Chaos checks out the laundry

He gets into everything...

Portrait of a happy cat

Shiva has it all.

Roy Lichtenstein and Roy Rogers

"To draw outlines and color them in is about as dumb a way of painting as you can imagine, and you can look at my work and say that's how it's done."  - Roy Lichtenstein

"At the time (1961) Roy was 38 years old and his two sons were very young and he liked making drawings for them of Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck from their Bazooka Bubble Gum Wrappers. One day he realized how important these cartoon characters were to them and decided to make one of the gum wrappers into a large painting." Janet Boris 2001

The work was done a few years after U.S. Senate hearings into the role of comic books and juvenile delinquency (see footnote #1 below for source).  Clearly, politicians were keeping their collective eye on the important issues of the time.

Lichtenstein certainly recognized the power of the images and the importance of some of the comic book characters to his kids. But Lichtenstein claims he wasn't interested in reproducing or the original social context of the comics. He says that ""I think my work is different from comic strips- but I wouldn't call it transformation; I don't think that whatever is meant by it is important to art." What is inspiring to me, as an artist, is that Lichtenstein was free to paint in as "dumb" a manner as he wished.  Isn't it about time for a contemporary artist to rediscover the old 1950s era Roy Rogers comics in a similar mode?  (Hint: check back here in a month or two.)

For some great images showing the inspiration for Lichtenstein's comic book paintings, see David Barsalou's website at http://davidbarsalou.homestead.com/LICHTENSTEINPROJECT.html

Footnote #1: Comic Books and Juvenile Delinquency, Interim Report of the Committee on the judiciary pursuant to S. Res. 89 and S. Res. 190, US Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Juvenile Delinquency. 1955-6. Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 77-90720

Summerr arrives

Finally, after months of cold and winter jackets. Summer is here in Holland! Note champagne in the foreground, and happy ancient cat receiving pets from T.

Today, I am very much looking forward to working outdoors on a sculpture/cyanotype print, in the sun. As they say, Hot Dawg!

Latte

We all fell in love with Latte, the wild cat with the cappuccino stripe down his back.  The Italian pool cleaner must have chased him away one day when we were gone.  At least, we hope that's what happened.  Attitudes towards animals in the Italian agricultural heartland are decidedly different than ours.  This is one of three cats in my lifetime that has chosen to be included in my inner circle.  There is Marvin, the albino pregnant cat from the Caribbean, and Boris, the grey long hair from Seattle days.  Ah Latte, where are you now?

Todi, dawn

A

Spring flowers from the garden

Truly it is now spring here in The Hague. These flowers are a gift from the dear owner of the house, Eduard, and come from the garden. We've had weeks of sunny, warm weather. April can be the nicest month in Holland and also the most deceptive. Our first year here, April was magnificent. It was just like this April, warm enough to sit outside at noon, and sunny day after day. It lulled us into a sense of false security, even comfort. What treachery! We were absolutely and completely betrayed in the months that followed. It was the summer that never came. It was a heat-on-in-August kind of summer; bone-chilling wind, rain and low-lying clouds. Then, winter came. To be honest it was hard to tell the difference. Well, except that it was darker. May this summer be different!

Album cover

Pictured: Jos, Nanneke, T, at the remote Insel Hombroich museum in Germany near Dusseldorf. This museum would be a great place to stage an album cover, all the elements are here in the picture.

We loved this museum for how it is curated. There are no explanations given for any of the artwork. Stone-age sculptures are shown side by side with modern paintings. No information about any of the work is presented, not even a tag to show the year the work was created, the title, or the name of the artist. It changes how one experiences the artwork. Rather than reading, we looked. It felt right.

The museum is on an old military base. The site has been restored to a nature preserve, with a series of stand-alone buildings created specifically to hold art.  This was a great day.

T at the Insel Hombroich

T models the latest North Face jacket in the chic setting of the Insel Hombroich museum near Dusseldorf. 

A couple of portraits in charcoal

We had a great model at the IAC the other week, and here are a couple of the images from that series.

Portrait of a cat

This one goes out to T, who is stranded in Houston because of the volacno eruption.

Tina, charcoal sketches at the IAC

These are this week's portraits from life at the IAC here in The Hague. Each sketch is about 20 to 30 minutes.

Great Wallpaper for your desktop

Feel free to use this for a wallpaper image on your computer. This image makes me happy, it evokes a full day's painting in the studio. What could be better?

View from my studio

These are my peeps, as seen from my studio window. These guys come knocking when it is time for a piece of lekker Dutch bread.

Finally we have nice weather. I have great light for painting, and in the warmest part of the day I can keep the studio door open to the outdoors. I wonder how long before my peeps start to walk right in?

Update, 6 foot tall portrait.

I've been painting my 6-foot tall portrait, and itching to blog about it along with photos. But, the person in the portrait is unaware of the project. It will be a surprise. So, I can't show photos of the subject yet! For those who just have to see it now, drop me an email and I'll send images of the work in progress. Shown here is a detail of the painting, just the flowers in the corner.

Portraits in charcoal, Li

Li is a model for the Beauty Project, but sometimes sits for us at the International Art Club. (I'm responsible for arranging the models and coordinating the class.)

More portraits...

obviously, these four portraits are not all of the same model. Three were done today here in the Hague at the International Art Club, and the fourth was done two weeks ago. There's something so satisfying about drawing in charcoal, from life.

A perfect day in the studio, in English and Dutch

Pictured, a perfect day. It is my studio, and I spent the entire Friday there painting. By my side, a warm cup of tea and Nora Jones on the ipod. Her first album really moves me, particularly the song "If I were a painter, and could paint a memory..." All in all, the studio setting, the 6-foot (2-meter) tall painting to work on, the music, the tea....it really couldn't be any better than that. Plus, a six foot tall canvas has really inspired me. On my deathbed, if I could live any one day, it might be this one.

Het meestal, slap ik niet uit. Vandag, vrijdag, is hetzelfde. Wij staan op om 6:45 uur. Ik maak het ontbijt. Na het ontbijt ik opruimen. Tamara helpt een beetje. Ze vertrekt naar het werk om 7:45. Op vrijdag krijg ik het huis klaar voor de schoonmaker. Ik breng de vuilnessbak buiten. Ik maak de kitty litter schoon, ik doe wat wasserette. Ik maak het kantoor tabel duidelijk, en wat schone gerechten uit de droogrek. Ik doe wat email. Vandag, begin ik om 8:30 te schilder in mijn studio. Ik werk er de hele dag. Soms vergeet ik te lunchen. Maar vandaag eet ik een kopje soup. Ik eet bij de gootsteen, omdat ik terug snel naar schilderen wil gaan. Deze dagen, is het raar een hele dag in de studio te hebben. Ik vind het zo leuk te doen. Ik heb een pot lekkere en warme thee bij me de hele dag. Ik heb mooie muziek op de ipod. Ik werk op een heel groot doek, ongeveer 2 meter hoog. Ik stop rond 5 uur s’avonds en begin mijn pensilen en pallete te schoonmaken. Bij 5:30 ben ik klaar. Vanavond ontmoet ik Tamara voor het diner om 6:30 in een leuk restaurant in het centrum van Den Haag. Het is Japons, en wij eten sushi. Wanneer wij terug in thuis zijn, kijken we een stand up comedy routine op televisie. Een leuke dag, en een hele leuke avond.

My biggest canvas

I have started work on my biggest canvas yet. It is a little over 6 feet tall, and will be a portrait for the Beauty Project. Wish me luck!

An 8-minute sketch

Sometimes, the best sketches are the shortest. This was an 8-minute sketch. When you have to draw so quickly, you can't stop to think. You have to draw as you see, without the brain's idea of an eye or an ear interfering with what is actually in front of you. Otherwise, the idea of an object can interfere with how it is drawn.

Some drawings from the IAC

I love drawing this model. These drawings are from this week at the International Art Club of the Hague.