How blue is the sky?
Saussure’s Cyanometer. Should put any fears of Prussian Blue being fugitive to rest; he made this in the mid-18th century. How blue is the sky? Landscape painters know that this varies depending on where one is standing, the season, the weather, and even the direction in which one is looking. Local conditions also apply; for …
Wrestling with God, Part 2
The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599-1600, by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, no stranger to sin himself. Yesterday, Sandy Quang wrote about wrestling with God and Oswald Chambers’ realization that his calling was not to art school, but to the ministry. Last night I got this note from a friend who is a Texan, a convert …
Wrestling with God
The Vision After the Sermon (Jacob wrestling with the Angel),Paul Gauguin, 1888, Scottish National Gallery. I asked my trusty assistant, Sandy Quang, to fill in for me today: I recently watched a documentary about Oswald Chambers. Chambers was essentially Jacob from Genesis 32-22-32. Chambers had experienced failure in his career as an artist, and one …
The Art of Silliness
A tinfoil base lends stability to a hat, and stops those pesky aliens from annoying you. My daughter threw a bridal shower today. Part of the entertainment was making hats in the style of the Royal Wedding. The hats were so darn good; Philip Treacy has nothing on them. But I also realized that no …
Answering the artist within you
Beads by Laura Turner I have taught enough students who waited until retirement to take up painting that I always joke that when I retire, I’m taking up accounting. In fact, I have several accountant friends who do some kind of art on the side—a forensic accountant who draws, a CPA who writes comics, and …