Paint Them All and Let the Critics Sort Them Out.

-Grant, what's that a picture of?

-I don't know, I just see paint.

The World is Changing

Here is Iggy's request for her commissioned Granteeny-

"The contest came at a timely moment corresponding with the death of an
artist of a different genre: Kurt Vonnegut, who died this past week. I
would like Grant to draw the end of the world as depicted by Vonnegut
in his novel Cat's Cradle.

In the event that the artist and/or his dealer are not familiar with
the story, what it boils down to is that a scientist created a crystal
called Ice 9 which, when it comes in contact with water, immediately
freezes the water. Obviously it is very dangerous, but efforts to
control and destroy this crystal fail. At the end of the book, the
world and life in general are destroyed when the crystal gets out--
and all of the water in the entire world freezes in a spectacular
chain reaction, beginning on an island in the Caribbean. For colors:
Ice 9 is said to turn everything a freakish blue-white.

Grant is free to interpret the characters and imagery of this scene
according to his own genius, and the adding and mixing of colors is
encouraged. I am sure that Grant's portrayal of this literary
masterpiece will help us further understand its meaning, and
understand the life and death of Kurt Vonnegut in this time of tragedy
as we honor him. I am excited to see what I can learn from Grant about
this celebrated novel and author."

Grant could not have been more excited by this subject matter. He obviously hasn't read any Vonnegut; his parents think he is still a little young for that level of existential angst. While making this work, we both learned a lot about hot and cool colors. Grant learned that blues and greens are usually cool colors, and I learned that red is cool too, because; "yes it is!"

Grant calls this piece, "The World is Changing". The marker drawing depicts the Earth from the vantage point of outer-space. The Earth is encircled by a ghostly blue ring constricting around it. This is the Ice 9 as it reacts with the water. Frozen rivers cross the still green landmasses and the oceans turn eerie shades of blue and light violet. Rays of light bounce of the Ice 9, and the world becomes an icy prism.

And the winner is..................

Iggy Enigma! The number was 43. I am shocked that someone guessed it exactly. Iggy, please email me (jrpenrod@gmail.com) and let me know what you would like young Grant to create for you. Please be specific, are there any colors you would like the artist to use? Imagery? Would you like one of his abstract works, or a portrait perhaps? Would you like him to draw while eating a popsicle, to maximize the staining possibilities?

Congratulations, and thanks for entering. We will get back to our regular routine of posting and critiquing, once Grant's sister is in college and I have something resembling free time.

Contest #2

Granteeny has been in Denver for the past week or so. He was invited to speak at a symposium on the theme of "the Time Warp Trio in Contemporary art". Unfortunately, his grandparents gave him the Cars DVD and he watched it on repeat for three days straight, thus missing his time slot at the symposium.

In order to help the artist learn a little more discipline and follow-through, his dealer has asked him to take on a commission. This is how it will work; there will be another contest, the winner of this contest will be able to commission a work from the artist. You may choose the subject and overall color scheme. The artist will most likely ignore your requests and draw something about the Time Warp Trio in whatever color stains his clothing the most. You will accept this with with no right to sue for breach of contract and he will recieve no payment for the commission. Sounds fair right?

Grant is thinking of a number between 1 and 100. Submit your guesses, and whoever comes in closest wins. The winner will be decided on Friday afternoon.

GRANT IS FOUR TODAY! This year for his birthday, Grant will recieve a Magic School Bus party, a bike (shhh, don't tell him), and I will play alligator with him until I throw up, he wets his pants from laughter, or one of us slips on the wood floor and has to get stitches.(alligator consists of me chasing Grant around the house screaming "chomp, chomp! I'm an alligator!) I wil also read him four books at bedtime instead of two. Happy birthday to the world's greatest living artist!