Dec 12, 2011

Good ol’ Fresno

Rembrandt's Jeremiah

After visiting Cairo, Fresno, to me, is quite a nice place to be. I appreciate the clean streets and neighborhoods, and orderly traffic much more now than I used to. I love the friendly faces I see in the Tower District, and there is no shortage of good company lately.
I am looking into a studio in Downtown Fresno at the moment, and I have found a few options to pick from. Im excited to get back to work, and the goal for 2012 is to learn to make frames. After visiting the Louvre, and the Rijks, and other museums of that caliber I have realized how important a good frame can really be. The frame is like a window into the artist’s world. Almost like a gateway into the vision of the artist. I really like this concept, and I think it adds much depth to the artwork.

One of the concepts that I really like about a lot of dutch paintings is their comic-esque qualities. I use this Rembrandt as an example. Here Jeremiah mourns the destruction of Jerusalem. It is hard to tell from this photo, but outside the cave is the small burning city of Jerusalem. So Rembrandt cleverly placed this little vignette off to the side of Jeremiah to show what he was thinking about. Well done Rembrandt. I certainly approve.

I have heard many artists talking at FAA and occasionally I hear them bashing decisions like Rembrandt has made here saying that “he just painted the figure, and then put a background in.” Often times it is said like it’s a bad thing, but I disagree. I think if the background is put in tastefully like Rembrandt did here, it can add many new layers of depth, and make the picture much more interesting. Yeah the background was stuck in there, but there was a purpose for doing so, and I think it works.

Antique Dutch Frame

It wont be long before I settle back in to my new environment that is the Central Valley, and soon enough I will be learning the art of framing, and I should have almost every aspect of this wonderful obsession down. From making wood panels, to stretching and rabbit skin gluing linen, refining my own linseed oil, to making oil based gesso and grinding my own paint, all the way to making professional quality frames. I am very excited for 2012. It’s going to be a great year.

Dec 2, 2011

The Nederlands A.K.A Utopia

Amsterdam Central Station

Holland is a wonderful country. A bit crowded, but still awesome. I plan on going to Den Haag tomorrow morning to go visit the Maruitshuis. The girl with the pearl lives there. Im excited to see what all the fuss is about. I think it’s a pretty decent painting from what I have seen from the reproductions. The anatomy lesson by Rembrandt is also there. I am extremely excited to see this painting, even with the flaws in the perspective. I don’t know what else to do in the Nederlands other than going to the museums. It should be boring. I have my sketchbook handy though.
The Maruitshuis in Den Haag (The Hague) has a fantastic collection of about 800 paintings. Im not sure exactly how many are on display but its the perfect size museum with am extremely high quality collection of paintings. I love the dutch 17th century for a number of reasons. The paint application and technique, and the meanings behind the paintings. I especially love the paintings based on old dutch proverbs. I love that they loved paintings so much in holland that many normal middle class people bought artwork for their homes. The dutch made lots of artwork just for the sake of making it, where as far as I have noticed other countries weren’t so interested in just making art for the sake of making art. Most other countries stuck to religious art, or mythological scenes. I have seen so much of the religious and mythological genre’s that I rarely get excited about one of those paintings.

The Maruitshuis

I think the last religious painting I got excited about was “Le Christ” by Bonnat. It’s truly incredible. I was blown away by it. It happened to be hanging in the Musee D’Orsay in Paris. I saw this wonderful painting by Rembrandt. It’s absolutely breath-taking in person. Each face is so naturalistic that I felt as if they would blink or say something. Other parts of the painting aren’t perfect, like the drawing of the cadaver for example. It’s too short. The head is also too big. Also in a dissection they would never ever start with the arm. They would have gone through the torso and abdomen first. Rembrandt chose to dissect the arm first because it works better for the painting. It all comes down to intentions in my opinion.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Tulp - Rembrandt

Holland is quite amazing. I found a hostel for 14 euros a night. It provides a sketchy internet connection and the other basics. People in hostels a weird. Really weird. There was one musician type fellow dubbed “That American Bloke” by one of the British kids that was there ended up urinating in the room by my bed. How charming. Thank you American Bloke… Thats the funny thing about all of this. A drunk guy peeing in the corner is something you would see in a 17th century dutch painting. They embrace humanity and accept that people are weird and flawed. At least that’s the vibe I get from it all. The dutch seem to understand that people are weird, and will always be weird, and do weird things, and many people wont accept these weird behaviors. The mentality it seems is “We are going to let the weird be, but we will definitely learn from the weird.” Is this what tolerance is? It seems like it to me, but what do I know. In egypt they freak out if a man kisses a woman in public. It’s sad to me, because I think kissing is a beautiful thing, and when someone gets pissed off at a couple kissing in public it usually seems to be because they are envious of the couple. I have always learned from other people’s examples it seems.

Jan Steen did a great job of illustrating what example’s parents shouldn’t be setting for their children:

"zoals de ouden zongen, zo piepen de jongen zal"

I love this painting because everyone and everything has meaning to it. Notice its obviously daytime and the parents are drinking, and the father figure (which is supposed to be a self portrait of Jan Steen himeself) teaches his son to smoke tobacco, and a nice young age. The wealthier dutch folk loved these sorts of paintings because of they showed a clear example of how not to raise children. Maybe these themes need to be revived. At least thats my opinion. I am very interested in re-visiting some of these themes in the near future. I can’t wait in fact. I studied the frames extremely closely as well, making sure to study every frame that caught my eye. I have become very interested in frames that are more linear but still very complex and elegant. I made quite a few drawings of moulding that was derived from the frames that I appreciated. I want to attempt to make my own in the style of these particular frames.

I saw people swimming in the pond behind the maruitshuis. It was extremely cold outside. It must have been some dutch torture ritual?

I made it to three museums while I was in Amsterdam, ate good good, and had good drink. Its nice that I was so familiar with the place. I didn’t use a map all that much. I didn’t need a map when I walked to the Rijks Museum. That felt like an accomplishment. I also got an audio tour if the Rijks. The day before at the Maruitshuis I had a free audio tour and it really made a difference on what I had noticed. I really appreciated the commentary, and it helped me realize the consistency of the dutch themes. After a while the dutch proverb paintings began to really make a lot more sense to me. I think they are themes that would definitely hold true today and would be executable in a contemporary sense.

You see these piles of locked bikes laying around in the Nederlands. I laugh when I see these bikes laying there every single time...

I made a huge mistake the second day of going to the Rijks again, but I made the best of it with the audio guide. I should have went to the Hermitage Museum, but it dawned on me too late. I was about 3:30 when I realized that Maureen told me to go. I guess I am just going to have to come back. I would like to bring a friend along.

Nov 29, 2011

A little R&R in Firenze

The Arno River - Firenze

After a little over a week in Florence… Actually at this point I don’t know how long I have been in Florence since I got back from Egypt. Was it a week, or a month? It’s difficulty to gauge without looking at the actual dates of arrival and departure. I feel like I had post traumatic stress disorder after going to Egypt and all the madness that went down with Bekkah. I felt like death after Egypt because of the air. I had a gnarly cough, and I was just plain worn out, so I focused on my website http://www.nigelrobertson.com to unwind from Egypt. I do hope you enjoyed the ranting. My mom didn’t. I barely remember writing all that. I was in some sort of trance like state where the thoughts flowed freely. Allora…

Santa Maria Novella - Florence

Florence was pretty awesome except for the fact that I was sick with a cough the whole ten plus days that I was there. I did manage to have fun. Basilio had three parties in a week, and I had a fun going away get together party. It was my turn to cook the most awesome meal in Florence. It was bacon cheeseburger night. Galambanino cheese on the burger with bacon over that with feta cheese over the bacon with grilled shallot and red bell peppers over the feta, and lettuce and tomato over that,with a specially made garlic aiolli spread for the toasted buns. The fries were fried in olive oil with rosemary salt, and finely ground crushed red pepper. I don’t really like to cook only for myself, but when it’s for other people I tend to go a little over the top. Its fun. Everyone was extremely satisfied. The rule in florence is that if you cook you don’t have to clean. Another reason for loving to cook in Florence.

Its costing me a fortune to make my way back to California. At least I have a suitcase full of paintings, and I have completely removed all of my junk from Florence from the past two years. Shipping everything back also cost me a small fortune. It’s not as bad as some of the numbers I have heard from other people. I have no complaints. I am just a bit numbed at the moment.

I still haven’t reached my one hundred plein aire sketches like I have been planning to do. I still have much to learn, but I am already seeing lots of progress. I’ll be posting all the good paintings soon, along with an available works page. I’m happy to be leaving, especially getting to spend a few nights in the Nederlands.

I love flying in the evening because the colors are spectacular

Sep 15, 2011

Amsterdam

As I woke up

Everyone on the plane seems dazed and confused, or maybe it was just me. I open my window and let the morning light in. We are served nasty Airplane coffee with not enough sugar or cream to cover the dirt taste up. I think their machine’s need cleaning badly. Whatever. I drink it and the caffeine does the trick. At this point we are flying over Scandinavia or the UK, im not sure but its stunning. Green, and peppered with little farms houses, and various shapes of perfect farmland. There were lakes and such. Absolutely beautiful colors and shadow shapes. I contemplated how to mix the various types of greens. This is how I entertain myself during flying or riding trains. Music and observation. Searching. Using my brain as if I was standing with my brushes and paints with nature in front of me. Its meditation for me.
My original plan was to try to get my bags in Amsterdam, and I knew this would be a challenge. My original itinerary was from San Francisco to Amsterdam and then to Florence. I asked the people at the airport if I could get my bags out at this stop. They wanted to charge me 275 euros, so I decided against it. I can get there much cheaper than that from Florence.

Amsterdam Central Station

My aunt and uncle bought me a OV Chipkarrt when I came to visit for christmas for riding the public transportation on the Nederlands, as well as a museum pass. My layover in Amsterdam was 11 hours. Plenty of time to play. Right away I went to innerspace, bought some truffles, and ate them outside the rijks museum. What a trip that was. Quite mild in fact. The paintings are hard to improove upon. It was a lot of fun. The paintings seemed to come to life, especially the landscapes by a dutch man name Jan Both. The Clouds would move, the water would flow, and the trees were swaying in the wind, Seemingly moving underneath the cracks of the varnish. Jan Both was a Dutch painter who traveled to italy to paint the italian light. He captured it well. I enjoyed painting it very much myself.
As I write this I am still sitting in Bekkah’s living room in Cairo. The windows are wide open, and the breeze is nice. Now the smell of burning trash is gently flowing into the large bay windows. How lovely. This place gives me a headache. Allora.

The Rijks Museum is always a treat. I love seeing the Rembrandts, Vermeers, the Heda’s (The dutch king of still life) Gabriel Metsu, Pieter Claesz, Franz Hals to name a few. From there I had a few more hours to kill. What else is there to do In amsterdam. Eat? Have some beers? Evesdrop on some local’s conversations about the universe and shit like that… Sure why not. (I got the universe figured out already) After some fear and loathing, I headed back to the airport to catch my Flight to Florence. Another pleasant flight experience. I love that.

The country of big skies