Hot and Cold

What a difference three weeks make. On Jan 3rd we had about 6 inches of snow, by last weekend we took the Mustang on a ride down the coast with the top down.

It was our final ride in the Mustang, we had to turn it in Monday (the insurance settled the claim on the flooded Jeep).

Sorry to see it go, it's a great car.

Business

Welcome to the New Year. Here we are just over two weeks into 2011, and I haven’t picked up a brush yet (except to help paint the gallery space at the Eclipse Gallery). I’m just getting over the holidays, and yesterday celebrated my 50th birthday.

So today it’s back to work on the business of art. Most artists are probably like me and are not thrilled at the marketing side of the business, but without it, there are no paychecks.

I’ve created an on-line shop for shirts and gifts, feel free to drop in and pick up a coffee mug or shirt.

http://www.cafepress.com/KWDrylie

"Works on Paper and Chairs"

The upcoming show at the Eclipse Gallery is “Works on Paper and Chairs.” When Joan, the gallery director, told me what the theme would be, I really wondered, first for her sanity, then, what would I do for the show?

I thought long and hard on the subject and remembered something a friend of mine once told me, that art is about emotion. Art should elicit a feeling in the viewer, and is successful even if the feeling is positive or negative. Real art is about emotion.

I decided to do a chair, and located a child-size wicker chair that I used to use in my portrait studio. Being small and white, I felt it represented the way we enter this world, small, pure and innocent. I used paint to represent the emotions we feel as we begin to grow, yellow for fear, blue for sorrow, green for envy and red for anger.

The final product is like our lives, splashes of emotion, but if we are really lucky, the innocence of our youth should still shine thru.

Everything Looks Worse in Black and White

A friend of mine sent me a newspaper clipping about the loss of an American Legend. No it’s not a big star or politician, it’s wasn’t a member of any championship team, yet it was a true icon, even celebrated in song.

Last Thursday, the last roll of Kodachrome film was processed at Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas.

Two of the images I shot on Kodachrome during my career.

Kodachrome was the finest color film made, it was a bit touchy, but the results of properly exposed Kodachrome were unbeatable, which is why some of the most iconic images of the last 75 years were shot on the Kodak film, including many for “National Geographic” magazine.
I shot hundreds of rolls of Kodachrome film, and although I made the move to digital several years ago, its loss is a tough pill to swallow. Maybe, I’m feeling a little old, watching my old work companions fall by the wayside.

I guess in the end Paul Simon said it best:

When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school
It's a wonder I can think at all
And though my lack of education
Hasn't hurt me none I can read the writing on the wall

Kodachrome You give us those nice bright colors
You give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day, oh yeah!
I got a Nikon camera I love to take a photograph
So Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away