Janet Ruttenberg shows her stuff

at www.mcny.org. Today her story is in the NYTimes…

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/nyregion/the-painter-janet-ruttenberg-likens-the-sheep-meadow-to-a-cathedral.html?_r=0

Click it…and read it.

Or do what I do…mooch the gently used NYTimes off the counter of your favorite coffee shop and dissect all sections in your hands. Old school is still cool. Embrace the relaxed stance of contrapossto with arms out-stretched like wingtips holding full opened pages. Peak over the top edge to view your surroundings. And slip into the world of print. Slip down the rabbit hole of stories like the one about Janet Ruttenberg, and question your own inspirations. If you ride the subway, firmly fold in quarters and hold in one hand.

Confessions of an avid reader…of the paper. Who reads the paper anymore? Me.

Here’s what you will find. The story of an artist who lives in Manhattan, who can afford to live in Manhattan. An artist who was never interested in proving herself through sales, or gallery profiling. Someone who just painted what she saw in Central Park, painted it well, in her own way, with her style, for herself.

I envy that. There is a part of me who craves recognition, and I feel it a weakness. I want to sell stuff I make, be noticed by other artists. These are confessions of a pragmatic being trapped in the nuance of being an artist. Creating stuff is fun, but I take more delight in the thrill of the sale. (Maybe it’s because my refrigerator just died and I had sticker shock for replacing it)

Janet Ruttenberg doesn’t need the thrill of a sale, she needs the thrill. After reviewing her works, I felt the thrill too.

Drawing and/or painting in parks is a great way to study forms. A clear and present interaction with ways that we lounge, or play, muse and reflect, romp around, tickle the lives of others, and explore quietly. It’s the frame of casual life as we live it.

If you can’t make it to Central Park in NYC for inspiration, I have a plan B for you. Put it on your calender for a Jacksonville event on Saturday, November 9th.

The Art of Nature , “A collaboration with the Northeast Florida Sculptors” at Jacksonville Arboretum & Gardens. 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. 1445 Millcoe Rd. 32225 (off Monument Rd. just East of 1-295 East) Artists to seek out: Amelia Eldridge and Laura Mongiovi, and 25 others.

And here’s my doodle of palm trees today from the view at our local Archeological Park, the Fountain of Youth.

Later in the day I worked on Jake a little more. He’s about half finished.