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November Sketchbook, Part 3

I’ve done a lot of sketching this month.  I am still playing around with my imaginary sculpture drawings and have been thinking a lot about doing something in comics.

Artworld Small Works Exhibition

I’ve just delivered some new, barely dry 12×12 inch streetcar paintings for Artworld Fine Art’s small works show.  The exhibition runs from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24 and is well worth a visit,

Life Drawing

We had an incredible drawing session at Neilson Park today, thanks to the creativity and strength of a brilliant young model.  New to the field, she was one of the best models I’ve ever encountered.

In the Home

It is always a very great pleasure for an artist to visit a collector’s home and see their work newly framed and installed. Thank you Cathie and Steven Friedman.

The Man Could Draw!

Michelangelo 
I caught this amazing show of Michelangelo drawings at the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday. If you love drawing as I do, it is not to be missed.

Denis Hopkins

I visited this excellent show yesterday in the Williams Mill Art Centre, Glenn Williams.  Denis is a fascinating guy with an incredible background in art and psychology.  He has one of the most incredible studios I have ever visited and we has a wonderful chat about art and life.  The works in this show are far beyond anything he has done previously.

Landscape and Still Life

Denis Hopkins

November 5 to November 16, 2014

Artist’s Statement

My first love in painting is still life. Oil is my favourite medium. I am influenced by the still life paintings of the 17th century Dutch masters, the work of Chardin, and, to some extent, the work of Cezanne, who used colour to depict form. I concentrate on seeing the subtleties of what is before me and on drawing the, as accurately as possible. The importance of doing this has been reinforced by several years of study in France.
I am especially interested in representing the changes that are brought about by the passage of time, the imperfections in a pot, the patina, for example, resulitng from use over many years, or the effects of corrosion on surfaces.  Some of my still life paintings may be seen as metaphors for the aging process. In landscape painting, I am interested in atmospheric conditions which are constantly changing.  This work tends to be impressionistic compared to the detailed realism of my still life painting.
My favourite locations for painting are Vermont, the Loire Valley in France, and Wellington County in Ontario.  I maintain studios in the Loire Valley, and in Ortin, Ontario.

Norman Rockwell Museum

On the way home from Chadd’s Ford we spend the night in Stockbridge, Mass. and visited the Norman Rockwell Museum.  I was taken with the room devoted to Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” as well as his immaculate studio.  It’s flawless and that really pleased me.  I dislike the stereotype of the painter who can only produce in the midst of chaos.  Makes no sense to me.

Kuerner’s Farm

One of my goals was to locate Karl Kuerner’s farm.  The farm is the central motif in Andrew’s Pennsylvania work.  He painted or drew more than 1000 pieces here.  It is widely believed Karl became something of a surrogate father after N.C. was killed by the train, adjacent to the farm.

We found the farm almost immediately and the following day took the tour of the property into the barn and house.  The guide let me know, in very rare occasions, artists were allowed on to the property to paint and sketch.  I sought out the security office and the head of security very grudgingly gave us permission to return to the property early the next day before the tours began.  It was something!

N.C. Wyeth’s Home and Studio

N.C.’s studio made me dizzy.  He must have been a painting machine.  All of the items in the studio from his smock to his props are authentic.  Check out the space devoted to his mural work.
The second photo is of the bedroom where Andrew was born.  July 12th, same as my birthday.
As with my father, N.C. was killed in a tragic accident.