“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
“Night and Day” The Colors of Jazz 24″ x 18″ ©2021, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on canvas $400 In the art world, as everywhere else, the pandemic has wreaked a certain amount of damage. And I don’t mean just lost opportunities to exhibit or to make sales. The art wheels are turning slowly, creaking as it were, and I’m happy to report that it’s … Continue reading A Relationship With Something Outside Ourselves
“Well, All Right, Okay, You Win” from The Colors of Jazz collection ©2020, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas 30″ x 24″ Making art is many things to many people. Some of us work at realism. Some of us work at landscapes. Some of us paint bowls of fruit or flowers. Some of us work with wood or metal or clay. Some of … Continue reading Declaring What’s Yours – and Important
In my last post, I wrote about a change in the artistic weather for me as I left behind my Colors of Jazz collection and headed down an entirely new track. Oh, how we kid ourselves. After finishing the first two paintings (posted here earlier), I believed I was headed down the wrong new track and gave this a lot of thought. I longed for … Continue reading Constancy and Choice – The Tools an Artist Needs Most
“Blue Bossa” ©2018, Molly Larson Cook 24″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas available From the ever-helpful and inspiring little book of wisdom I carry around with me, Art and Fear: On the perils (and rewards) of artmaking by Ted Orland and David Bayles, come these words of not just any old wisdom, but cowboy wisdom: “When your horse dies, get off.” In all its simplicity, the phrase … Continue reading Cowboy Wisdom
I’ve been working on edges this week. In Walt Disney’s version of Alice in Wonderland, there’s a musical number, “Painting the Roses Red,” in which the minions of the Queen of Hearts are tasked with doing just that – painting the white roses red. I’ve been humming that tune all week, adding my own words, “Painting the edges black.” And doing just that to the … Continue reading Life on the Edge(s)
Art and Tulips 