These two are 9x12.

I have been looking at books on Rembrandt's drawings.  His drawings are like the words of Jesus.  At one time at least 1400 drawings were accepted as Rembrandts, but over the years,  many have been thrown out so that there may be now 800 drawings (and shrinking) considered original Rembrandts.   There must be many, many lost and destroyed drawings by Rembrandt.  In his bankruptcy sale, there is listed a folder titled "best drawings".   Imagine what that contained.

Washington and Dean and Rembrandt

The painting and drawing are both 9x12.

I just read a book titled Rembrandt's Nose: Of Flesh & Spirit in the Master's Portraits by Michael Taylor. At one point he writes, "The cadaver and the sleeping girl.  They are both objects of lust, after all--the lust for knowledge and the lust for knowledge in the biblical sense.  The lust to understand and the lust to possess--or, in both cases, simply the lust to see, to draw, to paint.  Like Picasso in his countless variations on the theme of the old satyr and the beautiful young woman, Rembrandt has given us a mythological equivalent of the relationship between the artist and the model or, to put it in more general terms, between the artist and the world."

I suppose the lesson here is that there are no pure motives, especially for the artist, even the great artist.   But life is messy, and the artist thrives in the midst of the mess.  No spirit without flesh, and no flesh without spirit.

Park Place and Classon

This weekend was productive.  Thirteen drawings, and four paintings started.  One drawing and one completed painting above.   Both are 11 x 14.  

I also met up with a Mama black bear and two cubs.  Fortunately she didn't see me while I hightailed out of where I was.  I didn't meet the bear in Brooklyn.

Two Drawings

The bottom drawing is from this morning's walk, and the top from this evening's walk.  I like the longer days.  More time to draw outside.  You might think that I don't get very far on my walks, since I seem to stop at the same spot.  More talk'n draw than walk'n draw.  But I do go a distance after making a drawing.    

The top one is done with hard conte pencil and soft charcoal pencil, the bottom with just conte.  The hard conte pencil is very resistant so gives a nice dragging, hesitant effect.

They are holding my place.  I will have more paintings and drawings later after the weekend.

One Horizontal Painting

But I did complete the painting, at least for the moment.  It's a view of the long cow and hay barn on Luce Road.  It's oil, 12 x 24 inches.

Two Horizontal Drawings

These two drawings I did this morning on my walk'n draw.  I didn't think I would have the painting that I have been working on completed, so I wanted to show something.  The drawings are made with a hard conte pencil, 5 x 12 inches in size.

Back, Back to Brooklyn

A 9x12 oil of a Brooklyn street corner, done on a panel.

Sloan Road View

Another loosely and broadly handled pastel, to keep to the 'simple image' idea that I mentioned earlier.  This one is 11x14.   This is also the top of the hill.

Sloan Road Tree

From the top of the hill I walk down toward the farm house for this view.  The Hopper is on the left.  11x14 pastel.  I put in the shadows of the power lines in the road (plus the shadow of a pole), but left out the lines themselves.

A Field in Breukelen

This oil diptych is 11x28.  When I finished the left side, I wasn't quite satisfied, so I added on, and it works much better now.  The flat roof segments at the right balance the vertical building segments on the left.  The physical split is a repetition of the visual splits.  That's the way it worked out.  I didn't really plan it that way in advance.  When I originally saw this field surrounded by a fence and buildings, I thought of the paintings of Richard Diebenkorn, who has always been one of my favorite artists.

Breukelen Field

I have been reading The Life of Rembrandt Van Rijn by Hendrik Willen Van Loon, mainly because I read it as a teenager.   Van Loon mentions Breukelen, which is the original spelling of Brooklyn.

This 9x12 charcoal drawing is the only finished product from this weekend.  A couple paintings are not yet completed.

Brooklyn Field

A rooftop view of Brooklyn, 12 x 18 oil.

Eye of the Barn

This 18x24 painting I did a while back (last September), but didn't get around to photographing it until now.  Previously I did a matching, smaller pastel.

Delaware River

In the early morning, I often find myself standing in the shadows of New Jersey looking across to the sun brightened shores of Pennsylvania.

Simple Canal

Here's another attempt at a simple image in pastel.  Actually this was another painting yesterday before it became this painting today.  9x12.

Corner

A view of the corner of a corn field from this weekend.  The tractor and plow arrived shortly after I was there.   This is a 9x12 pastel.

I have this recurring vision of making a series of simple images like the one above, but I have to force myself to stay on track.