Art as information
When we paint, we speak to our present generation, but we’re also speaking to the future. Giant deer from the replica of Lascaux. The Irish elk was one of the largest deer that has ever lived. Its range was vast, across all of Eurasia from the Atlantic to Siberia, feeding on the same boreal woodlands …
A marsh painting and why they can be truly terrible
I don’t begrudge people painting for fun, but I assume you read this blog because you’re interested in being the best painter you can be. Beach Erosion, 8X10, Carol L. Douglas, available through Ocean Park Association. I had finished writing a lecture I’d mentally subtitled “why am I torturing you like this?” That’s hard work, …
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Monday Morning Art School: the human face
The best portrait painters drag us into the emotional space of their sitters. Henry VIII at 49, 1540, Hans Holbein the Younger, courtesy Gallerie Nazionali d’arte antica, Palazzo Barberini, Rome My students will be painting self-portraits this week. One of them asked me for a masterpiece to copy. Without hesitation, I recommended the Tennessee painter Tom …
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You can’t abstract if you can’t draw
Try reducing one of these paintings to a notan, and you’ll realize just how much drawing underpins this seeming simplicity. Plein air painting by Tara Will, courtesy of the artist. “Why are you teaching us self-portrait?” a student recently asked me. The human face is the most demanding subject to draw, because very slight errors …
Verisimilitude
Intimate knowledge is a spur to creativity, because it places facts at the disposal of your subconscious brain. Early Spring on Beech Hill, oil on canvasboard, Carol L. Douglas, 12X16, is available through the Camden Public Library. I’m in Boston waiting to board a plane. Logan International Airport bears scant resemblance to the historic city …