Robert Francis James

If people could see properly, and see whole, they would all be painters. — Pierre Bonnard Since childhood, I have longed to see the way the Tonalists saw; the way the Impressionists  saw; the way the Ashcan  and  London  and  Pop  painters saw. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I suffer high myopia . By painting, I’m learning how hard it is to “see like a painter;” to see “properly and whole,” as Bonnard described it. It’s really hard. But not to see like a painter would disappoint me—and not to see at all would be insufferable. That last fate befell the late painter Lennart Anderson , subject of Lennart Anderson: A Retrospective , now at the New York Studio School. Anderson suffered macular degeneration, which left him virtually and legally blind in his seventies. But blindness didn’t deter the painter one bit. As sight failed him, Anderson began to paint “fictions,” as art critic John Yau describes the artist’s later pieces. A...

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 20, and Sunday, November 21. At the even t—a weekend marketplace for fine art and handmade crafts—you’ll meet over 40 artists of the Brandywine Valley. They’ll be offering  original paintings , jewelry, ceramics, wearables, leather goods, decorations and more. And remember: original oil paintings make  wonderful gifts for the holidays . The show takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 20-21, 2021, 10 am-5 pm and 11 am-4 pm. Admission is $5 (kids 10 & under free). Proceeds go to help the Center. 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.   The post Meet Me at the Fair appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l ...

Perhaps the sketch of a work is so pleasing because everyone can finish it as he chooses. — Eugene Delacroix For nine years in a row, I attended a public school in New Jersey named Washington Elementary . Every classroom sported a framed print of Gilbert Stuart’s famous unfinished George Washington (called by art historians The Athenaeum Portrait ), It hung with majesty at the front of every room, six inches above the blackboard. By my calculation, I stared at that painting for no less than 10,000 hours. That juvenescent  saturation could explain my affinity today for non finito   (“not finished”) paintings—paintings deliberately left incomplete . Inspired by Renaissance sculptures like Michelangelo’s Four Slaves , non finito paintings, by revealing a bit of the process of painting, let the viewer in on the action. Art historians trace non finito paintings to the philosopher Plato , who believed no painting could imitate its subject. All painting, for Plato, is σ...

Entertainment and creativity magazine The Table Read features my gift-giving advice for the season. Don’t miss it . Above: Santa’s Whiskers by N.C. Wyeth. Published on the cover of the December 17, 1921 edition of Judge with the caption “Hey, kiddies, here we go again.” The post Here We Go Again appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l Robert Francis James .

  For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business. — T.S. Eliot Businesspeople are always citing Voltaire’s advice, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” They know you’ll never earn a profit, if you do. I wish more painters felt that way. Instead, they fuss ad nauseam with their paintings, then hide them from viewers’ eyes in a garage or basement. Sure, some paintings should be hidden from sight. Most of them, to be candid. But, for the painter, the relentless pursuit of perfection is a fool’s errand. For us, there is only the trying. That’s because no painting is ever done . “One of the most difficult things in the world to do is to start a work of art,” says Jack Faragasso in  The Student’s Guide to Painting . “It is just as difficult to finish one.” The earnest painter never considers a painting finished. She always, always could have done better. She just does the best she can… and moves on. Of course, the earnest painter c...

New mysteries. New day. Fresh doughnuts. — David Lynch Is it any wonder we love doughnuts? Without beginning or end, they symbolize eternity, while we mortals know only finitude. Not to mention they’re tasty. We can thank the Dutch not only for the still life, but the doughnut , too. They brought the  olykoek (“oily cake”) with them when they colonized Manhattan in the 17th century. (Originally a lump of dough tied into a knot—a dough-knot—a clever Yankee introduced the hole in the center of the doughnut 200 years later. It ensured the cake cooked throughout.) Though around for four centuries, World War I made them popular, when Salvation Army volunteers cooked and served doughnuts by the millions to our soldiers in France. (They weren’t called “doughboys” for nothing.) Artist Wayne Thiebaud sanctified doughnuts in the 1960s, painting the gooey rings with endless appetite. Thiebaud inspired legions of artists to follow his lead, including Emily Eveleth , Eric Joyner...

A social media post by another artist this week prompted me to ponder the origin of the term still life . The Met defines a still life as a glorification  of everyday life—of “the home and personal possessions, commerce, trade, and learning.” The still life emerged as a genre in the Netherlands four hundred years ago. Its precedents (including paintings like Petrus Christus‘ 1449 Goldsmith in His Shop ) were religious in nature; but Dutch painters decidedly abandoned religious motifs for secular ones. They painted instead pictures of “conspicuous” luxuries: hams, lobsters, oysters, pâtés, porcelains, rummers,  silverware, and floral bouquets. Celebrations of the hunt board became all the rage among wealthy collectors. Call it a “eureka moment,” but I realized this week why after four centuries the still life still holds our attention. The name says it all. Still life is derived from the Dutch word s tilleven , ( stille + ven ). Ven means life . Stille means qui...