Kindred spirits
In Oregon . . .
I got to paint a little this past summer with Eric Jacobsen. This is one of his lovely night scenes. Eric is into Russian landscape painting and showed me images of several Russian painters I'd never heard of, as well as others. Here they are!
I was so excited to finally meet Bobbie Jansen and John Van Dreal. The three of us participated in a small group show at Chemeketa College Art Gallery in October, 2008. I covet Bobbie's paint handling ability, and admire her creativity and freshness. For me, one of the high points of the Chemeketa reception was listening to John speak extemporaneously for minutes to a class of students about all the biggies: TRUTH, BEAUTY, ART. Not many could pull that off, but John did. When it was my turn, I limited myself to OBSERVATION.
Ardis DeFreece studied in Florence at the Charles Cecil Studios, hence we share the same "grandfather" teacher, R. H. Ives Gammell. It's fun to compare notes on our education, coming down as it is from two different branches of an oral tradition.
Margret Short is a woman obsessed with pigment. She's turned her obsession into a wonderful blog. If you like colored dirt, check it out! Margret is also one of Oregon's most beloved still-life painters, in a very traditional style befitting a student of David Leffel.
Jerry Mishler Sally Cleveland Daniel Duford Henk Pander
. . . and everywhere else
A friend sent me this link to a Seattle artist, Jason Waskey. Here are three of his pictures. Doesn't he look like he's having fun? He has a great site, and also blogs.
Nice urban/industrial cityscapes: Valeri Larko
Curt Hansen's paintings are breathtaking and should all be hanging in museums. In the mid-nineties, I rented a weekend place in back of Curt's house in Litchfield, CT. What was most educational about the experience was seeing, up-close, the habits of a master landscape painter.
Essential Vermeer is unrivaled as the web's most comprehensive site dedicated to a single artist. It is an incredible labor of love by artist Jonathan Janson . Don't skip Janson's personal site, his work is stunning.
Speaking of the Dutch, Jos van Riswick paints fabulous realist still lifes, look at those eggs peeking out!; I recommend his web site--for both the art and the web design. Check out his Links page, it's a good resource.
What I like about Nancy Bea Miller is that she doesn't wall-off her work from her life.
John Morra signs off his emails in all caps--JOHN; to that I would add that John is, in caps, an ARTIST. The painting below hangs in my living room, and I treasure it.
John makes my life difficult in that he is so able to wholly own his objects. Does anyone dare to paint a mixer after him? Or tomatoes? Gosh, his iconic baskets of apples made me stay away from even that subject for a while.
I consider this little painting by Rick Pilocco to be the pendant to the painting I own by John. Rick painted it in one sitting. Morally, I'm sure there is a Higher Authority somewhere which agrees with me and understands that I am, truly, this painting's rightful and proper owner. As things stand in our fallen world, and according to U.S. law, I'm forced to consider this gem THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!!! You'll notice that the two paintings were done in the same room--John's old NYC studio. The hint is the small chalkboard on the back wall; it will orient you in the room. Yeah . . . I understand why art theft happens--and I know where this painting hangs ;>)
It's always a treat to receive the catalogues from Hirschl & Adler when either Peter Poskas or Paul Rahilly is showing. Poskas has an aesthetic that really appeals to me, and Rahilly . . . gee the man loves paint. So sensual.
Mikel Glass is a wonderful realist/surrealist painter. He brings a welcome dose of humor and intellectualness to an American realist scene often guilty of the twin evils of faux profundity and a fear of rocking the boat.
Annamarie Trombetta is a sweet friend from NYC. She worked for several years as the ticket-taker at the National Academy of Design. As you can imagine, she knows everybody. Interesting paintings of New York monuments; like an old song, this site, and Annamarie herself, bring me back to a certain time . . .
Tom Ouellette William E. Elston Elizabeth Brandon Don Immerwahr Julia Brooks Juliette Aristedes Scott Fraser
Art Blogs
Jason Waskey: Showcase of his daily small works. Upbeat, inspiring.
Nancy Bea Miller: Genre Cookshop
David Rourke: All the Strange Hours: Making and Thinking About Visual Art
Articles on Vision
The Impressionists' bible is an article which was published in Nature about Ogden Rood's textbook on optics and color mixing. The textbook was widely read by French artists, including Monet. Ogden's book, Modern Chromatics: With Applications to Art and Industry, can be read online from Google books.
Eyeshots is the website of a consortium of scientists who are investigating vision and motor control. I've got it linked because of its bibliography: lists of research papers on the nuts and bolts of how our brain constructs a visual reality.
Not for the feint of heart, The Brightness of Colour is scientific article published in PLOSone about why equiluminant colors appear to humans to have different values. Neurobiology + mathematics = insight.
Horns I like to toot!
Elizabeth Grossman's got a new book! Chasing Molecules: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry. It looks like this one is already making a big splash. Her High Tech Trash is a must-read which will take some of the shine off your electronic toys. Also take a peek at On Thin Ice, Lizzie's beautiful audio/photo blog, reported from an ice-breaker in the arctic.
If you live in San Diego, Robin Stark is an essential person to know! She is wine expert who leads bike tours through Europe. See her sites, Starkland Cellars and bike tour reviews
An all-around creative guy, Dan Plonsey
Anne Marie Oliver and Paul Steinberg have written an engrossing memoir about living with a Palestinian family in the Gaza strip during the first intifada. The second part of the book presents their large collection of cultural artifacts glorifying martyrdom: The Road to Martyrs' Square
Web design
The WebChicklet site is a God-send for anyone wanting to learn how to use Cascading Style Sheets.
I used the MaxDesign tutorial to walk myself through building my style sheets.
Draplin Design is a graphic design/logo company with a nifty, and frequently updated, web site. People send in beautiful retro advertisements; good place to see nice graphic design.
Flipping Typical is a handy-dandy tool for viewing and comparing fonts.
Wikipedia has a nice classification of sans-serif fonts.
I always appreciate people who try to bring standards and simplicity to a chaotic world. PositionIsEverything does that for CSS page layout.
A List Apart is an online magazine for web designers; it pays special attention to standards and best practices.
Taking Your Talent to the Web, an online book.
A couple museums
These two Northwest museums have nice collections of American art.
Schools offering academic training
The mags and forums
Salon America Journal The American Arts Quarterly Southwest Art American Artist Artist's Magazine Art Renewal Center
Methods and materials
Gamblin ColorsWilliamsburg Paint
Robert Doak