Empty Platform

EMPTY  PLATFORM

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Lately I have not been drawing in the images before I paint.  This leads to wavey lines that used to be straight and proportions that are less than perfection.  As a result of not following the lines I can use more paint and get into the feeling of the brush rolling along the canvas.  In this painting of the empty train platform I especially enjoyed painting the funky pink pipe.

$150.00

BROOKLYN ROOF TOP

BROOKLYN ROOF TOP

Nancy Herman

6" x 8'

oil on canvas board

My destination when I go to New York is always Brooklyn, to visit my children and grandchildren.  I love the old Victorian houses in Ditmus Park.  This one is a symphony in shades of grey.  I wonder who lives in this room near the top.

$150.00

CLOSED

CLOSED

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

Still on the train, we stopped next to this square that could have been from a French town. 

This odd building with shutters closed and a narrow door with no stairs seems right out of a Hitchcock movie.

$150.00

RED AND RUST

RED AND RUST

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

Back on the train to New York from Philly this simple pleasing composition of a corrugated red and white tin fence, a rusty pole and its shadow appear as we hurry by.   It's an excuse for some juicy paint, which unfortunately you can't see in this photo.

$150.00

Art Critism

When I was around 6 or 7 I took a painting class at the local library.  It was taught by an enthusiastic young man who took a special interest in my "work".  I think I was pretty good at watercolors and able to get the way things looked, sort of, with not too much messiness. This has to be unusual for a child that age.  He insisted I have a "one girl show" at the library to celebrate my “genius” as the local newspaper put it. 

In that show there was a landscape with only the head of a horse in the middle.  My enthusiastic teacher, who was probably just a young art student, said this was part of my talent. Meaning that I was free to put just the head of the horse in the picture because I knew that was all that was necessary to indicate “horseness”.  I thought that I had only included the head because I had no idea  how to draw the rest of the body.  I didn’t tell him that.  I liked his idea better.

I think this small incident pretty much defines for me everything there is to know about what other people think an artist is about and how that influences what artists say to other people about what they do.

But, suppose he was right.   It certainly is true that children, if they have not been overly praised or scolded about their art are freer to do what they want to than they will be as they learn more about what "art" is.  It is also true that the head of a horse does indicate "horsiness" and I felt free to put it in the painting without the body, even though I would have included the body if I knew how to draw it. 

When an artist in full control of the power of expression chooses to leave something key out of their work to create a certain feeling, that is art.  When someone simply doesn't know how to draw and so only includes what they can do comfortably...not so sure.  A lot of outsider art has this feel to it and often it is very moving.  If this concept is to hold water then art education is a big mistake and everything that is taught except how to wield a brush or sharpen a pencil leads to the burying of "talent".  

What do you think?

Little White Building

Little White Building

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

If you look out the window of the train, as you ride from Philly to New York, you will see more than one of these small buildings along the tracks.  Not sure what their use is.  Could be small people live there to make sure none cuts too much of this rich grass or goes swimming in the freezing water? Storage house for skis?  Playhouse for lost children?

$150.00

Spaces

SPACES

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Still traveling on the train I find many bridges near the train tracks cut out interesting shapes in space.  Here the sky is sliced into a pattern of abstract patchwork as the Swift truck cuts its path over the bridge.

$150.00

In the Station, Father and Daughter

IN THE STATION

(Father and Daughter)

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

More painting from the train windows.  What is going on here?  Is it a father and daughter?  She looks like she might be guilty about something, head down in a gesture of humility.  What did she do?  He looks straight ahead, unforgiving.   Or is she just examining her new boots?

$150.00

TRUCK DESCENDING

TRUCK DESCENDING

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Trucks all over the country are bringing us fresh produce and other goods so that we can step into the markets and buy pretty much whatever we want, from clementines in January to caviar from Russia.  Not too many of us are going into the root cellar for our shriveled beets stored from the summer or eating our own canned tomatoes.  We should have the skills that would allow us to survive if the trucks could not bring our food. I wonder if school would feel more relevant to kids if these skills were taught there.

$150.00

HOUSES BY THE TRACKS

HOUSES BY THE TRACKS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

What is it like to sit on these porches and watch the trains go by?

$150.00

Graffiti and Snow

Graffiti and Snow

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

This building resonates with color. The graffiti seems to be blending with the snow.  Or is the snow creating its own lively statement?

According to Wikipedia, "Both "graffiti" and its occasional singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato("scratched"). "Graffiti" is applied in art history to works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito",^[4] which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν — graphein — meaning "to write."

$150.00

Taking the Train

GRAFFITI AND OLD FACTORY

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

For the next few days I will be posting paintings done from photos taken from the window of the train from Philadelphia to New York.  For some reason the old factories covered in graffiti, houses by the train tracks, and yards full of old cars fascinate me when I travel by train.  There is something lonely, sad and at the same time reaffirming about what exists by the tracks.  Life goes on in the graffiti and the small often colorful homes.  Things start to blend together as the weather wears away the buildings and even the layers of graffiti become a part of nature's design.  The colorful marks are the flowering of the exuberant youth making themselves known to the world as it goes by in the comfort of the train.

$250.00

Good Samaritans

Yesterday my faith in human kindness was restored.  I foolishly pulled into a spot covered in slush in the middle of a parking area next to Radio Shack.  There was a car in front of me and in order to get out of the spot I had to back up over a lot of mush past two other spots.  Of course I got stuck.  First I put a beach blanket and my scarf - not my best one - under the wheels and tried rocking the car back and forth - no way was I going anywhere!  What to do?

 

I started looking for able bodied boys to ask for a push.  I spied two young men and hailed them, trying to look helpless, which was not difficult, no acting required.  They were reluctant but willing enough.  It was extremely slushy and there was no way to push the car except to get your feet really wet.  They pushed, I tried to gun the car but it simply would not move.  I thanked them and they left as they had to catch the train.  By this time the snow was coming down pretty heavily.  I got out of the car so I could be sure no one parked in back of me because it was pretty obvious the guy in front of me was not going anywhere and there was a pile of snow about three feet high on either side of the parking spaces.  

Someone did pull in back of me and I asked him not to park there as I would then be trapped for sure.  He said he would only be a minute and would help me get out when he returned.  That sounded good to me, as I had no idea what to do next.  I did not even have my phone.

He did return in a few minutes and asked if he could try my car.  He introduced himself as Jamie.  He tried and was unable to move it either.  At this point I spied 5 young men and hailed them across the street with cries of help.  As I get older I find I am much more able to ask for help.  I think when I was younger I would have simply dissolved into tears.   They came over and suggested the largest of them could certainly move the car.  He was a handsome, Lil Abner type, willing and strong.  He and my steadfast helper Jamie tried pushing with me at the wheel - still no dice.  Jamie got behind the wheel and all the boys pushed.  They managed to move the care backward but it still got stuck before it was out.  Lil Abner found a shovel somewhere and one of the other boys canvassed the area trying to find the owner of the car in front of me.  Digging and general good natured trying continued for about 45 minutes.  Two women stopped to ask if they could help.  One offered to sit on the trunk to make it heavier.  Nothing budged.  Jamie used his phone to call Triple A, and while he was talking two men came over to the car.  One had a cigarette dangling from his lips, the other jumped in the car and said,  "I will get you out of here".  I thought it was somewhat ludicrous to think that a guy could move the car while smoking when several young men could not, but was not in a position to complain.  The guy with the cigarette started pushing the car.  The guy in the car managed to move the car backwards and forwards very fast as it had not moved before.  Jamie started pushing with the cigarette guy and low and behold the car moved out of the slush and onto the street with hoots of joy from all.  In all 10 people stopped in the middle of a snow storm to help a perfect stranger.  Now that’s heart warming.

Fire Escape Shadow

FIRE ESCAPE SHADOW

Nancy Herman

9" x 12"

oil on canvas board

I have not been painting as much as usual as I have been working on the documentary for my film making class.  More about that when it is finished. 

Meanwhile, I have been longing to go outside and paint.  Of course the weather is not too hot for that at the moment, although there is a guy in Colorado who is painting in sometimes sub zero weather, four paintings a day....and they are good!  His name is Marc Hanson and here is a link to his blog, Painting My Way Through Life.

There are two key elements about painting outside that are different for me.  One is of course the weather, the constant changing light, the wind, the sun, the bugs, the whole iffiness of the physical conditions.  The other is that when I paint indoors I like to carefully plan what I am choosing to paint and make a careful drawing of it before I begin.   I think this goes back to my earliest childhood experiences of happily filling in the lines of my coloring books with crayolas.

Outside there simply is not time for any of that.  One simply cannot draw everything. It must be a great grab of information, hastily applied.  It is actually a young person's sport but unfortuneately it requires the skill of many years to perfect.  I am neither young nor have I spent the last few years perfecting that skill, although I did paint outdoors for many years,  I never gave myself over to it.  Am I ready to do that now?  Not sure.  This painting was a small start in that direction.  I did not paint outside but I also did not prepare a drawing first, just put the photo on my ipad and painted from that.  I will try that for a while before heading for the great outdoors.  Maybe the snow will melt and the temperatures will improve while I prepare.

Art Room

I have been in Brooklyn visiting children and grandchildren. I came home to find this very nice post about my work in one of my favorite blogs, Taryn Day's The Art Room.
Check it out.
THE ART ROOM

Another blog to visit

I am busy trying to make a documentary which I will be writing about in the near future.  Meanwhile please check out the wonderful blog of Altoon Sultan.  These thoughts are so beautifully expressed.

http://altoonsultan.blogspot.com/2014/01/william-carlos-williams-no-ideas-but-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StudioAndGarden+%28Studio+and+Garden%29

Fern and Lace

Fern and Lace

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

Winter has set in and the landscape is pretty monochromatic out there, but inside thanks to the careful nurturing of my husband, the plants are enjoying the heat from the radiators and their susequent very frequent watering.  All this keeping the humans hydrated and happy as well.

$150.00

Flying Away

FLYING AWAY

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

On these cold winter days it sounds like a good idea to be flying off to an exotic tropical paradise although this apartment building in Park Slope looks pretty cheery.

$150.00

CLOCK SHADOW

CLOCK SHADOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This bearded sentinel stands guard on either side of our old grandfather's clock in the hall at night.  His shadow self looks quite forbidding.  I'm sure any intruder would hesitate to go further.

$150.00

Handle Shadow

HANDLE SHADOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This very simple composition is strangely calming to me.  There is a question about where the actual handle is but somehow that brings in the rest of the world and so I don't mind if the answer is not there.

$150.00

Icicles

ICICLES

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas board

Icicles are a delight unless one falls on your head.  I was tempted to grab one and do a little dueling with the shadows.  I opted for painting this combination instead.

$150.00

Brown and Fog

Yesterday I drove to town in the early morning while there was still a lot of fog rising from the small patches of snow remaining.  I drove through Fairmount Park a lot of the way as I wanted to see what winter had to offer in the way of natural beauty.  I was richly rewarded with deep resonant browns as everything was very wet and the fog in patches seemed to make the whole scene mysterious.  I sincerely regretted not having my camera along.
Today I googled 'rich browns and fog images' and was rewarded with this artist's work.  He got 'it' at another time and place.  You may want to see more of these beautiful pastels.

Daniel Lee Michael

SNOW CATCHERS

SNOW CATCHERS

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

When I finish a painting I put it in a box that sits by my desk.  I have lots of boxes and each one has a label.  This painting fiits into the catagory of "little miracles".  The way the snow glistens on the top of each pile on the branch with the fantastic blue of the shadows setting it off gives me a thrill.  

If we can be alive to the little pleasures around us every day, there is a good chance we can be happy.

“A pleasure is full grown only when it is remembered.”
― C.S. Lewis, Out of the Silent Planet

“That pleasure which is at once the most pure, the most elevating and the most intense, is derived, I maintain, from the contemplation of the beautiful.”
― Edgar Allan Poe, Poems and Essays

$150.00

SOLD

Chard in the Snow

CHARD IN THE SNOW

Nancy Herman

6" x 8"

oil on canvas board

This painting is now for sale on papal

$150.00

CHARD IN THE SNOW

CHARD IN THE SNOW

Nancy Herman

oil on canvas board

6" x 8"

The photo this painting was based on came in second in the selections you voted for.  It was my favorite and I love the painting.  It can be yours by bidding on ebay.  I love auctions.  Let's see if you do too.

http://csr.ebay.com/cse/success.jsf?itemid=191027832930&mode=AddItem&draftId=205090391213

The Red Bike

It's New Year's Eve Day and most of you will be getting the glad rags on or stocking up on Champagne.  But, if you have 9 minutes and 5 seconds to spare, take a look at the silent movie I have been working on this month instead of painting.
It is an entry in the Bryn Mawr Film Institute's contest, which asks film makers to create a short film of 15 minute or less based on one in a list of classic films.  I chose The Bicylcle Thieves, an old Italian film by Director Vitorio DeSica.
As you will see it uses a lot of local talent - my Brooklyn children and grandchildren.  The best part is the score which was composed and performed in one go, just like in the old days, by my good old friend Squeek Steele who you might know as Squeek Moore, former music teacher at Merion School.
Here is the link. (This is not the absolutely final version but it is so close that utube would not accept it as another video, they thought the new one was the same)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqpeozwsP2M

SNOW SHADOWS

SNOW SHADOWS

Nancy Herman

6' x 8"

oil on canvas

Most of you voted for "Snow Shadows" as your favorite photo and here is the painting that resulted.  The snow is gone outside but it still remains in the memory of the painting.

Happy Holidays to all !!!

ICE 2

The spectacular ice display was not only a sparkling miracle.  It framed individual pieces of nature in a way that made me stop and marvel.

This flowering bush reminded of glazed fruit.

The branches suddenly have a new dancing life.

ICE

On Saturday there was a spectacular display of ice.  In the morning, when the sun came out, every branch was blazing with light.  I went out with my camera, knowing full well I would not be able to capture the miracle of it. But taking pictures is an excuse for experiencing...or a lie you tell yourself.  "I will capture this and have it forever".  I loved trying to capture it mainly because the act of trying made me slow down and really look.  The thrill of the visual experience is stored in my mind and I will think of it in the grey days ahead and look for other miracles of nature to store.

Close up sparkle

Further back- droplets melting

Poor version of the real experience although

accurate in most measurable parameters

In reality the whole place was alive with color.  The sparkles all contained every color and I could see the radience of  light everywhere.

Snow: Shadows under trees

I have not been blogging lately as I am working on a short silent movie for a contest sponsored by the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.  I love the place so I thought it would be fun to try to make a movie.  It is almost finished so I am taking time to look outside in this beautiful white world for some things to paint.
Here are some ideas.  What do you think is paint worthy?

Shadows under the trees

Branches

White House

Sap

Weeping Cherry

Swiss Chard