What’s On The Easel

August 2021, Vol. III, No. 8

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Inspiration

My uncle Mike passed away recently. I didn’t really know him but I do keep in touch with his daughter, Mollie. She included a photo of him in her announcement to friends he had passed and I was inspired. 

The challenge will be painting like Van Gogh. The technique is called wet-on-wet, just keep painting. An interesting exercise in a technique I have only just dabbled in. We shall see.

Legacy

I have expanded on the two portraits of Kruse women, Steph’s sister Brenda and niece Heather. I have added her other niece, Beth.

And on the easel, Steph…

Five more Kruse women to go to make the full set of three generations. The plan is to give each of them their original portrait as well as a full set of the nine in a box set of prints.

Another job…

Natalie took a booth at the gift show in Javits, NYGift, and, as usual, I was drafted to do new graphics for the booth I designed a couple of years ago.

(And, yes, the booth graphic is a blow up of one of my wiping cloths from painting).

In the garden …

The garlic crop is in and curing in the basement! Now, on to the tomatoes!

Fighting back with art…

Look at what they are building behind us! It’s a monster (housing two 'luxury' condos for $800,000 each). Noting that they will be looking straight down at our garden and into our second floor windows (but, hey, that’s urban living), I decided to give design something for them to look at, a mural (a Fall project):

It’s one of my favorite Matisse paintings and will be 22 feet by 22 feet (and I’ll bet they complain about the nudity, whatever).

Retirement?

I left the corporate world 16 years ago at the age of 55 to pursue a full time art career. Now, as my friends and family are retiring from their professions, I am getting the question “When are you going to retire?” (or, even sometimes, the assumption that I am retired and just ‘amusing myself’ with art). I respond to their inquiries and assumptions with the words of the artist Christo when he, too, was asked about retirement, “Artists don’t retire, they just die.” 

That’s all for now. Stay well. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

Jim Fischer, 530 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, 07307

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What’s On The Easel

July 2021, Vol. III, No. 7

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Finished!

And now off the easel. The background for each portrait changed three times before I settled. A lot of over

painting that will delight art historians some century from now (I can dream, can’t I).

And while I now have all this downtime …

On the left is Steph’s brother’s daughter, Heather, and on the right is Steph’s sister, Brenda. I originally planned to do these portraits in watercolor (and was not looking forward to it, very difficult) but I decided to try colored pencils. Worked out pretty well, eh.

An after-thought…

When a work is finished I frame it and put it on the wall, which means I will look at it from time to time. Sometimes, while looking, I see something new (or something to correct). In this case, Asteroids, had a white smudge in the lower right corner and I thought it might be used to enhance the effect of the image. As you can see, now the asteroid has some place to go (“Oh, no, Mr. Bill!”).

In the gardens …

The gardens are all doing great and the front perennial garden is particularly spectacular this year (as shown, I designed this garden to be viewed from the porch above which is, for the most part, how I view it).

A little help with the harvest …

NOT! Our usually ‘cute’ neighborhood groundhog decided to lunch one day in the lettuce patch. We quickly chased him away and harvested the crop for us. He came back a few days later to munch on the green beans and we are now taking appropriate steps to deter him from returning (no, we can’t shoot him although two websites said they make good eating).

And did you know: Groundhogs are also called Woodchucks. But, that name is a misnomer, they don’t chew (or throw) wood. The name is derived from the native Indian name for the animal, wuchuk, pronounced woo-chuck. (And now, you, like me, know far more than you probably thought you need to about these little creatures).

Memories…

If anything is true about our times, we certainly are being left with some interesting memories. I was recently downloading my phone’s pics and found these: 

A year ago this July I had a dental emergency and needed to go to my dentist, Kenny, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I rode my bike to the PATH train and then from 34th Street up to 67th, planning to avoid humans as much as possible. No problem. The PATH train was empty, just me both ways for all four trips I had to make, Fifth Avenue (at 57th Street) was void of cars (a bike rider’s paradise) and, most astounding for a day in late July, peak tourist season, the plaza at Rockefeller Center was empty. Quite a sight. 

That’s all for now. Stay well. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

Jim Fischer, 530 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, 07307

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What’s On The Easel

June 2021, Vol. III, No. 6

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Finally!

Yup, one day I just walked into the studio, dumped some paint on the palette and .went at it. Some of my friends have been encouraging me to keep a photo record of the progress so, here goes:

What’s left are the backgrounds. I try to choose something that will reflect the person. Here’s what’s planned. 

The one for me, on the left, was easy (and an obvious choice if you look closely at the upper left window, hello Steph). The one for Rick reflects his enjoyment of the outdoors, hiking, biking, etc. (yes it’s an old picture, Rick is the kid on the left). If you look close at the last of the progressive images you can see the sketches for the backgrounds.

New additions to the Imagination series …

As you might expect, major paintings result in smaller, more spontaneous works.

From left to right, “Wotan invoking Loki, the Norse god of fire, to surround Brunhilde's rock with fire,” “Asteroid,” “The Milky Way,” and “The Grim Reaper with Dead Rabbit (The Death of Hazel),” Do not be mislead that these are accidental paintings. They are not. They are simply limited by the available paint remaining at the end of a session, but, they are developed deliberately once they begin to look like something. The names are obtained by researching what I perceive they depicted. For example, for The Grim Reaper: I googled “Grim reaper and dead rabbit” and, low and behold, there was a hit on it: At the end of the book Watership Down one of the main characters, the rabbit Hazel, is gathered by the Grim Reaper (in the form of a black rabbit) into his family.   

Promoting myself in print with a surprise…

One of the features of the service I use for my archives and website, ArtMajeur, is their promotion opportunities. They have a print publication circulated primarily in Europe and I decided to put an ad in it. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a proof of the ad … it was in French. I rather like the way “The Doomed Butterfly” is translated.

Street finds, a distraction for a distraction …

One day recently Natalie noticed a house being cleaned out across from her building. Being a great seeker of ‘obtainium” (stuff recovered from the street) she went over to see what was up. In the basement she found this vintage ship model, something a teenager might do in the 1930s (kinda a vintage version of video games). It was a mess, a thick layer of dust and much of the rigging busted up. So, I am taking a break from the Volante and restoring the boat.

One of the main attractions of the model is it’s full set of meticulously made sails, with reef lines as well. It’s a nice piece that will fit in well with our Arts & Crafts decor.

“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille” …

As you can see, Shani has adjusted to the good life of being our pet. The next portrait for the easel.

That’s all for now. Be well, be safe. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

Jim Fischer, 530 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, 07307

To unsubscribe to this enewsletter, simple return this email with the subject line ‘unsubscribe.’

To subscribe to this monthly email, drop me a note at theartistjimfischer@yahoo.com

What’s On The Easel

April 2021, Vol. III, No. 4

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

 Same old, same old…

No need to bore you with a photo of the easel, the same two portraits are still there, untouched..

 But the Rousseau clock is finished…

And as long as the acrylic paint set is out …

 I’ve finally finished the last of the Jones Beach series (started in the 80s). These two small canvases, 11x7 each, had been hanging around the studio with sketches on them since the mid-90s. They are now finished, acrylic on canvas. I have re-affirmed why I prefer working in oil. Acrylics dry too fast, leaving little room to work the surface. Whatever, they are done. 

Has anyone noticed they are racing the America’s Cup?

 I have, well, sort of. Can you figure out how these two modernist, minimalist pieces called Racing Yachts I and II.  They came about while I was painting some frames black. They are the markings left on the paper I put down on the work surface, thus, serendipitous art, another in the Imagination series.

If you haven’t yet…

Why not take a minute to visit my virtual exhibit at the Casa Colombo virtual gallery.

Here’s the direct URL: https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/5597657/forty-eight-views-of-brownstone-brooklyn.

 “Those April showers…”

 Yup April is crunch time for another artistic pursuit, gardens (and if you are serious, as I am, about doing it you agree it’s an art) This year the grass needed replacing so the season has started with a new lawn.

I also had a lot of new dirt put in the raised beds, planting will begin shortly.

 Kids? Nah! Cats? Yeah!

Meet the new member of our family. Her name is Shani, which is ‘Wonderful woman’ in ancient Egyptian. She was abandoned on the street (with a collar around her neck, no less) and rescued by a local involved in such. She is a pure bred, an Egyptian Mau, one of the oldest breeds of cat, dating back to before 1500 BCE. It is believe her breed was the one that spurred the ancient Egyptians to begin their cult worshiping the cat. See those dark black markings coming off the edge of her eyes? It is thought that those marking inspired the Egyptians to wear mascara in imitation, a ritual still observed by women worldwide. So, say ‘hello’ to Shani, our Egyptian princess. 

 That’s all for now. Be well, be safe. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

What’s On The Easel

March 2021, Vol. III, No. 3

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Let’s get  right to it…

Trying to keep up with my goal of one portrait a month, there are two canvases on the easel (it’s a twofer, while I wait for a friend in Florida, Nicole, to send some photos for her portrait); yours truly is on the left and bro Rick on the right, waiting until one day I just walk in the studio and go at it.

What’s old is new…

The mantel clock, called The Rousseau Clock , that had been sitting around for 40 years, is coming along nicely.

It’s not the first time I have visited this theme. This mural was painted in the mid-80s in my house in Wantagh (which I was ‘permitted’ to paint after buying off my then wife, Elyse, with a fur coat). There is another small clock with this theme done in the late 70s that a friend, Stephanie, possesses.

And, finally, there is the large version, painted for my apartment in Brooklyn in the early 2000s which is now hanging in Steph’s office.

Good themes don’t die, they just get recycled. And, yes, Alan, there is a Fluck in it.

Another project is taking shape …

My interpretation of The Last Supper by DiVinci is developing. I printed out a copy and, as you can see, am putting notes on it exploring how it will be put together (in the true spirit of inspiration, most of these ‘ideas’ came to me in the wee hours of the morning, waiting until it was time to get up, that is, waiting for the sun to rise),

We are vaccinated..

Of course, being an artist and having a laminating machine available, I made little ‘V’ badges to clip onto a collar or shirt pocket, to let the world know we’re good (if you would like one just drop me a note and I’ll mail it to you).

About that ship model…

Not much to show but that’s not to say not much has been done. As I said last month, now it’s on to the long, tedious job of masts, spars and rigging, not much to show for now.

And, finally, another cartoon for your amusement

I don’t know about you, but Steph and I doodle on the kitchen calendar, here’s the entry for March 11th:

That’s all for now. Be well, be safe. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

What’s On The Easel

February 2021, Vol. III, No. 2

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Better…

Leonardo DiVinci wrote, “There is no such thing as ‘perfect’ but everything can be better” (that’s why he never finished the Mona Lisa). And, I have always been unhappy with the large portrait of Steph in the red coat so I decided to rework her face. 

Now, that’s better. While at it, I fixed that missing thumb…

The eyes have it.

Go with me to a portrait gallery and you will see me as close to the canvas as possible. It’s the eyes, they make all the difference and, lest you think it’s easy (I know you don’t) here’s a closeup of Steph’s from the portrait. Detail, detail, detail.

A missing thumb restored...

While I was at it, I really messed up the anatomy of this hand, corrected now.

And, of course…

The portrait work fed into the Imagination series, four pieces thus far, including this (something from the red in the portrait) :

It’s called “2020 Man-of-the-Year: The Grim Reaper."

A piece being exhibited …

This is a piece of mine in a local show downtown in Jersey City. It’s called “And there was war in Heaven” from Revelations (the theme of the show is Social Injustice and how this piece fits in, beyond me but the Curator loves it). Icing on the cake, I got five seconds of fame on the local news as their final shot when covering the show. This is a screen shot from their piece:

A milestone.

The ship model has reached a milestone, the hull and deck features are now completed (four months work).

Now it’s on to the long, tedious job of masting and rigging. Probably another four months.

One small detail…

Yup, it’s a bucket, ‘bought the size of a human molar.

And who’s this handsome guy? 

 My good friend Johnny found this in his photo archives, it’s now one of only a handful of photos taken of me at that time, I’m 20.

And, finally, another cartoon for your amuesment (?)

Steph and I have had our first shot, free from this nightmare by the end of March. Thank God and the scientists that know best. 

That’s all for now. Be well, be safe. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

What’s On The Easel

January 2021, Vol. III, No. 1

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

So, bare with me here…

The muse has struck. There’s this wall. Ever since we moved into the house I have been thinking about what to do on the wall at the back of the garden. It’s 26 feet long and 6 feet high.

Then, the other night we watched an old movie that just came to mind, The Horse’s Mouth starring Alec Guiness as a grouchy old artist perpetually looking for large surfaces to paint and getting into several hilarious encounters as he does so and I was reminded of that wall.

Then another old project came to mind, a re-creation of DaVinci’s Last Supper.

But mine would be different, only the faces and hands (new faces and hands), each on a canvas and arrayed across the 26 feet of the painting (ah, yes, that wall) at varying heights as required. Just the faces and the hands.

Finally, I had an Epiphany. Because the work would be made up of 29 separate smaller canvases, with appropriate layout instructions and measurements, it could be, so to say, a portable Last Supper, set up anywhere there’s 26 running feet of wall! Thus, a major ‘Living With Art’ project is born. This one is going to take a while (like the 48 Views of Brownstone Brooklyn which took,10 years). First job, find 13 faces to paint. 

And if that’s not enough... 

I have decided to illustrate the last book of the New Testament. Revelations, using the various techniques developed for the Imagination series. I already have The Four Horsemen and War In Heaven. And just added this one:

“I was in the spirit of the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet …”

Now what started out as just finding art in random leftovers has purpose. So, does that make it ‘art’?

A piece to be exhibited …

Difficult as these times make it for in-person art exhibitions (and, in my opinion, the online options just don’t cut it), some are still going on. Such is the case with the Rotunda Gallery in Jersey City Hall. The February theme is, since it is Black History Month, black history. I will have this piece hung in the exhibit:

It’s called They Lynched Women, Too and comes with this tag line, “If you’re not willing to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary.” Malcolm X 

A great bike needs a great helmet, eh.

Last month, if you recall, I featured my new bike, a Van Moof ebike, the Tesla of the ebike world. This month I found a helmet to do it justice, mat black like the bike, it is designed for urban riding, less aerodynamic, more robust and just cool (it even has, on the left, a hole specifically designed for slipping it onto a U lock). I added my personal logo to the front and it’s good to go.

About that ship…

Steph notes that the deck is getting a bit crowded. The captain is to give you a sense of scale.

And, finally, another in the ‘What If…” series…

What if … after supper

That’s all for now. Be well, be safe. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

What’s On The Easel

December 2020, Vol. II, No. 12

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Odds and Ends

Yup, I’m still waiting for a ‘big idea’ but there are some things ‘on the easel’. 

I am sure every artist has unfinished pieces and projects just hanging around the studio and I’m no different. So, while I diddle around on deciding on a new project, I gathered the older ones to keep me busy. They are an odd lot of little things…

A. These are two small oils that were to be test paintings for the larger Jones Beach piece recently finished. 

B. There are three small portraits of Kruse family women ready to be done, as a challenge to my skills, in water color.

C. Then, there’s the three judges. Watercolors from photos of a Irish festival we attended in upstate New York some years ago. I had planned to send each judge their piece, that is, if they are still alive.

 D. The same with a series of bird watercolors. The New York State museum in Albany had a great collection of stuffed birds in very good dioramas. Four of the pieces are ready to go.

And, finally, in the 1980s I decorated a number of clocks with famous artist themes. The two finished are Monet and Van Gogh, the one remaining (it’s been sitting around for 30 years) is to be based on Rousseau’s jungle paintings.

So, with all these projects now scattered about the studio I’m hoping to get something done, keeping up my skills and moving stuff along.

The Devil is in the Details. 

Work continues on the Volante.

This piece is called a Peterson’s Patent Anchor Windlass. It was developed and patented in the late 1830s and is still in use today. In the 1880s a marine engineer accommodated me by making a detailed drawing of the equipment (gotta love the internet for research, his huge book on shipbuilding in the 19th century was digitized and posted free). There are over 30 parts to the finished windlass, now installed on the Volante.

And now for something completely different…

(A good friend passed along a photoshop contest challenging me to do something. This is what I came up with).

What if…

Finally, my birthday gift has arrived.

It’s called a Van Moof, manufactured in Holland, it is the most advanced ebikes on the market. With it’s on-board wifi connected computer, it features an electronic transmission (no traveler), built in front and rear lights, an LED panel embedded into the cross bar with speed, battery life, and gear engagement, and an anti-theft locking back wheel with an alarm should anyone try to steal the bike and a gps locator to find the thief. The batteries are in the frame, gets 50 miles to a charge, takes only two hours to fully charge and weights only 40lbs. This is truly ‘state-of-the-art’ in ebike technology and, for the curious, yes, very expensive (but it was a gift from my father, a story for another time). I took it out the other day for an extended ride and can report, it is truly the Tesla of ebikes. I love it.

That’s all for now. Be well and have a happy holiday season. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

What’s On The Easel

November 2020, Vol. II, No. 11

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

To tell the truth…

…nada. The creative muse has taken a hiatus, no projects come to mind to engage my passion. So, I have moved to other distractions awaiting the Goddess of Creativity to once again strike me. And there’s plenty to keep me busy like winterizing the gardens and taking care of long overdue tasks around the house (including such things as getting the rugs cleaned and having the heating system checked out before winter sets in). 

Another obsession. 

Then there is the ship, the Volante. Just how did I get into this? When I married my first wife in 1972 we had no money so for a honeymoon we drove up to Mystic Seaport for a long weekend. I was blown away by the models in their museum. There was a small model in the gift shop priced at a mere $600, way out of reach for me, so, being someone who believes that if a human being can do it, so can I, I started making models. In fact, that’s all I did in my spare time for the next eight years (and how I got back to doing art is another story). I made six models, three large ones (the three smaller ones were used to test techniques for use on the larger ones). Three models survive, The Charles Morgan, The Constitution (which I have) and the Gjoa (the test model for the Constitution). The large model of the Flying Fish was destroyed by a football in my sister-in-law’s living room, two of the small ones have vanished. 

And here I am, back in the model ship business. The project is proving challenging and rewarding. Progress is slow as shown by this month’s productivity, but it’s fun.

A bit about the ship.

Why the Volante? Two reasons: I wanted to do something in a larger scale, 1/4 inch to the foot rather than the standard 1/8. This would allow for more detail. I originally wanted to do a clipper ship, the Flying Cloud or Flying Fish but, at that scale the model would be over 7 feet long, not practical for home display. The Volante, officially a brig (two square rigged masts) has all the features of clipper ship design (the pinnacle of large sailing ship design soon replaced by steam).

The second reason is the history of the ship itself. The Volante is typical of the smaller sailing ships used by the Confederacy to run the Union blockade, small and fast (you might recall what Rhett Butler did during the war). In fact, the ship was captured by the U.S.S. Virginia off the coast of Texas in early 1864 as it tried to enter Galveston harbor (and I’m debating putting the gallows at the top of the main mast that they would use to hang the traitorous captain as they sailed their prize into New Orleans harbor).

And the holidays are approaching

It was time to design this year’s holiday card.

And the Imagination series continues with the smallest piece yet, Die Fledermaus at only 2 1/2” x 1”.

Helping a friend …

During this ‘downtime’ my large format printer needs to run on a regular basis. So I’m helping a friend develop a series of place mats. Something else to do as I await the muse to strike (not to worry, this has happened before, you can only keep the creative drive at bay for a while).

Last but not least, having some fun

Meet the Covids - Vacation in Venice

That’s all for now. Be well. And what’s on your easel?

Jim

Jim Fischer, 530 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, 07307

To unsubscribe to this enewsletter, simple return this email with the subject line ‘unsubscribe.’

To subscribe to this monthly email, drop me a note at theartistjimfischer@yahoo.com

What’s On The Easel

October 2020, Vol. II, No. 10

A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer

Finished…

An interesting confluence of art…

Hanging around my studio for the past 40 odd years has been a small watercolor, one of my first of a person and part of the Jones Beach series. When I finished the painting this month the woman crossing behind the first red flag looked familiar. Sure enough, it’s the same woman in the watercolor. We must have been walking down the beach together, me a little faster than her. Together again after all these decades!

Also finished.. 

..a small (8x10) portrait of Steph’s niece, Cody, who is somewhat trapped by covid in Oxford, England, and going to school. (hi, Cody)

Masks…

Steph and Natalie continue to evolve the mask business. They just completed a nice order for Uncommon Goods combining Steph’s new mask design with Nat’s jewelry. Go take a look at their handiwork at https://www.uncommongoods.com/product/handmade-mask-necklace-set 

The ship evolves…

The ship project has evolved into something I needed, a distraction from the art studio. Forcing the art process has never really worked for me, projects need to be enthusiastically embraced and to be real, that’s not a constant state of being. Sooooooo, the ship gives me something to occupy the ‘artistic downtime.’ It also is helping me keep away from the studio when I should. It’s too easy to spend everyday, seven days a week, in the studio. Now I am spending my weekends on the ship. Like the nine-to-fivers, I get two days off a week!

That’s all for now. Be well. And what’s on your easel?

Jim