Dick's Blog

The Great Graves goes to Albuquerque (nice alliteration?)

dmgraves — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:20:56 +0000

Want you all to know that on October 9,10,11, I’ll be at the Hot Air Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There’s a great art fair as part of that event, and I’ve been invited to participate in it. Now, as you might imagine, I’m looking over my art, and trying to imagine it being relevant in the South. Of course, it’s relevant no matter where it is, but an artist must display a degree of fear and doubt about upcoming shows. I’m still waiting for comments from folks around the country who are visiting this site. I would enjoy your input regarding my art, my products, my style, and my site.
By the way, I have added products to my fabric line. First of all, the only fabric I’m using is recycled soda pop bottles… the plastic ones. ( I have this vision of 2 boys fighting over a bottle of pop, grabbing at the bottle, and running in opposite directions, stretching the plastic until it’s essentially a long string, whereupon a wise girl walks by and decides to weave that long string into a piece of fabric. OK, I know it’s not that ideal, but what a story!) Anyway, using that fabric, I now have some really great looking bath curtains, and table runners, as well as fiber posters. Also, along with my ceramice tiles, I have added cutting board/ trivets, made of tempered glass. The brain just never shuts down! Except when Mary asks me an important question. Then it’s like a mid-air stall.
After Albuquerque, I’ll be back in Minnesota, and the last weekend of October, I’ll be doing an art crawl in Owatonna, MN, at the home of my friends, Sue and Greg Peoples, aka: Peoples’ Beads. Then in November, I’ll be doing Pastimes, a holiday show at the Owatonna Arts Center, and then in December, I’ll be at the Goldsmith Reunion and Holiday Sale, at he Civic Center in Mankato, MN. I’l try to remind you all of these events as we get closer to them .
Ok, enough rambling this morning. Take Care my good friends

Monday, August 10th: Again, a Monday morning after an art fair. The past weekend was the annual Loring Park Art Festival. Saturday brought us periodic rain and extreme (by some/most standards)heat, but all in all, it was a great day to show and sell art. Sunday’s weather was almost perfect. It seemed the crowds were down this year, but I had a wonderful weekend, meeting many new folks, and adding new friends along the way. Each time I do an art fair, I think about what people are looking for, what they’re buying, what I should be painting, what I want to paint, and then go home, just as confused as always. Just as there is no one thing that people are looking for, there isn’t only one thing, or one way of painting that I enjoy. Certainly, I’ve discovered that I like to do the brightly colored “vacation” spots. They show the excitement I’ve felt at being in new places and some of the carefreeness of being on vacation and exploring. But, I also have days of introspection, or contempletiveness, and those times evoke a different type of painting. Additionally, much of my work has to do with experimentation, and so, painting in different “styles” is simply part of that process. It is part of the answer to the ongoing question, “I wonder what will happen if I use this color with that color, or if I try this… ” . That describes my very technical, orderly painting method. I may forever be the artist that people are referring to when they say,”you mean he painted that and that?? I can’t believe that same person did both of those pieces.” I’d love to hear your input on the matter. In the meantime, enjoy the week, and keep in touch.

dmgraves — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:18:43 +0000

Monday Morning…the morning after. That’s what I call Monday morning. The morning after an artfair. I spent the past Fri. through Sunday in Owatonna, with a town full of great people, and fun artists. A lot of my close friend artists were there, and we had a great time together.Now I take a week off before the Loring Park art fair, duringwhich time we’ll go to the cabin and visit friends and family. Next weekend is Chris and Nancy’s wedding in Northfield (my “nephew”, Chris Wiger). We’re looking forward to relative time. I’m also hoping to get some painting done. I’m going to get a new Carib. Street scene done with a joint in it that will be named Blitz! As many of you know, I always try to have a “joint” painting on hand, and so far, have done, Bongo, Buzz, Zap, Swizzle, and Zonk. I’ve got thoughts on some others, but if anyone is ready to commission one of the paintings, you can name the joint. Among the fun things that happened on the weekend, were meeting some fun folks. First, I met Joan, who, along with her husband Jim, had been in college at UMM, the same time Mary and I spent time there…back, just about the time pencils and paper were being invented. Joan is a wonderul watercolorist from Owatonna. Then, I met someone who knew me when I was a very young child in Northern Minnesota. John, and his wife Judy were so fun to talk with. He was able to share some stories about my parents and the town we lived in when I was a “baby”, all of which I’ve never heard before. I’m making a list of questions to ask him. It was such a memory trip, and to top it off both are just super fun people to talk with. I can hardly wait for the next time together. By the way, I’m still trying to figure this blogging thing out, but while I’m muddling through it, I really invite people, even those I’ve never met who just happen to come onto my website, to write a comment, or question, and I’ll try to answer, or at least “listen”. Are there particular things you’d like to see me paint? Questions about technique or style or materials. I really would like this blog to be interactive, plus, of course, I’d like to have it the best selling site on the web. No reason it can’t be both fun and lucrative. More later.

dmgraves — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:53:17 +0000

dmgraves — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 21:43:41 +0000

Welcome to my blog! My website has just been remodeled, and as part of it, we’ve added this blog. My hope is to be somewhat interactive with those of you who view my art. I’ve recently discovered that, for some time, people have been visiting my site, and, of course, I’ve had no clue they’ve (you’ve) been here. I hope to change that. I’d like to get to know those of you who take time to visit, and, if you have requests, thoughts etc, to respond as best as I can to those. Are you looking for something in particular, or just browsing? Is there something you’d like to see that I’m not doing? Would you like to talk about purchasing something, but think you’re not ready, or wealthy enough or whatever.

I’m pretty easy to get along with, it’s been years since I’ve bitten anyone, and even then, most survived. There was that one case, but that was very unusual, and, really, I don’t even think it was my fault. Anyway, If you’d like to talk, ask away.
I’d like to get to know you.

For now, I’ll check every so often, and see if there are comments. In the future, I hope to do something a little more formal in the way of monthly musings or whatever.

By the way, if you have painting questions, I’m a pretty fair teacher. Ask away. The worst I can do is give you a bad answer. That’s better than nothing, right?