ART VISIT

I had decided to do my art visit at the Sacramento Crocker Art Museum. It is not the first time that I have been there; in fact I have been there several of times. My husband and I went to the museum on Saturday June 21, 2008 at approximately 2:30 pm. It was mostly quiet with a few other families. The Crocker Art Museum has three floors that are filled with paintings, statutes, conceptual art, china, and era piece.
When I walk in, the fist thing that I noticed was the door hinges and the crown molding on the building. I also notice the different colors on the walls and ceiling. The ceiling has gold, blue and red painted in an odd patterns. This house is still set and decorated to the time that it was built, in the 1873. The building itself was the excitement of the visit. The entire time I was there I kept noticing the different aspects of each room. Every room had so many different shapes that my eyes kept shifting from shape to shape and I noticed that it was taking away from the art itself, in my opinion. The lights also fluctuated as you went from room to room which irritated my eye but I know that it was necessary because of the older pieced that were being displayed. The house for me was the largest art piece and my favorite part of the museum.
In 1868, Judge Edwin B. Crocker purchased the property and existing buildings on the corner of Third and O Streets. He then commissioned Seth Babson (1830-1908), a talented local architect, to redesign and renovate the home into a grander, Italianate mansion. In addition, Crocker asked Babson to design an elaborate gallery building that would sit adjacent to the mansion and display the family’s growing art collection.
Babson saw the home and gallery as an integrated complex, unique in design and demanding the finest materials. The gallery building included a bowling alley, skating rink and billiards room on the ground floor; a natural history museum and a library on the first floor; and gallery space on the second floor. Completed in 1872, the Crocker family mansion and art gallery are considered the masterpieces of Babson's career.
Today, the art gallery building retains its original Victorian Italianate design and serves as the main entrance to the Museum. The family mansion went through several uses and reconstructions until a 1989 renovation restored the historic façade and created a modern gallery interior. The original buildings, now connected, as well as the Herold Wing addition of 1969, were renamed the Crocker Art Museum in 1978.
http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/about/history_architecture.htm
During my visit, the museum had a temporary gallery set up call The Language of the Nude. This gallery took most of the ground floor. Most of the drawing was from the 1500’s to the early 1800’s. Most of the pieces were done with ink, black, white and red chalk on tan or some sort of thick grainy parchment paper. The subjects of these painting were of men and women in the nude. The drawings looked as though they were practice pieces to a larger painting, or future subject, just like Leonardo da Vinci did before he stared his master pieces. The paintings were also of gods or religious events. I didn’t feel any emotional attachment to these pieces. I was more amazed at the calk and paper used then I was with the drawings. Some of the drawings used white chalk to resemble a halo or light source, the white chalk blended so well with the paper that the white chalk worked well as a light source.
I enjoyed looking at some of the older pieces because you can really see the texture that the paintings are painted on. A couple of the paintings were completed on planks/wood and I was surprised how it changed the dynamics of the painting. There are a few other aspects that benefits to see art in person rather than in a picture or on-line. One aspect is the textures that pop-out on the canvass as well as the size of a painting that can draw your attention. A photo graph can easily be touched up to enhance the artwork so looking at a piece in person can add to the story or emotions an artwork can bring you.
One of my favorite paintings at the Crocker Art Museum is the painting completed by Kaltenbach, Stephen called Portrait of My Father. It was painted in 1972-1979. This painting is an acrylic on canvas and is 114 in x 170 ¾ in and is located on the top floor in the contemporary gallery. This painting is amazing. It looks like he painted over a photograph. When you get closer to the painting there are so many different layers of texture that you really can’t tell what was painted first or what layer of paint is on top. It almost looks as if it were air brushed. The hair displays painted texture and it is slightly raised from the canvas but all other paint is smoothed even on the face where there is texture from the creases on his face. This painting is of the artist’s father on his death bed taking his last breath and being accepted with love by the spiritual world. When you look at the painting, you can get a since of relief from the expression on the man’s face, almost a calming but intense act. I enjoyed the emotion that this painting was able to get out of me. Everyone knows of someone that has past-on but to view a death I am sure it much harder than someone calling you on the phone and telling you of a person’s death. Having to watch death can bring life in you own heart and a humbleness for what you have. This painting, to me, shows that death is not always sad, your sadness is selfishness, you need to think of the relief that the person dying.
I enjoyed my visit like I have in the past but I was not awed by the paintings inside. Many of them were just ok paintings for me. I would have like to see more modern and abstract modern artwork. Again, the building and the story of Mr. Crocker was the best part of this visit. I will visit again when the Buda gallery is set up.

I will send a picture of myself at the gallery once I figure out how to download it from my phone.

What I've Learned from Art

It is amazing the amount that I have learned this semester in the world of art. I have always found my likings to have a right or a wrong. In art there are no wrong answers or right answers. You don’t have to be perfect to be viewed as a great artist, a creator of thought and adventure. When I fist started in this class I didn’t know what to expect. I can now appreciate art the way that the art was created. The amount of terms that I learned was fun and allowed me to sound somewhat like I know what I am talking about when I critique an art piece but learning about color and line I think was my favorite.
Lines are every where and each line in or out of the environment or in a painting represent something more. A simple line can represent emotions or lack of emotions; it can represent boundaries and borders; it can be representing sharply and gently. One single line or multiple lines can each be put together to build more or take it away to be more simplistic.
Colors are a very complex when applied to describing emotion. Each color has a separate emotional meaning or feeling. It can provoke intensity and calmness. Color is what adds the life to lines. There are so many combinations of colors that it can change the value or hue of any primary color and the greatest thing is that there are only three primary colors.
There are so many other things that I have learned this class. I really enjoyed the way that this class was taught. This has been the first time that I have ever kept up a blog site. I found it to be an art creation in itself. I also learned a lot about myself and what I like in art and what I don’t like in art. I found out that colors and lines are what I appreciate the most in an art piece. I like the warmer complementary colors used in painting as well as more of a representational to abstract types of paintings. These things I wouldn’t have never know about myself if it weren’t’ for this class. My husband and I are also going to take an art class together to increase our knowledge on how these lines and colors can be displayed creatively.
The artists that I have learned about were all different and there are a few that I will take with me as ones I will follow. For example, Ron Mueck is a great artist and represents reality, expression and provokes thought. I would love to visit one of his original pieces and track his work. We learned about this arties in visual reflection week. Another artist that I will follow will be Steve Hanks that I researched in My Favorite painting week. There are other artists that I found attracted to artistically like, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Gustav Klimt and Andy Warhol. I will continue to study art.

Conceptual Art

Conceptual Art is artwork that is designed around the concepts of ideas rather than the art piece itself. If you were to break down the word conceptual, you would have the word concept. Concepts are ideas and the meaning behind those ideas. A conceptual artwork needs to provoke meaning and ideas to the viewer. It doesn’t always have to be the same meaning or ideas that the artist came up with but a meaning that provokes thought and curiosity for the viewer. In the artwork of Damien Hirst, Mother and Child divided, 1993, he is exploring mortality. Hirst forever separates a calf from its mother revealing emotional sorrow that disconnection can bring with death but at the same time the freedom that death can bring to the living. He also reveals the we are have trusting our insides to work to keep us going. I think that this piece is brilliant. We are all born being captured and imprisoned in these bodies that we are born in. We are prisoners to the complexity of our bodies working correctly, healthfully, intelligently and when they are not the energy and spirit wants out. Death brings freedom to our energy and spirit reconnecting us back to its source. I think all the time, what if I become so ill, or what if parts of my mind and body just stop working, will I be able to live with true happiness. I probably could but wouldn’t want to. I rather allow my energy to be free. When we are born we don’t get to choose which vessel we want to ride we are just given it. Some vessels are whole, some are not the most attractive and some aren’t the smartest but those choices are not our own. What I am trying to say is that death doesn’t always have to be sad it can be a release of tension and pain and can be a gate way to happiness.

Two Worlds Collide

Marketing and media drive thought and culture among an easily persuaded population. When the digitally touched up photos of models and movies make it to the masses they see these images as a fad and hop onto the ban-wagon. In the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s this became a large realization among companies and the corporate world who try to sell wants and desire to consumers. Separate companies started-up to study just this, the reaction of these images when they hit the news stands or TV. Studies show that people are followers and will believe what you tell them. In the 80’s when short skirts and big hair hit the news stands and movie the rest of the population joined and you could see the images in cities all over. Today the images of Hollywood and the red carpet have a large influence on people. Brand names and logo create identity and popularity. A Coach or Douney & Bourke handbag sells for hundreds of dollars in stores but you can buy similar knock off handbags that look the exact same for much cheaper. What makes a Coach or Douney & Bourke handbag is the logo that is represented on the bags and makes the handbags that much more expensive. All aspects of the consumer world are trying to create a product that is identifiable by a small artwork called a logo. Look at this logo, Ck, well know as Calvin Klien, his clothes wouldn’t cost as much if the logos where not represented on the clothes themselves. What I am trying to say is media, gives values to artwork and creates desire and popularity that sells. This was very evident in Thomas Kinkaid as well. The artwork of Cottingham and Aziz & Cucher were trying to say portray the acts of this kind of identity. You can’t succeed if you can easily be persuaded. We all need to step out of ourselves to become better and never believe what is said or saw in the media, TV, or print because it is just another way that someone is trying to represent their art piece or creative thought. I believe that Cottingham and Aziz & Cucher is saying to be different and find your own self and your own answers.

My Favorite Painting

The artist is Steve Hanks; he painted Take Five in 1979 using the watercolor method. After many years perfecting his drawing skills he was able to master the watercolor technique.
Steve Hanks is recognized as one of the best watercolor artists working today. The detail, color and realism of Steve Hanks' paintings are unheard of in this difficult medium. A softly worn patterned quilt, the play of light on the thin veil of surf on sand, or the delicate expression of a child—-Steve Hanks captures these patterns of life better than anyone.
Hanks calls his style ‘emotional realism’. He often leaves the faces of his figures obscured or turned away, not only to leave the face to the imagination of the viewer but also to allow the entire figure to express the emotion. Backlighting is also a signature element of his style. “Sunlight has become one of my favorite subjects. I’m fascinated by how it filters through things, how it floods a whole room with color. Often my paintings are really more about sunlight than anything else.” 1 https://www.artifactsgallery.com/art.asp?!=A&ID=640

Painting with watercolor is not like oils where you dip your brush and apply it to a canvass and the paint stays where you put it. Watercolor paintings use color suspended in water and gum arabic to dampen the paper and once the brush touched the paper the color spreads and is absorbed by the paper. There is always a mathematical equation when painting with watercolor because you have to calculate the paper absorbency and the amount of paint on your brush. One mistake and the painting is ruined. Although the paint dries quickly and is inexpensive the colors change in value as it dries and changes in value as it bleeds into other colors. So it is important to work the lighter colors first to assure that their value doesn’t get adjusted.

In the painting “Take Five” it is saturated in cool and warm colors. The dancer is dressed in cool colors as well as the colors on the back of the wall. The floor and her body are warmer colors indicating the warmer parts of the paining. The leotard’s cooler colors indicates, to me, that she is cooling off, taking a break. This painting is a representational art piece. You can see every little detail in the floor and the dancer muscle structure.

The form in this picture is a subject that is sitting backwards in a chair in the middle of a box. The content is what brings this picture alive. The colors used helps to express exhaustion, and loneliness. The expressive contour lines of her back hunched over and the dancer head down indicates a resting state. The horizontal line on the floor gets fuzzier as the lines get further from the viewer, giving the viewer a one-point linear perspective. Also, if you look right to left the colors get darker meaning that he painted the picture right to left, this also reveals that the light source is coming from the right.

Favorite Painting

I know that I have a lot of untitled painting to the left but for the Blog "My Favorite Painting" I need to view paintings I for a while before I know what I like. This is also I guess another way for you to know my taste. These are the kinds of paintings that I enjoy, painting I would hang in my house.

Thomas Kinkade...Artist?

Kinkade, the painter of light, is he foe or friend to the everyday artist. That question is ultimately of opinion as an artist but an absolute friend to a businessman. Any profits made for an idea is successful. In this class we are learning that not all art is made on canvass or print, that it can be film, buildings, photographs and many other artistic avenues. There are many art pieces that create higher profits than others based on marketability. It is the marketing that creates knowledge to enhance desire and value. Many people saw value in his ideas but did they know what they were really buying? If not than there could be legal issue at hand that I am not qualified to speak about but his artistic idea worked for him and the many people that saw it as art. As his marketing went up and the paintings weren’t completed by his hand then the value of his painting decreases because that situation declined the value. An art piece is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. When a movie comes out, which is another way to express art, that movie is marketed to obtain knowledge of that movie and to create value for people to go see it. If the movie is successful than profits come in but only if the viewer sees value in that movie, not only to spend money to see it but time as well. Cartoon figures are another art piece; think about the many of time that a Spiderman movie came out or a Batman figurine was made, people still bought them without originality because they saw value in it. I guess what I am trying to say is that Mr. Kinkade is not the only artist that knew how to market an artistic idea and was successful. Ansell Adam has made quite the name for himself as well; he is an artist with the camera. He didn’t touch any of his pictures but he was able to mass produce them and get the same results as Kinkade.

For a person to be an artist I would like to see quality and time put into a piece that creates a slight emotional feeling from me. I am not opposed to Kinkade’s work but I wouldn’t buy one myself. I would need the painting to look different from each other and it is an original of original thinking. I don’t want to walk into a neighbor’s house and find the same painting.

Analyze That

This is a calming painting. Not only does it expresses emotion but motion. This paining is a abstract painting that is very close to reflective. The composition of this painting has many expressive lines that communicates a sense of serenity. She give of the feeling that she is taking a stroll on the beach reviewing her thoughts.

Most of the lines are contoured easy flowing from one object to the next. There is also implies lines with her arm straight down at her side, the scarf flowing downward and her sight of vision looking down at the reflection in the water. There are other line, like the multiple diagonal lines of the ocean that are evoking motion. Other diagonal lines that evoke motion are the lines in the girls dress and the run-off from the waves. These line make is look as though it is a windy day.

The space of this painting reveals a lot of mass from the ocean, mountains to the body of the girl. The mass of the girl is also overlapping the skyline to make her look closer to the viewer. This also gives the painting a linear perspective, 3-d. When you look off into the distance close to the mountains you can tell the colors start to get fuzzy and blend, another sign of a 3-d painting.

Within this painting the intense value of the red draws my attention fist especially against the intense bright hue of white dress that contracts it. The painting is fully saturated with mostly intense values of hues. If you look at the ocean there is an incline in value. It starts off will a lighter value of blue then increases as the color get further away from the viewer. This smoothing of colors is Chiarascuro. The shadow of the girl also indicated the sun is over head giving the girl height but is also gives the painting an atmosphere. I can feel the vast air that surrounds her while she strolls on the beach.

Watch The Magic

I have taken pictures of a flower in my garden and this was not an easy task because the hue of the flowers were strong compared to the atmospheric perspective that it was hard to get two pictures that were different. The top left picture hues are not as strong as the picture on the top right. When you look at the top left picture the atmospheric perspective has a strong yellow and white tint at the top of the picture which is also reflecting off the green leaves making the leaves have a stronger value. The bottom of the picture is shaded which adds more of a gray scale to reduce the value. The colors within the flower are almost blending light purples to pink to orange with full saturation. There are intense colors in the center of the flowers that when compared to each other show two different hues. The top left picture was taken early evening as the sun was setting so the shadows darken the darker hues. Even the leaves are stronger in value. The top right picture was taken after the sun has set taking away the intense brightness in the hues. The hues then in the flower have less of a value. The center of the flower color has also changed. There are now dark pink to light pink to yellow-orange saturation. The leaves are even lighter with more of a gray scale due to the shadows. The bottom picture which is high noon not only reveals the shadow from the light source but has an intense bright atmospheric perspective. There is a lot whiter and yellows with the color scale changing the flower all together. The saturation of the flower’s hues is almost full yellow and orange with just a pinch of pinks at the end. The leaves as well are having a high value of green. The bottom flower is a great example of chiaroscuro, light in top and dark on the bottom creating depth. I hope that you enjoy the pictures and my observations.

Analyze This

Line & Shapes

I was in Real Estate for several of years before changing careers and a lot of our job was based on space, line and colors. Of course we dealt with contracts and escrows and all that fun stuff but our first and foremost job was to create curb appeal, to sell the home. Showing home to many clients I find that they all had an idea of how they wanted their space within the home and the shape or structure of that home. When you fist pull up to that home the eyes scan the outline of that home. It has to feel and look like an ideal home before you even want to walk in. Then your eyes start to follow the outlines on the home the roof lines, door and window lines and other shapes that can be identified on the home. When you look at the face of the house the shapes on the house has to make since to you. Do you like circle, square, rectangle, or even triangle shaped windows? Is the décor or the framing of the home creating a piece of art to you? These are the thing that we look at when creating a picture, a 2-dimensioal space to a client. Looking directly on a house from the front you may not see the true potential until you catch all angles. You stand back and look at the house from an angle and the mass opens up, you since see a 3-dimensioal space and start to wonder its volume. Before you get ready to walk in your eyes scan a series of contour line, you scan the trees, bushes, flowers and the skyline that settles on the roof. Now you walk into the house and what ever the size of the home, your eyes focus on the vanishing point. This way you can get of feel of the depth of the home. Colors of the walls might catch your attention or the different contour textures of the flooring might draw your attention. As you walk through the house your vision could be drawn to the different frame works of each room creating an overlapping depth of farthest room to the closest room. A home to me has so many analytic line, but the content within creates expressive lines. For example a couch full of color and personality, maybe filled with soft rounded pillows, could create a warm comforting feeling. The organization of the tables, chairs, rugs and other expressive pieces within the home is what creates emotion or lack of.

Every time I walk into a building, house or space my eyes automatically wander expanding my linear perspective. Take a picture of that moment or space and again on the picture the angles will draw your eyes to the vanishing point. I think this happen for me because I am always looking to more, what can’t be seen.

I find that I am, like most everybody is, visually attracted to things and know more about how simple line and shapes can create a world of wonder.

The picture to the right is full of shapes, some of them overlapping but becuase the angles on this picture doen't have linear perspective it is 2-dimensional in some parts and 3-dimensional around the door.

Controversial Art

I am very torn with these questions on controversial art for many reasons, one is the way I grew up and the other would be my altered but bias point of view. I am a modest person but I don’t punish those who decide to live more adventurously. Sometimes I envy those that are free to express in “controversial” ways. When judging the artwork of Edouard Manet, “Luncheon on the Grass” I feel feminine. I like this painting for what it hides. This painting says sex but in a modest casual way. When I look at some of the very exposed artwork of Robert Mapplethorpe like, “Cock” I feel embarrassed (A painting that I will not display in my blog). I don’t think that they should be banded but my opinion is some forms of expression should be kept to ones-self. I do not go around screaming controversial words in conversation to express how I feel and I prefer not speak to someone who uses controversial language. In artwork it is ok to express one feeling but I would prefer to look at ones that I don’t feel controversial to. Most of my feeling of controversial art is mostly toward slandered x-rated artwork. We never spoke of these things around the house growing up, it was to be secret. Although, my ideas have changed quite a bit as my experiences grow these captured feeling keep me from enjoying artwork that exposes my secrets of naked anatomy. I hope that I can enjoy the ideas of very exposed painting, one of these days but for now I am still not able to break out of that shell.

There are many benefits to stepping out. The freedom of thinking independently allows for the creations of new ideas. Controversial thinking allowed the New America to free slaves, lead America to war for independence, creation of all technology and many more. It all started with the idea to be different and to have a clear picture to an outcome, the masterpiece. Without independent thinking and the ability to act on controversial ideas the world would be stagnant, our ability to evolve could be altered. When all work needed to be painted in a gallery/indoors, I am sure that, the light available will be limited to candle light or florescent lighting which could then limited the potential of color. When a painting or sculpture is completed in ultra violet ray from the sun you are capable of casting natural shadows a whole new prospective could be produced. Also, if most artwork is an expression of emotion or an event than the atmosphere that the painting is completed in, is reflective in the painting. A painting of the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo DaVinci looks as though it would have been painted indoors but the paining of “Grain Stacks” by Monet captures the great outdoors. A lot of controversial idea are great and lead to great things but some don’t always lead to greatness but non-the-less are different ideas that support fresh and new.

Visual Literacy Reflections

I love the work of Ron Mueck.

He portrays great reality along with a since of curiosity. Based on our lectures for this week his sculptures are representational. Each one of his sculptures make me want to intrude on the thoughts that each sculpture posses. The older couple at the top has identical characteristics of the elderly. These two seem to be so distant form the modern world, and unaccepted of conversation. You can also since that these people have been together for a long time. They dress the same, act the same, and even share some of the same expressions. This artwork's visual information would be in content but their expressions would create form.

This next sculpture, The Mask, is also representational. The face make me think of what kind of nationality this man is. He has a large head that is squared of at his crown as well as his chin making him have very distinctive characteristics. The visual information about his physical characteristics would be content and to wounder if this man is sleeping, dead, or just thinking would be in the information of form.

This next sculpture states so much. It is of a giant man that is striped of all his dignity. He is alone in a corner with an expression of deep thought. In today society a large white male is a stereo type of power but this statue creates a since of loss and depression as if something lost. This is one of the most powerful statues that I have ever seen. I just want to sit next to him and start a conversation about his life.

Lost in Art History

Williamsburg

If you ever have the chance to go to Williamsburg in Virgina I highly recommend it. Especially if you enjoy architecture. Most of the buildings are made of beautiful red brick. The outside of the buildings are mostly rectangular shape but the windows make each building come alive. The insides of the buildings were mostly dark making it hard to get an accurate view of the entire room.

At times is seems as thought the dark shadows are creating a feelings of someone watching you. With the smell, age, and history that each building possesses an emotional detachment comes over you and you become part of the building. You feel as though you are living the past. Some of the mercantile shops along the dirt roads gave examples of the kinds of things there were needed for this neighborhood. I saw a blacksmith, shoe maker, bread makers, doctor shop and agriculture shop. I have too many picture to post them all but I thought that these photograph s would give a great example of reflective art work. The inside of the building would create a great abstract painting. A place like this is full of great art.

A World of Art

This realistic but fantasy type painting was painted in 1863 by Albert Bierstadt. Albert Bierstadt was a German-American artist that painted mostly landscapes of the American West. Albert was involved on many journeys of the Westward Expansion after the American Civil War. Most of his paintings were very detailed telling stories with his enhanced knowledge of luminism. In the painting The Rocky Mountains you can clearly see that the sky is luminated and within the luminism is a dreamy looking Rocky Mountains. This painting was not meant to resemble reality but just to show off a beautiful landscape. The Matterhorn set in the luminism makes it look so far away but so close. With the light coming down to connect to the waterfall at the base of the incline to the mountain range makes the Matterhorn seem closer. It almost seems as if the painting were cut in half, part dream and part reality. The lower part of the painting is filled with western colors of browns, dark green, and tan a true western theme with out gaudiness. There is an Indian tribe that has settled here, in the plains. The Indian tribe is going about their everyday lives. Kids are playing, hunters are on horses, and even some of the women are preparing a deer for a feast. What I find odd is that the tribe in perspective to the painting is so small. It is almost like they are not to be noticed. To me, the artist is trying to state that humans are just smaller entities to a grander scheme.

I don't find this to be a painting that I would hang on my walls but it is a painting that make you think about the scale of Earth's greatest landscapes. I can imagine lying on the grass in the plains area of the painting and staring up at the mountains, in a day dream. It would be a great place to take a nap and listen to the waterfall in the background.

About Me

I find that I am very particular in my likings of art. I love color and when I look at an art piece the colors is what draws me in. The subject of the artwork then is just the add bonus. The color for me is the emotion and the subjects reveals a story. I think that the second that you see an art piece that you either like it or don't. Subconsciously you make a decision within seconds and then you consciously fall in love with it's meaning, to you. The Mona Lisa for example has an emotional darkness but her face and the slight smirk showing on her face, give you the feeling that there is a dark secret she is not telling us.

This piece, Die grossen blauen Pferde, (The Large Blue Horses), is brilliant giving off an emotion of freedom, togetherness and expression of love. The colors draw you in and the close group of houses in shapes of hearts give me the sign of family. I have also notices that all primary colors were used making this a very visible artwork to the human eye.

Most of the time I will get stuck looking at the same pieces over and over again which represents my love for classic, renaissance art pieces and will not expand my horizons to other pieces that could spark an emotion. I hope that this class will help me to be open to the large array pieces that I know are out there but haven't been exposed to. I know that there is art that could be produced by food, structural art work from inorganic material and the art work for a medial purpose and all need and will be liked by someone but not by all. How does one artist try to appease the views of the masses for career purposes? Doesn't a great piece of work need to be liked by most for it to be considered a great piece? This is probably why artist have the tag "starving artist". I look forward to expanding my horizons.