Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
My painting (left), my student’s painting (right). I had the opportunity this week to paint side-by-side with a student. He has painted exactly three observational pieces in his life, all under my tutelage. However, as a lifelong builder, he actually has pretty decent drawing chops; he just hasn’t dignified his sketching by calling it art. …
Continue reading “Painting side by side with a beginner, you learn things”
Pamela’s lovely painting of Camden harbor. Yes, the sheds across the harbor are completely cockamamie. Nobody goes to a painting workshop expecting to do brilliant work, but my students have been painting at a high level. But into each life come a few tough painting days, and today was one of them. Pamela’s sketch for …
Winston Churchill, The Goldfish Pond at Chartwell, 1932. I think any artist would be proud to have painted this. When we were painting in Camden at my first workshop last month, an elderly gentleman asked Sandy if he could take her photo with her painting. “After all,” he said, “you could be the next Winston …
Dessert from my last painting workshop, in the Adirondacks. I have every reason to believe the meals at this workshop will be just as good! Only six more days, and I’ll be in Maine teaching. I set out this morning to do my task-of-the-day, which was to determine which paintings go to Rockland with me …
Continue reading “This post is about food. And cooking. Seriously.”
Everything I’ve sorted so far pales in comparison to the business of sorting paintings with a critical eye… there are works that aren’t mine, works I can’t assess the quality of, and works I hope to finish some day. The Duchy is perched on the side of Rochester’s only hill. This makes it prone to …
Spring really is just around the corner, I swear. I think the dead of winter is God’s way of telling me it’s time to paint the figure, so I generally lay off plein air in the coldest months. The last day I painted out-of-doors was the day before Thanksgiving. But watching spring snow falling outside …
Tom Thomson in his grey canoe I spent a few extra days in Piseco last week. It was beautiful and austere in the silent falling snow. Shivering outside while painting in my nylon waterproof jacket and latex gloves, I spent more than a little bit of time considering the rigors experienced by Tom Thomson in …
“When I got to New Mexico, that was mine.” That was how Georgia O’Keeffe described her instant love for northern New Mexico, which she first visited in 1917 Although she never owned Ghost Ranch, she eventually purchased a small home there and later a home in nearby AbiquiĂş. (Learn more about Ghost Ranch here.) We …
Continue reading “Trip to Ghost Ranch in AbiquiĂş, NM added to Taos workshop”
The Adoration of the Magi in the Snow (1567) Pieter Bruegel the ElderOil on wood panel, dimensions not availableOskar Reinhart Collection, Switzerland This Nativity by Pieter Bruegel the Elder is the second picture I am considering with my pastor friend John Nicholson at The Shepherd’s Staff. John’s from Alabama, where today they expect a high …