• The FBI's ten most wanted paintings. (The Art News Blog)
• An exhibition of director David Lynch's photographs. (Art in America)
• A new art museum for Miami. (The Miami Herald) (via C-Monster)

Not Sleeping
charcoal and pastel
26.7 x 28.7 cm (10.5" x 11.3")

After this pose was over the model assured the artists who had been drawing her that she had not been sleeping while posing. The artists almost took her at her word.

• Bad British architecture.(badbritisharchitecture.blogspot.com)(via things magazine)
• An example of bad American architecture. (A Daily Dose of Architecture)(via C-Monster)
• Saint-Simon's memoirs. (The Claremont Institute)

Toward La Barrière
ink, pastel, and oil
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

This drawing was done Friday on an overcast, windy, and drizzly day just south of Winnipeg in St. Nobert. The view is looking south at the outline of La Barrière Park.

I am experimenting with a new layout size for the blog. The new size should allow larger images and videos. I will have to see how it works out before making the change permanent. Unfortunately, the new size will alter all of the posts prior to this Saturday, July 27. All of the older posts will look a little jumbled up.

Sons Nouveaux: Bora Yoon live at BAM Cafe, February 2007. (via El pintor de hierro)

O Pastor Animarum: antiphon chant by Hildegard von Bingen(1098~1179), a visionary abbess, composer, and mystic of the 12th century. Performed by Bora Yoon and Ben Frost (organ / churchbells) at the Church of the Ascension, NYC. (via El pintor de hierro)

This isn't the best video. It's jerky. The music, however, is lovely.

• Was the real Francis Bacon (the painter) a muddleheaded poseur pandering to public taste? Jed Perl thinks so. (The New Republic)
• Whatever happened to artistic beauty? (City Journal)

Orange Ear
charcoal and pastel
25.4 x 45.7 cm (10" x 18")

This strikes me as a too casual drawing, one which I could have done more with.

• Joe Fafard opens tonight at the Winnipeg Art Gallery from 7 to 10 pm. The exhibition runs from June 26 until September 27, 2009.

Red Faced Sleeper
charcoal and pastel
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

Last Monday it was quite hot in the studio when this drawing was done.

The model was hotter than any of the artists who were drawing her, thanks to the lights shining on her.

The heat of the day and the lights no doubt helped her red face.

• The art of being a model. (The Guardian)

Sleeping on Red
ink and charcoal
15.2 x 22.9 cm (6" x 9")

Not exactly a masterpiece, and we won't mention that the sleeper's arm looks quite odd.

Blue Boy
paper collage
9.4 x 14.0 cm (3.7" x 5.5")

I reworked this collage yesterday. It works better for me with the second figure being ill-defined. The first version is immediately below. It was originally posted in March.

Blue Boy
paper collage
9.4 x 14.0 cm (3.7" x 5.5")

• Hunting The Bison, by Peter Rindisbacher, an 1825 painting of the Red River colony managed a reasonable $158,000 at auction at Sotheby's in New York last Friday. (CBC News)

• No more Kodachrome. (CBC News)

• A glimpse of Art Spiegelman's sketchbooks. (The Guardian)

Spring Day in Manitoba
ink
7.6 x 20.3 cm (3" x 8")

This is the second of two illustrations that I did several years ago for a poster advertising art classes.The first one was posted on Friday. It describes a couple of things common to spring in Manitoba: returning geese and river flooding. We've had both again this year, and for the last week, we've been basking in that bright sun that you see in the drawing.

• Mired in corporate mediocrity. Read this. (The New Yorker)
• Also from The New Yorker this great cartoon.

Dolls Clothes: Cindy Sherman (1975)

Glenn Gould introducing Karlheinz Klopweisser.

Starry Night in Manitoba
ink
7.6 x 20.3 cm (3" x 8")

This is one of two illustrations that I did several years ago for a poster advertising art classes. I rediscovered the illustrations yesterday. My memory's not good, so I don't really remember what I was thinking when I did this drawing. I suspect that this one represents Manitoba at night in the winter, though there's nothing much in the illustration to suggested winter except a clear night and smoke drifting out from a chimney. Maybe it's late fall instead of winter.

Drawings like this illustration are always fun to do, although I find that I can only do a few before I start becoming very cranky. Why is that?

I'll post the second illustration some time next week.

• Artists At Work, a series on artists in their studios. (Google - LIFE)
• Are you a bore? (The American Scholar)

Cabin on the Red
oil
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")


This cabin is on the Red River, just north of Lockport, Manitoba. I assume it's a private fishing cabin, but I didn't investigate. Fishing is quite popular on the river in and around Lockport.

• Thoughts on starting a commercial art gallery from Ed Winkleman.
• Bad economy or not, $2.16 million for an Emily Carr. (CBC News)

A Woman
graphite, ink, charcoal, and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")

This drawing went quite quickly. There was plenty of time to do more with the drawing, but I couldn't help saying to myself that what you see is about as good as the drawing was going to get. And for once, I listened to myself.

• The blindness of economists. (Knowledge@Wharton)
• Marketing is everything. (The Washington Post)

Portrait of a Woman No. 4
graphite
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")

The model is a Winnipeg artist and an outstanding model, who didn't move a muscle while sitting for this portrait.

• A not so flattering reassessment of Francis Bacon. (New York Magazine)
• J.D. Salinger is alive and in court. (Slate)
• Flight from judgement in the university humanities. (The American Spectator)
• Decoy ducks (The Smart Set)

Yves Klein: Anthropometries of the Blue Period and Fire Paintings: Two Performances (1960)

I have no comment to make on these two performances by Yves Klein, except to say that it looks like he had more fun painting than I've ever had.

• Hiroshi Sugimoto was recently voted the top 200th artist of the 20th century by The Times. Commentary by Charles Saatchi. (The Times)
• The Goodwill in Toronto is $134,000 richer after the auction of two donated paintings. The paintings were left in a donations bin. (CBC News)

Gate, St. Andrews
oil
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

The stone wall and gate partially enclose the property of St. Andrews Anglican Church, which is one of the oldest stone churches in western Canada. It was built between 1845 and 1849. St. Andrews is approximately 20 km north of Winnipeg. The church lies along the west bank of the Red River.

Boy with Striped Pants
ink and oil pastel
37.1 x 44.7 cm (14.6" x 17.6")

This is another older drawing that I've always liked. The boy's T-shirt says, 'Caution Clogaholic'. Needless to say, the boy was a clogger.

• The Future is Boring, an architectural rant with a wonderful title. (Sit Down Man, You're A Bloody Tragedy) (via things magazine)

Maureen in an Armchair
ink and charcoal
27.9 x 35.6 cm (11" x 14")

This is an older drawing which I hope that I haven't previously posted. The image is not from a scan, but from a photograph. It seems slightly out of focus.

• Hunting The Bison painted by Peter Rindisbacher in 1825 in the Red River colony goes up for auction June 19 at Sotheby's in New York. (CBC News)

• ARTINFO now has a job board for visual arts. (ARTINFO)

• Considering, or re- considering, the internet. (N1BR)

Trees and Floodway
oil
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")


This scene is at Lockport, Manitoba, where the Red River diversion or floodway meets the Red River. The floodway, when open, as it has been this spring, protects the city of Winnipeg from flooding by diverting some of the water from the Red River around the city. The banks along the floodway at Lockport are currently being stabilized with gravel, which can be seen as the whitish strips in the painting. The town of Lockport is about 30 km north of Winnipeg.

• A new biography of Flannery O'Connor. (The New Republic)

• Is art book publishing in trouble? (The Art Newspaper)
• Susans Boyle. (The Guardian)

Dark River
oil
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")


This is Dark River repainted. I wasn't satisfied with the original version of the painting, which was posted last Friday. Both the river and the sky have been darkenned.

I think it's an improvement. You be the judge. The original has been reposted immediately below.

• Primary and secondary gallery representation issues to consider. (edward_ winkleman)
• Nostalgia for a more economically egalitarian America. (reason)

Dark Sky, D'Arcy Drive
oil
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

D'Arcy Drive is on the west side of the Red River, in south Winnipeg.

This view of the river shows some of the ongoing riverbank erosion.