Art for Personal Development and Creativity

Some years ago when we lived in Ottawa I used to teach classes on using art for personal development. These were not technique based classes but an entirely different type of class where we looked at the historical, psychological and spiritual meanings of colour and painted, made masks, discovered and wrote about what it all meant in our life.  Last week I reconnected with a wonderful woman who had attended many of my classes and we spoke about how much we had both enjoyed the experience.  I made some great friends during those years and really enjoyed both teaching and learning from my students. Now that I am likely to be settled in Toronto for some years the idea of teaching again has come to mind. As well as the art for personal development courses I would also like to teach basic printmaking covering printmaking without a press and collagraph. Unfortunately I don't have a suitable place to teach in at present but where there is a will, there is a way to be found.

Update on Copyright Issues-
Downloading Artists Images

This has been a big week for my art images being downloaded.  I don't know if Statcounter has just added this info as a new feature or if I have just been paying more attention.  Anyway this week has shown another two or three people downloading multiple images.  Wouldn't it be nice to know why.

Several years ago I recieved an emal from an art teacher at a school in Australia.  Apparently a competition had been held for the students to design a poster to advertize an upcoming concert at the school .  The winner was announced and the posters printed then someone asked the student about the design and the image of the cello in the center of it.  It then came out that the cello was one of my artworks which the student had lifted from my website and incorporated into the poster design.  The art teacher obviouly realized that it was a breach of copyright and quickly wrote and asked me if they could still proceed with using it under the circumstances. I agreed but asked them to credit my image and also to make a donation to a charity in lieu of some kind of payment to me.  It's a pretty nice poster don't you agree?

Copyright Issues for Artists

Like most artists, images of my work are on the internet and several art sites along with a copyright warning. Every now and then I check out how many viewers have visited the site using a program called Statcounter.  It's fun to see that visitors come from all over the world and it reminds me of just how amazing the internet is. Of course there is a downside to this too.  A few years back there was a very interesting post by Robert Genn on his site "The Painters Keys".  Someone told him about a web site in China where they were making copies of work by well know Canadian and American artists and selling them cheaply over the internet.  He went to the site and sure enough, his work was there for sale. A similar thing has occured at art festivals and exhibitions where people go around taking photos of artwork to reproduce. Any artist who puts work on the web faces the same issue.  Using small file sizes means that the work won't reproduce very well but if you want the artwork to look good the file has to be a decent size  The music industry has also been hit hard because so many people make copies for friends or download from sites where the music has been posted.  Very few CD's are now sold and musicians are finding it increasingly hard to make a living.

So back to Statcounter. As I look through the visitor stats on my web site I see the images that have been viewed and also which ones have been downloaded.  This week it was someone from Southend on Sea in the UK who was busy downloading a whole bunch of my musical images including the painting of violins called "Noteworthy" posted here.  Was it another artist who wants to do something similar or someone who just likes the work and wants a copy, and does it matter?  What do you think?

In Process

I always intend to take photos of a painting as I'm working on it but I often get so caught up in the process that I forget.  Here are a couple of photos of a recently completed work.  

I find it facinating to see how other artists go about creating a piece.  I would love to hear if you find it interesting too, and if so, what information about the process you would like to read more about.

Time Goes By...

I've been so busy with the ongoing renovation of my kitchen and bathroom that I've had no time or energy to post or read blogs or even think of doing any art.  In the evening I am exhausted and so I have been relaxing by sitting in front of the tv and watching a wonderful art history series.  The presenter, William Kloss, is an associate with the Smithsonian.  He is a great presenter and brings art history alive with his amazing knowledge all delivered with passion and a twinkle in his eye.  We have been watching The History of European Art which is one of his video series available at The Teaching Company.  If you are interested in art history do check him out. 

Some time ago I posted a photo of this painting called "Swinging at Club 135. I guess it was the word "swinging' in the title that attracted a number of posts from anonymous posters who thought my blog was a suitable place to sell penis enlargement and sexual aids etc. Pretty funny I thought!