Author Archive
Geraniums in a Row
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: These pots were on the windowsill of the lighthouse in Monterey. I love the texture of the wood in contrast with the clean lines of the terra cotta pots.
Window of Owls
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: One of my all-time favorite window displays in San Francisco. It’s located right near Dolores Park and is an entire collection of OWLS!
Dump Trucks
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: A little hidden playground in the Mission that I happened upon. I love the primary colors of kids toys.
Weathered Gate
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: another photo obsession of mine, taking photos of objects weathered by time and nature.
Jill Allyn Stafford
I was really honored when Jill Allyn Stafford said that I could write a post about her art. I’ve known Jill for several years now and am lucky enough to have one of her pieces in my house (plus a little ATC card that sits in the corner of my mirror). Jill somehow has the time to be the artistic director of Vox Sacramento in addition to being a mom, an artist, and working full time as a legal assistant. What I admire most about Jill’s work is the way she utilizes negative space, which is something that I struggle with.
Jill began creating art in her mid-30′s. She started realizing that she had images in her head that she wanted to place on paper. Claiming that she had no natural talent for drawing or painting. Jill started by cutting images out of magazines using them to create a new story. Jill’s work has now evolved from using recognizable images, to tearing up paper and creating a piece based on colors and textures, to creating everything by hand and using images from photographs she’s taken.
Traditionally, Jill has focused on one image and using that created a piece that worked around that image. However, Jill’s latest work is inspired by her friend Jennifer Hoffmann, who died of breast cancer last year. From Jill’s description of Jennifer it sounds like she was an amazing woman and I can see why she has been the driving force in Jill’s work the past year. Jill describes Jennifer this way:
She found the strength to leave an unhappy marriage, met and married the man she was supposed to be with, and almost immediately discovered she had stage IV breast cancer. Her diagnosis didn’t deter her from living life completely and fully and with all the deepest love and affection she could have possibly wanted.
Dragon Knocker
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the contrast of the brass on the red paint.
Fine Art Photoblog Guest Contributor
Guess what! I’m today’s guest contributor over at Fine Art Photoblog. Today they are featuring one of my favorite images, A Study of Rhythm and Feet No. 6. Head over and check out my photograph and all of the other photographs on their site.
Cheyenne super
This photograph was taken on my first attempt at taking photos for the 200 Yards project. I really am obsessed with taking photos of old trucks. They combine some of my favorite photography subjects: things weathered by time, things with texture, and things that have a story.
Ford Truck
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: an awesome old truck that was parked just outside my alley.
X Marks the Spot
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the repetition of the x’s. Oddly this set of windows is within a couple blocks of my house and I’d never noticed it until this day. Now I see it every time I pass. It’s odd how that works sometimes.
Tail Lights
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: This car is regularly parked in one of the alleys near my house. It’s always so shiny and pretty. Speaking of cars, the other morning I was walking to work and noticed the cutest little old lady getting into a totally spiffy purple hot rod. It made me wonder, when we are old, what will be the cool car of our generation?
Lisa Congdon
Welcome to the last *new* feature on the re-designed journal. In this feature I will introduce you to artists whose work inspires me, makes me happy, and makes me want to be a better artist.
I first learned of Lisa Congdon through her A Collection a Day project. For the Collection a Day project, Lisa either draws, paints, or photographs a collection that exists in her home, studio, or mind. After stalking her Collection a Day project for a few weeks, I made the leap and checked out her art and illustration website.
Lisa got into illustration by accident. Before being approached by Chronicle Books to design stationary, her primary source of income was making art for shops and galleries. While she still makes art for these venues, she now has an agent to handle her illustration needs.
I totally adore Lisa’s style. She too was partially raised in Northern California and I was drawn to that fact that her work combines whimsy with natural elements, particularly animals and trees. Plus, she draws fantastic owls. Lisa’s has two primary styles: a more painterly style of animals and nature, and a colorful, graphic, flat style. She attempts to create a mood with her pieces, aiming for a balance of color and boldness with negative space. Lisa told me that when working on animal subjects, she attempts to paint their eyes perfectly, because that is where she connects with living things.
Like me, Lisa is a resident of the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco and draws much of her inspiration from the places that surround her. Lisa says “San Francisco is really bright and beautiful and filled with amazing art and creative people from cultures all over the world.” Like her I feel lucky to live in a city that provides abundant inspiration. She also is attracted to the nature that is present both right here in San Francisco and for miles surrounding the city.
After contacting Lisa I learned that in addition to being an awesome artist and illustrator she co-owns the cutest little shop and gallery in my neighborhood, Rare Device. They sell jewelry, design objects, housewares, books, and art. If you ever are in the ‘hood, you should check it out. I always leave the store wishing that I had more disposable income, because I want to own half the items in the store.
Mail Slot
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: this cute little mail slot that I pass on my walk to my summer internship.
California Resale Royalty Act
As a quick introduction, one of the *new* features that I am launching on the redesigned journal is a series of posts that will focus on legal issues that surround artists. Of course, I’m not an attorney, so these posts do not constitute legal advice. My aim is to educate artists on some of the laws that effect their work, for good and/or bad. If you need legal advice about any of the issues that I discuss, please contact an attorney. A great resource if you are a California artist is California Lawyers for the Arts, who host artist educational programs and run a legal referral service. If you are not in California, most U.S. states have a similar program and from experience, I know there is a similar organization in Canada, but I have no direct knowledge about the rest of the world.
Today we will launch this feature with a little known law, the California Resale Royalty Act (California Civil Code Sec. 986). While this law means little for the emerging artist, it can be a surprising source of income for mid-career and established artists, if those artists are willing to do a little leg work and that leg work starts when you are an emerging artist.
How does this law provide me with income? An artist “earns” income because the California Resale Royalty Act requires that upon resale of an artist’s work, the artist be paid five percent of the gross sale. Of course with every law there are requirements that must be met at the time of the sale. Under this law there are six requirements:
- The artist is a United States citizen or has been a California resident for at least two years.
- The seller resides in California or the sale takes place in California.
- The work is an original painting, drawing, sculpture or original work of art in glass.
- The seller sells the work for more money than she or he paid.
- The work is sold for a gross price of more than $1,000 or is exchanged for more than $1,000.
- The work is sold during the artist’s lifetime or within 20 years of the artist’s death.
With every law, there also has to be exceptions. Here we have three:
- The sale must be a resale.
- If the artist sells their work to an art dealer and only dealers exchange the work, the first sale to a non-dealer is excluded as long all the sales are completed within 10 years of the original sale.
- If your work is stained glass and that work is installed permanently into a piece of real estate, then upon sale of the real estate, you are not paid.
When a sale occurs, how do I get the money? The seller is required to track down the artist within 90 days and pay them the five percent. If the seller is unable to find the artist, the law requires that they forward the funds to the California Arts Council, who will continue attempting to track down the artist for seven years. The California Arts Council maintains a list of artists on their website that they have funds for, but are unable to contact.
What is my job as the artist? Your job is to help enforce the law. Many galleries and sellers are either unaware of the law or fail to comply with it. Under the law the only person who can enforce payment is you, the artist by bringing a lawsuit. The best way to avoid having to file suit is knowing who owns your pieces at all times and establishing a relationship with the owner. If you know who they are and they in turn know who you are, they are more likely to comply with the law. Thus, it all falls on you, the artist, to keep track of your work. This can be easily accomplished by keeping a log listing each piece you sell and who it is sold to. Establish a relationship with the current owners of your work and request that they let you know if there is a sale. This log could one day become very valuable, if your work continues to appreciate. Even a $1000 qualifying sale will result in $50 in your pocket. But in most cases for you to earn that money you will need to know who the owners of your work are and assert your rights.
What if you are not a U.S. Citizen or do not live in California? There are equivalent laws in many countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and as of this month Australia. Currently, California is the only U.S. state with this law, however, there has been an attempt to pass a similar law in New York the past two terms.
**The information on this website is for educational purposes only and does not purport to constitute legal advice. I am NOT an attorney, please seek legal assistance from a qualified professional in your area.**
Laundromat Bike
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: the toys that are regularly at the laundromat that I go to. Toys have such great colors.
Succulents and Rocks
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. I have a serious addiction to taking photos of succulents. But there is something about them that makes me want to take their picture.
Red Doors
Another iPhone capture of things that catch my eye. This time: Just a little spot of red that caught my eye while leaving the library. I love pops of color like this all over the city.
String of Lights
String of Lights
This is the first image in the new “iPhone images” feature that is part of the new direction of my journal. All of these images will be shot and processed within my iPhone. The goal of these images is to take risks and to show you things that inspire me. I hope that you enjoy this new feature!
Spot of Red
Here’s a new image for you. I found this hydrant on one of my meandering walks through the streets of San Francisco. I’m pretty sure I was in Hayes Valley.
New Website, New Direction
Welcome to the new website! Over the past month or so, I have been slaving hard to create a new look for the website. I hope that you enjoy it.
With the new site design, I’m also going to take a slightly different direction on the blog (or journal as I’m now calling it). In my journal, I’ll share with you new images, artists that inspire me, and shots taken with my iPhone. I’m also hoping to share legal information that I learn during my studies that may be helpful to fellow artists.
To make sure that my journal didn’t start out blank, I’ve pulled twenty-four images from my old blog, the “Best Of” so to speak.
Please let me know what you think of the new site and I look forward to the new direction that this site will be taking!
