Cold Day Again

This pastel was done this morning on Saint-Armand sabretooth paper. I like the paper very much. The canal is almost completely frozen over except for one area where some domestic ducks are keeping it open. People feed them so they survive as long as the fox doesn't get them.

The death of Andrew Wyeth has led to a renewed discussion of the so-called realist/abstraction conflict. In the book with the long title Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life Prof. Sam Wang writes of a person who regained sight after a life of blindness. He says that the person had to learn to see. The person couldn't judge distances, didn't understand space, and was fooled by "reality" leading to the conclusion that we learn what we see. In other words, there is no right way or wrong way to see, unless you are driving a car, or trying to use the crosswalk. In terms of making art, there is no right or wrong way to respond to the world by making marks on a surface, if that's your medium. Marks on a surface are inherently abstract, with varying degrees of resemblance to familiar things that we have learned.

Winter Landscape

Adam Weinberg, in an essay in the catalog Unknown Terrain: The Landscapes of Andrew Wyeth, wrote"...realism is no more real than abstraction. Keeping in mind that both realism and abstraction are culturally determined, we can avoid irreconcilable either/or positions."

Winter Picturesque

So far in the last few days I have done five winter landscapes, including the shed above. These winter landscapes remind me of something Andrew Wyeth said. He has been accused of being "provincial" because he has confined himself to Chadds Ford, PA and Cushing, Maine. When he finally did travel to Europe, he said it was too picturesque. It's difficult to avoid being "picturesque" when doing winter scenes (or European landscapes).

Wyeth

Apropos to Andrew Wyeth, most of his work is not as tight as one might suppose. In fact, it's quite free. I used to think that all he did was paint blades of grass. His watercolors are a revelation.

"The drawing can never be the object, it can only suggest some comments about it. It must be a translation, just as the words you are reading have to be translated. The word 'bowl' only sets up the idea of a bowl. The drawing of the bowl is an illusion and remains drawn marks...If you strive for too perfect an edge, or too clinical an image with not a mark or area of shading out of place, one may find that although the image is complete, it does not look convincing." (from Pencil Drawing by Michael Woods)

Can't Shed the Shed

The last pastel, which I did last night, is the closer approach at left top.  The other pastel is from the night before.  I will be knocking at the door next.

I learned recently that  Andrew Wyeth's art is about particular places.  Even the people in his work have the qualities of the place they live in. Concentrating on places with deep meaning to him has given his art focus, direction, and emotional power.  Finding this focus is the most important thing that can happen to an artist.