In the Field

Maudslay, Twombly and Gay

We'll be hard at it, tomorrow, depicting Mother Nature in all her finery. We've chosen to go to Maudslay again----a bit of practice for the upcoming workshop. We'll scout out the likely venues for our three days of plein air painting, trying to vary the sort of motif we'll be painting.

Photo Nancy Yeomans

Best wishes to our French brethren. We hope, after two successive rain-outs, that they'll have a great day, and we look forward to Bruce's report of their success.

The red dot marks the general location of Bruce and his trusty band of artists.

Today marks the birthday of two American artists, Edward
Gay (born in Ireland, 1837--died in Mt. Vernon, NY 1928), and Cy Twombly (born in 1928, and died July 5, 2011).

Curiously, between them they represent 174 consecutive years. What a change occurred from Edward Gay's landscapes to Twombly's explorations 0f the space between drawing and painting.

Here's Edward Gay painting a landscape. This does not appear to be en plein air.

Gay moved with his parents from Ireland to Albany, New York in 1848, fleeing the potato famine.

Twombly was born in 1928, in Lexington, Virginia. Through a long career he drew and painted canvases which, though they have a devoted audience, are often a real mystery to many people. I came around to them slowly, but now I'm a fan.

When my wife and I were living in Lexington, we had dinner with Cy and some others on one of his periodic visits back to Virginia. I'd like to tell you all the illuminating things he said about making art and about having a career. Alas, the dinner table conversation never got near the subject of art, so I've nothing to report----except that I shouldn't have guessed, had I not known, that the man across from me was a giant of his time.