Learning from a Master...

My friend Karen (http://www.karenjacobs.com/) led the Paint-L painters to today's NYTimes article on the Cezanne exhibition about to open at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. I'd forgotten how much I like Cezanne's work. The article was good and informative, despite being a bit more referential than I like.


Most fun was recalling a dry period in the very early 90s, only a year or two into my painting again after a four decade hiatus, when I could NOT get the muse working. I'd been to the Fauve Artists exhibition in LA; the program cover was a Cezanne. In frustration and desperation, I grabbed my pastels and made a full size copy of the Cezanne, which he had done in oil. It was extremely fun to do, and I was happy with how it came out.

Not long after, while experimenting with other-hand painting, I did the same thing again, smaller, in watercolor, lefty. I couldn't believe how close it was to this. Don't know where that one has got to over the years.

—Homage to Cezanne, c1990

In no way do I wish to copy anyone else's work for real, but there is value for learning—and for pulling oneself out of a creative funk.

And it looks like talking about it might just pull one out of a blog funk!