Two Pears Studio

Yea! Totally normal!

This is why my friend Edward Loper was such a great teacher… he could explain things so well… This is an excerpt from an interview from 1964. This is a partial passage where he explains the difference between picture making and art…

I will post the full article in the comments!

So I did an experiment a few days ago and the results have been so interesting. The question was to rate your top four out of the 20 paintings in the link below and if you wanted to share your reasons why!

The results have been pretty diverse, but they have fit into a nice progression of favorites. There is still time, so if you want to click on the link and give me your rating of top four… and if you want to go the extra bit, list your reasons?

only 2 paintings so far have not received at least one vote! The current leader is only a smidge ahead!

I want to thank those who have already sent me their choices! I am honored by the people who have taken their time to choose!

Just so you know… the theme is “N**e”… That is up to you to interpret how ever you want…

N**e jury folder Please pick your top four paintings. If you can, give your rational behind which were your favorites?

Please do me a favor… Click on the folder below and look at all 20 paintings. If you can give me your top four and why? The theme of the folder is “nude” interpret that in any way you want… but which of these 20 paintings match that description and are your favorites!

Either message me or write your response here?

Thank you!

N**e jury folder Please pick your top four paintings. If you can, give your rational behind which were your favorites?

Need some help from my Philadelphia people!

I am looking for a space to paint in on November 9th, 10th and 23rd, 24th? I need enough room for two artists and a model. (Small room) I have a dear friend/artist who is coming to town and we wanted to paint together?

If you can think of a space we could borrow or even rent if need be? Please let me know! Even if you can only think of a contact that might lead me to a space… let me know!

Thank you!

So this memory popped up from two years ago… teaching the Loper Method/tradition at the Delaware Art Museum. I brought in two of my paintings to show a few different mark making examples. I also showed paintings by Soutine, and Cezanne… among others.

But these two paintings were done 20 years apart. The older painting was during a huge shift for me. during an experimental phase of exploring texture… it was born out of seeing more color.

The texture and color was the subject of these paintings. The objects were way down on the list of importance. I remember the names for the “technique” ranged from “Dot paintings” to “Blotchilism”

As my confidence built in mixing color the speed increased and the marks became less textured and less uniform in size and shape.

Kind of like how age can often wear off the rough edges…

with the shift the objects became more clear and defined. The subject shifted away from the texture to the color and the objects…

It is so nice to be able to see the range of paintings as I grew as an artist…

The thing that seems to have remained is my handwriting inside of the paintings. As a fellow artist pointed out, you cannot see which painting was older by the photograph, but you can see that it was done by the same artist!

So yesterday was a special day at the Laboratory! I got a text from a long time friend Dee Dee. She and I were both students of Ed’s back in the day and I know this will be controversial for those who took classes with him… but we were his favorites! Ha ha!

Dee Dee was in town for a few personal reasons and wanted to go to the Barnes. It was Ed’s laboratory and then became mine… so of course to see Dee Dee and go to the lab? Winning!

She lived in NYC and would drive down every weekend to take classes, so she had never been! I was shocked, because all of the paintings we would talk about over and over throughout the years, she had only seen in books and in Ed’s lessons…

Well we both ran around the Barnes like punch drunk crazy people… going from painting to painting… Dee Dee taking photos of ones she had never seen… Soutine was one of her idols and you could hear her excitement when ever we got in front of one…

This painting was memorable… she walked into the room and made a b-line for the painting… Covered her mouth and her eyes welled up. She swooned over the beauty and the significance of the painting…

She looked over at me, with wet eyes… searching for her words, when I told her that Ed once told me that this was his favorite painting at the Barnes. We both basked in the serendipity of the day… to be among friends, past and present. To be moved by art and to have it be shared so deeply…

We are planning on going again soon as, luckily for me, the second floor was closed for renovations and that meant she had to come back! Ha ha!

Paul Cézanne
The Flowered Vase (Le Vase Fleuri)
Barnes Foundation

Btw… the colors on this image from the Barnes Website does not do it justice… it is vibrant and glowing… it is like fireworks!

“The Six Buddha”

I worked on it a little more… and took a better photo

“The Six Buddha”

Completed today…