Meeting Notes, Thursday, Sept 25, 2014

At today's meeting Loretta, Marty, Tim, Stephanie, Susan, Thomas, Diane, Diane B, Stan, Deb, Jeanie, Eunice, Dave, Barbara, Michelle (new), Thomas C (new) and me, Celeste.

Today's suggested table topic:  Describe a painting that has remained in your memory ever since you first saw it. Optional: Explain why you think you remember that painting above all others.

 Celeste:  Of course there are scads of paintings that I remember. There are way too many to discuss. However, the one that came to mind first when I saw the subject was "The execution of Lady Jane Grey". I saw this painting in the National Gallery in London. It is a painting that has it all. It has fear, uncertainty, religion, grief, honor, dread,  horror, comfort, beauty --an endless array of emotion. (And happens to be topical right now too, because it is about beheading). 

http://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/the-execution-of-lady-jane-grey-by-paul-delaroche/

Dave: I visited a museum in Venice before I started painting. The feeling I got just walking into one particular room was incredible. I was surrounded by the most wonderful paintings, each more fantastic than the last. I remember I said to myself "this is what I want to do!” 

I brought a painting that I did from a photograph from a trip to the Tetons.

Eunice: There were no paintings on our walls when I was growing up in Minnesota. I don’t know why, but I always knew that I wanted to paint! I raised a family first and when my children went off to college I finally took up painting. I'll never stop now. I brought a recent painting I did of a sunset.

Jeanie: I like da Vinci (I can't pick just one). I brought in a painting I did using viridian green. 

Deb: I saw the Monet cathedrals at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The values were very close. I've always remembered them. 

 I brought in a book about of the artists Nolde and Schumacher: http://www.amazon.com/Emil-Nolde-Schumacher-Kindred-Spirits/dp/3832193510

https://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg85/gg85-main1.html

Stan: I saw the Sorolla painting "Maria in the Garden" at the Portland Art Museum. It was riveting! I did some quick studies from my porch of recent sunsets.

 http://www.fineartconnoisseur.com/Sorolla-s-American-Connection--in-Paintings-and-Dr/17955905

Diane B: The very first exhibit I ever saw was van Gogh. Others that stand out in my memory are CS Rice and Goya. I went to Diego Rivera’s studio and have felt deeply influenced by him as well. I have been learning from my drawing class to really see things and observe things. 

 http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/House-_Studio_Museum_of_Diego_Rivera_and_Frida_Kahlo

Barb: I saw van Gogh’s Irises at the Getty Museum. I was awestruck by it. In the gift shop I bought this kitchen magnet of it. (laughter)! Also, I got to visit the Hill-stead museum in Connecticut. It is like a house. The docent was describing things about the kitchen when I discovered a Dégas over the fireplace. As we went through the house there were many other paintings by famous artists.  One of them was Mary Cassatt. That painting really resonated with me and sent me on my path of painting children. I brought in a painting that belonged to my grandmother. I think she thought of this painting as a keepsake, perhaps reminding her of her home in Europe.
http://www.hillstead.org

Michele (new). I brought in this plein air painting from Sauvie Island. (Welcome, Michelle)

Diane H: I grew up in Hawaii where I didn't see very much art. When I left there and went to community college I took art classes and went through several different phases of my art understanding.  One time, in Wisconsin, I went to an art exhibit ...and it was Diebenkorn! I was struck by all of his work and it made me know what I wanted to do. I took a Richard McKinley workshop. I have discovered that muted colors are important to me. I am going to go more in that direction.

Thomas: Velasquez, as everyone knows, painted the best and most important painting! (Laughter)  (Las Meninas).  This painting was not meant to be seen by regular people…it was meant only for the King and Queen. The highest figure in the painting is Velasquez. The highest person in a painting (during the Baroque period) really represented God, so this tells us how he felt about himself. When you look at it the King and Queen are in a position where it seems as if you are the King and Queen.  Velasquez was really the first plein air painter in something like 1649...and he has everything to do with why we all paint like we do today.

I brought in a painting that I did (recently in California) with Roos Schuring.  I tried to put down more paint than usual. 

Susan: In my childhood there were no paintings on the walls. When I moved to Berkeley to go to school I bought a poster by van Gogh (Sunflowers). I actually decorated my living quarters to match this poster~!  (Laughter!) Around the same time the van Gogh painting "Field with Crows" came to Berkeley and I saw it for real. It was the first real painting I saw and appreciated. I never get tired of van Gogh's work. I have been to the Amsterdam museum twice. Recently, also, in California I saw a still life. I was completely mesmerized by it. I don't know who painted it. It had the look of a Quang Ho,  but it was someone else.



I brought in the painting I did for the 200 show (marbles). 

Stephanie: Well, I grew up with Art. My mother was an artist. There was a lot of art in our home. I went to see the van Gogh exhibit in the LA County Museum of art when I was a young person. The painting that I'll always remember was a painting called "The Potato Eaters" by van Gogh. Even though this painting was dark and lumpy (and the people were not attractive) it radiates warmth and love. I recently saw paintings by Bennet Norrbo. The name of the show was Nice and Naughty. It was in the Murdoch collection. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Potato_Eaters#mediaviewer/File:Van-willem-vincent-gogh-die-kartoffelesser-03850.jpg

I brought a plein air painting that I did at Clackamette Park. 

Tim: My Grandfather was a ranger/guide at Yellowstone park. Abby Williams Hill was there painting a painting plein air and the painting blew off her easel into a deep ravine. My grandfather went to great lengths to rescue the painting.  She gave him another painting as a reward. That particular painting remains in my memory to this day. I brought in a painting that I did recently. 


Marty: Well, this is a very lovely meeting! I am enjoying hearing all the stories of why paintings resonate with people. A painting that means the most to me is "Christina's World". I've done a copy of it. That painting (and all of Wyeth’s paintings) really inspired me to take up painting for myself. Everything in the Fechin exhibit was astonishing to me. I was very moved by all of his paintings. I copy a lot of masterworks. As a result, I become a fan of each of those artists. My most recent copy is Sorolla's "Walk on the Beach". When I was growing up a my girlfriend's father gave me a painting right of the wall that I had admired. I never got over the fact that he took it off the wall and handed it to me only because I had said I liked it! He explained art has to be where it is loved and admired.

 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Christinasworld.jpg

Loretta: When I was a very little girl (age three) I had to pose for a painting of me! It was a unique experience that remains in my memory and I own the painting.  I lived in NYC and every time I walked into the Metropolitan Museum of Art I had another favorite painting. It is too hard to think of one!

I brought in a painting of water lilies. 

 Thomas C (new). (Welcome, Thomas) My great-grandmother was a painter. The painting that stays with me is one of the Sorolla’s with Oxen, boats and the sea.  Also in Napa Valley I saw the Hess collection in Yountville. 

 http://www.hesscollection.com/art/artists.html

Announcements:

The Hood river show is completed on September 28. Pick up unsold art dates are here:

The new show at Columbia art gallery is “Crush”:
Send a card to Richard Schmid for his 80th birthday (By Oct 4):

Help surprise Richard with your own words of gratitude for this incredible man and all he has done for art and life.
Snail mail your cards the old-fashioned way to:

Village Arts of Putney
attn: Richard Schmid
P.O. Box 600
Putney, Vermont 05346
USA


Hillsboro plein air receptions are October 7 and Nov 4
5-6:30pm Walters Cultural Center: http://www.hillsboro-oregon.gov/index.aspx?page=1098

Anton Pavlenko is still up at Brian Marki until Sept 30: http://www.brianmarki.com/ARTIST-PAGES/AntonPavlenko_BlueGreenSummer.html

Portland Open Studios:

Thank you for sharing your ideas and paintings today (and for putting up with all the noise!)

Next meeting is Thursday, October 2, 9am,  suggested table topic: Canvases and supports, tell us your favorite and your least favorite (and/or how you prepare yours). 

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