The paint that I added yesterday was still wet so I only got to work on the background today. I was originally going to add some trees to the composition, but it didn't look good so I only added sky. I was really tempted to work on the portrait, but it's always a mistake to work before it's dry. Hopefully the paint is dry tomorrow.
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I just started a new painting of my dog, Maea. It's a fairly small painting and I'm using an oil ground panel that I prepared a few weeks ago. This is day 1, so it's still really rough, but I think I'll be able to finish it in 3-5 days. I also might add a simple background to it also.
As the Summer is ending, it's getting nice and cool in my garage where I paint. And every time I get to work, I remember why I love painting so much. I'm really very happy with all the progress that I've been making recently. And I still can't believe that I'll be teaching oil painting at the Ridgewood Art Institute starting in 12 days! Those who know me, know that I love the academic painter, William Bouguereau. I recently had the opportunity to purchase a letter, written and signed by Bouguereau. I wanted to share this letter and its translation because it might be interesting to other people also. I'm so grateful to my friend, Mr. Arnaud Courgey for his beautiful translation. Please see below for the translation.
I also learned that the black border on the paper means that Bouguereau was in mourning. I did some research and found out that in 1880, his grandson, Willie, was born which was a joyous time for Bouguereau, but before that, Bouguereau experienced much grief from family deaths. My interpretation of the letter is that an artist wrote to Bouguereau to ask about why they weren't selected for a salon exhibit or other show and Bouguereau wrote back to explain the jury's selection. I like this letter because it shows Bouguereau's compassion by the fact that he took the time to write to this artist. I hope any fellow Bouguereau fans enjoy this letter and will share the information! I'm always reticent about new technology, but my new phone has a camera on it that is really amazing. I've been taking better pictures of my work and trying to replace old photos on my website of work that I still have access to. The trouble is that I don't own most of the paintings that I've done.
Of course, the best thing is to always view fine art in person, which is why I'm constantly frustrated with the inundation of photos in our modern world. My website is a documentation of my own work and not designed to be a replacement for seeing my work in person. But I'm also not going to bury my head in the sand and pretend that websites, cameras and technology doesn't exist. |
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