Study for Jerrell Cemetery

Carolyn Jacobs, Study for Jerrell Cemetery, 6x6", acrylic, 2011

Landscape: Gustav Klimt

Gustav Klimt, Birch Forest, 1903

 I discovered Gustav Klimt's landscapes about 10 years ago. I had always associated him with images like "The Kiss", and I love to use his figurative paintings in Design class as examples of rhythm and repetition. I don't like every single work of his, but I enjoy a lot of them, and I think his landscapes and his drawings are probably my favorites of his work. 

What really strikes me about his work is how he plays with space by balancing pattern and shape in a way that is flat and spacious. It floats right in front of your face, yet somehow doesn't feel shallow.

Gustav Klimt

 It amazes me how it can seem so airy and so dense at the same time. 

Gustav Klimt, Farmhouse With Birches

He often places the horizon high or low on the picture plane, which immediately challenges our perception of landscape. The birch trees function like lines connecting the foreground to the rest of the image and to the edge of the picture plane. The grass and stalks in the foreground are echoed by the smaller trees in the background.  It's really a beautifully composed image that asserts both its flatness and it's depth

April Gornik, Light in the Woods, 2011 See more at www.aprilgornik.com

When I saw April Gornik's show at Danese this fall, I was reminded of the Klimt painting at the top of the page. Other than subject similarities, they are very different, except in one really important way. Both embody a kind of stillness---like that quiet moment in the forest when you step on a twig and it snaps with a deafening roar. But Gornik's painting is about being able to step into the painting, while Klimt keeps you at outside with a fence made of patterned strokes.

Rauschenberg talks about erasing a de Kooning drawing

This is fascinating.  I've read a little about this, but I'd never heard Rauschenberg talk about it before.

Robert Rauschenberg, Erased de Kooning

He's right, there is something poetic about it.  It's a little bit crazy too.

The genesis of this drawing is complicated and is explained more clearly in this Tate Magazine article than I could ever explain it. I think of it like this: sometimes the path must be cleared so a new direction can be seen. To truly taste something, the palette must be cleansed. To truly hear, you must appreciate silence. It seems rather radical and a really grand gesture, but really it was a continuation of Malevich's painting and of Rauschenberg's own White paintings. I would post a picture of the White painting, but honestly, the title is pretty descriptive.  With the erased de Kooning drawing, an 'empty' sheet of paper still contained the history and reference to the day's greatest artist, but it also contained the limitless possibilities of the future. Yes, I think that's poetic. It's a seemingly blank sheet of paper that tells a very interesting story...

Landscape painting, Spring 2012: John Henry Twachtman

I am gearing up to teach a section of Landscape Painting in the spring. I believe the last time I taught landscape it was Fall session, so the palette will be very different.  I love the spontaneity of teaching this class in plein air as much as possible---changing weather, changing light---it's all good.  I am collecting some of favorite landscape paintings here as I begin to form the semester in my mind.

One of my favorites is John Twachtman---the simple, spare abstract ones. These are really a beautiful exercise in color, tone and restraint.

John Henry Twachtman, Springtime, Cincinnati Museum of Art

John Henry Twachtman, Hemlock Pool, Smithsonian

John Henry Twachtman, Round Hill Road, Smithsonian

Only known photograph of Delacroix

I stumbled across this daguerreotype of Eugene Delacroix (okay, I was looking at the site Bangable Dudes in History, and was struck by some of the daguerreotype portraits).  This is the only known photograph of Delacroix, who was apparently recovering from a serious illness when this was taken.  Still, it is striking in it's intensity.

Eguene Delacroix, 1842, portrait by Leon Riesener

Source: T for tout and the image is housed in Musee d'Orsay

I want someone to make me one.

These are really beautifully crafted, clever and make me wish I'd thought of it first.

 Someone in Edinburgh is leaving these exquisite paper sculptures in libraries around town; 10 in all, as a thank you.  How lovely.  Read more at NPR.  She is not an artist who has worked in paper before, which amazes me and kind of annoys me too.  But mostly just inspires me.

This post makes me happy.

Some pages of artist's sketchbooks:

Frida Kahlo
see more at Flavorwire

Gerhard Richter

He makes this look easy. It isn't. But it's fun to watch.

Jenny Morgan

I haven't seen these in person, but I'm kind of diggin' it.

We are all setting suns, oil on canvas
Jenny Morgan

New York--November, 2011 edition

New York in November.  I got lucky---the weather was fantastic, so there was nothing to distract me from the work and my aching, ham-like feet.  First on the agenda was a trip to Danese to see the April Gornik show.

Light in the Woods, April Gornik
see more at www.aprilgornik.com

I had high expectations for this show---maybe unrealistic expectations. There is a sense of stillness in the work.  It is not about representing or rendering nature, but being within in.  It is lovely, but I walked away feeling somehow unfulfilled.  I still haven't figured out why.

Then on to the de Kooning retrospective at MoMA, and the teeming masses of people taking advantage of Target Free Friday. A woman with her eyebrows plucked into a constant state of surprise.  It was really too crowded to actually enjoy the exhibit, but it is a striking exhibit all the same.  de Kooning is a little uneven, I think.  I really don't like the "women" series at all, but the man sure could wield a paintbrush. My favorite series is the black and white theme.  God, I wish I had painted those. They are utterly perfect.

Painting, Willem de Kooning, 1948
MoMA, http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/dekooning/

On to the Metropolitan and the Steigliz and His Circle exhibit.  I enjoyed this show, which included many of the 291 artist he promoted.  Steiglitz was really promoting some wonderful and radical work early in the 20th century. I think he often gets  a little overshadowed by the O'Keeffe fame.  My favorite O'Keeffe works have always been the abstract pieces she exhibited with Steglitz early in her career.  I was excited to see watercolors by Arthur Dove, Charles Demuth, and John Marin in this exhibit. They are just so fresh and experimental.  Love.

Charles Demuth, Yellow and Blue, 1915

http://metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/210008728?pkgids=175

Next, I spent some time in the Africa/Oceanic galleries, which are fascinating.  The Head of an Oba with a carved tusk inserted into the top is powerful.  I can certainly see how they are representations of physical and spiritual powers. There is something rather sweet about the Dogon Couple.  And, I feel this will creep into my work somehow/someday:

 Power Figure, Congo
He's got all sorts of mystical and mysterious powers, including a little stomach shelf to hold medicines. I want one.

 

Bis pole

I want a bis pole too. These are just amazing and intricate, and majestic. They were meant to honor the dead of the Asmat people, as well as a reminder to avenge their deaths, because they believed no death was accidental.  After the ceremony/feast, they would be allowed to decay naturally and nourish the earth.

Contemplating place with Ed Burnam

Nature is so wonderfully phallic. 

Photos by my friend Ed Burnam, while he contemplates place in the Singapore Botanical Garden.

Tony Orrico is a human spirograph

"he explores the capacity of the human body as a physical tool for creating art"

More info at:
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/14440/tony-orrico-performance-drawings.html

The big C, Benlysta and feeling the tingle

We all have battles, and should you have an interest, I'll share mine with you. But really, all I want to do is feel my spine tingle.

Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite certainly the highest form of emotion that humanity has attained when evolving pure art and pure science. Let us worship the spine and its tingle.

- Vladimir Nabokov

I don't know where this photo came from, but I think it is a miner in China.

 

Teraysa
charcoal and white conte on brown paper, 30 minutes

24x18", June 2011

 

 Miss Lisa
charcoal and white conte on Canson paper, 30 minutes
18x24", June 2011

 Teraysa
charcoal and white conte on brown paper, 30 minutes
18x24", June 2011

Do Something.....

....from a letter by Sol LeWitt to Eva Hesse.

Teaching blog back online......

I have revived my teaching blog.  Please follow along, if you are so inclined.

www.jacobsstudio.blogspot.com

Figure Studies

Michele, pastel on brown paper,
18x24, 30 minute study

Jeff, vine charcoal, 14x11"
30 minute study

Planar Analysis, 14x11",
graphite, 20 minute study

 

Jeff, vine charcoal, 14x11"
30 minute study

Finally....Amsterdam....Part I

First of all, Amsterdam is lovely, more quiet than I expected, and has more canals than even Venice. So, it's lovely to stroll through, and not too large a city---easy to navigate.  I did my homework on that end; I knew the locations of all the museums, public buildings and coffee houses I wanted to visit before I even boarded the plane. I did not, however, take the notice that two of the large museums were under renovation, assuming they would be still vast enough to keep me happy and occupied. Wrong. Rijksmuseum, which is normally prodigious, was limited to one small wing.  Lovely work, but excessively crowded with 10 second per image visitors. And no cameras, phooey.

Anyway, two images stood out to me...one surprised me, and the other seduced with with it's richness. Both reminded me that there is no substitute for experiencing work in person.

 Willem Van der Velde I
Battle of Terhide, 1657, ink on canvas
Ink on canvas! Delicate. Lovely.  I am not fond of the subject matter in any way....just the technique.

Rembrandt's little self-portrait is so much richer in person than I ever realized...I've studied a few Rembrandts, but was so conscious of the richness of color here---more intense than those in New York, by far.

More later....

A few sketches.....

 

Amanda,

graphite, 24x18", 30 minute study

 

Jeff,

vine charcoal, 24x18", 5 minute sketch

Vigil

Vigil
acrylic on wood panel, 14x11, 2011

Painted Sketch

Sketch of Amanda
acrylic on panel, 11x9", 30 minutes

Head Study

30 minute Head Study

Charcoal and gesso on toned paper, 24x18"

Jon Houghton Demo!

Portrait artist Jon K Houghton visited my classroom today and did a demo in oil of the lovely Haley. And, he's doing another demo tomorrow. Overcash 159, 12:30. Come watch the magic. I love my life!

Beneath the surface; that's what is interesting.

Drift
oil, wax and sand on prepared paper 14x11"
Collection of J. Pender

Begotten

 

Begotten
oil, wax and sand on canvas, 36x24"