Dear Friends,
   Everyday I am more and more amazed of the resource the Internet it. How we can view beautiful art collections online without having to leave our homes or studios, view demo's and even listening to amazing lectures online at the tip of our fingers, and all this is free!
Well, I stumbled upon a wonderful place on the Internet: The WGBH Forum Network. (WGBH live and Archived Webcasts of Free Public Lectures in Partnership with Boston's Leading Cultural and Educational Organizations.) WGBH Forum Network.

What a gift the Internet is! I have been enjoying tremendously the lectures, which you can either hear, watch, or even podcast. Everything from Art to Music, to Science, etc.
   "The WGBH Forum Network is an audio and video streaming website dedicated to curating and serving live and
on-demand lectures given by some of the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policy makers and community
leaders."

If you would like to try it out, I would suggest you consider listening to
"Bostonians Who Collected Impressionism" with Dr. Erica Hirshler, senior curator, paintings at the MFA Boston.

If you have never seen her, it is so nice to put a name and a face together. I have collected her books on Impressionism
 for quite some time. As with Richard Ormond, I believe that any book she writes about Impressionism is worth reading.

I had to share this with you and hope you will enjoy this forum as much as I do.

Have a beautiful day!
Gladys

Just a short note to let you know about a hard decision I have made. I have scheduled a four day still life workshop at the Coppini starting Friday April 18 to Monday April 20. It will take place from 10AM to 5PM everyday.
   But for the very first time, I am being very strict about only having eight students. It is my sincerest desire to share with you the little knowledge I might have, and therefore I want to make sure that each student receives what they expect from one of my workshops. Recently I gave a workshop to a rather large group. I did this because I had more students than I could handle. I thought it would work out.   Unfortunately, it was not the best decision because I felt I was not able to work with each person the way that I would of liked to. Therefore, from now on, I will very firmly limit my workshops to only eight students. If there is a need, I will have a waiting list. I truly hope that you understand, as I feel it is my obligation to share with you what others have so unselfeshly shared with me and I can only do so in a smaller group.
   So I came up with this idea: "How many are too many students" What do you think?
Would love to hear your thoughts.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns, please let me know.
The workshop will be held at the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts.

Happy painting!
Very sincerely
Gladys :)

Hi everybody and Happy New Year to all of you!
 Thank you for your emails and comments.

I wanted to update you all with some information. Some of you have written me asking if I submitted any work for the Greenhouse and/or OPA. Unfortunately, I was not able to. I have been so busy with the move into our new home and studio, that I did not have the time to really focus on the two competitions and I did not want to just send in anything. We are still living with boxes everywhere, but slowly and surely things are falling back to place. I am happy to write that I am back to my painting routine and I am enjoying my new studio. I did not think I would get used to it, since I do not have the two story height of the other one, but  I was pleasantly surprised to see the I LOVE it!
 
Therefore, after finishing some military commissions, and getting over my huge disappointment for not making the two deadlines, I have now focused all my energy towards painting for my September Show in Santa Fe at GiacobbeFritz Fine Art Gallery. I am also trying to add the section "What's on my easel" to this website, and hope to have it done tonight. I will try and post what I have been working on.
If I can be of any help, please let me know.

Happy painting to all of you!
Blessings!
Gladys

Hi everybody
Just wanted to share with you an awesome website that Sue Lyon wrote me about
www.createbetterpaintings.com


It is an online magazine and it is wonderful!!!!
Hope you enjoy
Gladys :)

Dear Class, here is the painting we talked about today. I hope you find it as inspiring as I do and see the possibilities of the posing of our model today.
See you Wednesday!
Gladys


Flaming June is a painting by Frederic Lord Leighton, produced in 1895. Painted with oil paints on a 47" x 47" square canvas, it is widely considered to be Leighton's crowning work, showing his classicist nature. It is thought that the woman portrayed alludes to the sleeping figures the Greeks would often paint which were collectively referred to as Venus.

Flaming June was auctioned in the 1960s, during a period of time known to be difficult for selling Victorian era paintings, where it failed to sell for its low reserve price of $140 USD (the equivalent of $840 in contemporary prices). Afterward, it was promptly purchased by the Ponce Museum of Art in Puerto Rico where it currently resides (see the following account).

The painting was honored in song by Paul Weller on his "Stanley Road" album, and by Mexican singer Luis Miguel (who was born in Puerto Rico) in his music video for the song "Amarte es un placer".

Circumstances of arrival in Puerto Rico

In 1963, Luis A. Ferre - the noted Puerto Rican industrialist and politician, who would be elected Governor five years later - was on a trip around Europe, engaged in purchasing paintings and sculptures for the Ponce Museum of Art in Puerto Rico, which he had founded. On a stop in a gallery in Amsterdam, he found "Flaming June" abandoned in a corner. He became impressed by the painting's beauty, and asked the owner about it.

The owner said no one was interested in the painting because it was considered too old-fashioned for the time. But he added that if Ferre was interested in it, that he could have it for $10,000. Even though Ferre thought it was expensive (as noted above, it had been shortly before been auctioned for much less), they entered into an agreement that Ferre would wire the money for the painting. The man gave his word of not selling it to anyone else.

Antonio Luis Ferre, the industrialist's son, many years later related that his father spent a sleepless night, worried that the gallery owner wouldn't keep his promise^[1]. Ferre called him in the morning, assuring him that the money would be wired and asking him to keep his promise - which he did, even though other people had already gone to the gallery and liked the painting.

Thus, "Flaming June" traveled to the Ponce Museum of Art and was prominently displayed. In later years, it was loaned to important expositions around the world, with the renewal of interest in Victorian art. As noted by El Nuevo Dia Newspaper (April 22, 2001), Puerto Ricans are proud of having rescued the painting from obscurity and feel that "It now belongs to Puerto Rico".

Information from Wikipedia.

Hi everybody,
Just to let you know that the gentleman that makes the pochade box I shared with you yesterday  is Ben Haggett and his boxes are called
Alla Prima Pochade Boxes
and his website is www.allaprimapochade.com
http://www.allaprimapochade.com/

Hope you like them as much as I do. They are GREAT!

Landscape and Figure Composition by Sadakichi Hartmann (Sidney Allan)

Foolow this link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=91QEAAAAYAAJ&dq=sadakichi+hartmann+figures+in+the+landscape&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=qMnB_5jTfs&sig=YzCiL6441Z5ySFp2XWLoBf-N4FU#PPA17,M1

Hi everybody, because I have gotten so many inquiries about the books, I have decided to post a list here, without any comments. I will try and add more titles as time permits. If you have any ideas/suggestions/favorite books you would like to have included, drop me a line.



1." Gruppe on Painting", Emile Gruppe, 1976, ISBN 0-8230-2157-2
2. "Brushwork for the Oil Painter", Emile Gruppe, 1983, ISBN 0-8230-0526-7
3. "Gruppe on Color", Emile Gruppe, 1979, ISBN 0-8230-2155-6
4. "Alla Prima: Everything I know about Painting", Richard Schmid, 1998, ISBN 9780966211702
5. "Richard Schmid Paints the Landscape", Richard Schmid, 1975, ISBN 0823-04862-4
6."Richard Schmid Paints the Figure: Advanced techniques in Oil", Richard Schmid, 1973, ISBN 0823-04865-6
7. "Creative Illustration" by Andrew Loomis, Viking Press
8. "Eye of the Painter" by Andrew Loomis
9. "drawing the Head and Hands" by Andrew Loomis
10. "Figure Drawing" by Andrew Loomis
11."Oil Painting" by Harold Speed, 1924 Chapman and Hall Ltd. (This book has been reprinted by Dover Books)
12."Lansdcape Painting" by Birge Harrison, Charles Scribner and Sons, 1911
13. "Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting" by John F. Carlson , Bridgman Publishers, 1928
14."Pictorial Composition" by H.R. Poore, GP Putnams and Sons,
1903
15. "Composition in Art" by Hentry Rankin Poore, Dover Books, 1967
16."The Natural Way to Draw", Nicholaides

1.    Patrick (done)     

2.       Del   (done)

3.      Sarah (done)

4.      Charlotte  (done)

5.      Carolyn  (done)

6.      Cindy

7.      Beth

8.      Irena

9.      Barbara

11.  Elena A.

12.  Pat

13.  Don

14.  Lula

"Gray Day Tarpon Springs" by Emile Gruppe

Hi everybody,
As I was working in my studio today, I began to think what would benefit my students most? Should we watch some of the "classic" instruction videos after our workshop or should we read and study again some of what many  artists believe are the "great classics" for an oil painter. So, I decided, that for this particular group of students, we should re-study Emile Gruppe books.
For those of you that have never heard of Emile Gruppe, let me give you a short introduction.

EMILE A. GRUPPE (American, 1896-1978)

Born in Rochester, New York, Emile Albert Gruppe became a renowned New England landscape and marine painter. Although Emile Gruppe is best known for his variety of Impressionistic landscapes, he also painted figures and portraits. Gruppe's modern style was largely inherited from French Impressionist Claude Monet. "Lily Pads," date and location unknown, one of Gruppes landscapes, attests to Monets influence and is similar to some of the paintings in Monets "Water Lily" series.

Emile was the son of landscape artist Charles Paul Gruppe, and was born in 1896 in Rochester, New York. He had a very strong art background. In addition to being raised by an artistic father, Gruppe was also educated in art at The Hague in the Netherlands and in New York City at the National Academy of Design and The Arts Students League.

Emile A. Gruppe also received instruction from artists George Bridgeman, Charles Chapman, Richard Miller and John F. Carlson, with whom he would later founded, in 1942, the Gruppe Summer School in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He made his permanent studio in Gloucester.

Gruppe's artistic career had begun in 1915, but was briefly interrupted in 1917 when he spent a year in the United States Navy. Gruppes prolific career brought him many awards and memberships. His popular painting "Winter, Vermont," date and location unknown, won the Richard Mitton Award at the Jordan Marsh Exhibition in Boston in 1843.

Bibliography courtesy of AstArt.com. Click here to learn more about EMILE A. GRUPPE www.askart.com

He published three well known books on painting which are still highly sought:

Gruppe on Painting (Watson Guptill), 1976

Brushwork (Watson Guptill), 1977

Gruppe on Color (Watson Guptill), 1979

You can search for these books on www.addall.com

We will be starting with the Gruppe on Color.

Now, A small summary of how I see the "lineage" of Emile Gruppe:

Birge Harrison was the Founder of Woodstock and taught John F. Carlson (1874-1945) (Carlson continued with the Woodstock School) who was considered by many a great  tonalist.  Emile Gruppe, as did many artist in those years, studied under Carlson for "values", but went to Charles Hawthorne for "color", to Provincetown, Massachusetts.  Interesting to notice that Henry Hensche was a student of Hawthorne, and many great contemporary artists, such as my friend Camille Przewodek, studied under Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art. . I can see a strong lineage in these "colorists".

In this short paragraph, it is interesting to see how I have mentioned several artists, and almost all of them have written books that are still highly sought and that are considered "classics". Therefore we have:

 "Landscape Painting" by Birge Harrison
Carlson's Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson
"Hawthorne on Painting" by Charles Hawthorne, although the notes would put together by one of his students,
"The Art of Seeing" by Henry Hensche
and the three books mentioned above written by Emile Gruppe. All of these are hard to find books, and if you do find them, expect to pay a good quantity for them..

  I will continue this blog latter.....

See you Wednesday!
Gladys
----------------------------

Well, I had a wonderful time in class today. It is so nice to see how everybody is doing such a great job. Nevertheless,  I did notice a couple of students who were a but frustrated with painting "models", but it's OK.  Just remember, if you can paint a vase with flowers (or whatever) correctly, from life, always establishing  your extremes ASAP, not using up all your values,  paying close attention to temperatures, bust most importantly to the values, you shold be able to paint anything under the sun! Compare, Compare, compare! And always squint to see edges/values but open your eyes to see color. Simply trust your eyes.
I believe everybody enjoyed watching the short video about Sergei Bongart from PBS. . I found it very inspiring and I am a true admirer of his paintings. I loved his accent. I just feel for the whole class, because between his accent and mine, you guys are in for a treat! For those of you interested in the book, the title is "Sergei Bongart" by Mary N. Balcomb. You can purchase this wonderful book from her website, at http://www.marynbalcomb.com/author/bongart.html
  And then of course, we watched "the secret squint" with Richard Schmid recorded at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago.You can visit their website at www.paletteandchisel.org and inquire if they still offer that video for sale. What an informative and delightful short movie! Plus you get to see Schmid in action!  As everybody knows, he is truly a Master, and what many believe one of the " Artists Artist".

Getting back to the "classics", I will continue to list some of the books I believe are considered classics by many. So, to this list I should add, all of Richard Schmid's books. Two of them, written in the 70's are very hard to find, but his latest book titled "Alla Prima; everything I know about painting" is in print and you can purchase it from his website at www.richardschmid.com 
I know that the later one became a classic as soon as it hit the bookshelves. It is a book that every time you read it  you will  learn something new. His two other books about figure painting and landscape painting, you should be able to find at www.addall.com

I hope everybody keeps those brushes wet and has a lovely week!
Would love to hear any comments/ questions/ concerns, etc.

Blessings!
Gladys