This Degas pastel, “The Star: Dancer on the Stage,” was on the cover of an album of classical music that Mom had when I was a kid. I don’t remember what the music was, but I never forgot the painting. We are up in the rafters above the stage, looking down on the dancer just … read more Emerging star
Category: Beauty
Seeing Beauty – in difficult places, in common places, in every day; finding the Original Pulse in all our veins
The fabric of Phil
There’s this T-shirt I’ve had it for 20 years. Can’t get rid of it. If I’d follow the advice of William Morris and countless decluttering experts, I should toss this T-shirt because it is neither beautiful nor useful. I was weeding out clothes today, and I tried again to put it in the box. Couldn’t do it. … read more The fabric of Phil
Emotions for sale
What emotion are you selling? the webinar host asks us. That’s the question you have to answer. Good question. Another question might be, Why do you want to sell emotion? I’m watching the second in a series of free webinars about marketing your art. The host is selling us the emotion of happiness, the artist’s … read more Emotions for sale
Accent in Pink, 1926
When I browsed my Kandinsky book this morning, his painting Accent in Pink jumped off the page to embrace me. The diamond-shaped rectangle stretches its “arms” wide and reveals the energy emanating from the center. The energy take on many colors, black, dark green, three shades of blue, gray, pink, red, emanating from a mottled gray square … read more Accent in Pink, 1926
Immersion
The best way to learn a new language is to immerse in it – go to the country where it’s spoken and do not speak your native tongue. Art is like that too. I’m just wrapping up three solid days of immersion in art. The vocabulary is starting to come into my fingers. In the … read more Immersion
Rainy day spirits
It’s just crumpled plastic wrap. It’s sitting there in the trash can in big wads. I took a quick snapshot of the plastic wrap to illustrate my post about unwrapping. But the light in the office is good – subdued, cloudy, coming through the windows and skylights in filtered soft grey because the rain is pouring … read more Rainy day spirits
Shifting light frames
The sky has been strange lately, like it can’t make up its mind. Rain, or not rain? Clouds move in and out, the light changes, but no rain. This kind of light, though, frames single objects in a particular way that makes it easier to see beauty. Today I was hiking along a lovely and … read more Shifting light frames
100 grand
My girl Charlotte turned 100 today. I’ve been watching the odometer and I kept thinking of the lyrics from that John Denver song, “On the Road”: Back in 1958 we drove an old V8 and when it’d gone a hundred thou’ we got out and pushed it a mile If I could have, I’d have … read more 100 grand
What hurts about beauty
I slept too late and moved too slowly. When I gathered my seven pieces of colored paper, the shapes would not play. They sat stiffly in their rectangles and triangles, and waited for the time to pass until the daily call from Pakistan came and I had to answer it. After a lot of commotion, I … read more What hurts about beauty
None can compare
When I see bright, fluorescent pink in the forest, it’s usually leftover trail blaze tape or an empty Energy Gel packet. I was huffing along the trail, trying to finish my eight-plus miles in three and half hours. Looked like I’d make it. I didn’t. Because of the pink. No, it wasn’t FIRE PINK. It was … read more None can compare