Robert Francis James

Painting’s not important. The important thing is keeping busy. — Grandma Moses The summer has been good to me, because at long last I’ve made a daily practice of painting. It was a goal I set for myself two years ago, then discarded like an unwanted penny. It took an art retreat in late June, during which I painted four days in a row for nearly eight hours a day, to show me that a daily practice is powerful. How stupid of me to think it would be anything but! Psychologists would sympathize, however, because they know that you only understand the power of a daily practice after you put it in place. No matter your passion, a daily practice is about getting stuff done . You can chase after a passion, sure; but, if you’re not getting stuff done, you’re chasing something less than a passion—an abiding interest, maybe; or a hobby or fantasy—and your not chasing very hard. The work you produce through a daily practice distinguishes real passion. Ironically, the work you produce ...

Two environmental activists superglued their hands to Botticelli’s Primavera in the Uffizi Gallery last week, AP reports . A museum security guard wasted no time in reacting. In a “refreshing, no-nonsense approach to eco-warriors,” according to The Daily Mail , the guard tore the protesters’ hands from the painting and dragged them away. They were promptly taken to a local police station and handed orders to stay out of Florence for three years, the same penalty given to rowdy soccer fans after their arrest. Museum officials said the demonstration left Primavera unharmed, thanks to protective glass installed on top of it several years ago. Defacing paintings has become the tactic du jour of environmental activists lately. The Botticelli was targeted because it portrays an idyllic spring day—the kind of day that climate change threatens to extinguish. Other paintings have been defaced for similar reasons this summer, including a Constable, a Van Gogh, and a Da Vinci—the Mona L...

I have commissioned a limited edition of full-size giclee prints of three of my still-life paintings, and am offering them for only $80 each (plus tax and shipping). Please email me , if you are interested. All prints will be signed and numbered. Giclee (pronounced “zhee-clay”) is a French term meaning “to spray” and refers to the way an inkjet printer produces a print. The term was coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne. A giclee is of significantly higher quality than a traditional photographic print. New Dragon Takeout (20 x 16 inches) Oatmeal. 11 x 14 inches. Milk and Chocolate Frosted Doughnut. 11 x 14 inches, The post Prints Available appeared first on Original still life oil paintings for sale l Robert Francis James .

Next Saturday and Sunday, July 16 and 17, I’ll exhibit my paintings on the 1,000-acre grounds of Winterthur , America’s premier museum of the decorative arts. I hope you’ll attend this very special event, the Artisan Market at Winterthur . I’ll join over 100 other artists and craftspeople offering paintings, sculpture, jewelry, crafts, vintage clothing, antiques, collectibles, home and garden décor, artisanal foods, and more. While shopping, you’ll hear live music and be able to nosh on festival food and drink. Besides the Artisan Market, your two-day admission ticket will provide you entry into Henry Francis du Pont’s 175-room mansion, containing his collection of 90,000 masterpieces of Americana— and a guided tour the current museum exhibition, “ Jacqueline Kennedy and H. F. du Pont: From Winterthur to the White House .” Baby Boomers will remember that Jackie’s televised tour of the restored White House in 1962 rekindled the country’s love of fine antiques and traditional in...

  Art offers breathing room for the spirit. ― John Updike A new study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology shows that visiting art museums can ease chronic paid, reduce anxiety and depression, and forestall dementia. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania compiled and reviewed over 100 science articles to reach their conclusions. Among other things, they discovered that visiting art museums decreases stress and anxiety, and that viewing figurative art, in particular, lowers blood pressure. They also found that art reduces the intensity of chronic pain, increases a person’s life span, and lessens the likelihood of being diagnosed with dementia. Art, moreover, induces higher cognitive functioning among people with dementia. Art museums also affect the way people interact. Museum visitors report feeling less isolated, more empathetic, and better equipped to connect socially with others. The researchers plan next to study how specific museum programming ...

A new study from UBS shows that nearly half (47%) of all American art museums focus on the top 4% of contemporary artists. Commercial art galleries are less biased, with only 23% focused on the top 4%. Nonetheless, that means 96% of artists—the “emerging” ones—have little chance of seeing their work displayed in nearly half of America’s museums; and 77% have little chance of seeing their work displayed in nearly a quarter of America’s galleries. “It’s no secret that the art world caters to a select few best sellers,” Hyperallergic notes. While the statistics may seem daunting, the odds of an emerging artist getting into an art museum aren’t worse than the odds, say, of a student getting into Harvard or of a serviceperson becoming a Navy Seal. It’s lonely at the top. Getting an emerging artist’s work into a commercial art gallery is obviously easier; but galleries are quite picky, too, as they should be. In the art world, money doesn’t talk, it screams. Commercial galleries onl...

The British art critic David Sylvester asked AbEx painter Willem de Kooning in 1960 whether painted forms should be recognizable. De Kooning replied that painted forms “ought to have an emotion of a concrete experience.” Today we’d more likely say that painted forms should convey how they feel in the moment. If that seems solipsistic, it’s not; it’s realistic . If you crave something outside realism, look to advertising photography, not painting. “I am very happy to see that grass is green,” de Kooning went on to tell Sylvester. “At one time, it was very daring to make a figure red or blue. I think now it is just as daring to make it flesh-colored.” What de Kooning meant was that the world enjoys a primacy. Rightly or wrongly, we take it as the case . The world is a vast public domain, filled to the brim with identifiable content that we share. “I will never know how you see red and you will never know how I see it,” philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty said. “But this ...