Mr. P.C. from the Colors of Jazz Collection” © 2020, Molly Larson Cook 36 x 24, Acrylic on Canvas In any of the creative arts, revision is the name of the game. Nobody gets it perfect the first time. It’s always instructive for new writers to look at manuscripts left by well-known authors, manuscripts with scrawled new words or lines, other lines scratched … Continue reading Choosing – and Choosing Differently Tomorrow
“My Funny Valentine” The Colors of Jazz Collection © 2020 Molly Larson Cook 28 x 22, Acrylic on Canvas Available The waiting game continues. And so do the articles appearing daily about changing the ways to market our art. At the same time, there are the seductive stories and ads that lead us to believe all will be back to normal “very soon.” “Very soon” … Continue reading One Painting at a Time
Hot House Colors of Jazz Collection ©2020, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on canvas 30″ x 24″ My county in Oregon has been cleared for a “soft” re-opening, Phase I as the governors and medical experts call it, as we begin the shift out of lockdown for COVID-19. I’m not sure yet how this will pan out, and it might be too early, but a … Continue reading It’s Going to Take Some Time This Time
“Well, You Needn’t” ©2020, Molly Larson Cook from the Colors of Jazz collection Acrylic on canvas 28″ x 22″ Available “No work of art is really ever finished. They only stop at good places.” So writes Robert Henri in his insightful and instructive book The Art Spirit. I’m here to testify that this statement is 100% true. Amen. Amen. Amen. The painting included here … Continue reading Joy, the Pandemic, Heineken and Snickers
“Unsquare Dance” Colors of Jazz Collection ©2020, Molly Larson Cook 28″ x 22″ Acrylic on canvas Available I’ve been reading about paint. The thing is that the “art” of painting is about chemistry as much as it’s about art. I’m not a chemist. In fact, I failed chemistry and all it took to determine my inability to master chemistry was two days in a … Continue reading It’s About the Paint. Or the Music.
“Billie’s Bounce” © 2019, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on Canvas Available Over the years as an art student, an art history major, artist, and simply one interested in the lives and work of many artists, I’ve read a lot of books about art – technique, color theory, design principles, marketing. I’ve acquired some of the books and picked up others at one library … Continue reading Paint Your Shirt
“…notice the objects you notice… Or put another way: make objects that talk–and then listen to them.” –Bayles & Orland, Art & Fear Straight, No Chaser Colors of Jazz Series 24″ x 36″ © 2018 For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been listening to this painting. It was supposed to go with the others I took from Mexico to storage on the way … Continue reading Notice…and Listen
“…in time of daffodils who know…” ©2019, Molly Larson Cook 18″ x 24″ Acrylic on canvas One of my favorite quotations comes from author Tom Robbins regarding life in general (at least that’s the way I always read it): If it gets messy, eat it over the sink. Given the way quotations so often morph from the original, Tom may have put this a … Continue reading If It Gets Messy…
Work in progress, 18″ x 24″, ©2019 Acrylic and ink My last post was about labels and why they are and are not necessary or even meaningful except to the critics and art historians and gallery owners who want to know which box to put you in when they write the press release to announce your show. But the truth is, as Popeye would … Continue reading Forget Perfection: Art Is About Life – and Life’s Not Perfect Either
“My Papa’s Waltz” ©2019, Molly Larson Cook Acrylic on canvas, 24″ x 30″ Available When someone once said that “A picture is worth a thousand words,” a pundit quickly countered with this challenge: “If that’s true, paint the Gettysburg address.” As an abstract expressionist painter who loves color, I don’t begin my work with a particular idea in mind. I begin with what in … Continue reading Painting, Papa and Waltzing
Art and Tulips 