I didn't get to do the next in my set of Winter Starbucks Ladies because the board was already drawn upon. I found an exact copy of what was printed in the Starbucks manual, and the young thing at the register said that this was what would stay there. I asked to see the manager, with whom I have a friendly professional artist relationship, and just today, days later, the manager connected with me while I was sitting slurping my coffee. She had been waiting for me to come in and do the board! But the current pre-programmed graphic has to stay there until it goes out of date, which will be next Tuesday. So on Tuesday evening, if all goes well, I will do the last in my series of winter coffee ladies of fashion.

Meanwhile I am stuck with another picture which resists getting done. I started this earlier this year and then it got interrupted by a whole bunch of other things including my show in June. I didn't get back to it until just a few weeks ago. It is a tiny picture, just 15 inches tall by 9 inches wide, but it needs great care. Since it is a religious icon, everything has to be perfect. And since it is small, perfection is delivered with a 2-0 size brush, known technically as a "super weentsy" brush. I am painting with acrylic which as longtime Electron readers know is a difficult medium to work with. But I am finally getting through with it and I hope to show it to you by the end of the month.

This icon will satisfy all the requirements for "SERIOUS" art, therefore it is worth the time I've put into it. It lacks only a tragic or depressing mood to make it truly serious. However since it belongs to a major religious tradition, that makes up for it. I have often mused just where that line goes between contemptible kitschy pop art, and Serious Fine Art. In the case of fantasy and religious subjects, I believe that the style and treatment have a lot to do with it. If the subject is rendered realistically, as if it were a movie or a photograph, it falls into the pop barrel. What may have passed for highly realistic "fine art" in the nineteenth century, is now considered lower class and kitschy. But if your fantasy or religious subject is rendered in a stylized or abstract way, then the artist has a chance of pulling himself or herself up from the mire of popular art and placing the work in the upper-class world of fine art. Glowing Madonnas or vampire girls will never make it, though, no matter what. I hope that I've added just enough stylization so that my icon will escape the dreaded downward drag.

Posted at 8:24 pm | link