Salvador Dali working on paintings for the unfinished Walt Disney cartoon “Destino” 1945
In 2003, a completed version of the Dali/Disney “Destino” was released. Watch video here.
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Jewish artist from Russia who immigrated to France
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
Ellie Iron’s Book “Feral Hues: A Guide to Painting with Weeds”
Contemporary artists are spoiled by the abundent supplies of pre-made art materials. In earlier eras, the creation of paints using pigments and binders was a laborious process.
One artist has taken on a project to create her own colors again, using plants and weeds. Although I have not seen many images of the art she applies her creations to, and her interview quotes are full of progressive proselytizing, it’s an interesting exploration.
“Ellie Irons: There are many joys, which is why I’ve been entranced by the process for so many years: an ever-deepening and shifting connection to urban ecosystems and the land that supports them that emerges through careful, considered harvesting practices; the smells, colors, and textures that reveal themselves when plant parts are processed by hand in the studio; the joy of sharing the process with other humans who also become entranced by the relatively simple act of lovingly harvesting often overlooked weedy plants and creating paint with them; the process of attuning to the cycles of vegetal life sprouting, growing, blossoming, fruiting, senescing across the seasons and years — there is always something to delight in and harvest, in any habitat, even in deep winter, which I find comforting and reassuring in this age of climate chaos and instability.”
I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
Art is for everyone, but not everyone is an artist.
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
Richard Bledsoe “Reef” acrylic on canvas 24″ x 24″ 2022
Looking back through my photo archives, I see paintings that I no longer have access to because they sold. I’m happy to let pieces go, because I’m always making more art.
That being said, there are some I consider collection of the artist, and will hold on to them.
2022 got off to a great start, when I finished a painting on New Year’s Day. After watching countless nature documentaries, I realized any colors and shapes can be applied to the complex ecosystem of a coral reef. I invented this imagery, keeping it all loose and aquatic.
The piece sold as soon as I posted it on Facebook. I went on to do several other under the sea paintings before I started pursuing other interests.
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
January 23, 2021. It was a dark time in our country, and I wanted a project to focus on, to add some positive content to the world.
It was the first post of what I called my “Daily Art Fix.” After that first entry, I continued to put up an art themed post every day for over a year, until February 24, 2022. On February 25, we lost our internet connection for 12 days. Thieves had stolen vital equipment that knocked our whole neighborhood out.
By the time the internet was restored I had lost the inclination to produce the Daily Art Fix. I’ve been keeping busy on many other projects: painting, writing, planning.
The dark times have continued. The choice we need to make as a country is clear, and we must not allow another theft to occur. To feed the positive and alternative growth of culture, now I’m going to start another run of a daily post on the art world links which caught my eye.
We start with the newest post from my wife Michele Bledsoe’s blog The Secret Kingdom. She reminisces about what her life was like right before we met. Seems like a good place to start.
STRANGE HABITS AND THE ART OF POLYMER CLAY
Many, many years ago
when I lived alone with my dog, Gunther
I developed some strange habits.
Open packages of marshmallow Peeps
all over the place
slowly turning into Peep-jerky..
Dinner was often instant mashed potatoes straight out of the pot
drenched in ketchup.
I never used my oven for cooking…
just for baking all the little creatures I made out of Sculpey.
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
Richard Bledsoe “I Believe I’m Sinking Down” acrylic on canvas 30″ x 40″2023
In September of 2023, I completed the third work in a commissioned series of paintings.
I spent much of 2023 on this major painting, a depiction of the final act of a great American myth.
I’ve loved blues music since I was a teenager in the 1980s; the first purchase I ever made in the genre was a cassette of the Robert Johnson compilation “King of the Delta Blues Singers.” I’d read about the legend of how Johnson went to a crossroad and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for worldly glory. The tale resonated with my interests in both spirituality and weirdness.
Those same fascinations drive my art. In 2021, I finished a major painting on Johnson’s tragedy.
In an earlier post I described how my depiction of “Hellhound On My Trail,” sold to an out of state patron. As this painting represented Johnson haunted by his diabolical deal, this patron requested two more works to show the beginning and ending of Johnson’s downfall. He wanted depictions of both the initial crossroad meeting and the ultimate consequences, when the devil comes to collect.
“I have visions. They come at the most random times. I could be washing the dishes, or driving to work, and suddenly the picture is there. It usually arrives now with a title, dimensions and suggestions for technique.”
I had to find the vision within myself for the paintings before I could commit. I was was blessed that inspiration struck, and I saw how I could tell those other parts of the tale.
The new version of “Crossroad” would be that moment where the man had to make that choice, hesitating right on the threshold of destiny and damnation, all taking place as some eerie moonlit blues.
The new version of “Sinking” shows the man where he thought he wanted to be, experiencing the glamour of being on stage, under the lights, unleashing the talent he sold his soul for. But he has never been more alone, singing to no one, in front a kudzu patch strangling the life out of a dark forest. Only an owl, a harbinger of death, witnesses his performance.
The lights reveal the man’s soul demonically twisted into oozing corruption. The end is near.
It was intense to return to this large work over and over again throughout the year, slowly bringing it into full realization.
Here is the full story in the order of occurrence.
Richard Bledsoe “At the Crossroad” acrylic on canvas 30″ x 40″
Richard Bledsoe “Hellhound On My Trail” acrylic on canvas 30″ x 40″
Richard Bledsoe “I Believe I’m Sinking Down” acrylic on canvas 30″ x 40″
I will look forward to doing more paintings exploring America’s rich heritage and mysteries.
As I worked on “Sinking,” I took pictures charting its development, some of which I share below.
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I don’t fundraise off of my blog. I don’t ask for Patreon or Paypal donations. If you’d like to support the Remodern mission, buy abook. Or a painting.
THE REMODERN REVIEW 