"Have a sort of pouch made of pasteboard, or just thin wood, made large enough in every dimension for you to put in a royal folio, that is, a half; and this is good for you to keep your drawings in, and likewise to hold the paper on for drawing. Then always go out alone, or in such company as will be inclined to do as you do, and not apt to disturb you. And the more understanding this company displays, the better it is for you." - Cennino d'Andrea Cennini (c.1370 - c.1440) in The Craftsman's Handbook "Il Libro dell' Arts" translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr.
It was 51 degrees (Fahrenheit and above zero) in my studio today.
It was 22 degrees (Fahrenheit and below zero) when I let my dog out this morning.
The beckoning-blank canvas in the photograph above is 50 x 40 inches.The white tape marks are so I remember where to stand - they align with my toes.
The space heater in the lower right of the photograph keeps those toes warm.
A mouse tip-toed all over this painting when it was lying flat on a table to dry. This experience inspired me to devise a hanging system today to dry these new oils on paper. (I'll post the mouse foot prints as soon as the painting is dry enough to scan - they're adorable.)
" You have only one scale from black to white to work with, only one octave within the limits of which to compose your tone symphonies. There are no higher and lower octaves as in music to extend your effect. So be very sparing with your tone values when modelling the different parts." Harold Speed (1872 - 1957) in The Practice and Science of Drawing
"There is seldom any excuse for standing upon the sidewalk, to the inconvenience of passers by, and even when two gentlemen meet, and wish to converse, one should turn and walk with the other until the business in hand is disposed of, and then take his leave." from THE MANNERS THAT WIN. COMPILED FROM THE LATEST AUTHORITIES. - Buckeye Publishing Co., Minneapolis, Minn., 1880
"Yet color has no actual existence. It is only by courtesy that we can use the word. Nature is a monochrome save when there are living eyes to see it. The trees are not really green, nor are the flowers red and yellow and blue. Each object simply reflects rays of light which vibrate at a given rate of speed; and these rays, smiting upon the sensitive retina of the eye produce the impressions which we know as color." Birge Harrison (1854 - 1929) in Landscape Painting
"Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you." - Epictetus (ca. 55 - ca. 135) in The Art of Living (a new interpretation by Sharon Lebell)
"Painting is a matter of impulse, it is a matter of getting out to nature and having some joy in registering it. If you are not going to get a thrill, how can you give someone else one?" - Charles W. Hawthorne (1872 - 1930) in Hawthorne on Painting
"Within a composite of influences the mystic charm of art is born. It comes into being in the abstract interval between a thought and a reality and no one, not even the artist, can remeasure the influence that caused it." - Edgar A. Payne (1883 - 1947) in Composition of Outdoor Painting
"But in what teacher of art have you such faith? Certainly not in me; for, as I told you at first, I know well enough it is only because you think I can talk, not because you think I know my business, that you let me speak to you at all. If I were to tell you anything that seemed to you strange, you would not believe it, and yet it would only be in telling you strange things that I could be of use to you." - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900) in Sesame and Lilies
"Let us suppose, however, that the landscape before [the artist] is especially expressive of repose. As he sketches, he will give particular prominence to the lines and objects that suggest repose, and either subordinate, or sacrifice, or omit entirely all lines and objects whose presence tends to weaken or destroy the reposeful effect." - John Rummell and E. M. Berlin in Aims and Ideals of Representative American Painters
"In Italian, chiaroscuro means light (chiaro) dark (oscuro) - and notice how language here reflects technique, as the end of the first word melds into the beginning of the second, creating a seamless transition between "light" and "dark." " - Henry M. Sayre in Writing about Art
"If you are representing a white body let it be surrounded by ample space, because as white has no colour of its own it is tinged and altered in some degree by the colour of the objects surrounding it." - Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)
