Painting of the week, November 27th, 2017
Good morning,
This will be a unique day for readers here. You get two greetings!
Let me explain. The Cooper studio (yup, that's me!) has decided to add a listing to the navigation menu of the website. What a day, eh?!!
I am a narrative painter, and often, I find people want to know where the painting begins. What I saw that started me into the story of the painting. What impressed me, that made me want to share it with you. Should we call it the roots of the painting?
But I think on the menu bar of my website we are going to call this new storyline "Painting of the Week".
IknowIknow, kind of quiet for something on this website, but I want it to be a singular place where you can meet, and learn about a single painting, and it's beginnings. It's roots of inspiration.
One at a time.
And yes, I also intend to employ the series effect.
And so, the goal? One painting, and my thoughts thereof, per week.
I'll post here on my blog page, where you may read. But may I suggest bookmarking the link on the menu bar - this will give you the series as a total in an easy to read format. Feel free to share the link with others who appreciate a good story!
Thanks for stopping by,
Karen
And now, follows the first entry to "Painting of the Week"
__________________
And welcome to the Cooper studio, in Lipetsk for yet a few more weeks - our tickets to Iowa are dated December 21!
I have called our time of living in Lipetsk, Russia, our grand adventure.
As we wind it down, and prepare to be Iowans again, I've decided to try and share some of the grandness of the adventure, and how it has turned into paintings.
I suppose it would be logical to start with the first Lipetsk painting, but today is not a good day for logic :) and so we begin.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Painting of the week, November 27th, 2017: A Brief Aside, Pushkin Festival
When we first got to Lipetsk, I thought it would be a good thing to find a drawing group. It took about 6 months, and no, English was not their language of choice! We did good to communicate about when the next meeting would be.
Жебылева Татьяна Евгеньевна, known to anyone that speaks art in Lipetsk, as Tatyana Evgenevna, (with the purple scarf)
was the chief in charge of the Thursday night drawing group at the gallery on Lenina Street.
And so it became my Thursday night home-away-from-home! Here I learned what Russian artists learn that my American education forgot to teach me! But they took my shortcomings in stride, and with simply the visual image and demonstration thereof, I learned so much! I will always be grateful for this group.
But you are wondering about the painting and how it relates, no?
I gained a few additional Russian words, and figured out that the group was going on an excursion, and they even invited my spouse :) (but not to draw :) )
We loaded onto the short bus and headed for the Pushkin Festival, where we were to paint on location. I blitzed the painting, but the rest of the day was absolutely grand. A tenor soloist, a ballet troupe, a puppet theatre presentation - they honored Mr. Pushkin with true fanfare, all in the perfect pastoral village scene laced with early summer sunshine - and that was what I was trying to say in A Brief Aside, Pushkin Festival.
The zoom view can be reached by clicking (link) And I hope you can feel the sunshine!
Later, Karen
Two post scripts from the day, one posh, and the other, a never to be forgotten funny.
The posh: because of the novelty (!!) of an American artist at the Pushkin Festival, I got introduced to, and shook hands with the governor of the Lipetsk Oblast.
The funny: I packed a backpack early in the morning, snacks and bottles of water, to take along. We were still very visual at this point in our Russian education - reading labels was not yet part of our skill set. Did you know that there is a brand of bottled water that comes in a visually similar bottle that might also contain vinegar? Yep, poor Wayne. Popped that badboy open and took a big gulp. He wasn't his normal self for about an hour....
10 hours later...Oh phooey! You've all read this by now, and I forgot to tell you this VERY painting is currently hanging in an exhibit at the VS Sorokin School, on Lipovskaya Street, in Lipetsk!
Read More