Ragland 5, 30x36

Neil Young....

.....had his boat, Ragland, moored in Eagle Harbor for a year or so while he was selling it.  During that time I painted it plein air at least four times.  I thought the island should buy it just for it's ambiance, especially since long gone harbor businesses used to build boats like this by the score. 

I liked the paintings I did which you can see Here (at a distance), Here (similar to this view) and Here (another at a distance) and this one, which I never posted:

My paintings, although I enjoy them, never quite matched my impression of what it was like to stand out there as the sun set.....so I decided to do another in the studio that spoke more to the experience.  Thus, Ragland 5.

On a totally different note.....Exquisite Corpse.....
......I was out having lunch with the Balcomb boys the other day.  Put a paper covering on a table with three artists, a photographer, a musician and a painter, and what you get is a table full of drawings, doodles and ideas.

Somewhere during our meal we began adding on to one another's drawings and the musician asked me if I had heard of 'Exquisite Corpse'.  I had no clue.  It began, as much as anyone knows, as a parlor word game where each person added on to a sentence.  Then it became add on written stories and, eventually, even the surrealists used it to explore visual ideas.

Then, this morning, I ran across a recently posted example of it on a grand scale.  Three well known excellent watercolorists paint together on a huge piece of paper to create a spectacular work.  Joseph Zbukvic, Alvaro Castagent and Herman Pekel.....all well known artists.  It's 30 minutes long but worth your time: HERE    Enjoy this one!   You won't believe the size....

Balcomb, Fechin, Reese, Bongart

Nicholai Fechin....

....Wm. F. Reese and Sergei Bongart were painters whose standing in the current art world were greatly enhanced by the labor and inspiration of Mary Balcomb, the author of definitive books on each of them.

It was through unknown forces of grace that I have been friends with Mary and her husband, Robert 'Sam' Balcomb for over two decades.  Through frequent trips to their home...usually ending in something bubbly from a bottle....I found out what remarkable people each of them is.

Robert 'Sam' is probably the finest portrait photographer I have ever known.  Having been a photographer myself and taught it for a while, I can say that without reservation.  He is a true and pure lens artist and recently published a book 'Me and Mortensen', about his own work and his experiences with renowned photographer William Mortensen.   Robert also was asked to be part of the  portrait photography collection at the University Museum in Tucson where his pieces are in the archives of significant American photographers. 

Mary was (she died last Spring) an architect, designer, etcher, painter, author and probably more other things than I ever will know, and she did them all with humility and love.  Both she and 'Sam' were, and are, gifts to this world.

One of the things I liked to do when visiting was to pull out some of their art books. My favorite was the proposal for the Fechin book.  In those days everything was 'cut and paste' and the Fechin mock up is one of those.  Many images and writings did not make the final publication but I wish they had as they add such a depth of understanding of the artist.  I have included a couple of illustrations that did not 'make it' but show the final works of Fechin with the source material he worked from, usually a 2 inch contact print...very small...which through his genius became large works of art.

The book mock up is, I believe, going to be included in the collection of the Cowboy Hall of Fame Museum of Western Art.   If you click on the images they should expand in your browser.

Wm. F. Reese and Sergei Bongart both personally requested that Mary write books about them.  If you can find a copy of either they are worth your time.

And thanks to Mary and Robert for allowing me to include these images.