Review: Killing Commendatore
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…
Category: Uncategorized
Smooth is best
Rereading what I wrote about preparing a canvas, I realized that I didn't emphasize the main goal enough. Yes, it's important to protect the canvas, but the real goal is to make a great surface.…
Family mystery
My great-grandfather Ramey had a fierce personality. Even in his 90's, he had no time for nonsense, epically from unruly children such as me. My grandmother ascribed her father's fierceness to his harsh childhood. Orphaned…
President Trump, pardon Assange
On President Trumps' last day in office, I've signed the petition that urges the president to pardon Assange. For more background, here's a recent NY Times article. If you want to add you voice to…
Review: Master’s Touch
Hobby Lobby, for those like me who hadn't shopped there before, is a craft supermarket that also does a brisk business in frames and framing. They carry art supplies too--stretchers, acrylics, brushes, and oil paints.…
Ill-omened moon
I've seen blood moons before, the red moon that appears during Fall evenings, but I've never seen a red moon in the morning until today. When I first saw the moon, it was so bright…
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…
In the kitchen
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…