Lessons from the Masters...

Carol Guzman, a very good friend and artist, gave a talk this week in Bozeman...Sowing the Seeds of Art. So I was there. She is a wealth of art knowledge and I listen closely to what she has to say.

Carol has studied art most of her life and has been to most of the great museums. She has seen A LOT of fabulous art. In my office hangs a postcard from her trip to Russia to see the Levitan exhibit. Lucky girl. So she's seen many of the Masters work up close and personal. She knows "the good stuff".

Along with her art talk, she presented a slide show with many photos from recent museum trips. I picked out a couple of my favorites to point out here. I think it's important that more people see "the good stuff"... it trains our eye and our taste for beauty in this world.

Click the title links below and look closely at the way the paint is handled in these two paintings - absolutely beautiful!...

Cecilia Beaux - Man With The Cat, Henry Sturgis Drinker 1898
Pay close attention to the cat. Amazing - you certainly get the feel of the cat relaxed on his lap, but not one "hair" has been painted.

Abbott Henderson Thayer - Roses 1890
Pay close attention to the vase. The highlight is made up of bold abstract brush strokes - but boy does it work against those soft roses.

So with that inspiration, I set off to the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. In honor of Thanksgiving, I painted a fork, spoon and knife from the Yellowstone Park Hotels - used about 100 years ago.

My subjects....

My oil study....

I wanted to set off the beautiful colors in the spoon and other highlights, so I chose to make the background a light violet. (At the Research Center, objects are generally placed on archival foam, which isn't always my favorite choice for a painting background.)

 Yellowstone Park Hotel Silverware   12" x 12"  oil

Now let's look closely at how I handled the paint...

I tried to create interest in the painted surface - loose juicy paint against thin softer passages. But from farther away, I want it all to 'come together'.

You can do a lot of research on line these days. But it's still not the same as seeing them in person. Train your eye and your sense of beauty. Keep the museums busy and study the Master's paintings.....They certainly give us something to strive for!