Dear Artist, Last night I attended a one man show — my own. For many of us these are the nights when we get to meet the people who make it all possible — our collectors and those angels who…
Dear Artist, Horace Walpole once remarked of Sir Joshua Reynolds: “All his own geese are swans, as the swans of others are geese.” I’ve heard variations of this idea from some of my artist friends. There have even been times,…
Dear Artist, Jury duty again yesterday. This time for a fundraiser for a new arts facility in a relatively small community of 60,000. Good idea: Artists, both invited and volunteer set up at designated locations around the town — heritage…
Dear Artist, On a recent clickback response page, we included a note from Eijo Toyonaga: “I’m a serious figurative painter and I like very much to paint in the Old Masters’ style. Last spring I took part in a local…
Dear Artist, An old Chinese proverb says, “Do not grasp the brush before the spirit and the thoughts are concentrated.” This part of the creative process — the beginning part — needs to be handled with the same sort of…
Dear Artist, You may remember my last letter was about deception. This one’s about truth. I’ve always found that anyone who waded in and proclaimed the “truth” was asking for instant excommunication for someone else’s cult. At the risk of…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, while acting as a juror in an art show, my cricket came and sat on my head. I was looking at submissions that might be divided into two groups — those trying for reality and those trying…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, one of my dealers sold a painting to a collector in Indonesia. The transaction amounted to over ten thousand dollars, but that’s not the interesting part. The sale was made entirely on the Internet. There was no…
Dear Artist, Out here on this island I take my watch at the edge of a mysterious forest. A gentle and occasional wind-chime, like a Buddhist bell, divides my time zones. With vanilla tea I lounge on a hammock and…