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My Uncle passed last week and I have spent some time recalling memories of our time together over the years. He was an educated man, graduating from the University of Oklahoma. He served in the USAF until his retirement. These are but two of his accomplishments but not what comes to my mind when I think of him. Instead I recall his humor, his laugh, his forthrightness and his perseverance. I recall he introduced me to fishing and gave me my first tackle box. (I'm afraid it was destined for paint tubes instead). But the vision that comes to my mind is much stronger than the others because it is the routine that becomes most precious in our memory. And so my thoughts go to the changing of day to night, wakefulness to rest. He has finished his meal and retreated to his chair to read and partake of his pipe. The lamp is on beside him, an incandescent glow over his right shoulder as he chooses one of the pipes from the round stand on the table. He lights his pipe and the smell permeates the room. A hint of woods and something sweet...cherry maybe? The smoke hovers in the air around him like a gossamer cloud. He reads. The print from the paper reflects off his glasses and the world is revealed. Forever in my memory, godspeed Uncle Al. Back to my brushes.
"What better occupation, really, than to spend the evening at the fireside with a book, with the wind beating on the windows and the lamp burning bright." - Gustave Flaubert
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I am pleased to share that my painting titled "Entwined" has received the award for Still/Life Floral category at the ANA Celebration of Art Exhibition. My thanks to the judge Dean Mitchell. If you are in the area be sure and visit the Town Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas to see all the wonderful work in this exhibit. Back to my brushes.
"Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well." - Vincent Van Gogh So a quick post today to recommend the book I just finished. It had it all, mystery, detective work, art, history, travel...everything. The book is The Vanishing Velazquez by Laura Cumming, published in 2016. If you are interested in the same things I am, you will enjoy it. Yes, intrigue equals happiness and assumptions will always get you into trouble. Back to my brushes.
"Art is a harmony parallel with nature." - Paul Cezanne This deep dive into a subject has been a real revelation to me. I came to a point last year where I thought I was done with it, but did a rather abrupt about face when I considered a different vantage point, and so began a journey of discovery. If you have read my blog you know I love a museum crawl. I love "the timeline" and I always discover something new even if greeting an old friend. But how was it relevant personally? I thought this consideration could be...interesting. Let's be clear, I'm not talking about deconstructing a painting. I can do that with the best of them. No, I'm talking about essentials. So this journey started last year and I just completed the fourth painting. As I start the fifth I find I a truer sense of understanding and have experienced tangible personal growth as a result. The most important thing I discovered was that I can tackle anything with but one subject. So, to the ether, I send thanks to those who have held my hand. Back to my brushes.
"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings." - Wassily Kandinsky I'll be painting today but just wanted to recall my most recent reading list. Perhaps you can find something you would be interested in. So let's start with one of my fave writers Christopher Moore. I started Noir because, frankly, I was in the mood for Moore. I can, as usual, recommend. If you like Humphrey Bogart movies, you'll be entertained by this book. I can recommend two books by Susan Vreeland, the first being Lisette's List and the second Luncheon at the Boating Party. Both are novels, one based on the famous painting and the other uses WWII as the background of art discovery. I enjoyed them both. I can recommend The Last One by Brian King. This book is a mystery about the last painting by Vincent Van Gogh - and I do love a mystery. The Shallows is another murder mystery by Matt Goldman. I have fallen for this series hard and as soon as a new book in the series is released, I pick it up. The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick was enjoyable, but I got interrupted too many times and will probably re-read. Highly recommend Clear Seeing Place by Brian Rutenburg. Not only was it interesting it made me laugh too. But I have saved a special one for the end. This article in the New Yorker magazine by Malcolm Gladwell from 2008 is a must read in my opinion. It is titled Late Bloomers: Why do we equate genius with precocity? Here is the link . So just read it. Back to my brushes.
"Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail." Theodor Dreiser  It appears I went to bed last night on the eve of Independence Day only to wake up this morning on May Day, 1965, in some alternate universe. In response, I share an image of my painting titled Disconnected. Back to my brushes.
"Freedom in art, freedom in society, this is the double goal towards which all consistent and logical minds must strive." - Victor Hugo  There is just something, a regenerative power, that I derive when I cross the Mississippi and head back home again. Is it the flat delta or just the sign? Is it just knowing that I am closer to my kin or that I can avoid the car for awhile? The opportunity to rest in my own bed perhaps? Maybe just the simple daily routine beckons me back? The opportunity to gather my thoughts and put it in a painting? Well, whatever the reason I can say the height of the Mississippi River made me forget all those things and just stare in amazement. WOW the river was high! And the Arkansas River has seen record flooding. And my family have seen their rivers rise and flood as well. And since we have returned home it has done nothing but rain, rain, rain. Depressing. Back to my brushes.
"Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots." - Frank A. Clark
I'm pleased to share that my painting Pencil Me In has been chosen for the 2019 National Watercolor Society's 99th International Open Exhibition to be held at the NWS Gallery in San Pedro, California from October 3 through November 17, 2019. My thanks to the judges of selection: Jean Grastorf, Elaine Daily-Birnbaum, and Frank Eber. Back to my brushes.
"If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint." - Edward Hopper
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