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 imagined possible. Look here to read her first entry, which explains her innovations to date. I plan to make one of her noodle brush holders …
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 of watercolors…) I have the terrible habit of buying paints without checking my inventory first. There are paints from my teen years, squatters left by …
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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 from your cell phone. This is my way of apologizing for not having “in progress” shots of this little sketch of rip-rap on …
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=image Sir Stanley Spencer is really three painters wrapped into one—a religious with a gentle, sweet view of “the resurrection and the life,” a superlative landscape painter, and a sexually tortured, brutally honest figure …
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 Museum, NY, NY.(http://www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_work_lg_98_5.html) Franz Marc is hard for me to peg. On the one hand his painting clearly evokes the anxiety of Europe at …