Updating My Website: SteveLewisArt.com

I do not know how many people are checking out my site but I am happy to have it and feel it is important to keep it up to date.  Tonight I worked on adding the artist groups that I hold a membership.  I also added better photos of two paintings that were hanging in a show and one of "The Duel" which I just completed.

The Duel, oil on canvas, 75 x 160 cm, 2015

 The location is taken from Fortescue, NJ, not far from where I grew up.   The beach along the Delaware Bay was a mess after a storm and the green-heads were tearing my son and I up as we were trying to take a series of photos of the beach, houses, and the horseshoe crabs.

The plan was to set up a great deal of tension between the two figures, making the viewer contemplate what is happening and why.  Everything is quite ordinary... at least if you have seen houses on stilts and horse-shoe crabs before.  I also was excited with the idea of cropping the head of the person in the foreground.  I wanted to bring reference to those great westerns with the duel scenes.

Final Showdown Scene from Silverado (1985)

I hope it comes across to the viewer.  It is something I would like to experiment  with further in future work.  Originally I had planned to have two gunmen by the car but was encouraged to play it down so the viewer would create the missing narrative.  I am so glad that I did. 

So let me know what you think about "The Duel" and check out my web site... www.SteveLewisArt.com

The Artist Teacher Workshop in Pisa with Heather McReynolds was so inspiring.

One of the most inspiring elements of the workshop was being encouraged to be a visitor and to allow oneself the time to enjoy being fresh in a new environment ready to sit and draw!  Back in 1992 and 1993 I first came to Europe and did two European Rail tours.  The people I travelled with were really patient and understanding with me taking time to do the drawings.  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed making those sketches and then reviewing them at the end of the day.

In Pisa, I took time for myself and sketched.  This became part of my personal task.  I did pencil drawings, watercolour paintings, ink wash drawings.  It was challenging.  It had been a long time.  I was already looking forward to this because of reading about the personal task that would be set for the workshop.  While packing I think I took about two hours just sorting my pencil bag.  I can not remember how long I took cleaning out my precious Pelikan Fountain Pen.

I also had something that I did not have in the 90's; an iPad.  This was great for taking photos and then drawing from.  It was also great listening to Paul Simon in the morning when I was getting ready before breakfast.  The photos I have from there on the iPad play as a screen saver on the television when I play music through the Apple TV.  It is neat to see the captured moments scroll by.

What an entrance way upon arrival.  You can imagine the excitement.

This was the view outside my room.  What you can not see is the chicken coops below, so hence the mosquito net on the window.  Waking to the crow of the rooster was a delight.

This was a beautiful drive way that I just happened to pass on my way into town before dinner on the first evening.  There was the most lovely smell in the air and I was grateful my allergies did not kick in.

Video: ARTIST TEACHER WORKSHOP - La Vigna Art Studios 

This video was created from our session in late May, 2013.  The safe, rejuvenating, and creative atmosphere that Heather McReynolds arranges for the Artist Teacher Workshop is very apparent in this video.

Creating a place to record and to share

Back in May 2013, I was sent to do a course in Pisa called "Artist Teacher Workshop" by La Vigna Art Studios in order to rejuvenate the artist hidden within this increasingly heavy art teacher shell.  The course was wonderful.  Heather McReynolds was so inspiring, encouraging, and generous with her knowledge.  This experience shared with the three artist teachers who are working in Denmark has changed how I see myself as a teacher but more importantly how I want to rediscover myself as an artist.

I have been thinking about ways of how to keep the energy felt while on the workshop alive.  This blog is one way that I intend to record the steps I take to stay artistically productive and where I will share images of the art works when they are completed.  Producing my own art is vital to me feeling complete and strengthens my confidence in teaching.  I am an artist; always have been and always will be.  Passively allowing life, as wonderful as it has been, to keep me away from my own creativity is something that I am now determined to actively change.  Even the small steps are worth taking.