Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Enderlin, Bob Dylan and Steve Irwin



Lemony Field, 2006, Oil on Panel, 12x12










The opening at Enderlin Gallery went very nicely. There were people there when I arrived and it was still going strong when Doug and I ducked out a bit early. Roxbury is about two hours away from where we live so obviously it is a whole different crowd, and we didn't really know anybody there. However, I have been in several group shows earlier this year and so a few people came in that I had met previously as well as a couple of people who had bought some of my work and wanted to meet me. I also spent a lot of time talking and comparing notes about art with the other painter in the show, Sara Harris. Sara and I have similar backgrounds, an arts education, working in related art fields, taking a number of years away from art to do other things and both of us have come back to painting just in the last few years. She also does landscapes and has a very strong color sense. I particularly liked her more abstract imagery (you can see her work here). One of my pieces (Lemony Field, above) sold during the opening, and if I had been interested in selling a painting at half price I could have sold another (I declined that offer, happily I am not so desperate as to sell my already rather inexpensive paintings at such a discount).

So as I said, Doug and I left a bit early so that we could head up to Cooperstown in order to catch the Bob Dylan concert. We saw him two years ago in the same venue, on Double Day field and this show, like that one, was awesome. We managed to get much closer to the stage this time and a lovely couple next to us loaned us their binoculars so I was able to get a good look at Dylan. His voice sounded shot, but he seemed much more animated than usual. Even though he was playing keyboards and facing to the side of the stage he often looked at the audience and even smiled a few times. Pretty good for Dylan! Most of the music he played was from his new CD, Modern Times, which I have but haven't had a chance to really listen to yet. The older songs that he performed were It's Alright Ma, Highway 61, Lay Lady Lay, I Don't Believe You, Younger Than That Now, Simple Twist of Fate, and Like a Rollingstone, All of the music had a kind of Texas swing, and maybe rockabilly blues sound to it, which really gave the old songs a different sound. Most of the time he was well into a song before I recognized it. I like the concept of changing old arrangements and finding new ways to perform the same songs, in fact I feel that's what I often do by painting the same subjects over and over, finding new things to say about them each time. But I must admit that I would have liked to hear some of the songs in their original form, uh, mostly so I could sing along a little bit. So sue me. I am fairly new to Dylan and am used to hearing the recorded music. He was also all decked out in country style attire (the whole band was), cowboy hat, boots, black suit, and a white shirt with sparkly rhinestones on his collar and cuffs. He looked almost normal, kind of smooth but a little flashy too, so that was interesting after having seen some of the get ups he's had over the years. The band was also great by the way, they are the same band that played on his new album and they seemed pretty tight.

The crowd was thin and very well-behaved, at least in our immediate area. Unlike the last time, this show was not sold out and it was also really crappy weather, cold and drizzly. There was much pot around us and at some point I could smell some incense burning so that was a real flashback to college for me.

I guess our concert season is over for this year, unless something else comes up. I am very happy that we've been able to fit all of these shows into our busy schedule and it's been fun to write about the shows. Hopefully I will be able to retain the experiences better after writing it all down.

Am I the only one who has trouble remembering stuff anymore?



PS. I just wanted to add that we were all pretty sad here to learn of Steve Irwin's death. Our oldest son has always been extremely interested in animals and has seen every everything regarding the Crocodile Hunter and we all enjoyed his stupid, yet enjoyable and silly movie a few years back. K's goal in life is to work with animals, (had to break it to him that there aren't really any jobs catching crocodiles and boa constrictors, at least not locally) so Steve Irwin has been a very informative and entertaining part of our lives for the last ten years or so. I used to tease our son by saying "crikey", it was always good for a little smile and eye-rolling at how embarrassing mom can be.

9 comments:

June Parrish Cookson said...

Tracy, I tried to post a comment earlier which was very long in reference to Dylan. Hope this one works and gets published. By the way, when I went to publish my comment, blogger returned with a reply saying your blog did not exist. What's up with that? And boy did I have a time yesterday trying to fix glitches in my blog. The newbie has now experienced Blogger-Hell! Anyway, here goes.

Congrads on your sale of "Lemony Field". As always, it's yet another piece that is amazing and so very beautiful. And thank you for your comments and suggestions about using oils. I did at one time use turpenoid but even this bothered me. Maybe there's a product out there that my sensitive being can handle! Also, thanks for the link. I greatly appreciate it.

In regards to Dylan...

Never cared for his music much until just recently I watched a PBS documentary about his life and music. The guy blew my mind! He seems honest and unpretentious which I like in a musician. Wish I had been more open-minded years ago whenever I heard him on the radio.

Best to you Tracy,
June

Ed Maskevich said...

I have always been a great fan of Bob Dylan's work. It is rather sad, to me, that he is not only doing a satellite radio show but that he is peddling i-Pods. How sad, he is the icon of a generation.

Lucia said...

I might even go to an upcoming Dylan concert now. The last few times he was, well, wooden...so animated, that'd be a new one. His voice has been shot for several years already. I watched that documentary too. It was awesome.

Tracy Helgeson said...

June, sometimes blogger gets funny about comments. I couldn't post a comment for awhile today either, on my blog or anyone else's.

Did you see No Direction Home? We have that DVD set and it's great!

Ed, I don't entirely disagree with you, however I view his radio show as a chance to try something different. I am a Sirius satellite girl myself so I have only heard bits and pieces of his show, but he is getting great reviews for it. I think it's pretty cool that he is doing something outside his usual comfort zone, which includes his book also. The ipod thing is more complicated. It does seem like he's selling out to be pitching for a product but he also has a collection available on itunes so the commercials may be tied into selling that and ipod with the record co. because, well, they want to sell the collection and ipods to play it on. He has so often said that he doesn't like being called an icon and so I am not comfortable in judging him by those standards. If he wants to hawk a product for whatever reason, he should. I have decided to look at it with the view that he is keeping up with the times and technology. I can admire him for that.

Hi Lucia, Dylan is definitely worth seeing. And it seems that he will be on tour for a long time. I am glad to be able to say that I have seen Dylan in real life (even if I did need binoculars).

meno said...

Hi Tracy,
Wow, you got to see Bob Dylan? I am pea-green with envy. Of course he might be touring around here sometime, but that might mean going somewhere with large crowds. Have you read the book "Positively Fourth Street"? It's a pretty interesting account of the early years of folk music, and BD was a big part of that.
Whomever bought that painting is lucky, it's beautiful.

tlwest said...

Steve Irwin's Death... I know what a SHOCK!! I am truly saddened- my son use to immitate him :)
Any way Your painting is beautiful! God Bless!

brian edmonds said...

Tracy

Like your work. Who are your influences? I see a lot of Wolf Kahn for instance and even a little Rothko from the 40's and 50's. The way you use washes of color on top of a solid color creates a nice feel.

Tracy Helgeson said...

blmgMeno, He is mostly playing smaller venues these days, so I would keep an eye out for him. The show we went to was pretty small, only 2000 tickets were sold. I haven't read any books about him, though I have a few in my to read pile.

Thanks, Terri for the compliment. I am kind of surprised about what big news Steve Irwin's death still is. I thought we were the only ones who knew who he was.

Brian, Thanks for visiting my blog and for commenting. I have an illustration background so I'd say my influences are more realistic painters such as Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargeant, Vermeer, vanGogh etc. I didn't really know much about Wolf Kahn (I have written a few posts about him) or Mark Rothko until fairly recently, after people suggested some similarities in my work and theirs. (yeah, right!) I learned how to work with underpaintings in college based on the classic manner of glazing, but have, in the last few years developed the process a bit more and in a less classic direction I'd say.

Schuivert said...

Great painting!