Arty-Facts (Ok, more like Arty-Opinions)

Thank you for all camera advice yesterday, y'all! It was much appreciated and you gave me some more things to think about and to look at. I'll let you know if I get something! Several weeks ago, Laume created an art meme on her studio blog and I'm finally getting around to sharing some of my answers. I made a few changes, as the meme was quite long, so I combined a few questions and eliminated a couple others but here are my answers to the slightly revised version of Laume's Arty Meme. Favorite artists: I'm not going to list textile artists, as I listed several of those a few weeks ago in response to a question, but regarding non-textile artists some of my favorites include Cezanne, Escher, Gaugin, Hopper, Kahlo, Magritte, Manet, Matisse, Modigliani, O'Keefe, Parrish, Sargent, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh. (I'm sure I'm forgetting some!) Favorite art styles: Ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art; Early Renaissance, Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Surrealism, the Ashcan school, Outsider art, some Pop art. Again, I'm sure I'm leaving some out of that list. I like a LOT of different styles. I once wrote a fascinating (NOT!) term paper on the artistic merits of ancient Greek pottery for an art history class. I wrote another comparing the artistic careers of Rembrandt and Picasso (yes, I really did). And my favorite term paper was a little gem entitled "Marcel Duchamp's 'Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2': Its Significance as Related to Cubism and Futurism." (The title, while an accurate reflection of the topic, was my attempt to deliberately be as pretentious as possible - my idea of a little joke. I don't think anyone else got it. But I got an A on the paper.) Favorite Mediums: To work in myself - Fabric, pencil, oils, photographs, paper or digital collage, mixed media assemblage. For other people's work I like to see art work in all mediums. (Well, ok, except maybe things like so-called art made with bodily wastes and rotting garbage. I totally don't get the concept of using those sorts of things as art.) If you were given the opportunity to change all the artwork in your home for new, would you? No. As much as I love the idea of acquiring some new artwork, I have pieces in my home I wouldn't want to give up. Have you ever won a prize or award for your work? Yes Have you ever sold your art work? Yes Have you ever given away your art work? Yes Favorite colors: If you mean to work with, I tend to gravitate strongly toward water colors (blues, greens, purples) and toward 'most any bright clear colors. I'm not a fan of pastels or dunduggity colors with lots of grey in them ("country" colors), although I like true earth tones - the darker, warmer versions that don't have lots of grey. Where do you get your inspiration? From the Inspiration Fairy, of course! Doesn't everyone? Ok, seriously, I don't know. It could be from anything - a phrase in a book, a photograph, a color scheme in an ad, a shape I see somewhere around me, a dream. What are you currently working on? Answering this meme. :-) If you could own one famous work of art, what would it be? Ooooh, that's hard. There's lots I love. The first one I thought of was "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper, so that's what I'll go with. When should I get a wall ready?? Or if that one isn't available, I'd gladly take pretty much anything by Van Gogh, although I'm particularly partial to "The Starry Night", "The Night Cafe", and "Bedroom in Arles." Would you want to make your living as an artist, or prefer to keep money out of the creative process? Well gee, if I could just make what I want to make and people wanted to throw money at me for it, that would be wonderful (hey, I can dream!). But I don't like doing commissions and I'm not a huge fan of teaching classes. (I might like teaching classes if people would READ the frickin' supply lists and prep instructions - if any - and come prepared, but sadly for every half-dozen who do there's at least one who doesn't and they drive me NUTS.) What kind of atmosphere do you create best in? Quiet. I don't like noise (even background noise like music or TV) and I don't like interruptions. Of course this being real life, I don't always get uninterrupted quiet in which to create, but that's what I like best. Do you use/control your muse or does your muse use/control you? Despite my fondness for the horrid movie "Xanadu", I don't believe in muses. UhOh! Maybe that's why I haven't been too creative lately. Maybe I'm wrong and I DO have a muse but I've pissed her off by not believing. Yikes! (Her? Him? Are muses always female? Hhhmmm....) Maybe I'd better work on that belief thing. "I DO believe in muses, I DO believe in muses, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I DO believe in muses." (Name that mangled movie quote!) Since I chose "Nighthawks" as the famous artwork I'd most like to own, I thought I'd put my own little spin on it for today's DAT. "Self-Portrait with Johnny in the Nighthawks Diner" (Ok, not my best effort. But I didn't promise a daily masterpiece, only a daily attempt at some sort of creative effort.) If you want to do this meme on your blog, just tell me so in comments and you can consider yourself officially tagged! (And of course you can comment without considering yourself tagged too. I love it when people just pop over and say hello.)