Watch Me Paint: World-Class Art, World-Class Instruction
Seven Sacraments Altarpiece (detail), 1445 to 1450, Rogier van der Weyden. Recently one of my kids asked me why I had her baptized as an infant. I answered her from an Anglo-Catholic perspective, citing the practice among early Christians and references in Acts 16 and 1 Corinthians. I added the medieval argument that, while babies …
Continue reading “Resolving disagreement, the art history way”
“Halo of Autumn,” Christina Perry Davis‎ According to legend, when George Will signed up to become a syndicated columnist in the 1970s, he asked his friend William F. Buckley, Jr. — the founder of National Review and a columnist himself — “How will I ever write two columns a week?” Buckley responded (I’m paraphrasing), “Oh …
“Whiteface makes its own weather,” by Carol L. Douglas. High contrast clouds and a flat brush imply rain. Clouds are a terrific, rampaging part of the landscape, and often the best part of a composition. I love painting them. They seem so easy that I never figured there was much secret gnosis to painting them, any more …
Before we even started, Crista plucked a dead dragonfly out of her radiator. “How long have you been working on that” is a common question asked of all painters. Of course that doesn’t include the time spent on prep, which includes ordering supplies, setting up one’s palette, building frames and equipment, and, above all, reconnoitering …
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 …
My friend John Nicholson and I have decided to try a new project. I will choose a painting based on a Biblical theme and write about it from an artist’s viewpoint; John will write about it from a pastor’s perspective on his blog, The Shepherd’s Staff. John is a Baptist pastor from Alabama; I am …