Who needs culture anyway?
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,…
Category: Turpentine diaries
Working quietly in the corner
In Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage, the protagonist studies painting for two years in an atelier school in Paris. At the end of that time, he screws up his courage to ask the master if…
Twin peeks
Making multiple versions of a painting is an interesting exercise. The intent isn't to produce copies, but, rather, to create variations on a theme. It is especially useful for students. I prepared the drawing for…
Don’t go to art school
Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, likes to say that degrees from the nonprestigious schools are just expensive dunce caps. He means that today higher education is close to worthless, except that degrees from the…
Photography
I'm a Nikon fanboy. My Nikon D750 is the best piece of gear that I've ever owned. Of course, good consumer that I am, I'm lusting after the Z 7 ii that Nikon announced last…
White siccative
I've written plenty of times about my medium. My medium is perfect for me but there are some corner cases. The medium is darkish and for the high-key colors, it can be too strong. White…