One Artist's Journey

Cooper was thrilled to help me with this drawing

We didn’t get as many “Twitter Art Contest” entries as I would have liked, but I decided to do the drawing anyway. Thank you all for your love, interest and support these past 100 days.

I waited for Cooper to come home so he could do the drawing for me so it would be completely impartial. I read somewhere that even if you cut the paper and fold it, your brain can keep track of what is on each piece of paper subconsciously. Go figure.

Anyway, And he drew…… “Gorillagrr’s” entry.

I am especially excited because Gorillagrr actually bought and paid for a painting during the challenge. Can you say “Karma?”

Now she can have a matching set or at least start her “collection” of Shaun Ellsworth original paintings. One isn’t quite a collection, but I think two qualifies.

Congratulations Gorillagrr!

I am so sorry! It has been over a week since I wrote. I don’t know why I can’t stay on track. Maybe I am just human.

Now I need to do like 30 paintings in the next 3 weeks. Weeks leading up to Christmas. Yea, right. Like I am going to have time to do this.

But I have to. I wrote a press release and sent it to a friend at the Sun newspaper. He said they would look into doing a story of me. Cool. Don’t know when it will happen, but isn’t that what every artist wants? Coverage?

Now, however, I must get the 100 paintings done or die trying. How would that look? “Here is an artist challenging himself to paint 100 paintings in 100 days. That is interesting, so we are doing a story on him. Oh wait. He wimped out and didn’t paint 100 paintings after all.” Nope. That can’t happen.

I have about a dozen panels left. I have some canvas and can do works on paper too. Over the next few weeks I am going to need to get pretty creative. This has been a great experience for me. It has pushed me harder than I expected, but it has been fun and enlightening.

I really hope to make some exciting stuff over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

I am having a contest where one lucky person can win a free painting. To read the rules, click here or on the “Twitter Contest” navigation link at the top of this page. All you have to do is follow me on Twitter and let me know what painting you want to win. Spread the news because there must be at least 100 Twitter followers by New Years Eve 2009.

Shaun Ellsworth (Me) and Abigail Herrly as "Sun" and "Moon" in Iona Dance Theater's first production of "Worshiping Sun"

Hey, I thought you might find this interesting. When I was in school in Hawaii, I was part of the IONA Contemporary Dance Theater. Then it was called “Iona Pear.”

It was so much fun. The choreographer, Cheryl Flaharty, held classes at a local church. * calasses for $80 or something like that. I had seen a performance, “Mythology of Angels” and was totally addicted. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

When I heard about the classes, I decided to go. I had to take the bus an hour and a half to get there, but it was worth it. I loved the class, even though it was really hard. The dance form is based on Japanese butoh, a meditative “anti-dance,” with Cheryl’s special twist.

After taking the classes, Cheryl asked me to take part in a fund raiser, (I think). then I worked back stage, then I had a little part, then I was asked to be the “Sun” and a dancer in the first “Worshiping Sun” performance.

Well, last night, I was poking around on the internet and found IONA’s web page. There is a picture of me (above) playing “Sun” with the moon, Abigail Herrly in the “Early Years” section.

They are based in Hawaii, but come to the West Coast. If you ever have a chance to see them, you must. You will never look at performance art the same way again. It is unbelievable. Love you IONA Dance Theater!

Check them out at: http://www.iona360.com/

Expressive Drawing 1.1 - 14" x 11" - House Paint on Paper - $300

PAINTINGS COMPLETED TODAY: 4
PAINTINGS COMPLETED TO DATE: 61

I am actually in my studio, blogging from my laptop. It is down here so I can listen to pandora, but I thought, “why don’t I blog while I am actually thinking about art, instead of trying to remember it after the fact…

So, here I am. I am going back to the “Expressive Drawing” book and I am going to go through the exercises. I think I need to loosen up a little bit. Maybe this will help. I have done 6 paintings lately, and I am not really happy with them.

I found a fantastic artist in Redlands who does abstract art. I really  like her stuff. wE have started a dialog, but won’t be able to get together until after the first of the year. She is really busy with art festivals and such.

You can see her art at: http://aidaschneider.com/

I will let you know how my expressive drawing goes.;-)

Finally got around to setting up accounts on some online art galleries. I had to look around for some free ones – which I eventually found.

Oh, and I posted 5 paintings on Ebay last night too. They are cheap on ebay. If you are interested, I put the five Kanji paintings up for $47 each. See link below.

Here is a list of the online art galleries I am now a part of:

My Zatista online gallery: http://store.zatista.com/shaunellsworth

My d’Art online gallery: http://www.fine-art.com/shaun-artist

My “About Me” page on Ebay:
http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=shaunartist

My Artbreak gallery (Be careful. Even with the adult filter ON, some gets by. Sorry): http://www.artbreak.com/shaunartist

Well, I started out using a 1″ brush and applying the gesso in one direction and then when that dried, I applied it in the perpendicular direction.

Now, after applying the gesso one way with the brush, I use an old credit card as a spatula and qind of squeegie the gesso all over the board. It applies it to the depth of the first brush strokes, but gives me a flatter surface to draw on.

The rough boards created by the first application method just ate up my pencils. Now, with the flatter board, I don’t go through the woodless pencils quite as fast. It grabs the paint well too.

I tried squeegeeing straight on the board. It went on well enough, but I haven’t used that board yet. It uses much less gesso and gives a good tooth. the board is browner because there is less coverage, but that shouldn’t  matter.

Tetons - 18" x 14" - Acrylic and graphite on Masonite - $300

Today I had time to do two paintings. It takes longer, the larger the board I am painting on. I wasn’t ready for that when I started the 100 in 100 challenge. I need to hustle and I am a little worried about moving on to larger canvasses (boards).

The two I worked on today turned out well. I am fighting the urge to get too detailed. When I get detailed or try and make it look like a photo, I get really messed up. I have to keep reminding myself “It is just a bunch of shapes” and “This is an abstract painting.”

Mesa Arch - 18" x 14" - Acrylic and colored pencil on Masonite - $300

If I can keep those two things in mind, I think I will do OK. I am happy with the two I finished today. I am also using a lot more paint than I was with the smaller paintings. I found a container to put my pain into so it doesn’t dry up between paintings. I just use a disposable plastic square container and slap the lid on when I am done painting for the day. I also have a tiny spray bottle that I use to moisten the paints every once in a while.

I realize I have a problem if I want to be a professional artist. I don’t think I like selling my paintings (my babies). Painting/creating is such a personal matter that I think it is hard for me to sell my creations.

If that is the case, then I am going to have a difficult time being a professional artist. So, I need to come up with a mind game that helps me to be able to sell my paintings.

I could use the money – yes.
I like it when other people appreciate what I create – yes.
I want my paintings to have a good home – yes.
There is no way in the world I can display all my paintings myself – yes.
If my house burned down, all my art would go with it. If I sell it, I am spreading out the risk so that something would survive – yes. (Don’t laugh, I think the weirdest little concept is what will do it for me!)

If any of you reading this have an answer to my problem, please let me know in the comments on this page. I read all the comments you send, even if I don’t reply back.

Please don’t let this post discourage anyone from buying a piece of art from me. Perhaps you can be part of the cure.

I have really been seeing the correlation between art and music lately. Music has its meter, tune, beat, musical “hook”. Is the vocalist a male or a female or a group? Is there harmony, a little bell in the background, cowbell? When does the chorus come in? Is that as good as the verses? Does it carry the theme or change it completely? All these parts create the whole and determine whether the piece is fun to listen to or not?

Art is the same. What colors are you using? What is the size? Is it vertical or horizontal? What size brush are you using? What is the medium? How is the energy? Is it hurried, energetic, fun, crazy, languid, smooth?

A lot of planning goes into creating a work of art, whether painting, sculpture, music, poetry, literature, etc. I am really appreciating the elements that go into a beautiful work of art, and they all need to go together well.