: : SpitBubbles : :

I just spent the better part of a Saturday evening (now Sunday morning) optimizing all the images of my artwork over at DannyVigil.com. I pulled down all the art from last year and this year and brightened them up a bit. For some reason they all seemed rather muted. See the rooster posted last week compared to the one on the other site. My palette tends to be muted but not that dreary. I am also realizing that I do not have a gift for naming my work. The all tend to be a very generic names: cup, dog, man on bench, etc. The painting here seems to want a introspective, inspirational title but all I can come up with is; flag, girl with flag or flag girl. Also, earlier today it hit me  - some of these paintings need to be ready to hang next weekend and have yet to be varnished. There goes Sunday.

Perhaps, I forget the flag and go with "Red Boots". 

Typically the daddy-to-be does not get to participate in the pre-birthing festivities - for good reason I'm sure. However, us aging lads made our own pregnancy pact and that merits special guest status at our own non-shower. What do you buy a dad-to-be? Honestly, when asked, I drew a blank. Like I have any idea.

Anyway, this invitation is super awesome so I thought I'd post it. Much love to the Wera Family for reminding future dads that we always have a place to hangout on the weekend!

I am finally getting around to photographing the new artwork. The paintings at the next show will most likely be wet :)

 

 

Just wrapping up a series of upgrades to MosaicGlobe and thankfully the system did not come crashing down. This is the first major revision that the mosglo code has gotten in a long time and it should set the stage to a number of new features we've been wanting to get to.  JRay has also included the ability to add Google Analytics code in each site for detailed tracking!

With years of figurative drawing classes in school, painting sessions at the arts league, and life study sessions with colleagues in the studio, come stacks and stacks of visual studies in charcoal, pencil, watercolor and oil. Each depicting a model whose curves and color the artists may know better than their own skin.

Those who haven't spent an afternoon analyzing a nude figure perched on a stool in a room full of people may not realize how little of them you actually consciously see. When your so busy scrutinizing over each minute curve, cast shadows and lost lines you often fail to appreciate the work a good model can accomplish. I recall my favorites as pros in their ability to strike and hold fascinating poses. A good model understands the instructional role of their "position".

Today's Seattle Post Intelligencer published an insightful article showcasing the work of one such model, Robert Treat. Robert has been modeling for 27 years. You can imagine the hundreds-of-thousands of drawings featuring his likeness done by hundreds of students and artists sitting among their stacks of life drawings all across the state.

I have a family reunion and Father's Day to deal with this weekend so I am not sure if I am going to be able to swing by this years Summer Art Market - but I intend to try and sneak it in if I can. Although Summer doesn't officially drop until the 20th -the Art Students' League of Denver is hosting their annual Summer Art Market this weekend (June 14 - 15th, 10-5 each day). There will be music, food, heat and tons of terrific art - really, like about 150 booths of creativity!

If your a collector, you know that this is the place to buy awesome works of art from up and coming artists for a percentage of their future value. But if your looking for some affordable artwork to brighten up your walls, this is the best place to find that perfect piece - and who knows, you may find an artist (or artists) whom you would like to start collecting from.

It's been my experience that the hardcore collectors show up early Saturday. Sunday afternoon tends to be a tad bit slower if you want to avoid the crowds. However, if it's particularly hot weekend you may be dealing with some frazzled artists ready to cut some good discounts on their remaining work (I know I let some pieces go for a song at the end of the last event I participated in).  If you go (and you should) get in early before the pavement heats up and check out my good friend Jen Caskin's  etchings. She is sharing her tent with a number of printmakers.

 

Location:
2nd and Grant St in Denver (2 blocks East of Broadway, near the Mayan theater)
Sat June 14 and Sun June 15 (Yes, Father's Day - Buy dad some art)
10:00am to 5:00pm each day

 

P.S. Let's support our local artists. If I see one more framed mall poster from pier one imports on a wall i'm going to puke.

Do you love power point presentations? Who doesn't? Want to share your presentations ala youtube? Then slideshare is the site for you!

When my friends Dan and Deb were pregnant I wrote a haiku to celebrate the occasion. Now that my wife is pregnant, Deb has done the same. Thanks

Pregnancy is weird
Mommy's belly grows, she glows
But her brain will shrink

The original version of this bill (defeated in 2006) was designed to allow non-profit and educational institutions (i.e. museums and libraries) to use images without the risk of being sued in situations where they could not find the owner of the copyrights. The U.S. Copyright Office defines "orphan work" as "copyrighted works whose owners are difficult or even impossible to locate". In an attempt to resolve this "orphan" issue, new versions of the bill have resurfaced:

"Congress is revisiting the longstanding problem of orphan works. These are books, films, photographs, music, and other creative works that cannot be reused by scholars and archivists because they are unable to find the works’ owners. Those who make use of the material risk incurring penalties for copyright infringement."
Excerpt: Andrea Foster, Legislation to Ease Problem of Orphan Works Is Introduced in Congress, Wired Campus, April 25, 2008.

While the bill has good intentions, and attempts to address valid concerns - the details have alarmed artists because it would allow anyone to legally use (and resell) creative works without license, monetary compensation or legal recourse for the creator.

Current copyright laws assume the artists has ownership. You created it. You signed it. You own the rights to it. No need to put a copyright mark on it - it's yours. No organization can display or resell prints of your work unless that organization has contractually licensed reproduction rights from the owner (The Artist). Should someone decide to swipe your creative work - you have the law on your side. At least for now.

If the Orphan Works Act were to pass, any organization could legally pinch and resell an artists work. If caught, they would only have to claim that they performed a “due diligent search” and were unable to find the copyright owner; therefore the art was considered "orphaned". In this case, a "diligent search" may be nothing more than an online post somewhere. Kind of like a "found cat" flyer posted on a light post nowhere near the owner.

Also, according to the bill, the penalty for being caught using images without the permission of the owner would be "reasonable compensation". What "reasonable compensation" is would be determined would be by the infringer. It would seem the fairest way to resolve the issue would be to let the lawyers work it out but, here's the punch-line, the copyright owner can not seek damages and legal fees. That's right, it would be nearly impossible for the vast majority of independent artists to pursue infringement lawsuits.

So what's an Artist to do? It would be up to the artists to prevent infringement by registering their artwork with an arts registry (according to the bill: a non-governmental databases of copyrighted works). So how would we do that? No Idea. See, these registries don't exist.

If these registries do come into existence they would be run by for-profit corporations, meaning the artist would be paying  to protect their own work. I personally create well over 100 paintings per year, not to mention all the photos, sketches, illustrations, graphics and general design work. That's going to take a considerable amount of time to "register" and add additional expenses to an already difficult business.

It's important to note that these are initial drafts submitted to congress and will go through a number of changes as it moves through the process. It will be interesting to see if it makes it to a vote...