Looking and Painting
Looking at art is a big part of being an artist. As a painter, when I look at some new painting, I might catch myself thinking: “I wish I had done that”, or maybe “how did they do that?”, and sometimes “I could never do that.” It can then take a while to settle down and really look at the art, enjoy it and rejoice in the gift that the artist brings to us all. That joy feeds and sustains. Unbidden, I’m also quietly reminded that the rhythm of my brush, the sense of my eye and what I feel in my heart is my own. As noted by Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
Winter Courses – space is limited!
Our courses start soon and we are looking forward to a range of short courses – online and downtown – as well as two weekend workshops at the Shenkman.
Details and direct links to each of the Course Registration pages are on our website at: https://www.davidkearn.com/workshops/
Colourist or Drafts-person?
Painterly colourist, or precision drafts-person? Much depends on your focus:
Eugene Delacroix said: “Draughtsmen may be made, but colourists are born.” His great rival Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres thought: “Drawing is not just reproducing contours, it is not just the line; drawing is also the expression, the inner form, the composition, the modelling. See what is left after that. Drawing is seven eighths of what makes up painting.”
From Monet: “Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment”, however according to Tintoretto: “Beautiful colours can be bought in the shops on the Rialto, but a good drawing can only be bought from the casket of the artist’s talent with patient study and nights without sleep.”
“You can’t be at the pole and the equator at the same time. You must choose your own line, as I hope to do, and it will probably be colour.” Vincent van Gogh
…and in the wider world:
Canadian Museum of History highlights Quebec Impressionism: https://www.historymuseum.ca/exhibitions/river-of-dreams
Paris Louvre leads French museums in raising entry fees for non-Europeans: https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/01/14/paris-louvre-leads-french-museums-in-raising-entry-fees-for-non-europeans
Going to galleries is life-affirming: https://www.positive.news/lifestyle/culture/art-is-good-for-you-how-going-to-a-gallery-can-boost-our-health/
Break-a-Brush!
David & France