Three boys in search of a painting
It’s easier to remove the kids when you haven’t really painted them completely, but, darn, they’re cute! This is the second time I’ve tried to put these three boys in a painting, and the second time it’s been an awkward fail. It’s hard for me to just excise them, since I’m fond of them. They’re …
Made without hands
Diptych with Saint John the Baptist and St. Veronica, right panel, by Hans Memling, c. 1470. Nothing divides the Christian world faster than the subject of idols. Protestants generally follow Clement of Alexandria, who wrote, “For we are not to delineate the faces of idols, we who are prohibited to cleave to them; nor a …
How’d that happen?
Underpainting (incomplete) of river snags, 48X36, by little ol’ me My friend Sandy Sibley told me that my underpainting of northern lights reminded her of the Canadian painter Emily Carr. That’s quite flattering, but I don’t quite see it myself. Yesterday’s underpainting went a little bit slower—in part because it’s complicated, in part because I’m …
Accountability
Underpainting of Northern Lights. Got a lot of work to do here before it’s intelligible. On January 1, I made a pact with a friend to periodically check up on our progress toward our 2014 goals. Mine were: Regain where I was in October in terms of health and work; Finish and hang my show …
Art is what’s left when you take all the function out
One of the biggest quality-of-life problems in Western New York cities is the number of abandoned houses. The city in which I live (Rochester) aggressively destroys them. About five years ago, Buffalo launched a program to tear thousands of them down. At $16,000-20,000 a clip, these demolition programs put a strain on already-diminishing tax bases. …
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