Dear Artist, Yesterday, Anne Swannell of Victoria, B.C., wrote, “A couple of years ago one of my paintings sold in a group show and also won the Viewer’s Choice Award. The other day, I printed a copy of it to…
Dear Artist, Many readers of my letters may not be old enough to remember Betty Friedan’s 1963 bombshell book, The Feminine Mystique. In those days, 78% of college faculty were men, as were 95% of physicians and 97% of lawyers.…
Dear Artist, Out over the dark sea, near the horizon, whales move steadily northward. People silently gather on the rough black lava and red dirt at Makahuena Point. Cameras ready, braced against the wind and crashing surf, they await the…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Zehava Power of Halifax, Nova Scotia wrote, “I work for an art-sales-and-rental gallery that represents over 200 local artists. Attached to a public gallery, it’s a volunteer-based operation with a few paid staff. We have a committee…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Adrianne Moro of Curitiba, Brazil wrote, “I am very fond of your twice-a-week letter. But suddenly a new situation has taken me. It was the death of my grandfather. He was the most brilliant, loving, caring human…
Dear Artist, Feelings of pleasure are triggered in the brain by food, sex and illicit drugs. Dopamine, a “feel good” neurotransmitter, is released into the bloodstream from several parts of the brain. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal have now…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, Hope Barton of St Augustine, Florida wrote, “I’ve just finished a commissioned 24″ x 48” acrylic on canvas of a client’s home. She came to my studio and approved my photos. She wanted the neighbor houses left…
Dear Artist, Norman Rockwell never called himself an artist. When I met him in his studio some years ago, he made it clear to me that he was an “illustrator.” I told him I loved cruising his paintings up close…
Dear Artist, Model-making artist Joe Fig has produced a remarkable book, Inside the Painter’s Studio, in which he visits and photographs the studios of dozens of well-known New York contemporary painters. He also records each artist’s answers to a number of…
Dear Artist, I don’t think our daily newspapers are going to be with us much longer. Right now we get two of them. They’re delivered a few minutes apart in the early morning by two separate guys in gas guzzlers…