Cool art from Jafabrit,Waxing on about art, Real Onion Dip

I finished this painting yesterday.


See my paintings HERE


My friend Jafabrit has a very cool blog.HERE Yesterday I read about her group placing art around the city as gifts. I thought it was a marvelous idea. I think I could manage this with my mail art pieces now and then. I can envision giving them to people who do random acts of kindness for others. Every year at Lent I do 40 days of writing thanks to various people who have touched my life in some positive way. I think of it as a positive discipline in honor of God. Perhaps I can expand on this idea by giving small gifts of art.




Today's Grat:

I am grateful for the kind folks who came for the Florida version of the Alabama Plein Air Artists Paint Out. They drove a long way to come and in terrible weather. They were gracious and kind throughout, facing all difficulties with a smile. They were charming and amusing companions. One brought me breakfast on Saturday morning and the others provided lunch for us. It was an honor to paint with such fine painters.





Yesterday we artists talked a bit about what was important for marketing our careers. One of the things we agreed on was that Direct Mail is still one of the best bang for buck ways to market. We agreed that our mailing list was ever so important. Any way one can add to that is a positive. The other consensus was that you should not rely on any one idea for all of your marketing but instead, should diversify your marketing in several outlets. In other words, have a plan of at least three or four ways to sell you paintings. Not just galleries,Internet and so forth.


Of course we talked about what kind of paintings we like and prefer and of our favorite painters. That is always fun too. The thing I love so much about art is that there is so much to see and choose from. I think the danger comes when we get so set in our ways and so sure of the "Rules" of good painting, that we become rote in our approach to what is good or not.


Not one of us can understand what another painter's thinking or process can be. We are motivated in different directions from each other. To critique an experienced painter when you know nothing about their process or motivation is hubris as far as I am concerned. Not every landscape painter is striving for or even interested in realist painting. Some of us use the landscape before us as a simple jumping off place. Some of us are more interested in design concepts than the pure landscape. How many times have I heard comments from painters about someones work who say "anybody could do that. It looks like a child painted it"? We all have a tendency to ridicule what we don't understand.

Of course there is some work that I prefer to others but can't that be simply personal taste rather than superior taste? The problem to me with a so called "standard of excellence" for any genre is that it automatically excludes the rest of us who don't wish to fit in that niche. I see this frequently in the world of plein air. So many artists emulate a certain palette and style that we begin to see endless paintings with few differences. Patrons begin to believe that this must be the right way to paint, because after all, so many of the painters work with this look. Those who choose a different approach with their palette or brushwork must be inferior. I think this happens in many genres of painting, not just landscape.

Anyhoo, it's always a great pleasure for me to spend a day or two with other painters talking shop. New ideas and new ways to view art can't be bad.



Today's Recipe:

This recipe looks fabulous to me.



Real Onion Dip ( From The Food Network)


3 medium onions, 2 unpeeled, 1 peeled
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 scallions (white and green parts), minced
Freshly ground black pepper
Hot pepper sauce
Potato chips, for serving

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Rub unpeeled onions with a bit of the olive oil; roast until soft, about 45 minutes. Cool and peel.

Finely dice the peeled raw onion. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat; add remaining oil and heat until quite hot. Add diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until edges begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Turn to medium-low and cook until onion is golden brown, about 18 minutes. Scrape onion, oil, and juices into a sieve over a bowl. Drain onions and spread on a paper towel-lined plate. Cool the strained oil.

Puree roasted onions in a food processor. Add mayonnaise, sour cream, vinegar, and salt; pulse until smooth. With the motor running, drizzle in 1/4 cup of the flavored reserved oil. Transfer to a serving bowl. Stir in scallions, pepper, and hot sauce to taste. Refrigerate at least 3 hours. Scatter the fried onions over the top just before serving with potato chips.