Our artistic instincts are developed from a very young age. Not long after we are able to control our fingers a crayon is inserted in our little fists and a piece of paper is placed in front of us. We are encouraged to make whatever marks we like and thus commit our first creative act. A broad smile comes across our face as we see the color recorded on the paper and the joy of creativity becomes a part of us. Mommy's applause let's us know that this joyful act has society's approval. After many happy efforts we budding artist have a desire to advance our drawings. Those joyful scribbles soon become harsher and angrier as frustration sets in. Then mommy demonstrates how to make a circle for a head and dots for eyes and the ever fascinating stick figure. Joy returns as the creative juices are set free. With time we learn to draw everything that is around us, house and family, grass and trees, even sun and rain. Then our imagination kicks in and we create fantastic drawings of monsters and dragons, princesses and pirates. We are well on our way to becoming artists, free and uninhibited, joyful and enchanted. At some point in this process some well meaning person notices our pleasure at creativity and offers us a coloring book. We use our well practiced scribbling technique to fill the page with color, blue hair, green faces, purple hands and sleeves, red, yellow and orange for the dress, shoes and legs and background. The lines of the preprinted drawings are often treated as mere suggestions of boundaries. We are then taught to keep our color within the lines and our artistic freedom meets its first test. Some of us agree and learn to control our color while others reject this attempt to inhibit their creativity. Our artistic philosophy begins to take shape. For those of us who continue to explore this avenue of creativity the coloring book experience is repeated over and over again. We are told that if we adopt this or that technique, or manipulate our pencils or brushes this or that way it will produce this or that effect. We are told that if we do this our work will be considered tasteful and if we do that it will be distasteful. As we accept or reject each suggestion, each lesson, we form our artistic philosophy. No two artists will make the same decisions, and the more we learn, the more we accept or reject, the more unique we become. Every time an artists puts a pencil to paper, or a brush to canvas, he must decide if he will paint within the lines or ignore the boundaries.....

Nocturne #19, Winter

16 x 16   Oil on Panel

We made sure we had packed everything, clothes, gifts, cookies, food for the road. Then we settled in for the trip to New Jersey and Pennsylvania to see our families for Christmas. We hadn't gone far before I decided to turn back. There was a light snow falling, I thought it was going to be a beautiful drive. But the car slipped and slid, even though we were going straight and only 20 mph. It would take many extra hours at that pace, if we made it at all without sliding off the road. So we returned home feeling glum and a bit defeated. But now Elizabeth is happily reading a book by the fireplace and I will soon join her to read a few more chapters of the out-of-print biography of Sargent that I recently downloaded from the internet. Nature has intervened to slow down the hectic pace of our lives, giving us time to leisurely watch the falling snow, feel the warmth of the glowing fire, and spend a quiet evening together. Perhaps there really are Christmas miracles. We will repack the car and head out again tomorrow to visit our families but tonight is ours. Merry Christmas my love.....

Nocturne #8, Winter Solstice

16 x 16 Oil on Panel

Most people think of December 21st as the shortest day of the year, I prefer to think of it as the longest night. The sun goes to bed early and the moon and stars come out to play. Moonlight dances on the gnarled branches and slides between the barren trunks. The stars reach out yet never quite touch their neighbors. They seem more brilliant than ever as they nestle into the velvet darkness, they shine with a youthful expectation that this night will never end. Winter will never grow old, there is no thought that the cold nights might begin to thaw. No thought that tomorrow night will be a bit shorter and the next one shorter still. No thought of moonlight dancing on grassy fields and squeezing through leafy trees. No thought of June 21st ever coming, the day most people think of as the longest day of the year, but I think of as the shortest night.....

Nocturne #5, Snow

16 x 16   Oil on Panel

Normally when I step outside to study the night it takes a little while for my eyes to adjust to the change of light, but not on this night. The moon was low and full and big. It illuminated the sky and bounced off the new snow. My shadow suggested it might not be nighttime yet. I began to wonder if it would be cheating to call this a nocturne. I waited and watched as the moon ascended. It had only been an hour or so since the snow had stopped falling. The clouds were gone but there was still a lot of moisture in the air. The thickness of the atmosphere beneath the celestial dome gave the sky a lovely violet hue. I could feel the cool moisture all around me and began to consider the possibility that I might see a moonbow. After a while the moon was far enough away from the earth and the reflection from the ground sufficiently subdued, that I felt confident when I painted the scene it would indeed be a nocturne. Still, when I went to bed that night there was so much light coming in the window I got up to make sure I hadn't left the porch light on....

In the two previous posts we discussed painting physical and psychological portraits of our subject matter and of the light falling on it. Now we must consider a third portrait, the space that our subject occupies. As a simple example of how space affects a painting let's consider a couple of well known masterpieces. Imagine the Mona Lisa without a landscape behind her. If she were portrayed with the same pose and clothing, the same enigmatic smile, but in front of a blank wall, how different the painting would be. Or perhaps Whistler's Mother seen rocking, not in her gray room, but on her front porch or in her garden. Only the space would be different but now we would have a new picture of her. Let's go back to studio 7 at the League where the classroom portrait shown here was painted. There is space between the portrait and the background, in this case a very shallow space. We can't see or feel the space yet we know it exists and we must paint it. If we fail to paint that space our figure will look as if she were glued to the wall. The quality, a portrait, of the space must be expressed, if it is dry or misty, shallow or vast, crisp or gloomy. Now our painting has an excellent chance to succeed, we are painting everything we see, physical and psychological portraits of our subject, the light that falls on that subject and the space it occupies.....

In the previous post we painted a physical and psychological portrait of a female figure. When we paint a landscape or still life we do the same thing; capture a likeness and the character of the trees or fields, or mountains or clouds, or apples or flowers before us. We also want to paint a portrait of the light that illuminates our subject. The figure shown here is a classroom critique that I gave in studio 7 at the Art Students League. Studio 7 has a marvelous skylight so our figure is lit by natural light. Now imagine that you are in the night class in the same studio. You are painting in the same spot, with the same model in the same pose, but with artificial light. The only difference is the character of the light falling on your figure, yet you will have a very different painting. Any plein air landscape painter can tell how frustrating it is when you are doing a sunny painting and the sun moves in and out of the clouds. Each time the sun appears or disappears your painting changes. The light has changed, it has a different character. Now we've become aware that what attracted us to the subject of our painting was not only the scene or the object but also the way it was lit and the quality of that light. So we must paint an expressive portrait of the light. We are now painting two portraits, one of the subject and one of the light, but there is yet one more portrait to consider for our masterpiece.....

When I teach I like to work directly on the student's painting. If I tell them the figure in their painting needs more light or weight, or the drawing is off, they usually understand what I mean. However if I show them how to mix the paint and apply it to the canvas the lesson is seen as well as heard. When they see their painting change the lesson has more resonance. The image posted here is one such classroom critique. Everyone who walks into the classroom wants to learn how to paint what they see. One of my first lessons is to help them understand what they see. "To paint what you see" I tell them "you must paint three portraits at the same time." The first, obviously, is a physical and psychological portrait of the subject before you, in this case a magnificent nude figure. Everyone sees the size and shape of the figure, her proportions and features, the colors and harmonies of what is before them. We don't see weight or character or attitude but we know that is something we want to get into our painting too. But there are two other portraits we must paint in order to paint what we see, a portrait of the light falling on the nude and a portrait of the space she is sitting in.....

PAINTING OF THE MONTH

Muffins

Oil on Panel

Image 10 x 12 - Framed 15 x 17

$1200

I often paint what I hear in addition to what I see. When I was painting Muffins I heard a rather whimsical woodwind quartet in the style of Prokofiev. I heard the oboe gently dropping chocolate chips into the dough, a playful flute signified the muffins rising in the oven. A bluesy clarinet played the muffins cooling on a rack while a witty bassoon indicated a dollop of jelly being spread on the half eaten muffin. I've never actually heard a woodwind quartet by Prokofiev or even know if he ever wrote one. But if he did, and someday a musicologist finds it in some dusty archive, I'm sure there will be a notation calling it the Muffin Quartet.....

The Painting of the Month is a special offer to my blog readers (click on the image for a larger view). This month Muffins, which retails for $2200, is being made available for $1200 (includes shipping, VT residents add 6% sales tax). To purchase this piece contact me at thomastorak@gmail.com. Payment is by check only please, no credit cards. If you prefer you may make 3 monthly payments. This offer is available for 30 days from the date of this post.

Nocturne #4: Midnight

16 x 16    Oil on Panel

At midnight on a moonless, cloudless night, I turn off all the lights in my house and use a flashlight to guide my way to the middle of an empty field. Then I turn off the flashlight, lie on my back and stare straight up at the sky. I am alone, there is no evidence of human existence. As my eyes adjust to the darkness I become vaguely aware of a distant hillside and an arboreal phantom in the blue-black void. But I am drawn like a magnet to the heavens. I reach out my hand and feel like a giant next to the tiny stars. Then watch the distant stars getting smaller and dimmer as they recede into the vastness of space, and suddenly feel very small. The twinkling stars make the heavens seem like a lovely, sensitive living thing, and it's strangely comforting to lie here alone in what feels like the womb of the universe. I contemplate the infinite possibilities of time and space, and dream about my next life, when this fetal existence ends....

Nocturne #3: Winter Moonrise

16 x 16    Oil on Panel

The moon was a bit tardy tonight. It was nearly full last night and was expected to be the star of show this evening. I was sure it would have made its entrance by now. Perhaps it had a quarrel with one of the constellations last night and was refusing to go on. Was Orion the hunter a bit too aggressive, or Cassiopeia the queen making unreasonable demands? In the midst of my silly musing a glow began to appear in the night sky. Before long the moon made a dramatic entrance, choosing to appear behind the branches of my favorite apple tree. The glow was so bright it obscured the edges of the lunar disc. Rising slowly it highlighted one branch then another. Some of the branches made gnarly silhouettes while others reached out to catch a moonbeam. There was the excitement of anticipation in the air. It was a grand entrance indeed and I couldn't wait to see it join the stars for tonight's celestial performance.....

Ice Skating

18 x 20 Oil on Linen

In rural Vermont fire safety is a bit problematic, there is no such thing as a network of fire hydrants. What many people have instead is a pond nearby that can easily be drained by the local volunteer fire department. Our house has one such pond. On our first Christmas here Elizabeth bought me a pair of ice skates. While she sat by the fireplace reading her new books I went out to clear the new snow off the pond. If you get to the snow before it starts to melt you can create a perfect skating surface. My timing was just right so we bundled up with scarves and gloves, laced up our skates, and headed out. It was crisp and cold with a bit of a breeze. We glided and talked, marveled at the passing clouds and paused to watch the white tailed deer bounding across the neighbor's field. When we went back inside, all aglow with rosy cheeks, Elizabeth made hot chocolate and we enjoyed a few Christmas cookies. I turned on the radio. The weather report said to be cautious going outside, to not stay out too long, with the wind the temperature felt like -30! Since then, when I can time it just right, we like to have friends over for impromptu skating parties. It always reminds me of those charming old Dutch paintings, and I couldn't resist painting one myself.....

Sunny Afternoon

9 x 12 Oil on Linen

I often ask my students to tell me their thoughts about the piece they are working on. Not that I don't have my own thoughts, but it clues me in to how they are thinking as they create their paintings. Recently one of my best students, who was working on a nude, said he wasn't sure if he had gotten the leg right. Yes, I replied, it looks a bit dull and lifeless. Well, he said, I saw more light there but I didn't want it to compete with the big light on the torso. There's your answer I replied, you've taken a negative approach. You painted the leg so that it would not be something. Wouldn't it be better to paint the leg so that it expresses what you want it to say rather than what you don't want it to do? Let it live, let it take its rightful place in the painting. If nature has blessed it with light then express that with joy and confidence. It is always better to approach your painting, or any part of your painting, with a positive attitude, "this is what I want to have happen here", rather than negatively, "I don't want this to happen here". When you paint a negative thought you tell the viewer "don't look at this". When you paint the leg in its full glory you say to the viewer "come, celebrate with with me, for we are sharing something amazing".....

Round Bales

16 x 16 Oil on Panel

I love when composers write variations on a theme and when musicians improvise. West Pawlet Farm, in the previous post, was painted on location. It is a lovely interpretation of what was happening at that place on that day. A romantic painting of rural charm, round bales of hay drying in the open air before being brought to the barn to be stored for winter feeding. As I looked at the painting in my studio I began to hear variations, passages being expressed in different ways. I pulled out a panel, a square panel, a more daring shape than the original, and began to improvise. The horizon moved up in the composition to create a more dramatic view up the hill to the farm. The weather became full sunlight to make the hay bales dry faster. I decided to make the clouds big and thick, moving swiftly through the sky. Still romantic but lighter and faster. I hear West Pawlet Farm as an adagio movement, Round Bales as an allegro tempo. I could hear other variations, a thunderstorm perhaps, presto, furiouso, or a largo with a rainbow. The elements are the same but with a different character. Perhaps in another variation the hay bales would be gone and cows would be grazing in the field. The possibilities are endless. I can see an entire exhibit of paintings of the same scene, variations created in my studio, inspired by a single afternoon painting en plein air.....

West Pawlet Farm

11 x 14 Oil on Panel

Indoor painting is for introverts, outdoor painting is for extroverts. You are alone with your thoughts when painting indoors, outside you share your thoughts with birds and cows or anyone passing by. Indoors you usually know what you will be painting before you enter the studio, outdoors you never know what you will paint until you come upon an exciting scene. Indoors everything is under control, the light is consistent, the temperature just right, anything you might need is nearby. Outdoors you go with the flow, a storm can blow through or a rainbow appear, something is always happening. Indoors you can work on the same painting for many hours or many days, outdoors you can finish several paintings in a single day. Indoors you meditate, outdoors you engage. Indoors it is quiet, perhaps too quiet, let me just check my email. Outdoors it is wild, exciting, perhaps too wild, why is that hawk staring at me.....

Near the Battenkill

8 x 12 Oil on Panel

I had the most delightfully lovely day today. Elizabeth and I rose late and decided to have breakfast out. There is a marvelous cheesemaker nearby with an unspeakably charming goat farm. On the weekends they have a cafe where one can have various baked goods or a goat cheese panini with fresh coffee or a pot of tea. It isn't meant to be a money making enterprise, just a pleasant environment for friends to gather and chat and, often, make new friends. We arrived this morning to find our friend Tim (who you may remember from an earlier post) playing his recorder with two other recorder players and accompanying a lovely singer. Each of the recorder players had several recorders with them and took turns playing the alto, soprano and bass parts. They played mostly renaissance music, the singer showing a talent for interpreting the works of John Dowland. This was not about money either, they were playing for free for anyone who cared to listen. It was a gloriously sunny morning, we sat outside with our refreshments, listening to sweet music, watching the nearby kid goats frolic, visiting with old friends and new. After a few hours we started home, we had promised our dog that we would take her for a hike in the woods in the afternoon. As we drove home through a breathtakingly beautiful landscape I was reminded of how much I love the life I have. Well, there isn't anything about painting in this post, but it's my 144th post so I'm taking a bit of a break. Besides, if you don't get out and enjoy life you probably won't have much to say with your paintings.....

Atlantic Surf

36 x 36 Oil on Linen

The new League catalog just came out with the schedule for the summer and fall classes. If it had a hard cover it would make a wonderful fine art book. Each instructor is given a full page with a beautiful reproduction of their work, some biographical information and a description of the class. In the back are examples of a student's work from each class. Near the front of the catalog is a page with the header Leading artists talk about the League. There are quotes from Peter Max, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Mark Rothko and others. My favorite is from Georgia O'Keeffe talking about her experience in William Merritt Chase's class. "Chase", she says,"encouraged individuality and gave a sense of style and freedom to his students...There was something fresh and energetic and fierce and exciting about him...To interest him, the paintings had to be alive with paint." I may not be as fresh or energetic or fierce or exciting as Chase but I express that same philosophy to my students, the painting has to be alive.....

Peppers

8 x 12 Oil on Panel

When an artist sees something beautiful he must paint it. In order to give it form he must also paint the space behind it. He then realizes that there is space in front of the object and that he is standing in that space. Now he is aware that he is in a room and that room is in a building. The building occupies space in a city and the city is but a small part of the world. It soon becomes obvious that in order to paint his beautiful object in its full glory he must bring to it all the expression and wisdom and experience of the entire universe.....

Bread and Wine

16 x 20 Oil on Linen

The Paris Salon exhibitions were so large they had to be organized alphabetically. Artists whose names began with A were in the first room, B in the second room and so on. Manet was in the same room with his friends Monet and Berthe Morisot, with Jean-François Millet, known for his paintings of peasant scenes, Gustave Moreau, who painted religious and mythological themes, and Meissonier. Ernest Meissonier was arguably the most popular and highest paid artist of his time. His genre scenes and history pieces drew large crowds who stared breathlessly at those meticulous paintings. His historically accurate and exquisitely detailed works drew the highest praise from the critics. Manet’s paintings, by contrast, were mocked. Meissonier won medals, Manet was rewarded with ridicule. Meissonier was applauded, Manet was laughed at. This went on year after year, Salon after Salon. Meissonier’s funeral was attended by state dignitaries, Manet was buried by a few friends. The tide quickly turned however. In less than a generation Meissonier’s paintings were being mocked and laughed at and ridiculed. He is now nearly forgotten and Manet has come to be known as one of the fathers of modern art.....

The Fruit Vendor

34 x 30 Oil on Linen

Manet had a rather vexed history at the Paris Salon exhibitions. He did not enter a painting to be juried until he was 27 years old and that piece was promptly rejected. Two years later, however, he had two paintings accepted. The Spanish Singer was well received and won an Honorable Mention. His Portrait of M. and Mme. Manet was less kindly received. One critic wrote that the artist’s parents “must often have rued the day when a brush was put into the hands of this merciless portraitist.” At the next Salon his entries were rejected. Not only did he suffer the ignominy of hanging in the Salon des Refusés but his painting, Le Bain, was given a prominent position where it could receive the maximum ridicule. It was mockingly referred to as Le déjeuner sur l'herbe, the title by which it is known today. The next year his two paintings were accepted but savaged by the critics. The following year two paintings were again accepted. One was of Jesus mocked by the soldiers, the other a nude. He knew his Olympia was going to be controversial and went to the opening with great trepidation. He was relieved when a number of people rushed over to congratulate him on his work. They were, he was told, the most superb seascapes. Seascapes? Manet was perplexed but soon enough discovered the source of the confusion. The two admired canvases were not by Manet but by an unknown 24 year old artist exhibiting at the Salon for the first time, his name was Monet.....

Melons

24 x 30 Oil on Linen

Like the painting in the previous post Melons is more conceptual than narrative. Yes, the melons were fun to paint and the painting can be enjoyed as a lively depiction of a variety of colorful, juicy fruits of the vine. For me, however, this piece is all about the composition. Circles and spheres moving in space. The cantaloupes are spheres, one in the process of being bisected, another with a sliver missing. The watermelon is half a sphere as is the honeydew, which becomes a circle as it turns to look straight out of the canvas. The bowl is also half a sphere, a bit elongated and turning to tell a joke to the watermelon which blushes and responds with a big belly laugh. All of these rounded forms create a visual playground. A roller coaster for the eye, going up and over and around, in and out of the painting. For those who can see beyond the obvious this is one of the most playful paintings I've ever created.....

The Open Melon

18 x 20 Oil on Linen

The Open Melon is not a painting about an open melon. It is a conceptual piece that explores the use of warm and cool colors in a painting. When I am painting landscapes I find myself repeating a pattern, the cool blues and grays in the sky dominate the top half of the painting and warm earth tones prevail on the bottom half. So I decided to see what this arrangement might look like in a still life. Artists have always thought this way. Whistler titled his famous painting of his mother Arrangement in Grey and Black. Rembrandt could have called his portrait of Jan Six an arrangement in red and black. You can find other arrangements in Monet's water lilies or Turner's late seascapes, Morandi's still lifes or a Hals portrait. Perhaps Gilbert and Sullivan said it best “Things are seldom what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream”.....

PAINTING OF THE MONTH

Sledding

Oil on Linen
Image 8 x 10 - Framed 15 x 17
$750

As I stepped out of the 86th St subway station and started walking to the Metropolitan Museum snowflakes began to fall. They were large and they came fast and furious. Everyone put their heads down and charged forward, but I couldn't resist looking up catching a few flakes on my tongue. When I got to the museum I stood on the steps and looked up and down 5th Ave. The scene could not have been more glorious, the falling snow softened the harsh edges of the buildings and the traffic seemed to move in slow motion. It was a classic New York moment. After I left the museum I decided to walk through Central Park to the League. It was alive with children playing in the snow and muted laughter. I stopped to watch some teenagers sledding down a hill. No longer children but not yet adults they were savoring a last moment of youthful innocence. I watched them slide and tumble, trudge up the hill and follow their well worn path down again. It too was a classic New York moment. When I got back to my studio I did a small oil study of the sledders from memory, a souvenir of a perfect winter day.....

The Painting of the Month is a special offer to my blog readers (click on the image for a larger view). This month Sledding, which retails for $1600, is being made available for $750 (includes shipping, VT residents add 6% sales tax). To purchase this piece contact me at thomastorak@gmail.com. Payment is by check only please, no credit cards. If you prefer you may make 3 monthly payments. This offer is available for 30 days from the date of this post.

The Red Bowl

24 x 36 Oil on Linen

Most artists use light and color and design to express what they want to say about the objects in their paintings, I do just the opposite in my work. I use subject matter, apples, flowers, trees, mountains, portraits and nudes to explore the possibilities of light and space and poetry. Most artists begin their paintings by drawing the subject on the canvas, then lighting it and finally giving it space and dimension. I start my paintings by envisioning the space in the painting, then letting light enter that space and fall on the subject, and finally bring that subject to the canvas. Most artists construct the subject on the canvas, building to the completion of the painting. I prefer to let my subject emerge from the canvas until it is fully formed. Most artists refine the details in the final phase of painting, I subdue the details so that they do not destroy the unity of my painting. I am the opposite of every artist you’ve ever known.....

Mostly Apples

24 x 30 Oil on Linen

I read a lot about art and artists when I was a sudent. One of my favorite stories was about a, perhaps apocryphal, meeting between Van Dyck and Hals. As Van Dyck was on his way to England to paint for King Charles he stopped by the studio of Frans Hals. Without introducing himself he said "I have a little time before my boat leaves, would you paint my portrait?" "But of course" Hals replied. He grabbed the nearest canvas and set to work. Forty-five minutes later he showed the sitter his lively masterpiece. "Excellent" the unknown man remarked. "You looked like you were having quite a good time as you worked. Would you mind sitting for me? I'd like to give it a try." Hals, always ready for an adventure, agreed. Forty-five minutes later, painting as quickly as Hals himself, the mysterious stranger's picture was finished. Hals walked around the easel and found a magnificent portrait. Astonished, he gave the man a quizzical look. "You're either Van Dyck" said Hals solving the riddle, "or you're the devil".....

PAINTING OF THE MONTH

Rhapsody in Green

Oil on Linen

Image 18 x 24 - Framed 25 x 31

$1500

My intention was to set up a beautiful little classical still life. I was hoping to hear a piano concerto by Mozart or Schubert or Brahms but instead the opening clarinet glissando from Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue poured into my head. I decided to go with it and see what would happen. Like Gershwin I stayed with a classical structure but moved away from the concerto arrangement to the more free flowing rhapsody form. He used jazz themes to make his piece livelier, I brought in a wicker basket to make my arrangement less formal. The fruit gravitated to the basket making it the lead instrument. The still life came together quickly, spontaneously, and I painted without restraint, as if I were improvising on the canvas. Classical, but informal, rich and lively, thanks for the inspiration George.....

The Painting of the Month is a special offer to my blog readers (click on the image for a larger view). This month Rhapsody in Green, which retails for $3200, is being made available for $1500 (includes shipping, VT residents add 6% sales tax). To purchase this piece contact me at thomastorak@gmail.com. Payment is by check only please, no credit cards. If you prefer you may make 3 monthly payments. This offer is available for 30 days from the date of this post.