Robert Francis James

Most artists trust their intuition. Sometimes it leads you to make mistakes, but that hardly matters. There is no such thing as failure, you just learn from it and go on. — David Hockney One advantage of oil painting resides in the medium’s “forgiving” nature. You can wipe or scratch off blunders while they’re fresh; paint on top of the them; or wait for them to dry and begin again. In my case—being blunder-prone—clemency’s just what the doctor ordered. Mistakes hardly trouble me while I’m painting. But it’s another matter after the fact , when I realize not a brush-stroke or two, but an entire painting , is a debacle. After the fact is when the grave disappointment and nausea set in, the Beckettian self-loathing and dread—typically 48 hours after I’ve laid down my brushes and can judge the Frankenstein I’ve created with the cold, avenging eyes of the village onlooker. That’s when my inner critic starts ranting. “What a fool you are! Wasting all that time and those expe...

Today I give thanks for our First Amendment and freedom of expression. Throughout history, artists have been muzzled, shackled, imprisoned and liquidated merely for expressing “unofficial” ideas; but only once , thank the Lord, in the good-old USA. In Havana this moment, 14 artists are sequestered in an apartment, surrounded by Cuban state security police. After a week trapped inside, they’re starving, because the police have prevented food drop-offs. They have also detained journalists and diplomats who’ve attempted to meet with the artists. The crime? The artists protested a recent judicial sentence. Their protest comprised a pubic poetry reading. The government insists they’re “enemies” of Cuba—and mere attention-seekers. What artist isn’t? The post Freedom appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l Robert Francis James .

My artist statement takes over 300 words to describe what I hope to capture in my oil paintings. What I wish to capture, in as few words as possible, is average everydayness . The term—a favorite of mine—comes from philosopher Martin Heidegger’s colossal book Being and Time . Average everydayness ( Alltäglichkeit in the original German) is the human condition, a perpetual state of being where things, ideas and actions are thoroughly conventional . Through no fault of our own, we’re immersed in this state of conventional existence for most of our lives, rarely (if ever) responding to the world as true individuals. Instead, we respond as the “everyman.” “We take pleasure and enjoy ourselves as everyone else takes pleasure,” Heidegger wrote. “We read, see, and judge about literature and art as they see and judge; likewise we shrink back from the ‘mass of men’ as they shrink back; and we find ‘shocking’ what they find shocking.” Although we like to think of ourselves as unconve...

Twenty years ago, I attended a lecture by the renowned architect Frank Gehry . Meek and plain-speaking—like most Canadians—Gehry described his signature design process: “First, you get the building  right. Then, you make it weird .” Gehry meant a building must be structurally sound and functional first ; a Gehry creation second. My approach to still-life painting (although I often miss the mark) takes a similar path. I want the drawing to be right first. Before I ever picked up a paint brush as an adult, I studied drawing, completing 24 consecutive terms of weekly drawing classes—six years’ worth—at the Art League of Alexandria , primarily under the inspiring and ever-patient Milena Spasic . Only when Milena invited me to join one of her painting classes did I dare paint. Pen Approaches Lemon. Oil on canvas board. 10 x 8 inches. But drawing is only an oil painting’s foundation; its basement , to be precise. If you want a painting to succeed, you have to make it weird . M...

I invite you to grab your sweetheart, don your mask and come see my exhibit of original oil paintings for sale at the Center for the Creative Arts’ Annual Artisan Show , next Saturday, November 21, and Sunday, November 22. At the event—a weekend marketplace for fine art and handmade crafts—you’ll meet over 20 artisans from the Brandywine Valley. They’ll be offering original paintings, jewelry, ceramics, wearables, leather goods, decorations and more. Original oil paintings make wonderful gifts for the holidays . The show takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 21-22, 2020, 10 am-5 pm and 11 am-4 pm. Admission is $5 (kids 10 & under free). Proceeds go to help the Center. Buy your timed tickets in advance . Strict CDC and State of Delaware guidelines for health and safety at events will be followed. The Center is located at 1149 Yorklyn Road, Yorklyn, Delaware 19736. Meet me at the fair! The post Meet Me at the Fair appeared first on Original still life oil paintings...

Art speaks to everyone, but some people don’t listen. ―  C. Vallo I’m a fortunate son. As a kid, living only eight miles outside Manhattan, I had the chance early in life to experience art in a global art center—indeed, the global art center in the day . My parents many times took my siblings and me to the MOMA, the Met, the Whitney and the Cloisters. Better still, we’d spend every Labor Sunday navigating the Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit , better known as the “Greenwich Village Show,” where thousands of goateed painters hawked their beautiful wares on the leafy downtown sidewalks. It was enchanting. I also had generous art teachers throughout elementary school, including a beret-wearing, mystical, Greenwich Village gypsy . You may not have enjoyed my upbringing, but that doesn’t affect your ability to appreciate art. Everyone with a shred of curiosity is an art lover, as the famed painting teacher Robert Henri noted. “All manifestations of art are but landmarks...

Gallerist Andrea Strang explains why paintings make wonderful gifts. The post Giving Paintings as Gifts: A Podcast appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l Robert Francis James .