Happy All Hallow's Eve!

A bit of history on this Halloween! Boo!

Fall Still Life abstract painting

Acrylic painting on 16" x 20" canvas

Words of wisdom from Van Gogh

"The feeling for and love of nature always strike a chord sooner or later with people who take an interest in art. The duty of the painter is to study nature in depth and to use all his intelligence, to put his feelings into his work so that it becomes comprehensible to others.

But working with an eye to saleability isn’t exactly the right way in my view, but rather is cheating art lovers. The true artists didn't do that; the sympathy they received sooner or later came because of their sincerity. I know no more than that, and don't believe I need to know any more."--Vincent Van Gogh

Words of wisdom from the master on a great web site I stumbled upon today called BibliOdyssey. I'll have to further explore the Van Gogh letters link.

"Going rogue" by C of C standards

What spirit is so empty and blind,
that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot
is more noble than the shoe,
and skin more beautiful than the garment with
which it is clothed?--Michelangelo

Among his many rebellions, I guess Michelangelo would be considered "going rogue"* by today's, and probably antiquity's, Chamber of Commerce and Capitalism standards for such an utterance.

*Any implication that the phrase "going rogue" somehow elevates certain current politicians or has-been politicians to the level of a Renaissance genius is purely coincidental and farcical.

Art and madness

"The Paradise Tree", by Seraphine
from "The Modern Primitives", text by Madeleine Gavelle

It was a peculiar day. I went to my still life painting class at Maitland Art Center today and it began raining shortly before time to leave. In the confusion about getting everything out to the car in the sprinkles, I left my painting leaning up against a traffic sign in the parking lot. Luckily, Patti, my teacher, found it and picked it up for safe keeping! Maybe the fumes got to me LOL (or maybe senility or Freudian slips or insanity setting in.) Speaking of which, we saw a good movie tonight (Seraphine) at the Enzian Theater. I'm a big fan of the so-called "Modern Primitives" and it's not every day a movie comes around about one of the great (but largely unknown) painters in that genre. Seraphine was a devout spinster (is that term still used today?) who worked like a dog as a domestic during the early 1900s cleaning the Barnie Madoff manors of that day and painting during the night by candle light and whatever strength she had left. It's an amazing story about the inexplicable drive to create under the most austere and trying conditions and the not so pleasant path it can take. Her artwork is fantastic and is a testament to the invincible human spirit within. Sadly, though, even that can be crushed by individuals who aren't necessarily on as elevated a level of human decency.

Political Art as Propaganda?

We saw Michael Moore's new movie this weekend and it was great, as usual (although sickening, of course, given the subject matter.) It got me thinking about art and the messages conveyed (or not) by it and how great art can reflect on the current state of affairs and, in some circumstances, alter the course of history. I'm hoping Michael's art can do that. We certainly need a change in course right now if we're to survive as a country. We discussed the role of art in my class today at Maitland Art Center and what we hope to achieve as artists. It's a difficult subject and one that would probably require therapy on my part. I continually struggle with feelings of inadequacy and confusion about what I'm trying to accomplish and admire, or in some instances wonder, about those artists who seem to have an inner road map for direction and never waiver in their artistic goals. Somewhat timely, I found a good article on the internet about art and politics from one of my other heroes, Bill Moyers. Perhaps it's true that a lot of political art can become pedantic and propagandistic, but the fact that some art can rise above that and project a universal message of hope in basic human decency is what makes a true work of art and is something worth striving for.

Staging a Still Life Painting

How to Set Up a Still Life for Oil Painting -- powered by eHow.com

Seeing like an artist

Edmund Gosse found John Singer Sargent painting one day "in a white-washed farm-yard, into which I strolled for his company, wearing no hat under the cloudless blue sky. As I approached him, Sargent looked at me, gave a convulsive plunge in the air with his brush, and said "Oh! what lovely lilac hair, no one ever saw such beautiful lilac hair!" The blue sky reflected on my sleek dun locks, which no one had ever thought "beautiful" before, had glazed them with colour.... The real colour of the hair was nothing, it existed only in the violet varnish which a single step into the shade would destroy forever."

iPhone instead of a pencil?

iPhone or Blackberry? I've been thinking about that lately because I know we should get a new cell phone soon. I just found out ours is one of the highest rated (not in a good way) for radiation, plus it's ancient by cell phone standards and we've never liked it anyway, plus why not get one that does amusing things like surf the internet? The dilemma may be close to being solved after reading about David Hockney, who has turned his 4 month old iPhone into a drawing instrument, as many other artists are doing today. According to him "Blackberries are for secretaries and clerical workers while the iPhone is used by artistic people." Hmmmm. I guess the master has spoken and it sure will be hard to consider a Blackberry now. Ever the skeptic though (it's a curse) and as if his paintings aren't bringing in enough dough, I wonder if he's getting a commission from Apple?

New still life painting

Still life painting of eggplant, peppers and tomato, 11" x 14" oil painting on canvas

This is the painting I've been working on in class at the Maitland Art Center. The green pepper gave me fits for some reason, but I feel it's time to move on and let this go. I'm working on another one at home with peacock feathers and peaches on my antique sideboard. It's proved to be a challenge getting the fine detail painted on the peacock feathers, so I made another trip to the art supply store (!) and got a different type of medium (Gamblin Galkyd). The store clerk seemed to know a lot about paint and convinced me this was by far the best medium, when thinned appropriately with spirits/turps, to use for detail work. Of course, a number of other items made it into my cart and my wallet gave up another 50 clams (sigh). This sure is an expensive undertaking.