painting

art is best served free

in rereading some older posts, i re-stumbled onto these golden beauties.... jen wallace, in an attempt to mitigate mid recession blues, began a project called feed your soul. and it's free art. no gimmicks, no sign ups, nothing sleazy going on behind the scenes. legitimately free art. she invited artists to contribute, and artist sent in art, that people could then download for free. seriously. i know. 

 as jen says, "I love art and I know you do too. I also know that when people start to tighten up the purse strings they tend not spend money on things that aren’t necessary for survival, things like books, magazines and art. But, art is important for your soul. It helps rejuvenate, it’s thought-provoking, offers inspiration and can generally brighten an otherwise dreary day among other things."


this is an older project now, but all the art is still there for the downloading. it seems to me that artists are no longer uploading art.... but nevertheless, it's all there for you.
i simply love this concept. art as it should be. art for all. art should not be a thing that is inaccessible... it should be the opposite. thank you jen wallace, for thinking this as well, and making art something that all of us (with the internet) can have.

art battle on a tuesday

last night I went to my first art battle in Toronto… I didn’t know what to expect (though I have to admit, I was hoping for paint brush stabbings and paint covered wrestlers), but I walked in, handed the lovely gentleman at the front door my $15, and he gave me my ballots.
turns out, I was behind the rest of the crowd – as they were on art battle 24.
the idea is pretty simple (and I kicked myself for never having thought of something like this for theme birthdays): 16 competitors, who each get 20 minutes to prepare the best piece of art they can. Round 1 and 2 displays 10 painters each round (8 who enter, as well as 2 people whose names are drawn from the audience – and I don’t think I need to tell you, this made me excited about the possibility…. So of course, next time, my name will be in that can). They have 20 minutes to paint anything they want, while the crowd watches, mulls around, and gets to essentially participate in the process. Once time is up, everyone in the crowd uses their voting ballots (labeled for rounds 1, 2 and 3), to determine which of the paintings will enter the final round. the top two painters from the first two rounds then proceed to the finals.
the winner of the finals is determined in the same method, and receives a cash prize. Then all the paintings are put up for silent auction, so anyone can take them home.
I would never ever call myself an artist. I paint, and use many mediums to create art – but I have become comfortable with the fact that I will never ever be a famous painter. The things that these people did in 20 minutes was fantastic and amazing. I can really let the photos speak for themselves, because no matter what I comment on in regards to each person’s brush strokes or technique, there’s nothing that can replace watching each of these artists create something from nothing in a matter of minutes. Things like that heighten your appreciation of art so much – you walk away in awe.
I was invited by alex, whose sister in law Cat, was competing. Cat is an unbelievable artist, and made it to the finals. A few of my other favourites from the night:
From top to bottom: Cat Reyto (round 2); Ira lipkin (round 1); yang cao (round 1); rob jolicoeur (round 2); rob jolicoeur and cat’s pieces completed (round 2); all the artists (round 3 - finals); Cat Reyto (round 3 -finals); alex jones (round 3 - finals); yang cao (round 3); winning painting
check out the artist's websites - next time around, I’ll be posting on my twitter when the time is nigh for another battle. This even sends ideas of jewelry battles, and art battle parties through my head… too. Much. Exciting. Stuff. to do.

artists:  yang cao  //  alex jones  //  cat reyto