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ART RUSH

 
BLOG -Newsletter

ART RUSH -Aiming to show a fuller picture of the breadth of Cheryl Johnson's paintings and her artistic career. 

We will feature our favorite stories, podcasts, interviews, and videos from the archive, ...

Cheryl Johnson is an artist and writer, an Imagineer, and a motivator. Read her stories, guest bloggers, and writers and discover interesting content and information you will enjoy and want to read more, see, like, and love.

“how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives”

-annie dillard


Denis Diderot family which always had art in mind, and we are

proud to continue that tradition with your presence as part of this legacy. In Diderot’s words:

"First of all, move me, surprise me, rend my heart;

make me tremble, weep, shudder, outrage me!

Delight my eyes, afterwards, if you can...

Whatever the art form, it is better to be extravagant than cold."

-Denis Diderot: Artist, Writer, Philosopher and frequent guest of the Château (1713 - 1784)

January 18 

Rambling Thoughts

Indecisive moments 

Cheryl Johnson 

You’re indecisive because you’re afraid of making the wrong choice. You’re approaching it as if the choice you make will be irrevocable, and if you choose wrongly you’ll doom yourself to misery. In most cases, if you feel like you’ve made a mistake you can take steps to change it. This applies in most situations in creating art. You have the ability to make a mark, change its direction, cover it or let it continue.


cheryl johnson painting st. lawrence river

Cheryl Johnson painting the St. Lawrence River-Commission 

60" x 72" inches

Cheryl Johnson  is pleased to introduce our new artist-centric newsletter ART RUSH Blog and Newsletter where we'll take the time to delve deeply into one artist in the Cheryl Johnson archive of paintings. Aiming to show a fuller picture of the breadth of Cheryl Johnson's artistic' career, we will feature our favorite stories, podcasts, interviews, and videos from the archive, as well as new and upcoming projects.

I believe that to be an artist you must have a spirit of openness. To be truly inspired, to live and create magically and extraordinarily, we must first be in awe of life, immerse ourselves in wonder, be a friend to imagination, curiosity and mystery and be a lover of rapture.

The prayer of Jabez is a very short yet powerful prayer mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:10. It reads:

“Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”


TMIHEUC

Been ages since I have blogged saw this on a Louise Fletcher  Artist site. Thank you.


I have been re-reading Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Marie Rilke, which has always been one of my favourite books. René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), better known as Rainer Maria Rilke (German: [ˈʁaɪnɐ maˈʁiːa ˈʁɪlkə]), was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist. He is "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets".


Rilke was a poet who had achieved some success and he was approached for advice by an aspiring writer. Over the years he sent letters to the young man, each one filled with incredibly wise advice about the creative process. After Rilke's death, the letters were published as a book and each time I read it, I find something new. This time, it was this quote:

 

I know no advice for you save this: to go into yourself and test the deeps in which your life takes rise; at its source you will find the answer to the question whether you must create. Accept it, just as it sounds, without inquiring into it. Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and find everything in himself and in Nature to whom he has attached himself.


PLAN TO ATTEND SHOW UP UNTIL JANUARY 4, 2020

Rap·ture

/ˈrapCHər/

RAPTURE LUCHITA HURTADO

“To be in this park, with these trees, it’s just the joy of life.” Luchita 
Born in Maiquetía, Venezuela, in 1920, Luchita Hurtado has dedicated seventy years of her painting and drawing practice to the investigation of universality and transcendence. Inside her Los Angeles home and studio, Hurtado reflects on connections that exist between the body and its larger context – nature, the environment, the cosmos. Hurtado
Now 99 years old.  We are all alone.

I am inspired and amazed by her work and vitality.  She paints what she knows and feels. I must learn to do the same. Thank you Luchita

Perhaps you admire an artist or their style or technique.

Perhaps you want to learn from other artist and wonder. “How do I go about it?”

Is copying o.k.? READ MORE

Look to this day,

for it is life, the very breath of life.

In its brief course lie

all the realities of your existence;

the bliss of growth,

the glory of action,

the splendor of beauty.

For yesterday is only a dream,

and tomorrow is but a vision.

But today, well lived,

makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,

and every tomorrow

a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.


SIGNING

“Why don’t you sign all your paintings on the front?” 

This is  just one of the many questions I often hear.

A few reasons: It depends on the painting and if I think signing will take away from the continuity. 


Then I prefer the painting to be not-disrupted, I often sign simply Cheri or at other time use my  full signature CJohnson or Cheryl Johnson added with a paint pen or with a brush.

Then there are times I think  people may like to turn my paintings a different way! 

But each one is signed and dated on the reverse and includes the catalog number and a label telling you more about the series and the finish - whether it’s been varnished, sealed or waxed.

Who is Cheri, Cherinow and Cherah Boryl Jaurvaii...?   In my earlier career I used nicknames, pseudonym and family name to create a wonderful body of work.

ART SALON SHOW GREAT SUCCESS

DON'T MISS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE CHERYL JOHNSON'S WORK DISPLAYED IN A BEAUTIFUL HOME SETTING.

If you are looking for inspiring art for your walls there is an opportunity to shop for great art.

SIGN UP NOW TO GET YOUR SPECIAL INVITATION TO ATTEND THE NEXT ART SALON CLT SHOW. 

cheri@cheryljohnsonartist.com


This unique opportunity brings a wide variety of selected artists together and showcases their work in a beautiful private home located in elite residential areas of Charlotte. The Art Salon Charlotte represents upcoming and established artists from all over the East coast, bringing thoughtfully curated collections of works at excellent prices to those interested in collecting art. 

For many years, the founders of Art Salon Charlotte have been assisting friends and clients in finding and selecting art work that matches their specific preferences. Please join us to view and possibly purchase gorgeous works of art.

Home of Meghan and Justin Lay - 310 Heathwood Rd. Charlotte, NC 28211

March 28-2019

THOUGHTS

I LOVE EXPLORING ARTISTS WORK AND I am CONTINUALLY INSPIRED

 I love writing and continually prattle, chortle, guffaw.

My thoughts.

"visible", "invisible"

hollow space

empty glass

full glass

pour me another McCallan's

November 27, 2017

Today I explored Blue. "I have been asked how do I start a painting. First I breathe deeply, and my spirit prays, and then I let my pencil take a walk guided by my mind and I begin to trace the shapes of space and boundaries in my everyday life. I move with intention as my body feels. Then I sit back and look. Intently look. When various senses appear to be woven together with the impressions of my reality, I stop. Shapes and colors appear that my mind has come to embrace, and with each addition of form and universal shapes that my heart longs for, another day appears on my canvas. I'm attempting to create my everyday. Painting for me is essential. It is my being speaking and living.  I am painting atmospheres; emotions and actions that can't be expressed by words; perhaps exuberant and then nothing special, but surely existing." I believe abstract art can carry metaphorical meanings. 

To me, something is metaphorical when you use it to stand for or symbolize, another thing. For example, a dark sky in a poem might be a metaphorical representation of sadness. Although this world is filled with blue it does not mean I am able to feel blue - No one actually ever feels like the color blue, although many people say they are "feeling blue" to mean they are feeling sad.

But to me in this blue, I am remembering the sky. Exhaulted and never ending, uplifting. 

Joy 

My heart is overflowing with joy.

Thursday, November 9, 2017


I wake up every morning with a song of joy playing in my mind. I choose to look forward in anticipation of all the wonderful things that lie ahead of me.

Making a choice to be happy is not always easy but I know it is worth doing. It sets the tone for everything that is to follow. I commit myself to seeing the good in life. Even if something appears to be negative, I affirm that there is more to it than meets the eye. What seems to be wrong could be just a blessing in disguise!


 

The joy I feel is so strong that I feel compelled to share it with others. I remind myself that one simple smile or kind word can turn someone’s day completely around. It fills me with happiness to know I can be an ambassador of divine joy and love.


Whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy.—James 1:2

RAMBLINGS

LOUD Silence

You need to be loved

You need to be recognized

You matter

People value what you are doing

You need to hear public praise twice

I did not listen the first time

Tell me again

Someone to say

You spent your life well.

Easy does it

Not really

Life is hard

Really

Work

Work made

Work made by

Work made by the hand

My hand

Really

Heavy

Headed

Light 

hearted


I am an Eternal optimist. I keep going. Keep Painting. Flying.

Kaua'i -based artist, photographer and Imagineer. I paint emotions, people, places and things. I am an American Abstract Expressionist Painter and Photographer.

As Ansel Adams says... “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” And to quote my favorite painter, Joan Mitchell. "Feeling is something more; it’s feeling your existence. It’s not just survival. Painting is a means of feeling ”living”… .Painting is the only art form except still photography which is without time. Music takes time to listen to and ends, writing takes time and ends, movies ends, ideas and even sculpture take time. Painting does not. It never ends, it is the only thing that is both continuous and still, Then I can be very happy. It’s a still place. It’s like one word, one image." I agree...I want my work to exude joy, celebration, measured clarity and a sense of self. Creating art is more about communicating what I’m feeling than what I’m seeing.  About me.

SOLD Painting "Study of George Dyer by Francis Bacon.

Read more:

Now what

Lost in the Finding

time moves

days are explored

life is lived

memories are erased

feelings are declared

on anxiety's edge i balance precariously between pause and flow...

Musing Reflection -Prattle

amble, stumble, 

regain

guffaw, chortle

mindless prattle

cleavor; perhaps dull.

 

white thoughts,

black days

 

fear to halt.

 

sounds of yes 

hearing

no no no no no

 

soaring, flying, finding, 

unwinding, unyielding

unfolding, unbinding

delighted in resting

 

THIS PLACE

tired of trying

wanting


 longing for

yes yes yes yes yes

 

whenever, whatever

perhaps today

hopeful tomorrow


 

Memories

Since I was a little girl I’ve anchored in my heart or paired memories with the location and the people who were there, from sisters, Bonnie and Marlene, Auntie Swea or cousin Linda to now my Partner CA. I always subliminally worry about forgetting memories I create with my loved ones, and when I am able to capture some of that I know it will stay with me. Read more.

Art makes $$$$$ for you

Can you really make money from your art? Read more

Why I Paint

"I paint because I must. It is my passion and my joy and my release of emotion."

As I continue to explore and learn more about the process of painting I am finding my preference and primary medium is oil paint on canvas. The richness of the colors and ability to glaze influences my choices and enables me to work more freely.  Read More

70 TIMES COMPLETE

For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I

will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes.-Jeremiah chapter 10.  ...I felt it was a word from the Lord just for you. Read More

GUSTAV KLIMT

I came across this article and was thrilled to see it as this Gustav Klimt is one of my favorites.  Read all of Artnet News it is one of my favorite sites to keep current

Oprah Winfrey made a pretty penny selling Gustav Klimt‘s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II (1912) for $150 million in 2016, reports Katya Kazakina for Bloomberg. The buyer is allegedly an unidentified Chinese collector, who pulled the trigger on the purchase over the summer. Read more. 

JAN. 26, 2017 Soulage, de Kooning, Kline

I continue to explore the works of many artist and have been drawn to the Abstract Expressionists, Soulage, William de Kooning and Franz Kline. Read about these wonderful artists. 

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“I am who I am because I’m doing what I want to do, not what I’m told to do.”

Luchita Hurtado

Channeling Joan Mitchell

"I am very much influenced by nature as you define it.… I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me—and remembered feelings of them, which of course become transformed. I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with. All art is subjective, is it not?" 


—Excerpt from a letter written by Joan Mitchell in 1958, in John I.H. Baur, Nature in Abstraction: The Relation of Abstract Painting and Sculpture to  Nature in Twentieth-Century American Art