Browsing: Letters
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Timeless and timely
Dear Artist, Near where I live, there passes an ancient pathway called the Semiahmoo Trail. It was first used by native peoples — the Semiahmoos — then by gold seekers, and later — not much more than a hundred years…
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Discriminating connoisseur
Dear Artist, Last night, I was visiting an old friend who is a bit of an art collector. He has a dozen or so of mine. Above our scotch, on a high, dramatic wall, I noticed a huge new painting…
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Making adjustments
Dear Artist, The more I go at this game the more I realize it’s a business of making adjustments. Many adjustments are pretty darned minor — even trivial. It seems to me it’s the trivial stuff that makes the difference.…
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Creative peaking
Dear Artist, We artists experience a phenomenon called “creative peaking.” There are two main types: “macropeaks” and “micropeaks.” The first are the big ones, the life ones — like Mozart was said to have peaked at age 16. Micropeaks are…
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In praise of supports
Dear Artist, Supports. I’m not talking about the people who support you while you’re having fun with art. I’m talking about the stuff we work on — canvases, panels, cards, papers — generally referred to as “the support.” Recently I…
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In praise of wild places
Dear Artist, In 1934, Ansel Adams took a break from his work on the effects of the Great Depression on humanity and visited King’s Canyon, near Yosemite. This event, and the photography that followed were to result in a refreshed…
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In praise of crazy
Dear Artist, Some people think she’s crazy. She’s a bronco-busting, motorcycle-riding, video-making, sky-diving, giant-picture-painting kind of girl. She makes loud noises in social situations. “Man, look at that tree,”she shouts. She can laugh like a logger and giggle like a…
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Artists’ Requiem
Dear Artist, Over the past months there have been a few letters from artists with remarks about the situation in the Middle East. My first instinct was to leave the political stuff out of these letters and our Painter’s Keys…
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Count your blessings
Dear Artist, Termites that have been dormant over the winter issue from a small hole in the corner of my studio ceiling. When I “Raid” them they withdraw momentarily. Today, apart from the perennial easel-struggle this is the main distraction.…