Browsing: Letters
0
The aging artist
Dear Artist, Older artists don’t necessarily lose their chops. New studies seem to show that the aging process actually improves certain abilities. At McMaster University in Canada, researchers found that elderly people are better able to grasp “the big picture”…
0
Sage advice
Dear Artist, It’s great to be optimistic. There’s also something to be said for a reasonable amount of pessimism. An optimist is one who writes checks before her funds come in. In 1782 Ben Franklin quoted the old German saying:…
0
Voluntary mutism
Dear Artist, You may be aware of a condition called “Selective Mutism.” This is where children are afraid or unable to speak out. Shy and silent at school, they are often normal at home or with others they know and…
0
Painting without sight
Dear Artist, Recently there has been a bit of excitement around the painter Esref Armagan. The 51-year-old native of Istanbul, Turkey, has been blind from birth. Researchers at Boston University and the University of Toronto have been analyzing his work,…
0
Something jumps out
Dear Artist, After my last letter about Eric Maisel’s creative cards, Melinda Collins wrote, “I’m intrigued by the creativity issue and sometimes wonder if I take too simple an approach. I just get up and go to my studio 6…
0
In the cards
Dear Artist, Some time ago I was making short documentary films of artists I admired. My quest had taken me to a place thirty kilometers south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to a painter by the name of Freddie Martin. His…
0
The Good Books
Dear Artist, Some days this studio computer pops regularly with question emails. Yesterday was one of those days. Dorothy thought it must have been the phase of the moon. A lot of the questions were fairly basic — the sort…
0
Efficient strokes
Dear Artist, The artist and teacher Ted Smuskiewicz told his students, “Leave your strokes alone.” Apart from leaving them alone, it’s valuable to make them efficiently, characteristically and “style-on” in the first place. This may seem a bit academic, but…
0
The “User-Upper” system
Dear Artist, Renoir couldn’t stand to see leftover paint on his palette. Apart from being frugal, he loved the irregularity of what was left. He kept a pile of small canvases on hand. Last thing at night he used up…