He walked into the bar with a swagger exuding confidence. On his head, he wore a hat reminiscent of the 1940’s, and, the thing was, he pulled it off. He had just finished a long day — nine hours — of painting, and had come back for a nightcap or two. He is Noah Ptolemy, who worked long days to complete a commissioned mural in the hallway at the newly opened Badlander Bar in the historic Hotel Palace building in Missoula, Montana. Over the course of the week, I would watch Ptolemy as he worked tirelessly on the playful expanse that includes a parade of red elephants amid a green sea filled with yellow sailboats.

Over the course of the past year or so, Ptolemy is coming into his own in the Missoula art community. The 26 year old is well traveled, having done time in big cities like New York, Detroit and Seattle, even making it as far as Japan in a search to fill a hole in his life. It was in Detroit that he initially began to realize that art was the missing piece, the thing that would ultimately fill the hole he felt.

After arriving in Missoula, Ptolemy had stopped creating and was feeling edgy and depressed again. He listened to himself honestly and once again returned to creating artwork to heal himself. As he painted, he sold his art in the streets of Missoula to try to make ends meet. Most recently, Ptolemy has been exhibiting at a variety of galleries in town, and his work can currently be seen at The Catalyst .

The first time I watched Ptolemy work, however, I did not know that he was even going to be painting. There was an art event happening at Caras Park downtown that had not been well publicized. Either that, or I just had not been paying attention. It was a Saturday afternoon in early spring, a warm day, and I was walking downtown to grab some lunch. As I crossed the bridge, I noticed the goings-on below me, and I walked down the steps to see what was happening. I wandered through the tent and saw the same familiar food vendors, the same beer tent. But what really caught my eye was a huge wall of yellow canvas that was, even then, drastically changing by the minute. Several other people had gathered to watch the artist at work, and I recognized him as Ptolemy. I walked up as he was painting to congratulate him on such a high exposure piece, and he grinned, telling me that the paints and the canvas had been donated. He wasn’t getting paid, but he was just happy to be able to paint on such a large scale. I could see the joy in his face and was happy for him. He had to work fast, as the painting was to be completed by day’s end. By the end of it, he told me, he was tired and sore from all of the reaching and bending he had to do in order to finish the painting. It was fun for me as a fellow artist to watch him work, but, as a simple casual observer, it was almost as much fun to watch others watch him work, and see the smiles as they witnessed one brushstroke cut a large swath of gray across the field of yellow that had developed, or as an area that looked completely developed disappeared beneath another field of yellow.

More photos of Ptolemy working:

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Last week I wrote about appropriating Missoula’s public spaces for a renegade art show in the alley. As I was still setting up the show, a young mother walked into the alley with her two young sons. I stopped setting up and grabbed a roll of newsprint that I had and tore off a generous sized piece. I duct taped it to the ground and set out two pint glasses of colored Sharpies.

“Are you guys artists?” I asked , inviting them to draw on the paper as I continued setting up. I wanted to keep their mother in the alley so that she could see all of the work, and also so that her presence might attract other people into the alley to look at the art.

The kids colored away busily as I finished setting up. Their mother looked at all of the art, and she was the one who said, “I’m so glad you’re doing this!” Over the course of the evening, many other kids would attack the Sharpies and fill the newsprint with their own spontaneous art. And when I say that they attacked the Sharpies, I’m serious. I’ve never seen such dented Sharpies as I did after those kids used them.



But it wasn’t just the kids that were busy coloring away. I caught at least three adults over the course of the evening gripping the colorful markers and losing themselves for a few minutes.

Home Resource had their annual spring cleaning recently, in which they give away house paint, doors, windows and all other sorts of DIY fix-it goodness. I picked up several gallons of latex house paint with the intention of experimenting in a new medium. It was a rainy day, so I threw all of the paint into the trunk of my car and forgot about it for a few days.

The sun comes out, and I head to my garage to stretch some canvas. Then I remember the paint, so I pull my car around to the garage to unload it. A partially full gallon of “Bistro Yellow” had leaked onto a tarp I have in the back.

No paint got in the car itself, so that’s good.Then it struck me to use the wet paint to paint print on a canvas. I pushed it onto the canvas in random patterns, then left it to dry, as I had other places to be.

I had placed the can on top of some cut glass that was sitting on an old chair. I thought the paint had just spilled from a not-tightly-sealed lid. When I went out into the garage a couple of days later, I discovered that this was not the case, and that there was a hole in the bottom of the can, because it leaked all over the glass and the chair.

Of course, I decided to make impressions on the canvas using the glass with the wet paint on it.

I also peeled away the paint itself, and found that it too was wet underneath, so I used the paint itself as a way to make prints of the wet paint.

I started two different canvases, and neither are finished. It’s fun experimenting an playing, and I’ve needed to do something different for a while, so this could turn into something cool.

With the above canvas, because it’s not treated with Gesso, I’m thinking I’ll soak it with water before applying a wash to it, so that the yellow stands out from the wash and is not covered by it.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with this one, but I know that it isn’t finished.

Today I’ll be tied up fixing this place up and then doing some work out in my studio. It’s my turn to listen to the advice of others instead of doling it out.  With that in mind, I wanted to pass on to you an interesting post from The Happiness Project:

“One of my struggles is to allow myself to spend time on activities that don’t pay off in some direct way. Creativity often involves play, digression, exploration, experimentation, and failed attempts; it doesn’t always look productive.”

The Happiness Project — Eight Tips for Sparking your Creativity

It’s winter, you know this is a perfect time to work on that piece of art you’ve been meaning to get to for a while, now, but you just can’t seem to motivate yourself to work on it. Or maybe you haven’t made any art in a while and have been putting it off for whatever reason. Now is the time to get to it.Before you can “get to it”, it might be helpful to brainstorm why you’ve been procrastinating for so long. What if I’ve lost my edge? you might ask yourself. Or you might tell yourself I can’t think of anything to paint/write about/draw/sculpt/compose.

The “What If’s” and the “Cant’s” are some of the Motivation Murdering Monsters all of us have been familiar with at one time or another. Everyone has his own unique brand of Motivational Murdering Monster, but What If and Can’t seem to be all of their parents.

Let’s dive into five ways that you can destroy overcome any motivation killer.

1. Turn off your computer (and cellphone, and Crackberry). Unless you use your computer itself to make your art, shut it off for a while. Give yourself a specific timeline for how long it has to be turned off. The computer can be as big of a time-black-hole as television, so discipline yourself and turn it off. If you must leave it on, install and run some kind of distraction-killing software like the free JDarkroom for writing. Lifehacker has a complete list of free or low-cost distraction-killing software from which you can choose.

2.Tell others about the project you’re working on. It’s surprising the sense of responsibility that comes with telling others what you’re up to. When you tell others about the new sonnet you’re writing, the new painting series you’ve begun or the symphony you’ve started, they will naturally ask you about it when you see them. This helps you to work on said project because you want to be able to report your progress to your friends and colleagues.

3. Give yourself a deadline you can’t get out of. Some people work best under pressure. If you’re one of them, maybe this tip is the one for you. This is my tactic of choice lately. I have been spending so much time working on making this site what I want it to be that I’ve been neglecting making art. I have committed to a gallery exhibition opening in March, so I need to get cracking.

4. Play. Feeling stuck? Can’t figure out what you want to make, no matter what? Give yourself permission to make some really bad art. Stuff that would definitely make it into MOBA. Experiment with new mediums, color on the walls. Do something artistic that is outside your normal routine. Play for a specified amount of time, be it ten minutes or one hour. Then immediately begin working on your project.

5. Show Up. Just start. Start your painting (yes, I know paint is expensive). Start the next chapter in your novel. Throw some clay on the wheel and just start working. Whatever you do, just do the work, even if you don’t feel like it. Sometimes the most surprising things can happen when you just start making some art.
How do you break through the motivation blues? Let me know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Art, How To, Process

1. Looking at art is interactive and engages your brain. Looking at others’ art might help you to become unstuck on a problem you’re trying to solve in your own work. The particular stroke of a brush, or the way a rusted shred of metal is applied to the larger might give you an Eureka! moment.

2. Because viewing art is usually a public event, you will expose yourself to members of your community. Knowing others in the community accomplishes many positive things including, on the selfish end of the spectrum, exposing yourself to others as an artist; and on the altruistic end of the spectrum it may reveal to you opportunities to become more involved in your community. Spending time with others looking at art also gives you a sense of what type of art your community enjoys.

3. (When viewing online) You will be exposed to a diverse amount of art that would not be possible in real life. Viewing art online is also a chance to take a break from any work you might be doing, while still extracting value from your activity.

4. You will have an opportunity to introduce yourself to the proprietor of the establishment in which the art is being displayed. By doing this, you are laying groundwork for establishing a relationship with this person, thereby enabling you to more easily suggest that your work be shown in this venue at some point in the future.

5. You will begin to develop a more clear idea of how your art should be displayed in a public space. Even if you have been displaying your work for years, another artist may choose to display his work in such an effective way that you may want to adopt that style as an experiment the next time you show your work. If you’ve never shown your work publicly before, or are just beginning to display your work, you might learn about what is expected when displaying your work. Think about things like framing, matting, and the actual hanging of the work, as well as artist statements, guestbooks, and price lists.

6. You can learn what NOT to do. Let’s face it, sometimes you walk into a place and think to yourself, How in the world did this person ever get a show? Maybe you think that because the artwork is terrible. Maybe you think that because the work is poorly matted or framed. Whatever the reason, you can learn from others’ mistakes.

7. Go to gallery openings and learn how the host artist is expected to behave. If you are just beginning to display your work, you are going to be nervous at your first few shows. I’ve been displaying for years, and I’m nervous after ALL of my shows. Attending the opening night of an exhibition of an established artist can teach you how to behave (or sometimes how NOT to behave) when others are praising (or insulting) your work.

8. You will be inspired. Often, when I am feeling listless and unmotivated to make my own art, I purposely go to an art gallery with a blank notebook and an open mind. Sometimes, I see art that makes me want to make art because I know I can do it better than what I’m looking at on some wall. Other times, it challenges me to explore new themes that I may not have explored before.

9. You can learn by copying. Yes, it seems almost juvenile, but copying someone else’s work can help you to learn. Walk into a gallery, and if they allow photographs, snap a few photos to take home with you and copy later. The photos don’t have to be perfect, just enough to give you an idea of what you’re trying to get at. Most galleries will let you take non-flash photos. If they don’t, draw a quick sketch in your scketchbook for later reference.

10. Because it’s fun! And inexpensive.

Do you go to art galleries or look at other people’s art online? Why do you go to galleries. Or why do you view art online? Do you do both? What are some of your favorite sites online to view art? Let me know in the comments.

This blog is an art blog and is an evolving idea. Eventually it will be a place to feature interviews with artists, be they well known or underground, famous or infamous. It will be a place for me to share some of my successes as an artist with “how-to’s”. I will feature video interviews and podcast interviews.

It will also be a place for folks to come and learn about my art. To see it, to explore it, to purchase it (yes!)

Right now, though, it is a work in progress. I’m working to get it tweaked to make it presentable, but currently I guess it’s in its 0.01 release. I’m getting there. Everything is a process, not to be rushed. In the meantime, please feel free to leave comments for things that you would like to see discussed here. Do you want to know more about specific Montana artists? I’ll try to interview them. (Hey, start locally, right?) Are you an artist who wants to have a gallery show, but are afraid to take that next step to make it happen? That article is coming, but if you have specific questions — ask in the comments, or drop me a line. marc [dot] moss [dot] art [at] gmail [dot]com.

I’ll be posting three to five times per week. Be sure to subscribe to my RSS feed here.Thanks for dropping by. There’s plenty of content here already. Why not treat yourself and read some short fiction?

The Blue Moon, a bar where I ate upon my return from Glacier.

Waterfall near McDonald Creek

At Avalanche Lake

Going to the Sun Road is under construction.

Good food to be had near Baab, Montana.

Sunrise near Many Glacier.

View from hike to Grinnell Glacier

Grinnell Glacier

Red Algae near Grinnell Glacier

Evidence of bacteria colonies near Grinnell Glacier