A little touch up

04 Monday Jan 2016

Posted by pat in Art, England, Gardens, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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Sometimes you just have to go back and fix a few things.

I don’t often change a piece of art once I have deemed it “finished”. Even if it stays on the walls in my own home, I usually leave it alone. Once I let it go, it’s done.

But rarely, I will see something that from the beginning has stuck with me as just not quite there. It has to nag at me for a while, but finally, possibly years later, I will pick up the chalk or paint brush and do a bit of editing. Sometimes I will ruin it for good, but then again…

Recently I was allowed to revisit “White Garden”, a favorite painting of mine that I did after a visit to Sissinghurst, a National Trust garden in Kent, England. At the very end of painting the scene, when I wasn’t quite sure it was finished, I added a figure walking down the path. A vision of Vita Sackville-West, the poet and gardening writer who created the garden in the 1930s.

But it always caught my attention when I looked at the work, and over the years I realized she detracted from the real star…the magical white garden. So this month, I removed her. There is a hint of white where she was. Just part of the garden. I am very pleased with the result. Your full attention is once again on the magnificent roses and garden beyond.

Sometimes a tweak is more subtle. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me or if anything was really bothering me enough to try a change. It was more a lack of energy than anything else.

A few hours later, a bit of work, and some additional strokes of conte, and it was much more agreeable to me. I’m not even sure why.

It became more complex and layered and could join the other drawings in the series with pride. Sunflowers in a field.

For now, I am happy with them.

The Museum Guard

29 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching

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Alex Katz, Atlanta, High Museum

In art museums I have visited, there is always the presence of the guards watching the museum’s treasures. They try not to intrude on the experience, but keep a watchful eye on their charges.

I recently went to see “Alex Katz, This Is Now” at the High Museum in Atlanta. I love Katz’s work and had never seen so much together in one place. It was impressive, and the layout and scale of the exhibition was intimate yet grand. The show included 40 pieces, 15 that were unveiled for the first time. Most were large landscapes.

I went on a weekday, and the museum was nearly empty. But in every room, there were the guards, standing stoically by the work.

I always wonder what they are thinking of, hour after hour, in the presence of great art.

When I go in to a museum gallery, I spend a lot of time just looking, not just at the art, but also at the people looking at the art. And because it was so empty this time I especially noticed the guards.

This female guard was especially vigilant, standing where she could keep an eye on two adjacent galleries.

I know they notice me as I come in and out of their space photographing not just the art, but also them. They never question me or overtly acknowledge my presence. I find their aloof presence reassuring.

Do they stay focused on the art? Or are they wondering what they are going to cook for dinner that night?

Brown and White

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

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Hirshhorn Museum, Janine Antoni, Lick and Lather, oil painting, sculpture, Washington DC

I am never sure what will be the subject of my next painting. Sometimes I have a few images taped on my wall that I think may be possibilities.

But until I strip the wrapping off a new canvas, I am never really sure what my next painting might be. These photos are from the gardens surrounding the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC.

The inspiration for “Brown and White” came from this same visit to the Hirshhorn this past March, but from inside the galleries.

I hadn’t been to this museum in over a decade and had forgotten how much great sculpture there was.

When I came across “Lick & Lather” (1993-94), a twin piece by Bahamian sculptor Janine Antoni, I was fascinated. The brown bust is made from chocolate, and Antoni, known also as a performance artist, cast the piece and then licked the details and refinements in to the chocolate self-portrait.

For “lather”, she cast herself in soap, and then actually submerged the bust in a tub of water with herself and lathered the details in to shape. Fascinating.

When I saw the two pieces I immediately went to the wall to the left to read about the work. Following me, a well dressed middle-aged black gentleman did the same thing, trying to identify what the pieces were all about. Part of the explanation for the pieces talks about our love-hate relationship with physical appearance.

Several weeks later, the riots broke out in Baltimore over the death of a young black man while in police custody. It was one of several incidents that had been very troubling this year involving police misconduct against black individuals. I started thinking about the issue of race in this country, something that I have pondered more and more often in the last decade. Having lived in the Caribbean in a West Indian society had made me even more conscious of the differences and challenges of race in our country.

And of course, now that I live in the southern part of the United States where the issue of race is never far from the surface, I have pondered it even more.

All of a sudden, the photo I had taken back in March 2015 at the Hirrshorn had a new impact for me.

I chose it as reference to do “Brown and White” as my next painting. The color palate and simplicity of composition spoke to me as strongly as the underlying message. It was March when I saw the museum reference…the world was still brown and white, struggling to come out of winter in Washington.

Somehow, everything just seemed to be obvious for the painting.

“Brown and White”, 30 x 24″, oil on linen.

Paris Street Music

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by pat in Art, paintings, sketching, Travel, Uncategorized

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La Comedie Francaise, musicians, Paris

Only in Paris…classical musicians hawk their wares (or CDs) outside La Comedie Francaise, just a few short blocks from The Louvre Art Museum.

As I walked back to my hotel after visiting the Louvre, I heard the uplifting sound of strings in a nearby plaza. Edged by grand arched buildings sheltering cafes, people were sitting outside in the cool spring air listening to the musicians. It was lovely.

I have had the photo of this scene taped up on my studio wall for over a year, and would often study it. I loved the graphic pattern of the musicians against the red, gray and white backdrop.

But even more, I loved the individuality of the musicians, sitting or standing amongst their cases and bags, concentrating on the music with looks of serene joy. There is nothing like an artist practicing their craft.

Each musician had such a distinct personality. I found as I worked on them, I got to know each one, and made up nicknames for each.

As I worked from left to right filling in the details, I got to know each one and their precious instruments. I had never sketched or painted musical instruments before. It was a struggle, but also an education…the different shapes, the different shades of wood. And each player had their own stance that did suit the personalities I had conjured up.

I wanted to create a rhythm and a visual movement to match the music I could hear in my head reminiscent of when I had actually been with them on that Paris street.

With the unfathomable violence this past year in Paris, it made this scene even more serene and poignant in my memory.

Each figure had a certain wistfulness. Were they lost in the music or their own private musings?

I would never really know for sure.

But it is rather like my paintings. Each viewer will put their own story to it, create their own scenario surrounding the particular scene and figures. Reality is always in the eye of the beholder. If only that interpretation could always be peaceful.

Like the “violet girl”, the details would build our understanding of the individual until they become more real, if only in our own mind.

This painting took a very long time to paint for me. It was two months of almost daily work. Many hours were spent studying the figures and deciding how they worked alone and together, before completing the background.

Finally, like a good orchestra, it all worked together in harmony.

Paris Street Music, 36 x 24″, oil on linen.

In Monet’s Garden

15 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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MOMA, Monet, New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

There are times when I just want to escape from what I call “trauma porn”, that constant bombardment of the dark, angry words and images so prevalent at this moment in our society. It’s everywhere and it must sell well. I know there is distress and war and hardship in the world. And that should never be hidden. But the media feeds on it, and it seems like lately there is not a healthy balance with the more introspective, peaceful side of our society. There has to be an equal emphasis on good and what is enriching rather than only a biased focus on terror, anger and turmoil. How else will we be able to find our own personal balance?

What better place to contemplate the good than Monet’s garden, even if it is only at the Museum of Modern Art on a cold February morning.

I actually began working on a very different painting right before New Year’s. People often ask me how long a painting takes to complete. Well, it all depends.

I was trying to come to grips with a scene I had noticed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Four women were sitting sketching and it intrigued me. What a positive way to spend a morning. I worked on it for over a month.

But it just never came together the way I wanted it to. I couldn’t seem to find what Alex Katz (one of my favorite artists) calls the “inside energy”. This piece was not going there. I finally decided it was time to erase it from the expensive linen and begin again. And what better place to go than Monet’s gardens.

These Monets are at MOMA in NYC. After my trip there in early February, I was drawn to these two extraordinary paintings. The museum curators had moved them to a different gallery since the last time I was there, and it was quieter and more removed from the crowds.

I found these two women each transfixed by “Water Lilies” and “Agapanthus”. A recurring theme of mine in this series of paintings is how art and museums bring us to a more positive, introspective state. No bi-partisan arguing. No shrill media. As far as I can tell almost everyone finds peace and tranquility with a Monet. And if they want to explore a darker side, there are other galleries and paintings that focus on that. It’s all so civilized in a museum.

When I start a painting I am concerned with what the artist David Salle recently described in an article as an “alignment of intention, talent and form”. He suggests the art of painting on canvas has returned to importance, if it ever left. And these three values are what create a masterful painting.

I know Monet has this in his work. But do I? Can I?

I constantly strive for that interior energy in a painting. And my subject (or intent) is often an interpretation of ourselves attempting those perfect moments of contemplation. I’ll leave the dark side for others to explore for now. Monet certainly helps.

“In Monet’s Gardens”, oil on linen, 36″ x 24″, with thanks to MOMA and Monet.

Art and Commerce

13 Tuesday Jan 2015

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MOMA, New York City, The Museum of Modern Art

It is always a delicate balance between the creation of art, and the financial swirl that may or may not surround it. Being at Art Basel and Art Miami made me even more aware of that. For commercial galleries the emphasis on sales and collectors is obvious. But what of museums? The balance between exhibitions and ticket sales must always be on their minds.

This scene at MOMA in New York City last February (2014) illustrates it beautifully.

Above is London-based Isaac Julien’s immersive film installation Ten Thousand Waves. It was astounding to see the vibrant, moving images projected on to 9 double-sided screens on the level above the main entrance lobby and ticket area.

No matter where you went through the museum that day, it would etch into your vision, interweaving contemporary Chinese culture with its ancient myths

Like the person leaning on the railing above on the edge of the Marron Atrium, I would wander in and out of the staging area, being as interested in the music and sounds, as well as its sequenced images.

Below on the main floor of The Museum of Modern Art, people are at the desk waiting for information and tickets, anxious to get to the scene above. Art and commerce…always a tenuous connection.

Ten Thousand Waves was conceived as a “reflection of the movement of people across continents”. A lofty attempt to explore our world. A world that must also include the financial realities of art.

My painting Above and Below, 24 x 36″, oil on linen.

Art Basel 2014

10 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Art Basel 2014

On our second day in Miami we went over to the Miami Beach side of the Art Fair scene. We made a quick stop on Lincoln Road near South Beach. I wanted to see The Art Center, an artist’s studio venue that will be moving in April. The artists are quite sad to lose this great location but progress is moving big stores into the valuable real estate. Apple and J Crew are replacing this eclectic space.

Had some great conversations with artists here wondering where to go next. Finding a spot near patrons who buy art, with studio space an artist can afford is a common dilemma.

Then it was on to the massive 2014 Art Basel art fair at the Miami Convention Center around the corner and down the street.

Eric Fischl’s new works portraying art fair visitors were scattered through the gallery displays. They intrigued me. He had started this series sometime around the time I was just getting in to my gallery/city series. It is interesting to see a different take on the art scene, so much a part now of modern life.

Another artist that was prominently shown whom I admire was David Hockney.

His English landscapes can be hauntingly familiar from my travels.

My Beloved Brit and I had seen the start of this Yorkshire countryside series on a trip to London several years ago, so it was like visiting old friends.

Many of them are printed from iPad renderings, and the colors are vivid. Hockney is always playing with new techniques and new technology.

But, moving on, one thing I noticed this year, were how many monochromatic and black & white pieces there were. Very diverse in subject and style, but black & white none-the-less. This was one of my favorites of the day. Each bit of straw had a wonderful quote or saying on it. You could stay for hours just reading the bits of wisdom.

The monochromatic nature theme persisted. This huge piece is charcoal on paper (with me reflected in the glass).

Sometimes an accent of color was added.

Is this trend a reaction to climate change? I am not sure.

There were of course classics and Fairfield Porter is one of my favorites. It was a joy to see a room with several of his works I had never seen before.

That’s the beauty of Art Fair. You see the new work, but you also discover older pieces that the galleries are trying to sell, and even classics.

There was this little minimalist gem that caught my attention right at the end…

Basel also had rows and rows of unfathomable art that I couldn’t begin to comprehend. But I still gravitate to the pieces that relate directly to my world. I know there is a place for the other, but these are the ones I connect to.

All in all it was a very full day. These two galleristas agree.

Art Miami 2014

06 Saturday Dec 2014

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A full day of art in Miami, and I couldn’t be happier.

It is always fun to come down to Miami in December and see the gigantic art fair hosted by the city.

Yesterday my friend and I did “Art Miami”, set up in a huge row of tents near the Wynwood Art District.

It was grand, and gave me a chance to see new creative output from an international representation of galleries.

It was varied this year, and I found there were less “gimmicks” in the art represented, and more emphasis on color and form.

It will be interesting to go to Art Basel at the convention center in Miami Beach to see what they have to offer.

The only negative I heard while visiting…there is a lot of talk about how the local Miami art scene is struggling. Galleries and artists are leaving the area, finding it hard to compete with the huge international fairs. Real estate prices in the art districts are rising, moving the artists and galleries to other locations. With the same thing happening in Brooklyn right now, it is difficult to know where artists can find a receptive audience for their work, and continue to create. I know they’ll find a way.

Urban Scene

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Gustave Caillebotte, oil painting, Paris Street;Rainy Day

When I first entered this particular gallery at the Art Institute of Chicago, the large painting across from the entrance made me smile. And then I sat down on the bench across from it to contemplate the gorgeous urban scene. The rainy day vista was a snapshot of a Paris long gone. And it was beautiful.

The museum had just finished a major restoration and cleaning of Paris Street; Rainy Day by the French artist Gustave Caillebotte. One of Caillebotte’s best known works, the 1877 painting depicts what was then known as Carrefour de Moscou, a road east of the Gare Saint-Lazare in north Paris, now called Place de Dublin.

When you first walk in to the room, the painting immediately grabs your attention. The blue-gray walls push it off the wall, and you feel like you could actually enter the boulevard itself with madam and monsieur.

I used a lavender pink underlay to set the cool, soothing tones of the rainy streets before putting the strong, deeper blue layer on top.

I was afraid that when I put the actual blue-gray color of the gallery walls in, it would overwhelm the painting and the figures.

But, as is the case in the actual room, it works. And the cool underlying tones do push through and the blue on the walls draws out the figures and their umbrellas in the painting.

I sat across from this picture for a long time, watching the people come into the room. Like me, they were immediately snapped to attention by the charismatic figures on the Parisian street.

I loved these two women looking at the work, possibly a mother and daughter. One is lining up her photos, while the other leans in to stare at the painting.

Their detachment from each other mirrors the isolation of the figures on the Paris street. They seem to be together, and yet each is in their own world.

Maybe things have not changed so much.

“Urban Scene” oil on linen, 30 x 24″

Watching

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by pat in Art, Art Museums & Exhibitions, paintings, sketching, Uncategorized

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Art Institute Chicago, Munch, oil painting, pastel, The Girl By the Window

There is something about the way people view art in museum galleries that fascinates me. Each person has their own way of circling and then approaching a piece. Some gaze, some study with great intensity. What are they trying to see? The content, the technique…?

Some people dash by, and take a quick pic on their phone. But others linger, like this couple who put their heads together and peered at this mesmerizing Edvard Munch pastel “The Girl by the Window” (1893) at the Art Institute Chicago for many long moments.

Munch’s piece is special. The young woman in the painting is looking out her window. We are not sure at what but it is mysterious and hidden by the night. Obscured by the art lovers is a dark shape which could be a chair, or another person looking at the girl in the lower right hand corner of Munch’s painting.

Our viewers have taken its place to add to the complexity of watching going on. It is a piece that is many layered and takes a long time to view and try to figure out the whole scenario. Our couple is trying.

“Watched”, oil on linen, 14 x 11″

accentBritain

~ a romance with art and all things British

Category Archives: paintings

A little touch up

The Museum Guard

Brown and White

Paris Street Music

In Monet’s Garden

Art and Commerce

Art Basel 2014

Art Miami 2014

Urban Scene

Watching