Monday, August 8, 2011

Lessons from Cezanne and Harvey Penick

I was reading about Cezanne and came across something he wrote in his late 60's "I am going on with my researches...I am continually making observations from nature and I feel I am making some slight progress" . So like Cezanne I am continuing on with my painting and looking and thinking!

 I grew up on a farm where we had sheep, I really love the silly animals. My sister and I each had our own sheep, we got to help at shearing time and then take the wool to the mill. I saw this one in the pasture while on Lopez, she reminded me of Matilda,  I helped Matilda when she arrived early in January one year. She used to follow me around in the pasture, and run to the gate bleating, when she saw me come home. Very unusual for sheep! I used oil bars and tried very hard to remember big shapes and simple. Which reminds me of advice from Golfer Harvey Penick,  "If you want to change yourself, you must change how you think." So I am trying to remember to paint quickly and simply!

13 comments:

  1. This softness is amazing, I feel as if in a warm happy world when I visit your paintings!Faster working for me too, I think!

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  2. I love this Cissy. You have really captured warm outdoor colors in these last 2 paintings. Gorgeous!

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  3. Another beautiful painting, Cissy! You have really created some wonderful warm tones in this one . . . it just glows! Thanks for sharing Harvey Penick's very sound advice.

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  4. So soft, so lovely. Beautiful colors.

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  5. I love the beautiful colors and warm tones in this one, Cissy! Thanks for sharing the quotes and your story of Matilda.

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  6. Hi Cissy,

    Fellow daily painter here. I really enjoyed visiting your blog. Love the sheep painting. Very vibrant and wonderfully textured.

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  7. Hi Giselle, and Susan Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment. I love hearing from other artists. Your comments are important to me! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know what you think. I look forward to sharing more comments with everyone.

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  8. Mr. Penick was my boys' golf coach. What a wonderful man, so encouraging to all. I have often compared golf to painting...and I am not a golfer. It is the constant striving which I suppose one could say about many pursuits in life. Love your sheep. Very nice work!

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  9. Thanks Suzanne. Lucky boys, he was a wonderful coach.....I agree golf and painting are very similar....it's just you and the club or brush. It is great to compare ideas, thank you so much for feedback it means a lot.

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  10. Wonderful reading and looking. I really like the intensity of your color and the quotes you share. I think Whitney's is going in my own quote collection.
    And wasn't it Cezanne who was ordering paint a few days before he died? He just never stopped painting and learning.

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  11. it's beautiful and I love the story about Matilda.

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  12. Love the story about Matilda but even more so the golf reference to Harvey Penick! Truly believe that one and can see where you are working so hard on that. This sheep is beautifully painted- love the soft edges and colors.

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  13. My father, Bud Shrake, wrote Harvey Penick's Little Red Book (and the other Harvey Penick books). Simon & Schuster just released the book in eBook format, available on iTunes, Amazon.com, Android Market, Kindle, etc. So now we can ALL enjoy the wit and wisdom of Harvey Penick! Thank you.

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