Now for something completely different…a video blog (art studio tour)

Link to video:

http://youtu.be/5Mw5gDDLQY4

Change is good, so they say. Well here it goes, a video. Not really a video blog, but a very short tour of my art studio. It’s taken on my iphone, so the quality isn’t too hot, but watchable enough. Fair Warning, it does contain images of a few of my paintings of full frontal nudes, so if your under 18, or squeamish, don’t click it. You’ll also briefly see my pugs. Hmm, pugs and nudes, a winning combination. Enjoy.

Did you know…

You can get a “Sneak Peak” at all my new work before anyone else? Sign up for my private Client Emails (about 3 per month) here: http://www.vlasicstudio.com/vlasicstudio.com/Guest_Book_%26_Contact.html

I do layaway…see all my currently available work here: http://www.vlasicstudio.com/vlasicstudio.com/Available_Artwork.html

Commissions always welcome.

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Below is the latest oil painting study (5″ x 7″ oil on board) from the Black Rock Portrait Project, a series of paintings based on photos taken at Burning Man. See them all at: www.blackrockportrait project.com.

To the Playa and Back Again…

I tend to obsess on things. An idea gets caught up in my mind and I can’t let it go. I’ve got to explore every aspect of it. Turn it over, flip it around, view it and discuss it from every imaginable angle, usually to the point of pissing off my man in near endless conversations that start “What if did…?” “What do you think about…?” usually resulting in eyes rolling and hands being thrown up in the air with a loud and curt “Enough already!”. What subject this time? Returning to Burning Man this year. I have to go back. The issues and shortcomings of starting the Black Rock Portrait Project*  out on the Playa last year make a return journey an absolute necessity. In case you didn’t know, last year was fraught with all sorts of issues (camera, photo booth, and video), and while I did get some great shots to create paintings from, not nearly enough. And I am far shy of goal on video footage as well. It’s the nature of the beast really, things seldom go according to plan out there. With lessons learned, I must return. The problem? As it is for most working artists, cash. I will need a bare minimum of $3000 to make this happen. (for camera equipment and expenses.) Closer to $5000 would be best (which would provide an RV for a more-comfortable-than-a-dusty-tent experience as well as protection for the camera and computer equipment) but I can get out there with a good camera bare-bones on $3000. Short of selling a few large paintings, (no guarantee in this economy,) this means fundraising. This is the main topic of obsession. What to do? I did a Kickstarter last year (which got me out there, thank you from the bottom of my heart to my supporters) so I don’t want to repeat that again. Right now the top running ideas are selling a nice signed booklet of project images from the studies, and/or hosting a ticketed small & sophisticated “evening with the artist” event with food, lecture and entertainment. Both these things are time-consuming of course, taking time away from painting the studies that are keeping a roof over my head and working on the large gallery paintings for the project. Sigh. No one said this was going to be easy, but I will not give up on this project, not for anything. I believe in it with all my heart. It will happen, and I will find a way. In the meantime, I’ll keep obsessing.

If you would like to help this project succeed, you can make a donation here: SUPPORT THE PROJECT  All the prizes from the Kickstarter will be happily be honored.

(*the name “A Burning Man Portrait Project” is on hold pending approval from BMorg)

“BMPP Study, Cowgirl” 8 x 10 study painting, oil on board

Drive.

I’ll be 44 this month. Crazy. I don’t feel it at all, or rather I don’t feel it like others say they do. Honestly, I feel better now than at any other time in my life. Happier. More grounded. Determined. Secure in the knowledge of my direction. Looking back 15, 20 years I was none of these things, just floundering, trying to find a foothold, struggling to figure out what to do with this life. When I began painting again about a dozen years ago, I finally got it. Something clicked into place and my life began to solidify. From a directionless, insecure existence to a life full of passion and drive, almost to the point of obsession. There is no other path for me but to create, absolutely no alternative. Not just to create, but to be at the top of my field. It is my complete conviction to be one of the best living figurative painters. This single-minded drive almost scares me a bit, but honestly I love it. It excites me. It drives me through the days and pushes me. I can see my path, my career so clearly, and I’m filled with an almost ridiculous confidence. Where was all this 20 years ago? I no longer know who that insecure girl was, and I am glad she’s gone.

Is this simply a sign of maturity? You hear so many tales of the “struggling” artist, searching for drive, for inspiration. Are these proverbial artists just young and inexperienced? I don’t get it. Inspiration? If anything I’m too inspired. I have more projects in my head than I could do in a lifetime, with new ideas sprouting constantly. I will die with a paintbrush in my hand, creating till the last moment, I have no doubt. I love this drive! I love watching the path that I have chosen unfold, seeing the next steps uncovered, often surprising me as they appear. Patience is the thing. I sometimes get frustrated at the seemingly slow pace, but then I try and relax and savor each step of this journey. I wouldn’t want to miss any of the fun of it, The joy and satisfaction of each painting as it is completed, the excitement of a new idea… I will get there. My drive won’t allow anything less.

A love letter to New York City.

I’m in love. Madly deeply truly in love. Well not just love but a full-blown obsession. I am like a stalker, yearning after my love, following her, longing to touch her though she is, for the moment, out of reach. What is her name? Who could so captivate my soul? New York is her name, city of my nightly dreams, star of my daily fantasies, the singular object of my infatuation. No doubt my friends are sick to death of my unending chatter about her and wish I’d just move. I’ll watch anything, any movie or show that is filmed in New York just to see her, (this week a 10-movie Woody Allen marathon). I adore everything about her, even the way she smells. The city’s noisy din is my lullaby, her people my joy, her culture my muse. I long to feel her enfold me with all that I am, and know she wants me, too. I’ve never felt more at home anywhere on this beautiful planet than in the embrace of her glorious skyscrapers. I close my eyes and see the Manhattan skyline. I can feel the intensity, the vibration of her. I know where I belong.

My present home of Denver is a fine lady, she simply doesn’t suit me. She’s like an Old West saloon gal, pretty and sparkly on the surface and somewhat entertaining for a few hours, then she’s back home with the cowboys, all jeans and boots and beer. My true love is clever and brilliant, sophisticated and beautiful, always stylish in her Chanel suit, sipping Crystal. Ever alert, ever open, she embraces all. She is leading-edge, not afraid to take chances while at the same time embracing tradition. She is ever in a state of perfect becoming. She is all I want to be, and I revere her.

Farewell my love, until the Gods of Fortune smile upon me and we can be together. I think of you always,

-M Vlasic

An Official Start

La Quema Muertos, oil on board, 24" x 36"

This Friday finds me happily snowed in, with about a foot of snow bringing Denver to a chilly wet standstill. The pugs and I are all snuggled up, sipping hot tea while working on the laptop, getting a few art grant proposals finished up (wish me luck!)

Last night saw the opening night of “Out Figured” at the Center for Visual Arts. It was a beautiful opening, and I am honored to be invited to show among such outstanding artists. We had a great turnout. The show played host to the debut of the first official painting from the Burning Man Portrait Project, “La Quema Muertos” (the Burning Dead). This is Anthea, a BM campmate, great photographer and really sweet girl from LA. I saw her in the Dia De Los Muertos make-up on the last day of the Burn and instantly knew I had to paint her. This is the result. The show will be up until April 7th, I highly recommend seeing the exhibit if you are in town. www.metrostatecva.org

This painting held some unexpected challenges. I thought it would be easier to paint the heavily made-up face, but it proved to be more difficult and time-consuming than I could have imagined. The strange, course “cheap” pink wig was very interesting to capture, as were the odd waxed fake roses on her head. There are lessons to learn with every painting, and this one was a great teacher.

As you may know, it is my intention to return to the Burning Man festival this year to take more photos for the project, and do it “right” this time, with a better camera, better set up, etc. Well the trip may be in jeopardy. This year the BMorg tried a new lottery system for tickets, which has unfortunately turned into quite a fiasco. So many people applied for tickets only about half were selected in the ticket lottery, and I was not one of them. It seems the scalpers have had their way with it this year, and BMorg is trying to sort out the mess. All is not lost however, there are other avenues and where there’s a will there’s a way. I still have a shot at a low-income ticket, so keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning about all the craziness, visit www.burningman.com and read the ticket blogs.

Many more small study paintings for the Project are in the works. If you are not already on my private client list, sign up and get a sneak peak of all the new work before it goes public http://www.vlasicstudio.com/vlasicstudio.com/Guest_Book_%26_Contact.html

What a year…

Yes, I am well aware that it has been 3 months since an entry has appeared in what is supposed to be a weekly blog. I humbly apologize. It has been an eventful year to say the least. These last 3 busy months have been full of madness and mishaps, including my laptop going to the “Mac Doctor” 3 times, internet issues and other computer mayhem, broken household appliances, minor injuries and illnesses, and well, major financial upheaval. There have been many highs as well, including pulling off decor and more for two major events as part of the Fantastic Hosts, a Denver event group I belong to. We had a Halloween event for over 900, and a massive holiday event (the 14th annual) for over 3000 of our closest friends. (you can see images & videos from both of these events on the Fantastic Hosts facebook page,  http://www.facebook.com/FantasticHosts ) Both of these events were a smashing success. Lots of study paintings have already been created (and sold) for the BMPP, and the photo editing is complete. Most of the images are now up on the BMPP facebook fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Welcome-Home-A-Burning-Man-Portrait-Project/169502786438429  I’ve been invited to be in a group exhibit at the Center for Visual Arts (http://www.metrostatecva.org/) here in Denver, and will be debuting the first “gallery” painting for the BMPP, “La Quema Muertos”. Opening day is February 2nd. I also managed to get all the required images, videos and papers to the Burning Man Organization on time, so I’m on track with the first stage of the “legal stuff” completed.

Our holidays were quiet and lovely, much of them spent snuggled up with the pugs catching up on this year’s movie releases, a much-needed respite after this crazy year. Looking forward to my hosting duties for the last Fantastic Hosts event of the year on New Year’s Eve, and looking forward to a 2012 full of success, prosperity and joy, and hopefully another trip to Burning Man in August…this time with my own really good camera.

Wishing you and yours the very best for the coming year,

-M

the Aftermath…

Miles traveled: 2248
Loads of laundry: 8
Days of cleaning: 3
Pictures taken: 682
Bruises: 13
Trip/project expenses: over $8000
Smiles & memories: innumerable

It was, simply speaking, the best Burn yet. The weather was near perfect, hot and mild with almost no wind (and therefore no blowing dust), the art was spectacular, the natives were friendly, and we had an amazing time. We returned home one week ago today, and it feels a bit strange getting back into Denver life. Still recovering in the aftermath of the mad adventure that is Burning Man, and slowing wrapping my brain back around living a “normal” life once again. Burning Man will do that to you, even if you’ve been many times. It’s amazing how quickly you get used to the joyful freedom, the kindness and generosity of strangers, and the loving acceptance of the Playa. People are just different there, and you want everyone to “out here” to be their delightful “Playa “ selves, and it is surprising, for awhile at least, when they are not.

The Portrait Project certainly had it’s challenges, as you know if you’ve been reading this blog, but it all worked out. It was much more time consuming than planned, as all things on the Playa tend to be, and should I continue the project next year (I am seriously thinking of doing so) it will be a bit less planned out than it was this year, and I will definitely be sure to go with a great high-res camera and a few good photography classes under my belt. So many lessons learned out there…I did get some lovely pictures to work with, thanks to the amazing photographers that helped me out in my time of need (www.antheachristensen.com and www.adamcamposphotography.com ) and think there will be some great paintings to come out of all this. I’ve been editing for a couple days now and already have a few images picked out to paint from.

There are so many great moments to remember. The amazing Golden Cafe’, an oasis of decadence in the desert with it’s bakery, gourmet supper club and the best cocktails I had out there. Just an incredible feat to pull off in the middle of nowhere. The art (over 250 installations on the Playa alone) that seems to one-up itself every year, most notably for me  the stunning Temple, which I think was the best yet, and “Charon” by Peter Hudson, this one will haunt my dreams for a long time to come. Friday night on top of the 3-story Purple Palace art car with friends, dancing and watching the big Trojan horse burn. Several delightful encounters and conversations with beautiful strangers. But I think what I’ll remember most is that feeling of riding out onto the Playa at night, the rush I got seeing everything lit up against the dark night, and the energy of 50,000 people having the time of their lives. This place, this experience, sticks with you like no other.

(Pictures will be posted on the project website www.aburningmanportraitproject.com , within a couple weeks.)

2 Days on the Playa…

THURSDAY: For all the joy and wonder that is Burning Man, there is another side. It’s the side that eats your plans. The side that breaks your equipment, injures you, swallows whole the things you need, and laughs in your face. It is extremely challenging to create a project of any kind here, as many Playa artists will attest to. Some thrive on the challenge, and I admire them. Some of us fall apart. This place has a way of amplifying anything you are feeling and dealing with, and well, it’s been a rough couple days for me and the Portrait Project. After many struggles with getting the booth in place and fighting the lighting, it now looks like the camera I brought to use is not going to work. It does take nice pictures (you can see two of them on the right), but they are not going to work to create paintings from. None of the photos taken at the booth yesterday is going to work. It’s something I couldn’t have known before taking them here. Thankfully there is a professional photographer here camping with us that has offered to work with me on Friday (she has a great camera), so it’s not a total loss. However there is still today’s shoot to content with. I will go to Media Mecca (that’s the central meeting place for photographers and video crews here at the event) and hopefully find some willing soul to help tonight. Sigh. Wish me luck my friends. This is one challenge I must overcome.

UPDATE: Just call it the magic of Burning Man…found a very nice photographer to help me out tonight with the shoot. It’s all going to work out…feeling better, having fun. Off to the shoot!

FRIDAY:
Shoot was much better yesterday. Adam from Connecticut, the wonderful photographer I found to help with the shoot, was amazing. What a sweetheart. Some of the connections you make out here on the Playa are just kismet. I hope we’ll be able to stay in touch for a long time to come. I’ll be posting all of his contact info on the website when we get back to Denver. Today is the third and final photo booth day, and Anthea, one of my awesome campmates (and just a gorgeous girl) will be helping with the shoot. She’s a photographer from LA, my birthplace. The weather has been fantastic, best weather I’ve ever experienced here. About 88-90 during the day and 56-60 at night. The wind has been minimal so no big dust storms. Just really great. Been trying to get some video footage and photos out and about, will get more tonight. Seems like we’re just settling into life here, and it’s hard to think we’ll be leaving in just 2 days. We’ve seen so many wonders and met so many great people. I still find it amazing that people come here from all over the world. We’ve met people from Australia, Bermuda, Israel, France, Switzerland & Scotland just to name a few. We’ve met up with old friends and had a couple fun celebrity sightings. (though everyone is a celebrity here) Got to see Beats Antik perform last night which was amazing, and just missed Crystal Method, but they are doing another set again tonight. Looking forward to getting out and playing later after the shoot. We’re planning to go “Deep Playa” and see more of the art installations out there. Tomorrow night is the big night, when they burn the man…

Here and there…

We are there, or rather we are here, and pretty much settled in. Got some desperately needed sleep last night, though still a bit road weary. (only got about 2 hours sleep in two days getting here). It’s hot, windy and dusty, typical Playa weather. Just finished the second cup of coffee and we’re off to set up the project photo booth, register cameras with Media Mecca, and get all the “business” of the project out of the way today. Tomorrow we shoot.

We did manage to get out a bit last night, and it is spectacular here. The art is amazing, a feast for the eyes wherever you look. It seems to get bigger-better-faster-more every year, a sort of one-upsmanship from the year before. It never ceases to amaze. We’ve only seen a tiny fraction of what’s here. I’ll try and get some pictures posted later. Our hosting camp, Whiskey & Dust, had it’s official Opening Night party last night, and it was great. A whiskey tasting, of course. The camp bar was packed with marvelous costumed revelers all night.

A big fat thank you to the people providing internet access here. I don’t know who you are, but thank you. Time to get to work.

8 Days, Delights & Disappointments…

Below is the infamous Beanie Baby Coat & Pants ensemble, perfect for those chilly nights on the Playa…

We leave in 8 days. Yes, I’m getting really excited now. The living room cum “Burning Man Central” is piling higher and higher with all the things we’ll be bringing on this great journey, with still more to come. Next week will be sheer insanity I’m sure with all the last-minute craziness. We’ll be picking up the RV a week from tomorrow and hitting the road late evening. We’re delighted friends Taj and Susan will be riding with us, helping with the driving and to alleviate the road trip boredom. (there is really nothing to see on I-80, just a loooong stretch of a whole lotta nothingness…) I have everything I need for the photo booth now in-hand, and pretty much everything else we need as well. Just one more stop at the grocery store next week. As you probably know by now, I’ll be blogging and posting images every step of the way and at Burning Man (daily, wifi willing) here on the blog and on the Facebook page so you can follow along and see what happening out there. Holy cow, 8 days!

Everything isn’t all peaches & cream. Unfortunately the fundraiser event last weekend did not go to plan, and due mainly to major issues with the venue, the income from the event was a fraction of what it should have been. It was a lot of fun, and everyone that came had a great time. I am very grateful to all the wonderful friends who came out to help and support the project, but now I am honestly under-funded for this adventure. If you’d like to help out, and am very happy to accept much-needed donations for the project, just click the “Donate” button below. Thank you so much for your loving support of the arts.

DONATE

I’ll try and get one last blog in before we leave on the 27th. Oh, and if you happen to be hungry in Denver tomorrow (Saturday the 20th), come visit me (and my paintings) at the Cherry Creek Food & Wine event on Fillmore Plaza in Cherry Creek North, 5-9pm. I’m honored to be one of only two artists asked to be a part of this great event. (and frankly I am wondering how the generally wealthy but conservative Cherry Creek crowd will react to the full frontal nudity in my paintings It will a fun evening! Here is more information on the event: http://www.cherryarts.org/foodandwine/grand-tasting