Added May 30, 2019
What’s On The Easel, April 2019, Vol. I, No. 1, A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer
Note from Jim: I’ve been off Facebook for almost three years now. When I originally purged my account I had intended to set up a newsletter to keep in touch with my friends. Obviously, that did not happen … until now. A few days ago I read an article in The New York Times about someone who did quit Facebook and start a newsletter and I was reminded of my plans. So, here goes.
So, what is on the easel? After spending four months preparing for my exhibition at Casa Colombo, Whistler’s Venice Pastels, I was able to finally get to a commissioned portrait. The subject is a masonry contract supervisor, Angelo. He will be sending the piece to his mother in Genoa, Italy. For the background I did a reproduction of Corot’s 1834 watercolor, “A View of Genoa.”
While working on this portrait I figured out what to do with the leftover paint on the pallet. The leftover globs, various mixtures of colors, are ideal for spontaneous Abstract Expressionist works with a pallet knife. When given a title they kind of make sense so I’ve taken to finding literary quotes to invoke some meaning in these spontaneous bursts of creativity(?). This one is called “There she blows! There she blows! Her hump rises like a snow-covered hill! It is Moby Dick!”…
In other news…
A troupe of cats has taken up residence in our gazebo this winter. They come and go at various times, meowing and hissing as they encounter each other along their way. I figure if they keep making noise long enough we will eventually get a Eugene O’Neill play out of their rantings. But, as the Summer approaches I am beginning to take steps to break up their gathering. They are not welcome to summer night dinners in the gazebo.
Like us, are you getting tired of this Meuller stuff already? For us it reached a crescendo last night when they pre-empted Antiques Roadshow to present an hour rehash of nothing. Can you imagine that? Outrageous, just outrageous. I’ll wait for the book and try to ignore the media dance in the meantime (ha).
So, my Whistler’s Venice Pastels show is closing this weekend. So far I’ve sold a whopping one piece (and that was to my brother). The big topic of conversation these days among my artist friends is how no one is buying art (though some of it just shouldn’t be up for sale). Now I have to figure out what to do with 59 pastels. So it goes.
That’s all for now. Drop me a note if you like. I’d love to hear from you.
Everyone be well.