Wednesday 6 May 2009

Book On Reflections Brings Back Reflections

My art books are my bedside books. Very few of them ever reach the coffee table.

The past six months have been very good to me in receiving art books. They are either piled up on my special “get to” shelf or stacked somewhere near my reading place.

Yesterday a fresh unopened art book arrived in the post. This was from a good friend who knows my soft spot for water reflections in paintings. The book that arrived to me was Reflections of Nature: Paintings by Joseph Raffael written by Donald Kuspit and Amei Wallach.

Just to give you a little insight to myself and interest with the reflections of water.

As an art student at Marshall University in Huntington, WV. I took several painting classes in a studio setting under the direction of Stanley Sporny. He had a different take on colour and approach to painting. And a solid practice on learning to see and the observation of form.

While I was studying, Stan was exploring his Water Series in small studies in his studio. There were multiple elements he wanted to apply in building these painting. It is interesting to see his work after ten years. I think that they were a success from what he had set out to do.

Stanley's last show River Series was located at the Callen McJunkin Gallery in Charleston, WV.
He passed away in October 2008.
Remembering Stanley Sporny

Briefly looking this book and on first impressions. The first paragraph, located in the main text, sums it up for me. This is what I would like to see more of.

“When Joseph Raffael paints water, he paints light and movement. The light is transparent, it glitters, it moves as the water moves. There is a great deal of slippage in this light. It loses itself in the depth and reflects off the surface. The surface appears gelatinous, seems to slide, submerge, to surf the light...

I could only surmise how much of a challenge these water paintings were to create. They are visually challenging. Yet, there is a calming energy about them. They show what an artist can do.

If anyone has read this book, I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

-Kim Bennett

11 comments:

  1. Congrats on your Link Love lesson! you definitely did it. Learning about all of this in class is making me re-program my head and it's exciting.

    Carol from blog class

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  2. Great job on the link love, Kim! I like how your link love is not underlined and just part of your writing. Really looks nice.

    ~Barbara Techel
    Author & Mom of Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog
    http://www.frankiethewalknrolldog.blogspot.com

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  3. Kim, this post was absolutely delightful to read! The book definitely looks like something to check out, and I loved hearing about your art background and who you studied under. Stanley Sporny painted incredible water scenes. Thanks for letting me peek into your life and thoughts about art.

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  4. Hi Kim, What an interesting post. I went to Stanley Sporny's site and loved his work There is a calmness about it. I see that he studied here in Philly. Thanks for sharing the book by Joseph Raffael. I need to go back to amazon and check it out. I also love reflections. Don't do them myself but love to look at paintings with them. Thanks, Dora (blog class)

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  5. Hi Carol and Barbara,
    There has been a lot for us to learn in the Blog Triage class. It has been fun!

    It will be interesting to see what is installed for us in the next lesson.

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  6. Hi Krista,
    Glad you enjoyed it.
    I'm fond of Sporny's water scenes. I think they were just amazing.
    He was incredibly talented.

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  7. Hello Dora,
    I am glad that you took the time to look at his work.

    Thanks for stopping by.

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  8. Hi Kim,

    Thanks for the wonderful links - I really like Joseph Raffael's work.

    If you like water reflections in paintings you might like the work of a friend and neighbor Danielle Eubank.

    Last but not least - my mother went to Marshall University!

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  9. I agree, I found this post delightful. and I like your link love! I hadn't thought to put blog triage as a tag, I'm going to do it with my next post!

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  10. Hello Katherine.
    It is a small world isn't it.

    Thank you for the link that you provided. That was nic of you. Danielle works are something not to miss. Here landscapes animals and people are also worth a looking at.

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It would be great to hear from you.