Maurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876 – 1958) The Harvest

Steven Nederveen

By blurring the lines between photograph and painting, Nederveen develops a magical realism that inspires us to see the world with new eyes. By distressing and aging the work he creates the sense of past and present; of struggle and transformation. A glass-like layer of resin coats each piece, enhancing the clarity of the image and reflecting the viewer into the work.

Michael Chase

How to give advice

Greetings! Recent emails asking for advice prompted me to give further thought to the business of giving advice. Believe me, I'm deeply honoured when people trust me with a half dozen jpegs and the question, "What do you think?" Further, it's exciting to know that some subscribers are getting valuable advice from other subscribers. As noted by "Buttonwood" in The Economist magazine, "If you ask enough people you will eventually find someone who will tell you what you want to hear." Recent studies show investment gurus make big bucks telling investors what stocks to buy, sell and hold. I've always suspected that these advisors make more dough by advising than by investing. We artists often give advice for free. Because of the unpredictable nature of life, humans may be hard-wired to ask for advice. A few others may be hard-wired to give it. Some psychologists think the main benefit of getting advice is to avoid personal regret--if someone's advice is bad or disappointing, it's their fault, not yours. Funnily, many advice-seekers already know the answer to their questions. They just want to hear it from someone else. But they also know that experienced eyes can often see faults and weaknesses and may be in a position to suggest fixes. I advise advice-givers to follow the advice of the Roman lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus, generally know as Horace: "Whatever advice you give, be brief." 1.  "Your work is interesting." You're safe here because all work, even bad work, is interesting. 2.  "This part is excellent." There's always a good part in any painting, and this observation relaxes the receiver and permits you to home in on what you think they need to know. 3.  Now comes the part where you need to be of optimum value to the asker. Try to figure out the one main thing you think might truly be of use to them. It may be about composition, drawing, colour or whatever. Try to make your advice specific, illuminating and memorable. Don't confuse people with lesser concerns.    For what it's worth, that's my system. For the record, it would be great to hear your advice on the delicate art of advising.   Best regards, Robert PS: "Maybe you can't give advice to an artist." (Louise Nevelson) Esoterica: I often think the best advice is what I call "Osmotic advice." This is where casual remarks (particularly in workshops) are overheard and inadvertently soaked up. It helps if the remarks were intended for someone else, but in your private wisdom you secretly know it was intended for you. Here's an example from the great workshopper Tony van Hasselt: "The 's' curve can be found in the human form, in animals, plants, flowers, in anything alive. Keep the straight lines for structures, created from 'dead' materials." You can take that sort of raw gold into your studio and forge with it. Tens of thousands of specific gems like this one can be found in our Resource of Art Quotations. Current Clickback: "Downsizing" looks at cropping existing work. Your comments will be appreciated.    Read this letter online and share your thoughts on giving advice. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com    The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show.    The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge.    The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator.    If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email.    You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter    Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

http://chocye.tumblr.com/ http://chocye.com/

Wire Sculptures by David Oliveira

Sam Taylor-Wood

Portrait made using a single piece of thread and nails - by Kumi Yamashita

The Constellation series by New York based artist Kumi Yamashita is a series of portraits made entirely with a single piece of unbroken black thread meticulously wrapped around a sea of nails. Check out the rest of the piecesHERE

Anne Sudworth

Robert Mapplethorpe - Portrait of Artists; Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, 1983-86. Photograph on paper

Downsizing

Greetings! Yesterday, Alex Nodopaka of Lake Forest, California, USA, wrote, "What do you think about making art by cutting larger paintings into several pieces, and also cropping existing work slightly smaller? Also, what's the recommended way to do this?" Thanks, Alex. Very often, a large "mish-mash"--poorly composed or overly cluttered work--can have a better life by turning it into two or three smaller works. To get an idea of potential compositions within paintings, try moving frames of various sizes around in the offending work. Two "L" shaped cards are okay, too, but they don't always lead to the preferred standard sizes. Paintings often take on new strength and presence when they are even slightly cropped. For example, a 12" x 16" can often be downsized to 11" x 14" to good effect. A 24" x 30" can theoretically be turned into a 16" x 20", a couple of vertical 10"x 12"s and a pair of 8"x 10"s. While a laborious and time-consuming job, canvas can be removed from stretchers by pulling out all the staples and re-stretching on different stretchers. I prefer to mount canvas onto boards. You need to knife the canvas slightly larger than the proposed size. Excellent prepared boards with reversible heat-activated conservator's adhesive for this exact purpose are provided by various companies including Art Boards of Brooklyn, New York. You get everything hot in your kitchen oven and then roll the canvas down with a brayer. For smaller work I glue down with not-so-reversible acrylic medium. Some artists use one of the various carpenter's glues, but I don't recommend them. After cutting the canvas from the old stretcher I spread straight medium onto quarter-inch (or thicker) mahogany plywood cut to the required size. I press the canvas to the panel using a book press. (A couple of old Britannicas will do.) After the work has adhered to the panel, the overlapping canvas is knifed off and you have a fresh new painting. Give the back (and edges) a coat of thinned medium or varnish to help prevent warping. It's okay to go in and finesse your downsized work. Often, the new format suggests painterly opportunities you didn't see before. Sign and go. Best regards, Robert PS: "A well-composed painting is half done." (Pierre Bonnard) Esoterica: It's often a mystery why compositions get out of whack. A well-composed painting can be spotted from across a room and draw folks toward it. A mish-mash sends them on their way--no matter how well done its parts. Sometimes it's just a matter of too much space around some of the elements within the picture plane. In other cases the artist has lost control of the eye-control. While it's desirable to compose well to start with, cropping and downsizing are legitimate ploys. Knives, skill-saws and glues are treasured tools of aware artists. FYI, we've put some photos of the process in action at the top of the current clickback. Current Clickback: "Lessons from a shopaholic" looks at useful or not-so-useful compulsions. Your comments will be appreciated. Read this letter online and share your thoughts on cropping existing work. Live comments are welcome. Direct, illustratable comments can be made at rgenn@saraphina.com The Art Show Calendar: If you or your group has a show coming up, put an illustrated announcement on The Painter's Keys site. The longer it's up, the more people will see it. Your announcement will be shown until the last day of your show. The Workshop Calendar: Here is a selection of workshops and seminars laid out in chronological order that will stimulate, teach, mentor, take you to foreign lands or just down the street. Many of these workshops are recommended by Robert and friends. Incidentally, if you are planning a workshop and have photos of happy people working, feel free to send them to us and we'll include a selection in the workshops feature at no extra charge. The Painter's Post: Every day new material is going into this feature. Links to art info, ideas, inspiration and all kinds of creative fun can be found in this online arts aggregator. If a friend is trying to subscribe to the Twice-Weekly Letter via Constant Contact, please let her or him know that confirmation is required and to reply to Constant Contact's confirmation email. You can also follow Robert's valuable insights and see further feedback on Facebook and Twitter Alex Nodopaka is at russkigypsy@sbcglobal.net  Featured Responses: Alternative to the instant Live Comments, Featured Responses are illustrated and edited for content. If you would like to submit your own for possible inclusion, please do so. Just click 'reply' on this letter or write to rgenn@saraphina.com

by-TAIYANGGUODU

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Le Lit.

Richard Phillips “Persia” 1996 Oil on linen 72 x 62 inches

Pablo Picasso was a world-reknown painter, sculptor and contemporary artist – one of the most influential figures of the art world in the 20th century, and founder of the cubist movement. His art ranges from the simplistic to the spectacular, and his peculiar view of the world is captured in this fascinating LIFE magazine series of 1949, “Pablo Picasso Draws with Light.”

Henry Lamb (British, 1885-1960). Portrait of Sir Cecil Beaton. Oil on canvas, signed and dated ‘35 UR.

sunny summer sunday

Jacket - Boglioli Trousers - Ralph Lauren

Shirt - Mastai Feretti Loafers - Gucci

Pocket Square - Rubinacci Belt - Anderson’s

Sunglasses - Han kjobenhavn

Domenico Ghirlandaio

From the Web Gallery of Art:

Given his large-scale projects, Ghirlandaio could scarcely be expected to carry out such altar paintings in person. This was also realized by his donors, for some of them wrote into the contracts that the works they were paying for had to be painted by him in person. For example, on 28 October 1485, the Francesco di Giovanni Tesori, the prior of an orphanage ordered a panel painting of the Adoration of the Magi from Ghirlandaio. The picture was intended for the main altar of the Spedale degli Innocenti, a foundling hospital. Fra Bernardo acted as the middleman and drew up a contract which made the following requirements: Ghirlandaio had to “colour the aforementioned panel himself, in the manner that can be seen on a paper drawing, with the figures and in the manner as depicted there, and in all details in accordance with what I, Fra Bernardo, consider to be best: he must not deviate from the manner and composition of the mentioned drawing.” In addition, the artist had to colour the panel at his own expense and use good quality paints. Even the quality of the particularly expensive blue colour was precisely laid down in the contract: the artist had to use “ultramarine costing 4 florins per ounce”. Ghirlandaio had to deliver the panel paintings after thirty months and would receive 115 large florins for it if the panel turned out to be worth the sum. The decision in that respect was in the hands of the contract’s middleman, and as he assured himself in the text: “I can obtain an opinion as to its value or artistic merit from whomever I please, and if it does not appear to be worth the fixed price, he [Ghirlandaio] will receive as much less as I, Fra Bernardo, consider to be appropriate.” Completed in 1488, the work, which delighted the middleman and client, is one of Ghirlandaio’s finest panel paintings. The artist received the agreed fee, together with additional funds for a predella with stories of the Virgin. The scenes of the predella are the work of one of Ghirlandaio’s pupils, Bartolommeo di Giovanni as confirmed by the records. The great cornice of the altarpiece had been executed by the carpenter Francesco Bartolo on designs by Giuliano da Sangallo.