I am sick of painting snow people!!!!

 

Okay, I am ready to escape winter to a more colorful season. I am working on this piece to put up on Ebay tonight 8 pm est.
ID mylittlecornerdesign
I am going to be adding a lot of fun and excitement to the piece with people and animals. So, be sure to check it out on Ebay this week.
Stay warm!
Kori

I had a little time on my hands....

  

What a wonderful weekend!!! We stayed close to the house to let the kids recoup from their various illnesses.  I finished this piece that I painted last year. I stopped the painting in mid paint, so to speak.  It started as a acrylic paint on canvas.  Then, to change things up a little, I used colored pencils on paper to make the skaters. I wanted to make it a little more interesting. Then, I affixed the paper to the background. At that point, it was just two trees, the sky and the clothesline with a heart. For a year it sat in my studio like that......... What to do, What to do? ......... Today, I was feeling it. I put in a house a fence, dog, and some mittens and we have a story. The story is "Firsts." This is their first house, first winter, first skate, and first dog.  The firsts in life aren't always the best but, they are memorable. Hopefully, for these two, the first is magical!!!!  The original painting is for auction on EBay right now under my id "mylittlecornerdesign" Check it out!

Inspiration

     People ask me all the time where I get the ideas for my paintings. Well, that is something that has never been hard for me to find because, it is all around me. Small towns have always fascinated me.  As a child my father was a candy wholesaler. He would have routes all over western Pennsylvania.  All of the kids had to take turns going with him to work. It was kind of a hated chore but, it did have it's perks. For me, one of them was riding in his big truck and enjoying the townscapes.  I loved to see all of the different houses and wondered about the lives of the people inside.

     It is funny how things stick with you. I now ride along with my husband and look for eye catching houses. The one pictured above we found on our vacation to Ohio. I know that southern Ohio is not the normal summer escape for people but, we really enjoyed it. Bremen Ohio is one of those towns that has very little commercialism. Similar to a modern day Mayberry, very quaint friendly and clean.  I am using  a similar house in a painting I am working on now. 

What is FOLk Art?

   When I started to think about this blog, what it was going to be about,  what would drive it.... I decided that it would be important to define for my followers...What is folk art? It seems to me that there is some confusion as to what makes folk art different from the rest of the art out there roaming the world.

According to Webster's Dictionary, folk art is defined as artistic works, as paintings, sculpture, basketry, and utensils, produced typically in cultural isolation by untrained often anonymous artists or by artisans of varying degrees of skill and marked by such attributes as highly decorative design, bright bold colors, flattened perspective, strong forms in simple arrangements, and immediacy of meaning. Unfortunately, I find some problems with that definition.

Although, they are correct in stating the different mediums used in folk art, today's folk artists are highly skilled, some with or without formal training and the colors and arrangements are not primarily bold or simple.   There are many professional artists that made their entire careers using a folk art motif in their works. For example, Charles Wysocki and Jane Wooster Scott. Both artists were formally trained but, their work flourished in a folk art style. 

No I don't believe that folk art can be defined in the same way that it was even twenty years ago. Throughout the last decade, I believe that it has taken on a new attitude perhaps borrowed from it's cousin "outsider art." Folk art can now be defined in much looser terms. For instance, a style that is not influenced by movements in academics or fine art circles and not restrained by the tight grasp that the fine art world may consider art worthy.  

Todays folk artists are totally free to express their love of anything from angels to cute little puppies (yes even cats), whether or not it is deemed appropriate in the mainstream "art world."  That is the folk art that I love.  A true visual expression of thoughts, feelings and ideas of day to day life, a true power to the people story!  Folk art is art of the people, for the people!!!!