While painting this Union Square troubadour, I couldn’t help but think about Frans Hals’s characters . . . sweaty and a bit drunk . . . hamming it up . . . their crooked teeth and radiant smiles. The relaxed, comfortable joy in his work. is a reminder for me to unload, ease up, enjoy the moment and the people around me.
What I’m drawn to here is the solitary and intrepid effort of making art, of learning a craft, of making that craft your own. At some level, we are all self taught. I love to think about the millions of kids sitting on the edge of there beds, inspired by the music they listen too, teaching themselves to master the guitar. I always give my undergrads this advice . . . learn to do something well. It’s going to help you when you get older.
Soap box: “How will this help me get a job when I graduate”? As teachers in universities, we focus to much on preparing students for getting a job when they graduate. They’re all going to do that, whether we interfere or not. The theme is overkilled and ends up frightening them to death. I try to help prepare my students for the long haul of life. Yes through drawing and painting, through music and art history. Many of the grad students I teach are adults now and have been working for any number of years. They are coming back to school asking the opposite question. NOW WHAT, I have a job . . . I don’t like it.
The other painting that kept coming up during this session was Paolo Varonese’s Marriage at Cana. In the center of his (I believe, life size) composition is a group of musician’s. I read somewhere that the musicians represent the fathers of Venetian painting, Bassano, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. The instruments that they are playing help describe the character of their painting style, voice. Check it out. It’s mind blowing skill.
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