The Sight & Insight Podcast

Greetings, Art Lovers, We hope you haven't forgotten us! It hasn't been easy, getting together over the last year or so, to record a podcast, but we hope you are all safe and happy and anxious to tune in to another episode of all things Art. This is our Memorial Day weekend special. Just to bring things up to date, Connie tells us about the progress on her book and her work with the Camera Lucida, and David talks about how important it was to get out into the garden last summer to paint outdoors even during the lockdown. Connie and the Camera Lucida! David 'Looking Back,' o/c, 18x14----more---- Meanwhile, Judy is working with Dale Ratcliff Movalli on putting together a book of Charles Movalli's American Artist articles, 'Conversations with...' featuring many of Cape Ann's best loved painters. Lots of advice and acumen delivered in Charlie's own inimitable style! Coming soon. Connie and David's Sight and Insight Zoom program continues to grow and they talk about the actualization of their teaching, including the Metaphysical Toolbox and what we can learn from Monet.                 Above: From Monet's Grainstack Series Check out their websites lorwenpaintings.com and davidpcurtis.com for more information on the Sight and Insight Zoom Program, and registration. Wishing you and your loved ones a safe, happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend 2021. Cheers, Connie, David and Judy      

Episode 42 Greetings, Art Lovers, We hope you are still all safe and healthy during these trying times. With quarantine, isolation, and sequestration still ongoing, we must take care of our mental health as well as our physical well being. With that in mind, Judy kicks off with how art helps keep her on an even keel. Connie shares her ideas on how to keep going when life is almost at a standstill, and David updates us on how he has been keeping busy.  Connie and David, who both love to paint Plein Air but are currently sequestered in the studio, share images of recent interiors and how to bring a different mindset to working indoors. The three of them also discuss recent books they've been reading on art, art history, and creative psychology. They like to cover all the bases.  The Yin Corner by Lorwen C. Nagle In addition, David discusses artists he has known, including Don Stone, Tom Nicholas, N. A., and T. M. Nicholas and their working methods. The Yang Corner by David P. Curtis Then the discussion moves towards the importance of art history and what we can learn from earlier masters. David talks about George Inness, Connie discusses Klimt, Moll, and the Vienna Secession, while Judy chips in with the importance of local art history and some of the books she has authored over recent years. Need something to read while you are waiting for your paint to dry? Here are some choices recommended to the Sight & Insight crew: From Connie: Here are some books I’d recommend that focus on the connection between art and psychology. Kandel, Eric R., 2013. The Age of Insight. Random House: New York Gombrich, E.H., 2000. Art & Illusion. Bollingen Series XXXV: Princeton University Press. Kris, Ernst. 1965. Psychoanalytic Explorations in Art. International Universities Press: New York. Arnheim, Rudolf. 1974. Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye (New Version). University of California Press: Berkley From David: These are some of the books on art that I never tire of picking up and leafing through: From Judy: It's hard to pick a favorite out of all the art books we have around the house, but anyone wanting to know more about Cape Ann's connection to the art world should try: Artists of Cape Ann: A 150 Year Tradition by Kristian Davies Joseph DeCamp by Laurene Buckley Frank Duveneck: Painter-Teacher by Josephine W. Duveneck. And if you are interested, here are just a few of the books Judy has written on Cape Ann art and artists.  Well, that's it for this week's podcast. We hope you enjoy it. Hopefully, Connie, David, and Judy will be able to get back together again soon, so, until then, stay safe and healthy and immerse yourself in ART! Cheers, David, Connie, and Judy

Greetings, Art Lovers! We hope you are safe and healthy during the current social distancing parameters. Having isolated ourselves for the original two weeks and showing no ill effects, we decided to risk a podcast to send our best wishes to all you art lovers out there who are beginning, like us, to feel the cabin fever. Don't worry, we all kept a safe distance from the microphones, but we wanted to share some uplifting thoughts with you and encourage you to get out your paints, brushes, pastels, art books, snacks, and any other paraphernalia you might need to begin creating. Your imagination and creativity can take you well beyond the boundaries to which we must adhere at the moment. Edgar Degas A Ballet Seen from an Opera Box, 1885, pastel 29 ½ x 20, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Phila, PA. People call me the painter of dancing girls. It has never occurred to them that my chief interest in dancers lies in rendering movement and painting pretty clothes. — Edgar Degas Not sure where to start? Tune in now as David, Connie and Judy share thoughts and observations on art in general and what they have been doing to keep busy. Connie begins with the fact that art is a safe haven during troubled times and relates how she has been working on a giant-sized painting (42 x 58?!) to engage her imagination. David has been cultivating Alexander Cozens' 'blot technique' and is fascinated by what can be found by creating a blot or scribble and then pulling a landscape or rocky coastline out of the fog. They also discuss Giovanni Boldini and Edgar Degas both of whom aspired to create the effect of movement in their work; Degas with his racehorses and ballerinas, and Boldini, known as the "Master of Swish", according to Time because of his flowing style of painting. ["Art: Master of Swish". time.com. 3 April 1933]   Giovanni Boldini, Portrait of the Countess Zichy, 1905, no details. Observe how much movement Boldini creates with loose and flowing brushwork to emulate the texture of satin and net, as well as the suggested motion of the Countess. Softened lines contribute to the effect of movement.                   As Connie says, we often find ambiguity in paintings, suggested notes that our minds try to comprehend. Is that flick of white on the horizon a mis-stroke by the artist, or, no, wait, it's a sailboat, a schooner in full sail, perhaps a rider on a white horse in a desert scene. The viewer is instantly engaged with the painting as his, or her, imagination discovers other small details. "We are wired," says Connie, our resident artist-psychologist, "to make something out of ambiguity."  Judy updates us on several art talks and presentations that had to be canceled, including "A Father & Son's Journey in Paint" Tom Nicholas, N. A. and T. M. Nicholas at the Cape Ann Museum, 'Gloucester Through the Artist's Eye for the Cape Ann College Women's Club and a presentation at the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell on A. T. Hibbard by both Judy and David. The latter two events are being rescheduled, and will be announced when they finally make it on to the calendar, even if it's next year! Finally, David muses on the 2020 competition for a free workshop. He is still finessing the details but we ask you to stay tuned and, as soon as he has an official announcement, we will let you know. In the meantime, don't forget: Difficulties are opportunities to better things, they are stepping stones to greater experience. Perhaps someday you will be thankful for some temporary failure in a particular direction. When one door closes, another always opens, as a natural law, it has to be, to balance. — Bryan Adams   HILAIRE-GERMAIN-EDGAR DEGAS (FRENCH, 1834–1917) BEFORE THE RACE, c. 1882, Oil on panel, 10 1/2 x 13 3/4 in. The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark, 1939. Ac. No. 1955.557

Episode 40 [P]erception and thinking cannot get along without each other." Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking, University of California Press, 1972, p. 188 Roger W. Curtis (1910-2000) Break, break, break, on thy cold grey stones, O sea! o/c, 25 x 30 Seasons Greetings, Art Lovers! Join Connie, David and Judy for a chat around the coffee table as they discuss the Paradox of Painting. By definition, a paradox is "a situation, person, or thing that combines contradictory features or qualities." So what are some of the paradoxes we come across in painting? Well, there's the notion of Concept (ie interior thoughts) -v- Percept (external, action-oriented). Or Light -v- darkness. We also have Improvisation, rifting off one thing to come up with another;  winging it -v- a literal, by-the-rules approach. There's also ambiguity -v- the clearly defined and, lastly, just as magnets can both attract and repel, there is the paradox in painting of Attraction, or Forms that Welcome us -v- Repulsion. Too much of anything can also rebuff us. In painting, balance does not necessarily mean equality of elements. In learning to work with these paradoxes, we have to turn to the Grand School of Nature: the artist's greatest inspiration! George Inness, the prominent American landscape painter is a wonderful example of what can be achieved with paint and canvas. George Inness, The Storm, 1885, Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, US We hope you enjoy the conversation. Join us next time for more thoughts on art and the people who make it. Until then: Happy Holidays from Connie, David and Judy       Deck the Halls Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la, la la la, la la la. Troll the ancient Yule tide carol, Fa la la la la, la la la la. See the blazing Yule before us, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Strike the harp and join the chorus. Fa la la la la, la la la la. Follow me in merry measure, Fa la la la la, la la la la. While I tell of Yule tide treasure, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Fast away the old year passes, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Hail the new, ye lads and lasses, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Sing we joyous, all together, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Heedless of the wind and weather, Fa la la la la, la la la la. The music to Deck the Halls is believed to Welsh in origin and was reputed to have come from a tune called "Nos Galan" dating back to the sixteenth century. In the eighteenth century Mozart used the tune to Deck the Halls for a violin and piano duet J.P. McCaskey is sometimes credited with the lyrics of Deck the Halls but he only edited the Franklin Square Song Collection in which the lyrics were first published. The first publication date of Deck the Halls is 1881.

There is No Direct Path to Reality, or Alexander Cozens and the Blot on the Landscape Connie began reading about the psychology of Cozens' work - preceding the Roscharch psychological test by a decade or more - and passed on her findings to David, who also became intrigued. They will be covering Cozens' work in more depth in their upcoming book, In Focus 2020. Judy then picked up the baton and started researching Cozens and was, of course, delighted to find he has English roots, albeit he was born in St. Petersburg, or thereabouts, where his father was working at the time on creating Peter the Great’s imperial navy.  Alexander Cozens, Vale near Matlock, Derbyshire, oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 35 1/2, private collection Cozens (1717–1786) studied in London from 1727, and by 1733 had learned etching. After his father's death in 1735, Cozens returned to Russia to assist his family who were suffering hard times. In spring of 1746, Cozens sailed for Italy, and settled in Rome. He worked in the studio of the eminently successful French landscapist Claude-Joseph Vernet (1714-89), making Cozens one of the first British artists to study and work in Rome. Sadly, Cozens lost many of his Italian works while traveling through Germany on his return to England in 1749. Interestingly, those paintings that did survive were recovered in Florence by his son in 1776. Want to know more? Here is a great link to further information and images Alexander Cozens - Experimental Painter, His Tercentenary Alexander Cozens (1717–1786), A Blot-Lake with Boat, Surrounded by Trees (date not known), brush and black ink, 16.2 x 21 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1930), New York, NY. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, via Wikimedia Commons. If you have enjoyed discovering the work of Alexander Cozens as much as Connie, David and Judy have, then check out more of his work online. His method of landscape painting is truly inspirational! Alexander Cozens, A Blot: Landscape Composition, c.1770–80. Watercolour and graphite on paper, Tate, London, UK, purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996 Ref.: T08114 Cozens's famous 'blot' technique was fully evolved by the 1750s. However he did not explain it in detail until the publication of 'A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape' (1786). The idea seems to have originally been developed by him as a teaching aid, to liberate the imagination of the student who, he felt, spent too much time in copying the works of others. He wrote that the blot was a 'production of chance, with a small degree of design'. The true blot was 'an assemblage of accidental shapes', 'forms without lines from which ideas are presented to the mind'. Blotting was done deliberately, the 'rude forms' which result having been made 'at will'. [Tate, London, UK Gallery label, September 2004] "Everything that is painted directly and on the spot has always a strength, a power, a vivacity of touch which one cannot recover in the studio... three strokes of a brush in front of nature are worth more than two days of work at the easel." — Eugene Boudin Until next time, happy painting, happy art loving, David, Judy and Connie