Added Sep 24, 2020
What’s On The Easel, April 2020
What’s On The Easel, April 2020, Vol. II, No. 4
A monthly newsletter from Jim Fischer
So, What is on the Easel?
That’s right, a blank canvas. You gotta start somewhere. And don’t be fooled, it takes a lot of effort to prepare a canvas. This one if for the bigger version of Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls (picture to the left). It will take about two weeks when I decide to get off my butt and pick up a brush.
But that’s not to say I’ve been idle.
Io’s head in Leaded Glass
This project has been around a while, became necessary when I gave away the piece that was in the kitchen window (I’m a sucker for the “I love that” exclamation. “Really? You want it, it’s yours). The original I worked from was a smaller piece Steph uses as her logo with her jewelry line, Nyx Jewelry (Nyx being the Greek goddess of night).
Discovered! The Ultimate, Can’t Fail Coronavirus Cure
That’s right, it’s chicken soup (I have it on the good word of a little old lady down the block). We keep the left over chicken and turkey bones in the freezer and every few months I make broth. This time, given the covid-19 situation, I decided to make some of it into chicken soup. The meat comes from picking the bones after steeping the broth (you’d be surprised how much meat is left on them after a meal). I also got six quarts of broth and we’re already starting to gather another batch of bones for the next time around.
Another Artist Inspires a Book
I got this promotional email from a fellow Jersey City artist announcing the publication of a book of his art, What Would Jesus Draw? (and, of course, soliciting purchases). Well, I sorta took offense at the artists presumptuous attitude with regard to Jesus and I got inspired. This month continued to see a flow of what I call Serendipitous Realist works. Many of them are in uncomfortable themes, death, evil, etc. So, I decided to do a limited edition book of my works call What Satan Would Paint.
Featuring The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (of course). White, Red, Black and Pale
It’s not available yet, not finished yet, needs three more pieces to make the required 20. They will come, although, given the nature of the creative method I’m using, I haven’t a clue when or what top.
A Manifesto of Sorts … Why I do this, part 3.
Posterity (8)
Ah, if you can’t have fame now you can at least extend your life through your work. I agree. It is my observation that most people are forgotten 100 years after their death (maybe a few photographs survive with the verbal coda “That’s my…”). That’s it. So, is art a way to extend my presence into the future after I’m gone? Well, maybe. Most of the art being done today, in my opinion, will land on the garbage heap within that same 100 year time frame of memory (yes, there’s a lot of bad work out there). History has shown that only a small handful of artists can break through this barrier .. except those who paint portraits! Even bad (called ‘naive’) portraits survive (as witnessed on Antiques Roadshow). So, in recent years I have focused on doing portraits of my friends and family (and, of course, commissions). It is hard to imagine them not being passed down in the families for many years until some day, 300 years from now, someone will point to my work and say, “That’s my great, great…” And my name will be on it!
That’s all for now.
Everyone be well.
Jim
Jim Fischer, 530 Liberty Avenue, Jersey City, NJ, 07307
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