blARTblog

More... up close and personal.

2012-02-23T13:32:00.007-08:00

I am enjoying this... -- BL

New... close ups!

2012-02-17T09:33:00.000-08:00

Man, I am enjoying getting up close to simple objects and playing with natural light...

New photographs up close

2012-02-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks for checking out my blog. My current show at the South Huntington Library on Long Island will be coming down this Thursday... so... check it out if you have not seen it yet! And... enjoy these new images! -- BL

MORE CLOSE UPS! (From my current show)

2012-01-27T08:26:00.000-08:00

Here are several additional close up views of my work currently hanging at the South Huntington Library. The show will be there until Feb. 9th... if those of you on Long Island can get a chance to check it out. --BL

New Show for 2012!

2012-01-18T09:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all! Currently, I have a show of my work in the South Huntington Library, on Long Island, NY. I will attach some images taken duing my reception last Saturday which was well attended! Enjoy!

New Show

2011-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

Hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season, having fun, catching up with family and friends.

Here are a few images about a group show that I am part of in a gallery in Chelsea in NYC... I am a member of NOHO Gallery and each member had work in this show and could also invite one other artist to put work in the show... I selected an abstract artist friend of mine... it is a cool show, much diversity... if you get a chance and are in the city, check it out!

The two photographs are my pieces in the show!

-BL

More seasonal beauty...

2011-12-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

Light is such a captivating, elusive medium...

Artist from Paris...

2011-12-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

Went into the city last night to see a four person show/reception at a very nice gallery in Chelsea... a good friend of ours from Paris was one of the four. She creates beautiful large collages out of torn paper, old posters found on the streets of Paris, etc... great to see Anne Kolin and her husband Arnold... very pleasant people... and we love her work! -- BL

More beauty...

2011-12-02T11:56:00.000-08:00

Some recent images from the now... "cooler" days... -- BL

New Beauty...

2011-11-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

Sunlight filtering through Japanese lanterns... such a calming sight. -- BL

Nature...

2011-11-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

Aaaahhhhh... nature... -- BL

Sometimes...

2011-11-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

Yes... sometimes it's just great and satisfying to simply look at everyday things... -- BL

Room to a view...

2011-11-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

While taking a break in my studio yesterday, I thought that I would take a few photographs inside and outside my studio to give you a peek at where I work... you'll see a group of cards which I just designed... completed works hanging on the walls... works in progress... and my view out to the 59th Street Bridge and NYC! I enjoy working on several different things at a time... I find that if I hit a visual roadblock... I can change to another media and get away from the problem for a bit and transition into a different mode of thinking... this process seems to work for me. -- BL

Can you find objects?

2011-11-06T12:47:00.001-08:00

Having continued fun getting up close to objects... they almost become different entities... redefining themselves... -- BL

New experiments!

2011-11-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Enjoy a few more cool experimental photographs. -- BL

New Photographs!

2011-10-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

Man... this camera is such a kick to use... just have to be VERY steady when doing close up shots... enjoy! -- BL

New work!

2011-10-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here are several new pieces that I have completed... a couple new collages... paintings and photograph. Collages are extremely interesting to me because they are sometimes difficult to resolve, with so many competing elements, yet can produce exciting results.

Often I take a collage through many stages... slowly adding to a piece and living with the evolutions for a while... before adding more... it is quite a process of visual discrimination and editing of shapes, colors, tones, and ultimately the working final composition.

The one painting of the bicycle parts is now in a National Juried show in Stamford, Connecticut. -- BL

New images.....

2011-10-24T07:42:00.000-07:00

Well, Fall is here... new palettes of colors abound... enjoy these new photographs... -- BL

All is new.

2011-10-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! Everything just got very interesting! This new Pentax camera is so much fun with the microscope setting. Little... just got... huge. Enjoy these photographs. (The assemblage is a new art work entitled...."self portrait".) -- BL

New images... water coming soon!

2011-10-09T11:34:00.001-07:00

This camera... kicks... I am also starting to use my new Casio camera a bit more... a LOT of bells and gadgets on that one! Check out these! Enjoy. -- BL

New images... experiments.

2011-10-02T11:44:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying looking at things differently with this new little "gem" of a camera! -- BL

A Drop of Rain....

2011-09-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

Wow... the power of a drop of rain and what it can hold... while working at a gallery in the city yesterday I had to take my new camera and continue my experiments... it is cool to look at all things differently sometimes... to appreciate a new perspective and put simple things in a different context... enjoy. -- BL

New experiments!

2011-09-28T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few new compositions with my small Pentax camera. I am enjoying more experimental photography with this camera. Enjoy. -- BL

Rain... opportunities!

2011-09-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

Check this! -- BL

Up close...

2011-09-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Some new images from my wife's beautiful garden... up close and beautiful... -- BL

New photos!

2011-09-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

Here's some new photos from the OPTIO... it rocks! -- BL

2011-09-19T07:52:00.000-07:00

A new camera in my hands... watch out... and bee my blog reader! -- BL

New Work!

2011-09-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Great to be back in the studio working again... my floor problems finally repaired...

Here are a few new collages! Enjoy! -- BL

Two more found images!

2011-09-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

I have been finding older photographs of mine... it is great to renew a connection with them and see if they still hold up! -- BL

"Found" images!

2011-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Well, sometimes it is cool to find photos you took a while ago, just to see what interested you in the past... here's a couple from an art wookshop that I did in upstate New York several years ago. Enjoy. -- BL

-BL

New images... from an older camera card.

2011-07-22T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a few new images from an older camera card that I just found... interesting to find images again... enjoy! --BL

New camera finds!

2011-06-23T11:42:00.001-07:00

Well, another old camera card was holding images of some of my older work... the spray can/ladies painting sold to a woman in California... purchased on line... enjoy! -- BL

More cool images.....

2011-06-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

I just found an old photo camera card with arty images... enjoy! -- BL

-BL

More...

2011-06-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

From Catherine's beautiful garden... enjoy! -- BL

Some new seasonal photographs

2011-06-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a few new photographs from my wife's well tended garden! --BL

Studio update

2011-06-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a water leak from a radiator in my studio which slowly, over time, seeped underneath most all of the floor tiles and wood base, causing a huge problem. It took a few weeks to get most of the entire floor torn up, down to the cement base... sanitized and a new floor put down. I am slowly reclaiming my studio space and getting back to work. (Part of my radiator was also replaced)

Also, I have been working at various galleries in Chelsea over the past few months after my own show and have not been in the studio. So, I am very ready to get back on track with my work (have plenty of ideas) and , as the song goes, get back to where I once belonged!
I'll also have more images of work to post and more blogs!
Thanks for checking in! -- BL

Open Studio!

2011-05-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

Many thanks to all of the wonderful, inquisitive people who I met in Long Island City this past weekend for the open studio weekend! Many terrific questions and comments about my work... I met new artists, sold many of my cards and look forward to hearing from some of the people who were there!

We will have another open studio weekend in the fall and I will try to give people more lead time on the event to set aside some time to stop by. It is a great time to catch up with friends and make new friends, and see an artists studio informally and also a wonderful opportunity to purchase original work! -- BL

"My Brothers and Me"

2011-05-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

One of the paintings on my painting page, entitled "My Brothers and Me", is done from an old black and white photograph that my mother found in a drawer years ago and gave to me. I enjoy looking at old photographs and reinterpreting them in a more modern context through my paintings.

Usually, I scan the photo and begin trying various tools to change the image and alter its presentation yet retain the basic photo. It is fascinating to me to discover how little visual infromation is needed to maintain and present the photograph in a new format.

When I find an interesting print, I make a black and white copy of it and sketch a pencil grid on top of it and transfer the image onto a canvas. Then, I choose colors which create contrasts and actually, a small painting with each box within the total grid. Makes for many interesting final compositions. -- BL

"To Jane Randolph" -- the story behind the painting

2011-05-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

I wanted to take a moment and talk about the first painting on my "paintings for sale" page, the one titled "To Jane Randolph".

Back in 1992, I had the good fortune of attending a month long artists' workshop in Terni, Italy, called La Romita. (I would recommend it highly to any fellow artists out there.) At this workshop, I met Jane and found her to be a fascinating lady the more we had occasion to speak.

Turns out she had been an actress in the forties and had appeared in quite an interesting number of black and white films! (One was "Cat People" and another "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein".) There are indeed, clips of her on youtube... check them out!)

Several years later she was in New York and called me and we met and enjoyed a walk through an Edward Hopper retrospective, and she insisted on treating me to lunch afterward. Classy lady.

She died last year and the painting is a tribute to having met her. -BL

Art For sale

2011-04-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Several people have asked about which of my pieces are for sale. I have added a new page which you can see in the upper left hand corner of my blog, titled "Bruce Laird Art for sale", which lists prices, sizes and media. This is a work in progress, as all the details are not posted yet.

I will be adding new pages for collages, photos and assemblages shortly. -- BL

More from...THE SHOW!

2011-04-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

back to musings aboard the long island railroad

2011-04-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

pigeon in port

my window seat,
on the nine eleven,
breakfast bags
crinkle around me,
hungry commuters
munch and text.

an aisle strutter appears
to my right,
another needy commuter.
quietly investigating
beneath cushioned seats
for commuter crumbs.

leaving the port washington station,
seconds shy of the closing
sliding doors...he continues the search.

doors slide open,
pigeon exits at plandome,
never knowing the trainmans
metallic ticket hole puncher,
winged souls,
travel free.

2011-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

A couple collages... close-up! (As per request)

2011-04-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Well, here are some new images from my current show in Chelsea! Remember, this is the final week... hope to see you! Enjoy!

Bruce

2011-04-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

Will be entering the final week of my show in Chelsea this coming Tuesday! (Show will close on Saturday, April 9th at 6:00p.m.) I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who has attended my show to date, it continues to be a great experience for me. The many conversations I have enjoyed with visitors from all parts of the world about my work, about making art in this economy, additional shows in the city to check out, selling many of my cards and giving away complimentary ones. It has been fun! I look forward to meeting another weeks worth of people during the final week of my show... also, I will be posting more images of my work probably tomorrow. Thanks for checking in! -- BL

THE SHOW!

2011-03-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the hundreds of people who have already attended my show!

Besides family and friends, I have met wonderful people fom Paris, Canada, Spain, Italy, Australia,Germany, England, and about a dozen or more states have been represented! Many great conversations, provoking comments and fascinating insights into my work! The show is half over and will run until April 9th. Hope to get to see and meet a lot more art lovers and enjoy more comments!

Attached are a few images from the show, one painting shows a young man going to Korea and he came to my recepton to be photographed next to himself many years ago!

I have sold one collage and dozens of hand made cards, which are available during the show to purchase.

More to come... enjoy! -- BL

The Show looks great!

2011-03-14T14:57:00.002-07:00

Well, after several days of carrying artwork, loading my car, and a few drives into the city, I have hung my show! If I may say so, it rocks! Thirty pieces, paintings, collage, mixed media, photographs. Come in and check it out! I will be posting images from the show... soon! (For those of you who just can't see it in person!) -- BL

The show is up!

2011-03-14T14:57:00.001-07:00

Coming Soon!

2011-03-08T13:49:00.001-08:00

New images with strong shadows

2011-02-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

Still, experimenting with types of shadows at various times of the day. I think that I have only scratched the surface of what potential lies ahead with these investigations. Seems as if a warm surrealness happens with some forms and harsher
qualities with others. I do enjoy looking at these variations of light and shadow.
Hope you do too!

New photograph sketches

2011-02-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

Well, in the many preparations for a one person show, I have set aside a bit of time to experiment with several of my photographs. It has been fun to generate some prints of my photographs and then go back into them with watercolors, colored markers and colored pencils. Here are a couple images that I have played with and one of them is actually part of my upcoming show in March. Enjoy!

photographs

2011-02-12T12:34:00.000-08:00

photographs,
sealing a moment...
wrapping up time,
freezing the subject.

four corners,
encircling, embracing,
all actors within,
now die a little.
for future fumbling
fingers to...
seal another moment.

Preparing for a show

2011-02-01T09:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I have about had it with winter already...it has been brutal here... as I write now there are 6-7 foot mountains of snow next to my driveway, and in front of the house.

But, I must begin working at completing a couple paintings, designing a show card, redoing my business card, building some frames for my work and generally, making sure that I can successfully create a one person show in the middle of March!

Also I am involved with the Port Washington Library Arts Council, just last night I assisted an artist taking down their show and wrapping the work, with a couple other council members.
Looking forward to getting my new work together and hanging my show in NYC in March! Stay tuned! -- BL

Coming soon....

2011-01-25T15:45:00.001-08:00

I found these two cool shadow photographs that I took a while ago in Manhattan. Being fascinated by the interesting negative shapes that shadows create...I think that I will alter one of these images and even introduce some color manipulations and... see what happens. Perhaps even repetitions of the image for a different effect.. we'll see how the paper reacts to my color choices.

Having a one person show coming up in Chelsea in March, I may even include this experiment... if... it is somewhat successful! Stay tuned!

Time to blog....

2011-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

With every intention of getting to the studio and cranking out some work... first to Home Depot to purchase some wood framing for paintings... (traffic on the Long Island Expressway had moved along quite smoothly) only to arrive at my studio in Long Island City... where trailer trucks full of MOVIE gear were unloading all over the place! (The area is getting famous for movie filming... employing the NYC skyline as a background.) SO many BLOCKS had NO PARKING! After maybe a bit too much driving around in search of a space I faced the reality that it was not happening today. Back on the road home... and now, a chance to catch up on my e-mails and post another blog entry! Enjoy a few more paintings of mine! -- BL

More photographs of interest...

2011-01-17T11:37:00.000-08:00

I had another occasion recently to play with the simplicity of objects coupled with an interestingly angled early morning beam of sunlight. The abstractness and alluring

shapes that evolve as I move things into positions of interest within this sun stream

are quite disarming and unexpected. Enjoy! -- BL

Photos from the show

2011-01-16T14:11:00.001-08:00

Huffing and puffing and...

2011-01-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

Wow! Got up Monday morning in a very cold house, a quick scurry to the basement revealed an oil tank gauge clearly reading... EMPTY! Yikes! A call to the service we use... holding for some time, per usual, as monotonous music played in the background... FINALLY a real person's voice informed me that SOMETIME today a serviceman will come by. There go my plans for the day. I was REALLY looking forward to getting to the studio today to work (more inner huffing and puffing...).

But... later in the morning I did focus on some beautiful sunlight that was streaming into our kitchen window. I took a clear glass and simply enjoyed some abstract light forms flowing through the glass... grabbed my camera and got some interesting images. I love seeing what odd shapes and surreal type images I can manipulate by employing simple objects, and playing with light. Enjoy the above! -- BL

My work in Great Neck, Long Island Gallery

2011-01-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

These two paintings are now at the 10 Grace Avenue Gallery in Great Neck, Long Island. Both are acrylic paintings of mine. The Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday-11-6 through January, 2011! I am part of a five person show at this location and all work is for sale.

Here's the poster for the show:

Found drawing

2011-01-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

This drawing was part of a series of continuous line drawings which I did several years ago. The idea is to let your pencil or pen constantly create lines without raising it from the surface... to draw on... regardless!

For me, it was a terrific way especially, when sketching on location, to not allow myself to get caught up with erasing or smudging in shadowing , etc.. It literally forced me to "get" what I was seeing and move on to the next sketch.

I would like to do more of these, as I think that they produce interesting, creative results! -- BL

Noho Gallery 6th Annual Auction

2011-01-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

Check out this site regarding

the winter auction at Noho Gallery. It is a live show and is posted on

the internet! I have two pieces

in the show! Enjoy!

Storm of December 2010

2010-12-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

Wow! Just drove through the most intense, white out, snowstorm that I have ever experienced! (SEVEN hours to travel 160 miles!) I was VERY fortunate to make it home, along the 91/95 highway through Conn to New York and out to Long Island.

Man, there are ALL kinds of drivers... my favorite are the SUVs that flew by me at 55 mph... with an obvious lack of any concern for anyone around their sphere of reality.

Several trailer trucks I saw had jackknifed themselves across a couple undistinguishable lanes... many cars were simply... abandoned along the roadside. As I muscled into my driveway at ten o'clock at night, through twelve inches of snow... I finally opened my car door after a longer than usual amount of time... (thanking the stars above for my safe trip) I crunched through the
snow... and... home. -- BL

Christmas day 2010

2010-12-26T07:07:00.000-08:00

Ending out 2010, Christmas was a lot of fun with friends and family enjoying exchanging gifts, singing songs, great food, and sharing time together.

Above is a painting that I did of my parents when they were married, (with them sitting behind it) ... it was a Christmas gift to them which they look forward to hanging in their house.

I find it interesting viewing old photographs and reworking them into a contemporary painting.
I plan to be blogging more about this process and posting more recent paintings in this vein. -- BL

Checking back in...

2010-12-24T17:17:00.000-08:00

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone and have a wonderful, creative 2011! Stay tuned, I will be making more blog entries in the new year... much more new art work to talk about!

Found this image below...one of a series of photographs of water droplets at rest on various plants and objects that I took a while back... perhaps I'll post a few more later. -- BL

Winter quiet

2009-12-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple images of lantern flowers resting in afternoon filtered sunlight that caught my attention. -- BL

steamrolling into October

2009-10-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since my last entry. I feel like a Dr. Seuss character often, juggling time to search for a new full time job, working in my new studio in Long Island City, TRYING to get in some motorcycling on my new ride before the SNOW falls.

Now, I am working at a couple galleries in NYC, helping various artists with their shows, being on the Board of Directors at the Port Washington Art Guild,

and the Board of Directors at the Port Washington Library Art Advisory Committee.

I also have a photograph in the Elderfields Art gallery in Port Washington now, a juried show and I have a large painting in the Fabir Barren National Color Award Show in Stamford Connecticut. (Happy to have work in both shows)

In November I will also be part of a group show at the College Library on the NY tech campus in Old Brookville, N.Y.

Thanks for checking in with me, I will try and make more entries and post more of my work!
Enjoy! -- BL

2009-06-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'd like to thank the many terrific people who came by and checked out my studio during the recent Open Studio weekend. So good to see some old friends, unexpectedly... and make some new ones.

Passed out many business cards, had many cool discussions about my work and the time flew by! Hope that everyone enjoyed themselves and had some food and drink while visiting and in the Fall there will be another one!

So, if you were unable to attend this time, stay tuned, and check in with my blog later!
All the best to all fellow art lovers out there, and... catch you later. -- BL

2009-05-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking in to my blog! I realize that I have been somewhat, inconsistant with my entries. I have been very involved with creating a new studio space in Long Island City, N.Y. I am part of an upcoming OPEN STUDIO WEEKEND, where anyone can stop in and view my new space, recent work, meet me, ask questions, purchase work, or just come in and enjoy viewing my work! There will be about 15 additional artists opening their studios also on the same floor!
May 30th, and May 31st (Saturday and Sunday) from 1-6 PM will be the open studios, at....PAINT CAN STUDIOS, 10-10 44th Avenue, 3rd Floor
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101
Hope to see you!
Peace
Bruce

2009-02-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

My brother e-mailed me last Saturday with a guest pass for the New York City Comic Convention at the Javits Center. Meeting him at the VIP entrance we went to the Mirage
Studio Tables and joined about seven very talanted cartoonists.

Wow! What a wild scene!

Thousands of comic enthusiasts, artists, vendors, costumed super heroes, and my brother
and his fellow artists signed t-shirts, comic books, golf bags, arms, books, posters,and were drawing... constantly! Very cool to see the fans supporting TMNT twenty five years later! -- BL

2009-01-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

Walking in Northampton, Mass. this cold afternoon, I stopped to catch these three images that got my attention. The elements of New England in this waterfall scene, a skin-like pattern emerges from ice, and a rock composition, always intriguing. -- BL

shadow studies 1

2008-12-26T16:22:00.000-08:00

On recent walks in Manhattan, enroute to Chelsea, I became intrigued with shadows created by parked bicycles. The following are a few examples of my photos taken during these strolls. -- BL

And so it begins...

2008-10-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

For my first step into the BLOG world, I am putting up three images that I am entering into a juried show. Here they are...

Hope this blogging thing turns out to be as easy as my geeky brother says it will! -- Bruce Laird