Robert Francis James

Art—and the outdoors—are calling! Look for my outdoor exhibit at Art Fest at Whitehall , Sunday, April 25, noon-4 pm. It’s your chance to save sales tax and shipping on every one of my paintings. The festival features live music, fun food, and exhibits by more than 100 regional artists. Admission is free. Art Fest at Whitehall takes place in Middletown, Delaware. Learn more here . Can’t make it? No worries. I am also exhibiting at the Center for the Creative Arts’ 2021 1st Annual Spring Exhibition , April 15 – May 15, in Yorklyn, Delaware. Learn more here . The post Out and About appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l Robert Francis James .

If there is a higher being it is an unconscious one. A tree never worries about the house it blocks from view. — Ken Kewley Artist Ken Kewley has remarkable insight into colors . “Pure colors are rare,” he says. “Look at great paintings. Look for primary colors, colors that can be easily named, i.e., green, orange, etc. Usually they are not found. Most colors are without names. “Most colors are adjusted and fine tuned—colors found by a need to compose the whole, each color playing a role. Color changes depending on the size of the form and its neighbors. Whatever the subject, the shapes and colors that make up this subject also make up an abstract design—a composition.” A skilled artist chooses colors like a playwright chooses characters, Kewley says, adjusting each color to play a specific role. Some colors play leading roles, some supporting. Some are protagonists, some antagonists. Landscape III by Ken Kewley The “play” that results is a composition, a “balance of un...

The work of art provides us with new organs with which to see the world. — Maurice Merleau-Ponty We understand the world thanks to nonfungible mental tokens we call “ideas.” Ideas bridge internal and external reality and allow us to say, “Yes, I get it, I understand.” But—unless we’re Buddhists, philosophers or neuroscientists—we don’t distinguish the outer from the inner world, nor from the ideas that swirl in our brains. There’s only the world . Our on-ramps to the world are the five sense; more accurately, the five sense organs of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. The sense organs are handy ( organ in fact derives from the Greek organon , meaning “tool”).  Imagine getting along without them! But, if you think about it, our organs curtail understanding. None lets us, for example, detect a flower by its voltage (a b umblebee can do this); or a blood-vein by its temperature (a bat can do this); or a compass-direction by the Earth’s magnetic field (a worm can do thi...

Andy Warhol looks a scream, hang him on my wall. Andy Warhol, silver screen, can’t tell them apart at all. — David Bowie An appeals court has ruled Andy Warhol violated a photographer’s copyright 40 years ago, according to The New York Times . He borrowed her photo without permission to make a silk-screen. Overturning an earlier decision that the Pop Artist’s reliance on the 1981 photo was “fair use” of the image, the court ruled that Warhol’s “appropriation” of Lynn Goldsmith’s photo of Prince constituted copyright infringement. For artists, the decision sets a terrible precedent. “Fair use” should allow an artist to borrow an image, without permission or payment, for purposes of self-expression; but the new court ruling insists an artist cannot do so. I paint from life , but know many artists who paint every day from photos they’ve grabbed off the web. Thanks to the court’s decision, they’re now liable for piracy. Orange Prince. Before the court’s ruling, copyright...

British artist Damien Hirst is hawking 10,000 nonfungible tokens ( NFTs ), each redeemable for one of his cherry blossom prints , according to The New York Times . “NFTs are the most exciting new thing in the creative industry,” Hirst told the paper. “The fact that they polarize people so much, and make so many people angry, just makes me even more sure of their importance.” Hirst enjoys a history of minting money. Eleven years ago, he sold a diamond-studded skull to an investment group for $100 million. Hirst’s 10,000 prints have been in storage for five years. Whether they’ll sell like hotcakes remains to be seen. The financial market is skeptical, in general, about the short- and long-term value of NFTs. Control 862. Damian Hirst. Like tulips , they may ultimately become worthless, analysts say. But, with Hirst’s tokens, investors at least know they can redeem them for one of his prints. Hoping to cash in on the hysteria, other artists have resorted to selling NFTs in ...

The true use of art is to cultivate the artist’s own spiritual nature. — George Inness The 19th century American art movement known as Tonalism celebrated gentle tones, soft edges, atmosphere, and “the reality of the unseen.” Americans fell in love with it in the aftermath of the Civil War, turning away from the Tonalists only after the arrival onshore of “modernists” like Duchamp, Bonnard and Picasso . With a body count nearing that of “ The American Conflict ,” it’s time we embrace Tonalism again—and put an end to mourning. The founder of Tonalism, George Inness , used to baffle critics by including poems with his paintings. But Inness knew what he was doing. His poems, like his paintings, were meant to inspire you to contemplate “the invisible in the visible,” the cosmic harmonies behind everyday things—harmonies to which the Americans of his day had grown cold. Innes’ Emersonian poem “ Exaltation ” is but one compelling example: Sing joyfully! Earth-bound...

Every canvas is a journey all its own. — Helen Frankenthaler Wanderlust is gripping my friends and family, as July 4th approaches. They’re planning travel itineraries, reserving hotel rooms, and booking flights. While they’ve been locked down for 12 months, I’ve completed more than 100 journeys, thanks to my easel, brushes, paints, and canvases. Even when those trips proved ultimately unproductive , the travel was exhilarating, and pushed away others’ torments. I’m not alone in expressing this: thousands of artists have said they’ve found solace in their studios during the pandemic. I’m reminded of an old Jethro Tull favorite, “ Inside :” I’m sitting on the corner feeling glad. Got no money coming in but I can’t be sad. That was the best cup of coffee I ever had. And I won’t worry about a thing Because we’ve got it made, Here on the inside, outside’s so far away. Above: A Pair of Boots . Oil on canvas. 16 x 12 inches. Ships framed and ready to hang . https://securese...