Part of the introduction to my upcoming book

The Parable of the Talents

Talent is today defined as natural ability or aptitude. People throw the word around: “He has talent,” “I have no talent.” The origin of the word is important. In Biblical times, a talent was a weight or monetary unit—money, in other words. And what is money? Money is a medium of exchange.

Talent apparently came to mean ability or aptitude because of the Parable of the Talents, a story attributed to Jesus in the Bible (Matthew 25:14-30.) It’s a fascinating story. A man left three servants with differing amounts of money (talents) when he went on a trip. One buried it, but two invested it and had more talents. He rewarded the two who doubled their talents and threw the third into the street.

So be warned: if talent is a word standing for natural ability, it is still up to you to develop that ability you have.

Update to start the new year

I just wanted to give you an update on what I am up to. I felt, with the economic downturn, that I needed to develop some low-cost products that could be offered to friends, former buyers and students. I discovered a wonderful "Print-on-demand" website, lulu.com.

One item is a 12-month calendar for 2009 with one of my pictures (beautifully produced) matching each month ($20). It's a flip-down calendar so that each month displays the calender on a separate 8.5 x 11 page below a full page photo of a painting.

The other product is a 40-page coloring book (32 illustrations in black and white, $15) of a poem by Dean called "The Doll's Journey." The poem, in blank verse, tells of a little girl who lost her doll. Only a man she meets tells her the doll is not actually lost but just on a trip. The man proceeds to write her letters. There is a wonderful surprise ending. The idea for the poem came from a footnote in a biography of that great writer of children's stories, Franz Kafka. What the mysterious young man in this poem does, Kafka is said to have done in 1923 in Berlin toward the end of his being Kafka.

We are now working on a perfect bound volume of Dean's poetry letter called "Deanotations," issues 1-20. It will be approximately 125 8.5 by 11 pages. Should be finished and published later this month. This poetry letter was produced from 1984 to 2004 and consisted of a total of 110 issues containing Dean's poetry and my illustrations.

In the longer term, I am working on a book of Art Basics and Exercises intended for my students and others who either have been mystified by some aspect of the art process ("I just don't understand color") or just want a sort of workbook that they can use to improve their skills. This book will be in Black and White (unfortunately) because it would be prohibitively expensive to produce in color. My solution is to produce a computer-readable version on CD that a buyer can ask for and have sent for just the cost of a small production fee and mailing cost. Or—alternatively—I could post the color version on the web for download. What do you think?

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Landscape painting and the use of GREEN

I was talking to an artist friend at a recent art event, and I happened to get onto the subject of greens and landscape painting. "I discourage my students from putting any tube green on their palette in my classes," I said. "Otherwise, they'd paint the entire landscape with tube green."

At this point, another friend came up and asked her where her painting was. She said, "It's the one over there, the landscape painted all in tube green."

Fortunately, she has a good sense of humor and didn't seem upset at my untimely remark. But it set me to thinking about green.

I have posted on my "Free Art Lesson" pages a new lesson (Lesson #40) on the use of green in landscapes. Take a look at it for some examples on mixing greens.

In "Cloudy Day, Riverbend" (above), which is on display at the Art League gallery Alexandria during July 2008, notice that I used a varity of greens to create an illusion of depth. This is a small "plein air" (on site) painting done with a limited palette. All the greens were mixed — with no actual green paint on the palette.

Recent Award

Unfortunately, as I get older (and, though nominally retired, involved in more and more community activities) my time spent promoting my art is cut down. But I still submit paintings to local art club shows.

I was juried into the June League of Reston Artists show and received an "Equal Merit" award (equivalent to First, Second and Third Place) for "Spring House, Nancy's Place", painted on site the year before at a workshop held out on an estate in Loudoun County. Thought you'd enjoy seeing this little plein air painting.

In April, 2008, "Nancy's Place, Reflection" (oil, 16 x 12) which was painted on site during the same plein air weekend with local artist and teacher Ed Cooper, received an Honorable Mention in the April League show. This painting reflects my fascination with water in all its forms.

In fact, it's a shame that weather and circumstances so often prohibit painting on site. I lead a workshop at the Reston Community Center on Wednesday evenings, and students usually work from photos (occasionally from other artists' work). This is better than no work at all, but standing out in nature, having to select and "edit" from the wealth of visual data, is more challenging. I encourage any artist to do this. If you dread going out by yourself, find a painting group or sign up for an excursion.

Doing some thinking about "art"

I realize that I got busy and neglected this blog. I have been doing some thinking about "art" and its place in my life.

I have wondered what the next step is. I occasionally sell, but certainly not enough to call it a "living". I continue to produce, but don't have enough outlets to share all my creations. I show, but I don't really "seek out" marketing opportunities.

Is it time to call myself retired? I hesitate when an application form requests "profession: _____". Meanwhile, I continue to move forward — hesitantly — in the path of being an artist. It's not a bad goal. It's just not my only goal.

Early this month, picking up paintings that weren't selected for the show at the Art League, I checked out what was included in the show. Much of it I could give a pass to, but there were several I would have liked to purchase (if I were rich enough and in the business of collecting art.) Several days later, talking to my artist friend Jack, he opined that "art" or "painting" was the only thing worthwhile. Now, I don't agree. I believe that I have some responsibility to help change the future of this planet. I think that we are in grave difficulties, as a species. We continue to act in horrible ways towards each other, we continue to destroy our natural resources. Millions of people die unnecesarily, and (what's saddest) they might have been — any one of them or all of them — important catalysts (scientists, artists, leaders) to change the future of the world.

No, art may be my avocation, but I am blessed, I think, to be in a position where I have discovered the technology that can change the future for the better, and I have some obligation to try to get that across to others. What am I talking about? Scientology. You may have heard of it. You need to look for yourself. I recommend you start with: scientologytoday.org

20 Years of Clutter

Just finished an abstract painting, 30" x 40". My personal name for it is "20 Years of Clutter." Brenda Belfield, my mentor at the ArtWorks Gallery doesn't like the name (she says who's going to buy something titled "20 Years of Clutter?") So, for hanging purposes, it is called "breaking Boundaries." Well, that sort of fits. I noticed the other day that my file cabinet now mainly holds OLD files that I haven't gotten around to throwing out. My current files are all in racks and boxes and stacks in my "study". Yes, indeed, "Clutter" fits. But you must see the painting. It's not as if the title is disparaging. Actually, I remain quite cheerful about it. (And so is the painting.)

20 years of clutter

I have finished the main canvas in my newest abstract: "20 Years of Clutter". Some, who like my representational art, have wondered why I am branching out into abstract art. (Maybe I should give myself a pseudonym, and paint a whole different line of paintings as "Marcel" or "Etienne" or some such. NOT!)

The reason is actually simple. I have resisted the world of modern art for over 40 years. In college, I felt that I didn't "understand" abstract art, and so it was easy to kind of back away from and sneer gently at the whole subject. After all, wasn't it a case of the Emperor's new clothes — a vast gag on the art-buying public?

Well, I have to say that in some cases I feel that it has been so, and to the ruination of the artist. Too many artists, producing a line of abstractions that "caught on" and were selling, were then stampeded into producing more of the same (as that sold). Art became a business.

But you see, an artist isn't really a business-man. You could say that the artist thinks in futures. He (or she) is playing with the fabric of reality, using the tools available.

In the case of "abstract art", the visual artist is simply playing with the fundamental components of a visual presentation: line, shape, color, composition. So I thought, "Why, I can do that." And perhaps in the process, I'll learn things that will make my future art, whether it be realistic or abstract or something in-between, stronger. Do you see?

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology, and himself an artist in many fields (although primarily known as a writer) has some interesting essays on art. I urge you to read them.

Acrylic "How-to" with my paintings included still available

Earl Grenville Killeen included my work as one of 20 artists illustrated different approaches to the use of acrylic in his book, The North Light Book of Acrylic Painting Techniques, authored for North Light Books, in 1995. I thought that it was out of print years ago because North Light took it off their active list. However, I recently located it, reissued in 1998 and for sale on Amazon.com. You can order this book, new ($17.99) or used (from $7.37 -- but watch out for the shipping costs before you hit the order button) at Amazon.
In this book, he includes 20 different artists, illustrating 20 different approaches to the use of Acrylics. It's very instructive for those artists approaching the use of the acrylic medium as it gives you an overview of some of the very different ways to handle this medium.

Upcoming Coulter show: July 2007

How time flies. I've been preparing for a show at the Reston Community Center from July 3 - Aug 8, 2007 and you'd be surprised all that goes into that. It's a big gallery space (often holding shows of more than 100 paintings.) This is a one-person show, and I will have approximately 60 paintings in it. That means that I have had to make sure each is finished, signed, glazed, framed, priced, and catalogued. And I have ordered post cards to send out far and wide. I should do press releases, and I have yet to finish going through my mailing list and paring it down to 500 people.
This show will be a retrospective called: Water Forms, from 1965 to 2007. Since early in my art "career" or "avocation" I have been fascinated by water and the many forms it takes. Ninety-nine percent of the paintings will have water in the painting. A few I included because they refer to water, such as "Sink in Athens" or "Watering Can".
This is a small reproduction of the painting that will go on the postcard. It's called "The Beauty Spot III" and is of a location just a short hike west of the western-most parking lot at the Virginia Great Falls National Park.

Confessions of an RX Drug Pusher - Part 1

Here’s a Youtube video of a lady who sold drugs for pharmaceutical companies for 15 years, gradually realized that the drugs were doing more harm than good, and quit to write a book about the experience. Note well: She’s a Christian, not a Scientologist. She’s worth listening to.