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Greetings,

 

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.

 

A recent FineArtViews newsletter article started out on the subject of copying another artist's work off the internet.  Good article.  You should go read it.  Several angry comments had been added by artists who'd found out their work had been copied by others via the internet, copies not authorized by them.

 

About halfway through the comments you start to hear mention of reproductions.  Hmmm.  Reproductions.

 

Reproductions.  Copies.  Giclees.  Enhanced giclees.  Artists angry because copies have been made, but still making copies anyway.  Fakes.  NOT originals.   

 

I once painted a painting for a fund raising auction at church.  One of the organizers asked if we could also auction a couple of copies of the painting.  A good cause, right?   So I said yes.  If you are either of the two people who bought those copies, you are still safe.  If anyone else out there in the world has a copy of one of my paintings, well, don't blame it on me.  Other than those two, I don't do copies.  Reproductions.  Giclees.  Any of those.

 

Am I an art snob?  Maybe.  Do I like real?  Do I place a lot of value on honest?  Authentic?  Absolutely.

 

You can talk about the limited edition reproduction and how only 300 copies were made and they are all signed and numbered by the artist.  So?  The only time the artist even touched the piece of paper the thing was printed on was to add that signature and number.  And then we have the all important giclee.  Aaaah.  The giclee.  The artist's original painting computer printed on a piece of canvas.  And then we throw in the enhanced giclee:  when somebody takes the regular old normal giclee and swipes a couple brushstrokes across the surface to make it look like a real painting.  Hunh!  But it's not real. 

 

Why?  What's the real reason for making a reproduction?  Yes, VanGogh and Monet are dead and they can't paint anymore paintings.  So you spread the love a little of what they did by means of copies.  But remember, they're the dead guys, no more paintings from them.

 

What about your average artist in the little white tent at the summer art show?  Why copies? 

 

Number one answer: 

"My patrons just love my work, but some of them can't afford an original right now."  (So you'd rather sell them a fake??)

 

Okay, so now we're getting around to covering the title of this post.  For the impatient.  WAIT.  Get some patience.  Sign up for the artist's mailing list so you stay current with their new work.  Most artists love to stay in touch with people who appreciate their art.  Some will even do payments to help you out.  Even still, save up a few dollars so when you see that artist again you'll be ready to buy a painting.  Not a copy.  Not a reproduction.  A Painting.  A real one.  Honest.  Authentic.  Real.

 

Because when you get to the bottom line, a painting printed out by a machine is NOT art.  It's just a copy.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Later, Cooper

 

Greetings,

 

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.  Let's talk about talent this morning, and stay calm, but this is your warning to stop reading if you don't want to head out to left field on the subject.

 

Sunday, we had a sermon that mentioned football players that drop to a knee and point heavenward after scoring a big touchdown.  And then this morning, I read one of those artist statements where the artist reveled on about her God given talent for drawing.

 

That word, talent, what a slippery little bugger it is!  A catch-all, of major proportions, to be sure.  And before we go any further, I want you to know that I am absolutely aware that God blesses me every day.  But that word talent...hmm.

 

I appreciate football players that point heavenward.  And I like artists who talk about God as they paint.  It makes me realize they have their heads on pretty straight, ergo the penchant for misusing the word talent.

 

Are you ready for left field?  Here we go:  I don't believe talent is something we are born with. 

 

If you have the capacity to score game winning touchdowns, it likely has a lot to do with how many practices you've been to.  How many hours you've spent in the weight room.  How many miles you've logged in running.  If you are able to capture the likeness of a horse trotting across a field, it likely means you have spent hours observing horses and even more hours drawing them.  If you can paint a waterfall with beauty that amazes people, chances are you've been hit by it's spray several times, and if you paint with watercolors, those drips on all those papers are inadvertent.  If you can paint a person and get the essence of the personality down on canvas, odds are really good that you've got a whole bunch of full canvases laying around somewhere.

 

Could you accomplish all of those things without any prep work?  I'm betting not.

 

There's that story about the guy in the flood.  His town was flooding, water was rising around his house, so he climbed up onto the roof.  He prayed for God to save him.  So here comes a boat with a couple of people in it.  "Hop in" they tell him.   "We'll take you to safety", they said.  The guy on his roof replied "no, I prayed for God to save me, I don't need your help.  I'll just sit here and wait."  Next thing the guy knows, he's in heaven and a little bit miffed:  "God, I prayed that you'd save me from the flood--why didn't you?"  And God said, "sheesh, I sent a boat, what more did you want?"

 

The guy needed to get off his roof, into the boat, and help row the thing off to a good place.  Work at it.

 

From left field may I say that artists who are viewed as having great talents would not be viewed as great talents if they were not also viewed as great workers.  Before the talent comes the work.

 

Must be time to head to the studio.  Thanks for stopping by.

 

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, where we still have ice crystals on some of our windows.  Aaach, where is spring???--and don't you dare laugh at me!  But that's not today's story, rather we are talking about changing the world.  Or not.

Many artists here at FineArtStudioOnline know Clint's parting remark in his newsletters as "now, go change the world".  I've read that phrase many times, and it pops into my mind with ease.  And it popped into my mind with ease yesterday when I was sort of watching the RoseBowl game, and TCU did their little promo--their slogan du jour was "learning to change the world".

That's a lot of world-changing, isnt' it?  And then, darn it, I still can't get Scott Burdick's YouTube videos on "Beauty" out of my head.  What a jumbled up mess going on in there, and it's only the second day of the new year!  When I try to sort it all out, this is what surfaces:  what good is world-changing if it's bad?

I mentioned Scott Burdick's videos:  in the "Beauty 1" video, about 28 seconds in, there is a stunning image of change, in terms of painting.  I am one of those people who wonder about that specific change, was it a good change?

And how often do we hear the phrase "change is good"?  I toss that one out there on a semi-regular basis.  Change can open our eyes a little wider, make us think a little differently, speak of new ideas.

But change can also be a fork in the road, and if you take the wrong fork, you get led astray. Worse yet, you might lead others astray.  The aforementioned videos certainly illustrate that idea.

Is it all about doing your homework?  Can any of us really expect to be good world changers, if we skip the prep work?  I would suggest that the art world has a fair number of people who want the easy road, the fame of world-changing with out the time in the trenches to truly earn it.

I like TCU's RoseBowl ad "learning to change the world" but I don't think it's going to happen for many TCU students in the typical four-year campus stay.  And Clint's "now, go change the world" phrase always follows a newsletter about the work we artists need to be getting done to get there.  And I still intend to keep "change is good" as part of my vocabulary.  But I also intend to keep on with the study, doing the homework, to make sure "good" is the word of emphasis in that vocab phrase.

Thanks for stopping by.

Later, Cooper

 

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.

A niece just posted on her facebook page that her five-year-old had announced her favorite color as rainbow.  What a concept.  Having it all.  Color to the max.  Seeing them all, all at one time.  Whew, potent stuff, that five-year-old's point of view.

When a person get to their mid-50s, we hear the words sophisticated color.  Like it's a badge.  "Look at me".  "I am mature and select colors to prove it".  "I chose taupe and gray".  How uplifting.  Maybe mature people can't handle rainbows?

 

I am still thinking about the youtube videos (click on the red to watch) I recently watched, about the banishment of beauty, by Scott Burdick.  Thinking about people in important places telling us what to believe.  And then thinking about the "us" in the prior sentence, just following along. Thinking about someone painting an entire canvas solid blue.  And then finding an important person to tell us it's great art.  And then, back to the "us" in that second sentence of this paragraph.  Following along, just following along.

Taupe and gray.  But they sound so appealing and important when you call them sophisiticated.  And then important people say it's so.  Maybe I should follow along.  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio on a soggy Tuesday.  It's a grand day for a rant, I think!

Now to be a true rant, the author often heads in the direction of policy, right?  Does it count if it's MY policy?  Let me explain.

Way back before it was cool, I began a personal boycott of the monstrosity of an enterprise, whose name begins with wal and ends with mart.  October 2004, to be exact, was the last time I threw any dollars into their magna-massive coffers.  I often brag about that.  I am quite pleased with the longevity of my boycott.  I have had people respond with, "wow, they must have really treated you bad".  And actually, they appear to treat everyone pretty much the same, which causes me to wonder why people still go there.

"So why is this blog post surfacing now", you ask?  A friend asked if I wanted to go over to the neighboring town with her yesterday.  Ok. When we got there she mentioned, on her list, of stops was the object of my boycott.  Have I mentioned that not only have I not spent any money in said store since October of 2004, I had not even walked into one?  Yesterday I walked in.  Not much has changed.  Lots of cheap plastic stuff.  Most of it stuff that people don't really need, but it's arranged to make them want it, and after all, it's "always low prices", so buy it. 

Can anyone remember when their daddy Sam, used to advertise his products as "made in the USA"?  A few months ago my husband brought home an interesting tidbit, the number of empty C containers Walmart ships back to China each month, to be refilled and brought back here to sell some more.  Sorry---did not retain the number, just that it was overwhelming.  Hey, and just a short while ago, they used to advertise "always the lowest prices".  Now they get by with "always low prices".

Because I was in the store with nothing better to do, I decided to price compare, and looked for a few things that I purchase often enough to have the price memorized.  Shampoo, for example.  Turns out it's 3 cents a bottle less at my local grocery store.  I walked over to the book rack.  There was my friend Mary Connealy's new book release.  It was the exact same price as what I had just paid ten minutes earlier downtown at the local bookstore.  You know, the kind of bookstore where the owner lives in town, and his kids go to the local school, and they spend their money in town, and it all works together? 

Robert Genn, at the Painters Keys had a letter a week or so ago about "The Next Big Thing", regarding promoting an artist or an art form as what EVERYBODY will be in awe of shortly.  You should key on the word promoting there.  "Ha", you say, "now she's finally getting to the point!"  With a little bit of promotion, we will believe just about anything.  With a little bit of promoting, a canvas that's painted a flat solid red can be called great art, loudly enough so that some fool will be convinced enough to shell out the big bucks.  With a little bit of promotion, what we don't really need becomes something we want bad enough to pay for.  With a little bit of promoting (advertising) the store that used to brag made in the USA, then always the lowest prices, now gets by with "always low prices".  And we believe.  Dios mio.  Stop with the gullability, friend. 

And you know what?---the guy who owns the local bookstore downtown---he was friendly, and he chatted with us, and told us about other new things that would be coming in soon, and he was happy to be at his job.  His store was neat and clean, (no merchandise laying on the floor!) and shoppers were happy to be there.  And because of people like him, life in a small midwestern town will continue to be good, despite the delusion at the pile of plastic and concrete out on the edge of town.

Rant complete.  The paint brush should fly now, eh?  Thanks for stopping by!

Later, Cooper

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa, on a fine Thursday, April 29th.

Today we are going to talk about authority.  More specifically, we'll talk about what makes it.

Yesterday's conversation started with toast, of the burnt variety, someone wasn't paying attention to the details.  Peanut butter toast is the headliner today, possibly because I just consumed a piece.  While my slice of bread was languishing between the heater coils of my counter top machinery I happened to read the label of the peanut butter jar.  Immediately my mind brought forth their advertising slogan, "Choosy Mothers Choose Jif".  (to give equal time, do I need to mention that "Skippy is the peanutiest"?)  What makes either of them the peanut butter authority?

As you can clearly see  that brings us to our subject of the day!  We've got several varieties:

1.  authority by power:  bigger, tougher, meaner,  I can tell you what to do, and enforce that you believe me
2.  authority by purchase:  lots of money, can buy the opinion, and everybody believes it because there's lots of money involved (forgive me for typing this word on my blogspace, but think "lobbyist")
3.  authority by talent/skill:  you are so blooming good at what you do, that no one wants to even contest that you are not the authoratative expert
4.  authority by volume:  the majority rules, in bad form it could be the lynch mob, in positive form we call it the common good
5.  authority be election:  everybody loves you and they want you to have it
6.  authority by knowledge:  know it all, way more than you, I can belittle you about your lack of knowledge while I overwhelm you with the mass of mine
7.  authority by experience:  you've seen it all and done it all, and everyone else wants to take the short cut, so they ask you

When we look at 2 + 2 = 4, most of us will agree, the math teacher can be an authority.  Is it one of the few places in the world where authority is based on fact rather than opinion?  If you put two apples with two apples, you really do end up with four apples.  In contrast, when we've got a painting hanging in a prestigous place, and the critic lauds it as the best ever, and calls the creator "the next big thing" don't you just want to ask "who made you the authority, Mr. Critic?"  [Robert Genn's newsletter from yesterday was about "the next big thing"  and you should go read it.]  Is it really the best painting ever?  Why doesn't anyone holler out "prove it!"?

A little time spent in blog-land can yield up quite a few misappointed authorities.  Not so long ago, I read a fellow artist's post on the subject of "how to varnish a painting".  I wondered where his authority came from.  He obviously hadn't read the label on the back of a jar of Golden.  (For you non-painters, Golden is a producer of quality art products, including varnish)  Yet, if someone googled "how to varnish a painting", aforementioned fellow artist was going to be there, ready to tell you how to do it, and wrong.  Whoa, am I calling myself the authority on truthful blog writing?  This could really get sticky.

By now, I suppose a few of you are beginning to wonder if I grew up in the "challenge the authorities" 60's and 70's, and yes, yes I did.  Let me quickly state that I firmly believe authority can be good, and we need the good kind.  However!  I think as artists, we need to constantly remind ourselves that authority is so often just an opinion.  Be it the opinion bought with money, OR the opinion of someone with great talent and skills.  So fellow artist, when the person in charge says "nope, we don't want your painting in our show", that means it's NOT time to heave that painting toward the nearest dumpster, rather it's time to go find a different authority.  After all, it almost always is, just an opinion.

Later, Cooper