Writing and art and every other creative endeavor have a lot in common. The processes, though different on the surface, go like this: Idea. First try – oh, nuts, that’s not right. Second try – uhm, closer but still not what I want.Third try – is this thing ever going to look/sound/work right? And then two possibilities. Either it does very soon look/sound/work right or … Continue reading When your horse dies…
The hottest topic in the American art world today, even hotter than inflation and the 2024 election, is AI. Artificial intelligence. It’s important to remember that the A stands for “artificial.” This computer/robot/even a 4-year-old can do that convergence may be stealing from real artists, but AI remains artificial as does the art it “creates.” Reading a story about the so-called painting that won a … Continue reading Art, Artificial Intelligence and Etch-a-Sketch
Another Maine poem, another new painting. Whither this project? Well, the project has been on hold for the past few weeks thanks to the holidays and a frigid weather spell that kept me out of the studio. There were also a fair number of other distractions large and small about work, weather, and the future of art and creativity in the days of AI and … Continue reading Art, Poetry and Finding One’s Posse
People ask, “What’s your painting about? How did you do it?” Every artist, writer or other creative person knows these questions. Inquiring minds want to know. The answer is usually some kind of song and dance about the creative process, choosing the right paints (paper, tap shoes, guitar strings), the muse, inspiration, one thing and another. I was advised early on that it would not … Continue reading From Point A to Point B or Someplace in that Neck of the Woods
In the bleak early winter – apologies to Christina Rossetti – my November studio has become more than chilly. At some moments, it’s downright bleak. I’m taken back to January art school days in Maine where we worked on our projects in an unheated building, thanks to a power failure. Classes were not cancelled. The show went on, but the faculty took pity and brought … Continue reading To See with the Human Heart
My painting studio and my writing room are not the same. I paint in the small shed/studio set off to the side of the house behind the carport and the large workshop. I’ve been putting this new place together since December, including new lights, and the numbers above are the specifications for the overhead lights. Painting is not just about paint. I write at my … Continue reading 5000K, 85-100 CRI
I am happily back at work in the studio. An auto mechanic is happy working in the garage, a carpenter in the woodshop, a gardener in the garden, and an artist desires more than anything to be in the studio. Over the last few months, many ideas about the painting have bounced around in my head while I was busy with other tasks, including preparations … Continue reading From Jazz to Fragonard
It was an all-ages event. And I liked it that way. Following the notion of Robert Henri, Art and Spirit, that “Exhibitions should be small,” the art show reception on Friday was just that. We didn’t plan it that way, but this is a small community, so the size of the crowd did not surprise any of us. And unlike some of the huge art … Continue reading You Don’t Have to Sing, You Don’t Have to Dance
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” – Robert Burns, “To a Mouse” If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong. Corollary: If there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then. – Murphy’s Law “The violets in … Continue reading A Change in the Weather
“Summer was past and the day was past.Sombre clouds in the west were massed.” Robert Frost’s poignant poem, “Bereft” includes these lines, and they came to mind today, although in this case: “Winter was past and the cold was past. Fluffy clouds in the west were massed.” Spring has come, and with it the flowers of the season, the budding branches, the greening grass, the … Continue reading A Wild and Precious Life
Art and Tulips 