Tuesday, September 29, 2009

• William Golding. (The Times)
• A bag of your own from Cary Leibowitz. (Alexander Gray Associates)
• 15 works of a noted Canadian collector are to be auctioned by Heffel. (CBC News)































Backwards on a Chair

gouache
45.7 x 30.5 cm (18" x 12")


The model managed to sit for three hours in this pose. She did take a couple of breaks, but it was a great job. The artists present could not thank her enough.

Friday, September 25, 2009

• Freeing James Joyce's Ulysses. (The Chronicle)
• A vote for Al Jazeera. (The Atlantic)
Cowboy Hat
ink and oil pastel
27.9 x 43.2 cm (11" x 17")


The only thing missing from this drawing is the cowboy.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

• Illustrator Bernard Fuchs died on September 17, 2009. Here is his obituary from The New York Times, and an homage from David Apatoff of Illustration Art.































J.F.K.
by Bernard Fuchs


Hindoo Holiday by J.R.Ackerley reconsidered. (review)
Man with a Goatee
graphite, charcoal, and pastel
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")


There are two things to say about this drawing: the first is that I am not sure whether this man's beard qualifies as a goatee, and the second is that his lower right leg was not actually broken above the ankle as the drawing implies.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

• The season opening production of Puccini's Tosca was not well received at the Met in New York. (The New York Times) (The Washington Post) (The NY Times slideshow of the opening gala.)

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

• Who was the real Vincent van Gogh? The recently published complete collection of his letters might provide the answer. (The Times)
• Kandinsky's heirs, a slideshow. (Newsweek) (via C-Monster)






























T.F.

charcoal and gouache
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")


This painting was done in twenty-five minutes, which should explain some of its' faults.

Monday, September 21, 2009

• Johnson again. Four new books on Samuel Johnson. (The New York Review of Books)
• Employees at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum, both in Ottawa, plan to strike this morning. (CBC News)
Danse Serpentine by Loïe Fuller: filmed in 1896 by Auguste and Louis Lumière. It is interesting to see Loïe Fuller on film after only being familiar with her through the work of fin-de-siècle artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Jules Chéret, Jean de Paléologue (PAL), or Koloman Moser.

















(Apparently the film was hand tinted to mimic the lighting effects which Fuller used in her dances.)


Saturday, September 19, 2009

Bojangles of Harlem: danced by Fred Astaire from the 1936 film Swing Time.

This film clip is from the exhibition Dance with Camera at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (September 2009-March 2010). (via UbuWeb)

• Scenes from Burning Man. (The New York Times)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

• Today's conservation advice from the Art Nurse at C-Monster. (C-Monster)
• A Milton Acorn statue went for an unexpected walk in Charlottetown, P.E.I. (CBC News)






























Model
Standing with Her Shadow
ink and charcoal
43 x 35 cm (17" x 14")


I don't mind this drawing even if the pose looks awkward.
(Awkward is also the word for the drawing of the left foot.)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

• An interview with Charles Saatchi. (The Telegraph)
• A video of Anselm Keifer's studio in France. (Saatchi)
• The art of Penguin science fiction. (penguinsciencefiction.org) (via things magazine)
Tired
ink, charcoal, and conté
25.4 x 38.1 cm (10" x 15")


This drawing will have to speak for itself.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

• Hyman Minsky is all the rage now amongst economists. Why? (The Boston Globe)
• The Portrait Gallery of Canada? (CBC News)
• Ten Warhol silkscreens have been stolen from the home of a prominent Los Angeles collector. (The New York Times)

































Tan

graphite and gouache
30.5 x 22.9 cm (12" x 9")


Our model was fresh from the beach and had a beautiful tan; and in case that you were wondering, her face was not all blotchy as I've painted it. The painting was done in about thirty-five minutes, and I simply ran out of time in which to blend the colours of the face.

Friday, September 11, 2009

• Learning to write prose. (The Chronicle Review)
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art has decided that they have a new Velázquez. (The New York Times)
• What New Yorkers are reading on the subway. (The New York Times)
Yellow Girl
ink and gouache
30.5 x 45.7 cm (12" x 18")


The thigh is no doubt overdone in this painting and the skin colour is completely off. Somehow it doesn't matter. It was done in a rush, and I am not completely unhappy with the result.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

• Revisiting the Dreyfus affair. (Tablet)
• Interpol data on stolen art. (Interpol) (via C-Monster)






























Collar Bone

ink and charcoal
30.5 x 17.8 cm (12" x 7")


For some forgotten reason I only drew one of the model's collar bones. Here's hoping that she had more than one.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

• More trouble for Annie Liebovitz. (CBC News)
The Book of Genesis according to Robert Crumb. (bookforum)
• Mary Shelley. (Newsweek)
• Three Hitler paintings sold at auction. (CBC News)
Yellow Profile
ink, charcoal, and oil pastel
20.3 x 20.3 cm (8" x 8")


I can't think of anything to say about this drawing.

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Mould Making: Alginate Headcast

Friday, September 04, 2009

• Tough times for Manhattan galleries. (The New York Times)
• Thrift shop Dalí. (The New York Times)
• A San Francisco art dealer is accused of selling fake Miró prints. (SFGate)






























A.

ink and pastel
21.1 x 15 cm (8.3" x 5.9")


The head may be too large for the body in this drawing. On the other hand, the sitter was, and still is, quite small.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

• The price of culture for Abu Dhabi. (The Telegraph)

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

War Is Beautiful: An American Ambulance Driverin the Spanish Civil War by James Neugass. (The Nation)






























Yellow Hair

gouache
40.6 x 30.5 cm (16" x 12")


Now that the model is no longer sitting in front of me and that I no longer have to compare this painting with her, I'm not surprisingly much happier with it.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

• Good advice on DIY exhibitions for artists or dealers. (edward_winkleman)
• Van Gogh's ear. (ARTnews)
• The burning of Atlanta. "War is cruelty; you cannot refine it." - General William Tecumseh Sherman. (The Wall Street Journal)
Model on a Black Sheet
gouache
22.9 x 30.5 cm (9" x 12")

This painting was done last night in about forty-five minutes. It's more or less the beginning of a painting, rather than a finished piece. I hope to do some more work on it, and then to repost it.