Those days when you don’t get anything done
A distraction. Definitely a distraction. On the advice of a management consultant, I’ve decided to write down what I do every day, in the hope that I can hire some of it out and have more time to paint. I set out with the goal of doing a small landscape sketch from my imagination, based …
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Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
My class at Highland Park. Saturday was an exquisite day. My plein air class went to Highland Park to paint under the cherry blossoms. As we were packing up, inevitably conversation moved to what is possible in this life of ours, and how our view of God shapes our sense of our opportunities. “I grew …
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Fool for love
Stanley Spencer, Self portrait with Patricia Preece(Fitzwilliam Museum, London), 1936 I would hate to have anyone thing that only women are hoisted on the petard of sexuality. Today, I am writing about the loveliest—and perhaps the strangest—of 20th century painters, Sir Stanley Spencer. Spencer has three distinct bodies of work. They are so unlike each other …
Woman as vegetable, draped in Saran-Wrap
My first successful nude in a naturalistic style, as a student in Cornelia Foss’ class. Foss intentionally arranged the model to make her insecurity apparent. I draw much better now, but I still like this painting. I received an email yesterday asking, “What do you mean your house is full of paintings of ‘women commodified, …
When I had No Clothes On
Not our anonymous naturalist, alas, since I haven’t any pictures of her. A nude by little ol’ me. After dusk last night, a shifty-looking fellow rang my front bell and abruptly thrust a sheaf of paper bound in hemp string into my hands. It was a leaked copy of a memoir by a local naturalist. …