I have been struggling with a painting for the past week. It was not going as I wanted and it was difficult to “see” it. This “blindness” happens to me periodically. The first few times it happened when I was young, it troubled me a lot. I thought I’d lost my talent. Sudden changes like…
People who are out of step with the prevailing authority practice ketman to avoid trouble. Ketman is a way to dissemble. At a minimum people practicing ketman must self-censor their speech. When silence isn’t enough, ketman-practitioners find ways to appear to actively support the regime. When ketman-practitioners cannot escape the oppressive regime, they develop ways…
Thomas Crow is an American art historian. For a short time, his interests overlapped with mine, which is how I became aware of him. Some readers might know that I am a fan of the French artist J.L David. Early in his career, Crow wrote a book focused on David and his circle, Emulation: Making…
Yesterday, I determined to finish Woman in White-stripped Dress. Even though I failed, I was excited to get back at it again today. This afternoon, I ran out of gas before finishing it. Oh well. Sometimes I can force myself to continue after I’m gassed but there is a chance I’ll spoil the work when…
I became familiar with the Japanese author Haruki Murakami during my current fiction-gorging phase. How could I have been unfamiliar with such a gifted author? It’s not an excuse but I go through long periods during which I don’t read fiction. Murakami’s style is first-person intimate heightened with surrealism; all of it served very imaginatively.…
One of the biggest shocks of my life and one of my biggest disappointments occurred when I went to France for the first time in 1993. France! home of great artists–David, Delacroix, the angelic Ingres, Manet, Monet, and many others. Writers? Balzac, of course. The master. I made a pilgrimage to his home which is…
I couldn’t wait to get started today. Problems are simply opportunities and everything is possible. You know what I’m talking about? I put aside some large designs that have been absorbing me and started working on this painting, Self-portrait with Camera. I’m happy with some bits of it. The painting has a white ground, which…
For the most part, I’ve stopped showing the early stages of my paintings. One thing that I’ve learned after running this site for 8 years is that readers assume that I only post finished work–the opposite of what I actually do. But one of the reasons for this blog is pedagogical. I like sharing information…