put in to make it appear that way).


Monday, August 27, 2012

Illustrator News: Maurice Mattei Show Opening

Maurice Mattei will have a showing of his awesome Urban Dwellers series this fall. The opening is from 6:00 to 9:00 on Final Friday, September 28 and the show is at the Southpaw Prints Gallery (1334 Main St.).

More info soon!

Illustrator News: Ursula Roma Show Opening

This looks like a GREAT show! Check out the opening at Harcum Art Gallery at Wilmington College August 29th 6-8.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Road Trip: Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge and the Boston Public Library

Panorama of Norman Rockwell's Studio It was moved here to the museum grounds from the town
I just got back from a vacation in the Northeast. While we were up there we saw some AMAZING art.

On Tuesday, we went to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA. If you are anywhere close, I highly recommend a stop there. Currently there is an awesome exhibit on Howard Pyle. I had seen a different collection of his work at the Brandywine Museum several years ago, but was excited to see more of his work..

They have a new exhibit of Alex Ross' work going up in November. If that is not worth a road trip, I do not know what is.

Amazingly, they allowed non-flash photos.

They had a great deal that you got a free hardcover NR book if you spent $100. Sooooo, I got a lot of books.



Norman Rockwell's bike...

 My sketches from the trip:

Pages from my (Christina Wald) sketchbook from the visit...

On Wednesday, we went to the Boston Public Library. I have a friend who works there who had bragged for years about how fantastic the paintings there were. He was right.

This is also a must see for illustrators especially due to the murals by Edwin Abbey (The Quest for the Holy Grail) and John Singer Sargent (Triumph of Religion). (There is a lot of other art there as well).

My puny pictures do not do the murals justice, but there are some good sites for more info: http://www.sargentmurals.bpl.org/site/index.html
http://www.bpl.org/central/abbey.htm

John Singer Sargent: Image of early religions at the far end of the hall The mural has two blank, unfinished walls because the artist died before completion.
Sargent Detail: I will bet JSS never expected his work to be ruined by iPhone photos.


Edwin Abbey: Grail Quest Scene

Edwin Abbey: Grail Quest Scene... EA probably did not expect the iPhone photo thing either...

Edwin Abbey: Another Grail Quest Scene




Speaking of Doodling, Keeping a Sketch Journal

As many people here know, I have been trying to keep a regular sketch book.It has been way more fun than I ever expected.

While it is more a tangent experience to the "doodle", it really does seem to effect the rest of my work. Does anyone else have that experience?

I also find it helps me remember things that I have seen, done, etc.

I would love to see some other sketchbook scans from other blog contributors.

Vanessa Sorensen recently shared hers from our trip to Taos: http://nessydesigns.blogspot.com/2012/08/taos-sketchbook.html

Here are some of my recent ones:

Music Hall

Vermont at the Cat, Chickens and Marble Quarry


Animals in Taos

More Taos

Earthships in Taos

Magpie in Taos
More on my blog: http://christinawald.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Looking for Downtown Lunch Place Suggestions

Our downtown lunch bad karma has struck again and Le Boxx has closed. Any ideas of a replacement with good parking access?

Are any of the new places on Vine open for lunch? What about places in the new Banks area?

How about:

Taqueria Mercado
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/32/1522269/restaurant/Downtown/Taqueria-Mercado-3-Cincinnati

(I have eaten here on many occasions. It is really good and very close to Le Boxx actually...)

Tom + Chee
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/32/1534066/restaurant/Downtown/Tom-Chee-Cincinnati

Rock Bottom Brewery
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/32/362751/restaurant/Downtown/Rock-Bottom-Brewery-Cincinnati

Arnold's
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/32/360175/restaurant/Downtown/Arnolds-Bar-Grill-Cincinnati

Holy Grail Grill
http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/32/1587576/restaurant/Downtown/Holy-Grail-Tavern-Grille-at-The-Banks-Cincinnati

Other ideas?