For two weeks in July I painted in Vermont with the Mass Art/Art New England workshops at Bennington College. It is the second year in a row that I've attended and have had positive experiences both times. The first week I took a plein-air landscape class. The second week I continued to work outside in an independent study. Our goal was to paint two "alla prima" paintings per day. Some people did … [Read more...]
La Cena
The recent show in Boston of exquisite work by Spanish artist Antonio Lopez Garcia included a painting called "La Cena" ("The Dinner"), 1971-80. The subject of the dinner table has a long history in painting going back to Pompeii and probably Greece. Seeing Lopez Garcia’s painting of the family meal made me want to re-examine three of my favorite paintings of this subject: one by Monet and two by … [Read more...]
Color Exercises
Most of my adult life, time spent painting happens on the margins of work in high-tech. This fragmented, unpredictable, inconsistent, lack of schedule produces truncated blocks of time. That’s why painting small and fast is an approach that allows me to continue to grow despite interruptions from other responsibilities. My school education in the 1970s and 80s was chaotic and contradictory rather … [Read more...]
Color Charts
In 1976, I purchased "The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques" by Ralph Mayer, following a respected instructor's advice that it was the only book of its kind I would ever need. Too many years later I came to understand how naive I was. Now a growing number of books on materials and methods in painting share shelf space laden with art history, biography, theory, and aesthetics. Paint … [Read more...]
Magnolias — The End
As the magnolia tree finished blooming, a month of painting its flowers came to an end. My mind’s ear keeps replaying The Doors singing “This is the end, my beautiful friend, the end.” The guitar and Jim Morrison’s deadly serious voice conjures up 1968: the American war in Viet Nam broadcast on a black and white tv in the background of a brightly lit wall-to-wall carpeted American suburban … [Read more...]
Magnolia
I have recently come across the painter Tad Spurgeon’s inspiring and extensive website. It is chock full of his oil paintings, elegant writing about the creative process, experiments with materials, and historic research. He connects making art to contemporary life with philosophical patience and humor. It’s been a genuine pleasure encountering his musings, knowledge, and artwork throughout the … [Read more...]
Pictorial Art
While jostling to view a show of 19th century French paintings last week, I thought about how the popularity of Impressionism can sometimes obscure its genius. Monet’s inscrutable touch, temperament and crystalline vision, conjuring appealing sights, can mask his stunning originality. Throughout his long life he expended enormous physical and emotional effort to create his paintings. As I looked … [Read more...]
Magnolia Sketches
I felt dazed for a long time after seeing the movie ‘Crumb’ in 1996. First because the portrait of Robert Crumb’s family was so disturbing. Another documentary, ‘The Confessions of Robert Crumb’ by the BBC, presented a more normal set of family portraits. Second because I envied his obsessive approach to drawing. He drew whatever he saw around him, thought about from memory, or interpreted from … [Read more...]