A January Artist's Date--for You

Thursday, January 16 from 10 am. to 3 pm--or whatever fraction of that you can come--you are invited to the library for another Artist's Date. 

We'll spend the morning painting or sketching some still lifes I'll set up in the front room where all the light is. I've ordered flowers for one area and I have a couple of other more squirky setups in mind...Bring your art supplies and your lunch and after we've played hard we'll eat together and chat. The College's catering service will be providing us with beverages and some desserts.

I've also ordered in some books that may be of interest and put them on display on our Round Wall, near where we'll be painting. You're welcome to check them out and take them home. 

In the afternoon we'll retire to the computer lab where we can pool our information about how to use the basic Microsoft Office tools and some free web-based tools for manipulating and researching your reference photos. Everyone is welcome; this isn't limited to Tomball Art League people. This is designed for adults but a well-behaved motivated child will not be turned away. 

Happy Little Clouds: Bob Ross Remixed

If you remember Bob Ross' famous oil painting classes on PBS, I think you'll enjoy this re-mix. Happy painting!
Bob Ross Re-Mix Video Link

Tomball Art League Show Winners to Exhibit in Library

February is almost here, and February is your month on the exhibition walls of the library meeting room!  Those of you who won or placed in the fall 2011 show and exhibition, this is your chance to show off your winning pieces.

Please bring your artwork in Friday, January 27 or Saturday, January 28th. If you go to the Customer Service desk someone will find me. If Room L-129 is vacant at that time we'll hang it immediately; otherwise I'll store it in our workroom until it can be hung.

Please put your name and contact information on the back of the painting. The County prohibits commercial transactions on the premises so you cannot display a sale price on your piece. Interested parties can get in touch with you off site from your contact information.

The image I've selected is a winner that hung at the library from the Spring 2011 exhibition, by Marilyn Henagin.

Art as a Response to Tragedy and a Catalyst for Change

This story is about two related paintings painted 50 years apart. Both were inspired by nuclear tragedies in Japan. The first painting depicts the devastation wrought by the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The painting crossed Japanese cultural taboos so strong that the artist believed that only Mexico, where life and death are integrated in culture and art, could receive this work. 

The second painting was inspired by the uncontrolled spread of radiation from the crippling of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant by the earthquake and tsunami in March, 2011. It movingly relates back to the first one.

The Story of Taro Okamoto's Myth of Tomorrow

First, a backgrounder article in a November 18, 2008 Time Magazine article on Taro Okamoto's Myth of Tomorrow. It explains why it was painted and how it ended up in the Shibuya, Japan, train station. Taro Okamoto

The Story of the Atomic Artists

Second, you might enjoy a PBS Frontline video shown in July, 2011 about a group of young artists who are struggling against cultural norms to become a crucible of grief and transformation in light of the failure of the nuclear plants at Fukishima. The Atomic Artists 

You'll see a painting they created about the Fukishima meltdown that fits perfectly into the bottom right corner of Okamoto's painting in a spot he left blank in 1968 to describe the unknown future of nuclear power. Moving.