Dear Artist, American writer Rumaan Alam, in a recent interview, revealed that he enjoys writing about other people’s books. He says it’s a way of staying engaged in literature while not thinking about his own work. Alam focuses on writers…
Dear Artist, This morning, Michael Epp of Bowen Island, B.C., wrote, “’Just take away everything that doesn’t look like a horse.'” That’s what the sculptors say. Which implies that as long as you avoid all the obvious mistakes, you’ll end…
Near Zion National Park, in the lower left hand corner of Utah is the Kolob reservoir, where at this time of year, an artist can sit at the water’s edge and paint the turning, trembling aspens and the boulders that tumbled there a million years ago. A friend and I had recently decided that while much of what the world is experiencing is toxic right now, one can still nourish oneself on the wind, a paddle and a steep climb.
Dear Artist, My friend Ralph, who doesn’t mind my talking about this, is way out of shape. His personal coach, Alberto, is a ladder-chested ex-lightweight boxer with blinding white teeth and lots of hair. Alberto comes over to Ralph’s twice…
Dear Artist, At the beginning of 2020, I began work on some paintings for a show scheduled to open that Spring. Everything was humming along at an intense but pleasant pace when the world locked down and the show was…
Dear Artist, Last Sunday at 2 p.m. my friend Murray came to the studio. He brought with him a very nice 1999 “Carmen” Chablis (Chile) as well as some ripe Limburger and a good Brie. He even brought his own…
Dear Artist, Last summer, after being invited to submit to an open call, artist Lava Thomas’ proposal for a public monument was selected amongst hundreds of applicants and three finalists. The work, as part of the city’s effort to remedy…
Dear Artist, The “literary colour” of a decent cigar is some sort of brown. On close examination, this Cuban I’ve been looking at for two years, thinking about smoking, and resisting, has a “local colour” of raw umber with traces…
Dear Artist, The other day I was looking into the eyes of a painter as she painted. If eyes are the windows of the soul, they may also give clues to the creative process. I noticed several unique eye-movements: In…