Studio Update:

Everyday, for the last few months, I have been working on Venus. Last week I wiped off about a month's work on her face, and then worked some more. I am kind of weird, in the sense that when I have taken wrong paths in painting and then found out it doesn't work the way I would hope, I simply wipe off and try something different--I get kind of excited about the idea of a new direction, and the pain of wasted time, seems to simply fall off me. I think that is because, deep down, I never view any trial in painting as a negative, it's all exploration, it's all to do with painting, they are avenues that I don't have to go down anymore, check them off my list, and happily move on.

One of the big problems has been to create a type of classic beauty with unorthodox lighting and color. Rembrandt and da Vinci innovated some the most beautiful ways to light a face, mainly the face tilted down and lit from above. In Venus,  her face is lifted and she is lit from a low frontal light. I will discuss in other update the light and more about the creation of Venus when she is complete.

This is the most recent pic. I will triple check her expression, and clean up any blemishes--but, for sure, I am in the home stretch.

The higher I reach to create a principal work, like Venus, the more I know how important is a comprehensive grasp of foundations of art. You really cannot reach very far if you are on a tottering foundation. My early fine arts education was Postmodern and I took my classes seriously, did well, and knew, with incredible clarity, that Postmodernism was incompatible with my vision as a painter. So I rejected the aesthetic roots of Postmodernism, treated it like a  dead end, anti-art form, which it is, and concentrated on everything to do with painting and bringing out my visions. And, boy, am I glad I did--haven't doubted, for a second, that devoting my art energy to painting was the right thing to do.

That, of course, is my personal take. But, in truth, Postmodernism is a dead end--and I would tell any passionate, sensitive artist to run as far away from it as possible. Invest their precious energy into the substance of painting and it will reward in confidence, in sensual pleasure, in the power of expression, and in benevolence.

Indeed, since we are exposed to Postmodernism as our primary contemporary art, it behooves me to treat it seriously and point out its negative essence in theory and practice. In my online presentations you will find a balance of what I am against in art and what I am for. Knowing what you are against, is a lot like shadow because it strengthens the light.

3-Day Intensive Pastel Workshop in Central Park

September 14-16, 2007

3-Day Intensive Pastel Workshop in Central Park September 14-16, 2007

If you are interested in taking the workshop, contact me.

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That's it for July.

Michael Newberry
New York--June 1, 2007