Just got around to reading a Saturday column by Lawrence Toppman in the Charlotte Observer — “In an Age of Miracles, We Settle for Mush.” As a visual artist, with a musician husband and son, this article struck a nerve. I am not going to try and paraphrase…but suggest you read the piece for yourself…but the gist is how our “have it now” society has hurried us through the museums, film, music and other art forms to the point that few people see or reflect on the actual painting, movie, or music. So sad. So true. Reminded me of a trip to see Mayan ruins where one of the other tourists had so many cameras and bags hanging off his body he could hardly walk, much less see the beauty around us….he, like the museum goer in Mr. Toppman’s article, didn’t get to see anything until he got home and had his film developed (was back in the film days…). http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/01/29/2015320/in-an-age-of-miracleswe-settle.html
Reflecting on that Yucatan trip….I took a FEW photos (more of the snapshot variety, only had a cheap rangefinder at the time)…I need to hunt up the prints and see if they inspire any paintings or jewelry. Somehow I doubt that my photos captured the quality of the light…but I remember the jungle beauty quite well. I also remember being stuck in the mud in a very old LandRover.
Meanwhile, here are a few watercolors.
Smokey Mountains - watercolor
This is the way I will always think of the Smokeys…hazy, green, and damp.
Snowstorm - watercolor
The paint pony in the snow…very different atmospherics from the mountain scene!
A second cousin lived on a Florida cattle ranch. I was lucky enough to get up close with this VERY friendly bull. He loved to have his head scratched.
Back to the Toppman article….it is hard to comprehend why anyone would go to a ART museum and photograph paintings (on a phone no less!) to look at later! Even a high quality art book cannot convey the reality of a painting…the scale, the brushwork, the color, the detail…????????????????????????????????? Even my own, more modest, paintings lose many of the qualities of the original works on paper. You cannot tell how the paint sometimes sinks in and stains the paper – sometimes sits on top, almost an impasto (at least as much as you can get with transparent watercolor paints)… color nuances get lost in digital translation…
OK….now GO to an art museum or gallery. LOOK at the PAINTINGS. Look at them up close. Look at them far away. Spend some time with each one. But LOOK.
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