I was on TV

So, I was on TV. The TV people are very nice. But I have to think of it this way. Someone shined a light in my tent. That's all. A brightness that won't last long. If anything is to come of it, simply this: I want to encourage others to share of themselves with the people present in their lives. It's rewarding. All the people in my paintings . . . I made their world a little more interesting and happy. They smile when they see me. I create something people want. I am grateful and hopefully humble enough. I feel the same about my military paintings.

NBC California LIVE

Interview with Ross Thomas from NBC California LIVE. Segment aired February 2021
Use this link to view the video https://www.nbclosangeles.com/california-live/artist-honors-frontline-workers-with-custom-portraits/2518134/?fbclid=IwAR0naVkfCIlMQaC1lHY0MZjMBl9tahow6XmLGKdcsdeQ-YcesyxT6QKV50Q

Proximity to the Arts

For the kindness of their patience, we care deeply for those loved ones who are willing to test their limits by comfortable proximity to a painter.

The joy of this gift

I spent last year making paintings of the people who kept working during the quarantine. Small paintings, mostly . . . people at work. The mailman, the milkman, the UPS driver, nurses, first responders, etc. When I give the paintings to the subject . . . well, many express a kind of delight that goes beyond just receiving an unexpected gift. No one has ever said, "Here I'll put this over there with all my other oil portraits." It seems to be an exceptional experience for them. Our culture, inundated with digital images on their phones, computers, TV, magazines, movies, billboards, posters, signs . . . has left its people with little they can call PERSONAL and UNIQUE. Outside the world of art you and I know, it seems our lives are starved of the fine art of painting. I love seeing the joy of this gift in their eyes.

On seeing drawings by Richard Johnson

I’d rather look at these than a bunch of photographs any day.

Many years ago I worked around a bunch of comp artists. I had no real training as an illustrator so was consigned to doing airbrush backgrounds and paste-up. One day, a witness to my eager sketchbook asked me to do a little fill-in work. They handed me a marker drawing of an old man seated at a large upholstered chair. At the time the assignment was created, the chair needed only to show most of the chair, not all. The armrest on one side had been left blank and the AD asked me to complete it, matching style and color. I jumped at the opportunity to show what I could do. With the original art in my hands, I was astounded by the expression of life in this figure, the solidity of the chair, the beautiful color and amazed that it all came about with no reference to work from. When finished I found a quiet moment in the day to remark on how the illustrator did this beautiful thing without a photo to work from. He brushed me off saying, "I just close my eyes and start drawing." He was known to be cranky and I thought he made a joke at my expense. It was weeks later that I learned he in fact did close his eyes to VISUALIZE the scene and keeping that image in his mind, started to draw. When I am -even now, tasked with drawing from life I find it most difficult when everybody is moving around. I could draw this guy's head but when I look up, he's got his back to me and I'd have to imagine that side view with my imagination fading as quickly as water in the desert.

That's the background to my feelings about drawings like these. I've got nothing but admiration for anyone who can draw from life as it is happening.

Bravo!

paying it forward: when words become actions

John Deckert: I’ve been working on paintings of all three nurses and have more to do on each.  Some more than others: )

S.S : Oh my goodness they’re amazing already!!!!!

John Deckert: Thank you.  I haven’t heard from the others.  Do you plan to be at my studio when these guys come over?  Since this whole project is about nurses maybe that would be a good thing.

S.S : I haven’t heard from anyone yet either - didn’t really expect to till maybe next week bc of holidays🤷‍♀️I would happy and honored to be there and be supportive of you if they would like me to be there - but I think this project is about you!  Maybe a little about both, those who are working hard and serving their community but also the selfless actions of one who just wants to bless and honor them in a special and unique way. The focus is a little on nurses this time bc a hospital representative shined some light on us who were fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of your paint brushes! 🎨 💕 

John Deckert: I don’t know any of the nurses except through you.  I don’t know names or what they do or what they’ve been through.  I just grabbed some photos from your instagram and started to paint.  Mostly my paintings were anyone still working. Then I remembered that you still waited for yours and you pointed me toward other nurses.  I’m a little like the mom and pop shop that makes trophies and decided to give some freebies out. I’m happy to do it and actually, it’s been really nice to see people excited about my work.  

S.S : Truly one of the most humbling and beautiful, generous things ever done for me, and I hope someday the favor can be returned or paid forward in some way! You’ve opened my eyes to a talent that I didn’t realize was in my back yard, and I have a new appreciation for both painting and painter 👨‍🎨 

John Deckert: Paying it forward is always easier because you get to keep looking forward for the right opportunity instead of backward to a debt.  It’s the way I think of it.  These paintings are an example.  Many people over my lifetime have been kind and generous so I adopted that way as much as I’m able. 

Great changes afoot in the visual arts.

The cultural imperative of abstract painting 

and “artistic” howling begins to give way 

to skill-based painting in spots around 1980. 

The former holds a prominent place in the pantheon, 

being the darling of decorators, investors,

and a burgeoning craft-for-entertainment industry. 

Art Departments in major universities 

continue to push thought-based work 

through to graduation 

largely because 

art 

in 

the first

three-quarters

of the 20th century 

left behind a desert in it's

cash-fueled screaming/streaming roadshow.

The culture lacked knowledgeable instructors.

Photography and computers put image-making 

in the hands of the common person and children.

The desire for a stiff challenge came to the easel

along with yearning for meaning and poetry

in the quiet of the studio.

Figuration was born anew.

one measure

Say "Poetry" to some and they want to turn it into a sales gimmick; but here is a taste for dark Poetry over entertainment and decoration. An interesting look at Fine Art Figure Painting on the international stage. I don't agree with all of their method or choices, but they seek something of greatness in the culture.

https://sivilisasjonen.no/english/53593/the-worlds-greatest-living-painters/

Welcome to California

So pleased to be selected as part of this exhibition:
https://www.californiaartclub.org/exhibition/welcome-to-california

AND . . . my painting from this virtual exhibition SOLD. Thank you all !

drawing from life, 2 small lessons

A small lesson that I really like comes all the way from Edgar Degas the gist of which is, "I know I should always draw the figure from the ground up but I always forget to" 

The usefulness of this advice ensures the center of gravity on the figure to always be properly placed, As you build from feet to head your inclination will be to place the "bricks" correctly on top of one another. Drawing from top down allows gravity to take your hand toward two tendencies. 1.) to pull to the right as it descends and 2.) to speed downward a little too fast, elongating the figure in sections. 

When I draw fast poses from a model I try to draw from the feet up. Somehow it's easier to get the figures in correct scale to each other and they all stand balanced above their own c-of-g

There's another advantage to working from the bottom up, especially for drawing in public.  When that triangle shape between the legs is established, the only thing left is to find the thickness of the legs and there you have established the scale of the figure in the drawing AND you have prevented it "growing" off the page.  ALSO, you will have gotten the whole figure in before the person you're drawing notices you're looking at them, and by that time it doesn't matter.  

I used to draw the head first because, "if the person walked away, at least I had the head."  So I became very good at getting the head.  However, if you're going back and forth from the paper to the head, that person is likely going to see you are drawing them and they will react.  Start at their shoes and work your way up and they don't care; in fact, they will have no idea what you're doing.

I make a comparison

I said this, “when I worry how well I'm doing, sometimes I put one of mine next to something I know I like to see if I can keep up.”

To this, someone made the comment that “comparisons are odious”

And my reply:

It depends on what you’re trying to do with a comparison.  For example, in this case, I have been painting under a large skylight.  I worried I’ve been painting too dark so I put one of my “dark” paintings next to a few paintings illustrated in a large art book.  Apparently, my worries in that regard are unfounded.  That was, as far as I’m concerned, the fair use of comparison to solve a problem.  
Did you think I wanted to know if I was “better than”?  No, that’s not what I am up to.

compare.png

when a painter jokes about a client who can’t pay the going rate

Imagine the reverse— guy wants to commission a painting. You arrive with a portfolio of work ranging from 8X10 to 24X30. You bring an 18X24 oil framed in gold leaf. You’re hoping to make a great impression. The client looks over all your work carefully and starts to crack wise about it. Your prices are peanuts. Your canvases are tiny. Compared to what the client wants, even your studio is insufficient. His friends come over for a drink and they all start jokes that refer to your inadequate history and resources. How do you feel? I’m going to imagine your guy has already lined up a photographer to do the work he wanted from you. Even when they can’t afford your big-time prices, whatever they are, you ought to give them a shot. This was likely their introduction to the experience of Fine Art Portraiture and now you’ve made them feel like a low class idiot. They won’t be back.

on seeing animation projected over paintings on a museum wall

Clever as they are, these things are fun and sometimes funny but they speak to the certainty that technology is altering our world in ways never before possible. They push forward the idea -growing daily by giant steps, that Fine Art Painting is not enough to hold our interest. The expansive moment it takes to contemplate a handmade image and to consider its maker and its meaning shrinks with every terabyte of digital acrobatics.

who we are

it's not just beauty we find in art,

it's understanding and a demonstration too,

of who we are as a people.

an appreciation of my generation of educators

While I had some basic tools, it was the instructors I met and others at Austin College and The University of Texas who gave me an understanding and appreciation of Art that serves as a guide even today.

They described a foundation of Art in living and participatory form, and in their instruction shaped a fundamental grasp of the VALUE of Art in the mind, the heart, and in society.

The thought that I contribute something valuable and enriching to the world beyond my studio has sustained me even in tough times.

To that generation of educators, I am forever grateful.