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Every so often, I get the urge to paint food in some form..........an edible still life
if you will. A piece of key lime pie or a bowl of Mexican chicken soup hold
the same problems with colors, values, and perspective as any other subject.
In some ways, food portraits may be even more challenging than many
subjects. Meat, especially, can appear very unappetizing, if painted the
wrong colors.

Just as there are food photographers, I am betting there are food painters.
You just don't see them in the art magazines. Maybe they are illustrators.
At any rate I plan to keep trying foodlifes......not as my regular painting
diet but as a reprieve from more familiar subjects. Maybe a nude eating
a meal.......? Now that would be different !!

Nearly 15-billion years ago, according to earth's greatest minds, our universe began its
existence. In less than a second it appeared....a BIG BANG, if you will. Where it wasn't,
now it was. All the matter that ever existed was there at that first second, and it is all
still here, obeying the laws of physics.

Some 4.5-billion years ago, our planet earth began its existence. In the early stages,
there was no life on earth, only the potential for life. At some point billions of years ago,
life was breathed into one or more potentialities, and the ball was rolling. From "living
something" to worms, to fish, to birds, to reptiles, to mammals, life breathed into chemistry
became living forms on earth. All life then, as all life now, had a common ancestor. One life,
many forms. About 200-million years ago, in Africa, a manlike life form began the journey
that became us....Homo Sapiens.

The idea of one life is not new, and it has been at the root of many religions and spiritual
systems. Personally, I believe that first breath of life was Divine and is the eternal aspect
of us. That breath had always been.....always will be. Our biology, our chemistry, even
our consciousness are all of this life, temporal vs the forever of our life. In the new Testament,
it is written...."Life of the flesh is death.....life of the spirit is life everlasting."
It also reads....."The Kingdom is in you."

Do I believe in Darwin, evolution, and science ? Absolutely. Do I believe in God the creator
and organizing force ? Absolutely ! We will one day know all the biology and chemistry,
but we will never know LIFE, until we return to it. Will we recall our journey ? Who knows.

When Van Gogh was in his prime painting years, a few hundred, maybe a few
thousand people saw his work. And all who saw the work were in a 500-mile
radius of where he painted. The same is true for many now famous and deceased
great artists of the past. If their work did make it to the big galleries of Paris and
Rome, more saw the work but nothing like the audience we have.
Here I am a full-time artist of less than four years in the profession, and I have
had viewers from all 50 states, from dozens of foreign countries, including
foreign cities I had never heard of. Electronic galleries, including Fine Art America
are simply wonderful ways to get seen......all over the world.
For a while I stuck colored pins in a large wall map, to depict where visitors to my
site originated. Before long, there were so many pins I gave up trying to mark
locations.
Does this mean I am selling dozens of paintings and getting rich ? Nope...not at all.
But it does mean I am getting "out there" and being seen, 24/7/365. This gives me hope
and inspiration....and gratitude for everyone who drops in. Someday, the trappings
of success may be mine, completing the wonder and joy of being a painter !

Maybe it suggests we have been this way before, but I do think we all have
favorite places. Since the mid-1970's my special place has been New Mexico.
It is a blend of many cultures, rich in history, delicious in food, fantastic in
scenery and has the best light of any place I have ever visited. The latter, of
course, explains the colonies of artists in the state....plus the acceptance of
un-mainstream folks.....us creative types.

I tried for years to get employment in the Land of Enchantment, but it just didn't
happen. Now that I am retired and adaptable to living anywhere, I have too
many ties locally to uproot. So, I will just get my New Mexico fixes in small
doses.....visits and pictures. Of the latter, I have painted many, many. The
one I will try to upload here is a Mexican cemetery near Taos.

Since I love the mountains, northern New Mexico is probably my favorite area.
But I love it all, from Las Cruces to Raton. The first time I saw the Sangre de Cristo
mountains, driving west, I knew this New Mexico was a special place. I picked
a small Cholla cactus at roadside and kept it in a cup at home for over a decade.
I also remembered the yellow wildflowers that sprayed everywhere in the summertime.
And the chili peppers ? Well, chilis are a part of my life....then, now, forever.
Salasa verde, made with New Mexican chili is a food for the angels.

If you ever want to smell alfalfa in the fall......chilis roasting outdoors on an open
grill.....see sunsets that will give you gooseflesh.....taste wonderful Latin food...
see vistas that stretch as they did a hundred years ago.....find New Mexico.
I may see you there !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN4Nigl5POs

I may soon be the oldest guitar player on the planet.....other than Keith Richards, of course.
Please visit my other passion at YouTube.Com/Naalar

After a long overdue divorce in the mid-1990's, it seemed best to sell my small
Tennessee farm and move back to town. One problem.....I had been breeding
and raising Appaloosa horses for a decade and had a small herd that would
have to be sold. There was a big, beautiful stallion, some brood mares and foals,
and my riding horse, Stormy, raised and trained since birth. How could I part
with these wonderful animals ?

In the end, I asked a close friend, also a horse breeder, to disperse my herd.
She set about selling my beloved horses to buyers I didn't know and would
never see. Within a very short time, she found breeders for all the horses and
a day was set for the dispersal. As agreed, I would be at work, in town, and
my friend and her partner would trailer my stock to her farm. She would then
make deliveries from her place.

When I got home that late spring evening, all the animals were gone. There
were no horse sounds, like I was used to hearing, no feeding to do, no stalls
to muck, no hay to get, no water tanks to fill.......nothing. What a dreadful
feeling of loss....not just of my beautiful animals but of a lifestyle over a decade
in the making. In exchange for everything that mattered, I had a check. No
way could dollars cover the loss.

The farm was soon sold, the cats relocated, and the two farm dogs moved to a town
apartment with me. I put together a scrapbook of my horses, then went about
learning a new lifestyle. Things weren't good....not even OK....but, life went on.
Today other things have filled my life, and I am not tempted to recreate the
farm life. It was a chapter of life, not to be replicated nor ignored.

I paint a lot of houses, most of them wood siding style, with boards running on the horizontal.
A time back, I discovered that drawing the lines if wood board siding all on parallel made
for unrealistic-looking buildings. The aid I found was a simple solution to the problem.

On any perspective -correct piece, you must decide where the horizon line lies. This done,
the board-siding on a house is angled slightly upward, if under your horizon line, and slightly
downward if above your horizon line. This takes some practice to get things to balance on
the horizon, but it is worth doing.

I know most site owners at FAA already know this perspective fact. But to many newer
artists, well, we have a lot to learn. To them....and all.....tips are always welcome !!

There is a fairly accomplished artist in our town, and he gives lessons to dozens of local
aspiring artists each year. Consequently, you see a lot of his style in local shows and
exhibits, as students are repeating what they learned from this master. That is all
well and good, I suppose, but it says little for creativity and originality. By the way,
I, too, took some lessons from this artist/teacher.

When I first decided I wanted to paint watercolors full time, I talked to a local success
story in painting, one who also studied for years under the above introduced
artist teacher. He, the local success, told me.....to succeed you have to do the
same things others do.....only better......or you have to do something original. I liked
that, and I therefore decided I didn't want to take the lesson route.

I am not saying my time in class had no value. After a full year of self-study, I knew
little about tone, little about mixing colors and very little about perspective. In the
class I did gain some expertise in those areas but then decided to "wing it."
I still study art.....in books, in magazines and on CD's and tapes. But, I don't plan
on taking any more classes right now. I am too busy working on "doing something
different."

Art classes are an individual matter. I know several local artists who have taken
classes for years. Are they better artists for it ? I am not so sure. In my own
opinion art is about seeing, and I don't think classes can be much help there.
But....like I say.....it's up to the individual. There is no shortage of classes out
there.

My number one objective for my art is to "do some good" with it. I want my work
to make people happy, to inspire, to elicit special times, and to motivate.
If it can make some money for me or for charity, so much the better. Now,
having said that, I learned a lesson from my excess pride.

A couple years ago, I was doing a street fair art show in a nearby town. I
had, as always, a "SALE" box of original paintings, most marked at $50. or
less. These were pieces that had made the rounds, unsold, and now to be
had for a song. One particular piece, a swallow nest with two babies, had
been special to me when painted, and I was surprised it hadn't sold.

Late that day, an older lady, dressed country and an unlikely art collector,
offered me a small amount for my swallow piece. Since the piece was already
marked way down, I responded...."Mam, this isn't a yard sale." I regreted
it as soon as I said it and have never forgotten the look the lady had on her face
as she walked away.

Almost instantly, I so wished the swallows had gone home with the lady in
country clothing. She would have hung that painting, original art, in her kitchen
and showed it to every visitor. She would have enjoyed her painting and
my first goal would have been met......"do some good," Instead, the birds
came home to be stored away, under cover, no more to be seen.

If I had the lady's name and address I would send her the painting....maybe
a couple. I would add a note......"forgive me."

I suspect every artist struggles with the issue of pricing art, and I am certainly
no exception. When I was exhibiting at the local art league, prices for medium
pieces (18x24") ranged from $150. to well over $1,000. And I am not sure
how prices correlated with sales, if at all. In my own case, I have changed
prices on paintings, with little effect on sales. One artist suggested....when
things get slow, you may be undercharging !

Buyers may react to art prices, as we react to prices on other things we buy.
I would not be impressed by a new car priced at $10,000., knowing good
cars cost much more. Likewise, I don't want bargain medical care or
"cheap" food. The low bidder to roof my house would be looked on with
suspicion. So too with art....if we suggest it isn't worth much, others may
see it the same way.

What do you think ? How do you settle on prices for you art ?

Larry