Beautiful Day

Today is another beautiful day for artist Jay Rolfe and everyone in the vicinity! I had some computer problems today which I have to get fixed. Since I'm using my wife's computer, I will not post a photo today. I'm still working on administrative and marketing matters.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

68 degree swim

Today is a beautiful day! It was in the mid-60's for our morning walk. The afternoon temperature is now 90! I just took a swim for the first time in several weeks - I stopped when two 40 degree nights dropped the pool temp from the mid- to upper 70's to the 60's. It was 68 a few minutes ago, and it felt cold to me. It seems strange, as been in the ocean and lakes that are colder than that. I guess it's just my mind's expectation for a pool.

Today artist Jay Rolfe, having recently completed 2 major works, is catching up on administrative and marketing matters. Today's photo is of the artist and one of his recent works, Thunderbolt.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"Thunderbolt"

Artist Jay Rolfe was finally able to hang his new 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting Thunderbolt and photograph it. It's height of 10 feet was quite a challange, as the moveable wall constructed to hang and photograph paintings on is at most 9 1/2 feet high.

So here is today's photo of Thunderbolt, the latest 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting by Jay Rolfe. These photos are amateur photos, and not touched up or even lighted professionally. They just give you an idea of the power of the painting which is awesome in person. I'm excited!

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"Star of David"

In honor of today being Yom Kippur, artist Jay Rolfe has chosen as today's photo his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting Star of David which is 8 feet in diameter. It was one of his most complicated paintings to create. Each of the 6 tips of the star recede from a depth of 6 inches to about 1 inch. That was difficult to create. Star of David is part of a larger work titled Give Peace A Chance (a/k/a Peace In Our Time) which is 8 feet high and 35 feet wide.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"Duchamp At The Middle East Peace Table"

Duchamp At The Middle East Peace Table is the latest work by artist Jay Rolfe. It is a large sculpture, his first. It is shown in today's photo in installation view. It consists of a Peace Table with a Peace Symbol top on an Oil Barrel base and 4 participants set on stools around the Peace Table, each represented by a symbol. Three symbols represent religions, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic. The fourth symbol represents Marcel Duchamp.

Duchamp At The Middle East Peace Table represents a lot of creative activity, time, and considerable effort, but the finished piece is well worth it to me. It looks amazing in person. Remember, this is an amateur photo in my dining room (which I had to empty out to take this).

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Courbet's "Nude Reclining By The Sea"

When artist Jay Rolfe saw this painting, Gustave Courbet's 1868 painting "Nude Reclining By The Sea," at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, he realized it must have been inspired by Manet's 1863 "Olympia" which is in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Apparently both Courbet's "Nude Reclining By The Sea" and Manet's "Olympia" were inspired by Titian's famous 1538 painting "Venus of Urbino" which is in the Uffizi in Florence. That in turn was inspired by Giorgioni's 1510 "Sleeping Venus" which is in the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. It is believed that Titian, who was a pupil of Giorgione, completed the sky and landscape of Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus" after his death in 1510. Photos of all 4 paintings are included in the order from top to bottom of Courbet, Manet, Titian, and Giorgione.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Optical Illusion

Artist Jay Rolfe wants to share a truly unusual painting with you. It's not really one of my favorites, but it is amazing. It's an op-art piece done in 1961 by Richard Anuszkiewicz and called "Knowledge and Disappearance." It's a 2 dimensional painting that's an optical illusion. Seen straight on it just looks like a perspective painting with the center receding into the distance. Then seen from either side or from high or low, the center appears to move. So today's photo is 3 different views of this painting which is on view at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, front and center, from the left, and from the right. What a great example of op-art and optical illusion.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"Thunderbolt"

Artist Jay Rolfe completed 2 projects today. First is his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting titled Thunderbolt. It's 10 feet high by 3 1/2 feet wide and more than 8 inches deep. So I don't have anyplace to hang it in my studio or home. So photographing it is hard. While it was laying on a table, I tried taking a photo of it from a ladder with my head and the camera against the ceiling. It is taken from the bottom end of the lightning, so the perspective distorts the size. You can see what I mean, because here it is, today's photo.

The second project is my large sculpture Duchamp At The Middle East Peace Table. I'll attempt to photograph it tomorrow and post a photo of it.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Painting

Today artist Jay Rolfe is working on parts of his large sculpture. Today's photo is of Jay Rolfe painting some of the details of a small part of the sculpture.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Small Piece Of Large Sculpture

Artist Jay Rolfe worked yesterday and today on pieces of his new large sculpture. Just a few more days until I'm finished, I hope.

Today's photo shows artist Jay Rolfe applying a protective coating on the tabletop portion of the sculpture. The fumes are terrible and quite dangerous even according to the label. I know the breathing filter I'm wearing in the photo doesn't do much, but I hope it's better than nothing.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

220th Constitution Day - Freedom For Artists (And Everybody Else Too)

"We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

You probably recognize the Preamble to the Constitution. Today's a fine fall day, blue sky, bright sun, and cool, about 40 degrees when we went for our morning walk. It's the kind of day I imagine it was 220 years ago when the United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. It replaced the Articles of Confederation - that didn't work very well - which were adopted after the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution is an incredibly important document for artists, lovers of freedom, and indeed all citizens, residents, and guests in these United States. It guarantees our freedoms from government interference.

Today is a great day to read, or reread as I am doing, the Constitution. The National Constitution Center two blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia is a great resource. http://www.constitutioncenter.org/ You can read the full text of the Constitution at http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/TheU.S.Constitution/index.shtml. You can print out a copy at http://www.constitutioncenter.org/explore/TheU.S.Constitution/PrinttheConstitution.shtml.

You can also read the text of the Constitution and/or print out a copy from the National Archives website at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html. You can also download a high resolution copy of the actual handwritten document from the National Archives at http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/charters_downloads.html.

Artist Jay Rolfe has a copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence which he bought at Independence National Park and had framed. These documents always hang in my home to remind me of my rights and the rights of all citizens and the limitations on governmental power.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"Arab Chief"

Artist Jay Rolfe and his wife Randy Rolfe spent the day gardening and having fun at the Chester County Restaurant Festival in West Chester. It's an annual event featuring almost all the local restaurants, thousands of people, music, and lots of great food. It was a perfect day for it, sunny and the temperature in the high 60's. Then we stopped at the Four Dogs Tavern and ran into my photographer Michelle Snyder of Bella Photography in Downingtown PA. It was a fun day.

Today's photo is another of my favorites from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (I posted another favorite on Friday, 2 days ago). This is titled "Arab Chief" by Mariano Fortuny, a Spanish painter, and was painted in 1874. It's large, detailed, and wonderful to see.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Creating A Base For Sculpture

Artist Jay Rolfe is finding out some of the intricacies of creating a large sculpture. Just making a simple base is complicated, time-consuming, and required a new very long drill bit.

Today's photo is of artist Jay Rolfe holding an unpainted base for a portion of his new large sculpture.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

"The Moorish Chief"

Artist Jay Rolfe spent today working on some of the unseen parts of his new large sculpture. A lot of tedious work. It involved 2 trips to the hardware store today, and one yesterday. The day was cool and threatened to rain but didn't.

Today's photo is of one of my favorite paintings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's titled "The Moorish Chief" (also known as "The Harem Guard") painted in 1878 by Eduard Charlemont, an Austrian painter. It's quite large and very dramatic and detailed. This photo doesn't do it justice - just as most photos don't do justice to most paintings.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

More Cutting

Here's artist Jay Rolfe cutting some pieces for his stretcher frameworks for his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings yesterday afternoon. It turns out that yesterday involved rather more time cutting than I had imagined, 7 hours of cutting. In addition to cutting out pieces for my new large sculpture, I cut pieces for stretcher frameworks for two 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings. Working outside in the sun for 7 hours was exhausting.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Creating Sculpture

What a beautiful day! A perfect day for artist Jay Rolfe to go outside and cut out pieces for his new sculpture. It's sunny, blue sky, and slightly autumn cool. The photo is of Jay Rolfe cutting out a piece for the sculpture.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Artist Jay Rolfe With "Black Hole" 3-D Painting

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Today's photo is of artist Jay Rolfe and his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting "Black Hole" which is hanging in the artist's dining room.

It rained today, wiping out my plans to be outside using my saws to cut some pieces for my new sculpture. Instead, I went on errands to gather materials for other projects.

Creating A Sculpture

Today's photo is of artist Jay Rolfe painting a part of his new large sculpture. I worked on several parts of the sculpture today.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

New Sculpture

This afternoon artist Jay Rolfe attended an opening reception for local artist Dennis Haggerty at the Chester County Art Association. Dennis had a large and strong show. His specialty is New Mexico (where he spends the summers) sunsets, and they are beautiful.

While at Haggerty's show, I saw local artist Susan Curtin and complimented her on her 3 paintings we saw on display Friday night after the First Friday opening we attended at a new restaurant in West Chester. She paints marvelous still life and barnyard and farm animals. On display were two roosters and a large still life of various kinds of squash.

Today's photo is of artist Jay Rolfe working on a part of the large sculpture I mentioned in my post on Wednesday, September 5, 2007. It's going to be very interesting!

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Matisse "Goldfish" at the Pushkin Museum

Last night for First Friday, artist Jay Rolfe went to an opening reception for a group show of West Chester University faculty members at Art Trust Gallery in West Chester. There was some very interesting work. Rolfe had a great time with many artists friends during and after the show.

Today's photo is another painting by Henri Matisse at the Pushkin Museum called "Goldfish," although they have translated the title into English as "Red Fish." It was painted in 1912. It's perhaps the nicest Matisse goldfish painting I've seen. This image is from the Pushkin Museum website, http://www.museum.ru/gmii/defengl.htm, down near the bottom of the very long page. I have added the photo I took of that painting in which the colors appear more vivid (which is how I remember it). I'll have to go back and see which coloring is more accurate. Seeing it in person is always better, as photos almost never do justice to paintings.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Matisse at the Pushkin

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Today's photo is one of my favorite Henri Mattise paintings from the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, "Nasturtiums And The Dance," painted in 1912. This was apparently painted before "The Dance" left his studio. It's a large and colorful painting, very typical of Matisse.

Last night I went to two gallery openings, one for my friend Antonio Puri at Rosemont College, and one for Erica Brown at The Arts Scene. Puri showed strong work consisting of 6 large scale paintings. They were all non-objective and very well received. Erica's paintings were, by comparison, small, but quite interesting, and reflected her Tyler Art School training.

Uplifting Conversation Pieces

Artist Jay Rolfe believes his large 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings are Uplifting Conversation Pieces. "People have an immediate emotional reaction to my paintings. My paintings bring up feelings of something that is now or was in childhood important to them. The feelings are almost always uplifting. And they stimulate conversation. Guests are amazed and love to talk about them." Rolfe enjoys creating his unique and uplifting conversation pieces.

Today's photo is Yellow Brick Road which is 8' high, 4' wide, and 3.5" deep 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas painting. In "The Wizard of Oz," the yellow brick road symbolized the journey to get what you want. For many viewers, it has that association when they see my painting.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Creating A Painting

Wow! This is post number 101 for artist Jay Rolfe on this blog! Since returning from summer vacation, starting August 9, 2007, there has been a post every day.

Today's photo is of artist Jay Rolfe working on one of his multi-part 3-D stretcher frameworks.

Today I drilled the holes to assemble the 3 multi-part stretcher frameworks I've been working on the past several days. This needs to be done before the canvas is attached, as there isn't room for a drill to fit into several of the pieces after the canvas is stretched over the 3-D stretcher framework. I also started on a sculpture I've been thinking about for quite a while. It will be my first large sculpture.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Back To Work

Today artist Jay Rolfe completed the stretcher frameworks for three new 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings. I had a great and relaxing 3 day break from painting for the Labor Day holiday weekend.

I intended to post a photo of me working this morning. I was just downloading photos of me working earlier today when I lost all of them. The door to the camera compartment that holds the memory card came open and the memory card became unseated. The camera was on and it lost what was on the memory card.

So, for today's photo, how about another Monet from the Pushkin Museum, one of two views of Rouen Cathedral in the Pushkin collection, this one titled "Rouen Cathedral at Sunset." It's beautiful, and it was great to see two of the series Monet painted side-by-side. The lighting was dim in the museum, so the colors aren't as bright as they really are.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Another Monet at the Pushkin!

Today is Labor Day in the U.S. Artist Jay Rolfe is taking a break from painting this Labor Day weekend, although he is planning a new series of paintings.

Today's photo is another Monet at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The title is "Boulevard de Capucines, Paris" and it was painted in 1873. It was one of Monet's paintings exhibited at the first exhibition of the Impressionists (another of his paintings, "Impression Sunrise," inspired the name Impressionists for the rebel group of painters). This is a beautiful painting. For me it was an unexpected subject for Monet, as I was familiar with the series of Parisian Boulevard paintings by Pissarro but not with this Monet. The perspective from one side of the Boulevard to the other and the trees in the foreground make it quite different from the Pissarro paintings which generally look right down the middle of the boulevard with buildings on both sides. I've included the thumbnail photo, all of which are portrait orientation, from the Pushkin Museum website which shows the colors accurately, and my photo of the painting which shows the landscape shape accurately.

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

Monet at the Pushkin Museum

This is the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.

There are a number of fine paintings by Claude Monet at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, 11 to be exact. One is a large painting of a somewhat different subject for Monet, titled "Luncheon on the Grass," painted in 1865-1866. It was apparently meant to be a large but "modest" reply to Manet's large and scandalous"Luncheon on the Grass" of 1863 which had been rejected by the Salon that year as indecent. Monet's painting is impressive in its size, detail, and casual positions of many of its subjects, as if they were captured by a candid photo. While "Luncheon on the Grass" is not my favorite of the Monet paintings at the Pushkin, it is the most unusual.

Here's a photo of Monet's painting at the Pushkin, and one of Manet's painting which is in the Musee d'Orsay in Paris. Here is a link to Manet's painting. http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/luncheon-on-the-grass-7201.htmlorsay.fr/en/collections/works-in-focus/search/commentaire/commentaire_id/luncheon-on-the-grass-7201.html

Van Gogh at the Pushkin Museum

Artist Jay Rolfe intended to move on from sharing his fascination with the Van Gogh paintings in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow without showing you the fifth painting because it isn't very different from other Van Gogh's you can see in museums in this country. However, to be complete, I'll show it to you. It's titled "Portrait of Doctor Rey" and was painted in 1889. I've seen other portraits of Doctor Rey, and this one has a different background and in particularly well done. This completes the 5 Van Gogh paintings at the Pushkin which changed my view of Vincent Van Gogh. I hope you enjoyed seeing photos of them. I sure enjoyed seeing the originals.

That's the latest step of artist Jay Rolfe on his Journey From Starving Artist To 21st Century Picasso. You may view some of Jay Rolfe's unique artistic idea, his 3-D Shaped Stretched Canvas paintings, on his website at http://www.3dssc.com/.