Comments on: Choosing your view (or Naming Your Poison) http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html a multi-disciplinary dialog Fri, 09 Jan 2009 21:40:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Bob Summers http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-167866 Bob Summers Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:35:56 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-167866 I'm not a student or former student, just an aging watercolorist. Reportedly our grandfather, Emmet, ran cattle as a young man for Pete French in the 80s out of Frenchglen, across the Steens,to the railhead in Winnemucca (maybe once, maybe many times). A lonely trail and we have a few stories. I've always dreamed of what you did having seen the country from several sides, and once even dragged the family to the "hotel" in Frenchglen for homebaked bread and ham sandwiches and apple pie. Hope they're still in business. Pete died a cattleman's death, and the family settled in Condon. Seeing those views over time might have an effect, but how do you find the focus? Cattle, horses or people might do it, but when they are missing give me a wrecked old building or something - staying away from birds. Thank you for tolerating my intrusion. I’m not a student or former student, just an aging watercolorist. Reportedly our grandfather, Emmet, ran cattle as a young man for Pete French in the 80s out of Frenchglen, across the Steens,to the railhead in Winnemucca (maybe once, maybe many times). A lonely trail and we have a few stories. I’ve always dreamed of what you did having seen the country from several sides, and once even dragged the family to the “hotel” in Frenchglen for homebaked bread and ham sandwiches and apple pie. Hope they’re still in business. Pete died a cattleman’s death, and the family settled in Condon. Seeing those views over time might have an effect, but how do you find the focus? Cattle, horses or people might do it, but when they are missing give me a wrecked old building or something - staying away from birds. Thank you for tolerating my intrusion.

]]> By: June http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-36031 June Tue, 11 Sep 2007 03:03:57 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-36031 Karl, Your comments mirror my own observations of how my paintings improved over those intense four days of work. The landscape didn't change -- I did. Karl,

Your comments mirror my own observations of how my paintings improved over those intense four days of work. The landscape didn’t change — I did.

]]> By: Karl Zipser http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-35952 Karl Zipser Mon, 10 Sep 2007 18:18:56 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-35952 <em>What astonished me most was that a landscape which I would have said had no focus came into focus once I had to find one.</em> June, excellent point. Looking at a landscape (or anything) while painting always gives me a deeper appreciation than ordinary looking. But it takes some time to get into. Recently I spent several hours in the dunes making charcoal sketches on canvas as preparation for a painting. I kept doing more or less the same scene again and again and again. I eventually got it right, but it would have been easy to give up. I just told myself that I was not used to drawing this scenery and I needed to learn the language of the rolling forms. What astonished me most was that a landscape which I would have said had no focus came into focus once I had to find one.

June, excellent point. Looking at a landscape (or anything) while painting always gives me a deeper appreciation than ordinary looking. But it takes some time to get into. Recently I spent several hours in the dunes making charcoal sketches on canvas as preparation for a painting. I kept doing more or less the same scene again and again and again. I eventually got it right, but it would have been easy to give up. I just told myself that I was not used to drawing this scenery and I needed to learn the language of the rolling forms.

]]> By: Sunil Gangadharan http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34788 Sunil Gangadharan Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:03:32 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34788 The indifference of nature to meaning is sometimes seen in the face of the cast of characters that I work on. It is everywhere, but a face offers a little more focus at times especially if it has a story to tell you. Interesting questions that you have raised there - June - made me take out my son to a nearby county park this weekend and trek down a very isolated trail. After we sat under the dark shadow of a large pine tree I told my three year old son to do nothing but listen to the wind through the trees. I closed my eyes for a second trying to enjoy the quiet dark peace and opened my eyes to see a pine cone stuck to my son’s right hand with a lot of the sticky pine sap on his other hand - he obviously had a different idea of exploring the landscape. It will be interesting to see your most recent explorations in Diamond. The indifference of nature to meaning is sometimes seen in the face of the cast of characters that I work on. It is everywhere, but a face offers a little more focus at times especially if it has a story to tell you. Interesting questions that you have raised there - June - made me take out my son to a nearby county park this weekend and trek down a very isolated trail. After we sat under the dark shadow of a large pine tree I told my three year old son to do nothing but listen to the wind through the trees. I closed my eyes for a second trying to enjoy the quiet dark peace and opened my eyes to see a pine cone stuck to my son’s right hand with a lot of the sticky pine sap on his other hand - he obviously had a different idea of exploring the landscape.
It will be interesting to see your most recent explorations in Diamond.

]]> By: Tree http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34645 Tree Mon, 03 Sep 2007 14:53:11 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34645 I look forward to seeing your paintings. I look forward to seeing your paintings.

]]> By: Jay Hoffman http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34346 Jay Hoffman Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:02:24 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34346 Hello June: Things look high and dry over there in Diamond. It's that implacable sky. It is such a presence for being such an absence. I would suppose that, painting from an elevated position and looking down, one can reduce or eliminate the sky. But setting up at the hotel, and seeing what your photograph shows, would obligate one to deal with it. Hello June:

Things look high and dry over there in Diamond.

It’s that implacable sky. It is such a presence for being such an absence. I would suppose that, painting from an elevated position and looking down, one can reduce or eliminate the sky. But setting up at the hotel, and seeing what your photograph shows, would obligate one to deal with it.

]]> By: June http://artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34289 June Sat, 01 Sep 2007 02:32:35 +0000 http://www.artandperception.com/2007/08/choosing-your-view-or-naming-your-poison.html#comment-34289 Steve, It's interesting that finding a focus and "engaging" seem to go together. I agree with you that they do, that the undifferentiated mass of land has to be sorted by the viewing eye a bit. A mind has to make a shift from seeing an indiscriminate mass to something meaningful. Sometimes the meaning is found to be the shadows, sometimes the form of the rock at your feet, but whatever kinds of "sorting" works, it's best when I have a thoroughly engaged mind vis-a-vis an unsorted landscape. An already sorted landscape doesn't capture my attention so well, and so I have found that I want to stay away from the scenes with roads winding through them or tidy fields laid out in pleasing geometrics. Those I'm not as fond of painting as I am of the muckled miserable lumps that some of eastern Oregon present. By the way, I just looked briefly at my paintings as I unpacked them, and I'm a bit surprised. Steve,

It’s interesting that finding a focus and “engaging” seem to go together. I agree with you that they do, that the undifferentiated mass of land has to be sorted by the viewing eye a bit. A mind has to make a shift from seeing an indiscriminate mass to something meaningful. Sometimes the meaning is found to be the shadows, sometimes the form of the rock at your feet, but whatever kinds of “sorting” works, it’s best when I have a thoroughly engaged mind vis-a-vis an unsorted landscape. An already sorted landscape doesn’t capture my attention so well, and so I have found that I want to stay away from the scenes with roads winding through them or tidy fields laid out in pleasing geometrics. Those I’m not as fond of painting as I am of the muckled miserable lumps that some of eastern Oregon present.

By the way, I just looked briefly at my paintings as I unpacked them, and I’m a bit surprised.

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