What Is A Maker?

Some time ago I got a magazine subscription to, METROPOLIS, that I never ordered. For once it had a topic that fascinated me, telling about "creatives types" everywhere.

I remember being fascinated with the large paintings you could find any place the seller found space. They weren't bad but after awhile favorites seemed to show up at more locations. 

One of the networks did a feature on this phenomenon that was startling. About 50 canvases were set up and there were 50 artists. The canvas was primed and roughed in, then painted. Each artist had to paint one small portion, exactly the same. They went on this way until it matched a master hanging above them.

My question became, is this really art?

Being a modern maker is a post industrial movement all over the world but primarily in America. "From potters to politicans, everyone today wants to be called a maker. What can designers really expect from this hazy movement?" Once again artists felt free to create and make single items that were original for sale. Etsy (and others as well) was a response to this trend then destroyed it by allowing anyone to sell if they were involved in some part of the item. I hate to tell Etsy but everything made on the planet was designed, usually for mass production, by someone and shouldn't qualify under their original quidelines.

METROPOLIS then features 10 makers and what they create. Much of it is stunning and expensive but qualifies as true art. Lots of one of a kind furniture, beautiful pottery, weaving  and quilts. All are art forms and  deserving of the maker title. I wish I could show you images but iPads have many limititations and inserting images is one. 

I urge you to check out these artists. They are new without the the rauch and hype:

UM PROJECT

Folk Fibers

Grain

Ricketts indigo

Dana Bechert

John Hogan

DAMN

Smith Shop

Studio Dunn

Silvia Song

You also might want to consider what art is. Museums are finally waking up and are more discriminating. They've always known but wanted to be hip. Their punishment was that no one would come. Art is meaningful, or should be. Great art in any medium lifts the spirit and allows us to reflect. Vanity art is just that. Museums need to learn the difference.

Alan Krug

Report: the 2015 Painting Convention in Las Vegas

After several years of missing the Las Vegas Painting Conventions due to illness I realized this past week how much I missed it. I learned this is the granddaddy of such conventions - 25 years in fact. My last class and partner had been to all 25! I dared go to the Society of Decorative Painters Convention four months after my first surgery last year. They walked us to death. I didn't hurt but I tired easily. The classes cost more and, with rare exceptions, were just so so.  I literally was the only male in any class. Everyone was kind and I was welcomed by most teachers though several were surprised while others ignored me.

This year in Vegas I met a guy at breakfast who said there were several more guys. I never had a guy in my class nor did I see him again. To be fair, I only signed up at the last minute. The doctors said i could go but only take one class a day. My wife insisted on the one class a day. They were right, I was wiped out after 4-9 hours of heavy concentration.

Autumn with Bill Bayer

Not a lot of choices were left but that makes the choosing easier, like all the guys shopping Christmas Eve at the mall!. I choose a George Mason style landscape taught by my favoriete teacher, Bill Bayer, two small still lifes, one of apples and a red pepper plus a Rosemaling bench and finally my triumph, a Jacobean wall sconce.

The first class on Monday started at 8 am. I had bought and set up a folding wagon for all my stuff, paint box, coats, bags, cane.  It took awhile to master but it worked well enough. I was stunned at how cold Vegas could get. I had been there when it was 100 at midnight in July but the cold and wind stunned me in February.

Bill Bayer, our teacher and one of my all time favorite teachers, had everything set up. We dove right in. We went along for about two hours then he let us catch up and looked at everyone's work.  Because this was a much longer class, he had more time to show us techniqiues I had never seen before. Within a few hours I learned more than years of classes. Couldn't wait to get home and try these things out. I struggled at the end and he stayed to show me how to correct and do these new, to me, techniques. Never knew a fan brush was so versatile. This painting uses 5 brushes and 5 paint colors!!!

Tuesday my class was in the evening so I got my stuff in the classroom and hour early, found something to eat. When I returned my things were in the last row and there were no seats closer. There were of course but they were "saved" for people who never showed up. This painting was oil of two apples on a 6" x 6" canvas. I was about 40 feel away and couldn't see a thing. I asked for help several tmes, didn't get it and packed up and left after 45 minutes. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, but I had to "see" what was being done to create it. I couldn't.

The third day I was on a 1-5 pm schedule and again got there early and made sure my paintbox was in a good location. Grabbed something to eat and went back to class. This was a red pepper using water soluble oils and what  mess I made, not once but three times. Just a slight touch and the paint smeared everywhere. I had to recover the colors and between that and painting the same areas over and over with different colors. I didn't get it done so will make a decision when I get it home.

Rosemaling Stool

My biggest discocery was that I had lost a degree of fine motor skills after my illness. The Thursday class was painting a Rosemaling design on a wooden stool. It was here that I realized that I had truly lost some of my fine motor skills. The teacher was very patient and showed me some tricks to steady my hands.  Heck, I might use these all the time. It did get finished though. If we want she noted we could put a red band around the seat.  We shall see. What every student wants is a guiding hand and she give me a wonderful one. Many of my class mates were teachers themselves and were honing their skills as well. THAT is encouraging.

Jacobean Flower Pocket

My Friday and last class was a Jacobean Wall Scounce. The design was on a black painted tin piece that had a handle or a hole in the back to hang it. It was very cool and incredibly complicated. It was also the only piece I completed on my own with no help. After about two hours of rapid fire instruction (I was not alone in not keeping up), I tuned her out and followed the photo. Now and then I would tune in but generally I was on my own. I am very proud of it! As far as I could tell I was the only student that got it done.

Despite the Tropicana''s usual mess up (escalators that didn't work, poorly marked rooms and lighting fit for a cave, Jay did manage to pull it off. In fact I think this was one of his best years.

Food was good (for once) and fairly priced, The big hang up was getting to the "C" floor. We got there and I think most had a great time.

I enjoyed myself immensely and am very glad I went.

Thank you for visiting! If you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts, photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out this store on a regular basis at KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or anyone about this blog and my and refer them to my blog!, KrugsStudio.blogspot.com.

To Be An Artist You Need To Dress The Part!

The other day I was looking at the various emails I get from a variety of "art" sites and it suddenly struck me that artists of all types seem compelled to look weird. Not all but a abnormally high percentage. Does that make them a better artist or is it their way of shouting - "hey look at me!" Granted some are easier on the eyes and ears than others but that led me to consider do they have any talent? Todays "artist" will oftentimes fade away next year.

At first glance she looks like some sweet young thing, a closer study shows
she is very long in the tooth!

Would I be more successful if I wore dangly earrings like I see guys in their 60's do? How about a long tied up pony tale below my balding head down to my waist? A beard that usually needs a thorough cleaning; big and bushy that would do a Taliban fighter justice? I don't know about them but this wouldn't have passed muster with my mother.

It seems the Boomers in their rebellion started a new, for lack of a better word, workers style that manages to hang on still. They simply haven't grown up.Torn jeans with the places worn out set you back $200 +. We went from a decade of poopy pants, pants so big and low we had to see their underwear. We can thank the Lord at least they wore some! Now we have jeans so tight they don't fit anyone anywhere. And lately, rolled up cuffs on jeans like they wore in "Rebel Without A Cause."

Whats old becomes new again. Fashion follows art and often not so successfully. However, there is a real resurgence in more traditional, classical art. Here at the Getty Center is an exhibit of J. M. W. Turner's paintings after he turned 60. One of his "smaller" pieces just sold for $20 million. So you old farts out there still have a chance!

Rain Steam and Speed the Great Western Railway

If you have never seen a Turner he could be almost credited with leading the explosion of color that was embraced in Impressionism. He embraced modern technology of the day as is shown with an English train on its daily run. There is a movie out about him that I hear is quite good. What I did notice though, was that he pretty much dressed like everyone else. I guess when modern art hit our shore "artists" felt compelled to show they were different. In many cases the artist became part of the artistic package. None of my favorites of this era went to these extremes. Maybe their mothers trained them well!

These are my current musings and finally felt that I had to pass them on! Art and the art of living are not always equal.

Thank you for visiting my blog, KrugsStudio. If you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts, photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out my store on a regular basis at KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or anyone about this store and my blog, KrugsStudio.blogspot.com.

Best regards,

Alan Krug

A Window To Future Possibilities

The original working sketch

I finally finished the window I was discussing a few days ago. It was somewhat like I envisioned but of course the reality is a always a bit different. Here was the initial working sketch (see left.)

It was kinda crude. When I got to the actual window I realized I had two choices, really BIG images or adding more floral elements. I opted for more elements and that outline was done with a Sharpie in black (see below) that would be used as a guide for the black leading of the various elements.

Outlined and ready to be painted

Since they were going to put it outside against a wall (I found this out later) there was much concern on my part about the effect of light shining through. Each and every brushstroke was seen and I went crazy putting layers of paint to cover these strokes. It didn't work.  Nor did soft brushes that you are admonished to use.

I used DecoArt outdoor leading paint that had a nozzle that you squeezed creating a rather crude leading (well, since this was my first time, it is rather crude.) However, since the paint and putty are also falling off the frame it all fits!

Then came hours of painting. I bet I used over 20 different colors creating the floral elements. The paints are all DecoArt's new Satin paint with the exceptions of several glossy outdoor paints. Those paints worked well though I had many issues with DecoArt's Satins. To get any coverage at all, I had to use a stirrer to get enough pigment from the bottom, it would not mix when shaken; that was a drag. You can see that in the photo at left. I should add I love DecoArt acrylic paints and have well over 200 but feel the Satins are not ready for prime time. In fact as I write this I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to create a primer for metal and glass to get an object ready for the actual color. You are already putting at least two coats on everything so a primer could cut down on many painted layers trying to get an streakless opaque finish.

Completed window in all its glory!

I also used an outdoor DecoArt Chalk paint for the sky and even after several layers found that it will scratch off very easily even a few days later. Since it is too big for an oven, it would be best to let it cure the 21 days they recommend. Do not touch during the curing!

Would I do this again? Certainly. There were many lessons though that I needed to learn and I feel they are different with a window than a mirror. Here are a few:

I had to pick the more interesting wood detail and then turn the frame over and paint literally backwards on the glass. While I limited my self to three layers you have to remember that the first color has to be the top layer. Flowers with yellow centers have the center put on first, then the next color, petals or whatever and then the final closing color. You will do some scraping when you turn it over and see the lovely details are gone.

Detail of the bottom floral painting

I would advise you limit your palette. I used far too many colors. It was fun though. The other lesson was that I discovered with care you could blend colors. These last two photos are the window as seen from the front, not the back that is a bit rougher in appearance.

A mirror would be different only in what you paint is like painting a painting. Neatness counts and there is no backside to worry about or to hide your mistakes.

I went up to Blick's in Pasadena the other day for some guidance and I realized quickly that I knew more than the salesman did. I had watched a few YouTube videos but never got the answers I wanted and needed.

I wondered if there is a final coat I can put over the paint to that will help to seal it. I also considered painting the back with an opaque paint that would make sure no light went through to show all the brushstrokes. There is another glass paint company but it is far more transparent so not what I wanted. The other companies, Golden included, did not have much so I realized that choices were limited. I will be watching this window that while protected somewhat will spend its life outdoors.

If you have an old window around, experiment. You will have great fun!

I have a store, KrugsStudio so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts, photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or not about this blog and my store!
                           

Crafters, It's Time For A New Paradigm

As I was struggling with my 12 window pane project and cursing the paints I was using, I found that what I had to do was use flat colors, much like Apples new OS icon format. I suddenly remembered that was what I had done when I started painting my birdhouses. It was only after my first Las Vegas Painting Convention back in 2008, that I became aware of how to create depth and learned to shade my creations. What a revelation!!! I got better and put some of the items in a store on Etsy, KrugsStudio.etsy.com, my store.

Jackson Pollack changed modern art forever! Do you think would would
qualify at the Society of Decorative Painters even now?

Looking at my art magazines, books and projects I'd been doing, I realized that everything has become a formula, one that hasn't changed in quite awhile. The final nail in the coffin for me was when I came across this call for entries for CERTIFICATION for the Society of Decorative Painters in their newest issue. You have until February 28th for entries to be considered and the artist allowed into the inner sanctum. OMG! Is this the French Salon? You can enter each year until accepted or you give up. You will be judged on the following:

It is about paintings that demonstrate freshness, spontaneity, movement and flow. (Like that's gonna happen with the requirements below.) Have you looked at the 2015 Convention Classes? Compared with last year, I found this years selection weak and certainly not up to the standards you would need to be "certified."

Entries will be judged on overall effect, color management, blending kills, stroke control, value control, intensity control, linework and detail, background, frame neatness and finish.

The floral and still life's require smooth applications of paint, lack of transparency, and lack of brush marks. There are more requirements. If you are a fan of Impressionism, don't apply here. You will recognize almost the same requirements as the French salon of the 1860's. It is these requirements and many more that made Manet, Monet, Degas, and the rest rebel and start their own artistic movement. It changed art forever. We don't even know who was in the French Salon today.

We all want safety. The types of crafts we see today had a beginning and no doubt were revolutionary at the beginning. Yet today, look at any magazine, craft books offered for sale, class offerings and there is nothing new or even very adventuresome for nearly 50 years now. Maybe this is what people want. Yet how many cutsy items can you hang around the house? How many can you sell on Etsy, CraftStar and the rest? While I rarely revisit a series after I'm done, I am constantly looking for a new twist. A new way to express myself be it painted crafts, birdhouses and paintings. I firmly believe staying in the same style traps us much like Thomas Kincaid. He found a style clients liked but once established could never leave. Art is about growth not comfort.

My as the New Yorker magazine cartoon shows,
how far the abstract expressionist artist has fallen

Change is scary yet, I believe that crafting, as a artistic form, is ready for a revolution of spirit that needs to look for a new paradigm, one that will again breath new life into what we like to do. Watching Donna Dewberry on PBS yesterday, I realized adding clay geraniums to an already finished painting of geraniums was not the way. The painting, while no masterpiece, quickly degenerated to kitsch.  Maybe that's what it takes. It is just not my thing. She is trying!

Personally I say follow Joseph Campbell's advice to "follow your bliss," not the herds. Unless art is your way to make your living, and even if it is, create what you like (at times), what moves you artistically.

I have a store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts, photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. Most of my items are one of a kind and very, VERY unique. Stop by KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or anyone about this blog and my store!

Thank you for visiting.

Acrylic Glass Paints: The Struggle To Cover

Starting The Window

A few months back some friends, who were remodeling their front and back yards, found an old window frame from the time their 50's modern home was built. Three panes wide by four high I could tell at a glance this would present a challenge.  While the putty was falling out, the glass was good as was most of the frame. I would paint the glass and they could deal with the putty something I have never mastered. Here it is as I started it:

I can hear some of you now but once the panes are done, and this is the back, putty and a new coat of paint can be applied. It just might be a fun piece to have in your own private garden.

The challenge though, for me at least, is the coverage of glass centric acrylic paints. It doesn't. Two or three coats may make it on a wine glass but not on 12 - 10 ½" x 10 ¾" panes that are trying to tell a garden story as you move from pane to pane.

Because I have chosen a front and a back I can't begin to tell you the number of mornings I have woken up with some new realization. Details go on first, then the next layer and if it is necessary the last layer. I am restricting myself to three detailed layers. Considering I have never done this before that is pretty ambitious.

Adding Color 

My frustration has been the paint coverage or lack of it. Spent several hours this morning watching YouTube videos and my conclusion is good luck. They didn't do any better than me. Many of the videos are English and I have never heard or seen the products they are talking about.

As you can see here with my sun, the yellow and reds are struggling to cover the glass. I am using DecoArts Satin acrylic paint.

It really needs to be hand stirred before using it. It doesn't blend well when shaken and while the colors are amazing you have to really work to get the coverage you want. I drag up the stirrer and use that paint.

I have wondered about this trend of new acrylics that will work on anything. Its really like the saying they're the "jack of all trades and masters of none." One YouTube video even compared brands but other than the Martha Stewart brand, I hadn't heard of one and DecoArt had already changed their paints. There really wasn't a clear cut winner. If you can't find it, what difference does it make, right?

Oil based paints of my childhood didn't seem to have any problem covering glass. If anything it was a bit too robust. After painting several houses, the one job we all hated was scraping the paint off the glass. Today we want the paint to stick on the glass. Go figure.

I will keep you informed of my progress. If you have done something like this and found a way to master getting paint on glass I would truly love to hear from you!

I have a store, KrugsStudio so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts, photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or not about this blog and my store!

Thank you for visiting.

Staples Merger With Office Depot: So Long Sherman Anti-Trust Act

The agencies in our government have done a poor job of protecting the American people. The Sherman Anti-Trust act was to insure that no one company had the entire market. They broke up Standard Oil, the railroads, and others who used monopoly positions to make obscene profits at the expense of customers and consumers. Teddy Roosevelt who pushed famously for this act, called J. P. Morgan to the White House and told him to break up his Northern Trust (a conglomerate beyond even todays mega mergers) or he would crush him.  Morgan did just that.

As a child I became aware of monopolies as the steel industry "consolidated" in the 50's then faded away. Then there was the famous court room battles over breaking up MaBell. More taxpayers money gone to waste. There were small phone companies everywhere and what about GTE? They were also a competitor.

The result of this trial was that AT&T became a long distance carrier and there were now seven baby bells, each, I might add, a monopoly in its market.Within a year there were five, all merged with blessings of the very same government who tried to break them apart. In a few years we were back to, you guessed it, AT&T bigger and stronger than ever.

Why have laws if they are going to fail us? With the bankruptcy of Radio Shack imminent, we will have one company, Best Buy, to sell us electronic stuff.  Do you think there are any great deals there? Not really when you are the only game in town. Do the items on the floor even work? They are certainly not the Apple Store. I know more than the "Sales Associates."

Now with office supply stores Staples and Office Depot set to merge, again with the governments blessing (who says you need to live in a Communist state when your government embraces the same tactics?) where does that leave me? Staples has already closed my nearest store as had Office Depot. Both stores were incredibly poorly run. In fact I hated to even go to them. Lights flickered, there were more customers than employees, the list could go on and on. Yet my choices are also now very limited. A short trip will now be miles to a store that has no incentive to save me money. Be sure to take a paper and pencil so you can write down the item and see if its cheaper on Amazon or Sam's Club. I also want and need to see the product before I buy. Now that option will be severely limited or delayed.

I think the time as come for a national discussion on corporate pay and profit. Sen. Ted Cruz is very wrong. These companies didn't do well legally. The CEO's are not that much smarter than you and me. They hire lawyers who spend their lives looking for loopholes. Maybe there will be a library of findings similar to the Talmud trying to wiggle out of American corporate laws. NO man or woman deserves a multimillion paycheck especially when they lose money for the company. I believe in Japan the CEO can only make a salary 10 times what the lowest paid employee makes each year.  They are highly valued and respected. However, when things go badly, they resign so the company can move on. Sounds good to me.

We as a nation have a trifecta of greed that needs to be discussed:

1. What is a proper CEO's salary? When is he let go when things go bad? Forget the "golden handshake." Be happy they don't sue you for the losses! Lets look at upper management salaries as well. Most of GM's management should have been fired for the debacle there yet continued to make handsome salaries with bonuses to this day.
2. Laws current and coming up. Are they fair? Do they promote competition? Most do not and favor the very companies they are meant to regulate.
3. Let's kick out the analysts. Companies that have thrived (with the exception of Apple) have gone private and don't have to listen to the sharks. Its not their money or even company, what right do they have to tell others? We can thank Harvard for this but there is starting to be a turnaround in this concept. Read about Warren Buffet. Greed is not necessarily good. Companies and their stock holders certainly have a right to a "fair" dividend. The board of directors and upper management need to fall in the same payout schedules as anyone else. Corrupt officers need to be jailed and not in some cushy prison either. Let them rot with the hardcore. They think they are less bad than a robber? Think again.  The same mentality guides them both. Something for nothing.

If you feel like I do, write your Congressman and Senator about this merger. Demand to know how it is to your benefit. I think in much closer inspection the only people benefiting are the companies corporate officers themselves NOT their customers or employees.

Visit my Etsy store for a variety of hand painted craft items. These are in many ways works of art you will enjoy for years.

Using What's Available!

My mother-in-law entertained quite a bit in her hey-day. What we didn't realize until she passed was what happened to all those leftover plates, cups, and napkins she purchased for her entertaining! She might have used half of each package and then bought new ones for the next soiree! When my wife had to remove everything from her apartment the magnitude of what was there was well, overwhelming! We had those items stored in tubs on the shelves in the garage for years!

Leftover paper plates save a lot of water!

One day after a party where my wife used some of these items, she had a few plates left over. I realized that why not use these leftover paper plates for my painting?  There aren't enough for another meeting so, get some use of them before throwing them away. You squeeze a shot of paint here and there. You can blend on the nice flat surface. Rather than the plastic plate with places for paint I had that took forever to clean wasting water, a real no-no in California, I hit upon those plates! Because I use acrylic paints, sometimes I can use the same space twice as the original paint had dried. Be careful though. You might get some interesting colors as there may still be wet paint under the skin that you didn't notice.

If you don't want to be wasteful here is a wonderful solution. Don't have any left over dinner or desert plates? There is always The Dollar Store or Costco where you can buy 100's at a time that cost you pennies each. I don't know about you but its bad enough keeping your water trays and brushes clean without scrubbing divots in a plastic plate (the bottom item in photo). It is not easy or fun. I do not feel quilty about the plates. The processes that made them are already done and when I am done using one it goes in the trash with little or no water giving me a new clean surface for the next session.

Give it a try the next time you paint. You might find, like I did, its the perfect solution for use and cleanup.

I have a store, KrugsStudio so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts,  photography or one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or not about this blog and my store!

Thank you for visiting.

How American Civil Servants Have Failed The Public

Back during the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, he instituted the civil service system that protected employees from capricious firings, layoffs or payoffs. Each applicant had to take a competency test and the highest scorers were hired. The "design" to protect government workers was a wonderful idea that eventually got corrupted.

Fast forward to the 21st century; the joke among many "civil" servants is that you get a position at the city, county, state, school, water districts or federal districts and you can retire for life! Examples of this abound. Just in my own area of Pasadena, San Gabriel or Arcadia, CA projects that should have taken no more than two years have taken 3-4-5 and more years. Its almost seen as a job for life! You see 8 people standing around (I've counted) and one may actually be working.

The real proof came when after the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, the La Cienega overpass collapsed  on the I-10 freeway. CalTrans, the California Hwy. department, a union protected affiliate of the state,  predicted it would take two years to fix. Since this was on I-10, one of the busiest freeways in the world, the city was frantic. They opened bids to one and all. The winner won with a 90 DAY bid for the repairs. Los Angeles, which was losing millions a day in delays on this freeway, said that they would pay a bonus of $1 million for every day they were done before 90 days. It was done in 61 days and met all state and federal standards.

This has been on the curb since before Christmas.

Its the little things though that irritates the citizens. Mayor Garcetti of Los Angeles is beginning to see that cracked sidewalks, water pipes that burst, failure to repair huge holes in the cities streets and highways, untrimmed trees could be his undoing. We are tired of excuses. Trim the personnel and make those left actually work! There's a novel idea.

I am the Neighborhood Watch captain on my street of well over 100 houses and have been relentless in keeping graffiti off walls, streets and sidewalks. There is no graffiti or for that matter trash left around the sidewalks!

However, we are pretty much a neighborhood of immigrants whose standards are not quite the same as ours. The case in point is an old CRT TV left on the curb across the street from my house. After a few weeks I went over to them and said they had to dispose of it themselves. "No understand English," even the kids in public school. Finally on Jan. 19th I emailed the Rosemead liaison about this problem:

As you can see, reading from bottom up, lots of excuses. Have someone from the yard drive over and pick it up. Give them a warning or tickets if necessary. No wonder it takes so long to get anything done these days.

Then I got not one but TWO emails saying they were going to do something. Nothing happened.

Now you have to understand that not one of these links work. I have a Mac using Safari as my browser and they are using Chrome which sees nothing. Easy to ignore the resident I guess.

This was my email today and I might add, the TV is still there...going on six weeks now.

Dear Alan,

Your request # 37872 has been resolved with the resolution:
Inspected property and observed broken TV set on lawn.  Case opened, warning letter issued.

This is in reference to the Problem on Illegal Dumping you submitted on 01/20/2015  10:02 AM
Location: 9141 De Adalena St
Description: Homeowners  of 9141 De Adalena throw junks on sidewalk. Neighbor is requesting that a Code Officer speak to 9171 De Adalena homeowners of dumping. They speak Asian Lanaguage therefore neighbor can not communicate with the,

We are committed to providing you the best service we can.  We would 
appreciate you filling out an online survey on how this request was 
handled.  You can fill out the online survey by going to:
<http://user.GovOutreach.com/rosemead/survey.php?cid=2029847&access=3063326664643266>

This is their reply. Pretty sad I would say. If this is the "best service" can you imagine the worst?

You may reply to this email to send a response or you can view this 

request online at:
<http://user.GovOutreach.com/rosemead/case.php?id=2029847&access=3063326664643266>

I think its about time City Manager Jeff Allred rides around, like an undercover boss, and sees just what goes on in his city. As far as I am concerned he isn't earning his salary and is a pretty weak leader of others at city hall as well. Rosemead has 55,000 people and while there are many different ethnic groups, there is no excuse for not taking care of business in a land area of less than 6 miles. I too can write emails and not have to face the public. Maybe the time has come for new faces at city hall don't you think?

Comments can be sent to krugsstudio@gmail.com.

Preparing An Expressionist Portrait

After completing several "Expressionist" portraits I hit upon the idea of creating 4...one each for the kids and my wife and using those four for this years holiday card. Little did I know that illness would get in the way. I only had mine done, the others just had to wait.

Sad to say, I didn't have the energy or inclination to get back into the groove until a few weeks ago. The better I feel the more energy I have. I am not saying anything new but when something like that hits you rather than having "all the time in the world" you are sleeping all the time in the world.

When I was in home isolation for a week, no one could visit nor could I go anywhere, I realized when it was over that other than a little TV (no cable or wi-fi yet) I slept or read. In fact caught up on my reading!

Step 1

My daughter was next on the list. It was not easy as it seemed that I had to learn the kind of daring I used on the first two. First off I didn't want to mimic what I had already done yet I wanted the feeling of her to come through. The rough sketch was very rough.

I have gotten in the habit of dividing the canvas into 4ths and figured I had better keep that style, at least for this series. Bright discordant colors form the background and then frame the face itself.

Step 2

My daughter has wonderful natural curly hair and I wanted that to come through. However, it is not easy to create without it looking too realistic. I wanted the feeling of waviness cascading down with other colored highlights.

Moving on, the background became stronger and the colors on the face more pronounced. I was not happy with the color but wasn't sure what to do...colors to add or subtract. The idea was to give some hint on who it was.

I added more colors, actually washes of darker colors that went with the background. I didn't want it too bright to take away from the face. Those layers were built up as was the blouse. I didn't want stark white.

Step 3

The mouth was the other problem. It couldn't be too perfect but not like this either. I fussed with this over and over. The great blessing with acrylics is that once dry you can paint over any mistakes! This was the area I had plenty! Lips, teeth, color, it was a daily battle to see what I wanted to do.

Meanwhile I continued to play with the background. The white dots seemed a wonderful way to break up a colorful but dull background. It is not too much nor too little. It acts as a nice counterpoint to white used in other areas of the painting but without being intrusive.

Portrait Completed

I continued to work on the blouse giving it more depth. I softened the mouth and teeth and made the lips smaller. The balance was better and more honest. I wasn't trying to create a monster but a feeling of a person.

Here is the final portrait, not quite as yellow as shown here.. The lips are redder though and there is much more charing on the blouse. I think if I was to do this again.

Is there room for such "art?" Do we need to have Gainsborough type portraits in the days of countless "selfies?" While selfies may or may not go away, and you get a perfect image of yourself a hundred times over, art historically is an artists attempt to express what he sees or feels.

These are a challenge to do yet fun as well. You are forced to stretch your limits, truly look at a person and paint what you feel not necessarily what you see. I urge all artists to give it a try!

I have a store, KrugsStudio so if you are interested in a variety of birdhouses or crafts and photography one of a kind paintings, please be sure to check out that store as well. KrugsStudio.etsy.com. Be sure to tell your friends, artists or not about this blog and my store!

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