“I live and love in God’s peculiar light.” Michelangelo When my son, the Heir Apparent, was a youngster he asked me who I liked best: Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo or Leonardo? What a clever boy! (Indeed, I wondered how to casually let slip to the other moms what a genius my son was.) Yet a small niggling thought made me […]
Well, Aren’t You Just Like Michelangelo! Read More »
“An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one.” Charles Horton Cooley My name is Martine and I am an artist. “Hello, Martine” Yep, that’s me alright; I admit it freely. And I ain’t sorry. However, there are times when I do wonder, as any reasonable person might, why. Why be an artist
To Be or Not to Be (an Artist), That is the Question Read More »
“Would you like a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.” Thomas J. Watson The curtain rises on the studio space, skylights above, drop cloths below. The maestro begins the lesson with a gentle but stern lecture on the years it will take to master the tools and techniques of the craft. You, overcome with
If At First You Don’t Succeed, Fail, Fail, and Fail Again Read More »
“True teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross…” Nikos Kazantzakis As a Mid-Century Modern, I remember the time before Al Gore created the internet and what it meant to be stuck in a bind because a missing piece of information was needed to complete a project, research an
A Road Forward and Back Read More »
“Art is all around you” street painting: Asheville, North Carolina Easter week found me away from the studio on a trip to Asheville, North Carolina. There, my sister Josephine and I, along with our very understanding spouses, spent time researching family history, going to cemeteries, and visiting the local county historical society. Genealogy is one of my sister’s long held passions and one of
On Holiday: A Visit to Asheville Read More »
“So, you see why I like the history of art. It’s the study of how to observe life with complete attention. It’s the history of love.” Aidan Chambers The man looks forward, gaze directed toward the viewer, his torso balanced between profile and three-quarters. He appears, at this point, just past middle-age. There is no indication of location, of place, of what he
A Witness to a Painting Read More »
“Art results when there is nothing that can be added, but when there is nothing that can be taken away.” James O. Collins “Professor MacDonald, how long will this painting take me to do?” Now and then one of my students will ask the “how long” question. I know they are hoping that the answer is
The Sometimes Long and Winding Road Read More »
These past couple of weeks in the studio have found me attempting to finish a painting begun early November 2014. My misguided (as always!) belief was that I would have the work finished by the opening of a late November exhibit at the River’s Edge Gallery. The work is a combination of two paintings: a circle painting of a crow,
All That Sometimes Glitters Read More »
Betwixt and between describes things in the studio these days–taking some time to explore new ideas and waiting to see how the established bodies of works want to evolve. I wrapped up a solo show at the end of late summer that left me feeling a bit played out–two years+ of no stop work will do that to
