Wednesday, January 6, 2010

You Know You Are an Artist When . . .

Art students aren’t alone if they ever wonder what it takes to officially become an “artist.” Indeed, many life-long art veterans continue to ponder the same question.

Is there a reliable way to tell that you‘re an artist, some kind of a test or achievement or type of behavior?

For answers, we searched books and wikis, and gathered feedback from artists worldwide. The most common trait artists seem to share, we learned, is a brave sense of humor, especially about themselves.

So, to help you begin the New Year with a smile, here’s a humorous compendium of some of the many telltale signs that indicate you are, without a doubt, positively, an artist for sure.

You know you are an artist when . . .
  • Your other car is a 1966 VW Bus.
  • The colors in your sofa and your painting above it do not necessarily match.
  • Wearing pajamas is optional for a typical workday.
  • At the post office you insist on only Van Gogh stamps.
  • You compliment people by saying “I love how the light hits your nose!”
  • You own hundreds of brushes, and have nothing to comb your hair with.
  • You arrange the cups and plates in your dishwasher in an artistic manner.
  • You spent 4 hours carving your pumpkin on Halloween
  • You drink retsina because it tastes like turpentine.
  • You look at Ad Reinhardt’s Black canvases and say, “yeah, I could have painted that.”
  • You forget to eat all day because you are working.
  • You have at least one room in your house that would cause the Fire Chief to sound an alarm.
  • You spend every non-drawing moment thinking "I should be drawing."
  • You drooled on your work in progress.
  • Your best is never "good enough.”
  • Your favorite birthday present is a BINDERS Gift Card.
  • There are Prussian blue fingerprints on your cell phone.
  • You refuse to write an “artist statement.”
  • You sometimes use the back of an expensive Kolinsky Sable brush to stir your coffee.
  • You know that Manga is not an Italian vegetable.
  • The fragrance you wear is eau d'linseed oil.
  • When viewing a gorgeous sunset, you think in terms of cadmium yellow (light hue), salmon and gold, a tinted teal mixed with gold for the water."
  • The carpet in your room looks like a Jackson Pollack painting.
  • The carpet in your room IS a Jackson Pollack painting.
  • You butter your toast with your fingers, just to feel its texture.
  • You stay awake late at night wondering how to render on canvas the dimly lit shapes and shadows in your room.
  • You have been known to get plastered and paint the town red.
  • You look at certain cloud formations and think "that MUST be Photoshopped! It just can't be real."
  • In art school, you managed to BS your way through a postmodernism class and still retained your sanity and integrity.
  • You sneeze out colorful puffs of pastel dust.
  • You stop thinking about being an artist and just get on with it.
What do you think makes an artist? Tell our readers your definitions by clicking "ADD A COMMENT" below this post.

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!

Sunday, January 3, 2010

This Week @ BINDERS - January 4-10

SALES • ART CLASSES & WORKSHOPS • ART HAPPENINGS

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is make more art, BINDERS is ready to help. We’re jump-starting 2010 with a terrific line-up of new and ongoing Art Classes, lead by highly talented instructors. To illustrate, every Monday our esteemed Kay Powell welcomes you to join in her two Guides Open Studio sessions. Also, Anne Elser returns this week to launch three different levels of Calligraphy training, plus her popular Bookmaking series. For oil painters, Charles Y. Walls is back for both afternoon and evening sessions of his ongoing Painting-- Technique & Design series. Get the details and register now with our Quick Sign Up Tool! And please let us know if there are other kinds of art classes that you’d like us to schedule in the future.

Monday, January 4:
Guided Open Studio with Kay Powell
10:30am-2pm • Every Monday
Fee: $15/session. No sign up needed. Please pay the instructor.

NEW! Calligraphy 2 with Anne Elser
6-8:30pm • Mondays, 6 sessions, Jan. 4-Feb.8 •
Fee: $140
Advanced level for those who have taken Anne’s Copperplate or Italic class
Sign up now!

Guided Open Studio with Kay Powell
6:30-8:30pm • see details above.


Tuesday, January 5:

NEW! Painting - Design and Technique with Charles Y. Walls
1-4pm • 6 sessions, Jan. 5-Feb. 9 • Open to all levels. • Fee: $140
Sign up now!

NEW! Painting - Design and Technique with Charles Y. Walls
6-8:30pm • see details above
Sign up now!

NEW! Bookmaking with Anne Elser
6-8:30pm, Tuesdays, 6 sessions, Jan. 5-Feb. 9 • Fee: $140
Sign up now!

Wednesday, January 6:
NEW! Copperplate Calligraphy with Anne Elser
6-8:30pm, Wednesdays, 6 sessions, Jan. 6-Feb. 10 • Fee: $140
Sign up now!

Thursday, January 7:
NEW! Italic Calligraphy with Anne Elser
6-8:30pm, Thursdays, 6 sessions, Jan. 7-Feb. 11 • Fee: $140
Sign up now!

Friday, January 8:
No special art events today.

Saturday, January 9:
No special art events today.

Sunday, January 10:
No special art events today.

Please note: Classes on this schedule are in our Atlanta store unless otherwise indicated. For more information please email or call Eli Pelizza at 404.237.6331 ext. 203.


Check out the full list of our upcoming art classes and art workshops!


EXHIBITS AT THE LIMELIGHT GALLERY

New exhibition coming soon!

Visit the BINDERS website at www.bindersart.com!