Today's Keeper

I spent the whole day painting indoors. There were plenty starts I wiped out. Near the end of the day the shapes in this one just emerged by themselves. When I realized that this is what it wanted to be, I went with it, and really like the quiet, yet slightly disturbing tone. There is the tension of a character seeking solitude in an ambiguous setting.

This is Today's Keeper 2012

I feel like I should tread lightly with this painting, but I really think it is a self-portrait. I recently lost a loved one. And it has that type of slightly mournful quality.

A Face In The Crowd

This is from last week. I didn't have enough time to finish it. We only had three hours. I like the variety of brushstrokes and variations of skin tone. The hair took on a really sculptural quality. All in all, not a bad use of three hours of practice.

The Traveler (Minneapolis)

This portrait was from last weekend. It depicts man who is traveling through the Twin Cities. So I call it The Traveler from 10/20/2012.

I believe that observing the Nicolai Fechin show at the Russian Museum in Minneapolis freed me up, after a long two year break, to dive back in and really enjoy playing around with the paint in this painting.

Deep regards, Mr. Fechin!

This might be a better image...

Nicolai Fechin Exhibit

What can I say about the Nicolai Fechin exhibit now on view at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis?

It is proof that if you know what you're doing with paint, you can do just about whatever it is you want!

This man was a giant in the painting world. The power of the work - the wall power - and just the gripping excellence of the pieces make you understand why people in power might be a little frightened by such a person just saying whatever it is they might have in them to say!

Hence the repression.

I was not surprised to discover that his father, among other talents, was a fine iconographer. In that spirit, the paintings and drawings have that breath and spirit mixed in with the paint and medium and graphite that lends a living/breathing, luminescent quality to them that you don't see very often.

I was particularly taken by his portrait of his then teenage daughter, staring impishly out from the colorful canvas. Her fingers shown shifting upwards from where they must have been when he started of the painting. He reblocked the areas where her arm had been in dark black. When the docent told us that it was the last portrait he ever did of her, and that he told her brusquely that he didn't want to paint her anymore because she was no longer pretty, I quietly gasped. I could imagine a family fight ending with his giving up after brushing in the black right out of the tube.

This was the first time since I began painting that I ever got that connection with a painting like I used to always get when reading a novel. The echo of what was going on in the artists mind. I always loved that feeling. That connection of seeing and feeling what they could have. That something more that is always left behind in powerfully executed work.

This show is so inspiring. Both times I went I wanted to go right home and paint. I will be back again and again. It is a rare treat to see such (I'll say it again) inspiring work.

They are missing some pieces that were supposed to be sent from the Russian Federation due to the art embargo. I must confess that I didn't even know there had been an embargo for the past year. It is affecting many museum shows in the American Federation right now.

All this while Mr. Fechin is increasing in popularity around the world due to this traveling show. Hopefully it will be lifted soon so we can see more of this exceptional artist. If not, one might travel to other museums that feature this gifted persons work.

Gone to Market

I tried out my new app yesterday at the outdoor market in Minneapolis.

If I was a rich girl...

This is the camera I would have, and ALPA of Switzerland.

http://www.alpa.ch/en/products/cameras/camera-bodies/alpa-12-stc.html

These cameras are modular, so check out this camera back from Achromatic+ of Denmark.

http://www.achromaticplus.com/Achromatic_Plus/Achromatic+.html

This is for taking black and white images and it uses infrared with living things shown in red.

At the bottom of the second link is the back on the ALPA Camera setup. Wow, huh?

I discovered these bits of engineering heaven while researching cameras.

I decided right away that I didn't want to choose between apples or oranges and wanted something truly unique.

And I can have just that ... for right around $45,000!

Yikes!

I am such a gear head.

I better get out there and start painting again.

Can you imagine the reference material you could get from painting with these images? Just mind blowing!!!

Leslie Belmonti: a National Treasure

Well, someone had to say it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_treasure

I guess I will be needing to move to Ireland. They use this term loosely towards many people.

Isn't that nice?!

Irish Nice.

Exciting News!!!

I am now on redbubble! Here I am... http://www.redbubble.com/people/lesliebelmonti

What a great site this is. So much talent and so much to learn!

It's deep winter in Minnesota...

Just Images

New Year, New Tack

In this new year, I have decided to focus on a theme of photojournalism. I believe this will give me freer reign, as everybody knows, a picture is worth a thousand words.

So I will be publishing pictures that interest me artistically, along with candid portraits that are also of keen interest.

I hope you enjoy the show...

Bear with me as my photojournalism skills are in their infancy. But, "You can't see what you're not looking for."

Chicago 2011

This blog title comes from a journal entry I am using to make an artist statement. The book asked for the earliest memories I had in regard to art.

I remembered going into the Minneapolis Institute of Art as a child, and would walk up that magnificent staircase to the enormous wooden doors. Inside, the museum was always cool and quiet. It was a place that seemed so unbelievably magical. Inside the atrium, I tossed coins into the two-tiered stone fountain, earnestly wishing for something special, but never anything in particular.

This was my church.

I would first visit the marble bust of the lady with the veil. Leaning in closely, I would examine the mystery of this sculpture. Surely this object had been made by some half-god!

Then it was off to see the latest exhibit. Finally, it was up to the top floor and those beautiful, huge paintings. They were so impossibly complicated and lifelike, the colors and shapes so perfect.

This was obviously something people "used to do."

Each time I left, sure of only one thing. I could never, ever be a painter.