Twenty years of painting practice will finally be put to good use today when I paint kids’ faces during the fall festival at my daughter’s school. She nixed the idea of painting the kids to look like famous artwork (a Morandi still life, Picasso’s “Weeping Woman,” Ellsworth Kelly’s “Falcon,” etc.) and suggested I practice making Red Sox and Yankees logos instead. I feel a little like Banksy, looking forward to seeing my artwork roaming around the playground and swinging from the monkey bars. Naturally I did a little online research about materials and techniques; here are the most salient excerpts. “Know what you’re going to paint before you start, don’t make it up as you go along. Kids aren’t known for their patience and won’t be able to sit still why you ponder what to do next. Have a basic face design fixed in your mind; you can always add special touches to this once you’re finished….The paint you’re using will work as a basic glue. To create bumpy noses or big eyebrows, soak a bit of cotton wool in the paint, place on face, cover with a piece of tissue, and paint. Puffed rice or wheat make ideal warts; simply cover with a bit of tissue and paint. For an extra-ghostly effect, apply a light dusting of flour once you’ve finished painting the face (be sure to get your subject to close their eyes tightly)….Remember to take a mirror so the person who’s face you’ve just painted can see the result.” Read more.
Award-winning blogazine, primarily about painting
Thursday, September 28, 2023
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Steve Greene’s crafty agitation
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / In an adventurous departure from drawing and collage, Steve Greene... -
Short story: Rescue Center [Elizabeth Scheer]
Contributed by Elizabeth Scheer / I first discovered the Rescue Center while walking idly on... -
Arthouse Art House
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The set-up of Vasilis Katsoupis’ slickly but somewhat facilely resonant... -
Confrontational color at Analog Diary
Contributed by Clare Gemima / Analog Diary’s group exhibition “Chromazones” – curated by Derek Eller,... -
Jo Baer: Space, position, and light
Contributed by David Carrier / Five smallish early Jo Baer paintings are on display in... -
Elisa D’Arrigo: Between the beautiful and the grotesque
Contributed by Kay Whitney / There is a fundamental paradox at work in Elisa D'Arrigo's... -
Studio visit: Charles Clough’s audacious return to sculpture
Contributed by Jack Edson / A trip to Charles Clough’s studio, situated with his gallery... -
Ed Ruscha’s retro spective
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / The work of the Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha is... -
Part 2: On “negative criticism”
Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / It’s tempting to lament the demise of the takedown review.... -
Hudson Valley Selected Gallery Guide: September, 2023
Don't miss the last few days to see "The Summer Disaster Show," a big group... -
The real deal: James Brooks reconsidered
Contributed by Laurie Fendrich / “A Painting is a Real Thing,” the Parrish Museum’s current... -
Selected Paintings from SPRING/BREAK NYC 2023
Contributed by Fay Sanders and Bob Szyantyr / In a shift befitting this year’s theme,...
Two Coats Obituaries
- Bushwick’s Tim Gowan August 12, 2023Even though making art is often an experience that happens in the solitude of one's studio, it rarely occurs in a vacuum. Artists rely on each other for support, reinforcement, inspiration, and challenge, forming communities to avoid feeling like fish out of water in this world. Tim Gowan was one of those artists who cherished […]
Two Coats on Instagram
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@_lisa_tan knows how to fill a space. The waiting room entrances with framed prints of Klee, Matisse, etc, the room framing, the large letters, a video viewing room with chairs for an audience @acceleratorsu in Stockholm.
Two Coats of Paint is celebrating National Daughter’s Day by honoring Lena, who some of you may recall was the mastermind behind our Social Media Services Project a few years ago. She has since opened her own business @honeyhomeofbeauty in #OldMysticCT. Love you @lena.alohalani ❤️🏆❤️ Daughter, visionary, and muse.
Image: @meadowflowerphotography #honeyhomeofbeauty @mystic_disc #mysticct
Latest post, link in profile / Elisa D’Arrigo: Between the beautiful and the grotesque / Contributed by Kay Whitney / There is a fundamental paradox at work in Elisa D’Arrigo’s ceramic objects – while they are unmistakably beautiful, they break every standard for what is considered “beautiful.” They are small, shambolic, eccentric objects lacking symmetry; they are not overtly colorful and don’t attempt to please. They are humble, not loudly announcing nor applauding their own appearance; understated and private, the viewer must come to them. Rather than exhibiting the mechanical surfaces of a wheel-thrown or machine-made object, her forms bear the imprint of her hands and in that way reveal the processes of their making. If there is any other artist with whom her work could be compared only George Ohr, the “mad potter of Biloxi,” comes to mind. His small “puzzle mugs” demonstrate the same sensibility — simultaneously humorous and serious, their extraordinary eccentric surfaces and coloration are reminiscent of D’Arrigo’s, exposing a shared aesthetic. Link in profile
@elisadarrigo1 @elizabethharrisgallery @k.whtny #ceramics #chelseagalleries
Image: Elisa D’Arrigo, Making a Move 6, 2023 7 x 6.5 x 4 inches, courtesy of the artist & Elizabeth Harris Gallery
“Something darkly set itself at our senses’ five thresholds without stepping over them,” a cinematic two-person show @bonnierskonsthall with Tulsa Lovell and Sara-Vide Ericson, is a haunting mediation on the past, the future, and the inexorable force of nature. In terms of craft and content, unlike anything I’ve seen in NYC. Or is it? Images are tagged.
@tildalovell @saravidee #swedishartists #konsthall #theatricalinstallation #manvsnature #bonnierskonsthall
Snapshot: Overlooking the Central Baltic Sea from @fotografiska.stockholm. We saw the @shirin__neshat and @therealpeterlindbergh shows — strange combo, but both moving in their own way. The place is dark and loud — more like a nightclub than a gallery. The bar on the top floor is beautiful.
Latest post, link in profile / Inside: Arthouse art house / Contributed by Jonathan Stevenson / The set-up of Vasilis Katsoupis’ slickly but somewhat facilely resonant feature debut Inside is deceptively simple. A high-end art thief is helicoptered onto the roof of a luxury Manhattan high-rise and, with the aid of a techie accomplice, hacks into the security system of an absurdly opulent penthouse, owned by a high-end art collector who is evidently away for a season or two. The thief is targeting several of Egon Schiele’s signature vampy drawings and a singularly valuable self-portrait. Link in profile
@insidethefilm #insidethefilm #jonathanstevenson #twocoatsofpaint #filmreview #wilemdafoe #VasilisKatsoupis
Surprise: #PatriciaTreib solo on view in Stockholm @galerie_nordenhake 💥 beautiful paintings, elegantly installed ❤️
Swedish-born and UK-based, artist, activist, writer and eco-feminist Monica Sjöö (31 December 1938 - 8 August 2005) fought for freedom from oppression, but especially for women’s rights. “THE GREAT COSMIC MOTHER” @modernamuseet is her first retrospective. Swipe for the image that was considered blasphemous and obscene in the 1970s.
Rejecting abstract art as a Western male privilege, she asked: “How does one communicate women’s strength, struggle, rising up from oppression, blood, childbirth, sexuality – in stripes and triangles?”
#MonicaSjöö #cosmicmother #modernamuseet #stockholm
Now I remember why I forgot to have kids. Have fun!
Indeed.
–Sharon
It’s a chance to get back at a horrible parent by painting their child as a monster…
So many, many possibilities…
–Sharon
I love face and body painting. here is my “The Body as Architecture” piece from the 80s….