Group of Seven
Study for “Northern River” by Tom Thomson Like every other kid who grew up in Buffalo, I spent my formative years at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. This was by no means a bad thing, seeing as the collection is housed in a fantastic building designed by EB Green and Augustus Saint-Gaudens and includes important works …
Then there’s that matter of inspiration
Deer in my brother’s yard, an exercise done several years ago This Sunday, I was doodling in church when a painting dropped full-blown into my head. That isn’t common, but is always exciting. And in this case, it was fortuitous since I just finished several weeks of flailing around on the previous piece. Where does …
What is talent?
“Bras,” oil on canvas, Kamillah Ramos, 2012. This was painted after five months of study. Every year I seem to get one kid who draws wonderfully. Sometimes, this kid has managed to decode the rules of drawing on his own. More typically, he has studied outside of school. But however he does it, to the …
Sketchy
In church This is the second year I’ve bought into the Sketchbook Project and then felt my muse desert me as soon as the package arrived in the mail. It’s ironic, because I carry a sketchbook everywhere I go, a habit that started in elementary school. My school notekeeping was a total fail from an …
Urban painting/Queensboro Bridge
Usually, when we say “field sketch,” people think of pastorals, but the term can apply equally to urban landscapes. I went on a tear painting the Queensboro (or 59th Street) Bridge with my friend Kristin. Here are a few examples. Construction on the Queensboro Bridge, oil on board, 12X9 Just as urban plein air painters …