pLog Pith XVII

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If the big things aren’t right, the small things won’t matter.
Make it so that small things matter.

pLog Pith XVI

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You follow rules to go somewhere.
You break rules to go somewhere else.
You ignore rules to go nowhere.
—TJA

pLog Pith XV

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We need to be reminded: there is no beauty without rules and there is no better rule book than nature.
—TJA

pLog Pith XIV

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Dogma is the illusion of power.

Craft is the power to create illusion.

—TJA

pLog Pith XIII

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Religion requires the suspension of Reason.

Little Good is unreasonable.

—TJA

pLog Pith XI

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Dogma empowers the Charlatans.

Craft empowers the Sincere.

—TJA

 

pLog Pith X

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Where Velázquez is Grace, Caravaggio is Guts.

Where Velázquez is Economy, Caravaggio is Ambiguity.

pLog Pith IX

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First, find the structure, then find the skin.

And never underestimate the power and beauty of a one inch wide hog bristle brush.

—pre-dishwashing thoughts after a long rewarding day in the studio.

pLog Pith VIII

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A few words now about technique, so that there may be no misunderstanding as to its importance.  It is a poor thing that cannot be abused, and I do not want you to be afraid of the word, or to surround it with mystery. Read more

pLog Pith VII

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Why is it that those so quick to believe man-made absurdities are the first to deny Nature’s rich mysteries?

pLog Pith VI

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It is this deep sincerity, this deep appreciation of the significance of things that makes one picture great among a thousand lesser ones, and causes us to feel, when we behold it, that we have thought and felt that way all our lives.

– John F. Carlson, from Carlson’s Guide to Landscape Painting, circa 1929.

pLog Pith V

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If you want Warhol
walk the aisle of a supermarket

If you want Koons
watch VHS porn

If you want Hirst
visit the morgue

But

If you want Caravaggio
build a bonfire in a cave

If you want Velazquez
plan a trip to the moon with a sliderule

If you want da Vinci
hike the highest mountain in Abruzzo in May

– TJA

pLog Pith IV

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Da Vinci tells us to take a 2 dimensional surface and make it 3 dimensional.

Modernism took a 2 dimensional surface and made it 1 dimensional.

– TJA