Easter Lilies

30 x 24 Oil on Linen

Spring brings out the altar boy in me. I always thought I wanted to do religious paintings but whenever I create a figure composition it seems anachronistic at best, or, at worst, insipid. Illustrating a story from the bible is one thing but bringing a sense of genuine spirituality to it is something else. When Easter season arrives however, and lilies appear, still lifes with religious themes come easily to me. Bread and grapes represent the last supper, a wicker basket could look back to Palm Sunday or ahead to the wood of the cross, the rising pure white lilies signify the resurrection of Christ as He emerges from the tomb. For me it is powerful imagery and I've painted it a few times. But this subject matter also appeals to me as a secular theme. It's difficult to see a crucifixion or a raising of Lazarus as anything other than a religious painting, but a still life enables me to broaden my audience. Easter Lilies, for example, won a prize at the Salmagundi Club in an exhibition of paintings with a floral theme. I don't know if the people who own this painting bought it for religious or purely aesthetic reasons...and it doesn't matter...it was created to appeal on both levels.....

Twinkies and Superheroes
20 x 24 Oil on Linen

Sometimes I go off in odd directions. Often I find myself revisiting my youth. Although I claim to have been bored by childhood I must have had some fun because all of the paintings that refer to my youth are cheerful and lively. Twinkies and Superheroes is pretty typical. How can you not love a painting with Spiderman flying through the middle of the piece? I wonder what art historians will have to say about this piece. “I see the influence of Warhol and the pop art movement. The comic books were obviously inspired by Lichtenstein and the cupcakes by Thiebaud. Of course Koons had a tremendous effect on his work.” Actually none of those things are true, although those artists have made such subject matter acceptable to those viewing my work. My work is indebted to the old Dutch still life painters, Claesz and de Heem; and to Hals and Titian and Velazquez and Van Dyck…..

I first posted this as a guest blogger at Elizabeth's blog On the Easel http://etorak.blogspot.com/ last June.

The Gallery

12 x 16 Oil on Panel

Once an art student decides they have mastered the principles of painting they then have to decide on a course of action to get those paintings out into the world. The usual course is to create a body of work and then take them to the gallery of your choice who will, of course, lavishly praise your paintings and offer you a one man show. It seemed obvious to us that the galleries that would be most receptive to our work were the ones that were showing Frank's paintings, but we didn't think introducing our paintings into his market was the kindest way to repay him for teaching us to paint. So as we mulled over which lucky gallery should have our work we thought it might be a good idea to test various markets around the country. Juried exhibits are a great way to do this because you only need to send one piece and can disperse your work over a large area in a short time. In the back of American Artist magazine there are listings for shows so we sent away for prospectuses of any show that took oil paintings. Of those we took the 10 best prospects, filled out the forms, labeled the slides, wrote checks for the fees and happily painted as we waited for our acceptance notices to arrive. One by one they came back...rejected...rejected...rejected. Of the 10 shows we sent to we got 9 rejections. The only exhibit we got into was a small painting show in Wichita, Kansas. We humbly packed up our paintings and sent them away. A few days later the president of the Wichita Art Association called to tell us that my painting, The Gallery, won 1st prize and also a purchase award, Elizabeth's painting won 2nd prize.....

Peppers

8 x 12 Oil on Panel

One of the things I love most about painting is that, like music, you can continue grow and develop till death do you part. You don't just learn to play the violin and that's that. Jascha Heifetz didn't like recording because, he said, "In 5 or 10 years I will play a piece differently." So it is with painting. Once you understand the principles and are able to produce a respectable picture then you are ready to start painting. Gradually you stop being a painter and start being an artist. Facility creeps into your drawing and brushwork and you struggle more and more with expression, substance, communication, emotion, or in the case of some schools, eliminating emotion. When I sat down to paint Peppers however I knew exactly what I wanted to say and had the facility to say it boldly, crisply, succinctly. It was finished in a single sitting of less than 2 hours. Delightful, splendid. Sometimes at openings I'm asked how long it took me to paint a particular piece. As I try to force my clenched teeth into a smile I explain that artists are not paid an hourly wage, if they were the inept amateur would demand far higher prices than a master. Then I relax and tell the story of Whistler v. Ruskin. Ruskin didn't much care for Whistler's "daubs" and, making reference to Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, accused him of "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face." Whistler sued for libel. When he was on the stand, Whistler was questioned on the amount of time it took to finish the painting. When he replied that it took only a couple of days, the defense asked if two days of work was worth the 200 guinea price of the piece. Whistler replied, “No. I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime”.....

People often remark how rich and lively my paint looks, how vivid the colors are, what beautiful quality the work has. It is always followed by "What kind of varnish do you use?" The answer is not in the top layer of the painting but on the bottom. Without a good foundation whatever comes on top will suffer. I don't believe in painting secrets so here is how I prepare my ground. Start with a good piece of linen. Stretch it by hand so that it is neither drum tight nor floppy. Gently heat rabbit skin glue, 40:1, 40 parts water to 1 part glue. When the glue is completely dissolved it is ready, don't let it boil or it becomes rubbery. I use 3 coats of glue to size the linen and isolate the oil ground from the fabric. The first coat can be applied warm with a large brush. Don't be stingy, you need to saturate the linen. When the first coat is thoroughly dry brush on the second coat, not hot, at room temperature. Allow it to dry then add a third coat. You are now ready to apply the lead ground. Since white lead has been banned as commercial paint you have to buy it from an art supplier or grind it yourself. I find the lead goes on easily if it is warm. I make a double boiler by putting some lead in a glass jar and then heating it in a pot of water on a hot plate. Lead fumes are toxic so do this with a lot of ventilation, I do it in my barn. Apply the lead to the canvas using a large palette knife, fill the weave and scrape off the excess. When this is dry add a second coat. Two coats are enough unless you have a very heavy weave then you may want to add a third coat. After it is thoroughly dry you are ready for the final coat of glue. Sprinkle some dry pigment (the one pictured here is terra rosa) on the surface and brush on the same glue that was used at the beginning. It's as easy as 3-2-1, glue-lead-glue. Beautiful. Now you are ready to paint a masterpiece.....

Harbor Sunrise

8 x 12 Oil on Panel

We were painting in Maine on the morning of September 11, 2001. It was a brilliant sunrise. We both painted well, then cleaned up and headed back to the little cottage we were renting. After breakfast Elizabeth decided to take a shower, I turned on the TV. Why was Tom Brokaw on at 11 in the morning and what did that crawl at the bottom of the screen mean, "The World Trade Center towers have collapsed?" Elizabeth came out of the shower and asked if there was any news. "Yeah, big" I replied. We bumbled around in a daze for the next few days, trying to paint. I wanted to go to New York, my home for so many years, but I had promised to visit my sister after our painting trip. Finally, 10 days later, we made it back to the city. I had never known it to be so quiet. We made our way downtown. As we walked quietly down Broadway toward ground zero others passed us quietly on their way back uptown. We paused, gazed, prayed then turned away as new mourners quietly came to toward us. Profoundly saddened, we went to the museums for consolation.....

The Kitchen

25 x 30 Oil on Linen

When we lived in New York our studio was less than 400 square feet, which included the corner kitchen. A desk in another corner served as our office, the drop leaf table indicated the dining area, everything else was studio space. I made a large open cabinet where we could store paintings, the top was our still life table. The counter space in the kitchen was no more than 2 feet square so when we had guests for dinner the still life table doubled as a sideboard. Visitors were routinely introduced to the food, "This is an appetizer", "Don't eat that, that's a still life I'm working on". There was a little bedroom in the back that was so small you couldn't walk around the bed, whoever was sleeping in the back had to climb over the person in front to get in or out. We had a big north window, however, so the light was good for painting, nothing else really mattered. We painted all day then went to work as ushers at the Metropolitan Opera at night. The Met has a beautiful production of Puccini's La Boheme, we must have seen it 50 times or more. After everyone cleared out of the opera house we would return to our cluttered little studio, like Puccini's bohemians...healthier...but just as romantic.....

PAINTING OF THE MONTH

Harmony in Green and Gold
Oil on Linen
Image 20 x 30 - Framed 27 x 37
$3200

In the first post on this painting I said I heard it as a Mozart piano sonata. I still do, however on different days I hear different interpretations. The first day Alicia de Larrocha guided my brush, lovely, charming, delightful. Rudolf Serkin came to me the next day, structurally sound, beautiful phrasing. The third day was odd, wild, heavier, mesmerizing, Franz Liszt improvising variations on Mozart's theme. Not the vision I had for this piece but I followed along to see where it would take me. For the final day Arthur Rubinstein tied it all together. As his hands floated gently over the piano, my brush floated gently over the surface of the painting. A color wash here, a bit of detail there. Harmony. Joy. Beautiful...Finished.....

The Painting of the Month is a special offer to my blog readers (click on the image for a larger view). This month Harmony in Green and Gold, which will retail for $4800, is being made available for $3200 (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.

Harmony in Green and Gold, day 3

Very exciting! Everything is moving! The whole painting is singing, dancing, swimming in atmosphere, filled with joy! All the masses boldly stated, each object beautifully realized, there is harmony throughout, sincere, simple yet powerful. Very exciting. Visual Poetry. When most artists sit down to paint a still life they approach it with the idea of copying what is in front of them as closely as possible. I prefer to see it as a portrait, a chance to capture the personality and character of my sitter. It's more important to me that the lace be gentle and flowing rather than counting threads to make sure it is reproduced with rigorous accuracy, that the pitcher, books and fruit are not just rendered but expressed. A poetic interpretation. To quote the pirate king from The Pirates of Penzance, "For what, we ask, is life without a touch of poetry in it?"... very exciting.....

Harmony in Green and Gold, day 2

Starting a new painting is a bit like falling in love. You are both new to each other, there is great excitement, you can't wait to learn everything there is about each other. I fell hard for this still life. That first day was quite magical, short though it was, and promised some delightful days ahead in the studio. But the next day I came down with the flu. I wanted to be at my easel, laughing with the grapes, enjoying the twinkle of the stem bowl, exploring the mysteries in the shadows, discovering the subtleties that made this still life so appealing. It wanted me there too, wanted to know how good an artist I am, am I sensitive and poetic, are my skills mature enough to put into paint just how beautiful it is. For 10 days we were separated. Finally, this morning after breakfast, we met in the studio. I fumbled with a few different brushes, attempted some lame brushwork, it was an awkward conversation. I went back to the fruit in the stem bowl which had so charmed me the first day. Before long the grapes were laughing again, the glass began to sing, we were back together again.....

Harmony in Green and Gold, day 1

Last weekend I taught a still life painting workshop in my studio. This was one of the two still lifes available to paint. The next morning I decided to paint it for myself. I had less than 2 hours to paint that day but decided to get started before the fruit got too old. I heard it as a piano sonata, Mozart. The stem bowl with grapes and a pear were the first movement, allegro moderato. Cheerful and brisk but not too fast. The golden bosc and lively green grapes set the theme for the piece. The lace will be the second movement, adagio. Slow, delicate, pretty. Finally the silver pitcher finishes the piece with a flashy Presto finale. Rapid brushwork, reflecting themes of the earlier movements, the lace and pear reappearing on the underside of the bowl of the pitcher. The books and dark green cloth are played on the left hand, low rich dark notes holding the whole piece together. Beautiful. I usually set up a still life then jump in and sight read it all the way through. While working on the students paintings however I had a chance to practice the difficult passages.....

When we were students Frank had a drawing class at his studio on Tuesday nights. I had a job restoring paintings in the morning, went to Frank's class at the League in the afternoon, ran around the corner to Carney's bar for a quick beer and roast beef sandwich then took the subway down to Frank's studio. It was my job to heat the sketch class room. Frank lives in a Soho loft heated by pot-belly coal stoves so I had to get there an hour before anybody else to build up the fire. While the room was heating I had time to spend alone with Frank's paintings. It was like being in a museum after everyone else had gone. There were all kinds of great paintings there, landscapes, seascapes, early paintings, even a few from his student days, portraits, nudes, interiors...and I only had an hour! Then there would be footsteps on the stairs signaling the arrival of the other students. "Did you ever see this one?" would usually greet the first arrival. Finally the model would arrive and we would draw for 3 hours. Frank would come down for the last hour, martini in hand, and critique our drawings. He always made it look so simple. Often he would take us upstairs to his studio to show us what he was working on. Elizabeth and I still have a sketch group once a week. It's marvelous to see how many people want to come and draw for a few hours a week even though we live in a very small town in Vermont. Last October, after a summer hiatus, one of our favorite models came back pregnant.....

Looking Back

20 x 28 Oil on Linen

In contrast to Yin/Yang in the previous post this painting is all about subject matter. Here the design supports the subject, making the viewer feel as if they are standing to the right and looking back into the painting. But the objects themselves have meaning too. One could assume that since there are no modern objects that the painting is about looking back to another time. The silver pitcher might remind one of the 19th century. The rich velvet and crisp linen may look back to the 16th century Venetian merchants or the 17th century Dutch clothmakers. Unknown to the viewer, however, is the personal connection to the artist. This was set up to help celebrate my friend Jane's 87th birthday. She is a regular member of our sketch class so Elizabeth set up a large still life and invited the group over to our studio to draw, followed by cake and ice cream. This painting is only a small part of what was set up but it gives me pleasure to look back on the good fellowship we enjoyed that day. The silver pitcher belonged to Elizabeth's grandmother who was an important part of my life so this painting also reminds me to look back at time we had together. I remember listening to Verdi's Rigoletto while I was working on this piece, perhaps we are looking back to the palace of the Duke of Mantua and this was on a sideboard in the Duke's bedchamber as he seduced Gilda.....

Yin/Yang

18 x 20 Oil on Linen

Private Collection

Sharing a studio can have unintended consequences. Elizabeth set up this still life and did a magnificent painting called Rising Sun. Since our studio at that time could only accommodate one still life setup I cheerfully took up residence at the back of the studio and began reworking an old landscape. As I turned away from my painting I was struck by my view of her still life. From where she was painting the objects were in perfect harmony, but from my view they made no sense. I saw harmony not in the physical objects but in the abstract design. From her view she had created a powerful abstract design that supported her subject, but from my view there was no subject to support. There was, however, a marvelous balance of lights and shadows, patterns of colors, shapes and angles, push and pull from front to back and side to side. It was dissonant and harmonious at the same time. I had to paint it though I was in uncharted waters. We have often discussed the importance of subject matter but here the objects have no meaning, it's an abstract painting. "Art for art's sake" Whistler said.....

Sarah Bernhardt Peonies

18 x 16 Oil on Linen

I’ve always loved peonies. I grew up with them. My mother had them in the backyard. Pink and white, beautiful. She would cut them and bring them, and their delightful fragrance, into the house. It is one of my favorite childhood memories. When we moved to Vermont there were peonies, pink Sarah Bernhardt peonies, on the property. I painted them and showed it to my mother, telling her it made me think of her and how much she loved peonies. “Peonies!” she replied “Blah! I hated those things. Every time I cut them the house was full of black ants!” …..

I first posted this as a guest blogger at Elizabeth's blog On the Easel http://etorak.blogspot.com/ last June.

This is a work in progress (inspired by my friend Tim, a terrific recorder player) but it is far enough along for us to have some fun with it. Suppose you are an art historian and someone has emailed you this image and asked you to identify the artist. You don't have the painting in front of you so you can't tell the age of the painting by looking at the canvas or testing a paint sample. The costume is nondescript, no clue there. The recorder dates back to before the renaissance but this couldn't have been done before then so let's start there. The preference for black and white over bold color would suggest the school of Tintoretto rather than Veronese. The recorder might reflect the Dutch love of musical themes, say Steen or Hals, but this isn't jolly enough for them. The Spanish are more sober, maybe one of Zurbaran's monks at leisure or someone serenading one of Goya's majas. Definitely not Delacroix or Ingres but later, Manet perhaps. It could be 20th century. The drawing and brushwork point toward Chase or Bellows. Didn't Pollock study with Benton before going abstract? Well, now we seem hopelessly lost. Let's just go with anonymous.....

PAINTING OF THE MONTH

Cookies and Milk
Oil on Panel
Image 8 x 10 - Framed 13 x 15
$900

This is a companion piece to the Cupcakes in the previous post, another of The Sins of My Youth. I wanted this one to be very calm and soothing, like a cool glass of milk. The color palette is limited, the composition centered, the brushwork, though lively, lies quietly in place. It is simple, innocent, almost meditative. If it were a poem I think Schubert would have written lovely music for it…..

The Painting of the Month is a special offer to my blog readers (click on the image for a larger view). This month Cookies and Milk, which retails for $1500, is being made available for $900 (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.

Cupcakes

9 x 12 Oil on Linen

Okay let’s lighten up! This is one of a series of paintings I call The Sins of my Youth. I consider them to be artful studies much like Chopin’s etudes, though I suspect some might see them more like a Beethoven bagatelle. It is important to me that each painting have a certain elegance. Here, despite the rather silly subject matter, I have rigorously conformed to the laws of nature and of painting. Light and shade, form, color, design, etc. are what one would consider to be correct. Within that framework however there is a party going on! The colors can barely stay where they are supposed to be and sneak off to land in another part of the painting. The brushwork dances wildly as if it doesn’t know the right steps. The paint itself sometimes laughs out loud in bold opacities, sometimes whispers in gentle transparency. I left out the birthday candles fearing these crazy cupcakes might set the whole painting on fire…..

New Onions

15 x 26 Oil on Linen

When I teach I like to work on the student’s painting and explain what I am doing and why. One day I noticed one of the students taking notes while I was talking. Out of curiosity I asked her what she had just written. “Torak thinks in music” she responded. She could not have been more correct. I hear painting. Many people get a picture in their mind when hearing a piece of music, a landscape perhaps. When I am painting I hear what I want to paint. Not as specific notes but as rhythms, harmonies, dissonance, dynamics. I heard New Onions as something by Rachmaninoff. Big, dramatic, powerful. There were bold, almost opaque, passages and others transparent in their delicate nuance. Much of it seemed technically challenging, dazzling in its virtuosity. There were moments of rich complexity and broad sweeping passages. Yet when taken as a whole there was great unity and harmony. Not quite symphonic but more than a prelude…variations on a theme perhaps…..

Storm over Coniston

14 x 16 Oil on Linen

This is a great example of artistic license. The painting was started over 20 years ago, en plein air, when Elizabeth and I were on a painting trip to the Lake District in northern England. I was hoping to use it as the sketch for a larger work. Several attempts were made over the years, all were eventually wiped out. Finally a few weeks ago I decided to complete the unfinished sketch. I had a vivid memory of the day we painted there. It was what we thought to be a rather windy day, we later found out there were gale force winds. It was brutal but we were young and determined so we persevered. Once I had mixed my color and decided where to put it I had to aim about two inches to the right of that spot on the canvas because the wind pushed my hand as I tried to paint. We fought on until we had something to bring home. With this in mind I boldly threw in a stormy sky adding a rain shower in the distance to boot. The painting was starting to look a little angry so a few days later I brought a bit of sunlight into the middle distance. There were sheep grazing while we were painting though I didn't put them in at the time. I remember thinking how oblivious they were to the weather that was causing us such distress. So I added them too. Now with the sun low in sky and the moisture in the air I had created the perfect conditions for a rainbow.....

The Artist

16 x 14 Oil on Linen

Collection of the Masur Museum of Art

The title of this blog comes from a line in the first act of Puccini's Tosca. A few minutes into the opera Mario Cavaradossi, an artist, enters the Attavanti Chapel where he is working on a large painting of Mary Magdalene. After some small talk he climbs the scaffold to his painting and asks the sacristan, who has been cleaning his brushes, to hand him his palette. "Dammi i colori", give me my colors, he says. Then in the beautiful aria recondita armonia he compares the fair, blue eyed Magdalene in his painting to his dark eyed love Floria Tosca. Before long Tosca arrives at the chapel.....yada, yada, yada.....Tosca stabs Scarpia, the villain, Cavaradossi is murdered in what he thought was going to be a mock execution, and Tosca leaps from the parapet of Castel Sant'Angelo to her death. Passionate, glorious music...how can you not love it......