Art, Philosophically Speaking

Last night while painting I thought that maybe it would be a good idea to write down some of the random things that pop into my head, while confronted with the canvas before me. Needless to say, that was last night and I never did. It also occurred to me that it may be an interesting idea to take the blog in a direction more toward the philosophy of art (rather than whatever unknown direction it has been in). That being said, if you have read any of my previous entries there is a good possibility that this could be the first and last of it's kind!

I'm going to do my best to remember some of my revelations (a gross exaggeration) from last night's painting session. I suppose painting like everything is nothing more than a microcosm of the greater whole. Patience in art is indeed a virtue and one that I constantly need to remind myself to be patient with myself while I'm in the process of learning to be patient. I find it helpful to move from the general to the specific and not get too caught up on the details early on (if ever). To that end, it is more important to "just do it" and get the blank white canvas covered intuitively with paint a.s.a.p. regardless if it is the wrong color (and make corrections as necessary down the road). Without seeing the big picture for all intents and purposes one is blind.

I know there is much more from last night that I have since forgotten, but am confident that I will remember a ton more the second after I publish this post!

Bogger Mentality

It finally occurred to me that I don't have the blogger mentality. I can't seem to do anything on an ongoing, regular basis (I think I finally reached the acceptance stage). There have been more posts in my blog about apologizing for not keeping up and promising to be a more diligent blogger in the future than anything else! I've given up (not actually blogging, but trying to keep consistently current). I need to post some photos of my newly completed studio. It came out great, but I'm simply too lazy in this globally warmed 100 degree heat to go into iPhoto and find them. If you are wondering what I'm doing blogging right now anyway it's because a collector of mine just purchased a painting that was already sold. I figured the least I could do was to scour my blog to save myself the embarrassment of that happening again!

Let the Silent Auction Begin (round 2)!

The first silent auction was an overwhelming success! All four paintings sold for a total of $12.93 (Marina thought that I should not write that as people won't realize that I'm both kidding and prone to exaggeration when the real total was $4 and change). All joking aside, (because I'm a joker and that is the blog personality that I've adopted) it really was shockingly great! The newest incarnation of the 'Silent auction' (the link on the website actually uses a $ sign in place of an S, which is so terribly creative that I can't get over the fact that I came up with such a novel concept) is back by popular demand. The only change this time is a minimum bid in the interest of shattering the $5 barrier. In case anyone is wondering, these are not paintings that I would just as soon paint over (I would much prefer to sell them). It's Friday night and I've been drinking heavily (just kidding again for the 8th time and I don't think I'm done yet..with kidding that is). I really like this new batch of four paintings a lot (not kidding: SERIOUS). All paintings lucky enough to be featured as $ilent Auction paintings are neither factory seconds nor previously run over by a tricycle and have been selected completely at random from the 'Available Section' of my website. If you would like something different than what is featured, just let me know and I'd be more than happy to discuss a commission (now, that sounded serious). Happy Bidding!!! In the event you came here first, all four silent auction paintings can be seen at www.bradfordbrenner.com. This auction ends 2-11-08.

Silence is golden...

The first silent auction on my web-site is underway. I'm sure the format will evolve (or devolve and possibly be completely non-existent in the near future), but the current intent is to have one piece from each of the genres up for a silent auction, with the first batch ending on 1-21-08. I like the idea, think it should be fun and want to make it very clear that I'm a fairly insensitive artist and have never been insulted by even the most low ball of offers. In my mind, anytime someones offers me more for one of my paintings than the price of the canvas and paint, I take it as a compliment! The photograph on the right (which is of the first group of silent auction paingtings) is nothing more than me having fun in Photoshop. The paintings are not to scale and have all been cropped to a square format (which was fairly easy to do as two of the four pieces actually are square in their everyday life). In the event you were unable to find anything that caught your fancy on eBay and still have a hankering for bidding on something, just go to the 'Silent Auction' link on my web-site and bid away. One never knows, this could very well be a one time deal!

Time flies...

Time flies when you are having fun and as you get older. Time then gets going at quite a clip and really kicks in the turbo between blog posts. Fortunately, my commitment to post once a week was prior to any sort of New Year's resolution (of which I made ZERO and subsequently have kept ZERO). Our power went out yesterday for the entire day (case in point, our power in actuality went out the day before, yet it seems like yesterday)! We have been in the process of cleaning up the web-site (which I do believe is looking better). Another new addition is 'Marina's Blog'. She has yet to make her first post and I have a pretty strong sense that relatively speaking, my blog will end up looking quite prolific. My studio is underway in the backyard and looking great. Well, at this stage it looks like an above ground pool. As soon as the rain subsides (the culprit in our power outage) the framing will begin. Ernie is the the Kingpin of the project and has been hands on the whole way through. I previously blamed any and all future dull blog posts on Betty and now Ernie will be the one responsible for all paintings coming out of the new studio. If they suck...it's Ernie's fault! As for the image, on the
right, there is absolutely no connection to this post other than the add promoted my show in Scottsdale that was over before I knew it. Time really did fly although, we didn't (fly) and missed the opening completely.

The answer is...

This actually came to me in a flash, the city not the Wikipedia Greek definition (and then a quick google verification prior to press). If this makes absolutely no sense (then you are reading my blog). If it still makes no sense, then simply read the post prior to this one (wade through the muck to the bottom and therein the question lies)...."Brotherly love" from philos "Love" and adelphos "Brother"....Why PHILADELPHIA of course! What does this have to do with art? Well, the painting to the right has just miraculously asked for his name to be changed to 'Philly Phil'.

We moved/my blog didn't.

We moved to Sebastopol, CA in August. A town of 7,800 people (now 7,803) in the heart of Sonoma County wine country. A very nice individual named Betty left a very nice comment regarding that if this art thing goes South (maybe that's why we moved 1,000 miles North) I could always be a writer. If my blog becomes even more painfully disinteresting, we all have Betty to blame. I have now become exceedingly self conscious of every little word. Back to our move and the image that will soon accompany this awkwardly crafted/post Betty complimented entry. I have a show running at a new restaurant (yes, restaurant. I realize that most of my collectors were hoping for a museum show, but we are new in town and desperate for attention) within walking distance of our house that we love. It's called Peter Lowell's. We are very fond of the owner, Lowell (which is his first name and Peter being his middle name). In Hebrew, Lowell Peter is pronounced Peter Lowell's. It's a right to left thing. I must say, I'm feeling a twinge of guilt by not even making a mention of my Brother in Law Pete. I think possibly the omission is a result of us moving to Sebastopol and not the city of brotherly love (the next thing I need to do is a quick google search to once again find out which is the city of brothery love). I have never, never, ever, ever taken this much time on a post and for that, I have Betty to thank!

Brother-in-law Pete's reply...

Brad,
The compelling subject matter in your blog forces me
to respond to a range of emotions. Both as a writer
and artist, your work elicits both the air of
unconventionality and poetic lyricism. You swim in a
sea of flamboyance and insouciance. I find
etymological challenge in describing your art's
beauty. I dare to say that the symphony you conduct on
canvas tempts, taunts and provokes the viewer to shed
their innocence and rejoyce the spirit that is
BRADFORD BRENNER.

You can quote me on your next blog entry.

P

Here's the new plan...

After a significant amount of heckling from friends, family and the general public regarding the pathetic consistency of my posts (such as "one entry every 6 months doth not a blog make"). That little gem came out of the mouth of my brother-in-law Peter. He said it with love and he's great to my sister, so I didn't respond with anything nasty (besides, truer words were never spoken). Oh yeah, back to the new plan. I'm shooting for once a week. The timing is interesting as my last post was regarding my opening in Scottsdale from Feb. 3, 2007. This post tonight is from my current Scottsdale show with Bonner David Gallery that is running through the 29th of this month. Come to think of it Pete was being generous with his "six month" snipe. It's been 9 going on 10 months since I've done this. The proof was that I had zero clue as to what my password was to be able to once again bore you with my blah-gag (I guess it's spelled blog)!

Scottsdale Opening

This is the reason that I have been so miserably bad about keeping up with the blog. Now that the opening at Bonner/David Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ is behind me and that body of work has been created, I hope to resume a more regular posting. Initially, I was using the blog to publish my small daily paintings (which is something that I'm no longer doing). I am still painting everyday, but found myself feeling that I had accomplished enough when my mini painting was done (which really was not nearly enough in terms of the big picture). I found it to be a good discipline in the beginning, but ultimately ended up being the wrong direction for me to continue in. Here are some installation shots from my show. If you are interested in any of the pieces please contact the gallery at 480-941-8500 for prices and availability.

Put Your Sunny Side Up

Sunday Show

If you have been checking daily to read new posts, one would have to conclude that I've ditched the whole art thing and now am selling insurance. Not true. I've been getting everything ready for my show at Travis Parker in La Jolla,CA this Sunday. Sometimes, the getting ready part seems to take longer than the painting the paintings part. I hate painting the sides of the canvases, wiring them up, photographing them, transporting them etc.. Come to think of it, I would hate selling insurance more!

Quick Apology

Way behind on the old blog publishing! I've been super busy painting commissions and working on getting everything ready for my upcoming gallery shows. Still no excuse!

Standing Room

I painted this 5" x 7" painting of a stand of trees sitting down.

Bucket O'Flowers

It has been brought to my attention that my postings, as of late, have been non-existent. After sliding down the slipppery slope, I'm doing my best to scale back up the painting-a-day program. This little painting is 5" x 7" on panel and is availble for purchase.

Waiting to Dance

I've been waiting to paint the entire day and now at 10:15 p.m. I'm finally going to go down to my studio to attempt to paint. This painting measure 48" x 36". If I can knock out a little 5" x 7" piece before midnight, I'll post that instead. If come tomorrow you see this gal still "Waiting to Dance" you'll know that I missed my deadline. Wish me luck.

Prosperity

My wife (Marina) periodically cuts out periodicals. This one happened to be on 'Prosperity". I used the photo from the front of the article as a reference. Now Marina doesn't want me to sell the painting. Rather she would like it framed and hung on our wall in order to bring us prosperity. Therefor, this daily painting is not for sale, unless someone out there is willing to send a large enough sum of money that I can explain to Marina that selling the painting will indeed make us prosperous.

-SOLD-

Trees on the Horizon

I painted this one a couple of days back and can't come up with anything insightful. I could make something up, but same as yesterday, I'm feeling too lazy to even do that! This piece measures 5" x 7" and is on panel (birch I think. That spelling does not look right, but I'm feeling even too lazy to hit the spell check button. The more I look at, it the more confident I'm becoming that indeed I spelled birch correctly)!

Enough Said

I don't really feel like writing anything right now. So lucky you, I'm not going to!

-SOLD-

Landspatula

Not a horror movie, but a painting. Could be a horrible painting (that's for you to decide). The beauty of the daily painting is having the freedom to try stuff. This painting was executed (when used in the context of actual painting procedure, executed doesn't mean killed. Rest assured, no canvases were harmed in the making of this piece) entirely with a flexible kitchen spatula (which explains the lack of signature and in general it's over easy quality).

Grape Little Painting

Carrying on with the fruit theme, I painted a lonely red grape amidst a barren background. For all the arm chair therapists out there, I've actually been quite happy and feel very connected to my family and friends. I had a great childhood that continued on into adulthood. The painting is a reflection of exactly where I'm not. An artist friend of mine said that he found that he painted where ever he wasn't. I think it's easier to see the beauty of something when viewed from 180 degrees away.

What are the Green Things?

I ran out of the 8" x 10" canvas panels that I've been using for my painting-a-day pieces. I went to the art store and they were plum out of that size (no, the green things aren't plums). They said they were expecting a shipment that evening and to check back. I remembered that I had a number of 5" x 7" wood panels hanging out in my studio. This little peach (no, the green things aren't peaches either) of a painting is on one of those 5" x 7" panels. A couple days ago my wife Marina came back from the market with among other things, two crazy big bags of green apples (there's the clue). Which led me to my next question"were green apples on sale today?" Sure enough they were!

- SOLD -

Talapia-more than a fish

I painted this while waiting for my Trader Joe's Panko Encrusted Talapia (a fish from who knows where? Panko is/are Japanese course bread crumbs) to go from a frozen to cooked state. If you haven't tried this, I highly recommend it. If you don't live near a Trader Joe's, I would move next to one. Great stuff. Great Prices. In the event you are wondering if I'm getting paid every time someone reads this blog from Joe himself (on a per click basis), rest assured I'm not but wish that I were. If you really want to know exactly how long this painting took to finish, all you would need to do would be to look on the Talapia box (located in the frozen section), check the toaster oven time and multiply that by point 6. Talapia is a slow cooking fish that many indigenous people will cook for days and sometimes weeks on end. I would have gladly worked on it longer, but I felt there was something there that worked and was afraid to over-cook it!

Painting- a -day (just not today's)!

I painted this earlier in the week (in a day). Unfortunately, I fell off the painting-a-day- wagon (I just edited this post to say 'fell off the painting-a-day wagon' rather than 'fell off the wagon'. Marina, my wife, thought my original post made it sound like I took up drinking)! I have a large scale piece that I need to get finished and shipped off. The good news is that I painted today. I think, ultimately, that's the goal.

Happy Pitcher

I was not so happy with yesterday's painting. I wanted to go a little more chipper today. More Matisse. As with all my paintings, if they are lying around none of them are safe. New paint can end up on them at any time. If I see something wrong or that needs to be changed, I won't be able to help myself. Probably in direct violation of the spirit of the one-a-day painting manifesto. I hope it doesn't land me in art prison, but I have a feeling that yesterday's painting needs to go another round.

Land Escape

This painting started off as a lemon and lime squeezer from our kitchen. Actually, a pretty obscure little (yet incredibly handy) piece of equipment. I need to try and paint it again. The one I really wanted to paint was the original squeezer that was recently thrown out unbeknownst to me due to a questionable aluminum coating gone horribly wrong. The painting was going to require more time than I had (and I was off to a lousy beginning) and thus I opted to shift gears into a Landscape. Today seemed to be a somewhat long hard day and I needed the escape.

- SOLD -

The Little House

Here's a new twist from my previous two days of cleaning product paintings. This is a little house that is located in the kids section of the botanical gardens near where we live. The reason I chose to paint the house (and not some exotic plant from another continent) was I needed to be in an area that would contain the same 5 year old that was critical of my "Spray Bottle" painting from a couple of days ago. She seems to be pleased with how this one turned out and that's enough for me!

-SOLD-

Painting the Bar

I've been intrigued by this bar of soap for quiet sometime. Primarily due to the fact that it is almost an entire bar of soap (and a very cool colored one at that). Both being unusual characteristics for soap in our home. Actual, we tend to have some nicely colored soaps, unfortunately they always seem the size of a dime when shower time comes around. I seem to be on a cleaning product roll when it comes to my one-a-day paintings. Maybe tomorrow I'll paint a steam cleaner!

Day Two

All was well, until our five year old daughter informed me that "No one is going to want to buy a painting of a spray bottle!". The model for this painting is my trusty spray bottle that I use to erase my numerous mistakes during my painting struggles. Definitely an important tool to have around the studio.

One A Day

Paintings are going to be my one a day vitamins (that's my goal). There are days that I don't paint and even more days that I forget to take my vitamins (hopefully now I'll remember to do both). In the interest of introducing some discipline in my life and career, I've joined a group of artist that produce a painting a day (whether they feel like it or not). Since the galleries that represent my work are more interested in my larger work, the small 8" x 10" pieces that I paint each day will be auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $100. Well here she is. "The First Lady" No, she doesn't look like Laura Bush. She just happens to be the first of what I hope to be a painting a day for many days to come.

-SOLD-