Added Feb 21, 2020
What's on the Easel, February 2020
What’s On The Easel, February 2020, Vol. II, No. 2
A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer
Finished…
This month’s newsletter was delayed as I wanted to finish and deliver this portrait:
The Process …
The finished piece rarely shows the process so here’s some pics; the untrimmed board with my test strokes in the margins, the palette at the peak of painting the background and the two key photographs used.
Collateral products …
In keeping with past work, I continue to use the left over materials to create small pieces. And now I have come up with a new art form to describe these works: Serendipidous Reality. You see, the works are not intentionally planned, they are left over paint on the pallet smeared on a scrap of paper, scraped up paint from the pallet dropped on a mat board scrap and cuttings from the rags used to wipe the brushes. Using a cut mat template, I look for images, then I match the image to a quote. The quote serves the purpose of pulling the image to reality thus a collection of paint becomes a moth flying to a flower, Joseph dreaming about an angel, a grizzly bear fishing for salmon, and so on (you can see the full title quotes at my website, www.theartistjimfischer.com). Serendipidous Realism.
These are some of the results from the creation of the portrait:
A Manifesto of Sorts … Why do I do this?
An artist friend of mine, recently rejected from an exhibition, expressed to me her frustration with moving her art agenda forward and got me thinking, why do I do this? Nobody is buying and there are way too many competitors (with much mediocrity). So, I decided to do an exercise of self examination to reinforce my determination to forge on. There are six sections which I will publish in the newsletters one at a time starting with…
Fame (6)
Yeah, I guess anyone who makes an effort at something would like public recognition but I’ve come to the conclusion that (with rare exception) you can’t force it. If you are good enough fame will find you . So, I have decided to just do what I want to do, take it or leave it, and if fame should find me, so be it. But, I am not going to let the pursuit of fame detract from my enjoyment of what I am doing.
(The number after the section title is the amount of importance it is to me, 10 being highest).
That’s all for now.
Everyone be well.
Jim