Musee Rodin

Year's ago, the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC housed a large exhibition on Rodin. It was marvelous; recreated his studio with his works all throught the exhibition.

The jewel in the crown of that exhibition was a new casting of his Gates of Hell. It was awe inspiring then, and even more so a few days ago when I came face to face with all of the preparatory studies in plaster, in stages, of varying sizes. And then the bronzes in varying sizes.

And that was just for this one major work. So here are just a few photos of the working out of ideas, and a casting of the work itself sitting in the garden in the rain.

Paris, another incident

David told me yesterday about the suicide at the altar of Notre Dame. I never saw anything about it on the BBC news channel. I had just been there the night before for a service, and there was no security at all.

I am going back today with my backpack and climb the tower. I suppose they'll let me take it?

I did get searched two evenings ago before climbing the Arc de Triomphe.

Last evening after a morning walk and an afternoon of painting, I walked across one of the bridges to Ile Saint Louis, the small island. There was a crowd on the bridge. They wete all looking at the river. I strolled over to investigate. Apparently, a man jumped into the Seine from the next bridge up. The police and rescue guys were they. Four frogmen wete in the water searching. Haven't heard a thing on the news about this.

I watched the frogmen thinking how wonderful they are to put their lives in danger.

There was sun this morning. Hope I didn't miss it.

Paris Companions

David and Janet flanking Sasha in front of Gerard Mulot. Inside this store are some miraculous treats for your tastebuds!

Coffee

1. Cafe alongee noisette, Cafe Luxembourg in my neighborhood. I added a little sugar to this one, remembering Italy two years ago and how they said a little would bring out the sweetness of the coffee.
2. Cafe au lait, on Rue des Rosiers in the Marais. This cup was heaven itself. It was more like a latte in the states, but that foam on top was thick, like an airy marshmellow. I was self-indulgent and had two of these.

Paris Market: Plein Air Chickens!

It's official, even chickens paint plein air! Of course it was an open air market.

Paris Day 4: a day of surprises!

My alarm didn't ring yesterday; and it didn't make a sound this morning either. So, I woke but fell back to sleep.

The phone rang at 10:00 AM. It was Janet. We met at noon and met at the Palais de Luxemburg for an exposition of paintings by Marc Chagall. I was surprised to see all the different mediums he used. There were magnificent drawings in pen and ink. Some of these seemed almost etching like. He used watercolor and gouache, there was a series of dry point prints, graphite drawings, and of course his oils. It was really wonderful to see this retrospective of more than 6 rooms and get a greater sense of who and what this artist did.

Janet's her husband, David, and I were joined by a young woman named Sasha, who had gone to school with their son at Goucher College in Maryland. Sasha was delightfully stylish, in addition to being intelligent and in full command of the French language.

We all went to lunch at a swank Cafe des Editors, and they was a woman squeezed in beside us that had a manuscript she was editing. Honestly, we were all squeezed in like sardines, the French way. Where they put the fat, ?????

I had scallops (ST. JACQUES) in honor of my upcoming walk. They were laying on a bed of fluffy, light as air, celery root puree, and covered with a foam of something. The menu said "emulsion of lard fume". I didn't taste bacon or smoke, and it was the first foam I've seen or eaten in person in person. (You know you see it on the Food Channel from time to time.)

We exited the cafe and said our goodbyes to Sasha. There in from of the cafe was a large tree in bloom, with books hanging in it. I felt a little sorry for them hanging out in the rain.

David wanted to walk, and went his way. Janet was going to go back to her apartment, but decided to walk with me for a while. We headed in the direction of the Seine.

Soon after turning on to Rue des Ecoles, we happemed upon an art supply store. I'd been to Equisse my second dau here, but the windows were so wonderful, and when I looked inside everthing was magnificent to see, so in we went.

Charvin was the brand. Located at 57 quai des Augustins. Of course I didn't need anything, but I bought a palette knife, a tube of oil color - I told Janet to pick one, a hard bound sketchbook - something I wouldn't take because it's heavy, and of all things, a painters smock that was designed for, or after, Corot's. Jean-Phillip was very nice. He modeled the smock and let me take lots of photos of the boutique.

Back on the street, Quasimoto's bells were calling the faithful and the tourists to mass. I went, and Janet went home. I was happy to hear the organ, and made a couple quick sketches in my book.

I walked home in the rain, happy. My day had been filled with great company and lovely surprises. Paris, it's pretty magical.

An American Day

The first photo is what I attempted painting today. Second is outside the Bombadiers Pub as I left. Third, a statue next to the Pantheon, and I want a photo of this in daylight, someone has a sense of humor!

My first day here was a French Day. From the moment I met my taxi drive, Enzo, all through our hour drive to my studio apartment just near the Pantheon, I was forced to speak French. It was hard, but very good for me. That continued throughout the day, and I got several good comments on my French.

Yesterday, I spent a few hours painting, so less speaking. But there seems to be a trend shifting to more English speaking. Not good. First of all, I have finally done on this trip something that I have rarely done in my 32 years of travel, tried to call home. As if email isn't more than enough contact. But Tango, once you get it working, now has me video conferencing with my Sherpa husband, who is home weeding our much neglected garden.

Today, however was definitely an American Day. First off, I met Janet. She is staying 5 minutes from here, on the other side of the Pantheon. We went for breakfast. She speaks fabulous French, but all was in English. Even folks talking to me today spoke English.

I packed in my painting, when it started to rain pretty hard, and headed home to have lunch. I worked on my painting, but I think it's heading for the pile of shame. Then, since I am in Paris, I felt I should be out somewhere, right?

I decided I'd go to 'Bombadiers', an English type pub that another student in my class recommended. The bar is just 3 minutes walk from my place. It was mobbed, and no one was leaving. I ordered a pint of Bombadier Bitter and stood drinking. Two young women passed me looking for a table. They got lucky, and so did I. They let me share their table.

We got to talking, they were in their very early 30's and living in France. One was engaged to a Frenchman, the other (and many others that came) we Americans teaching English in France.

It was trivia night, and I was with two tables of Americans. Fun, but I have to get back to French, and find some good dry spots to paint since it will be raining most of this week.

Paris bakery

I'm posting this for my friend, Edie, but I know you will all enjoy it.

Lokk at the size of the brioche on the top shelf! I decided to take one back to my apartment and possibly paint it.
This is the start of my third day here, and I am just back from a rendez-vous with my fellow French student, Janet. We had coffe and an omelette,  and then went to the bakery.

It's supposed to start raining, so I am on my way out to do a quick painting.

My Trip of a Lifetime!!!!

Trip of a Lifetime!
Now this is really saying something, isn't it?

Not the hat I'm taking, but me on a fine spring day, taking the backpack out for a walk.

Those of you that know me well, know that I'd rather be on the road, but this is a road trip that has consumed me since I made my final decision to go forward with a my plan to walk 450 miles on the Camino Frances to the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela. This route has been taken by pilgrims since the 9th century, with the height of the pilgrimage in the 11th & 12th centuries.

Two and a half months on the road for me. Funny thing, I always planned on doing this alone, but life happens and it's amazing the connections that have come about since I first planned my trip.

Here's my itinerary:
I am leaving Thursday, May 16, 2013
- 12 days in Paris - possibly 2 - 3 day trips by train to nearby towns
- Move on by train to St. Malo. I will meet up with a painting group from England
- I move on from St. Malo with the group in a mini-van and we paint for 7 days on l'Ile de Re (sorry about the lack of accents.
- The group retraces their steps, while I move to St. Jean-de-Luz on the southwest coast of France for 4 days.
- Then one last train trip take me to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port. While I'm on that train, my daughter, Monica will be on a plane to Paris.
- Monica takes a train from Paris to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, we rest for a day.
- June 14, we start our pilgrimage walk on the Camino Frances de Santiago de Compostela. 726 km, about 450 miles.
- Our plan is to be in Santiago de Compostela on July 23 to be there in time for St. James's Feast Day (July 25) for all the festivities.
- From there, we will walk another 3 days - or take a bus - to Finisterre, depending on our level of fitness. I believe that is another 50 miles or so, but not totally sure.
- Right now there is a hole in our schedule of 3 - 4 days, but we will finally arrive in Madrid for 5 nights before flying home on Aug. 6

Of course, people have asked for travel logs. People are excited, but worried at the same time. I feel the same way. Trust me, this is no light undertaking for me and these last few days have been frantic, but now my Camino backpack is packed, and my suitcase for France is packed, and I leave momentarily for the airport. Of course I want to communicate with you all, but I also want the luxury of tuning out of technology and experiencing life to it's fullest, living in the moment.

Blogging is a job in itself, and I won't do it to the extent that I did last year with my Irish trip. What I learned on that trip, just in the Chicago airport was, that in trying to write and post photos you are only as good as your wi-fi band width, and the number of people that are using it at the same time. From India we tried to write about once a week from Internet centers on computers, when possible, but as much as our friends asked for photos, it was impossible to do.

I think it will be fairly easy to post from France. But I am not at all sure from Spain. I can't promise anything except to try to write once in a while from Spain. I love it when you write, but I cannot say that I will be able to answer, especially if I have a pack of young whipper snappers breathing down my neck to use the wi-fi.

If you know of anyone that would like to read my musings from the road, please tell them to sign up for my blog, or my newsletter on my website. I am not sure which will work better at this point, but I will try the blog first.

Thank you all in advance for your good wishes. I write this is a hurry as I am not off for the airport in a few.

I will try and write from NYC!

Wild and Wonderful in Havana!

"Cuban Girls" 9" x 12", Oil on RayMar Panel

The arts were alive and well, and greatly respected in Cuba.

It was a Sunday afternoon in November. A party atmosphere enveloped me. Every inch of this narrow alleyway was covered in murals and sculpture. Even the air was pulsing with the life of  loud, live music infused with intoxicating African rhythms making it impossible to stand still.

I spent time taking photos and was beguiled by the little girl on the right who was sitting on a doorstep with lips and cheeks covered in powdered sugar from a bite into a piece of cake so large that it barely fit into her tiny hand. I offered her two coins for a photo, and the word spread.

All was in motion when I set up my easel, and a group of children gathered around me watching and jockeying for position. The two young girls got tired of fighting to see over the others and went to rest on a narrow ledge. I saw a painting! They agreed to pose, and I painted while looking through and around the crowd. Imagine trying to paint immersed in this chaotic scene, while answering questions and trying to keep a watchful eye on your equipment. It was like India all over again!

Warm Memories for a Dreary Day

2008 Bath Abbey. This church is noted for the carvings
of angels that are climbing the ladders to heaven.

It's a bit dreary today in central Ohio, so a good day to revisit one of my favorite cities in England.

BATH

I first visited this lovely city in January of 1983, on my maiden voyage across the pond. I was traveling with the Ancient Studies Department of UMBC, and the city was a favorite of the professor that led this excursion. I had just met my future husband a month before my trip, and he advised that I look for a very, very strong cider called, Scrumppy. He made it sound very appetizing, with 'green bits' floating in it, but to this day, I have never tasted it.

25 years later, I made my second trip to Bath with my husband.

 

Sculptures line the upper ledge of the ancient Roman baths.
The Great Bath was once covered, and one of the largest buildings
that most people in the Roman England would have seen.
It is now open to the sky.

We were there for only a few hours, just long enough to take the self-guided tour of the Roman Baths. I was surprised at how organized and extensive the tour had become in the past two and a half decades. Martin, my engineer and Sherpa, was happy to see the workings of the baths and the heated flooring system exposed with full explanations on our audio-guides.

The King's Bath above, was and still is, my favorite part of the baths. The source feeding these thermal baths is located in this area. People would sit in the niches in heated water up to their necks!

From the Roman Baths website: "The pediment of the ancient temple carries the image of a fearsome head carved in Bath stone and it is thought to be the Gorgon’s head, which was a powerful symbol of the goddess Sulis Minerva."

I went back to Bath in June 2010 with my husband, my daughter, and our 10 year old granddaughter. This time, Martin and I went painting, while the two gals went in to see the baths. We found them later in the Tea Rooms having lunch. After a cup of tea and a scone, we paid for a cup of the 'clean bath water' from the source. It tasted awful, but supposed to have wonderful curative properties, and it seems that I've lived to tell this tale.

While in Bath, we saw a excellent exhibit of oil paintings by Neil Pinkham. I was given their last copy of the costly exhibition catalog for free by the enthusiastic assistant gallery owner when I told him that I was also an artist. Upon our return to the USA, I went online to research some things in Bath and learned about the Bath Competition, which was going on while we were there and was still underway.

Someday I want to go back to Bath and take part in that event, but until then, I just looked at all the paintings online and found for the first time the name Adebanji Alade. The link is to his blog. He had won the plein air prize the year before, and I read all about his plein air marathon during this competition.

        Peter Brown studio painting of the Great Bath, 28 x 40"

What marvelous work this man does en plein air and in the studio.

Here's a short but wonderful documentary video on two artists from Bath, England one of whom is Peter Brown.

Directed and edited by Liam Southall
Camera by James Trosh, Toby Dale and Liam Southall

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A stained glass image of the Saint, himself.

Wishing everyone a very nice St. Patrick's Day, and especially to the Irish relatives.

Martin wearing his FBI shirt, he is a 'Full Blooded Irishman'.

Dinner tonight in our house: savoy cabbage (my father-in-law's favorite, and mine too), carrots and red potatoes, and the corned beef is cooking away right now. Martin said in his Irish household, they ate boiled bacon and cabbage.

I was going to try my hand once again at Irish soda bread, from Aunt Kitty in Cleveland, but we went out last night to celebrate St. Patty's Day early, and were hitting the whiskey a bit, so . . . .

Figure Drawing with Dennis Drummond

Dennis Drummond drawings in soft black charcoal on brown and white paper.

It's almost a year since I enrolled in a figure drawing class with Dennis Drummond. Mr. Drummond is a Professor Emeritis of the Columbus College of Art and Design.

His reputation preceded him. Among other things, he taught portraiture at CCAD, while I was in the next studio studying under Neil Riley in a class called 'painting' (we were painting nude and clothed figures). His studio adjoined to Riley's, and I always enjoyed walking through Mr. Drummond's class before entering mine. The easels were covered in his students' paintings, and they were working on placing spots of paint in varying colors and values that would read as light on form? This was the 2nd semester of 1990.

Each week, Dennis would make two or three drawings of the skeleton: front, side, back, and sometimes a top view. As the classes progressed he would add the muscles in colored chalk over top the skeleton.

Fast forward to last year: I attended a meeting of the Collage of Women Artists, and Dennis Drummond was the speaker. I'd never spoken to him, I'd just heard him spoken of. He was interesting for sure. While some might consider his self-introduction and discussion of his skills as bragging, it wasn't. It was the truth. He really IS as good as he said he was! If you ever get the chance to study with him, don't hesitate.

Hernia anyone?

A month later, I was sitting in his class. In the 8 weeks that I was there, I personally never got a good drawing. He told us we'd have to forget everything that we had learned. I had no problem with that position, and I did try to erase my memory and my training in drawing. But I didn't have the time or the practice to internalize his method. He was teaching figure drawing the way that Michelangelo learned to do it; where my history had been with line.

We were to take copious notes, and make the drawings of the skeleton and muscles right along with him. One of the young female students brought her video camera and tripod each week and videotaped all of his lectures. At some point, I decided to also take a few videos. I hope that you have enjoyed them, even though they aren't the best. Mostly, this is just a thank you to this great teacher for his years of dedication to his craft, and to his students.

Sophie Knee Exhibition

Here's the invitation that showed up in my mailbox two weeks ago.

Don't miss this opportunity to view
'PATTERN'
the 2013 Solo Exhibition of
Sophie J. Knee!!!

March 1 - 31, 201

Opening Reception:March 1, 6:oo PM - 9:00 PM

Sharon Weiss Gallery
20 Lincoln Street
in the Short North of Columbus, OH

Three of Sophie's monoprints grace the walls of my home:
a black and white bunny, two fish, and a large heron.

This English born artist has the ability to capture the essence of animals in a sublimely subtle but powerful way. Her working method, thought seemingly simple, is really well thought out and complex. She works for hours on one surface to get one print. Ms. Knee is master of her craft, and of the use of line and shape.

Just Sold!

"Late Summer Urn" • 8" x 6"
Oil on RayMar Featherweight Panel with Smooth Canvas

Here's an alla prima painting I did last September in Oglebay, WV. I taught a plein air workshop during their annual plein air event, and the next day enjoyed meeting many new artists, and painting alongside a few of my students. It was a glorious day, and I was surrounded by an early autumn landscape of rolling terrain, but this was the subject that was talking to me. I liked the movement in the plants and the strong light and shadow, and of course the reds. I used one brush and my favorite palette knife to mix and apply my usual prismatic palette.

The support for this painting is a RayMar panel. RayMar is a great company, but I don't often get my best paintings on their panels. So why do I keep buying them? Usually it becomes an issue of time management, but there is a certain stubbornness on my part to learn how to paint on their surfaces. This sounds a bit crazy, I know.

A couple years ago, RayMar started making their 'featherweight panels'. This surface is their 'smooth cotton'. But this smooth cotton feels smoother to my palette knife than the same smooth cotton on the regular weight panel. These featherweights are great for traveling: 2 regular weight panels = the thickness of 4 featherweight panels! More panels take up less space!!! You gotta love that.

I enjoyed chatting with the public while I worked on this painting, but not as much as I enjoyed  my conversation with a gentleman from Texas as we figured out how to get this painting to his lovely lady as a surprise Valentine's Day gift!

Robert 1 & 2: Part 2

Robert #2 • 7-1/2 x 7-1/2" • Oil on 8-ply Museum Board

Here is a surface that I love: transparent to opaque, and with several passages of thick juicy paint.

The Robert photos were taken with a Motorola Xybord tablet. I deleted my discussion of how this photo differs from the actual painting.


Here's Robert 1 again, for comparison.
Quite a style change!

Robert 1, a more realistic approach. I liked him, but thought, "I could do this realistic thing each week and get better and better at it, but why not use these sessions to be more experimental and poetic?" I would also push myself farther by playing with color, and change from brushes to a palette knife.

   Less is More: 
    • 2 colors: Utrech Raw Sienna & Holbein Compose Blue
                     Utrecht Titanium white & possibly a Gamblin grey
    • Surface: acrylic primed 8-ply Museum Board
    • Tool: Loew-Cornell J-2 palette knife

I didn't want anything to get in the way of
my improvisation.

Approach to Robert 1: more traditional - start with tone and line - move on to masses - refine each mass as the painting progresses. Goal: a quality of light and form.

Approach to Robert 2: careful observation of shapes and values - paint applied in a lively and interesting way - Goal: explore how far I could push two colors and white, make a poetic statement with an interesting painting surface.

Problems: The 2 colors were chosen quickly, just minutes before I left my studio. I thought 'temperature' but didn't consider value. At some point in the painting process, the light bulb went on, and I said to myself, "These two colors have limited your ability to get a dark dark." Remember, color has value! I was frustrated at the very end of the painting without a slightly darker accent. I will reveal the secret of the darkest darks later.

 Compose blue  is a color I purchased from Carl Dalio's workshop supply list. It suffices as a poor man's Cerulean blue, with a rather weak tinting strength. Mix it with  Raw Sienna , and you do get a greenish blue - sort of an aqua, but not quite.

I pre-mixed these two colors full strength in varying ratios to see how they affected each other. I decided go with the coolest result for the overall shadow area of the head. No tone this time, I had no OMS with me. No placement lines or outlines this time, I was using only my palette knife. I had to use my mind's eye, drawing skills, and experience for the placement. I believe I started in what would be the cheek area, and worked outward by applying a thin layer of paint that continued to grow into a shape that resembled Robert's head.

It was rather exciting to see how easy this was!
And fun. Fun is important, so I've been told.

I know that I've been reading a lot of history lately, and studying French,
but I can just see this guy as someone that could have gone to the guillotine.
Must be the regal nose!

On the model's break, I mixed more nuances of tones and value, pushing the notes toward blue or the green, or sienna, adding white, working for as much variety as I could get from these two particular colors and white.

What's in a surface? By now you know that I love a varied surface almost more than life itself! You can see that I scratched through the translucent paint surface, and then smoothed some of lines back out. I worked and reworked until I got the look I wanted. And of course, the thinner layers are contrasted with some passages of thicker paint. Variety, the spice of life, and for me, the life of a painting.

The value of overpainting an area: If you overpaint a shape slightly, don't panic, you now have the wonderful opportunity to correct your shapes by painting negatively. You can get some wonderful effects and interesting edges with negative painting. Sometimes will might pull some of the positive colors the negative area. Don't panic, this can work for you. Let it live there a while while you ponder it as part of the whole. Experience in painting will tell you if this is a good thing for that painting. I know that Kevin Macphersen had this happen in a demo and told his audience, "Leave it!" Sometimes a 'preceived mistake' is a blessing in disguise, but it takes experience to sort this out.
You must be willing to take a risk if you are to move forward in your work.

"After all," says Ken Auster,
"What are you afraid of, one more bad painting?"

I love a surface with paint from transparent to opaque, thin to thick.

Challenge: getting the above the ear the right tone and value. In the photo the hair appears dark and brown, but in the painting it's really a softer warm gray. Risk: If I apply the wrong tone mixed with white, I will never be able to get back my transparent or translucent surface and have it look the same. Fun: Along the edge of his nose I used some pure raw sienna near the highlight, as that actually appeared red to me on the model.

I was not happy with the chest, however, the light on the chest had many subtle twists and turns, and I was using my magnetic easel which pulls on the metal of the palette knife. But no matter, I love this little effort because it is more about the process of painting a poetic statement. There is  more of a sense of light in the painting than in the photos, and to my eye, there is more poetry here.

 Hint: Need a dark? Visit your neighbor's palette while they're on break and dip into the thalo green, no less. Lucky for me, that green was almost dry, and I had to work hard just to get even a smidge. Still, it doesn't take much to get the value shift that I wanted for a very few dark darks in the eye socket. And of course, it does help if you know your neighbor.  

Robert 1 & II: Part 1

Robert #1 • 10-1/2" x 8" • Oil on unstretched canvas

My Monday evenings have improved with the addition of an evening session of model painting. This was the first week's painting. The model's name is, of course, Robert, and as it happens, I knew him. Last year, I took a figure drawing class at a church in Gahanna with a wonderful artist and teacher named Dennis Drummond. Some of you may have studied with him at CCAD; I never did. But, we had Robert as one of our models. I liked him then, and and my opinion hasn't changed since then.

I like is his face, strong and interesting, with a nice cleft chin. He looks a bit rougher in person, but if you work on him, you can get him to smile a little. And, just in case this is important to you, he passes out dark chocolate to the artists on his breaks.

He looks different without all that blue tape.

It had been a very long time since I'd worked from a model, and it took me a while to settle into this painting. Working on one of my favorite surfaces, an unstretched canvas taped to a gatorboard, I began with a tone of transparent oxide red, thinned down with OMS and wiped to a light value. You can get a similar peachy tone with Burnt Sienna, which it is also nice for landscape painting. Next, I added some lines, and when I was satisfied with the placement and a loose drawing, I started with the darks and shadows.

I think he looks pretty good as a square.

The darks weren't as dark as I'd have liked in reality, but I scrubbed in a semi-transparent tone wherever I saw shadow. Later I applied actual color over that. On the light side of the face, there are several places where the toned canvas shows through the paint and animates the surface.

The room itself has two sources of artificial light, plus curtains over windows for a third source, and then there is a spotlight on the model, which surprisingly does give a strong enough light and shadow - especially if you remember to squint. But, as the evening progresses, the light changes quite a bit in the room.

A friend had warned me that on one side of the room, the light was yellow. I didn't notice it. I use a clip-on Mighty Brite light that I purchased for $14.00 at my local Barnes and Noble. All the colors I normally use were on my palette: cad lemon yellow, cad light, cad red light, quinacridone red, ultramarine lbue and thalo blue; but, I used grays instead of the blues, and no quinacridone or lemon yellow. I decided to try an 'alien color', something I'd received as a sample at last year's Plein Air Convention or in the Adirondacks, not sure which. It was made by Williamsburg and called Alizarine Orange: very transparent, with a high tinting power.

At the end of the evening, I wasn't totally dissatisfied with my painting. The thing that bothered me most was that I didn't get Robert's chin correct. I love a man with a Cary Grant chin, but Robert's is stronger than what I have captured. Still, I decided that it wasn't bad for the length of time that I'd been away from painting a face from life.

Detail of Robert's ear and pony tail. Look at how cool that little spot of gray is in a sea of warm color!

 At the end of the night, one of the artist's grabbed my painting out of my hand to study it. His comment, "Interesting that you used yellow for his skin." I suppose that it could look like jaundice, but there appeared to be a lot of yellow in his skin. I offered him the remains of the Alizarin Orange. He refused it three times before taking it. I have to remember to ask him if he's tried it. There certainly wasn't much in the sample to start.

 Hint: if an artist offers you free paint, take it! See what you can do with it. 

Richard III and an Apology

Skull of Richard III

I offer you an apology. My last post, poorly written and filled with errors, was published by accident before I was finished writing and editing. Click here for a link to more photos of his skeleton.

Portrait of Richard III

There are so many things stimulating and exciting my brain right now: all of the images that are painted in words in "The Great Upheaval", the meteor that hit Russia, my husband who is just home from a month in Chile and four earthquakes, the book Van Gogh in Arles that I am reading, French lessons, exercise, model session, and now a bad knee gone worse - since yesterday's training session. I plan on calming down tonight, with a glass of wine at a soirée at the home of one of the members of the Alliance Française de Columbus.

I know that you like photos, and since most of your are artists, I just had to post Richard's skull. Most of you are artists, right? Can't go wrong with a skull, it's anatomy. And a painting of the king so you can try and compare the skull to the artist's portrayal of the man. Next time, two paintings I did at the Monday night model session.

So much interesting stuff going on in the USA, right? Gun-control discussions, the "live on TV" man-hunt in California, too much politics. Whew! I'm tired of all that.

Still, I have started listening to a book on tape (29 CD's no less) called "The Great Upheaval: A History of the Modern World from 1788 - 1800. I found it at the library two days ago, and I just can't stop listening to it.

The author writes a lively account of the world from 1788 - 1800, mainly focusing on and contrasting the societies of France, Russia and the newly formed United States, but also Western Europe and some of the Islamic World. The introduction says that you really can't understand the changes that spurred the growth of the modern world without knowing the context in which the seeds of the modern world were sown.

He weaves a seamless tapestry of the life and times and how decisions and actions in each country effected not only the country and its people but had far reaching circumstanceweek for the others. The lively and intersting style of writing is brought to life by a wonderful reader. I just can't image reading 26 CD's worth of text outloud.

Acutally, I can. I read to my children everyday and evening, and continued reading to my grandchildren, and also in Ohio schools with kids for about two years.

And then there was the culmination of the largest man-hunt in LAPD history, live on CNN. Go figure. The gunman wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, and he did, sadly taking yet one more officer with him before either killing himself or burning to death in his hideout cabin in California.

I feel that at each press conference the questions get more and more rediculous as 24 hour news downgrades news into entertainment. I was pleased to see an X-Navy SEAL say that unless you were there at the time, you have no right to question how things were done.

Gun control, I would like to see it happen, because when those that are paranoid with large arsenals decide to storm the US government, I don't want to be around for that.

But, I have to say that most intersting thing that I have heard in a long time was the story of the discovery of the skeleton on Richard III in Leister, England car park! Now really, how cool is that? I first heard it on NPR.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882

"Do I look like a man with a plan?" asked the Joker

Painting my winner at the first 'Art at the Arnold Competition'
Photo courtesy of Zak Tuggle.

I've been thinking a lot lately about 'conceptual art'. In the schools I attended, I missed out - or not - on classes where conceptual art was king. I did study it as part of a History of Modern Art class, but was never asked to participate in making it. Well, not until I studied printmaking with Debra Fisher at Denison University in Granville, OH.

I was the only person at that school that really seemed to be able to draw well. Not a bad thing in my book, but it didn't help me one bit in trying to get at the heart of conceptual art. All of the pieces were too literal. Really, I didn't, and still don't get it, in terms of how to even approach it - not that I am trying to beyond having 'a concept', and 'idea' in each painting.

What am I talking about in each painting? I was warned by my landscape instructor at CCAD against making paintings that people wanted to hang over their sofa, and I never chose a subject just because I think it will sell. But, I do think with the start of each painting, what am I trying to say?

Still, conceptual art seems to keep coming up in conversations lately. And I would like to understand it. So, I Googled 'conceptual art'.

The first thing that came up was Wikipedia, of course; the first photo was of "Fountain" by Marcel Duchamp, and I was reminded how much I love his work.

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, 1917. Photograph by Alfred Steiglitz

"The French artist Marcel Duchamp paved the way for the conceptualists, providing them with examples of prototypically conceptual works — the readymades, for instance. The most famous of Duchamp's readymades was Fountain (1917), a standard urinal basin signed by the artist with the pseudonym "R.Mutt", and submitted for inclusion in the annual, un-juried exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York (it was rejected).^[8] In traditional terms, a commonplace object such as a urinal cannot be said to be art because it is not made by an artist or with any intention of being art, nor is it unique or hand-crafted. Duchamp's relevance and theoretical importance for future "conceptualists" was later acknowledged by US artist Joseph Kosuth in his 1969 essay, "Art after Philosophy," when he wrote: "All art (after Duchamp) is conceptual (in nature) because art only exists conceptually."

I thought I'd also post this conceptual piece, which I love probably because I've felt the power of fabric hanging in the landscape in Bhutan. How beautiful and impressive this must have been in it's short lifetime.

Valley Curtain

Valley Curtain 1972 (USA)

"At the end of 1970 Christo and Jeanne-Claude began the preparations for the Valley Curtain project. A 400-meter long cloth was to be stretched across Rifle Gap, a valley in the Rocky Mountains near Rifle, Colorado. The project required 14,000 m² of cloth to be hung on four steel cables, fastened with iron bars fixed in concrete on each slope, and 200 tons of concrete. The budget increased to $400,000 causing Christo and Jeanne-Claude additional problems with the financing. Finally enough works of art were sold to raise the money and, on 10 October 1971, the orange-coloured curtain was ready for hanging, but was torn to shreds by wind and rock. While a second curtain was being manufactured, Christo received a message from a Berlin art historian to wrap the Reichstag in response to the 1961 "Project for Wrapping a Public Building". On 10 August 1972 the second attempt to hang the cloth succeeded, but only 28 hours later it was destroyed by a storm gale in excess of 60 miles per hour.
The project was shown in the documentary film, Christo's Valley Curtain by David and Albert Maysles, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short."


And I am reminded now of the power of Sid Chafetz's powerful exhibition "The Perpetrators", lithographs portraits of infamous and powerful Nazis, along with an installation simulating a walk into a Nazi death chamber. I met Sid, once or twice, and know at least one of his students, Edie Dean. Sid passed away last month, but he lives on in his students and in his art. Now that is a concept I like!

I am wondering how many of you look at conceptual art, understand it, can give your insight or experience about it or with it.

Sargent Watercolors

I've been missing in action, so I may as well get my late start to the new year by posting something masterly! Here is the link to the upcoming Sargent Watercolors Exhibition.