Visiting Paradise with Susie and Marilyn
When my friend Susie arrived at the farm where we’d agreed to meet, she raised her arms and said, “Paradise!” It was a lovely farm alright, but Paradise?We wandered. We…
Field sketch to finished painting
Here are two paintings by Tom Thomson which demonstrate how he went from a field sketch to a finished painting. He changes the aspect ratio a bit but it’s blown…
Napoleon I on his Imperial Throne
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Ingres,_Napoleon_on_his_Imperial_throne.jpgMy husband and I saw the show “Citizens and Kings” at the Royal Academy of Art in London. Three months later, the painting which sticks in my memory is Ingres’…
Delaware Water Gap
A water gap is a place where a river cuts a notch sideways through a mountain range. Geologists tell us this indicates a river which is older than the mountains…
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York
Since Monday was a day of heavy rain, painting outdoors without shelter was out of the question (eventually the paint starts sliding off the canvas). The Cathedral kindly gave me…
Gwendolyn enters the room
Gwendolyn is a beginning watercolorist who is reengineering the world of plein air for her classmates (and for me). She has made her French easel more functional than I ever…
How did I end up with more than fifty tubes of paint in my studio?
OK, it’s not that I’m a packrat exactly, but how long do you suppose this tube of paint has been kicking around? (For the record, there are also 58 tubes…
Rip-rap on the Lake Ontario Shore
I learned two important things today.When electronics (like your work camera) go missing, it’s wisest to start by looking in your teen’s bedroom;It costs $.25 per picture to upload photos…
One more painting I want you to look at
Here is another picture that has been on my mind recently. It’s Sir Stanley Spencer’s The Resurrection, Cookham (1924-27, Tate Britain).http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=13675&tabview=imageSir Stanley Spencer is really three painters wrapped into one—a…
Talking about paintings in class
We are currently analyzing paintings in class. This week, Gwendolyn brought Franz Marc’s “The Yellow Cow,” 1911, Guggenheim—NYC.Franz Marc, Yellow Cow (Gelbe Kuh), 1911. Oil on canvas, Solomon R. Guggenheim…
From 99 º F to 65 º in two days
At Rochester, the shore of Lake Ontario is flat and covered with fine cobblestones. The shoreline is very even. It is hard to break up the strong horizontal and diagonal…
Painting on top of a ridge
This study is about half finished. It was done on a ridge above Naples, NY (in the Finger Lakes region). Since I don’t want to work from photos, I will…