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Caution on antecedents

As much as I enjoy and value your letters, I really must caution you about your use of antecedents. In speaking of Glen Browning, you would have spared me from inappropriate thoughts if you had first identified him as a taxidermist and then told me, Glen's… demonstrating--from start to finish--his methodology for mounting an immature female Goshawk."

Question of legality

I was wondering if you could give me an email address for Glen, your fellow

Grey Cloud clay piece  click image to enlarge

presenter, about his work. I use deceased animal parts in my sculptures and want to ask him if he knows if some are illegal to use. I tried many state departments, but just get a run around. He'll know.

(Andrew Niculescu note) For J and everyone else who wanted to ask Glen a question, he can be reached by email or through his website.

Source of inspiration

I have been in Haines, Alaska at this time of year with the thousands of Bald Eagles roosting in the trees and feeding along the Chilkat River. It was 32 degrees and snowing. All of the vehicles were just sliding off of the road, the ice was so thick. The trees were silhouetted against the white snow and they had three feet of wet snow on the branches. At first I didn't see the eagles because everything was black and white with all of the snow falling. Then one of the branches dropped all of its snow and a huge bald eagle flew off from that branch. There were hundreds of them. What a site!

My great uncle is the late Robert Smith, who made all of the eyes for the animals in the Colorado National Wildlife Museum. He invented the process that he used and was a source of inspiration to me as a child. He helped to inspire me to become an artist.

The 'Life of the Artist'

This subject of "finding one's passion in their work" always moves and

Cabernet oil painting  click image to enlarge

stimulates me. The sentence that rings true for me in this particular letter is the one about how this talented artist made his decision to pump up his art another notch after the awful motorcycle accident. I am amazed how many talented people experience that "turbo" charge right after life delivers something that could potentially defeat their spirit. I, too, experienced a turbo moment right after a life changing sequence of life's "slapping me in the face." It was from that day forth that my commitment to "my own excellence in art" became the theme that is defining my life.

Our personal misfortune is all a part of the beautiful alchemy that makes the art that makes the "map for meaning" for generations to come. Consider the lives of Hemingway, Picasso, Mozart, Michelangelo and Vincent Van Gogh. While the schools cut art from the program, communities ax the art associations, doctors and pharmacists sedate the spirits, and no one has time to visit the museum down the street, we need the courageous artists and writers more than ever. I sometimes ponder whether "The Life of the Artist" isn't more of the "Art" than the canvas, the clay, or the words on paper.

Dedication to one's craft

With the extremes of culture and landscape you are experiencing Robert,

Legends in pain original drawing  click image to enlarge

you must be expanding your ideas and perceptions. I had the privilege of visiting Hyder, Alaska a few years ago and saw a huge population of bald eagles fishing on the river. It was like a dream seeing these elusive and magnificent creatures in such abundance in a land where glaciers and waterfalls far outnumber the people that visit and admire this area.

I appreciate your perspective on the dedication to one's craft, whether it be painting, taxidermy, photography, woodcarving, or teaching. How long something takes to do is irrelevant. It is silly to measure how long it takes to create, when a race with time is illusionary anyway.

When people ask me, "How long did that take you?" I used to try and give them an hourly estimate, as if it made any difference. Comparisons are a form of disconnection from our higher being. So now I respond by saying that I don't keep track of the time "investment", because that distracts from the creative energy that is flowing.

Sometimes we amaze ourselves with what we can create or do. It seemed so easy, we almost feel guilty. What a funny idea that is. It's supposed to be that way. It happens when we stop resisting or conceptualizing things, often in the process of playing with the paint searching for the "Michelangelo Moment". Without conscious awareness, we become the physical facilitator to our soul's creativity.

Paintings deserve a finish

Details, I love details, for me and my work I have to go that extra mile

Paradise Retreat acrylic painting  click image to enlarge

to make it feel right for me. Often being told I've overworked the piece. So I tried to loosen up and plein air painting has assisted me in that direction. To paint faster and looser. One thing that I've noticed in plein air and workshops is that you get to see how other artists paint. And how they feel about their work. I hear so many times of them scrapping, painting over or just abandoning their work. I'm not one of those types of artists. I believe each piece was started for a reason, hence deserves a finish. I will work that painting until I feel I have done it justice. I never paint over or abandon, but complete each and every piece. It once took me 5 years to complete a piece, studying it as a work in progress as I worked on other projects. Finally each step came to me from time to time. It's one of my favorite pieces to date.

Room for less and room for more

Robert, the last time you spoke of leaving something out while talking

Golden Anniversary watercolor painting  click image to enlarge

about writing. Now with taxidermy we are talking about getting even more than the eye can see. For me as a watercolor artist, I have gone through abstract and have gradually gravitated toward realism. Now the more realistic I can make it the more I enjoy it. I think I am happier here than anywhere else I have been. I now think it has to do with who we are at the time. I think I enjoy more information. I also collect more things and I like my house and gardens neat and just overall my life is more organized now. I think that would reflect in my art which would explain my realistic approach. I do not like modern furniture, metal etc… I love wood, nature and reality. For all of us to think we would paint alike would seem silly. I can appreciate good abstract work because I understand it, but my friends who still work that way cannot seem to appreciate what I am doing. Am I now also more open-minded? Maybe that comes with age as well. I think that for anyone to dictate what is right or wrong in art, good or bad in art, is like also telling us who we are or should be. I love what I do and plan to continue this realistic journey for the rest of my days. There is room for less and room for more.

Key to success

I just read an article in Time magazine November 2005 issue, entitled Why Some People Are Most Likely to Succeed. In a nutshell the author says: "A fire in the belly doesn't light itself." Various possibilities are described using real people in the world. He refers to research and ongoing studies on the topic. Ultimately the spark of Ambition lies in genes, family, culture and even in your own hands.

It is my opinion that we can all achieve if we do not give up. But then again, even when one gives up, one still has the potential to be rewired to achieve. One simply must learn to recognize when a door has just closed and aim for an open one.

On craft and craftsmanship

As an artist and art teacher I have been enjoying your letters. Since you mentioned spirituality and the value of craft and craftsmanship, I would like to refer you to a group of artists in Toronto called 'Imago' that have done some serious reflection on that subject. I would highly recommend reading a paper entitled Redeeming the Arts that they helped put together. It came out of an international discussion in Thailand at the Lausanne Forum 2004.

Light in paint

Finding myself in Paris in 1947 in my new cheap demob suit, a Danish painter and ex-resistance worker, Paul Klose, allowed me to help him square up the walls for his 'commercial' commissioned work, painting Italiante landscape murals, which incidentally we both disliked. He dismissed my newfound enthusiasm for the Impressionists and their quest for light in paint. His integrity would not allow him to follow the current fashion for something he could not ' see' for himself and so he lectured me on his Renaissance idols. 'Now you gently, gently, lightly limn the Madonna's robe with golden yellow, and see. the blue begins to sing!' A year later when I scraped the money to return, he had married his classical training to a new vision, his own discovery of what the Impressionists were attempting and which was to transform his work, after he had surmounted an acute case of painter's block. Gallery owners at the door and no paintings on the easel!