dattner reuven News

painting iceland 2

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:58:20 CST

I have been working on my Iceland paintings for about 5 months.I had scores of sketches done on the spot and my wifes photos.and of course my memories.To my surprise what I thought would be easy and simple task was not so.At first I painted 3 pointalist painting-nice but not enough.Something was missing.Painting Iceland-I felt- was not just about painting beautiful places. I remembered our first sight of the landcape-a dark cloudy morning-black lava around us-and Genessis came to mind "first god made heaven and earth,the earth was without form and void,and darkness was upon the face of the deep" The artist Richard Serra tells in an interview with Mark Rosenthal -how did afangar come about-" my first impression of the landscape.......was one of stark , immense vastness.piles of lava strata extend to the horizon.there are no trees....I was completely taken by the strangeness of the land...to put it simply-it is another space". I then painted about ten small canvases.The canvaases were old paintingsI didn like.The old paintings were painted impasto-so by painting on them without scraping them clean I got-hopefully- the impression of the raw and wild landscape.The compositions are very simple. The paintings are both figurative and abstract.-There are mountains and seas and lava- but-they represent an idea-not real landscapeI had seen and

sketched..One such painting is the one seen here-a 20 cm * 20 cm painting of black rugged cliffs coming out of the grey rough sea.Others can be seen in the Iceland paintings gallery.

in praise of art blogs

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 06:14:28 CST

I receive them in the mail

I find them in google

I read them

I look at them

I use their links

I follow their tips

I learn their tricks

I enjoy them

And yes

Sometimes

I envy them

The many

Talented artists

Beautiful paintings

Breathtaking sketches

And then

I nearly give up

Painting and sketching

Knowing

I shall never be

as good as them

But they are all so generous

So giving

And encouraging

I go on

Trying to be better

Working harder

And always thankful

That those art blogs

Are there

And remind me

everyday

what a nice place

our planet can be

on the begining of the new year I would like to thank the four blogs I read most

making a mark-the first art blog I subscribed to

empty easel-full of information

urban sketchers-bursting with talent

and last but not least -robert genn twice a week

painting iceland

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:28:16 CST

A visit to Iceland is an experience.Thanks to painting - for me it is an ongoing experience.During our visit I did scores of sketches and my wife photoed. Since our return I am trying to paint Iceland -and so as to keep the spirit of the place - I read about Iceland on the web.

Iceland is a land of simplicity.no palaces and no castles.No forests and almost no cities.

No autostrades and not many people.If you want to see Gods creation - before nature and humankind changed it forever -you find it in Iceland.If you want to see how thin and breakable our planet is under our cities and fields - that is the place to see and feel it.

There are beautiful pictures and paintings of Iceland.If I shall succeed to add a tiny bit of my own - I shall be happy.I hope whoever sees my paintings of Iceland wiil feel as if he is visiting -

The land

Of elves and trolls

Volcanoes and glaciers

Vikings and sagas

The land

Of geysers and lava

And black

A lot of black

the emperor's new clothes -new artist version

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:45:19 CDT

Once upon our time

In the year 2009

There lived an emperor

Who was bored

He woke up one morning

With a briliant idea

He wanted to be an artist

The greatest in the world

He would creat art

As never seen before

It would be admired

By all in his empire

He would stand naked

For all to see

With a big red spot

Painted on his chest

He summoned the state curator

And his p.r. deparment

They prepared the exhibition

In the state's museum

All the ministers came

To the royal opening

And all the rich and oligarchs

And intelectuals too

They passed empty rooms

Painted in white

And came drink in hand

Upon the emperors work of art

There stood the masterpiece

Naked as the day he was born

Red spot in space

Was the name of the great work

What genius what courage

Cried the crowd

A turning point in art history

Said the famous art critic

Suddenly from the crowd

a young voice was heard

It is only a naked emperor

he cried for all to hear

Not a work of art

No great masterpiece

Just a silly emperor

With no clothes on

Hush fell on the place

No one dared to breath

All eyes turned to see

Who dared so to speak

It was a young boy

Who stood before them

The one from the original story

sure to be famous again

But then the curator spoke

As angry as can be

It is you who cannot see

You stupid old fashioned child

This is a new world

A post modern one

everything goes today

Just say it is art and it will be

Then the critic spoke

So serious and composed

This is liberated art

existential bablatism at its best

And all the people there

Looked with pity on the kid

Go home you foolish boy

Dont ever disturb us again

Away went the young child

Not wanted any more

To an art school he enrolled

An artist he would be

Today he is a great artist

The creator of many empty works

Known the world over

As the first in bulshitism

Was it only a fairy tale

Or were we different once

Has the dam broken down

And the flood has come

Could there once have been

An exhibition about void

Eight empty rooms

A retrospective of empty exhibitions

And for objectivity's sake

Could a self taught artist like me

be part of the art world

With the rules that used to be

I am sending this to blogspace

Another world without boundaries

Could it be

That the child will point on me?

The joy of sketching

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:01:12 CDT

When i am tired and in a bad mood

when i am in doubt about being an artist

when i need an infusion of new art blood

i take my pen ans sketchbook

and go out to sketch

Suddenly i am happy

every part in my mind falls in place

and i become a whole person again

I drove to the market today

by luck found a parking place

near an old couple selling used merchandise

and sketched them