Snowed In

[Bob Boze Bell]

January 10, 2013

Finished a couple studies this week. Tweaked this one over the weekend. This is "Shadow Rock Rider":

 

 

When Kathy and I were visiting Tommy and Amy in Baltimore it snowed twice. The day after Christmas I woke up to snowfall. Sat under a blanket by the window, drinking coffee and watching it stick. Really took me back to my childhood in Iowa in the early fifties. We also took a road trip and I was impressed with the farm country near Havre de Grace:

 

Came home last night and found a book I paid way too much for ($100) at San Patricio, New Mexico. This is a rare art book, "Wyeth At Kuerners" which features studies done by Andrew Wyeth, many of them in the snow. Got up this morning and took a crack at one just to see if I could ferret out his technique. Very subtle stuff.

 

So, this is not original art, but a study of a study done by Andrew Wyatt (from the book, "Wyeth At Kuerners"). I'm studying the masters here, hoping to get to some version of competence. Like most over-achievers I strive for perfection but we all know wher that leads to:

 

"In order to go on living, one must try to escape the death involved in perfectionism."

—Hannah Arendt

[Sue Cauhape]

I like your use of pink. It breaks out of the "blue" mold of winter paintings. Once again, the talent shows in the snows. (Sorry, BBB) This is a goody.

[Gold Lady]

I really like your study, it has a nice snowy feel.  Was the original in egg tempura?  I wondered if gouache is comparable in getting the same effects.   I went to Andrew Wyeth's studio in Chadd's Ford, PA, this past summer.  His paintings are much better in person, they don't reproduce very well in books.  Very delicate narrow brush strokes, forms that look like solid colors are layered with many different colors up close.  I appreciate him more after seeing his work in person. 

[Murray A. Gewirtz]

You've got Wyatt Earp so deeply engraved in your brain that even when writing of Andrew Wyeth, you wrote "Andrew Wyatt." A Freudian slip in the snow?

[Bob Boze Bell]

Ha. Yes, exactly Murray. Wyatt should be Wyeth, probably a combo of typing those keys so often it just went there and yes, indeed, a Freudian slip in the snow. Ha. Good one.