No mandatory retirement or forced disability for painters
Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, by Joseph Mallord William Turner, was completed in 1844, when the artist was 69 years old. Turner moved fully into the free, expressive, colorful treatment at an age when most modern Americans have retired. Two lifelong friends have recently entered hospice—one with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, …
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Reaching through yourself to the next phase
Students show up at all levels of experience, and the goal is to meet them where they are and usher them to the next phase. An inexperienced student is a tabula rasa on which the painting teacher can sketch out an orderly system for painting. (This is a sweet privilege, and one of the reasons …
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The opposite of creativity is what?
New garden, run over. Excuse the bad photo, but it’s monsoon season in Rochester. I don’t dare carry my camera, and my cell phone kept fogging up.. Last evening I talked with a Pittsford farmer (really) about the different ways in people are creative. He has two “artistic” sisters, whereas he likes building and growing …
What painting means, indirectly
I can’t imagine why running here makes us think about aesthetics. Since I’ll never paint from a photo, you can enjoy the reflections and shadows now. Mary and I are running on the canal bank, discussing opening and delayed adverbs and adjectives. (I think middle school teachers invented them to torture students.) She gives an …
My new field easel
Slik tripod, Guerrilla painter easel head, and En Plein Air Pro shelf. After I posted last week about my search for a new plein air easel, I found this little number on Amazon. Oddly, while it is listed as being made by Guerrilla Painter, it isn’t on their website. Perhaps it’s a discontinued item. My …