New Art for Esther Brown

Most of these works have been just recently created. Many of them were showing at Aonami in Chico, CA. Brown Art Works is showing this spring. There is a big show that we are planning. Details of it will be posted soon, so stay tuned. These works are the beginning efforts to prepare for that coming show. We are also in the process of preparing to launch a new website and Facebook page. If all goes as planned, we will launch a store on our new website where you can buy and order work without having to go to one of our shows or see us in person. Dimensions, materials, and prices will be posted here soon. Until then, enjoy the art and write me with any  questions you may have. Remember, art is for everyone!!

-Jesse

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8, 2014

AT 12 PM

IS AN OPENING AT AONAMI

FOR 

ESTHER BROWN 

1008 West Sacramento Ave.,

Chico, CA

BE THERE IF YOU CAN!

All new original works!

Water and Stone: Additional Thoughts

Water and Stone is a continuing Series for me. I am going to be publishing more of these works into my gallery as we move forward. I have found that this blog is an ongoing and evolutionary work that seems to give me no rest! But, isn't the way of art to constantly create and engage both the artist and the audience? I find that with this blog I am constantly challenging myself to develop it more so there is more to share with people and have it create more of a dialogue for when viewers come to visit. I have been pleased with its progress this summer. 

One of the things that fascinates me with this series is the idea of the simultaneous coexistence of opposites. Marion Epting, my professor in college and a very accomplished printmaker, pointed me in this direction about 20 years ago and I do not tire of the possibilities of exploring art through this perspective. If you think about it, water and stone are opposites. Water is flowing and moving constantly. It can separate and reunite in form, or take its own course. Stone is an immovable object that takes centuries, if not more, to wear down. We look at stone monuments, both natural and human-made, and often stand in awe of what we see. We are dwarfed by the Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore, as well as the cliffs that rise above the ocean. Yet when we look at water, we often think more about how peaceful and inviting it is for us. 

The image above is one of water flowing over a fountain in Jack London Square in Oakland, CA. Notice how it separates into droplets and sprinkles over the surface of the water that pools at the bottom. The versatility of the form of water is fascinating. I particularly like the contrast it has, in form and color, with the fountain that it is flowing over. 

While these photos were not necessarily taken these year during the year of the drought, it seems to force us to contemplate not only the beauty of water, but its importance in light of its scarcity in the time of drought here in California. For more photos of my Water and Stone Series, go to my gallery listed at the top with the other pages of this blog.

If you want to get any art, email me at brownartworks@gmail.com or leave me a message here and I will get back to you. For August 2014, if someone buys art, they can inquire about the possibilities of free matting for any piece bought this month.

Thanks for visiting and reading!

Jesse

New Art for Esther Brown

This is an example of Esther's new work. It will be added to her gallery soon. I am excited about all the new work that is being produced by all of us in the family. Our shows will be exciting to share with all our friends and people who come to see them. Official invitations will be going out soon for the shows, so please be sure to watch here for that. Although, I will be contacting many people personally in some form to make sure they are aware. :-) 

This particular piece is 7"x10", in color pens, and there is no title. Obviously it was completed in 2014 since it is just a new work for her. 

One of the fascinating things I find with these particular pens my mother has been using is how they can look so much like paint sometimes. We often talked about this concept in school, how drawing and painting often crossed over into the other. You can have a painterly style in drawing and also have paintings look like drawings. I think these are more defined by the actions of the artist than the materials. If you think about it, you can draw with any type of tool that makes a line. At the same time, you can paint an image on a variety of surfaces with any number of drawing tools if you use the right motion and technique. Where do they stop and begin? I do not think there are such clear-cut barriers between the disciplines as we might think. 

If anyone is interested in this piece, just leave me a message or email me at brownartworks@gmail.com - I can arrange for it to be prepared and shipped. We just sold one of her other new ones that was just posted to her gallery. We really appreciate all the support we have been receiving and we will make sure to do whatever we can to answer any questions or get you what you are interested in. 

As an additional note, I will be making hand-made frames soon. If anyone is interested in that, let me know. I already do matting for all of the work that is on paper. One of the reasons I do this is because it costs so much as an artist to get these done by other people. In my opinion, the entire industry of framing and matting really over charges us. It is easy to do this for a fraction of the cost of what is normally a "standard price." If you do want anything from me, in terms of art, I always ask if you are interested in having me frame it. If you live internationally, I only do matting normally because of the problems with shipping something so fragile as a frame overseas. We do have work going overseas, though. So, if you do live in another country, do not be afraid to ask us to get something just because you live outside the US. Email me and we will talk. 

Have a great day!!
#artforeveryone
#brownartworks

A New Painting and Style

Documenting a Mistake...

This painting came about from what I would consider something of a mistake. I was working on a new piece in a new style with new materials. There is always a learning process that goes on when you try something new. I am in the process of trying some new things in my art and I had some left over paint, acrylic paint specifically. What you are looking at is based on an effort the create something from paint that I did not want to waste. You can see it is a warm palette and it is very different from what I usually do. 

Personally, I love abstract art and it really fascinates me and captures my attention. When I was an undergraduate I had the chance to study some of the color field painters and how they approached their work. It reminded me of landscapes, but abstract ones. I had the opportunity to visit the SFMOMA a couple of years ago and had the full effect of some of the color field work. While this particular work is not very big, it could be more powerful if I did make it bigger. 

One of the deliberate departures from a true color field style is the fact that there are some definite references to landscape shapes. I titled this piece "Diagonal Sunrise." Strong diagonals indicate motion, and I really wanted to have the feel of some movement in this painting, so I created some shapes and lines that would give the viewer a feel of a dynamic landscape. 

Abstraction and Landscape

It is exciting to move in new directions, and this represents part of a few new directions. I guess you could say it is like being an explorer. I am discovering new things and seeing different things that I like. One of my challenges is to make enough time in my schedule to try new things and complete new projects, but this is a good challenge and the results are going well. 

As I move forward I will be sharing my progress and exciting products. I feel like August is going to be one of those really big art months for me and my family. We have two shows in September and many other possibilities from here to the end of the calendar year. Abstract landscapes in this style feels like a good move, among others, to take. A lot of art is based on feelings and intuition. It is hard to explain, but I am going to continue to push the possibilities of this new direction. The great thing is that it was totally unexpected. It is amazing how mistakes can work in someone's favor!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

-Jesse

#brownartworks

#artforeveryone

Another Image for "Water an Stone"

Here is another image for my Water and Stone series. I took this at the same time as the last one I posted. I was asked how do I find images like this. I thought it was a good question. What I would say is that I look for the little things that catch my eye. I really like the way the light reflects off the water here. Water has that amazing ability to reflect light in the most beautiful ways. It does not take anything fancy to capture that image. It just takes being observant and being the right place at the right time. Of course, having some sort of a camera is useful as well!!

Please keep an lookout for this developing series. While I have worked on it for awhile, I have to process it and put it into a cohesive presentation. It will be mostly completely new to most people when I display it. I am excited about it and I hope other people will enjoy it as well. Details about it and other things will be posted in a newsletter that should be published by the end of this week. If you have signed up for it and have been waiting, well it is almost here! If you have not, maybe you would like to! Email me at brownartworks@gmail.com or leave a comment here and I will be sure to add you to the list. The newsletter will come out 1-2 times per month. It would not be sent more than once every two weeks. 

Thanks for following and reading and enjoy the image. New galleries will be posted and other galleries will have work added to them very soon!!

-Jesse :-)

#brownartworks

#artforeveryone

Water and Stone: A Continuing Series

One of the things that I have to constantly do is make art when I can, where I can. This summer has seen an extraordinary amount of tasks for me to do. We have had visitors, chores to do, life decisions to make, and a number of other things that have been going on. So, the question comes up, how do I make art when there is so much to do? Well, one thing I can do is just make art when I can. I was out with my family this morning at the beach I had my camera phone. The great thing about the advent of camera phones and digital photography is that everybody has the potential to be a photographer on some level. While I would say I do photography, I am not one who emphasizes photography in my work as much as the other mediums, but the potential is always there to use it. 

A couple of years ago I started a series called "Water and Stone." I continue to be fascinated with these two concepts and how they can interrelate to each other. You could say this is a continuation in that series. Water is everywhere around us, but with this drought and global warming, we are forced to look at it in different ways. It is beautiful in so many forms, but it can cause untold damage as was seen with Hurricane Katrina. Water can flow over and around objects, as we know, while at the same time it can wear away the greatest stone formations and breakdown so many other elements. 

What caught my attention about the water this particular morning was the way it moved and flowed through the shapes left in the sand by the receding tide from earlier in the day. You can see the flow of the water as it carved out its path in the sand as it divided the unique, undulating ridges left by the receding waters from before. On top of that, the play of light and shadow from the early morning sun on the sand created this repeating pattern that contrasted starkly with the water. 

It comes back to the simultaneous coexistence of opposites. This theme of water and stone really is about the presence of polar opposites at the same time. You have the sand, which is nothing but rock pulverized to the point of becoming sand. There is the water which flows over and through the sand. If you stop and think about it, water is soft and flowing while rock is hard and immovable, but here the water continues to break it down, without regard to the strength of its molecular nature. 

Moving forward, I will need to process the work I have completed with respect to this series so it can flow in a cohesive order. Please stay tuned to my gallery for updates on this series and more. There is going to be a lot of work coming up, so keep looking and thanks for reading!

-Jesse

#brownartworks

#artforeveryone

Work in Progress

So, as you may have been noticing, this summer has seen a definite increase in blog activity, as well as art production, but it is rarely at a pace that is fast enough for me. One of the challenges in being a working artist, a productive artist, is finding enough time and energy to do all that you need to in order to keep up with everything you want to achieve. 

This particular piece is in progress, that would explain the different look of the photo posted. However, I feel that it is important to include people in the process with I create my work. Kiyomi, of http://kiyomimusic.com/ - she keeps a very well developed blog and talks about a lot of different aspects of her creative process. I thought about this and felt that I should be keeping a better record of my processes and thinking patterns as I make art. 

This particular piece represents the beginning of a shift in my work. I have been doing a lot of work in color pens and ball point pen, with the occasional accent of watercolor. I am going to start moving towards different materials and media, as well as a shift in content as well. Although, the content here is in line with what I have been doing lately. See the image below for a comparison to a recent image. 

The shift here starts with the use of Prismacolor color pencils. There are a lot of products made by Prismacolor, but these pencils have a type of oil base for them and give them the unique look at that you see in the picture. If you want to find out more about the pencils, look here. Prismacolor pencils are incredibly useful and are used a great deal by myself and my family in the creation of our art. Anytime you make a shift in media and materials, there is an adjustment period. The adjustments may be small or big, but there are adjustments all the same. I have continued with the subconscious imagery that has been present in much of my work lately, but ideas have come that move me back to a direction that is more architectural. I explored this type of subject years ago, and here and there in the recent past. However, I feel that this current shift will become more prevalent as I have the chance to work with it. 

Please keep in touch and look for this current completed work and for the new work in the new direction. There is no news about about upcoming shows, other than that September will be big and the date of September 27 is still in effect for us. We will be posting online galleries for both shows in September. Thanks for reading and keep up with us!

-Jesse Brown

A New Drawing on my way to 50!

As you can see, I am continuing forward with my quest to finish 50 new pieces by September 1. Sometimes these pieces really flow and are easy, and other times it does not flow so well. What I have discovered over the course of time in my art career is that art is very peculiar. You can try to break it down so it is more logical, more methodical, and makes sense. However, sometimes it is just so much easier to just go with your feelings and your instincts. This particular drawing felt right. It was inspired by one that I sold in October of last year. However, with this one, I created a stronger diagonal flow that goes from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. But the other thing that flows too is the color. My color is not logical, it is emotional. Sometimes the color flow, as I spoke about above. Other times, the colors are more...jumbled. In those pieces I usually don't share so much. I think part of that reason, though, is because my feelings are inconsistent and my flow is consistent. Chaotic feelings can lead to inconsistent coloring for me. However, for this one, I am quite happy with the result and they way it flows all the way around. I was not sure if it was done at first, but then I finally decided it was. 

I imagine that some of you may be wondering about the random number of 50. What is 50 about? I may have mentioned it before, but let me get a bit more into it. First, we have a few big shows coming up in the fall, so I want to have at least 50 put together by the time September 1st rolls around because the fall can get very busy and, like it or not, it takes time for me to organize shows and events. It takes time away from making art. Even this summer I am somewhat distracted since I am doing a lot of research for the potential opening of our own gallery. However, a lot has to happen before that can be done, and the first ting that is going to happen is a show in September and some art festivals later in the fall. So, there are going to be a lot of opportunities to see our family's art. Please stay tuned for the announcement of the time and place of our one day September show. 

This current series, the surreal/cubist series that I have been focusing on, will start slowing down soon. I have an idea for a new series and new direction. That is not to say I will stop this current series/style entirely, but sometimes it is good to change and make a shift, at least for a little while. Even so, it is not a completely new shift. If all goes as I am planning, (in art, we can change our minds so quickly about what we feel like focusing on), I am going to move more in an architectural/landscape direction. Beyond that, it is hard to say for sure what it will look like. 

I am going to  be creating a gallery specific to my work, so a retrospective view can be taken in. You will see it in the menu bar at the top of the blog. 

Thanks for reading and following and there will be more to come soon from me. Stay tuned! Thanks for reading!

-Jesse

#artforeveryone

#brownartworks

50 New Works by September

This part of my effort to crank you 50 pieces by September 1. In case you are wondering, why 50 pieces? Well, we are having a one day show in September that we have to be ready for. It will be in Chico, CA. The date will be announced soon, so stay tuned to here and my FB page and you will most likely hear about it. We also are planning to take part in a holiday art festival, as yet to be determined. There are many, many projects on the books and we have to create a lot of work to make it happen. So, between all of us at Brown Family Art Works, we should have a minimum of 200 new pieces of art on display in September. 

This particular piece is a continuation of my series of color pen and ink in a small format. I will probably continue with another 10 or so of these and move on to some different media. When you go a year without doing any significant art work, it is easy to come up with ideas. The problem is just getting them all out in a 3 month time frame. Fifty pieces does sound like a lot, but it is just about being focused. 

The other thing that we are working on is trying to open our own gallery. When we do this, there will be a big grand opening that we want everyone to try to make, either in person or online. We will do both. Please be sure to stay tuned for all of our new works, changes to my blog, the family web page - www.brownartworks.com/ - and dates of upcoming events, etc. I appreciate everone's PATIENCE! It has been great! Trying to do something like this while we all work full time is hard to do. Once we are up and running, it will be great and we appreciate your support! 

Please enjoy the new work. Email us at brownartworks@gmail.com if you have any questions or you are interested in purchasing anything we share here.

#brownartworks

#newart

#50byseptember