Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
“Joep Nicolas worked on these windows during the last twelve years of his life. Although he was a mature painter and a master glazier, it was evident his work evolved during the tenure of the project. This window is the greatest, in my opinion. It is a presentation of what was transpiring in the heavenlies …
Let’s call it Genesee River in Full Spate. 9X12, oil on canvasboard, by li’l ol’ me. Remember a few weeks ago I suggestedyou get your outdoor painting kits together because eventually it would stop snowing? Evidently, that was a case of “do as I say, not as I do,” because the fair day finally dawned …
Any project that’s a fun project is already a successful project. My collaborators, pals, and students: Catherine Bullinger and Brad Van Auken. This being the dirty shirt-tail of a long winter, we inmates are longing for color. Three of us hit upon the scheme of collaborating on non-objective paintings. We would switch canvases each week …
Continue reading “Three Abstractions in Search of a Conclusion”
“Adirondack autumn grove,” 12X16, oil on canvasboard, 2012(please excuse the reflections; my camera isn’t back yet) I had a few minutes in my studio the other day and was contemplating some “fails” from the field—plein air paintings that didn’t really work. Now, I have stacks of these, and they don’t bother me in the least… …
With apologies to Robert McCloskey “Sunset at Marshall Point,” 8X6, oil on canvasboard, private collection People say, “Paint what you know,” but I’m more for knowing what I paint. That said, my knowledge of Maine has until now been surface deep. I’ve painted in Eastport and Lubec and the mid-coast region, but not in the …
Painting John Porter on the porch of the Irondequoit Inn. Normally, you develop a painting all over, in layers, but not if your model has temporarily disconnected his oxygen to pose. (Photo by Carol Thiel) September and October are New York’s grandest months, when our state throws off its sartorial rectitude and arrays itself in …
“Keuka Lake Vineyard,” oil on canvasboard, 9X12 This year I am teaching plein air painting in two venues. I believe that all aspiring painters should study plein air. Why? Character: The strength of plein air painting lies in its relationship to reality, but that is also its greatest weakness. Slavish homage to what one sees …
“Loren’s farm,” oil on canvasboard, 12X16 At our last painting session, Marilyn whipped out her grayscale markers (making me instantly regret that I hadn’t brought mine along). The forest was remarkably dark and moody this week, and the spring foliage far less advanced than down on the lake plains, and I was finding it difficult …
Continue reading “Some Days, You Just Can’t Get Rid of a Bomb”
Cloud moving in over Oxbow Outlet, Oil on canvasboard, 16X20 I stopped to see my pal Jamie Grossman last week, and we fell into a conversation about sketchbooks. We both use them religiously, but (unlike Jamie) I tend to use the cheapest sketchbooks available and fill them with scribbled notes. Ever generous, Jamie gave me …
In church This is the second year I’ve bought into the Sketchbook Project and then felt my muse desert me as soon as the package arrived in the mail. It’s ironic, because I carry a sketchbook everywhere I go, a habit that started in elementary school. My school notekeeping was a total fail from an …