Art of the Nation
I went to Te Papa and had a look at the national gallery, Art of the Nation. There are a few favourites there. Worked on the blog for a bit in the café, and sketched what was in front of my face, John Britten’s bike in front of the Art of the Nation sign.
Bridge
Walked under a bridge on my way to Brooklyn Bridge, not sure what it is called now, worked on this in New York but just finished it off here. Whatever finished is.
Lines
The last abstracts were all with an idea in the back of my mind. Decorative. Taboo. Illustrative, taboo. My current racy enthusiasm for Richard Diebenkorn suffered a moment, a speed bump, when I read the word ‘decorative’ about his art somewhere. His fantastic ocean park works are decorative. If I had the right house they would decorate it well.
So I have been emphasizing the decorative, deliberately confronting my notion, my sense, that being decorative is not on my agenda. I looked at these lines and thought they were quite decorative, but too empty and stark. This led to thinking what if this were a figure? I then returned to some earlier sketches from my life drawing. I made them more decorative? (They are coming up in the next two posts). Id like something with more of this one but with a hint of the nude that is coming up.
Mark Rothko (wikipedia)
“Since my pictures are large, colorful and unframed, and since museum walls are usually immense and formidable, there is the danger that the pictures relate themselves as decorative areas to the walls. This would be a distortion of their meaning, since the pictures are intimate and intense, and are the opposite of what is decorative.”
Free from the past
This is not a true negative. It just feels like one to me.
Free
Another in the Ten Zen Seconds series, (I am free) (from the past).
The idea of making a negative image continues… next entry.
Richard Diebenkorn
#0730 Richard Diebenkorn
A sketch from a photo in the book I am reading: The Art of Richard Diebenkorn. Great book. Reviews on Amazon say a lot, and say good things about this book.
I was struck by the Diebenkorn paintings in San Francisco – at the SFMoMA and at the De Young. I sneaked a picture. I will go on to say more about this artist & the Bay Area Figurative school. His work and a Matisse follow:
Mt. Lyford
Back at Mt. Lyford and sketching from life, sitting inside, looking out. This is the saddle. Here is the first of a few I did yesterday.
North Wester
Driving up to Mt. Lyford yesterday we had a spectacular NW sky. To red to be believed, and over the top.
Here is how it looked though! I put it here as another sky led to a satisfying set of images, though not all as satisfying as the best of them.
Train View
I put the view inside the picture.
Playfully … after Matisse
I like the idea. Not only windows but paintings, computers & TV. Some of my portraits show bits of TV, so that is a start.