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It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Retailmas………

December 14, 2017 By Daniel Arensmeier

It’s Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Retailmas………everywhere you go……….tra la……

Past Thanksgiving, now comes Christmas……..actually should be called Retailmas.  Now we should be doing all of the things we said we were going to do………”after Thanksgiving.”  Ha.  Face it…now it’s “well, after Christmas, New Years, the holidays.”  Tell me about it. Next week we gotta get organized. Having survived Thanksgiving, Mom  Mannes in hospital, family in from around the country…………I have getting after it……..goal: painting everyday in the studio.  Well, almost every day.

Dan Arensmeier Blog Photo

One of the works in progress – a diptych – two large canvases to be displayed in a cycle entitled “Emergence”.  The diptych – two women closest to my heart – literally – stepping out the fog of anesthesia to “breathe me back to life”.

Dan Arensmeier Blog Photo

Another painting –  I have been playing with the concept of art and physics in painting.  This work in progress points out how we looked at our bodies until recently – bones muscles, tendons organs, blood, and how we see them today, atoms, neutrons, neutrinos, constantly moving bits of matter – millions of small, tiny bits of matter that comprise the body………..and until recently the color of energy was RED – for millenia, but ever since the Bunson Burner and its BLUE flame, the color of energy  has been BLUE.

Dan Arensmeier Blog Photo

And I am not just painting each day as a tip of the hat to sanity in this crazy, mixed up world……….I also play the piano in the studio…..to ease my mind.

Dan Arensmeier Blog Photo

And check it out – on the piano a Quang Ho original work – a pair of white Chuck Taylor Cons – given to me by Mary for a birthday, and painted by Quang – complete with an image of moi (?) at the key board of a Baby Grand.

Life is very, very good.

Filed Under: Dan Arensmeier Blog

Extremely Hard to Concentrate on Art These Days

October 5, 2017 By Daniel Arensmeier

We are supposed to appreciate the fact that it is great to “live in interesting times”…but these are perilous times…we are going to have to learn new ways to mourn and get used to the country and the world in turmoil…real, explosive, gut wrenching turmoil and confusion.

Kingston Trio had it right, a long, long time ago…”the whole world is festering with unhappiness…and nobody like anybody very much.”  I really like Jimmy Kimmel’s new campaign slogan “Let’s Make America Great Britain Again”.

In that regard I have been thinking about the ludicrous idea of making this country great again – it is already great – and hence a political painting that I have entitled:  The New Gerrymandering.  I was going to call it, The Lower Fifty Three but thought that was too overt.

The New Gerrymandering by Daniel Arensmeier
The New Gerrymandering by Daniel Arensmeier

I also find myself watching the news less and less and instead divert my attention to things that I can really do…creative things…things I can do something about.

For example, the last time Mary and I were in Sanibel we reveled in the sights, sounds, smells, shells on the Gulf of Mexico (before the dreadful devastation of the recent hurricanes) and yes, the detritus…of the shoreline.  Mary collects the perfect, beautiful, I collect the detritus.

You have to get away from it all – get off the grid….

Beauty in the heavens….

Beauty in the Heavens by Daniel Arensmeier

Beauty in the detritus…

Beauty in the Detritus by Daniel Arensmeier

And, yes I caught a fish last time in Sanibel…

Painting by Daniel Arensmeier

Enjoy it all, be in awe, soak it all in every day that you can.

As Zorba the Greek said “embrace the whole catastrophe”

Cheers!

– Daniel

Filed Under: Dan Arensmeier Blog

Issues of the Heart

January 25, 2017 By Daniel Arensmeier

Hello world, it’s good to be back!

Daniel Arensmeier is back to painting.
People ask me if I am painting again…and YES I am!

Let’s start with a very brief history of Mary’s and my 2016……the long and the short of it…….middle of the year…..a pacemaker…not a big deal but with serious complications.  Lots of time in the ICU, then emergency open heart surgery……wait, wait there’s more…….then a stent and a re-attaching of a pacemaker wire.  Mary Anne tended to me 24/7…….literally. Every moment for five months!

Happily 2017 is off to a healthy, vigorous and alive year!

My point?  I have not been doing much painting or art making for many months.  Well, actually I did a painting….inspired by the recent visit of our famous Grandaughters – ages 12 and 14 – who are curious, crafty and among other things…….painters.  So I produced a mixed media painting on an old piece of plywood that needs to get to the framer.

Here is the photo studio the we were in.

And here is the painting covered in clear acrylic gel, ready for the framer.

Also did some work on a painting in the Sanibel studio.

And I did some drawings in my journal that I have done as preparation for painting.

I do have some concepts percolating away. Actually I did do some drawing in my journal. You do know what I was thinking about.

Because I am trying to catch up with the world here………..funny it kept on going quite well without me running about last year………here’s a brief bit about where I am coming from as an artist:

  • Grew up in rural Oregon near the foothills of the Pacific Coast Range.  Although I think of myself as an “outsider” here’s where I spent some of my time as a youth:
    • Taylor University Liberal Arts Studies
    • Graduated from the University of Oregon, College of Arts and Sciences.  Minored in Drawing and Painting in Art and Architecture
    • Pacific Northwest College of Art – sculpture, two dimensional design and life drawing
    • Colorado State University Art Department – drawing, painting and portrait painting
    • Art Students League of Denver. I studied painting under Quang Ho and Dale Chisman and learned print making
  • Began painting part time until 2001 when I became more serious about it and had my first art show.

Now that I am alive again my goal is to paint full time……..well at least often………maybe part time as I have the energy to do so.  And I want to make it clear that I do not feel as though “one of my children is leaving home” when a painting leaves the studio with a collector.  I actually love it!

I also have had some time to think about all the messy truth that Van Jones talks about it and I have been working on my first political painting.  I’ll show you more as soon as I am completely finished. Here is where I am so far………………

The New Gerrymandering in Progress

The working title so far is:  The New Gerrymandering.

Let me know what you think of the painting so far in the comments below.

So that is my “catch up with the world” statement for this wonderful bright sunny day in Denver.

– Daniel

Filed Under: Dan Arensmeier Blog

My Inspirations Within New York

June 11, 2014 By Dan Arensmeier

“Restaurants in cutthroat New York City come and go like the seasons”.

Given those odds, restaurateur Danny Meyer’s track record is amazing. He has built an empire of 10 dining spots, from Gramercy Tavern and a burger joint called Shake Shack to his original eatery, Union Square Cafe.

People certainly come for the food. But Meyer says that what sets his restaurants apart is something that’s in the air, not on the plate.

Each diner “needs to believe that they’re the only one in the world that matters,” he said.

Good service is important but will only get you so far, Meyer says. Hospitality — the quality that makes customers feel good and want to come back — is what counts.

Meyer shares the secret of his success in a new book, Setting the Table. More than just the tale of a profitable restaurateur, it’s a guide for any business that deals with the public.

Filed Under: Dan Arensmeier Blog

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