The genius isn’t inside the camera
An artist drawing a seated man onto a plane of glass through a sight-vane, from the fourth book of Albrecht Dürer’s Four Books on Measurement. Last month, a number of people sent me Vanity Fair’s pieceon engineer Tim Jenison’s painstakingly-complex recreation of Johannes Vermeer’s The Music Lesson. Jenison faithfully built the room and objects depicted …
Something sketchy
Sketch for painting, 9X12, #2 pencil on vellum. Having assembled my reference photos for my upcoming project, it is time to do something with them. I am still only good for about three hours of work a day, but I mean to take advantage of those hours. The apple tree was an icon in our …
A great day to work from photos
Headwaters of the Hudson (Lake Tear of the Clouds), 40X30, Oil on Canvas (Private Collection). I haven’t (surprise, surprise) bounced back quite as quickly as I expected, but I did manage to do some sketching while loitering in the hospital. Yesterday I catalogued reference photos that I need for my current project, in the hope that …
Someone’s creeping on me.
The painting that appears in Buck Rack Lake, now in the private collection of novelist Jay Giess. By little ol’ me, of course. Last month I was given a copy of Jay Giess’ new novel, Buck Rack Lake. It was inscribed “For Carol: see page 22, enjoy! Jay Giess.” I dutifully turned to page 22 …
Happy New Year!
The Last of England, 1855, Ford Madox Brown I pray that 2014 will be my year of long-sought escape from New York. (I’m not alone in this—New York barely holds its own in population, but the 52 counties outside the New York City area have been in a steady decline for decades. My home town of …