thursday, april 02, 2009
Reading &
I have finally finished the de Kooning book. It was a biography, but I found it irksome that more photos of his paintings were not included. I am grateful that they published any - and some in color! I learned more than I wanted to about his personal life, but I guess that is the point of biographies these days. The folks who wrote it certainly did their research, interviewing people who knew him and the people who were close to him. I now have a better understanding of why Hendler and Somberg left New York when they did to come to Minnesota to teach. My luck, actually. I doubt I would have stuck to painting or art in any form without them. I have met several painter/teachers since my college days, and most of them don't impress me as very competent or really engaged with art. It's just a job. I have always felt that if you are not passionate about what you are doing, you should be doing something else.
I've just started Classical Painting Atelier - A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice by Juliette Aristides. Yet another in my perennial quest to figure out how to handle oils. I started to read about oil painting when I was about 13, to see what was involved. Scared the bejesus out of me. All those rules!!! At college we worked in acrylic - the new medium - and learned nothing about oils. It made for a more healthy working environment and you could change what you were doing on a dime. Very, very useful. Smelled terrible! While the smell has improved, the luciousness does not seemed to have advanced much. There are new mediums that I have yet to try. But I want a certain visual something that I am not getting. Ah well, if it were easy ....
Be well-
C
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