My paintings are intuitive. They are about color, texture, and light and dark.
One day after finishing one of my abstracts,

I took my camera and moved it around the painting; stopping only when I saw something so beautiful or so arresting that I had to have a record of it.
I couldn’t wait to see what the pictures looked like on my computer’s screen.
Some were disappointing,
While others were so perfectly imperfectly perfect, that they would take my breath away.
Those were the ones I decided to enlarge.
First on canvas mounted the same as the painting from which it came.
Then with a macro Lens and a tripod. I reexamined the same painting, though now altered by having applied red washes to its surface.
Working with natural light, I looked through the lens again.

I saw everything so clearly, in the smallest amount of space.

Again I couldn’t wait to see them enlarged and like the first time some were not what I thought they would be, while others, were for me amazingly beautiful.

Again I enlarged the photographs, only this time to enhance the clearest possible details I chose light boxes to show these details; which for me are what is beautiful.

I ask myself
What was the moment the art was made?
Was it as a painting?
or was it as detail recorded as a photograph

I have always been an artist. In my songs and in my performance of them I shared my work. Now I am an artist working differently.
I paint!
I had been painting lifelike portraits of my friends, Yet the pull that keeps getting stronger is to deepen in to my abstract paintings. and

It feels like the whole thing turned upside down on its head.
I love that it is the details of my paintings that matter.
They are the record of my painting.
in the end they are all that exists of the painting; the
Incarnations my details took.
Because the original painting has been altered beyond recognition having been painted on over and over again.

But I have always believed that whatever it was I thought was great,
Was found in the details.

Currently at the LA Art House!

I’m so excited for Margie Perenchio’s art exhibit, Timeless Realism,  going on through July 24th, at the LA Art House. It’s an added plus that the exhibit benefits the Women’s Endowment, which funds the research of molecular solutions to early detection and treatment of women’s cancers.

The exhibit continues until June 14th.

Following Mr. Bleckners’ show, two other emerging artists, Margie Perenchio and Laurent Dareau will be exhibiting their work the next month, with the proceeds going to a charity that does fine research for women’s cancer, The Women’s Endowment

Salon Conversations

We’ve had a fantastic response to an exciting Salon Conversations series, started recently at the L.A. Art House.

Our first conversation was with Actor, Comedian, Writer, Musician… Steve Martin with Eric
Fischl (March 11, 2010)

http://www.laarthouse.net/events.asp?event=10

The second was Movie and TV Producer, Brian Grazer with Jeff Koons

http://www.laarthouse.net/events.asp?event=13

Due to popular demand, the series will resume again in the fall.

Most recently, I collaborated on two of my abstract paintings with Ross Bleckner, and have been spending a great deal of time extracting details from the abstract paintings to make new ones.

While continuing to paint on the abstracts, I’m re-photographing details of them, until all that is left, (after the original paintings is destroyed) is a history of the details that emerged along the way.

I continue to study with Frank Ryan, a graduate of UCLA’s graduate art program, and an artist in his own right.

I seem to exist between two worlds somewhere i can’t quite give up portrait painting, although I am moving more and more into a freer form of abstraction.

I’m starting to experiment with larger canvases, and the results remain to be seen.

I have found great sources of encouragement from Eric Fischl, Ross Bleckner and David Salle, maybe their common bond is that they all went to school in Southern California.
Coll

Nicole, Keith and Sunday Rose, 30 x 40, Oil on Canvas

I’m very excited about all the new artwork I’m doing. For the first time, I’ve tried a narrative painting: it’s a work in progress, called “The Thanksgiving Bear.” If you notice, both Nicole and her beautiful Sunday Rose are both staring at the talking bear, and Keith’s looking with love at his daughter.

I love the top of the painting, as it brings up abstraction, and figurative painting together, which to me, is exciting.

I’m also experimenting with digital images, then repainted, not always duplicating the digital image underneath the oil paint. The first one of this series is now a finished work called “Water.”

Another new work is “India,” which is oil paint, marker, and encaustic wax. The abstract feels, so to me, like being in India, that I named in kind.

Another portrait was done of me by my current teacher, Frank Ryan, a fine artist in his own right. I worked with Frank on getting my face to look more like I think I look. So, I would say the hair and eyes, and shape of the face, have been altered more by me, the rest of the painting is all Frank’s.

Currently, I continue to work on more portraits and more abstracts. I cannot give up either world, because I feel equally impassioned by both.

Recently, I joined the board of LACMA, as well as contributing at the L.A. Arthouse to the Hammer’s projects for emerging artists. I’m currently helping LACMA brand themselves in a way that will make them more of a destination, and so more people will know what LACMA stands for, and what they’ll find at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. My feeling was to feature Chris Burden’s “Urban Lights,” now installed in front of the LACMA entrance, in a 30 second video that will let people know that LACMA is becoming a destination, and people from all over the country are photographing The Lights, putting their photographs on Flickr, Facebook, and various photographic websites.

I’m now taking this project to the next level, by discussing it with David La Chapelle, a very famous pop contemporary photographer. My hope is to make this demo even more dynamic.

Sheila Cameron: No fair.  Doesn’t she have enough fame, fortune and talent in music?!

Moira McLaughlin: I just looked at her work.  She is REALLY good.

SC: Yeah.

MM: No, I mean she is REALLY good.

SC: I KNOW.

MM: But I didn’t read the article yet.  Do other people realize she is that good?

SC: Oh yeah.

MM: No, I mean, she’s not just a singer who decides one day to paint a bouquet of pretty flowers, and then call herself an artist.  These are really great.

SC: I know.

MM: Does SHE know she is that good?

SC: Yes, everybody knows!  She is collected and she has shows and she has studied with mentors and done the hard work of making herself better when she didn’t start out that great, but she is really super talented too.  That is what I am saying!!!

MM: She reminds me of Lucian Freud, one of my favorites, and one of the greatest portrait artists living today.

SC: Yep.

MM: And I love the dogs.

SC: Thought you would.

In her HP article, Carole asks readers to share their own stories about their second careers blooming late. Or you can send her a note at her website where you can see more of her work, including her abstracts, which are equally as accomplished as her portraits.

P.S. Her journey into painting also reminded me of late blooming artist, Kimberly Merrill, another of my favorites.

It’s difficult for me to explain how I, a songwriter for 40 years of my life, am now equally, if not more excited to write today about my painting.

It’s odd. I had no idea that I had any real talent for painting. Honestly. I had tried it five years ago and after a few months of lessons and a few unexciting paintings I gladly returned to my music room.

It was now, well over a year ago when my close friends, Margie Perenchio and Ani Moss asked: if they built and opened a studio/gallery, would I support the gallery by painting there? It was so far in the future it was easy to say yes. You know that kind of ‘yes!’
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Carole Bayer Sager’s passion for music has given the world scores of memorable songs, including her collaborations on “Nobody Does It Better,” “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” “That’s What Friends Are For” and the Oscar-winning “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do).” And to think it all started back in the ’60s when, as a high-schooler, she wrote “A Groovy Kind of Love.”

But now it’s a love of art that has captured her imagination, and she’s channeling that passion into L.A. Art House on Beverly, where she’s curating an exhibit running into July called “Wounded,” featuring works by new Chinese artists.

The combination working studio (she herself often paints there) and gallery donates 100% of its profits to the Hammer Museum and its Hammer Projects program for emerging artists.

Bayer Sager and her husband, TV and film mega-exec Bob Daly, live in Bel-Air, and their weekends are suitable for framing.

Welcome back
I love when my son, Cristopher Bacharach, visits from Seattle and we get to spend some time together on weekends. I like to take him shopping at Barneys in Beverly Hills because of the designers they carry. It’s my favorite store. After that we’ll go to the Polo Lounge for lunch.

Culture crawl
I love going to art galleries now, and museums. Culver City has a lot of good galleries, and I like the Hammer too, of course. I went to see a young artist’s work in Chinatown the other day. I’ll also go down to Roger Herman’s studio in Elysian Park. He’s been a real mentor to me.

Just the two of us
A special place for dinner is Giorgio’s. They have the most delicious Italian food, but I also love the Dover sole. And another good spot is a little neighborhood restaurant called Vicenti, on San Vicente. Great pizza, the crispy thin-crust vegetarian is pretty great.

And one more place — Mr. Chow’s. I love all the food, especially the squab.

Bringing a crowd
I love to get our big family together and have brunch at the Four Seasons. It’s an abundance of food and it’s so beautiful. It’s expensive, but I guess it has to be because some people eat like little piggies. The outdoor tables are great this time of year. There’s sushi, omelets, waffles, fruit, desserts, just everything imaginable. I’ll have plenty of coffee and a well-done omelet — more egg whites than yellow — with smoked salmon and onions. Then maybe a little yogurt afterward.

Painting the town
I love Dick Blick’s art supplies store on Santa Monica. It’s getting to be my new Barneys. I always end up buying things I had no intention of buying, like maybe some incredibly beautiful oil colors. I also love browsing around Melrose Avenue, and the shops on Robertson are fun. After shopping, I like the Ivy for lunch with a friend. And the Newsroom Cafe, a healthy place that’s right across the street.

If somebody had told me a year ago I would be painting as often as possible, with the same passion I once reserved only for my songwriting (creatively speaking), I would not have believed them.

But that was before my close friends Margie Perenchio and Ann Moss urged me to join them in painting on a regular basis at their atelier, LA Art House, which opened last September in Beverly Hills.
Margie and Ann had the idea to open a gallery for emerging artists, which would also serve as a creative place for artist friends to paint, exchange ideas, and meet other artists. It has now fully evolved into a gallery that donates all sales profits to the Hammer Project, benefiting emerging artists.

Margie and Ann had been painting for some time, and in the past I joined them occasionally, taking lessons form their teacher, Manny Cosentino-a fine artist steeped in realism. It was fun, but that’s really all I though it was. I was a dabbler.

Then my two friends built a space as beautiful as it is comfortable, as conducive to displaying artists’ work as it is to providing them with a studio environment. Margie runs the gallery, and Ann and I lend our support in as many ways as possible.

And I make art. I now have canvases spread all over, mostly oils, but also drawings in oil crayons, watercolors, charcoal, and pen. I love the feeling of putting paint on the canvas, falling in love with the colors, missing them with others, seeing the way they interact and change the canvas. I love doing portraits in all mediums, and I love being a part of LA Art House.

In February and March we ran “Reality Check,” an exhibiting featuring four emerging contemporary realism artists. One of those artists, Frank Marshall, is currently a teacher of mine.

I’m also studying with another wonderful artist named Greta Waller, who was recommended to be by a man I like to call my mentor, Roger Herman. Until December, Roger was running the fine art department and UCLA. I met him through my friends, Bette Midler and her husband, Martin Von Haselberg, who collect his works in their New York apartment.

I was an instant fan and visited his studio in Los Angeles, eventually purchasing a work of his for our collection. When I began painting, Roger met with me and was kind enough to review my work. He has been helping me define myself and my focus ever since.

The more I talk about my love of painting, the more I discover many of my friends also once painted-and may begin again-and others are already fine artists, such as Maxine Smith, Kimberly Brooks, and Mindy Seeger. In fact, they all define themselves though their art as much as their music. Now I, too, am beginning to be able to call myself a musician/artist.

A month or two ago, Roger e-mailed me an article from Esquire called “Late Bloomers in the Arts.” It confirmed what I already knew in my heart: It’s never too late to do anything you believe you can do.

LA Art House, 8825 Beverly Boulevard, Beverly Hills, 310-205-0480; laarthouse.net.