The light in the Dark Ages
While Europe floundered, the British Isles continued to create great art. The Chi-Rho monogram from the Book of Kells, courtesy of Trinity College Library, Dublin If you went to school back in the last millennium, you learned that western civilization fell off a precipice with the Sack of Rome. What followed were centuries of Germanic …
The straw that broke the camel’s back
And the kindness that unbroke it. Thunder Bay Freighter, Carol L. Douglas I’ve driven more than a million miles in the last three decades. I’m a good, safe driver. That doesn’t mean I’m immune from problems created by others; nobody is. On Sunday I was rear-ended in Massachusetts. (No, it was not my trusty Prius art-cart, …
Hypocrites
If you can ignore human suffering to hold on to something that isn’t yours, you don’t deserve the label (or the tax status) of a philanthropic organization. l’Acteur, 1904-05, Pablo Picasso, courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art The Nazis seized an estimated 650,000 works of art between 1933 and 1945. There are well over 100,000 items that …
Monday Morning Art School: what do different brushes do? (Part 2, watercolor)
Brushes are much more important in watercolor than in oil painting. Here’s what each brush is for. The more vertical the brush, the more flow. Recently a student asked me why he was carrying so many different brushes. What were their uses? This is the second part of the answer; I addressed oil painting brushes …
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A short history of being offensive
Shocking the bourgeoisie is so old-fashioned. A Decadent Girl captures the ennui of the movement. 1899, RamĂłn Casas, courtesy Museum of Montserrat. The Aristocrats is a very old dirty joke. A family—not the Kardashians—pitches their act to a talent agent. It is a long list of obscene sex acts, none of which I’m prepared to …