Rock The Studies

"Philip Pearlstein said three things to me that were of enormous importance and saved me from years of making timid studies: Don’t treat yourself as a student, but as an artist; no matter what you choose to do, go deeply into it and push the idea as far as you can; and, you can be a modest person, but you should not be a modest artist." Altoon Sultan

The Freedom of Studies 

Rock Study 3 • oil on linen • 10" x 8"

  I have been making quite a few studies lately, just working on small paintings looking for answers to some questions of direction, trying out different mediums, wanting to do something different than the larger landscapes I have been doing. 
  There is a wonderful place in Biddeford  Pool not much more than a mile away from where I live that has pristine pocket beaches, big granite boulders piled up on each other, ocean, birds, the whole coastal scene writ small in an accessible area. It's the place I go when I have a small window of opportunity for  outdoor painting and I want to just paint without overthinking where to go or what to do. I can go there and make studies. Rock studies, often. There are abstract painting ideas that can be explored in the coastal areas, most often for me in the rock formations.



  

Rock Study 1 • oil on linen• 10" x 8" 

  I have made many of these studies and figure studies over the years and I keep them around, pinned to my upstairs wall or piled up in my downstairs studio. These three from several years ago are about discovering color and shape and flattening space a little bit. I like to take them and make more studies eliminating the realism more and just using color and shape. I don't know how that might work out, but I like the idea of the progression along this line: how much of the solidity of rocks is available just by color and shape? 

Rock Study 2 • oil on linen • 8" x 10"

Carter • Charcoal and Conte on Paper

  
  I think of all my figure work as studies. I have drawn/painted from the figure for over 30 years now and it never stops being both difficult and extremely enjoyable at the same time. Quick, gestural studies are great for building reference for future paintings with the advantage of the model taking a more complicated pose since it's held for a short time. Longer poses, like Carter took here, are great for developing more accuracy or more detail or deeper expression. 











 I like the Altoon Sultan quote at the top of the post, and you can find his blog "Studio and Garden"  here, it's worth looking at.

Robert Genn (May 15, 1936 - May 27, 2014)

  We lost an original voice. Linda Gerson shared with me the link to the Painter's Keys website and the bi weekly letters of Mr.Genn. Since then I have felt like a friend was in the room with me talking about art when I read them. He seemed to be an old school artist with no pretension and many ideas how you can live the painter's life. He lived in BC Canada, and his daughter lives and makes art in NYC. She has been writing some of the letters for while and will continue reprinting his from the archive and writing some as well.

   Check out the Painter's Keys website  here

   There is an interesting interview with Robert Genn   here

“On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend's life also, in our own, to the world.” ― Henry David Thoreau