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I’m reading the Wayne Thiebaud video transcript (from the “70 Years of Painting” show), searching for juicy bits to share with you. They are not hard to find. Here’s what he has to say about advice he received from Robert Mallary that helped him “shape-up” as a painter.

“Work harder; develop a critical sense; understand what you are doing and know how to design problems which would get you to someplace where you thought you wanted to be… He would spend hours on what it was to interrogate a work of art: How to understand in in terms of its formal relationship… Make it darker, how to transfer it from, say, one kind of value structure to a higher structure, what would that do to it? What to do if you were to take all your color out of it and do it in black and white. Those options, which represent for a painter, I think, the tools of use and how to prepare for yourself always to be specific in order to take risks, to not be afraid of failure, make lots of work which is worth only throwing out. That was a very big and helpful exercise…

The “nerve of failure” is a very important aspect of painting and while it makes you uncomfortable and vulnerable, if you don’t elevate your desires and ambitions to some kind of level of reality in terms of the long tradition that you are a part of, however small, then you have the risk of ignobling that great tradition which we use and which we respect and which we are hopefully a part of.

- Wayne Thiebaud interviewed by Rose Fredrick, 3/16/09

Here’s a nice article about roundness inspired by this Kandinsky painting.

Several Circles by Vasily Kandinsky, 1926

‘The circle, he (Kandinsky) wrote, is “the most modest form, but asserts itself unconditionally.” It is “simultaneously stable and unstable,” “loud and soft,” “a single tension that carries countless tensions within it.”

Kandinsky loved the circle so much that it finally supplanted in his visual imagination the primacy long claimed by an emblem of his Russian boyhood, the horse.’

- Natalie Angier for the NYTimes

A year ago I took a wonderful class, Jungian Concepts Illustrated by Animals in Fairy Tales. As part of the introduction each person was invited to say which animal “brought” him or her to class. I picked the fox. Foxes are common here in Boulder, Colorado but I still get a hit of excitement every time I see one (like the time this summer when I woke up before dawn and found one the garden nosing around the bees).

Neighborhood fox sunning itself in backyard, November 2009

Speaking of foxes, there are two films you need see if you’re as into foxy beauty as I am. They’re both about the yearning/harrowing relationships we humans have with wild things.

Fantastic Mr. Fox, out in theaters now, is a masterpiece. Seriously. More than any other recent film, it made me itch for the resources only Hollywood can bestow. Gorgeous, funny, tender and sweet.

The Fox and the Child, also wonderful, is a nature film hung on a narrative about a woodland girl’s friendship with the neighborhood fox which she tries to tame. Frightening, but beautiful, too.

Neighborhood fox in full yawn, November 2009

According to the Animals in Fairy Tales instructors, each person’s chosen animal represented how he or she wished to be seen. (Uh oh.) I love how in Jungian thought symbols, especially animals, are rich with meaning. Great for dreaming… and painting.

I love this fundraising letter! It’s from Libana, a women’s vocal ensemble based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There’s nothing pleading or lacking or guilt-making about it. Just a simple call, from a position of strength, to join in the fun. Since the letter is long, I’m only posting excerpts. May they inspire.

Good Friends, far and near,

Sometimes astonishing things happen by chance.

Sometimes serendipity prevails, inspiration calls and amazing results emerge as a complete surprise. This is exactly the way in which Libana’s new CD-in-the-works, Turning, came to be.

Inspired by rehearsals of new music for our Artists Economic Stimulus Package (in other words, concerts) celebrating the Solstice, Libana made the bold spur of the moment decision to professionally record both performances las June. If nothing else, we deemed it a good archival move and had a vague hope that perhaps one or two pieces would be duitable for download – it being the 21st century and all.

After listening we raised our collective eyebrows. With a few re-records to eliminate the inevitable audience shuffles and snuffles, it appeared we quite unexpectedly had the possibility of a new CD on our hands! Synchronistically, it would celebrate Libana’s 30th anniversary as a creative community.

In the current economy, as an arts group which has had to make drastic cuts to our already lean budget, the nod to proceed seemed implausible. Yet as if by divine beckoning, doors opened, paths cleared, generosity was offered – this CD nearly asked to be made, and we answered the call.

A busy summer ensued. Sandwiched between sailing races and a departure to Europe we spent a day recording in an outlying church quietly located in the woods. We are thrilled with the musical result. From the first tolling bell to the final shimmer of hammered dulcimer, Turning, will be a CD of shining gentleness and deep rooted richness.

Now we need you. We’ve got gorgeous music and a glorious cover art ready to go. It is your financial suppor that will bring this CD into the world…