Michelle Temares

A Silver Note

An Enduring Promise, the painting in the post of October 16 2008 , just won the Silver Medal at the National Art League.  I feel grateful, honored and very happy.  Tomorrow, back to the easel!

An Everlasting Promise

Please click on painting to enlarge.

Separation from friends and family in the 19th century was as much a part of life as it is today.  In the 19th century it must have been more painful.  No email, no telephone, no myspace.  Mail delivery was irregular and unreliable at best.  It could take months for a letter to reach it's destination with news of weddings, births, sickness or even deaths.

In this new painting,  An Everlasting Promise, a young woman tells you of her promise to her fiancee who left the north east in search of  cheaper land out west.  It is now July and she has not heard from him since he left after the  winter's last snowfall.

While the day lilies in the background are fleeting, her love is not. 

What Fluttered By

Many Long Islanders head down to Jones Beach after work to enjoy the sunset and take a brisk fitness walk on the two mile boardwalk.  In summer, each night brings a live band for singing and dancing along with mini golf, shuffle board and other summer pleasures (ice cream!).  Summer is sadly over and summer pleasures along with it. 

But.....

Last week I saw a sight that was better than any game of mini golf I played or any ice cream cone I  licked.  There, right off the boardwalk, was a pine tree smothered with Monarch butterflies.  There were hundreds of them on the trees and dancing overhead.  It felt like a Disney movie.  It was one of the most amazing sights and feelings I have ever experienced.  Just indescribable.  I wish I had video to show you but I do have the next best thing-a picture.  This shows just a small section but close your eyes and imagine the rest of the scene equally drenched in beautiful monarchs. 

The New Arrival

Please click on painting to enlarge.

I am fascinated by the parallels between our past and our present.  So many issues that we grapple with today are the same issues that confronted our ancestors. 

The title of this new painting, "The New Arrival" is designed to spark a dialog about these parallels.  What is the "new arrival"?  Is it the imported Staffordshire bowl and pitcher and therefore the painting is a commentary on international trade?  Or, is the "new arrival" the young woman standing by the window and the painting is therefore a commentary on immigration?  Either could make a convincing argument. 

The answer is both.  The pitcher and bowl are indeed imported and highlight our dependence on foreign imports even in the 1830s where this painting is set.  The young woman is also a new arrival, an Irish immigrant working as a servant in an upper middle class household.  As today, Americans in the 19th century were dependent on foreign imports and there were fierce battles regarding immigration, both legal and illegal.  The arguments were stunningly familiar "Buy American"  "Stop spending money overseas!"  "America for real Americans!" 

As George Santyana famously said in The Life of Reason in 1905, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Where's Mama?

Please click on painting to enlarge.

I'm continuing to put new work on my blog until I have a chance to update my web site.  This painting, Where's Mama?, is in response to the universal childhood experience of getting lost at one time or another. 

For me, it was in a mall department store.  I must have been five or six.  My mother and I were on the second floor near the escalator and suddenly I turned and she was gone.  Or, more likely, I wandered off and she was gone.  I went down the escalator, I have no idea why, and then began to panic.  An adult saw my distress and helped me find my mother who was, of course, frantically looking for me.  It is a feeling you never forget. 

In this painting, the child's mother is as close as can be even though out of sight.  Her purse is on the bench and the bottom of her skirt is in reach of her child if only the child would turn around.

Do you remember getting lost as a child?

Painting The Posthumous Portrait

Recently I quoted Ray Kinstler in a lecture he gave at Society of Illustrators in NYC.  He said, in part, on posthumous portraits  "If they resurrected Sargent, he couldn't get blood from it."  My friend, Pete Culos, a fellow history painter (and a very evocative one) asked me to elaborate on this comment.  (Check out Pete's blog here.)

Many portrait painters refuse to do posthumous portraits.  Why?  In short, because it is often impossible for the artist to work to his/her normal quality level.

In the typical situation the family tells you that there are tons of photos of the person so it shouldn't be a problem.  Problem.   The photos contain most or all of the following problems:

1. The photos are small.  The typical photo is 4"x6" where the head is two inches or smaller especially if it is a group shot.  Too small to make accurate judgments for a full size painting.
2. Subject has a huge grin. We all smile in family photos but that huge grin can look off putting in a full size painted portrait.  But the artist has no way of knowing the shape of the person's mouth when closed.  Without accurate information, the likeness will suffer.
3. The angle of the photo is often unflattering.
4. The photo is not in focus.
5. The stance is very casual and being blocked by others.  No way of knowing how the person held their hands or what their hands looked like. 
6. The camera distorts color.
7. The camera distorts values (how light or dark something is)
8. The biggest problem...The photos were taken with a flash which wipes out most anatomical information.  The job of the flash is to wipe away shadows.  For birthday party and vacation photos this can be a very good thing but for painting reference this is disastrous.  The shadows define the bone structure.  The bone structure defines the likeness.

Recently, I did a posthumous portrait (my first in years) of a well loved member of my local community.  Another artist had completed the assignment and the local board was unhappy with the results.  The artist was faced with most of the above problems.  The board eventually found me and because I knew the person, loved him and was grateful for his contribution to our community I completed the commission.  I faced the same problems as the first artist and it was very frustrating. The board was very happy with the results.  "Wow, it looks like he is right here with us".  But I am unhappy.  I know I could have done a much better job if I could have worked with the subject when he was still with us and what joy it would have brought him to know that the community cared so much about him. 

In short, the best time, by far, to commission a portrait is when the person is still living.   The person will enjoy it, you will have a choice of more artists, and the results will be fabulous.

A Painting Hero

Like many, I have long admired the portrait work of Everett Raymond Kinstler.  He is often compared to Sargent and that is no exaggeration.  Recently, I had the good fortune to attend a lecture/demonstration by Mr. Kinstler at the Society of Illustrators in New York. 

I discovered that many of my own thoughts as a portrait painter were reinforced by Mr. Kinstler.  That makes me feel like I am on the right track.  Here, for all you artists out there, are some of the thoughts he voiced:

1. Never trust the camera.  The camera will mislead you.
2. There comes a moment where you feel that "click".  If you don't get that click...
3. Ask yourself, "Do you like the way it feels?"  Don't ask "Do you like the way it looks?"
4. Camera reference taken with a flash bulb is deadly.  All you see are features.
5. If you don't get freshness in the beginning, you can't get it back.
6. Don't change it if you don't feel it.
7. On posthumous portraits "If they resurrected Sargent, he couldn't get blood from it."
8. Learn your (painting) language.  There is no substitute for it.
9. If you feel you've arrived, you're finished.  It never ends.

Master Teachers

Most artists share one overriding yearning.  Regardless of skill or success, they want to get better.  There is this sense of never being satisfied.  Even those deemed masters seem to have had these feelings.  Although frustrating at times, I think it's a very good thing.  It drives the painter to continue to work towards excellence.

The essential question then becomes...How can one become a better painter?  I direct this post to the representational painters in the crowd as I have no experience with abstract painting. 

Representational painting is heavily observation and analysis driven
e.g. what shape am I really seeing, was is the value scheme, what exactly are the proportions, is that shadow cool or warm, etc.

One of the strongest learning tools you have is to not paint.  Yes, you read that correctly.   Take some time away from the easel and study with the great masters including Rembrandt, Vermeer, Sargent or whoever you admire.    Thanks to public art museums, you can study with the greatest masters of all time even though they have long departed this earth.

The problems that you may be experiencing with a painting are likely to have perplexed others before you.  How did they solve the problem?  Are there many solutions?  How are they alike or different?  Now go deeper.  Was the turning of form problem solved with value, shape or color?  What about that tricky lighting situation?  Was it successfully communicated with value or with temperature or both? 

Answers to your problems are available from the finest teachers in the world.  Go.  Learn from them.

Island of the Lost

In 1864, Captain Thomas Musgrave and his crew became shipwrecked near Auckland Island.    At nearly the same time and on the opposite end of the island, another ship suffers the same fate also stranding a group of survivors.  Blocked by impassable cliffs and chasms, neither group of survivors finds the other or knows of the their existence.  Each group faces a likely death given the freezing climate and lack of food, shelter and tools. 

Yet, despite similar resources and skills, one group survives intact after two years of being stranded while the other does not.  The deciding factor is human nature.

This is a riveting new piece of non fiction, that reads like a novel, from Joan Druett.   You won't be able to put it down.

Rachel Reading

When painting a portrait, one of the primary questions in my mind is "How can I present this person in a way that truly shows who they are?"  With Rachel, it was easy.

I work with Rachel, a smart and lovely young woman, at Old Sturbridge Village.  Often when I see Rachel, whether in period dress or in modern clothes, she is reading.  When in costume, it's something period correct like an 1830s receipt book (period talk for recipe book) or a Jane Austen novel.  In modern clothes, it's often a current best seller.  So, when it came to create Rachel's portrait, the decision on how to portray her was an easy one. 

Speaking of period receipts, here's a link for Raspberry Shrub, a very refreshing drink on hot summer days.  The name sounds odd but it's essentially a fruit drink.  At first, I balked at the recipe because it includes vinegar and I thought that sounded horrible.  After trying it, however, I was sold.  No vinegar taste at all.  Yummy.

I know Rachel could describe this better.

Abby In Her Bonnet

One thing that always seems to fall by the wayside is updating my website.   I am busy with teaching and with commissions and updating the site always seem to fall to the bottom of the "to do" list.  So, as a stop gap measure, from time to time I'll post some new work here.

This painting is entitled "Abby in Her Bonnet".  I work with Abby, a super young woman, at Old Sturbridge Village.  I was captivated by her blue- violet dress especially as contrasted with the red-violet ribbon on her bonnet.

People often ask about the white cap that is under her bonnet.  The wearing of the cap was common in 19th century New England and many of the Mid Atlantic states.  It was typically worn by adult women and usually adopted at marriage or after the birth of the first child.  Unmarried adult women would "take the cap" as well.  There is no particular religious significance but was simply the style of the times.  It was practical too.  The cap protected your hair from the cooking fire, helped to keep your hair out of the food preparation and helped to keep your hair clean when traveling on dusty roads.  All in all, a very practical piece of fashion!

Three Days, Four Hikes

Every year, around this time, I feel desperate for the great outdoors and for plein air (outdoor) painting.  Being inside most of the winter definitely leads to cabin fever.  This weekend I might have taken it a bit to the extreme, completing four guided nature hikes from Friday PM to Sunday PM.  Every one was different and every one was fantastic.

The first was a sunset Horseshoe Crab walk at Jones Beach, sponsored by the Theodore Roosevelt Nature Center.  In late May and early June the horseshoe crabs emerge from the ocean to mate and lay eggs.  The average female will lay over 100,000 per year; most of the eggs will be eaten by birds.  Important anti-clotting medicine is harvested from the horseshoe crabs so they are a protected species in many areas.

The second hike, on Saturday morning, was a bird walk led by Eric Powers of Your Connection to Nature, Inc. and sponsored by Seatuck.  Eric is just amazing-a gifted biologist and educator. 

Here's a brief list of what we were able to find and identify with his help: cat bird; king bird; red headed woodpecker; tree swallow; robin; oriole; mourning dove; pine warbler; cormorant; red winged black bird; yellow warbler; chickadee; garlic mustard; wild rose; cinnamon fern; beggar's tick; thistle; wild blueberry; lady slipper orchid; box tortoise; red eared slider turtle; poison ivy; chipmunk; wood nymph; montauk daisy; sugar maple; dragon fly; bull frog; eastern cotton tail bunny; tupelo; red cedar; red oak.  How many of these would I be able to find and identify on my own?  Less than 20%.  Plus, two of the birds I was able to add to my life list!

Sunday morning featured a wildflower walk with Chris Anderson of the Muttontown Nature Preserve.  Chris is an expert guide and an encyclopedia of wildflower knowledge.  I have two pages of identification in my field notebook, much of it was new to me.

Sunday afternoon brought a beach botany walk at Nissequogue River State Park and stunning views of the Long Island Sound from both the beach and the bluffs.  The park has a very eerie feel in places.  It was home to the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, aka as the Kings County Asylum, for over a hundred years.  The center was a self sustaining community for much of its life.  Most of the buildings, crumbling and abandoned, are still standing. 

All in all, fabulous and inspiring weekend.  I have to start posting the sketches as well.  I am so grateful that a few select people had the foresight to preserve some of our natural glory.

The Art of Happiness

Actually, perhaps I should call this post the Happiness of Art! 

Shape magazine recently reported on a Canadian study that links the arts with happiness.  I found the study online: Arts and the Quality of Life: An Exploratory Study by Alex Michalos, PhD.  According  to Shape magazine "People who engage in the arts on a weekly basis enjoy a stronger sense of community, feel better emotionally and experience a higher quality of life than those who don't."

From my own personal experience, I couldn't argue. 

Dr. Michalos in the introduction to the study says "The impact of the arts broadly construed on the quality of people's lives is without a doubt the most understudied and possibly the most underrated  issue in the field of social indicators research."  Perhaps this is because the impact is so obvious on those who do participate.  Thanks to Dr. Michalos for investigating and verifying the positive impact of the arts, which is especially important news for those who do not have personal experience.  Should arts participation become part of a doctor's prescription? : )

P.S.  While the 38 page study results are an enlightening read, they did tax my college memories of multivariate regression analysis.   Correlation coefficients and beta variables anyone?

History Meets The Arts

Earlier this month was the annual History Meets The Arts Festival in Gettysburg, PA.  HMTA is the largest gathering of history painters in the US.  For me, it was very exciting because my work was selected to be exhibited at the newly restored Lincoln Train Station.   In November of 1863 President Lincoln arrived at this train station en route to give one of the most famous speeches in US history, the Gettysburg Address.   Even though the festival is over for this year, I still get chills when I think that I was given the opportunity to exhibit and sell my work at this momentous site. 

The most rewarding aspect of my stay, however, was the residency portion.  As the artist in residence for this year's festival, I gave a master class in portrait painting and literacy for a select group of Adams County high school students.   What a talented group of students!  And their teachers are fantastic as well as evidenced by the high level of skill and seriousness exhibited by their students.

I choose to be a teaching artist because I passionately believe in the positive impact of arts education.  Kids have many choices to make about their lives both short term and long term.  Many of choices lead to torn lives i.e. drugs, etc.  The arts, however, provides students with positive, productive and fulfilling options not to mention a myriad of potential careers. Arts in education gives the knowledge of positive choices and the skills to pursue them.

During the festival people of all ages visited the exhibit and participated in the mystery.  Several middle school students eagerly asked about how they could be a part of the program.  They wanted to be like  the older students.  Generating this positive peer pressure is why I have chosen to be a teaching artist.

The next time your school district talks about cutting the arts budget as a "nice to have but a luxury", please remember the lives that are developed, enhanced and sometimes saved, and the careers that are launched, because of arts in education. 

To learn more about the benefits of arts in education, please read "Ten Lessons The Arts Teach" by Eliot Eisner. 

Usual Places, Unusual Times

A few weeks ago, deep into winter, it hit 72 degrees in the northeast.  I have lived here all my life and have never experienced anything like this.  Based on the crowds at the beach, neither had many other people.  Beach parking lots were filled and closed, a rarity even on the hottest August days.

Like many people raised near the shore, I spent almost every childhood summer weekend at the beach and the occasional spring, fall and winter days.  So, I have a passing familiarity with the nuances of the landscape , the migratory habits of the birds, the seasonality of the flora, etc.  But the landscape this day was remarkably different.  Due to the late afternoon winter lighting, and the unusual weather conditions, the lighting was breathtaking, complex, indescribable.  I have included some pictures with this post.  I shot these with my Casio digital camera with a somewhat closed shutter.  They are close as I could come photographically to the actual scene that day.

As an artist I learned that there is always something new to see...even in the old and familiar. 

I Was Vermeer

Here's the plot:  It's 1945 and an unknown Dutch art dealer languishes in prison accused of selling a Vermeer painting, a national treasure, to a very high level Nazi.  Facing the death penalty, he continuously insists that he is innocent and that he would never sell such a priceless national treasure to the enemy.  The paper trail and the witnesses all point to him.  Yet, he is telling the truth.  How can that be?  Because he painted the "Vermeer" himself.

Sounds like a great novel, doesn't it?  Full of the twists and turns and suspense of a gripping  piece of mystery fiction.  But, in this case, it isn't fiction.  It's completely true.

Han van Meegeren was one of the greatest art forgers of all time.  And one of the most brazen.  Most forgers are  content to achieve a near flawless copy of a great painting that they can sell as the original or switch with the original.  But for van Meegeren this was too easy, too common.  He decided to paint entirely new original paintings, in the style of great masters, and sell them as long lost masterpieces.  And he did.  Not once, not twice, but many times.  In fact, if you have art books on your shelf that include Vermeer, there is a good chance that van Meegeren's forgeries are included. Van Meegeren's work was so compelling and his fraud so comprehensive, that when he finally confessed, no one believed him.  The story becomes even more gripping from there.

It's a must read, well researched and captivatingly written.  The book is I Was Vermeer by Frank Wynne.

Advice from 1916

I have two addictions: chocolate and used book sales.  I am not able, or willing, to give up either!  But, oh, the treasure you can find at a used book sale.  This month's find is a little gem from 1916, Scene Painting and Bulletin Art, by Frank H. Atkinson.  Total cost was $1.  The cover is stained, the pages are falling out and the binding is almost gone but what wisdom it contains.  Here, from the preface, is my favorite quote:

One is no more born with the ability to draw than he is with the ability to write the letters of the alphabet.  It is acquired by study and practice.  Neither can a drawing of any artistic value be produced without a knowledge of form , color, perspective and composition; in short, a good art education.  The part of art that is inborn is the instinct or "feeling" for dramatic effect, color, and various other  qualities summed up in the term "artistic perception".

Atkinson has hit on one of the great myths of art e.g. that great artists are simply born that way.  How untrue!  No one expects to play a Mozart concerto the first time they sit down at the piano.  It's understood that it takes excellent instruction, dedication, discipline, practice, practice and more practice.  It is the same for drawing, painting, sculpture and all the fine arts.  I know of no one who was born with an ability to draw or paint like Rembrandt or Michelangelo.  Even the masters studied, practiced, and struggled.  So, if you have always wanted to be able to draw but find yourself saying "but I just can't draw", take heart.  It is not that you can't draw.  It's that you haven't been taught to draw.  Find a good local teacher (we'll talk more about that later) and begin an exciting, rewarding and joyful journey.

P.S.  To find used book sales near you, visit www.booksalefinder.com  To find good chocolate, well, I'm partial to See's especially the milk chocolate bordeaux and the milk chocolate butter chew.  Mmmmm

 

What An (Art) Girl Wants

For years I've been searching.  Dreaming.  Yearning. 

Finally, my dream has come true.  I have found the components to a purse size art kit that works. 

It's been so frustrating through the years.  Sketchbook  pages become ragged, pencil points dirty the purse before finally breaking, sharpeners become unhinged and spill their mess all over.   What's an (art) girl to do? 

Thanks to Commercial Art Supply, Syracuse, NY I finally found the right components.  All four pieces are kept in a zipper top plastic bag (not shown).  Here's the basic kit:

1. 3.5" X 5.5" Moleskine sketchbook with elastic band closure
2. Pentel (retractable) Clic Eraser ZE22
3. Koh-I-Noor (retractable) Versatil 5347 lead holder filled with Creatacolor graphite lead. Also comes in charcoal, sanguine, sepia, and others!
4. Sharpener with snap shut lid (no company name indicated on product)

Light weight, doesn't spill, supplies stay clean.  No muss.  No fuss.  Happy (art) girl. 

My Fifteen Minutes

The October 2006 issue of the Readers Digest (RD) has just arrived and there I am on the back cover.  Did you miss me?  Look closer.  Half of my head is behind and to the left of the man putting on the bicyle helmet! 

In the tradition of illustrators using each other as models, Chris Payne (CF Payne) asked several folks in his summer seminar to "model" for his current RD assignment.  Chris, known as the modern Norman Rockwell, is an all around great guy and an excellent teacher.  As someone who is used to being on the other side of the camera, so to speak, it was a fun and different experience.  Also modeling with me is fellow illustrator Mike Massengale.  He's the gent on the cell phone on the left side of the image.

As one of the few women at the seminar, I was suddenly in great demand as we all needed to shoot reference for our assignment.  Here are some pics of me and Don Kilpatrick hamming it up for the camera of Charlie Beyl during a broiling heat wave with no air conditioning! 

 

Fall in New England

If blogs tend to contain the things most important to the blogger, then mine will tend to history and to art. Both are serious passions! I hope to share news, interesting links, good reads, thoughtful pics and more.

This pic was taken last week at Old Sturbridge Village where I am the artist-in-residence. Best job in the world due to wonderful visitors and an incredibly smart and talented staff.

This time of year I am always staring wide-eyed at the incredible fall foliage. Take this picture, for example.  It was taken with a Casio Exilim 8.1 MP digital camera set on automatic with the flash turned off.  Even though it was pouring rain (I shot it from the vestibule of the Quaker Meeting House) the bright fall colors cannot contain themselves.

Nathaniel Philbrick, in his new book "Mayflower", relates how the early colonists must have been just as taken with the fall foliage display.  Commenting on the colonists' first fall in New England, Philbrick points out that the warm New England days, and cool nights, create a color extravaganza much brighter than any they would have seen in England.

"Mayflower" is a great read. It's intriguing, thought provoking and informative. So many of our 21st century perceptions are based on myth and lack of actual evidence. Philbrick does an admirable job addressing the myths surrounding both the British colonists and the Native peoples. The reality of this time period is much more complex than we were lead to believe in elementary school.