This morning in the art studio brings new experimentation and decisions on how far to go. Heaven help the poor washer and dryer! Afternoon involves a walk in the freshly UNmown grass in our back yard to reconnect with the earth.
Jan Kirstein
My art studio is a place to celebrate, contemplate, examine and perceive. The creative process continues today .
My name is Jan Kirstein and I invite you to look at the Artist’s Journey through my eyes.
My new inspiration for creating in my studio still spins from reading Nancy Hillis’ inspiring book just out called “The Artist’s Journey.”
The journey down stairs leads to the studio where the painting with sumi e ink begins.
I move on to other painting media and collage with Japanese rice paper.
Thanks for joining my on my journey. I hope you feel an inspiration to create wherever you can find a small space. I used to complain that I didn’t have a studio. Now I call the world my studio!!
Jan Kirstein
Inspiration from the new book “The Artist’s Journey” by Nancy Hillis continues to move me to the studio each day. See Nancy’s new book on Amazon HERE.
Paintings by J. Kirstein
“I have always felt as though I come from some place very far away, and the only way I am able to sustain myself on this planet is through creating through painting and writing.” J. Kirstein
“The big idea is to work with the elegant solution of simplicity and constraint. Within a constraint you have an infinity of possibilities to explore.” Nancy Hillis in “The Artist’s Journey.”
“The Dark Night of the Soul happens over and over for every artist. The transformation of creating your deepest work lives at the edge of your struggle.” Nancy Hillis from “The Artist’s Journey.”
By Nancy Hillis will be released January 27, 2019. Reserve your copy today on Amazon HERE.
“Just when you think hope has left the building, someone like Nancy Hillis comes along and revives our purpose and place in the universe. Her book “The Artist’s Journey” is a game changer, a mind bender and a true epiphany of purpose for every living artist living in the challenges of the 21st Century. Whether large or small, old or young, novice or profoundly proficient, this book will seal the artist’s path with purpose, passion and fortitude.” By Artist and Writer Jan Kirstein
“Best book ever on the entire process of painting. Gripping. Insightful. Authentic. How does the artist scale the heights of true creative expression? This book guides you through that journey.” Artist and Writer Jan Kirstein
Painting by Nancy Hillis.
Pre order your book HERE.
“Freedom Collage” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 24x36in, 2018, $1000
Janis Kirstein is a painter, photographer, and writer, but primarily a painter. She combines a mixture of media and collage, including acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, & Photoshop, Sumi-E Ink and Japanese Rice paper. In the work we see here, the energy is loose and spontaneous, at times nearly explosive, betraying the level of discipline required in both the composition and the technique.
“I love making collages,” states Kirstein. “Action painting has been my joy for more than 30 years and continues to this day, today, using Sumi-E ink and a Haiki brush. I add torn scraps of Japanese rice paper and combine a variety of media including paint, watercolor, graphite, ink, colored pencil – even glitter, all to capture the free flowing creative energy that surrounds me at any given moment.”
“To achieve the atmospheric abstraction seen in my work, I make use of transparent layering. My canvases and paper works range in size, the scale of my pieces ranging from my use of the Nano image to images of outer space. That means all realities are visible simultaneously, which creates a paradox or sense perceptive omnipotence within you, the perceiver; much like being able to see all dimensions of reality within one gaze.”
Kirstein speaks of her work using cosmic nomenclature suggesting a meaningful spiritual component. Abstraction opens the mind to welcome a subjective interpretation, and it can be fascinating to imagine the range of response, yet the calculated choice made by the artist even when they are giving themselves over to the organic experience of creative expression will usually be a guide for the viewer.
Hometown: Louisville, Kentucky
Education: Master of Fine Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1981;
Bachelor of Arts, University of Louisville, KY, 1977;
Indiana University Bloomington, 1973-75
Website: kirsteinfineart.com
Instagram: janiskirstein
All artwork is copyright ©Janis Kirstein 2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material in whole or part without express and written permission from this blog’s owner is strictly prohibited. Links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Janis Kirstein and http://www.kirsteinfineart.com, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Janis Kirstein is a painter, photographer, and writer, but primarily a painter. She combines a mixture of media and collage, including acrylic, pastel, colored pencil, & Photoshop, Sumi-E Ink and Japanese Rice paper. In the work we see here, the energy is loose and spontaneous, at times nearly explosive, betraying the level of discipline required in both the composition and the technique.
“The Majestic Horse Race” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 20x32in, 2018, $750
“I love making collages,” states Kirstein. “Action painting has been my joy for more than 30 years and continues to this day, today, using Sumi-E ink and a Haiki brush. I add torn scraps of Japanese rice paper and combine a variety of media including paint, watercolor, graphite, ink, colored pencil – even glitter, all to capture the free flowing creative energy that surrounds me at any given moment.”
“To achieve the atmospheric abstraction seen in my work, I make use of transparent layering. My canvases and paper works range in size, the scale of my pieces ranging from my use of the Nano image to images of outer space. That means all realities are visible simultaneously, which creates a paradox or sense perceptive omnipotence within you, the perceiver; much like being able to see all dimensions of reality within one gaze.”
Kirstein speaks of her work using cosmic nomenclature suggesting a meaningful spiritual component. Abstraction opens the mind to welcome a subjective interpretation, and it can be fascinating to imagine the range of response, yet the calculated choice made by the artist even when they are giving themselves over to the organic experience of creative expression will usually be a guide for the viewer.
“Moment in Time” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media, 20x32in, 2018, $750
“Jungle Heat” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media on stretched canvas, 32x48in, 2017, $2000
“Frankfort Avenue” by Janis Kirstein, Mixed Media on stretched canvas, 32x48in, 2018, $2000
Written by Keith Waits. Entire contents copyright © 2018 Louisville Visual Art. All rights reserved. In addition to his work at the LVA, Keith is also the Managing Editor of a website, Arts-Louisville.com, which covers local visual arts, theatre, and music in Louisville.
“None of us can escape the habit of projecting thoughts and concepts onto reality itself…” Artist Hildy Maze
I never get tired of looking at collages by Hildy Maze, a painter working from her Long Island art studio. What an inspiration! Just the right touch of shape, color and texture to bring about a change of consciousness.
Do not be deceived by the seemly random marks and sporadic pigment impacts upon the page. These statements of line and color are the essential dynamics of a well orchestrated capture of life’s very essence.
Folded, bent, pushed, scraped, painted, drawn, pressed, mashed, turned, twisted, toppled and compressed, these paintings have been through it. The process exposes the revelation, much as a lifetime journey reveals the core ideas, to those who are seeking.
Accidental markings merge with bold intentions from the artist to express a state of mind both fleeting and lingering.
Fine artist Efi Kokkinaki paints a language we can all understand. The feelings that arise from her works provide a balm for the sin sick soul. A kind of innocence overlying the harsh realities of another world combines in a way reminiscent of early works by Marc Chagall and his paintings of his little Russian village.
As the eye flows through and around the soaring textures and soothing colors in Efi’s work, a sense of peace and weightlessness emerges and helps breed our belief that in fact, we have reached another dimension, a dimension we may have experienced only in a dream.
By Jan Kirstein, writer and visual artist
I am a painter, an art teacher in school and I also illustrate books for children.
Painting is my language to express the world as I see it…
Efi is an artist from Greece. Her Facebook Painting Page and Instagram are listed below.
/https://www.facebook.com/Efi-Kokkinaki-142483405921300/
https://www.instagram.com/efikokkinaki/
