Marvin Mattelson lays down his palette and uses his words

Category:

Marvin's Musings

April 22, 2021

New Day, New Site, New Blog, New Class - Starts May 1st

I am very excited to announce that my new website is up and running. And, as you can guess, so is my blog. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic I am now teaching my classes and workshops online.

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April 20, 2016

Has the Art World Finally Crapped Out?

Today, The New York Times published an article about a new installation at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum here in New York City.

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June 30, 2015

Paxtonesque

I make it a point, whenever the opportunity would arise, to check out original art by the painters I admire the most: like Bouguereau, Gerome, Monsted, Paxton and DeCamp.

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June 27, 2015

Portrait Painting: Not Just a Passion, but a Great Escape!

An escaped inmate bartered his portrait painting skills to get an unsuspecting guard to smuggle in tools used to break out of Clinton Correctional Facility.

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December 30, 2013

In the Dark About Black?

Contrary to popular myth, I consider black to be an indispensable and versitile color which I utilize wherever and whenever I deem it most appropriate.

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March 13, 2013

Why The Negative Reaction To Painting From Photos?

Artists have worked from photos for over a century and a half so you think the nay-sayers would get tired already and just shut up.

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January 28, 2013

A Royal Fiasco

By now everyone in the universe is familiar with the controversy surrounding the first official portrait of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.

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December 30, 2012

On the Quest for Excellence

These are the four ingredients former anyone looking to achieve success in life.

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December 19, 2012

Portrait Painting Cyber Space Word Jockey Rides Again

So here I sit, putting the finishing touches on my inaugural run as a commuting portrait painting blogging iPad Mini user.

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September 18, 2012

Presidential Art Quotes I'm Electing to Share

It got me to thinking. What have some of our other nation's leaders said on the subject of the arts?

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September 11, 2012

Looking for Art in All the Wrong Places.

The art that’s most interesting to me is when the artist has something real to say. It doesn’t need a significant concept.

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July 30, 2012

Is Portrait Painting More Difficult Than Brain Surgery?

I always tell my students, “Portrait painting isn’t brain surgery, it’s much more difficult.” Not that learning to be a portrait artist isn’t a terribly daunting task.

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July 1, 2012

The "You Can't Get There From Here" School of Color Mixing

To me a portrait painting is a giant conundrum waiting to be unraveled. My approach to coming up with the best answer is hierarchical, going from large to small.

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May 31, 2012

The Law of Gravity is Not a Rule, True Story!

When analyzing the work of great master painters, like Anthony Van Dyke (above), we can see that breaking the so-called rules had the opposite effect.

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June 3, 2012

This Rule Pushed Me Over the Edge

Repetition is the evil step child of rules. The technical term for this is boring. The point of being an artist is creativity. The death knell tolls when artists mimic themselves, consciously or not.

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June 26, 2012

A Portrait Artist's Biggest Challenge

outside of a sadist or a bully who would derive pleasure from making someone cry? The obvious answer: a portrait artist.

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June 18, 2012

Warm and Cool: The Exciting Game Without Any Logic!

"The most confusing part of painting is mixing color." How many times have you heard that?

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June 20, 2012

Those Who Repeat History are Doomed.

What's the point of creating paintings that look as though they were painted a hundred or more years ago?

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June 15, 2012

Happily Negative? I'm Positive!

Praise may make you feel better, but learning to see mistakes will make you paint better. Only by finding out what doesn’t work, what needs fixing, or what’s out of kilter, can you can hope to improve.

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May 24, 2012

The Sum of the Parts Has Very Little to Do With Money

When the meter is running how is it possible to create great paintings? I'm afraid I can't buy that the best strategy for a long, satisfying and lucrative career is churning out substandard work.

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May 28, 2012

How Much for a Quickie?

Sometimes people's expectations can really throw me for a loop, so I consider this post to be my first public service announcement.

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May 30, 2012

The Essence of Painting, the Shape of Things to Come

The key to true mastery of anything is understanding its essence. So the question is what is the essence of painting?

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May 31, 2012

Breadcrumbs Among the Piles of Paint

I have, over the course of my 40 year career as both a professional artist and educator, come to certain conclusions, many of which I will be sharing during the course of writing this blog.

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June 6, 2012

Reflecting Upon My Reflections

Today's post marks the two-week anniversary of Brush Aside–time flies when you're having fun. I thought such a significant event was just cause for some serious self-reflection and a wee bit of celebration.

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June 6, 2012

Rembrandt's Redeeming Qualities?

Here is the Rembrandt Self Portrait (detail below) I referred to in my discussion about Herman Doomer.

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June 8, 2012

Put a Fork In It, the Road That Is!

Yogi Berra said, when you come to a fork in the road…take it. Forks are just a folksy way of saying it's time to choose. Life is a series of choices.

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June 11, 2012

Put on Your Thinking Beret (Strategically Speaking!)

When I look at a masterpiece I very rarely concern myself with the technical aspects. I’m much more interested in the thinking process behind the painting.

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