Sean and Sara painting this morning.
At the moment I am teaching the Florence Academy of Art’s landscape painting class along with Jordan Sokol. Princess Giorgiana Corsini has generously given us the use of the private gardens at her palazzo, which is one of the more beautiful places to paint on an April morning. I took a few pictures this morning as the place is so stunning.
One interesting thing about the course in general is that the advanced painting students tend to have more difficulty that the intermediate group. I think they assume that because they have painted so much in the studio already that it should be just the same outside. It is actually very different, and they tend to get frustrated quicker that the students with less experience in painting. Another problem I notice every year is that the students bring the wrong materials and think they can just wing it. Painting is so difficult even when your materials are all perfect, it becomes almost impossible if you have missing or incorrect equipment.
This year the class is going well. Today was only our second meeting and already the work is showing great improvement.
Pablo painting the portico.
These are the ten books on art which have had the most influence on me as a painter over the years. I haven’t listed them in any particular order. I should mention that these are all books for reading, without color reproductions. Clicking on the titles takes you to the Amazon.com (U.S.) page for each book.
by Friedrich Nietzsche. Even though it has nothing to do with painting, this book probably influenced my views on art more than any other that I’ve read.
by Lorenz Eitner. An incredible collection of writings by painters and sculptors from back when artists were the only experts on art.
by Edgar Wind. This book introduced me to iconography and really blew my mind when I first read it. There are more great books on the subject by Wind’s teacher, Erwin Panofsky.
by Philip Ball. Great book on artist’s pigments by an excellent author.
by Walter Sargent. There are a lot of books on color, this is the best one that I’ve read.
by Harold Speed. The classic book on drawing.
by Edgar Payne. Excellent book on landscape compostion by the great plein air painter.
by Rex Vicat Cole. The first two chapters on landscape painting in general are brilliant.
by J. J. Pollitt. Excellent resource for studying Greek sculpture. Also interesting to see how much art history repeats itself.