100% Weird: a film by Damien Hirst (1994-95)

• Bryan Scott is holding his own love-in of Winnipeg at Winnipeg: Love and Hate. His sumptuous photos of Winnipeg might suggest to some that Winnipeg is not the penal colony its' citizens take it to be. Make that 'cold penal colony'.
• Art auction prices refuse to fall in Canada. (CBC News)
• Pentagon graphic design, charts and graphs, at WallStats. (via things magazine)
• Saul Steinberg remembered. (The Guardian)

Pink and Yellow
charcoal and pastel
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

I had intended to post a landscape today, but it has proven difficult to either photograph or scan. It will have to wait until Monday.

Today's study I kind of like. It was done in half an hour, and I think adequately portrays what I was looking at.

• R.R.Reno on a night descent and a climber's hubris. (Commentary)
• Jacques and Natasha Gelman's collection of 20th century Mexico has been placed in hiding pending the outcome of a legal dispute. (The New York Times)
• A struggle for the perfect plinth has delayed the completion of a JFK memorial in Brooklyn for 43 years. (The Wall Street Journal)
• The diamond encrusted skull market is getting crowded. Amy Sarkisian has now joined Damien Hirst and others.

Portrait of an Art Student
charcoal and pastel
30.5 x 25.4 cm (12" x 10")

This model is a little older than usual art student, but no less enthusiastic. He seems completely caught up in his new life, which is as it should be.

• For The New Yorker, James Wood considers V.S.Naipaul and Patrick French's new biography of V.S.Naipaul, The World Is What It is.
• Fair's fair. William Deresiewicz reviews James Wood and Wood's How Fiction Works for The Nation.

Nude with Circle
charcoal and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

Why is that big circle there?

It's the outline of a heater which was just in front of me. I thought better of putting it in.

• You can hear Ed Winkleman live, or semi-live, in an interview with Duncan MacKenzie of bad at sports. The talk is of blogging, art, and the art business.
• The Gay Recluse has an update on Hot Gay Statues featuring photos by C-Monster.
• An I.M.Pei designed Museum of Islamic Art is set to open next week in Quatar. (The New York Times)
• "My friends and I recently decided we’re going to drink as much as we can and spend as much money as we can, and hopefully it will catch on.” Art dealer Javier Peres's answer to the current financial crisis. The New York Observer has his story. (via C-Monster)

Red and Yellow
charcoal and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

Don't pay too much attention to the anatomy in this drawing. It's a little suspect.

• The head of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Marc Mayer, is expected to be named the new director of the National Gallery of Canada. (The Globe and Mail) (CBC News)
• Giuseppe Concepcion, a prominent Miami and New York art dealer, was arrested on charges relating to the selling of forged paintings, including a Chagall, Calder, Matisse, and Wesselman. (CBC News)
• Financial crisis? What financial crisis? (The Globe and Mail)
• An undulating boardwalk. (Dezeen) (via C-Monster)

• A booming market in Obama doodles. (Glenview Announcements) (via C-Monster)

Orange on a Bowl
acrylic
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

Practice, practice, practice. A practice painting.

Francis Bacon's Studio

In 1998 the entire contents of Francis Bacon's South Kensington studio were located to The Hugh Lane (Dublin City Gallery). The gallery's website has the complete story.

• The ten most harmful books to political conservatism of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Human Events) (via things magazine)
• Ed Winkleman has some good advice for collectors in How to Buy Art in a Recession, Part 1 and Part 2.

Woman with Blond Hair
charcoal and pastel
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

This model is an artist who graciously sat for a forty minute portrait last night. I didn't quite do her justice.

• Do we have to go? A Thomas Kinkade movie, The Christmas Cottage, also known as Home For Christmas, is scheduled for release today. (Vanity Fair) No panic attacks please.
• The art auction houses wouldn't misrepresent their sales prices, would they? (The Wall Street Journal)
• Does 'completely successful in principle' sound Kafkaesque? The London Review of Books has more.
• Life magazine's photo archives are now online thanks to Google.

Pigtails
charcoal and pastel
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

The fingers on the hands are poorly drawn and the face is indistinct. Otherwise, the drawing's ok.

A busy day today. Back tomorrow.

• Barack Obama's favourite painting. (The Telegraph)
• The World's Top 10 Ugliest Buildings. (Virtual Tourist) (via C-Monster)

Model with Curling Broom
charcoal and pastel
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

Manitoba is curling country. Though I'm not so sure that it's nude curling country. But who knows? Curlers are a different bunch.

• Lewis Hyde asks, 'What is art for?', while Daniel B. Smith asks, 'What is Lewis Hyde for?' (The New York Times)
• Explore the Magical World of Electric Irons. (via grow-a-brain)

Tache Avenue
digital image

This digital image is based on a recent oil painting. I don't particularly like this image, and I like the original painting even less; neither, somehow, looks like anything I would have done. I can only assume that for a brief period of time, my mind and body were possessed by an alien being.

L'homme 100 têtes: réalisation par Julien Lassort et Matthieu Burlot (France)

• Say it ain't so. Marc Chagall was a mama's boy. (The Telegraph)
• 'My dealer is acting weird.' (bad at sports)
• Art explained. (The Nation)

Pot and Top
acrylic
24.1 x 30.5 cm (9.5" x 12")

This is a practice painting. It's a wee bit dark.

• Italy vs. Fernando Botero. (CBC News)
• Artist and teacher, Eleanor Lowe, died recently in Charlottetown, P.E.I. She was 107. (CBC News)
• Lost in Winnipeg: Bob Dylan searches for Neil Young. (The Globe and Mail)
• Art sales and prices are, you guessed it, down. (The Telegraph)
• Ed Winkleman weighs in on the passing of Proposition 8 in California.

Sail and Steam (1927)
etching
16.5 x 22.9 cm (6.5" x 9")

Philip Kappel (1901-1981)

Yesterday I recovered a book of Philip Kappel's etchings which I thought that I had lost. To celebrate I'm posting one of the etchings.

Whatever Kappel's artistic limitations I have always loved his marine etchings. I'm not quite sure why I love them. It may be because they bring to mind romantic illusions, inspired by literature and art, of sailing, leisure, and travel.

I haven't been able to gather much information on Kappel except that he was a painter, illustrator, printer, writer, and lecturer, and that he was born on February 10, 1901 in Hartford, Connecticut, and died in 1981.

• South by Rail, a photographic essay from the primitive nerd.
• Yemen devastated by storms at The Big Picture.

Blurred Man
ink, charcoal, and pastel
43.2 x 21.6 cm (17" x 8.5")

This is the same model as in yesterday's drawing. His fantastic hair completely obscured his face while he was modelling.

For some reason I decided to smudge the charcoal and pastel in this drawing. It doesn't seem to do anything for the drawing.

• From the animal kingdom, Cat in a Box. (The World's Best Ever)
• Was Samuel de Champlain the perfect hero? David Hackett Fischer seems to think so. Author Tony Horwitz reviews Fischer's new biography of Champlain, Champlain's Dream, for The Washington Post.
• A history of finance, Survival of the Fittest: The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, by Niall Ferguson, is reviewed in the Literary Review.
• Thanks to Hot Wheels, Mattel is now worth more than GM. (Newsweek) (via things magazine)

Tiger Stripes
charcoal and pastel
27.9 x 45.7 cm (11" x 18")

The model was prevailed upon to wear his tiger striped toque for this pose, not because the toque was of special interest, but to contain a mass of black hair which hid half of his face. He was happy to oblige.

Toques are now a necessity in Winnipeg if you're outside for any length of time. It's winter again.

• A retrospective of William Eggleston's work, William Eggleston: Democratic Camera, Photographs and Video, 1961-2008, is currently on exhibit through Jan. 25 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. (The New York Times)
• The Art Gallery of Ontario, with the Frank Gehry renovations completed, reopens this Friday. (The Globe and Mail) I hope I'm not the only one who finds the renovations less than inspiring. My opinion is based solely on the photographs and renderings I've seen, and I may change it on seeing the gallery. Or maybe not. (The AGO has a slideshow of the renovations.)
• O Canada! The Canadian federal government has cancelled plans for a National Portrait Gallery. (The Globe and Mail)

Frida and Barack
ink
17.8 x 11.4 cm (7" x 4.5")

This is another drawing from Winnipeg's anonymous Frida Kahlo artist. A rather content looking Frida has apparently changed the name of her pet lion from Diego to Barack. The lion doesn't look amused. Diego Rivera was, of course, Frida's husband. Barack? Who knows?

Wayne Thiebaud - CBS Sunday Morning

Wayne Thiebaud seems to be enjoying himself in this video. The simplicity of his painting belies years of work.

• “Balding. Can’t sing. Dances a little.” Omaha, Nebraska native, Fred Astaire, of course. AmericanHeritage.com has an excerpt from Fred Astaire by Jacob Epstein.
• Literary critic, John Leonard has died at age 69. (The New York Times)

Blue Scarf
charcoal and pastel
27.9 x 44.5 cm (11" x 17.5")

This model's hands were interesting because of their impression of strength. Essentially, I only had time to outline the hand. Even this, I think, is enough to convey that impression of strength.

• The six most insane people ever to run for president of the United States. (Cracked) (via C-Monster)
• Bleak House: Christie's after Wednesday evening's sale. (The New York Times)
• TRACES Museum, a St.Paul museum devoted to World War II is closing because of declining revenues. (The New York Times)
• Hard times ahead for small galleries and dealers? (The Art Newspaper)

• Stair Porn (via things magazine)
• Tuesday may not have been the best day for gays in the U.S. (The Gay Recluse) (anti-mega)

River at Night
gouache
11.4 x 17.8 cm (4.5" x 7")

Another imaginary night scene. It's a little on the darker side, but it's night after all.

• Hot Gay Statues from The Gay Recluse. (via C-Monster)
• Foxsports has article on how a number of former sports stars fared in yesterday's U.S. elections.

Framer
ink, charcoal, and pastel
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

The model for this drawing recently headed a gallery framing department.

• Who won the War of 1812? Author and artist Douglas Coupland provides an answer. (CBC News)
• 'Bloomsbury without servants. I never heard of such a thing.' Or so thought the otherwise liberal Virginia Woolf. In The Nation, Elaine Blair reviews Mrs. Woolf and the Servants: An Intimate History of Domestic Life in Bloomsbury by Alison Light.
• Is the current financial crisis a repeat of the financial crisis of 1836 in the United States? (Commentary Magazine)
• 'Spend! Spend! Spend!' It's your public duty. And if you're spending on art, so much the better. Ed Winkleman explains.

Night Swamp
gouache
11.4 x 17.8 cm (4.5" x 7")

There aren't too many swamps around Winnipeg. This is an imaginary painting of nowhere in particular.

• Author and journalist, Studs Terkel, died Friday in Chicago at the age of 96. (The Chicago Tribune) (The Los Angeles Times) (The New York Times)
• For only $50 million you can have a $5 thrift shop Jackson Pollock. It's available at the Gallery Delisle in Toronto where it will be on exhibit from Nov. 13 to Nov. 27. (CBC News)

New York Nudes
ink, charcoal, and pastel
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")

This drawing was done last spring in New York at the Spring Street Studio. There really wasn't enough time to draw both models in any detail, so I decided just to concentrate one, at least in this drawing.

Glenn Gould plays Bach's Goldberg Variations 26 - 30 and Aria Da Capo:

I needed more of Bach and Gould. I always do.

Glenn Gould plays Bach's Goldberg Variations 1-7

Gould looks appropriately mad in this video; nevertheless, he plays Bach to perfection. This is great music.