Growth and change
How does one find one’s purpose as an artist? Should we build that into how we think about our work? Ravening Wolves, 24X30, oil on canvas, is as close as I get to didacticism these days. “How have you grown as a painter in the last ten years?” a student asked me. My drawing and brushwork …
Whoops, I should have listened to Ed
The human brain has an unfortunate tendency to skip over the parts of a plan it doesn’t like. Desert long view, 9X12, oil on canvasboard, $696 unframed. I never expected to be flying back from my workshop in Sedona with four wet canvases, so I only brought a two-canvas PanelPak. Whoops, bad planning—but it was …
Monday Morning Art School: Creativity loves constraints
Two things I learned teaching my workshop last week. Kamillah Ramos at the Grand Canyon. I start each class and workshop by handing my students protocols for painting in oils and watercolor. “If you follow these steps,” I tell them, “you will understand how to paint.” These instructions are not unique; they’re how most successful …
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Where is the line between art and craft?
The line between art and craft is a modern one, and it’s resulted in banal, boorish and ultimately meaningless work being foisted on us as art. Carved cravat, c. 1690, Grinling Gibbons, courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum “Was Grinling Gibbons an artist or a craftsman?” a student asked. It’s a fascinating question, and one that …
The famous vortexes of Sedona
“It’s not about measurable facts, it’s about what you know in your gut is real.” The only thing I’ve managed to paint this week has been this 9X12 demo. Painters and photographers know there’s a dead period in the middle of the day. The long raking shadows of early morning or the beautiful golden light of afternoon …