Comments for All the Strange Hours

Comment on Style by jennA

jennA — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:47:13 +0000

this is a little peeve of mine as well. In the past few years, it is amazing the number of female pastel landscape artists whose work is identical to Elizabeth Mowry’s. And I had to laugh at your Leffel reference, because I have thought the same thing - so many artists who paint just like him. Seems to be one in every art magazine I look at. There is one Mowry clone on the a daily painting website, she is putting them out at the rate of one a day. Easy to do when you don’t have to put any thought into it.

What surprises me is how these clone artists get the recognition they do. Even if they are good, they are still copying someone else’s style, and more than a few don’t even try to put a personal stamp on it. I don’t begrudge anyone making a living, but I think I would rather not paint at all than copy someone else. There is no pride in it, it defeats the whole purpose of wanting to be an artist. Now, i WAS formally trained, starting at the age of 8, but I believe I would feel this way even if I were a bored housewife, sunday painter, retired hobbyist, whatever.

Finding your own style does not come easy for every artist, perhaps that is why that even when one has talent, it is no guarantee that you will become successful. You need something different to set you apart from the rest.

Glad to hear someone else finally express this, because it really has bugged me for a while.
Great blog!

Comment on Whatever you do, don’t paint from the heart by David

David — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:38:56 +0000

Emgee,

As the writer Theodore Sturgeon once said (in response to someone telling him that 90% of his work was crap), “90% of everything is crap.”

I try to focus on the other 10%.

Comment on Lead white is not a fast drier by David

David — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:37:00 +0000

Albert,

I’m not a big fan of alkyd mediums myself. If it’s working for you, then great.

Comment on Whatever you do, don’t paint from the heart by Emgee

Emgee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:16:48 +0000

I agree with your opinion on learning skills and honing talent by working at it - even if it doesn’t feel like its work. I think the same can be said for design, I see a lot of junk out there made by people who got their start because they were ‘edgy’ and now make a better than comfortable living creating designs that follow no compositional form or function. Mistakes that, if they were working under an art director instead of a yes man, would send them back to their drawing board with their heads hung in shame.

Comment on Lead white is not a fast drier by albert

albert — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 16:24:13 +0000

Hey David,
Nice painting blog, sure appreciate your little skits on canvas primers. Yah, I will admit that today people are sh-mucked with so called acrylic gessos. What i’ve been doing is taking a basic cotton canvas making sure it’s not to cheap..:).. and then applying some flake white with a little liquin. To my surprise it dries to a nice shiny surface and usually within 2 days. If people only knew the difference between painting on natural primer than acrylic rubber.

Comment on Grisaille work in progress by Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:13:44 +0000

Beautiful underpainting. We seem to be on a similar track. Check out the new work section of my website.

Do you use any kind of medium in your underpainting? How long does the studio product’s glazing medium take to dry?

Comment on Putty by Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:09:06 +0000

I’ll second that second! Tad’s site is outstanding and the putty method of painting offers incredible possibilities.

Comment on Style by Michael

Michael — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:24:19 +0000

JPerrault,

Do you believe “formal training” excludes Illustration?

I do not if that somehow has been misunderstood.

The context is important. I said, “…Most of Leffelâ��s, Schmidâ��s and Macphersonâ��s students are untrained. They follow one or two artist around and these artists are the world to them. They miss out on a Schmidâ��s influences and his historical relevance because they have not come up through a system of formal training. The plein air painters are more often the hobbyist than the serious artist with a voice even when they have gallery and exhibition activity going on….”

The artists mentioned conduct informal workshops. I was comparing trained artists to hobbyists……….”formal training” can mean many things but it does not mean reading a few books, watching DVDs and taking a few classes and workshops.

There are varying qualities of formal training. Most however follow some sort of structure beginning with basic and working up to more advanced concepts. The hobbyists, on the other hand, is inclined to pick and choose what to spend time on.

The motivation is different and they are more inclined to avoid that which is uncomfortable and tedious however beneficial the activity. They are also inclined to gravitate to people who have already done the footwork and ironed out their own wrinkles. They will easily accept a single point of view as gospel and not have the motivation to seek rounded knowledge that enables them to make independent choices.

Comment on The vision thing by David

David — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:18:30 +0000

Thanks, Ryan. I’m aware of that possibility and selected the dose somewhat conservatively. I do plan to have serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D tested after 3 months, which appears to be the procedure recommended by docs who are in favor of this supplementation regimen.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my improved vision.

Comment on The vision thing by Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:30:46 +0000

Amazing stuff! Be aware it is possible to overdose on vit D. If this is a regime you plan to stick to I would regularly order blood tests for 25 Hydroxy Vitamin D. (25 OHD) This will give you an idea of your deficiency anything under 30 is too low (you want to be between 50 and 80 ng/ml). Good luck!