"The Performers - At The Circus"

"The Performers - At The Circus"

40x30 Acrylic on paper.

Man did I struggle with this piece - trying to learn how to put figures in my work. Just a wonderful new challenge.

Poppies III

Visit Christine in her studio during Northwoods Art Tour in the Minocqua, Wisconsin Area - July 27-29. Studio hours for the tour are 10-5. The entire new Circus Series to date will be on display during the tour.

Featured image: "Poppies III" 8"x8" x12"x12" Framed, Watercolor and Acrylic on Paper

Northwoods Art Tour July 27-29

Hope to see you during Northwoods Art Tour - July 27-29. Studio hours for the tour are 10-5. The entire new Circus Series to date will be on display during the tour.

Title: Clown and Her Trickster Dog 8x8 framed 20x20 Acrylic and Watercolor on Paper. Part of At The Fishing Cabin Series and Circus Series.

Is Art About Unknowables?

Thinking about this question I immediately start reflecting on abstract art and color fields.  I think of Paul Jenkins work and the work of current day arts who create work from “poured” colors.  The content of these works is???????  I am not sure.  Beautiful flowing color but does that make it art?  When Paissul Jenkins first introduced the poured color fields he was working in a different time.  The goal of many artists during that time was to find purity to find bliss, to find utopia and present it. 

Jenkins time was trying to identify the mystical source of all things and make it objective.  Artists today are still trying to identify that mystical source that comes from no where they claim and just is there.  They have made very little progress in finding that special kind of unknowable so they link this unknowable to their feelings.  How they feel about a work of art? 

Feelings do very little when it comes to the progress of knowing something – for they are individual and unique.  Perhaps subjective feelings are the largest gulf between objectively knowing something and art, so how can art be objectively know.  How can we begin to make progress in the aesthetic of knowing what art is and the forever idea that art is just based on feeling?

A good starting place might be does the work and the artist present a sense of life?  A sense of life has endless possibilities – including color fields that in the past have come from a search for the unknowable. Perhaps the color fields of today come from that which an artist knows, their foundation and their sense of life.  The joy of the birth of something.

Featured image: "Radishes II"  11x15. Watercolor, Acrylic on Paper.  Artist Christine Alfery

Best Of Show. "Ringmasters Coat." 30x40 Acrylic and Watercolor on paper.

Best of Show.  “Ringmaster’s Coat,” Watercolor and acrylic on paper.  “The perspective in this painting is abstract and compelling.  You can feel the hum and vibrancy of the circus, combined with a vibrant depiction of the ringmaster as he controls, or ties to control the chaos.  Anne Katz, judge, MAL Annual Exhibition, is the executive director of Arts Wisconsin and is nationally-known arts advocate.  Ringmasters Coat is currently on display at the Manitowish Waters Art Leagues annual exhibition.  It will be on display until Sunday July 22.  Gallery hours are from 9-6 Thursday, Friday, Saturday and 9-2 on Sunday.  

Ringmasters Coat will also be on display during the Northwoods Art Tour July 27-29 in Christine Alfery's studio.  Studio hours for the tour 10-5.  The entire circus series to date will be on display during the tour.

The Bridge

I heard her, then I saw her. I have one hummingbird coming to the feeder on a yearly basis. I am so delighted she returns year after year to bring me joy with my morning coffee. Today there is also the finch calling and the rain quietly falling. Good day to work in the studio.

Artwork by Christine Alfery. "The Bridge" 8"x8" Acrylic and watercolor on paper. Part of the "At The Fishing Cabin Series."

"The Song She Sings."

Moving discovering, exploring – art and the artist. Perpetual discovering, perpetual motion, perpetual movement, forever discovering, the life and work of an artist. To be an artist you must be an artist every day and sing your life's song.