Bermanboards

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Bermanboards

New Bermanboards

2017 is starting off nicely with a few new BermanBoard Extreme Sport Board (X-Board) designs featuring some of my recent artwork.  My boards can be outfitted with trucks and ridden or hung on a wall like fine art using my patented skateboard bracket I call the Deck Dock.

To the right you'll see a crazy skateboard arrangement I did for a show in Calistoga, CA. last year.  People loved it and I showed both my printed and painted skateboards.

BTW - you can see one of my Deck Dock brackets on the box to to the lower right of the photo.

Pop Music Skateboard

Urban Fabric Skateboard

Engage Art Fair 2016

Calistoga, CA.

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Optimism

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Optimism

The Power of Optimism

This week's quote is provided by Helen Keller.

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence"

Title:  T for Tough

Size:  10" x 8"

Medium:  Oil & Colored Pencil on Canvas on Panel

Copyright:  2016

Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.  Think about that for a second.  Could you imagine what affect blindness would have on a painter?  How about a sculptor?  Artists sometimes get wrapped up in larger "stuff" regarding gallery representation, awards, recognition, achievement, acknowledgement, etc. but often lose sight (no pun intended) of how lucky they are to see and sometimes hear the creation of their own work.

Artists often talk about their work but the act of painting, sculpting (making their 'mark') is a more truthful manifestation of the hope and confidence they have in themselves and the world around them.  Nothing expresses the hope and confidence an artist has in themselves as crafting their work year after year and the subsequent growth and development that is a reward for their diligence.  I've heard many a time about the 'mistakes' that an artist makes but those mishaps are keys to creating confidence since it is overcoming those obstacles that is the very foundation necessary for achievement.  Success is a byproduct of failure.

I am a self-taught, Outsider artist who started painting after meeting Robert Rauschenberg in late 1989 at a book signing taking place at his NY studio.  The book was Kiki's Paris and was written by Billy Kluver and Julie Martin.  What struck me most while I was walking around Rauschenberg's studio looking at the work he had on his walls was that this was an artist who had supreme confidence in himself and was clearly able to make a living doing his artwork.  That was an epiphany for me.  I was always told that I had to get a 'real' job by my parents, teachers, etc. If that was the case then how do you explain what Robert Raushenberg was doing both in art and life?

When I first started painting I didn't have enough money to take a class so I read how-to books on painting and painting techniques.  I read The Artist's Handbook by Ralph Mayer as well as a host of other books including artist biographies which described in greater depth the overall environment in which the artist worked (This is where Kiki's Paris was an instrumental introduction since it was a glimpse into the life of the artists).  I identified with many of the artists and artist biographies including that of Georges Braque who is my favorite artist.  To me his work with Cubism, along with that of Picasso, ushered in a new world of 'seeing' that took the visible world and transformed it into an architectonic intellectualism that made it possible for the viewer to see more than the object itself.  I was hooked!

So I painted ... a lot ... and started to learn the properties of the oil painting medium.  I was free to explore, make mistakes, have fun, etc.  Braque and Picasso opened up a world that I didn't know existed and with the inspiration from my chance meeting with Robert Rauschenberg (who in many ways to me is Cubism 2.0) I was ready to go.  And although at the time I lacked the skill and proficiency to paint I had faith that it was something I could learn and I was optimistic that I would find my way in creating my own work.

Tip of the Trade

  • In building the layers of an oil painting it is essential to build your painting using lean layers first.  One method I like to use is to work with black, white and grey gesso over a black primed canvas or panel to build the composition.  The tinted gesso underpainting gives me a very lean grisaille to add fatter paint layers and colors.

 

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Persistence

Persistence

The Art of Persistence

My preferred method of communicating with the world around me is visual.  So my objective in starting this weekly blog is to pair examples of my artwork with actual quotes from great people whose media of choice is the written word.  My hope is that there will be a synergy between the two media that inspires the reader's imagination and motivates them to pursue their calling.

Title:  Lady Liberty

Size:  48" x 36"

Medium:  Oil & Oil Bar on Canvas

Copyright:  2006

Below is one of my favorite quotes from Theodore Roosevelt who said:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

What I like most about this quote is that a key component to 'success' is persistence.  No matter what business you are in you have to be determined to start at point A and finish at point B.  It is understood that there will be ups and downs along the way but as you start to climb your mountain you have to keep the summit in mind at all times.

In describing the concept and meaning of my painting above entitled Lady Liberty I wanted to combine the raw energy and power of the urban environment surrounding New York with the mechanics of our modern age.  At the time of Roosevelt's quote, America was just getting started transitioning from the agrarian based economy that dominated its early history to embracing the new opportunities inspired by the Industrial Revolution.  And now, even as I write this blog, we are underway as an entire world in embracing new opportunities as part of the High-Tech Revolution which has made this blog even possible.

This is the art of persistence that I refer to in the heading.  It is a key component of human nature to strive and keep learning, growing and finding new mountains to climb or problems to solve.  Hidden within persistence is growth, knowledge and eventual success.

Thus, an artist must be persistent to be successful.

Finding Ken Berman

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Finding Ken Berman

Over the past year I have been working on several fronts updating my painting techniques, building my studio store, and working on a new website.  Although I have been working since 1998 on the themes that dominate my work this website represents the start of a new chapter in my development as as artist.

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