I spoke last week with an artist who complained that too many people who take painting classes are dilettantes. "You meet a lot of people who, frankly, are all doing the same bad painting over and over," she said. "They're not serious. They're just there." My own experience...
These are days you'll remember. — Natalie Merchant While 2020 is the year everyone wants to forget, I'm among the lucky few who think it's a year of wonders. With so much time on my hands to paint, I feel I've reached a fresh plateau unimaginable only twelve months...
Chaos, for me, breeds images. — Francis Bacon I've always been an über-neatnik. My studio—kept neat, clean, and in apple-pie order—reflects that. I worry sometimes my innate tidiness hampers me. Compare the condition of my studio to that of the great British painter Francis Bacon. Besides paint tubes, Bacon kept over...
It's heartwarming to hear family, friends and neighbors ask "How are you doing?" and mean it. So far, so good, is my answer. I'm asymptomatic, taking all the recommended precautions, and adding a few of my own (such as sniffing Stubb's Bar-B-Q Sauce every morning, to test...
Experience is merely the name men give to their mistakes. — Oscar Wilde Blame Trophy Communism: in our everybody-gets-a-trophy culture, self-criticism is hard to come by. Which means a lot of weak work gets off the drawing board. If you're a Trophy Capitalist, on the other hand, you don't...
Originality always happens as a byproduct of the search for the answers to a technical or aesthetic problem. — Robert Kulicke When you paint a pear, how original can you be? It depends on your definition of "original." Like a rose, a pear is a pear is a pear. And,...
Give a girl the right shoes, and she can conquer the world. ― Marilyn Monroe Fashion footwear―boots, shoes, sandals and slippers―no longer captures the bulk of consumer spending in the footwear category, according to retail analysts. "Athleisure"―sneakers, flats, slip-ons and flip-flops―has walked off with it. The reasons for the...
After spending decades chasing clients in Our Nation's Capital, my wife and I at last have narrowed our choices of a new place to call home and settled on the Brandywine Valley. We're both delighted. It's inspiring to live here. You'd have to look long and hard...
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you. — Deepak Chopra Still life derives from the 17th century Dutch word stilleven, a collective name for paintings depicting objects like fruit, flowers, food, and everyday household items. Still-life paintings are magical, I believe, because...