Painting(s) of the Day by Terri Brooks

Terri Brooks, Neapolitan, 2011. Oil, enamel, pigment and PVA on canvas, 127x176 cm, Polyptych.

"I paint with my back to the world"

Agnes Martin, Happy Holidays, Acrylic and graphite on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 1999 via.

I watched an interview with Agnes Martin on the documentary series Art City recently (streaming on netflix) -here are a few of her many memorable quotes,

"I paint with my back to the world"

"I've painted a lot of paintings about happiness. I paint about happiness, innocence and beauty - the feelings that we have that go beyond the world - that have no worldly cause."

"Doesn't matter where you are - if you bring your mind to a stop you will feel a light, delicate happiness - that's tranquility"

"Everybody's rushing so much in this life, that they don't take time to really look and find out what their response is - even to their own work."

"You only pay attention to things that you like...and when you go to the museum you just look at the paintings you like - you don't look at the ones you don't like and stop and criticize and all that..."

~Agnes Martin

Guest Blogger; Jason Stopa

Agnes Martin, Untitled IX, (detail) 1982 - at the Denver Art Museum - photo by mel brava

My good friend Jason Stopa shares a little about some inspiration from one of his favorite painters, writing, "I've read her writings twice this year. These are some of my favorite quotes of the late painter:

'Beauty and happiness and life are all the same and they are pervasive, unattached and abstract and they are our only concern. They are immeasurable, completely lacking in substance. They are perfect and sublime. This is the subject matter of art.'

'When I think of art I think of beauty. Beauty is the mystery of life. It is not in the eye it is in the mind. In our minds there is awareness of perfection.'

'I don't think the way to succeed is by doing something aggressive. Aggression is weak-minded.' "

A Pair

The Pieksamaki water tower with the current coat of arms of the city, Pieksamaki, Finland. Architect - Arne Ervi

Agnes Martin, The Tree. 1964. Oil and pencil on canvas, 6 x 6' (182.8 x 182.8 cm).

Busy Busy

I've been blogging a little less lately trying to finish up a painting. It's based off of this photo:

And I thought there were elements of this image that reminded me of some of of my favorite abstractionists. For example, look at the fence section at the bottom of the image - it reminds me of a Agnes Martin grid or one of Frank Stella's monochromatic striped compositions:

Agnes Martin

Frank Stella (detail) photo by B-Mer

And I thought the roof sections reminded me of a Robert Motherwell painting - this may be a little more of a stretch or more difficult to see, but I've blurred the photo to make it more pronounced:

more blurred:

cropped in:

Robert MotherwellRobert Motherwell

I know it does not look just like a Motherwell, but I think the roof has a similar visual rhythm. Well that's what I see anyway...