brb

I'm off to find adventure.  I'll return with a lot to share with you...hopefully.  brb

A good sandwich

I'll  keep this short.  Today, I spent a solid 10 minutes composing a playlist of my favorite albums (a small selection, that is).  Totally worth it...made my day 10x more enjoyable.  Zuma, Harvest, Basement Tapes, Highway 61 Revisited, Bringing It All Back Home, All Things Must Pass, Dock of the Bay, Pink Moon, The Band, For Everyman, Exile on Main St.,Sticky Fingers, Ain't That Good News, Loaded, and Mind Games...it was a late 60's, early 70's type of day.  Also, I made a good painting.  And then...I made a really bad painting.  I had a good sandwich and then decided I like the bad painting more than the good painting.  Tomorrow, I will deliver a lot of good and bad paintings to a lot of different places in hopes that a few people will like both the good and the bad.  I'm looking forward to stopping at Chick-fil-A above all else.  Oh, and I got a new backpack...it was a good day.

Changing Gears

So, tomorrow is the last day of school.  Typically, I'd be ecstatic.  Typically, I'd make sure I had a solid weak of "downtime" before jumping into the summer swing of things.  But atypically, this year, I've got some big travel plans that will make my first days of summer anything but lazy.  I'm excited to get busy painting new landscapes.  No plein air events, no juried shows, no obligations of any kind...just painting my way across the country because I can.  I'll probably post more about this before the car is loaded.  Or maybe I won't.  Either way, I've got to get myself back into a furious painting mode.  Where's my big hat? 

Yeah, I'm a high school art teacher.  No, I don't teach in order to support my "painting hobby".  Yeah, it's a lot of work.  No, I'm not too happy about a lot of things in our state's public school system.  Yeah, it's a rewarding profession.  No, I'm not going to teach forever.  Yeah, I love my students.  No, I won't make you a poster for your fundraiser because you "can't even draw a straight line" and it's "no big deal for the art teacher".  Yeah, I teach a discipline-based curriculum that focuses on art production, art history, aesthetics, and art criticism.  No, my students don't get an A for effort.  Yeah, many of my students are better artists than I was at that age.  No, most students won't pursue an arts-related career.  Yeah, I still think art is important.  No, I'm not entirely sure that I'm teaching for my students as much as I'm teaching for myself.  Yeah, I love my students.

I don't really know how to express all of my feelings about teaching.  While I assumed that I'd be stepping away from the profession around this point in my life to pursue my "art" "full-time", I also never figured I'd be considered a "professional artist" at this point in my life.  Six years ago, I had given up on finding a teaching position and started pursuing a career painting pictures...so go figure.  Right now, it works...so I'm going to keep the ball rolling.  I truly believe that teaching art makes me a better artist in some shape (2D) or form (3D).  I also believe that I'm in a unique position to share my knowledge of art to young people in my hometown, in the same classroom I studied art as a young person, as a practicing artist and lifelong member of this community.  It's a good gig.

You know, when I first started teaching, I had convinced myself that my sole job was to pass on my knowledge of art and ensure that my students left my classroom with a better understanding of art as culture, communication, expression, and knowledge.  I still feel a massive obligation to give my students something they can't get anywhere else.  But now, with 5 years of teaching under my belt, I understand that my obligations are beyond transferring art knowledge.  I'm "the art teacher"...and as some of you may know, being the art teacher means more than just teaching art. 

I've developed some great relationships with my students.  In fact, more often than not, I feel that I'm interacting with my peers, not "just my students".  And while I could attribute some of that to an inadvertent "cool factor" due to age proximity and my slightly wacky personality, I like to hope that it's because my students trust me....not just as a teacher, but as a friend.  Don't get me wrong, I can be an absolute pain in the neck if sketchbook assignments aren't turned in on time.  But, I think most of my students understand that I'm dedicated to their education because I'm passionate about art and I'm invested in their growth as well-rounded and educated artists in this wild world we live in.  Teaching art is not solely "my job". 

I'm going to miss some of my seniors and will, no doubt, have a hard time telling them to "keep in touch" at Saturday's graduation ceremony.  In fact, I'm going to miss the rest of my students over the summer break, too.  Inevitably, I'll lose touch with many of them.  But, for what it's worth to any of you reading this, I'm so glad I can call my students my friends.  And while I can find too many ways of verbalizing how teaching is so important to me, I'm certain that these cherished friendships are at the root of every explanation.  I love my students. 

Here's to the Class of  2016 and all of my great friends that I have had the pleasure of teaching.  Way to go folks!  Art or die!

Dallas

So, I went to Dallas with my wife this past weekend to attend the Oil Painters of America's 25th Annual Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils, otherwise known as "the big OPA thing".  It was a great experience that I accredit to my wife entirely.  We stayed in a hotel that was much more swanky than our personalities, ate a lot of great food, did a lot of sight-seeing/touristy stuff, and put on some nasty sunburns poolside.  It was great. 

I learned a few things at the exhibit.  First of all, as I suspected, painting exhibitions of this type are essentially all the same, regardless of the size, prize money, "prestige and distinction"...lots of big paintings, lots of big egos, lots of big disappointments.  It is what it is.  It's par for the course, I suppose.  Secondly, galleries are funny things.  I've never seen so many expensive paintings in one place before.  That is, I've never seen so many of these $10,000+ types of artworks stacked up against the wall, hung floor to ceiling, unframed and dusty, just waiting for a stray foot or loose nail to destroy them.  It was a big show in a full gallery space, I know, but some gallery experiences make it very evident that your "art" is really just someone else's "product".  I hope my painting sells...but there are a few hundred other overpriced wall decorations in competition right now.  Third, I'm not super interested in a half page ad in a silly painting magazine or a hundred bucks worth of paint I don't care for.  It seems like most "prestigious" art shows are offering prizes to the artists that, in all likelihood,  didn't cost the organization a dime.  Goods offered as prizes that were acquired in exchange for a sponsorship and ad space in the exhibit catalog is kind of cheap, in my opinion.  I'm not going to pretend like I wouldn't have liked to win the $30,000 grand prize, but I knew that was a virtual impossibility.  Prizes at art shows are as common as jackpots on slot machines...I'm not much of a gambler, but I like perusing the casino floor.  Lastly, I discovered just how good some of these "acclaimed painters" really are.  I recognized a lot of the names and even met a few folks whose work I've admired for years.  Let me tell you, these guys and gals can paint a picture.  Honestly, I was initially a little embarrassed of my work when I first saw it, hanging in between masterful paintings that had frames on them that probably cost more than my actual painting.  But after processing what I saw for a few days, reviewing the catalog, and losing my self-disgust, I came to a conclusion that I've arrived at before...I entered a PAINTING show, not an art show.  I saw some of the best work by some of the best painters across the country, but I'm not sure I saw a whole lot of "art"...after 30 minutes of studying the featured work, it all started to look the same.  Please understand, I don't think my painting was very artful either, so I'm in the same boat I guess...just with lesser technical ability.  I think I'm just struggling with the notion that a painter doesn't haven't to be an artist, or maybe more accurately, an "artist" doesn't have to make art all the time.  And unfortunately, our abilities as artists aren't the focal point of "art exhibits".  As a representational painter, I'm coming to terms with the fact that my paintings will be judged as paintings, not "artworks" in most of the venues I'll show at. Hell, I don't know that I've ever "arted" before anyway.   But mostly, I'm coming to terms with the fact that my technical abilities will never reach the level of many of my peers, which can be frustrating when trying to create "art" to enter into "art exhibits" that are really just showcases of technical ability.  It's like trying to be a poet when your only audience is simply interested in your rhyme scheme...is Walt Whitman really any more eloquent than Dr. Seuss?  I don't know.  All of that aside, I was really happy to see see Derek Penix win best of show for his painting.  I don't know Derek, but his painting was my favorite.  I can disagree with the judging of an art exhibit with the best of 'em, but this wasn't one of those times...Derek's painting was outstanding.  

I'm not really worried about any of this...I'm just calling it like I see it.  None of this really matters anyway and I'll probably change my mind tomorrow.  I'm just thankful that painting pictures for fun has given me an opportunity to travel and explore this funky planet.  Here's to Dallas...everything's bigger in Texas...especially the sunburns. 

Trout Lake

"Trout Lake"

oil on canvas

22" x 28"

framed in black and gold

$450 + tax / shipping

 *To purchase, be the first to reach me at wyattlegrand@gmail.com, with

"Trout Lake" as your subject.

From Above

"From Above"

oil on canvas

16" x 20"

framed in gold

$350 + tax / shipping

 *To purchase, be the first to reach me at wyattlegrand@gmail.com, with

"From Above" as your subject.

Backyard

"Backyard"

oil on canvas

16" x 20"

framed in gold

$350 + tax / shipping

*To purchase, be the first to reach me at wyattlegrand@gmail.com, with "Backyard" as your subject.

Is there anybody out there?

I know I have a small audience, but from what I understand, there are a few of you that check this page more often than I post that are hoping to get a bargain on a painting.  I hate to disappoint...

I'll post several paintings over the next few days on this blog.  Each will be $350, framed, + tax and shipping.  First to call dibs gets the bargain....just be the first to email me at wyattlegrand@gmail.com with the painting's title as your subject.  I'll respond to finalize the purchase. 

Good luck!

This Year's Masterpiece

"Anyway," said the driver, "they had so many books in Libertyville, they used books for toilet paper in the jail.  They got me on a Friday, late in the afternoon, so I couldn't have a hearing in court until Monday.  So I sat there in the calaboose for two days, with nothing to do but read my toilet paper.  I can still remember one of the stories I read."

"Um," said Trout.

"That was the last story I ever read," said the driver.  "My God - that must be all of fifteen years ago.  The story was about another planet.  It was a crazy story.  They had museums full of paintings all over the place, and the government used a kind of roulette wheel to decide what to put in the museums and what to throw out."

Kilgore Trout was suddenly woozy with deja vu.  The truck driver was reminding him of the premise of a book he hadn't thought about for years.  The driver's toilet paper in Libertyville, Georgia, had been The Barring-gaffner of Bagnialto, or This Year's Masterpiece, by Kilgore Trout. 

The name of the planet where Trout's book took place was Bagnialto, and a "Barring-gaffner" there was a government official who spun a wheel of chance once a year.  Citizens submitted works of art to the government, and these were given numbers, and then they were assigned cash values according to the Barring-gaffner's spins of the wheel. 

The viewpoint of the character of the tale was not the Barring-gaffner, but a humble cobbler named Gooz.  Gooz lived alone, and he painted a picture of his cat.  It was the only picture he had ever painted.  He took it to the Barring-gaffner, who numbered it and put it in a warehouse crammed with works of art. 

The painting by Gooz had an unprecedented gush of luck on the wheel.  It became worth eighteen thousand lambos, the equivalent of one billion dollars on Earth.  The Barring-gaffner awarded Gooz a check for that amount, most of which was taken back at once by the tax collector.  The picture was given a place of honor in the National Gallery, and people lined up for miles for a chance to see a painting worth a billion dollars. 

There was also a huge bonfire of all the paintings and statues and books and so on which the wheel had said were worthless.  And then it was discovered that the wheel was rigged, and the Barring-gaffner committed suicide. 

From Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions