The Essential Vermeer

In my opening post I commented that "I'm no Vermeer." That's true, but then again, who is? Vermeer, of course! I can't think of a better way to get started in oil painting than by studying the Delft master. Vermeer was shrouded in virtual obscurity for hundreds of years until his recent rediscovery. His known paintings number in the mid-30s and are concentrated mainly in Europe, though we have a few examples here in the States -- the largest number being a handful in the Metropolitan Museum. One of Vermeer's works on display at a Las Vegas casino was recently stolen (don't look at me). Another, on display in Boston, met the same fate.

Why the swell in popularity? Vermeer's works have an immediacy, an intimacy, seldom seen elsewhere and are executed with great precision and sensitivity. Like many of the greatest works of realism, his paintings faithfully represent "what is there" while simultaneously transcending material reality. Vermeer's paintings positively glow with a sense of the sublime behind the stuff of this world -- they are religious works in the highest and best sense. Vermeer was in love with the light and the figures he painted were invariably captured in a spontaneous human instant, with guard down, revealing the soul within. Irresistible.

Despite the paucity of known paintings attributed to Vermeer, it is possible to lose yourself in the study of his work. To study Vermeer is to study the human condition and its link to the divine. A wonderful website, The Essential Vermeer, has been devoted to the study of all things Vermeer. The site includes a catalogue of Vermeer's known works, summaries of his life and times, a discussion of his techniques, an extensive bibliography and much more. It is highly recommended and here's a link:

http://www.essentialvermeer.com/

There's also a very interesting book out, authored and published by Jonathan Janson, entitled How to Paint Your Own Vermeer: Recapturing Materials and Methods of a Seventeenth-Century Master. I haven't read it yet, but I plan to! Here's a link to a site where you can find the book: www.lulu.com/content/388584

How I Got Started Oil Painting

I studied oil painting for a single semester when I was a Senior at DePauw University in 1981. My teacher was the artist Robert Kingsley. At the end of the semester, when Kingsley met with me to discuss my progress, he glanced down at my file and said "you took this class pass/fail, right?" When I responded "yes," Kingsley said "good."

I respected Kingsley then, and still do. I was, without doubt, at the bottom of my oil painting class that semester. On the other hand I had an honest interest in painting and an earnest desire to learn. I loved the class and had a great time, and after graduation I repaid Kingsley's courtesy by continuing to try. Slowly I improved. I'm still no Vermeer, but I'm passable -- a sort of bogie golfer of the art world.

I learned more from Kingsley than I realized at the time. I'm still working on and learning about painting, and the discipline has given me endless pleasure and stretched my powers of observation in ways I never anticipated when I started out. Thanks, Kingsley!

Kingsley, as artist, is the real deal and a very nice guy. Check out his website at: http://www.artistkingsley.com/.