Art Paintings – Exploring the Artist Identity
Published November 26, 2011 | 
In this article, I have outlined the experiential processes of art paintings; the processes of dialogue and the processes of reflection or witness. These processes are taken from my own personal research into my artist identity and the findings have greatly informed my practice. This account forms a guide to those artists who wish to delve into their artist identity or those interested in exploring art painting processes.
A Biography of Bob Ross the Artist
Published September 9, 2011 |
Bob Ross was a versatile painter and television anchor from America who was born in the year of 1942 on 29th October. Bob’s place of birth was Daytona Beach in Florida. Before he became famous as a painter, he had a long career in American air force for about 20 years.
His posting was mostly in Alaska and he used to take care of the medical services there. After retiring from the air force services he earned huge fame in all over the world for his paintings and television shows.
Bob Ross had an impressive look, which like his paintings appealed a lot to the audience of television. With his afro hairstyle and his composed, gentle voice added up to his worldwide popularity.
He used to host a television show related to art and the name of the show was The Joy of Painting and it is often considered to be the most popular one among the Americans.
In this show he used to teach the viewers how to paint and the techniques and presentation was impressive enough to make the audience stick to the television screen. There were quite a number of kids who used to take their art lesion from Bob Ross through this particular television show.
Some of the paintings that gained huge fame and still remembered by the audience are “pretty little mountains”, “happy little trees” and “happy little clouds”.
He was a strong believer of the fact that each and every person has an artist hidden inside him who can come out if the person is inspired and taught in a correct way. His shows were dubbed in German and they were broadcasted for the popularity among the audience.
He was quite successful as a painter. In fact he started painting when he was posted in Alaska. He discovered a unique technique of painting, which was acclaimed by the art critics of the United States.
This technique is known as the wet-on-wet technique and it involved special method of applying the wet paint on an existing layer of paint that is absolutely different from the conventional methods. He used to paint the darkest clouds and liveliest trees on paper using the simple 1or 2-inch brushes.
But the most interesting fact about bob Ross is that he never received a professional training of making paintings.
At the same time Bob Ross has got some critical comments from the art critics as well as fellow artists. According to them his paintings run short of detailing which is an indispensable part of a good painting. They also say that the paintings of Bob Ross contained a style, which seems artificial.
In fact he also faced embarrassing situations created by the traditional artists who protested against his modern technique of painting. This great persona passed away in the year of 1995 suffering from lymphoma.
The Artist, Grandma Moses
Published September 1, 2011 |
A German proverb says, “The oldest trees often bear the sweetest fruit”. Besides my own Grandmother Anderson, an amazing self-taught artist, Grandma Moses, truly inspires me. Anna Mary Robertson lived until she was 101 years old, but she had only started painting when she was 76 years old. Her paintings hang in nine museums in the United States as well as in Paris and Vienna. She is best known as Grandma Moses.
The reason she took up painting so late in life is because arthritis had made it impossible for her to hold her needle to embroider, her favorite hobby. However, she could hold a brush just fine, and not wanting to be idle, she began painting. She is one of the best-known American artists in Europe.
Grandma Moses had her own unique style, which proved to be very popular. Well known for nostalgic scenes in gay colors, she illustrated farm life and the countryside. She had a knack for bringing a simple scene to life.
An art collector saw some of her paintings in a drug store priced from $3 to $5 each. He purchased all of her available art, and the following year she ended up having an exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Her art was reproduced on Hallmark Christmas cards, on tiles and fabrics throughout the world.
A German fan said of her art: There emanates from her paintings a light-hearted optimism; the world she shows us is beautiful and it is good. You feel at home in all these pictures, and you know their meaning. The unrest and the neurotic insecurity of the present day make us inclined to enjoy the simple and affirmative outlook of Grandma Moses.
Grandma Moses painted only from what was in her memory. She wanted to share how she lived when she was young with everyone. In her 25 years of painting, she produced more than one thousand (that’s 1000) pictures, 25 of which after she was 100 years old! Her paintings went from the price of $3-$5 each to $8,000 – $10,000 each. One of her paintings “Sugaring Off” (1943) was her highest selling work at US $1.2 million in November 2006.
Her work has been compared to that of Henri Rousseau. The particular style they share designates those artists who live in a developed and sophisticated society, but they are not trained in artistic perception and lighting that most artists excel at. In Grandma Moses’ words describing the phenomenon “we make amateur art that sells”.
I would be happy to have a tenth of the fame Grandma Moses did with her art. She is truly inspirational and she was not worried about technique or criticism. She just loved painting.
Alas, the story of Grandma Moses would not be complete without the other part of her bio, which was that she had given birth to ten children, half of which died in infancy. She had begun working as a hired girl at age 12, and continued until she was 27 when she met and married Thomas Salmon Moses. She lived in Virginia and made butter and potato chips, selling them to her neighbors. She continued to run the farm after her husband passed together with her son.
One of Grandma Moses’ paintings, Fourth of July, hangs in the White House and was painted in honor of President Eisenhower.
Some of the artist’s quotes follow:
“If I didn’t start painting, I would have raised chickens.”
“I paint from the top down. From the sky, then the mountains, then the hill, then the houses, then the cattle, and then the people.”
“I look back on my life like a good day’s work, it was done and I feel satisfied with it. I was happy and contented; I knew nothing better and made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.”