This past summer I taught a landscape painting course for Boston University as part of their Study Abroad program. It was located on an farm/estate called Capitignano, in the Mugello Valley in Tuscany, a few miles outside of a little provincial town, Borgo San Lorenzo. Capitignano was extremely beautiful, and quite isolated. My students were [...]
Archive for October, 2008
Landscapes from Italy
Posted in Finished Work, tagged apple trees, italy, landscape, teaching on October 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Apropos
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged pleasure, w.h. auden on October 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Two wonderful quotes from W.H. Auden’s book The Dyer’s Hand:
Between the ages of 20 and 40 we are engaged in the process of discovering who we are, which involves learning the difference between accidental limitations which it is our duty to outgrow and the necessary limitations of our nature beyond which we cannot trespass with [...]
Another Tree-Person
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "untitled/girl tree", finishing, titles on October 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
As promised, here is the second “tree-person” painting that I’m working on. Dave, incidentally, thinks it’s hilarious that I call them “tree-people” as a place-holder name until I come up with their real title. It makes him think of those Californian hippie/activists who live in trees to prevent loggers from cutting them down. Not really my [...]
In The Beginning . . .
Posted in Thinking Things Through, tagged writing on October 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Writing is hard. I think primarily because it forces clarity. Or shines a light on the uncomfortable fact that your mind is a disorganized stew. I find writing about my work to be incredibly difficult, and my own lazy brain can only sustain critical focus for a few thoughts or sentences before sliding away to [...]
Something Finished
Posted in Finished Work, Thinking Things Through, tagged amy sillman, control, yale on October 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Oil on linen. 16″ x 12″. (I never know whether height or width should come first). Still untitled. I think of it as tree-legs (man version), but hopefully something more . . . better will come to mind eventually.
This painting is small, because it was meant as a study for a larger version of the [...]
Indirection
Posted in Work in Progress, tagged "Indirection", titles on October 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Coming up with good titles for paintings is quite hard. Sometimes I do feel like “Untitled” is truthfully the most appropriate option, and yet more often it feels like a bit of a cop out. Sometimes a painting is untitled for quite a while before an inspired caption floats into mind, lurking around the corners of [...]
Two Pretty Sights in a Rainy Day
Posted in Life, In & Out of the Studio, tagged plants on October 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
My potted pomegranate finally flowered again! We carried our houseplants 3,000 miles across the country from Boston, painstakingly lugging them all into our motel room every night, and out of the sub-zero weather of late December in the high plains. It was, frankly, a pain in the ass, and I was stricken when, recently, two [...]
In Medias Res
Posted in Thinking Things Through, tagged james elkins, shyness, starting on October 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“It is important never to forget how crazy painting is.”
There. I did it. Took the plunge, and started my first post. I’ve been afraid to start, afraid for so many reasons to put myself out there like this, in the big scary worldwideweb where anyone – anyone! – could find me. When I’m not [...]
