Artomatic DC

Artomatic will be celebrating 10 years when it opens this month.  The weeks long event opens May 29th and runs until July 5th in downtown Washington DC.  I find it difficult to believe that the organizers could either top the quality of artist participating or the sheer volume of space that the event occurs in.  If you want to know, you’ll have to stop into the Washington DC Capitol Riverfront area (think Nationals stadium area) at 55 M Street SE.

According to the website, this”free event is an arts extravaganza, featuring paintings, sculpture, photography, music, theater, poetry, dance and workshops.”  All I can tell you is that it’s a total blast and that you won’t be able to see everything in one visit.

One of the best things about Artomatic is being able to brows around and to discover new art and artists to fall in love with.  This year some of the phenomenal artists I know participating are Tim Tate, Matt Sesow and Ed Hahn.

There is no entry fee and most of the works displayed are are affordable and very reasonably priced.  If you want to collect are but don’t have much to spend this is THE place to start.  It’s a fun, non-intimidating environment and on June 13th the Arotomatic is hosting a “Meet the Artist” event which shold be fantastic.

According to the Artomatic website, this “free event is an arts extravaganza, featuring paintings, sculpture, photography, music, theater, poetry, dance and workshops.”  All I can tell you is that it’s a total blast and you will not be able to see everything in just one visit.

This year some of the phenomenal artist I know are participating are glass artist  Tim Tate, painter Matt Sesow, and photographer Ed Hahn.  The best thing about Artomatic is browsing and discovering new art and artist to fall in love with.

Artomatic has no entry fee and most of the work displayed is affordable and reasonably priced.  If you want to collect art but don’t want to spend a small fortune, or if you simply want to get your feet wet, this is the place to be on 29 May 2009!

Friday Night (15 May)

Oil Sketch

Just returned from a quick trip to San Antonio Texas and barely made it to class.

Tonight we had a new model for a three-week pose.  We worked on our inital sketch (using burnt umber). I think for one brief moment I had it but then I kept re-drawing her hip.  Grrr.

The sketch looks off because her shoulders and hips are almot in parallel instead of at diametrically opposed angles like they would normally be. There were also quite a few blankets under her which I didn’t paint it so her right side looks very unfinished.

I love how te shadows look on her upper back but the edge of her left hip is off. It looked correct in person but as soon as I photograped it I could see it.

Happiness is a Moleskine Sketchbook

Moleskine Sketchbook

In case you haven’t heard, two larger size moleskine are now available for purchase.

The Moleskine A4 sketchbook measures a lovely 11.6″ x 8.4″ and is  0.7″ thick.  In edition to the sketchbook with its wonderful heavy cream drawing paper, you can buy this size with watercolor paper, ruled paper and several other options.

The suggested retail on this sketchbook is $29 but Amazon.com has them for $19.77 US.
In addition to the 11×8 format, there is also an even larger size  (16.6 x 11.8 x 0.6 inches) available at Amazon.com available for $26.40 US.  The photo is from Amazon.com

New Home Dreams

Sigh

I’m currently in the middle of purchasing a new home.  During the last few months, most of my free time has been devoted to finding (and now buying) my home.  It’s a scary decision for me for several reasons, the economy as a whole is not great and I hate debt.  Owning a condo with no plans to sell it (I will be leasing it) makes everything rather nerve wrecking.  Did I mention I was risk adverse?

Well so far I am on my third house offer, not to mention the one that got away (Eastern Market in Capital Hill).  I’ve bid on a cute/small townhouse in Capital Hill that was beautifully finished within an inch of it’s life; one I fell in love with in the heart of old town,  and now my soon to be new home which is in a wonderful neighborhood.  I am not in love with the house I am buying.  I am in love with it’s possibilities.

Possibilities, I love that word.  The home is on a large lot with a large maple tree that canopies the backyard.  The lot is big  enough for me to build an artist studio in the backyard and will still have enough room for parking.  It’s also not nearly as expensive as the the other two places which means had I rented instead of buying, my rent would be about the same cost-bonus.

What have I learned about the process?  Well this market is pretty crazy in the DC area.  Will housing prices continue to fall?  No idea. I believe that there is a small window of time that rates will stay this low; coupled with a drop in home prices I think this is a good time to buy.  But I do understand that house prices may drop more.  Since this house is in a desirable area I doubt they will slide further south but you never know.  I am prepared to stay in this home for at least five years which should help with volatility as well.

I have looked the tax records of both my current home and the two I placed bids on in Virginia. What I noticed is that the city I live in assesses properties frequently which can be good or bad.  Each one I’ve looked at has moved in both directions but generally the trend has been to slowly increase in value.  That’s fine by me since I don’t view a home as a finical investment (even though it is one) but rather as a place to live and be.

The home I am purchasing needs some repairs, the siding on the outside has a few issues, a joist (only one thank goodness) needs repaired and the supports require a masonry footing (wasn’t done before for some reason).  I plan on insisting on the code items to be repaired and the joist to be replaced (vice asking for a reduction of the agreed price).  The kitchen was recently redone (nicely) and the heater/central air are new the wood floors are original and show it with some wear and tear but they are nice.  the best thing I like about the place is that, for once, I will have a large enough space for a dining table that I bought in New Mexico as well as a great office space and laundry room on the second floor.

When we found two floorboards moved a bit I bit the bullet and paid for a structural engineer *expensive but well worth it).  This man looked at the crawlspace (where the soft floor boards were) as well as the wall and fireplace.  I am looking at removing the hall wall -which the neighbors have all done) and am considering whether to remove the fire place as well.  So he gave input on that as well.  The engineer cost $350  with another $300 if you want a written report.  The hosue inspection cost another $500.  Although this makes me wince-it will save me money and I believe both can save a buyer money and heartache in the long rung.  Once you buy the house it becomes your problem so best to know in advance.

The Portrait in Three Color Chalk

Robert Liberace’s DvD titled, The Portrait in Three Color Chalk is now available online.  If you have a credit card or have a paypal account you can order and pay for the video.  I’ve only watched about 20 minutes of it so far and it is amazing!

We had a great class tonight and I really struggled.  Our model’s were both great but I could not seem to get settled.  I started painting my portrait three times and ended up wiping it three times.  I finally surrendered to the idea I wouldn’t accomplish a thing and decided to not get upset.  I went into the other class room where Rob was demo-ing and sat through that instead.  It was great watching him work with a will.

Part of the reason I couldn’t settle down is that I am in the process of buying a larger place to live and it’s been pretty nerve wracking so far. The fact that I will be away for a few days on business is making things a little tougher as well.

Oh well it will all work out in the end.  This house is not my dream house but it has great bones, a huge lot, plenty of room and a new kitchen, furnace, AC and appliances.  It’s fairly quirky in an older property way but since my current home is 150 years old I guess I am fine with older places.

Friday Evening Class

I ended up not attending class last night.  I have been looking at moving to a larger space and had to do the paperwork connected with the move.

I am still waiting for the results associated with the silent auction for the Face Off event held at the Portrait Society of America. As soon as I get the results I will incorporate them into an article on collecting art.