Boy Genius

Illustration from Norman Rockwell's second year as a professional artist. He was all of 19 years old.

Spending time in the Berkshires this week, I got to wondering what artist might be identified with this area.

Norman Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations he did for The Saturday Evening Post. Born in New York, he attended both the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. By age 18, he had a published book illustration to his credit. That year he was hired as an illustrator for Boys’ Life. At 19, he was promoted to be their art editor, in which role he did his first cover illustrations.

It's absurd to try to choose a favorite from his many illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post. Rockwell layered images rather than trying to create a full-dimension space; this is a great example of that technique.

At age 21, he submitted his first cover illustration to the Saturday Evening Post.He was published eight times total on the Post’s cover within that first year. Over his career, Rockwell did 323 original covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

Rockwell painted his most famous works, the Four Freedoms series, in 1943. It took him seven months. The series was inspired by a speech by President Roosevelt, in which he described four principles for universal rights.

When he wanted to create a fully realized space, however, he had the chops. Freedom from Want's Puritanical white-on-white tablecloth brings the faces into focus, and they are an essay in optimism in the dark days of WWII. 

In 1953, Rockwell and his family moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. From 1961 until his death in 1978, Rockwell was a member of the Monday Evening Club, a men's literary group based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which is where my daughter lives, and where I regularly stop on my trips back and forth to Maine.

Rockwell's portrait of his adopted Stockbridge, MA, would do any landscape painter proud.

The early part of the 20^th century is often called the Golden Age of Illustration. Why were so many fine 20^thcentury illustrators able to do such fine work at such young ages? In part, there was an expectation that people in their late teens were fully formed adults, capable of bearing adult responsibilities. In part, the schools were teaching traditional drafting and drawing.

Message me if you want information about next year’s workshops.-*

The Importance Of Playing With Your Dog

You may sometimes think to yourself "why did I get this dog" especially at the times when you are doing such things as cleaning up confetti that used to be your favorite book, or when you are soaking up yet another puddle that your new puppy has made on the floor, or when you have to cancel a dinner date because you cannot leave your dog alone at home.

Even after having these thoughts about your dog, at the end of the day he is your best friend, and it is vital that you play with him in order to experience just what fun he can be, and not the little terror you thought he was. Playing with our dogs also gives us a chance to act goofy. Playing is not only good for you and your dog; it is also beneficial for making friends. When playing, dogs can learn new behaviors and self control. Playing can also help a new puppy or a dog gain self confidence. If you have a puppy, it is important to remember that he is used to playing with his brothers and sisters, and when they are separated he is most likely thinking "who am I going to play with now?" You must allow your puppy to play with you; otherwise he will grow up not knowing how to play.

It is imperative to establish the fact that it is of great importance to play with your dog. However, knowing what sort of games to play with your dog is something that many dog owners do not know. Fetch is always a great game to play with dogs. Try using different sized balls or toys to entertain them, as they can easily get bored with the same toy.

Dogs with a variety of personalities can enjoy the game of fetch. However, not all games are suitable for dogs. If your dog is insecure, you may be better playing cooperative games rather than competitive games. Both the dog and yourself can work together in cooperative games. Hiding treats and allowing your dog to search for them is a cooperative game. Learning tricks is also a cooperative game. Once these types of games have been undertaken with your dog, you can eventually turn these games into more competitive ones once your dog begins to outgrow his insecurity.

If your dog has a pushy attitude, then you should play search and learn games with a controlling attitude. Of course, it is still possible to play fetch games with that dog, but all you will be doing is running around after the dog because he refuses to give you the object that he has retrieved. Even though this can still be fun, it is a little naughty.

A great example of a competitive game is tug of war. Competitive games should not be played with dogs that think they can rule the roost. It is always a good idea to play tug of war with a dog that understands the release word, and that he gets a treat when he does release the toy.

It is important that your dog understands when you have had enough of playing. Your dog can be trained to understand the words "game over" when you have had enough. If your dog does not understand this command, you will be in danger of continuing, which will give your dog exactly what he wants. If he does not understand, he will not let go of a toy, which will make him the winner. You may even try to pry the toy out of his jaws which is not advised as this can be dangerous. It is better advised to call "game over" and simply walk away.

The importance of educational toys should not be forgotten. Toys that make your dog work for prizes are a great idea and educational. You may just have a canine Einstein in your home.

So you want to learn to paint

Autumn is the best time of the year to paint en plein air in Rochester. The light is beautiful, the foliage is an ever-changing kaleidoscope, and the weather is usually more stable than in summer.

If you’re a new painting student, we’ll start by experimenting with different kinds of media, learning the fundamentals of drawing, and then concentrating on the process by which pigment goes from the tube to the canvas.

If you’re an experienced painter, we’ll develop processes for mixing clean color accurately and quickly, talk about the difference between studio painting and painting outside, and work on composition.

When the weather closes in, we segue to working in my studio, which is located at 410 Oakdale Drive, Rochester, NY 14618.

Saturday lessons begin on September 13; Tuesday lessons begin on October 7. Both classes are from 10 AM to 1 PM. Tuition is $100 a month.

While I assume most readers already know who I am, my bio can be found here. For more information, email me here.

Message me if you want information about next year’s workshops.

Reappraisal

Reed beds at the Irondequoit Inn didn't thrill me that much when I painted it, but it turns out to have been predictive of where I'm going as a painter.

Recently, I was listening to some fellow painters talking about how to reuse canvas-boards on which they'd done unsuccessful paintings. I remarked that I almost never reuse boards, because I almost never throw things away. My studio and workshop are full of field sketches and paintings that aren’t going to be shown but aren’t going to be painted over, either. As long as I have the luxury of space, I’m going to continue this practice.

Hayfield in Paradise (private collection) was painted about a decade ago. Yes, it's obviously by me, but my color sense, my brushwork, and my composition are all much different today.

I think most artists are poor judges of whether something they’re working on is a success. We usually think it works when it flows off the brush without too much pain. However, often the most important work we’re doing isn’t easy. Trailblazing involves hacking out a path with an ax, after all.

I had most of my inventory off my own walls this summer because it was in galleries. To fill the nailholes, I put up some small works from my slush pile. One of these pieces is hanging on the wall opposite my bed, where I see it when I wake up. I didn’t like it that much when I painted it, but after a week back home, I realize that it’s actually very good. It was jarring several years ago; it seems a lot more like me today.

I loathed this painting of the mouth of the Genesee River when I did it, and almost wiped it out. It has really grown on me over the years, and now I think it's a really cool painting.

Another small painting—a sketch for a larger work—accidentally traveled with me to Maine this summer. Since it had nothing to do with the Maine works I was delivering, I used it to decorate my cabin. When I painted it, I thought it was both elegant and loose. However, the subdued palette has little in common with my work today.

Keuka Vineyard accidentally traveled to Maine with me. I realized after looking at it for several weeks that it's not that connected with my work today. Nevertheless, I still like it.

You can’t really make these judgments if you obliterate everything you paint that makes you uncomfortable. That's analogous to ruthlessly weeding out all new seedlings under the mistaken notion that they are weeds. You really can't tell what's in your garden until it has a chance to grow.

Message me if you want information about next year’s classes or workshops.

How I spent my summer vacation

Janith Mason epitomizes the joy most people feel at painting in Maine. It's just that kind of place.

Summer slipped past me like road markers on the interstate, perhaps because I’ve driven 7500 miles since June 27. Working sun up to sun down with almost no days off for five weeks is exhausting, but it was deeply rewarding at the same time.

Sunset over the Hudson was painted at Olana.

In early June I drove to the Catskills to join a select group of New York plein air painters at a retreatorganized by Jamie Williams Grossman.  I came home to miss my own opening of God+Man at Aviv! Gallery, because of a health issue—the first time that’s ever happened to me. (Mercifully, I made my student show's opening the following Sunday afternoon.)

Back in Rochester, the official first day of summer found my class huddled up against a cold wind off Lake Ontario. Since the lake nearly froze solid last winter, that was understandable. In fact, it’s been a cooler-than-average summer here, and our tomatoes are just now thinking of ripening.

I may have missed my own opening in June, but I did make it to my student show. Of course, there was beer.

I was walking in Mt. Hope Cemetery on Independence Day when I saw a young man painting en plein air. Turns out to be an RIT graduate named Zac Retz. He and another young friend joined us one more time before I left for Maine. I hope to see them again.

July found my duo show with Stu Chait, Intersections of Form, Color, Time and Space, closed down by RIT-NTID’s Dyer Gallery. The nude figure paintings might have offended young campus visitors. That’s a gift that keeps on giving, since the paintings had to be packed and moved in a hurry by two young assistants; they’re still in my studio awaiting their final repacking and storage.

My $15 porta-potty turned out to be one of the best investments I've ever made.

I couldn’t move them myself because by that time I was living off the grid in Waldoboro, ME. From there I went to one of my favorite events of the year, Castine Plein Air, which was followed by ten days of painting in Camden and Waldoboro.

Evening Reverie, sold, was one of many pieces I painted for Camden Falls Gallery this summer.

Then on to my workshop in Belfast, which was a lovely mix of friends old and new. This year, a number of participants traveled with their families, which lent a wonderful tone to the experience. From there I joined Tarryl Gabel and her intrepid band of women painters in Saranac Lake to participate in Sandra Hildreth’s Adirondack Plein Air Festival.

By the time you read this, I will be on the road again. This time it’s not work; I’m going to see family. I’m really looking forward to being back in Rochester teaching again, and starting on a new body of studio work.

 Message me if you want information about next year’s classes or workshops.

The Pros And Cons Of Shopping Online

The benefits of online shopping are well-documented; it is convenient, quick and largely secure. The benefits of online shopping also extend to the various attractive offers and discounts that are given by the companies. The internet also offers a large choice for buyers to suit different tastes. Shoppers are no longer limited to products offered by local retailers because the vast majority of online retailers offer shipping to many different locations. This can make it easy for online shoppers to acquire hard to find items or items which are a regional specialty of a particular area. Consumers are therefore becoming used to a richer, faster, and more socially interactive shopping experience.

What they cannot do is try out products for fit, look, feel, appropriateness and ease of use before buying, or even benefit from the immediacy of collecting the item at time of purchase, which are the core benefits of buying in-store. Consumers today are now more comfortable buying products over the internet and more confident navigating online stores. Shoppers are increasingly able to find suitable the deals they want online.

Sales promotions are carried out with the main objective to increase the revenue through the website. These promotions are effectively performed to attract the attention of the targeted consumers of a company and product and the application thereof needs to accommodate the appropriate image these consumers will easily identify with.

Social interaction implies the opportunity to interact with a salesperson. Social position strongly influences individual preferences and tastes in popular culture. According to research, if we focus on the demographic characteristics of the in-home shopper, in general, the higher the level of education, income, and occupation of the head of the household, the more favourable the perception of non-store shopping.

Shoppers who avoid online shopping may not trust that it's safe, are not confident about how to do it, and/or think it is inefficient. Or they may just enjoy the physical experience of shopping in a traditional brick-and-mortar store. At some sites you can now skip the frustration of doing battle in a dressing room with standardized sizes that don't fit exactly, thanks to new shopping tools and technology that offer custom-tailoring of clothing online. And shoppers response to customization suggests these two retailers could be at the top of a trend.

Identity theft is one of the most frequent concerns that consumers have about shopping online. This is a very real concern because Identity theft can do some real damage to your credit store or financial situation. Identity theft appears to be the biggest concern.

The evolution of technology has had its impact on virtually every business or private aspect of our lives. From privacy to liability issues, the impact of technology on business is only limited to imagination. Security in general create an entirely new concern in addition to the traditional issues. The mere evolution of technology including the World Wide Web have created rather newly businesses which are subject to potential danger in terms of liability and for consumer in terms of privacy and data security.

Nevertheless the main topic of security is not new. It is rather a universal topic that concerns virtually everyone. Before the evolution of technology physical and employee access to hard collected data such as consumer credit card numbers were equally of great concern. Hence it is fair to say that the evolution of technology has simply added new issues. Consumers can shop online, by catalog or through call centers, and pay for their purchases at their bank, credit union, or bill pay portal, with the security and convenience of online banking.

Altering Magic Cards

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Aaron Boucher. It really does look less threatening.

My son-in-law Aaron Boucher is a pretty talented kid, although he doesn’t have much formal art training. I’m never going to turn him into a full-time painter (at least if my daughter has anything to say in the matter), but when he expressed an interest in altering Magic: The Gathering cards, I gave him some Golden Fluid Acrylics and fine brushes to work with. Golden Fluid Acrylics are sheer enough to work well on the flimsy cardboard cards, and he spent a happy afternoon painting.

Rampage at the State Fair by Sandy Quang.

Altering Magic cards perfectly fits my personal definition of fine art: the expression of creative imagination in a format that is completely without usefulness. That’s different from my definition of fine craft, which I think means the expression of creative imagination in a format that’s primarily useful. (Other than that, I make absolutely no distinction between art and craft.)

Portrait of Madame X, by Aaron Boucher is an extension alter.

The project worked out great for my Labor Day weekend. Nobody suggested a ten-mile hike over broken terrain. I got to read a novel, my daughter got to cook, and my husband took a long nap.

Mesmeric Eyes, by Aaron Boucher.

Happy Labor Day! Message me if you want information about next year’s workshops. Information about this year's programs is available here.