I have a lecture I give to art leagues when asked that’s called “How to Start a Painting.” It’s generally well attended, as there are so many ways to start a painting. In fact, I always qualify it with, “It’s how I start a painting . . . these days . . .  sometimes.” The following two model painting sessions will give a quick look at how I do it.
These days.
Sometimes.

I started with red, this time, just because. Red is a warm color and won’t make mud when I go over it with another color. At first, it’s all about design, getting the right placement on the canvas.

These are oil paintings, all wet on wet, alla prima. There’s no preliminary drawing, just blocking in with fairly fat brushes.

The idea is to start loose and then go gradually tighter, quitting before it gets too tight. Adding the other colors over the red means putting them on pretty thick, and not mushing them around, which would change the color. Any bits of residual underpainting that remain are delights. Delights of light.

I was pretty happy with how this one turned out. Someone mentioned that I’d forgotten the mouth. And sure enough. But viewers can fill it in. It’s really more about poetry than prose.

With time left in the three-hour session, I moved in a little closer to do a head study. Same approach. Very loose, then tighter, with drawing coming into it toward the middle stages . . . not at the beginning, as people usually think (including artists).

This time I didn’t forget the mouth. The sketchiness is left intentionally, including the unpainted parts. Same with the hair blending into the background. That evening I made yet a third painting, but this gives the idea.

Here is another session, another evening, another model. What doesn’t necessarily show in these photos is the other painters in the room, eight or ten of us, at varying levels. It’s all for practice. I’m not the best, though tend to be the fastest. I’m after a loose style, which can’t happen without a certain abandon. Notice this one started with something of a “stick figure.”

Notice the complete lack of any hard edges or much concern for accuracy at the early stages. Same with a worry about skin color precision.

A few shadow areas define the shapes, those and highlights, particularly for the face. It’s all about getting paint down on the canvas in more or less the right place, then fine tuning, but never over-stressing.

I was amused that the model, on her break, came over and photographed my painting. Often models will ask for an additional $10 if you take their photo. When she pulled out her camera I said, “That’ll be ten dollars.” (Just kidding.)

Once again I wanted to paint a second, and of just the face. This one started out a bit more “gross” than most and I had little confidence at first that it was going to come together . . . but, full speed ahead.

I was using gessoed wood that evening, and it took the paint a little different than canvas. Notice the texture, drips, the strength of the strokes. Normally I do the mid-colors first, then the darks, and the lights last. For acrylic it can be any order; but for oil this works best. (For me.) (Sometimes.)

In the end the thought came to give the model a painting. They see themselves painted so often, but rarely get one for themselves. I offered her the choice. She took the first one, the full figure. I can understand that; my version of her face wasn’t exactly complimentary, but I though it was the better painting (so we were both happy).

Per usual, I packed up early and went home to watch a video with Anne. As I said, it’s all for practice.

Heading for Wyoming

Speaking of packing up and spending time with Anne, this next month will have us in Wyoming. We’ll be in Jackson Hole where I’ve been invited to give a workshop. And we’ve also been invited to spend a week in the studio of our hostess, doing art. We’ll do tourist things too, and check out the abundant galleries. No doubt I’ll be reporting on all this in a future blog.

I’ve also been working on another book. More about that to come as well.

Keep living artfully. And never stress. Your art will be better. (And more fun.)

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I got a call from a friend who had a friend who needed a painting. It had to be just the right painting to finish out a years-long home remodel, situated on a Southern California bluff over the ocean named for its peace, the Pacific.

The approach from the street reflects and announces the symmetry of the home, the understated elegance, the attention to line and pattern and plane. Even the wide stone pavers are perfectly level with no off-throwing tilt for drainage (the drainage is allowed for by small spaces between the stone and then handled subterraneously).

I didn’t even photograph the opposite wall, which is all glass, overlooking the ocean. This view, however, gives an idea of the continued sense of space, the light, and highly subdued, effective, and even rigid color scheme. A designer’s masterpiece.

One area, however, was not yet complete: a rolling panel above the fireplace that hides the flat screen TV. The designer had suggestions (more monochrome) but the lady of the house had other ideas.

That’s when she came across an Internet rendition of an early Jackson Pollock and thought, “That would be the perfect solution.” And that’s when I came in.

It’s my painting, shown here. It’s not my style at all, you’ll say. No, it’s a copy. And, but for some proportional changes, it’s a faithful copy. You’ll also say it’s not even Jackson Pollock’s style. But actually it is, or was, before he discovered his dripping and splashing approach that made him famous.

While Pollock might have been free spirited with his line and color and brushwork, my approach was much more careful. I was copying. But the copy still needed a fidelity to the original exuberance, attention to color, the whimsy of shape. With care for perfect dimension and clean edges to match the home’s severity of line, there’s an otherwise wild and almost childish expression about it all. And it’s the only color in the house!

People are agreeing, the painting adds to the overall soul. Here’s the lady of the house, the one with the brainchild, now absolutely loving the result.

It was an unusual project, a wild idea, but it came off. For me, the greatest part was to share the joy of the new owners as this last touch completed their beautiful space.

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We wanted to get away and get some art done. We considered a workshop in Cornwall and house rentals in Ireland beckoned. But, for reasons, we determined that a staycation would be the best solution at this time.

Home, a fine place for a vacation. (Note doors from a 150-year-old Minnesota barn, mentioned later.)

Staycation, that’s where you spend your vacation at home. To make it as real as possible, we moved into the guest room, took our meals on the balcony, and looked for other diversions, like a picnic in a park we’d not before known. We even found a new treasure for the house (a unique lamp), something we often do commemorating our travels.

Anne, at her press, and wonderful mess, on her side of the studio. (Click for larger view.)

And we spent time in the studio, particularly Anne, who stayed at it eight to ten hours a day. I was there much of the time. The togetherness, in the same room with the same pursuit, but separately, is part of the beauty. And beauty is our pursuit, both in art and life.

Symbolic Sanctuary, 10×20, monotype print with gold ink. (Click for larger view.)

With quiet diligence and working on a number of pieces at the same time, Anne’s often not sure if a piece is “finished.” This print, as with all Anne’s work, is the result of repeated layering of color and texture, often incorporating linocuts she has previously made. This work, I’d say, is fit for the garment of a queen. Absolutely regal.

Gracious Garden, 13×25.5 (Click to enlarge.)

She brought to completion some 20 pieces during the roughly 10 days in the studio. Most were already started, just waiting for additional layers–of ink, of thought.

Veiled Vestige, 10×10. (Click to enlarge.)

Here’s a square one. The size of her pieces is determined by the size of her press.  She has two, the smaller of which we take on travels, and those pieces are often the ones she is trying to finish. Click on New Work on her website for many others.

Painting in oils, on “unstretched” canvas.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the studio, the mad painter endeavored to bring his own order out of chaos. That’s “mad” as in highly energetic and inordinately focused, but emotionally at complete peace.

A few of the quick acrylics done in Tucson, framed up as gifts. (Click photo.)

Do you remember this? It’s a sample of the 180 quick paintings I made over a long weekend in Tucson last month. (See last e-gallery.) It was painting all those that inspired me to make larger and more finished works of these beautiful faces.

Blue Earring, oil on canvas, 20×26. (Click to enlarge.)

I’ve long collected images of this sort. There’s no reason to be painting these subjects except that they’re just such beautiful faces, beautiful people. It’s like I’m driven to do it. (Maybe I am mad.) For the recent output, see the pieces marked “New” on the Faces and Figures page of my website.

Serenity, oil on canvas, 20×26, framed in black walnut, from a Tennessee barn.

Bringing the series of paintings to completion, I began thinking about framing. Necessity being always invention’s mother, I remembered my access to reclaimed wood through local friends who scour the country for old barns. It’s what I made our new garage doors with in the photo at the top. (Click photo.)

Our dining room, where we did not dine during our staycation.

Here’s how they look en situ. Granted, our house already has a lot of wood. But I’m thinking this soft, wabi-sabi, naturally distressed look would fit in a lot of places. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Rice Fields Smile, oil on canvas, 20×20.

This is hand work all the way. First the painting, then the frames. One done in the studio, the other in the shop. Each a labor of love.

Messy Hair in Frame, oil on canvas and wood, 22.5×27. (Click to enlarge.)

One more. This is another crazy experiment by the mad painter. In this case I framed a blank canvas and painted outside the lines. Messy hair, messy paint; somehow it fits. All this and much more will be on display at our studio show this weekend. It’s all better “in person,” so come if you can. Details below.

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Current and Upcoming Events

SUMMER STUDIO TOUR AND SALE

Some say the entire house is already a work of art.
On these occasions it all becomes a gallery, with art hanging on every available wall, and overflowing into the garage.
Art of every size and a wide variety of subject matter is available.
Some is brand new, and some has been waiting for just the right appreciator.
For the occasion, special prices are marked on many pieces.
Where: 33752 Big Sur, Dana Point, California
When: May 31 and June 1, 2014
Saturday, 3:00-9:00
Sunday, 1:00-6:00
See Full Invitation Here

Blank Slate, “Vernon’s Story”

For those of you who know, or have heard of our son-in-law and his motor-scooter encounter with a pick-up truck, it’s been featured in the last two issues of Blank Slate. That’s a separate list. You can see recent posts on this website (above). To subscribe, click here.

Semi-Private Coaching for Painters

For more information, click here.

Printmaking Classes

in Anne Moore studio Call for info, 949-240-4642

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Anne and I were in Tucson last month. I’d been asked by The Seed Company, an organization with whom we once served, to take part in a large event to raise awareness and funds for a noble cause. Involved were many great speakers, name musicians, known authors, and one lone painter in the back of the room.

Here we go, first morning, first strokes, with a house brush.

Okay, I wasn’t completely alone. But then neither are any of us really, if we include the spiritual dimension. Before driving over to Tucson, I’d prepared the canvas and sketched in the main figure with charcoal.

There’s a lot to the painting life besides painting. In this case the need for the painter’s wife.

Much pre-work goes into a project like this, many hours at home, then arriving early and setting up. The “easel” was two 4 x 8 ft. sheets of plywood, braced in the back. We taped cardboard over the crack between the boards to keep out an unwanted ridge during the painting process.

Tucson in May is warm but not hot, perfect for outdoor dining.

This will give an idea of the setting. We were at the Ritz Carlton outside of Tucson. A couple hundred guests had been invited from around the country. They were those interested in sponsoring Bible translation work, carried out by native speakers in the many cultures and languages where such still does not exist.

Back by the doors is the lone painter, just getting started. (Click on picture.)

Mornings and evenings were spent in the ballroom, with speakers, musicians, incredible audio visuals, a continual feast of information, and as you can see, plenty of interaction.

The Jesus figure is straight from my Last Supper painting. (Click to enlarge.)

My plan was to paint a large rendition of Jesus with a completely colored background, then integrate it with small paintings of international children. Look close to see the squares penciled in. (I had to look very closely, especially when I’d just about completely painted over them.

More photos of the event can be seen on Flicker, here.

Hour after hour I painted, straight through all the presentations, morning and evening, and straight through the afternoon breaks. Up on a ladder, down on my haunches, sometimes in semi-darkness. Many of these photos are by Travis Williams, a professional photographer who roamed and documented the event.

Acrylic was the medium, for its fast drying properties on canvas.

One could feel like he’s being watched. Or, more comforting, watched over. Either way, the challenge was the same: to paint 180 small paintings within the big one, all in two days. That must be a record of some kind.

Note the floor lamp, necessary when the room was darkened.

Here I am about 40 faces into it. Sometimes they’d get messy and take too long. Sometimes I set my stop watch for five minutes for each little face. Late into the second day I realized I had to go quicker than that.

Here it is finished, or at the next to last step.

I named it Jesus and the Children, but no matter as it only lasted like this for about an hour. I made a brief public presentation giving the story behind it, and mine as a painter. People applauded, took pictures and hung around to talk. Then, when the ballroom cleared out, Anne and I went to work on the next step.

Cutting and mounting were no small part of it.

This was the drastic step, cutting it up. What? Cut up a painting of Jesus? But no matter, Jesus has been subjected to worse . . . by me. In any case, that was the plan all along; people just didn’t know it. Above is the practice version I did earlier, needful also for additional images to compliment the total requested.

Three of the 180 as they looked when finished. (Click to enlarge.)

Back in the hotel room, working past midnight, Anne and I assembled the cut canvases into pre-prepared mats, complete with nameplate, to supply as gifts to all attendees the following morning. The Seed Company had been very generous with gift giving, and these small pieces of framable original art were part of that.

No two alike, just like all people. (Click to enlarge.)

Here’s a screen shot from my computer showing some of the pieces as I photographed them afterward. Not that I photographed them all, but it gives an idea of the variety.

The big painting gone, but now represented by many small ones.

On the final morning, participants came by and chose the one they liked, and were given an envelope to carry it away. It’s all about giving, having received so much. In the end, Anne and I came away with one. And many memories.

Joshua Trees and wonder all around.

Finally, one last photo: God’s artwork, always the best.

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Recently Anne’s work was hosted at a show in the wide corridors of a church. Given that setting, she accompanied the pieces with brief poems, another of her talents. She’ll have another show coming up (mentioned below) but without the poems. So here is a chance to see them together. It’s a sampling only. All pieces are available for purchase, either through Sandstone Gallery Laguna, where she will be the featured artist this month, or through the home studio. Speaking of that, note below the dates for a show at the house, coming up next month.

Following my Path
11×9

Be pure, be happy, in white arrayed

Each day should be a festal day.

Choose today whom you will serve

Then joyfully follow without reserve.

Gathering Fragments
18×24

More than we can ask or imagine.

The Lord gives daily for our need

Fragments remind of his compassion

And on peace and grace our hearts feed.

Unexpected Consequences
12×16

Earth’s strata holds the martyr stories,

Each line reliable, undeniable, justifiable

The evidence is not pliable

Blood-writ in deepest quarries.

Oblique Reference
11×9

Jesus, in You God is revealed

In You, eternity sealed

First born over all creation

You, the divine affirmation

And through You, true restoration.

Overshadowing the Present
7×24

You came before, You stand behind,

All things True Life in You will find

You are Beginning and the End

Against all evil You defend

And on your goodness we depend.

Strength for Weakness
18.5×20.5

God uses our weakness to show his power

When we hold to Him as our Strong Tower

The names and failures of our past

Are used for good when we at last

Allow his grace our life to empower.

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Ongoing and Upcoming Events

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Sandstone Gallery Laguna: Featuring Anne Moore

Opening this Thursday, April 3, 6:00-9:00 pm.
At the Laguna Art Walk
384-A North Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California 92651
April 2–28, 12:00-5:00 (closed Tuesdays)

Mark your Calendar–Home and Studio Show Next Month

May 10 and 11, Saturday and Sunday afternoons
At the home and studio of Hyatt and Anne Moore

Semi-Private Coaching for Painters

Offering two-hour sessions on Mondays and on Saturday mornings
In the Hyatt Moore Studio, Dana Point
Call  949-240-4642

Printmaking Classes

Two-hour sessions in the Anne Moore studio, Dana Point
Call or email for more information or to schedule a class
anne@hyattmoore.com
949-240-4642

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For the third year running we spent our anniversary month in Oregon. We rented the same studio and apartment in Toledo as we have before. By now it’s feeling like another home for us. We move in, rearrange things as we like them, and go to work. It’s very productive time, and a great way to live life.

Here’s us, posing for a mug shot somebody else was asking for. This, by the way, was our 48th anniversary! Isn’t she cute?

She’s also a diligent worker. Anne put in at least eight hours a day in her wonderful mess, sometimes ten. It’s a beautiful time for focus for her, the kind she rarely gets at home, what with the fullness of the rest of life.

Approximate Engagement, Monotype, 9.25×11

This time she brought scores of pieces she’d started at some earlier date with intention of finishing them. Only a few did she start from scratch. Some she printed completely over and started again. Even then, background from the earlier work shows through and adds to the intrigue.

In the 17 days we were there she produced some 50 pieces. On the last day we laid them out on the floor for a photo, but couldn’t get them all in.

On the other side of the room was me, at least afternoons. Mornings had me on the lower floor, writing (on that Papua New Guinea project mentioned last time). Once again, almost all my endeavors were abstract (having nothing to do with that glass of wine in the picture, really).

We were happy to have our work accepted in a quality gallery here in this area. They’re carrying ten of mine and ten of Anne’s. Those of Anne’s are already among her New Work showing on her website, here (labeled “New”). My ten are on my website, under Freed Gallery, here. The two above were not accepted, their not preferring figurative work at this time, but I like them.

Okay, class, this is for extra credit.  Can you tell me which is the only letter on this building which is not hung backwards or upside down?

If you missed the anniversary blog with the vintage picture go to or click on Blank Slate, “Another Year of Bliss (mostly).” Same for other topics, like “Watering the Mind,” for how we spent our days and our reading list.

If you’re not getting Blank Slate and would like to be notified as they’re posted, you can subscribe here. (You can always unsubscribe at the same place.)

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Upcoming Events and Resources

“Loosen Up” Workshop for Painters

March 8-9, 2014
A hands-on seminar for intermediate artists by Hyatt Moore in San Clemente
Two full days, $225
For further info and reserve a space, click here, or call 949-369-6603

New 6-week Painting Class

Instructor: Hyatt Moore
at Vineyard Community Church
27632 El Lazo, Laguna Niguel, California
Thursday evenings, 6:30-9:30, beginning March 6
$295 for 6 weeks
Contact Lynn Schrader, mercyartsstudio@gmail.com

New: Freed Gallery

If and when you’re on the Oregon coast, feel free to stop in and see our work.
6119 SW Highway 101
Lincoln City, Oregon 97367

Sandstone Gallery

Now featuring art by both of us.
Open daily except Tuesdays.
Art Walk, March 6, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
384-A North Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California 92651

11 Comments

For the first half of this month I was in Papua New Guinea. I went (and stayed) with friend Neil Anderson, who has lived there on and off (mostly on) with his family for some 35 years. He still goes back annually, or twice annually. It was with him that I wrote a book years ago when I also lived there with my family. We, however, lived at a center, with more of the conveniences, not in one of the most rural parts of the country where the Andersons lived.

A child completely engrossed in a fruit locally grown

Neil and I have been commissioned to write another book, something of a sequel. As with  In Search of the Source, it’ll be a first person account, with him the first person. I’m the “as told to” writer. I needed to be there to get a full sense of the place and the people and the life.

Approaching Fugatebe, our destination

Did I say this was rural? After flying over occasional villages and small farms, we flew for another hour seeing no signs of habitation, or habitable landscape, then this: Five hamlets strung together along a single ridge.

(On this photo, and some following, click for larger view.)

Fugatebe from above

That’s the Anderson house and adjacent training center with metal roofs. To the right is a longhouse where men and older boys live. Wives and children live in the smaller houses, though some families live together these days.

By air is the only way in and out . . . except by foot, the nearest road being a two-day walk away

When I was there last, 30 years ago, we came in by helicopter. The airstrip was only an idea, which they’ve since carved out of a hill by brute effort and one imported tractor. What the photo doesn’t show well is the ten percent grade of the strip, its general unevenness, and the recent landslide cutting into its width.

The single byway connecting the five villages

You have to be a local to know when you’re out of one village and into the next. They’re distinguished by clans. That’s the Anderson house in the distance. Note the clouds: It rained almost every day, sometimes hard, though this is dry season.

The neighborhood

Typical housing, all made of bush material. But people don’t live in them as we would think of it. There’s no furniture, no light. They’re just for sleeping, really, or shelter from the weather, or warmth of a fire. Most living is done outdoors, in distant gardens, where the work is.

The approach to Andersons’ from the back (or is it front?)

The house that Neil built 35 years ago, and has added to or improved ever since, is distinct from the others. It’s mainly built from bush materials as well, but has more rooms, and things like screen windows to keep mosquitos at bay.

The main entrance, just off the kitchen, a rare photo with nobody hanging around the porch

You could call this place Swiss-Family-Anderson. What we’re looking at here is part of the water catchment system, rain water gathered from the roof, stored in large drums (barely shown at left), then pumped to tanks at top for running water pressure through the house. That’s for sinks, toilet, bucket shower, etc.

Anderson house, with rain on the way

That’s a lightening rod extending off the top, which has saved the house many times. Note the necessary deep water drainage ditch to the right. And at the top right of that is a path leading down to a small spring for bathing. It’s straight down, and you need a shower when you get back.

The family room

It’s pretty comfortable inside, with all the furniture made on site from bush materials. Neil and I spent many evenings here, talking or reading or wondering which movie to watch. (That’s a joke!) On my last evening we had a Bible study here, all in the Folopa language, with men of the village and one woman. Edifying for all.

The master bedroom

Mosquito netting is a must in these parts, malaria still being the world’s number one killer. Happily we stayed out of their way and weren’t bothered this trip, though took all precautions. My quarters were separate, smaller, but adequate.

The hearth

This didn’t get a lot of use while we were there, it being summer now, but in winter the weather can get cold and the fireplace is very useful.

The living room, from above

The fireplace is also very useful for drying clothes. Neil says while they were raising small children (four) the interior clothesline above the fireplace room was the only way they could get diapers dry.

The upstairs shop

All this construction and maintenance doesn’t come out of nothing. Nor is there some service to call. Much of the whole upstairs is dedicated to a shop, for carpentry, mechanical work, electrical and electronics, whatever. Medical, however, was and is handled in the lower, cleaner areas. And language work, in a separate building just for that purpose.

Neil on phone

It’s hard to believe, but cell phones have come to Papua New Guinea. And now even specialized electronic technology that will allow Neil to work with nationals on ongoing translation work. As linguists, the Andersons worked with a team of Folopa to get their language into writing, teach reading and translate the New Testament. Now a Folopa team will carry that on for the Old Testament, something they desire, with Neil consulting from afar (home in Spokane).

Me at my laptop (note the paint, normally a piece of art studio equipment)

As I said, I was there to write. I mainly gathered raw material, with the main writing yet ahead. I also kept a journal, capturing my impressions, which came hourly. I don’t remember if this photo was taken before or after I was diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Neil, with much village medical experience put me on antibiotics, and I was back out on those trails again!

Sunday morning church, women’s side . . . again, click for larger view

On Sunday we attended church. The tradition continues, men and boys on one side, women and young children on the other. (Here the children had been dismissed for their own teaching, outside.) I noticed that people found their best clothes for the occasion. And, in fact, in the 30 years since I was there, everybody wears clothes. I could only follow the service by inference, but all seemed well attentive and reverent.

Playing cards at the men’s house

Inside that longhouse are “apartments” where a man and his closest kin sleep. Neil says it’s a holdover from earlier days when the men would stay together as a “fighting unit,” always wary of attack from enemy villages. I asked if that exterior log was to keep pigs out and was told, “No, it’s to keep women out.”

A typical scene, though without load

Speaking of women, as in many cultures they carry the main burden. Besides bearing and raising children, and cooking for the family, the main work of the garden falls to them. The gardens are a long ways away, and with the use of head-strap bags on their backs they carry home the equivalent of their own weight in produce, rain or shine, every day.

Alice, a radiant Christian

But they can be happy. Actually I’ve rarely met a person as joyful as this one. We had a special bond. It turns out she, as a child, was along when my family visited this village 30 years ago and we trekked to the “bat cave.” She was impressed with our then 14-year-old Allison and thereafter adopted the name, Alice.

The once-useful tractor

Clothing comes from anywhere

Toys are rare and hand made

Sylvia and daughter

Okay, this is an artist’s blog, so I should include one painting I did in PNG. This is Sylvia, a nurse, and her daughter, who had the kindness to sit an hour for me as I had been dying to paint “something.” I left the result with them as a gift.

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Upcoming Events and Resources

Sandstone Gallery

As of next month, both of us will be showing at Sandstone Gallery Laguna.
Next Opening: Art Walk, February 5, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
384-A North Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, California 92651

“Loosen Up” Workshop for Painters

March 8-9, 2014
A hands-on seminar for intermediate artists by Hyatt Moore in San Clemente
For further info and reserve a space, click here.

In Search of the Source

For information on getting a copy of the first book by Neil Anderson and Hyatt Moore, send an e-mail to moore@hyattmoore.com.

32 Comments

It was time to get a new curtain for our master bedroom but nothing “normal” captured the imagination. Then I came across one of Anne’s new prints and thought, “That’s it.” Shown above, the piece is called Rising Rumors, and is 10 x 20 inches. (Click on each of these photos for a larger view.)

We went to the fabric store and picked out a piece of fairly dark and dense upholstery material. After some careful measuring and cutting, I pinned the pieces up on the studio wall and went to work with fabric paint.

None of these photos show the nuance and the printmaking effect I was trying to duplicate from Anne’s original, which I had nearby as reference. In the end Anne added some of her swirly calligraphy that hints at some unknown wording.

Here’s the final result, sewn together by Anne and hung on a newly installed iron rod. The ceiling beams, too, are a new addition. It’s all part of an ever-evolving piece of artwork called “home.” And another use for the wonderful images that Anne comes up with in her craft.

Blank Slate, Pennies to Heaven

Due to some glitch, some Blank Slate subscribers missed the last post. It’s another legacy teaching from my recently deceased mother. It’s here.

New Book: It’s About Life

My new book is further described and can be purchased directly on this website. Also see quantity discounts for gifts. Click here.

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I’ve got a new book. It’s About Life. And we’ve got a show coming up. I want you to know about them both. In fact, the show will be a combined book signing.

At 8″x 8″ it’s a small coffee table book (perfect for a small coffee table).

The book has been about a year in the making, maybe two if you include the writing I was doing before I realized that it would be a book. That all came from the “Blank Slate,” my other blog on this website. As the Amazon blurb describes it, it’s “A personal take on the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, with 76 succinct essays, accompanied by 56 drawings from the author’s sketchbook. A very positive and realist outlook on life, salted and peppered with wit.”

In the London Portrait Gallery, a sketch that later became a painting.

The drawings come from various of my sketchbooks, the kind of which I’ve been filling, with both words and drawings for years. The fact is, my first sketchbooks were only for words, drawing came later, and then painting. The drawing was mainly diversionary during meetings or whatever, then became practice as I began to take my art more seriously. This is the first time they’ve been published or seen at all but by very few.

I designed the book with an intentional open layout with lots of white space.

The “essays” are short, pithy, and can be read in any order. They’re often a light touch on a heavy subject. They’re sometimes reflective, sometimes philosophical, sometimes motivational, and generally upbeat—in spite of what people think about the book of Ecclesiastes. For years that’s been a favorite of mine. This is my chance to reveal why. Available on this website, along with a special price for multiple copies. They make great gifts! (For more info or to order, click below.)

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Available for $14.95 at Amazon,

or signed copies directly from this website.

Click here.

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Carrying the Burden, 10×20, monotype by Anne Moore.

Here’s the full version of one of Anne’s wonderful works, as used on the show invitation below. Using it that small just didn’t do it justice. Nor does this. By the way, besides the show at our house on the 23rd and 24th, she is the featured artist this month at SANDSTONE GALLERY. That opening is the Art Walk this coming Thursday evening (Nov. 7) at 384 North Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

Meadow Walk 4, 20×30, oil, by Hyatt Moore.

For a similar reason, here’s a larger rendition of the tiny sample on the invitation. For a fuller view yet, click the link, and then that link. This and many more will be on display at the studio show.

Classy Lady, Broad Hat, 20×16, oil, by Allison (Moore) Adams.

Daughter Allison paints, though her MFA is in theater and lately she’s been making more of an impact with her creative photography. She has just a few oil paintings to show, but they will be part of the offering. Not sure about the title of that painting, I just made it up. Maybe it should be Hat Lady, Classy Broad?
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Here’s the invitation to the show.

Come and feel free to bring others.

PS My mother’s funeral is Friday. For any that missed that tribute, it was the most recent Blank Slate, here.

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Spain became our destination of choice for this year’s international trip. Though we’d been to several northern European countries, some several times, this was our first time to the south. Italy will have to wait, and a dozen other places.

I brought my best friend along and I like to think so did she. Our first picture illustrates me obeying Scripture, the one that says, Go eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart . . . enjoy your life with your wife whom you love . . . (Ecclesiastes 9:7,9). Spain enjoys an abundance of outdoor cafes, and enough olives, it seems, to supply the world.

We based in Valdilecha, a town about half an hour outside of Madrid. This was due to the courtesy of friends Louis and Lisa Shanks, working here with the same organization Anne and I used to serve. They gave us the use of their flat while they were in the States, and their car! One can’t be richer than having loving friends. That’s us in town, out for a walk, in a photo posted in Blank Slate. This is Toledo, but it could be a number of places in Spain’s long history. Every turn and every narrow street is another picture. And I took an abundance. Believe me, I’m sparing you by only showing a few. These cities were built before cars, and you wouldn’t think a car could drive them but they do, sometimes two-way!

The view from above is another delight, and documented over and over again on camera. This one, the old city of Chinchon, an out-of-the-way place of history and charm, has a heritage of making award-winning anisette, wine, and garlic, with a ruin of a castle on the far hill and a make-shift bull ring in the town center (left). Can’t say I know anything about anisette, but it gets up to 74 proof!

One thing Spain is perennially proud of is Cervantes and his classic character, Don Quixote, and side-kick Sancho Panza. Seems it was the first novel ever written, certainly in the Spanish language. I mentioned I’d read it to a Spaniard I met and he was surprised. “It’s so long,” he said. (Such is all “required reading.) Here’s just one of the tributes, in Madrid’s center, Cervantes, god-like, in stone, above.

One of the greatest high points of the trip was the visit to the Church of the Sacred Family in Barcelona. I’d long wanted to see Gaudi’s architecture in person, considering it about the most creative and free-form imaginable. But I was also very moved by the imagery, more than in any other church we visited. I reflected on this as well, and the value of a life work, in Blank Slate.

Though I saw none (actually, a few) praying in the cathedrals, I was interested to find one doing so in an art museum. It was the home of Joaquin Sorolla, converted to a museum of his work. I, too, have long been moved by this painter, have studied his work in books, and would travel far to see it in person. Same with this fellow, obviously, and wouldn’t leave without something of the spirit.

I don’t think I can count how many art galleries we went to. And if it wasn’t galleries, it was art in churches or museums. Not shown here but which we saw was the work of Goya, El Greco, Velasquez, Picasso, Miro, Calder, and dozens more, known or not so much. I thought Anne’s colors went particularly well with these pieces in the Reina Sofia, don’t you? And what about that bull eyeing her?

After we toured the historic bull ring and museum in Ronda where it was first developed (above), my interest was rekindled in seeing a bull fight in Madrid. I was once something of an aficionado, back before we were married, primarily in Tijuana. I got my fill, but I must say I enjoyed this very much, along with 20,000 others, mostly Spaniards, last Sunday afternoon. Not sure how the bulls felt.

Besides the art of the Spanish, past and present, Anne had discovered on-line a fellow printmaker living in a small converted farmhouse outside of Granada. She even holds workshops, attracting students internationally. Anne was interested enough to at least check it out, and I must say we found the whole life style intriguing, maybe even inviting, but that we have the best of both worlds now.

Art can be where you find it, or at least its potential. Walking along the narrow streets of Cordoba, I couldn’t help but see the beginnings of images in the peeling paint. That could be a bull fight scene itself above, or a fish, or a Picasso, or a map of continents. Or at left, is that a grazing animal? Then there are the wonderful doors everywhere, the likes of which I’ll not even begin to show.

Here is Ronda, majestically seated on dramatic sheer-dropping terrain. It’s complete with Visigoth, Moorish, and Catholic history. It’s also one of the “white towns” (though most are considerably smaller) that dot the landscape, like pearls on a necklace. Remember, this was a driving trip, so we saw a lot. (Sometimes more than we wanted, not quite sure where we were.)

Speaking of pearls on a necklace, here’s about a quarter of the panorama of archbishops that served in the mega cathedral in Toledo. I’ve not even tried to do that justice here. Suffice to say it’s likely where the term “Holy Toledo” got its origin. I noticed that about the last dozen of these portraits of archbishops wore glasses, none before. Peoples’ sight must have been better earlier.

I already blogged on the church/mosque at Cordoba. As with most, Blank Slate on this is a personal take. If you’re interested, click on it, then return here. It’s another majestic space, but one of complete uniqueness. Though most of us in these places were tourists, and a majority of them Spanish, I was amused at this Muslim woman taking pictures of it all with the rest of us.

Here’s La Alhambra, one of the most beautiful man made places on earth. Once again, I’ve commented on it already, in Blank Slate. It looks serene here but, in fact, I’d usually have to wait for throngs of tourists to move on before I could get a photo of just Anne. We’d read that you couldn’t even get in the same day you bought tickets. But we were flying “Seat of Pants Airlines.”

Did you ever think you’d reach the end of this report? As you’ve seen, I did most of the photographing, but Anne did some too, as is shown here. She’s documenting one of the delightful hotels we stayed in. Or, me, outside of the Sorolla house, where the guy was praying. Though we did a bit of praying, we didn’t do any art this trip. We’d planned to, had packed a few materials, but it didn’t work out that way. There was too much to see, too much to keep us busy. On the other hand, there was plenty of rest. Often we’d be back at the flat in Valdilecha for a Sabbath rest (or whatever day). It’s a good way to travel, really. As I write this, we’re packing for home. Who knows what we’ll find for next time . . . when that will be, and where? Thanks for coming along. _______________________________________________________________________

New Book

It’s About Life, the book I’ve been putting together from Blank Slate blogs will be available shortly. It’s 132 pages and, besides the words, is peppered with drawings never before seen, out of my sketchbooks. It’ll be $16.95 from Amazon. More details next time.

Next Show

Our next studio show is scheduled for November 16 and 17. That’s a revision from earlier announced dates. Who knows what new work may be present due to inspiration from this trip? Either way, there’s always lots, both paintings and lovely new work from Anne’s press. Mark your calendars. Would be great to see you.

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