Sunday, June 26, 2011

FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONISM/ 'The Blue Temple' by Eric Whollem/ A mixed media work in a pictographic style/ CONTEMPORARY ART/ West Coast School of Figurative Expressionism



The Blue Temple
1998
by Eric Whollem
mixed media on paper
Collection of the artist
20" x 16'
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

Mixed Media

This painting utilizes a broad range of art materials: gouache
paints, gold acrylic paint, ash paint mixed with casein, and
parafin resist.

The pictographic approach is rooted in my studied of rock art:
petroglyphs and pictographs. The ethnic arts of humanity have
always had a great appeal to me. Currently I have incorporated
playlists of a wide range of international ethnic music on my
Youtube Channel. There along with video presentations of my
art is an array of world music. The side column of this blog has
a link to my Youtube presentations.

I was mentored as an art student years ago in the West Coast
School of Figurative Expressionism. I began making paints
from raw natural materials in 1973, which was catalytic to
great changes in my art.

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For a post that presents a bit of background on my approaches to FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONISM see this link:

See more of my ABSTRACT ART on this link:

See more works that use EARTH AND ASH PAINT:

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Friday, June 24, 2011

VISIONARY ABSTRACTION/ 'The Alchemist' by Eric Whollem, 1973/ An early mixed media painting using earth paints on panel/ CONTEMPORARY ART/ 'The Transmutation of Earth and Technology'/ With Notes on the Navajo Sandpainting of David Villasenor



The Alchemist
1973
by Eric Whollem
mixed media on panel
Collection of the artist
2' x 3'
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

The Transmutation of Earth and Technology
AN ALCHEMICAL VISION

This early painting of mine from 1973 was painted quite near
the time when I first began making paints from raw natural
earths gathered in nature.

I mixed some of my acrylic paints with some of the thick earth
mixtures that I had ground up. The result was an opaque impasto
with a rough and grainy texture. This painting was created before
I had perfected my pigment filtering process, so the pigments were
especially coarse~which added to the texture of the final work.

I was attempting to bring 'medicine' to the plastic civilization of
my day in this work. I was attempting as an alchemist to imbue
the polymer tube paints that I had been using with the virtues of
mother earth. I saw alienation from nature all around me,  feeling
that I was living in a culture that had lost it's sense of harmony
with living things.

My original inspiration to use earth pigments had come through
a sympathetic study of Navajo healing paintings, which used sand
for pigment. David Villasenor, the Navajo artist, had inspired my
work with a visionary purpose.

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See more of my EARLY WORKS on these links:


A video of my early acrylic works.                             


My posts on ALCHEMY can be accessed here:

Those interested in my approaches to EARTH PAINTS may want to read:


Earth painting video.                                      


Some may want to see this Wikipedia article on SANDPAINTING, as it discusses the work of David Villasenor

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Thursday, June 23, 2011

'Cinderella Stamps from BIRDLAND by Eric Whollem/ An artistamp video upload from Eric Whollem's Youtube Channel/ With music by Kevin MacLeod


Cinderella Stamps from BIRDLAND
2011
by Eric Whollem



See more of my VIDEOS on this link:

This link will take you to my BIRDLAND POST:

Readers interested in my entire online list of posts of ARTISTAMPS should check out:

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Faux postage stamps, micronation stamps, artist stamps.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONISM/ 'Bird Philosophy' by Eric Whollem, 1985/ Chinese calligraphy/ ORIENTALIZING IDEOGRAMS/ Comments on Chuang Tzu, the Taoist philosopher



Bird Philosophy
1985
by Eric Whollem
mixed media on paper
Collection of the artist
9" x 6"
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

Orientalizing Ideograms

In addition to my interests in prehistoric rock art, I have also
given considerable study to Asiatic calligraphy.

This painting incorporates ideograms that represent birds.
Seen in the image is an apparent Chinese gentleman. This
could well represent Chuang Tzu, my favorite Taoist nature
philosopher. I first read his writings in 1967. They had a big
impact on me.

Like Henry David Thoreau, Chuang Tzu was a nature hermit.
In my twenties I began to search out places to live in the rural
countryside. I have lived in Palermo, Feather Falls, Swedes' Flat,
and the Concow area of Butte County, California. Some of the
terrain in which I lived was oak covered foothills, other areas in
which I have lived were higher elevations with pines and cedars.

The granite of the Sierra Nevadas has always had a special
appeal to me. During the 1980's when this work was painted I was
living in Swedes' Flat. My favorite birds at this time were the
woodpeckers who had a nest in the gray pines near my eastern
boundary.

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See more of my ABSTRACT ART on this link:

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Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Cinderella Stamps from AMPHORA by Eric Whollem/ An art video from Eric Whollem's Youtube Channel/ Featuring artistamps depicting figurative ceramic sculptures and classic acrylic paintings by Eric Whollem/ GODDESS SCULPTURE STAMPS



Cinderella Stamps from AMPHORA
2011
a video by Eric Whollem

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Readers interested in seeing more of my stamps from AMPHORA should check out:

More of my ART VIDEOS are accessable on this link:

Those interested in my EARLY ACRYLIC PAINTINGS may want to see:

My CERAMIC SCULPTURES can be accessed here:

My general GODDESS posts, including both paintings and sculptures, may be found at:

My online archive of CINDERELLA STAMPS is here:

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Artistamps, artist stamps, fantasy stamps, faux postage, micronation stamps.
Goddess art.

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Sunday, June 12, 2011

FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONISM/ 'Birth of the Golden Child' by Eric Whollem,1992/ Notes on Alchemical Gold/ CONTEMPORARY VISIONARY ART




Birth of the Golden Child
1992
by Eric Whollem
mixed media on paper
Collection of the artist
24" x 36"
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

Notes on Alchemical Gold
The alchemists of old utilized symbolic images to express
spiritual truths. This image represents illumination: the
process of rebirth. Gold represents enlightenment rather
than mundane wealth.

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See more of my posts on ALCHEMY:

Readers interested in viewing more of my ABSTRACT ART should see these posts:

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Monday, June 6, 2011

CONTEMPORARY ART/ 'An Aged Gentleman' by Eric Whollem, 1983/ MIXED MEDIA PAINTING/ Earth pigments, gouache and polyvinyl resin on paper/ Abstract Figure Painting



Aged Gentleman
1983
by EricWhollem
earth pigments, polyvinyl and gouache on paper
Collection of the artist
3 1/2" X 4 1/4"
COPYRIGHT BY THE ARTIST

MIXED MEDIA PAINTING

AGED GENTLEMAN is a small work on paper that incorporates
earth pigments that I gathered in nature, having made my own paints
from scratch since 1973.

But my approach in this instance has been to utilize the earth paints
in a mixed media approach. The earth pigments were laid down in
a thick coating on the paper, then worked with a pallette knife, and
allowed to dry.

This background was then overpainted with aqueous media: in this
case gouache paints.

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Readers interested in viewing more of my MIXED MEDIA PAINTINGS should see these posts:

More posts of CONTEMPORARY ART may be accessed here:

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