Confessions of a Gutter Artist

Clarifier Mosaic Project, Lyons, Colorado

2011-09-27T09:51:00.004-06:00

Here is the completed zodiac symbol (Aquarius) for the Clarifier Project. It is available for viewing as of September 25, 2011. Just so you know, the background has been enhanced using editing feature in "Paint" program.

Abner Dean

2011-09-25T08:35:00.001-06:00

I've added this link so I can take it off my favorites list. The site is one of my favoraties. Click below and then click on Abner Dean, and check out "What am I doing here?" only if you have lots of computer memory. It takes a while to load.

http://whatthingsdo.com/authors/#Abner Dean

Hauntingly Beautiful

2011-09-13T08:30:00.002-06:00

There is something so hauntingly beautiful about the music by Emily Bond Miller. Check out the art by the poet, harpist, and visual artist, Sandra Scull.

http://emilymillerbond.com/sounds_music/Nocturne.htm

Third Annual Naked in Lyons Show: August 13, 2011, 5 - 9 p.m.

2011-08-12T10:06:00.002-06:00

Available at the Ohm Gallery: 441 Main Street, Lyons, Colorado 80302

Title: "Seated Nude at the Confluence"

Artist: P. Jeanette O'Rourke, M.A.

Medium: Daniel Smith Watercolor & Krylon Gold Leaf on Daniel Smith Watecolor Ground; Sealed with Daniel Smith Gold Gesso; Finished with Golden Archival Acrylic Varnish

Size: 8" x 10" Hardboard

Frame Free: Ready to Hang with Hammered Brass Clips

Price: $400

Poems While You Wait

2011-08-09T09:05:00.002-06:00

Just What Do You Think You Are, Really?

While walking with an art buddy on our way to the Monday Boulder Arts group, I saw a man sitting on the Boulder Mall--he was sitting in front of a 1917 Corona typewriter with a sign that said, "Poems While You Wait."

I asked him how much a poem cost, and he said it was by "donation." He asked me for a topic, and I gave him the question R thinks is important to answer during one's life on planet earth: "What are you?"

So while R and I waited, he typed out this poem:

WHAT ARE YOU?

STARDUST
               ashes from great big stars
                OD'd on light
caught in skies of gravity
     deep enough to draw water
and something
                something very near like a first kiss electric
     happened
                 things begin to wiggle and draw in
     like a magnetic
                  all the brilliant designs
     that make a home
                  our home
            beautiful
like fresh love
                   enough to make it work
     you are a miracle of light and ash
             putting forth all the effort necessary
                     to see your love again.

Then Bill Keys read us his poem and I handed him my donation (actually, I had to borrow money from R. to pay for it). I don't know how much a spontaneous poem costs; I hope it was enough; I know I got my money's worth.

I read his poem to our arts group and two of our members asked to hear the last line twice.

Anyway, I am linking to Bill Keys blog at www.poemswhileyouwait.blogspot.com

A great idea and a fun blog; check it out.

Plein Air: Fast and Furious with Teri Gortner

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Over twent artists joined Teri Gortner in Lyons for the "Plein Air: Fast and Furious" workshop at Betsy Burton's Lyons Farmette, sponsored by the Boulder County Arts Alliance.

Here is my abstract of a garden sculpture (artist?) and Betsy's Tractor.

Farmette Sculpture

Betsy's Tractor

Six Most Common Mistakes Made by Artists

2011-06-12T15:28:00.007-06:00

If you don't know what these mistakes are, Mr. J. Jason Horejs of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, may be able to help. According to Mr. Horejs in his book, "'Starving' to Successful: The Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries and Selling More Art," many artists's porfolios end up in the trash before ever being seen by gallery owners. I'm letting my art buddies know about the 4-hour seminar on the same topic being given by Mr. Horejs in Loveland, Colorado, and Denver, Colorado, June 23 and June 25, 2011. For information on his book or the upcoming seminars, contact Mr. Horejs directly at his website: Here is the link to his Xanadu Gallery: http://www.xanadugallery.com/home.asp

For those of you who are interested in reading about both sides of the on-going debate about tailoring art to a specific kind of audience, I encourage you to read a review of Mr. Horejs's book. Here's the link to the article in the blog by F. Lennox Campello, a reviewer and art critic from the Washington, D.C. area: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2009/08/six-most-common-mistakes-artists-make.html

A friend and I plan to attend the seminar and will be letting the artists at the Boulder ARTS Salon know what we learn.

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-09T12:51:00.001-06:00

The completed work:

#19 Variations on a Theme for the show "Musical Splash"

#19: Variations on a Theme: Detail, Right

#19: Variations on a Theme: Detail, Left

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-08T13:18:00.003-06:00

Here are Variations #16, #17, #18, and #19 of #19 Variations on a Theme.

Musical Splash: #16 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #17 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #18 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-07T13:13:00.001-06:00

Here are Variation #13, #14, and #15 of #19 Variations on a Theme.

Musical Splash: #15 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #14 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #13 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-06T13:08:00.001-06:00

Here are Variations #10, #11, ande #12 of #19 Variations on a Theme.

Musical Splash: #11 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #12 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #10 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-05T13:00:00.000-06:00

Here are Variations #7, #8, and #9 of #19 Variations on a Theme:

Musical Splash, #8 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #9 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #7 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-04T12:55:00.000-06:00

Here are the next three variations for the show, "Musical Splash."

Musical Splash, #5 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash, #4 of #19

Musical Splash, #6 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #19: Variations on a Theme

2011-06-03T12:46:00.001-06:00

Musical Splash: #1 of 19 Variations on a Theme

"Musical Splash"
Here are the first three of "19 Variations on a Theme," part of a work by by Phyllis J. O'Rourke, M.A., which will be in the upcoming show, "Musical Splash," opening June 11, 2011, at the Lyons, Colorado, Town Hall, from 5 to 9 p.m. While the work was inspired by the practice of making and trading Artist Trading Cards, the work itself is not considered an ATC. A picture of the completed work will be posted here the day the show is to be hung.

Musical Splash: #2 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Musical Splash: #3 of #19 Variations on a Theme

Jamaica, Goats

2011-05-18T07:56:00.000-06:00

This post will be a collection of pictures I took of the wonderful goats of Jamaica.

Jamaica, Treasure Beach

2011-05-18T07:48:00.000-06:00

Over the next few days, I will be uploading some of my Visual Journal entries and pictures from a recent trip to Jamaica. The first one is of a flower growing out of a wall. Loved the form and shadows and color.

Rogue Wind: Music by Emily Miller Bond

2011-03-11T11:35:00.002-07:00

Here is another link to the music of Emily Miller Bond with art by Phyllis J. O'Rourke.

http://www.emilymillerbond.com/sounds_music/Rogue_Wind.htm

International Women's Day 2011, Lyons, Colorado

2011-03-09T08:39:00.006-07:00

JUST HOLD ONTO THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL

Yesterday we met on the bridge at Sally's House, 8 women, one young girl, and a dog named La La Sioux. We shared our stories and our secrets. We blessed the women of the world with cornmeal as we leaned over the North St. Vrain River on Apple Valley Road. (two of our friends had to leave early). La La Sioux may have had her doubts. We shared fruit, tea,and home made breads.

The theme I came away with was: "Just hold onto the beauty of it all." --PJO

Ashley

Sandy

Sally

Robin

Loretta

Kathy

La La Sioux

Festival of Bones by Emily Miller Bond

2011-03-07T10:04:00.002-07:00

Here is a link to one of the paintings by Phyllis J. Rourke on composer Emily Miller Bond's web site:

http://www.emilymillerbond.com/sounds_music/A_Festival_of_Bones.htm

Haiga: Morning Coffee

2011-03-07T07:28:00.001-07:00

Corner Art, Version #1

2011-03-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the six draft versions of the 6 Corner Art pieces I am trying to figure out how to finish.

Corner Art, 1 of 6

Corner Art, 2 of 6

Corner Art, 3 of 6

Corner Art, 4 of 6

Corner Art, 5 of 6

Corner Art, 6 of 6

The Story of the Organic Minneola

2011-03-04T11:03:00.003-07:00

Version # 1

Version # 2

Version #3

The Clarifier Project: One of 12 Signs of the Zodiac

2011-03-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

This reminds me, I need to finish my mosiac pattern for the Clarifier Project.

Collaboration with Emily Miller Bond--Boulder Composer

2011-03-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

We are in the process of adding original art by Phyllis J. O'Rourke, M.A., to the website of Emily Miller Bond, a Boulder, Colorado, composer extraordinare. A learning curve was encountered, and a breakthrough occurred.

Here is a link to one of the most incredible music sites on the web: http://www.emilymillerbond.com/

Voila! And now for the images we will be using assuming the web designer can use what we have created so far.

Homage to David Wojnarowicz: Fake Web Site Cons Art+Auction's "In the Air"

2011-01-10T07:56:00.047-07:00

Pranksters Strike Again: Art Censorship and Art Funding in America

In an act of high gutter art, some "puckish mystery scoundrel(s)!" conned Art+Auction's online "In the Air" gossip column with a fake Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery web site and press release. For background on this sad story of art censorship in America, see the article in the Huffington Post Blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-b-keegan/smithsonian-just-put-the_b_805711.html

Hats off to: Michael Blasenstein and Michael Iacovone

In an equally courageous act of high gutter art, two men have created "The Museum of Censored Art," after hosting a successful fundraiser on Saturday, January 8, to defray costs for their new museum http://theendofbeing.com/2011/01/07/museum-of-censored-art-smithsonian-protesters-return-with-permits/

After being banned from The Smithsonian's National Portrait Galery for showing the censored video "Fire in My Belly" on an iPad, Michael Blasenstein and Michael Iacovone are opening the "Museum of Censored Art" in support of art and free speech in America. Here's the link to the article: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/01/05/Museum_of_Censored_Art_to_Launch

According to the January 5, 2011, Washington Post article:

Starting Jan. 13, Blasenstein is converting a 8 x 40 feet trailer into a screening room to show David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly," the video that created a firestorm at the Smithsonian Institution and among conservative politicans and supporters of the arts and freedom of expression....The trailer will be parked in the 700 block of F Street N.W. from Jan. 13 to Feb. 13, the last day of the show. The screening hours will be from 11 a.m.to 7 p.m.

Egg on Your Face: Follow the Links

In the hopes of encouraging others not to believe everything you read and everything you see, and everything you think you believe, I am linking to the prankster's fake site, the real Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery web site, and the January 9, 2011, ArtInfo post about David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) and his artwork, "Fire in My Belly," the 1987 video that was removed from the Smithsonian's show: "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture."

www.nationalportraitgallery.us/

www.npg.si.edu/

http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2011/01/08/smithsonian-responds-to-censorship-critics-by-basically-creating-david-wojnarowicz-com/

Photo Credit: Phyllis J. O'Rourke, M.A., Artist's reflection on the window of the Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Legend of Bud Shark & His Indelible Ink: Homage to Enrique Chagoya

2010-10-05T17:08:00.009-06:00

You could not invent a more "appropriate" response to the art of Enrique Chagoya, now showing with 9 other artists at the Loveland Museum Gallery. The exhibit was curated by Cydney Payton for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado, in 2009. The group show features lithographs, monoprints and woodcuts by world renowned artists created with Master Printer Bud Shark, of Shark's Ink, Lyons, Colorado.

Art lovers will be well rewarded for the effort of working their way through the protesters on the sidewalks in front the the Loveland Museum Gallery. In addition to the intricate, thirteen color lithograh and woodcut by Chagoya entitled "The Misadventures of the Romantic Cannibals 2002," are works by: John Buck, Bermard Cohen, Red Grooms, Jane Hammond, Don Ed Hardy, Robert Kushner, Hung Liu, Hollis Sigler, and Betty Woodman.

The lushly printed catalog includes all of the works in the show and is available at the gift store for $60.

The Painting Rejected: "Naked in Lyons II"

2010-09-15T08:34:00.002-06:00

Feedback: no nudity, too abstract, title too dark or negative: "Ode to Persephone: Her psyche was undergoing a bit of a rough patch during its transformation after ___________________."

"Gutter Artists Go Naked and Dance in the Rain"

2010-09-15T08:17:00.004-06:00

This week, I completed the first printed version of "The Gutter Aritsts Oath and Manifesto." The theme for this year is "Releasing all that no longer serves."

I am also making cards using an image of the piece I did for "Naked in Lyons 2."

Here is the image: 'Study: Homage to Matisse" (After "Blue Nude [Souvenir de Biskra]" by Henri Matisse, 1907. The original painting by Matisse was considered so controversial in 1913 when it was shown at the Armory Show in Chicago that it was burned in effigy. What is it about burning things? What is the symbolic meaning?

Fourmile Canyon Friends and Neighbors

2010-09-08T16:51:00.014-06:00

A Tribute from Lyons Artists Salon:

Living now in the shadow of the Fourmile Canyon Fire near Boulder, Colorado, we look at the work we produced at our first Lyons Artists Salon Artist Trading Card Session three days before the fire began, and now are amazed by the imagery we see--on the news, on the web, on blogs, on YouTube--of blazing infernos, aerial drops of fire retardant, displaced persons and animals. Our hearts go out to our friends and neighbors who know they have lost their homes and to those who, living in dread, still do not yet know the fate of their homes.

24 Hour Comics - Abstract - Oct. 2, 2010

2010-08-29T10:30:00.001-06:00

Oct. 2, 2010, 24 hour comics day. How to do it? What do I need? Finding out and will post here later.

Naked in Lyons #2

2010-08-20T07:40:00.000-06:00

August 21, 2010: From 5 to 9 p.m., I will be showing a few of my Art-Toons that have appeared in this blog. The Gutter Artist Leaps for Joy again. And of course, I will be showing two actual paintings. I need to get them photographed for my portfolio. See all my art buddies at Art-4-Art Trading Cards at the Lyons Depot Library at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, at 3:30 p.m.

The Gutter Artist Gets Suspended from a Social Network

2010-08-02T10:00:00.001-06:00

Apparently, it is very difficult to get your personal information off some social network communities. After requesting that my page be deleted, I learned that the moderator has suspended me from the site. Now, I can't go to the site to be sure my page has been deleted.

Day 14: Coming together after the Separation

2010-07-02T11:08:00.001-06:00

Day 13: Coming together after the Separation

2010-07-01T11:07:00.001-06:00

Day 12: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-30T11:05:00.002-06:00

Day 11: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-29T11:02:00.001-06:00

Day 10: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-28T11:01:00.002-06:00

Day 9: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-27T10:59:00.001-06:00

Day 8: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-26T10:57:00.002-06:00

Day 7: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-25T10:56:00.003-06:00

Day 6: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-24T10:54:00.003-06:00

Day 5: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-23T10:51:00.002-06:00

Day 4: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-22T10:50:00.003-06:00

Day 3: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-21T10:48:00.007-06:00

Day 2: Coming together after the Separation

2010-06-20T10:47:00.003-06:00

Day 1: Coming Together After the Separation

2010-06-19T10:44:00.003-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #16

2010-05-11T10:59:00.000-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #15

2010-05-10T10:58:00.002-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #14

2010-05-09T10:56:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #13

2010-05-08T10:55:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #12

2010-05-07T10:53:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #11

2010-05-06T10:52:00.002-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #10

2010-05-05T10:50:00.002-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #9

2010-05-04T10:47:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #8

2010-05-03T10:45:00.002-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #7

2010-05-02T10:44:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #6

2010-05-01T10:41:00.002-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #5

2010-04-30T10:40:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #4

2010-04-29T10:39:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #3

2010-04-28T10:38:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #2

2010-04-27T10:36:00.001-06:00

Gifts from the Sea: #1

2010-04-26T10:36:00.000-06:00

D-Day

2010-02-06T13:33:00.002-07:00

Count Down: 1

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2010-01-26T13:52:00.003-07:00

Pilates equipment with TOR. To Office Max for toner and Browns Shoes with TOR for Chaco Sandals and Flip Flops. Talked to San from hospital. Finished 3 month's worth of ATC's. Uploaded "Know Your Limits" to Creative Awakenings Book of Dreams. Made 4 "Know Your Limits" cards. Need to make master list. Love my new purse/pack.

Count Down: 12

2010-01-25T13:54:00.005-07:00

Works in Progress. Ran out of toner. Forgot to go to Office Max. San goes into hospital. TOR got 3 loads of water. Bought a travel purse/pack at REI.

Count Down:13

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2010-01-03T14:59:00.001-07:00

The Economics of Fun: How to Measure Success in Life

2010-01-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

"PEOPLE RESPOND TO INCENTIVES"

Today's post is just because I don't want to forget this idea and I don't know where else to put it for now. It is a quote from Steven E. Landsburg's book, "The Armchair Economist." The idea links with the rest of these quotes from pages 42 and 43:

"The question arises, How should you measure success in this Game of Economic Life? My idea is to measure it the same way economists measure success in the Game of Life Itself, not by asset holdings or productivity but by the amount of fun you have along the way.

"Let the computer reward profitable trades by printing counpons that students can exchange for consumption goods of real value: movie tickets, pizza, a kiss from the graduate student of their choice. Students can spend coupons as they arrive, or save them for the future, or borrw them from other students who are willing to lend. For each student, there comes a randomly selected day when his terminal informs him that his character has died; his savings are transferred to a designated heir and his own consumption opportunities come to an end.

"That's it. You receive no grade for playing this game. There is no instructor looking over your shoulder. Nobody ever tells you that you did well or did poorly. You live and you die, and if you play well you collect rewards. If you decide it's not worth the trouble to play well, that's fine too.

"Students would learn a lot from this game. They would learn that your success in life is meaured not by comparison with others' accomplishments but by your private satisfaction with your own. They would learn that hard work has its rewards, but that it also takes time away from other activities, and that different people will make different judgements about what to strive for. Most important, they would learn that consumption and leisure, not accumulation and hard work, are what Life is really all about."

I wonder what my parents would think of this idea? I contemplate it on the anniversary of my mother's birth (b. 1918; d. 2007) who would have been 92 today, which is of course an Alice in Wonderland thought. But I like imagining the impossible if not the improbable.

Consciousness 1984

2010-01-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Tree of Life: Emanation

2009-12-28T12:25:00.003-07:00

As I begin the series of drawings for the book, "Jewels of the Tree of Life: Da'ath Points within the Fields of Influence," I am reminded of the power of intention.