Three Asian Pears with Handmade Cup

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If you're interested, this month's NYTimes article, "'The Scream' Is Fading. New Research Reveals Why." is an interesting read. Here is an excerpt:

"The Scream is fading. And tiny samples of paint from the 1910 version of Edvard Munch’s famous image of angst have been under the X-ray, the laser beam and even a high-powered electron microscope, as scientists have used cutting-edge technology to try to figure out why portions of the canvas that were a brilliant orangeish-yellow are now an ivory white." [Read more.]

If you enjoy this painting, you may also like to see a bunch of my paintings of asian pears.

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Blue & White Porcelain Cup with Two Asian Pears

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If you're interested, here's my 2015 painting of this blue and white cup.

Related to my postings on mindful studio practice, I sometimes read renowned writer Maria Popova's work (my previous mentions here). This one is about the true value of creative work: "'One can’t write directly about the soul,' Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary. Few writers have come to write about it — and to it — more directly than the novelist, poet, and environmental activist Wendell Berry, who describes himself as 'a farmer of sorts and an artist of sorts.' In his wonderful and wonderfully titled essay collection What Are People For?, Berry addresses with great elegance our neophilic tendencies and why innovation for the sake of novelty sells short the true value of creative work." [Keep reading]

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Best,

Still Life with Sake Bottle and Asian Pear (+peace)

I often mention Thomas Merton; so, if you're interested:

"Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience."
~Thomas Merton

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Best,

Still Life with Marble and Asian Pear (friends) (+ the Rapture of Seeing)

Available - email abbeyryan@gmail.com for purchase info

This is my first painting in a new series entitled "friends" -- unlikely (yet simpatico) pairings. With this painting, I am still researching the "white" background in the John Johnston Still Life from 1810 that I studied in 2015 at the "Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life" exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I found a poor quality image of Johnston's still life online here.

If you're interested, "The Rapture of Seeing: In memory of Ellsworth Kelly" is a detailed America Magazine article about Ellsworth Kelly. Published in print in the March 21, 2016 issue, here is an excerpt:

“I think what we all want from art is a sense of fixity,” Kelly said, “a sense of opposing the chaos of daily living.” But for that one must risk contemplation, finding the time and space to share his clear vision. And if one does? Kelly’s pilgrimage amounts to a promise. “In a sense, what I’ve tried to capture is the reality of flux, to keep art an open, incomplete situation, to get at the rapture of seeing.” [Keep reading]

If you enjoy this painting, you might like to see a bunch of my paintings of marbles (scroll down) or Asian pears.

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Best,

South Korean Bowl with Asian Pears (larger painting)

South Korean Bowl with Asian Pears
​approx. 9x​12", oil on linen on ​3/8" thick ​panel, 2017
Private Collection

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Best,

Still Life with Blue Vase and Asian Pear (First Snow of 2016)

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Snow has arrived in Philadelphia which means bright, beautiful reflections and light in my studio. There's a self portrait of sorts in this painting and if you look closely you can see that I'm wearing a winter hat. Here are a bunch of other reflection self portraits, too.

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Best,

Chinese Bowl and Asian Pear (+ Laib, Dean, Giacometti...)

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If you're interested in Morandi, or not sure if you are, this is a nice review article of the show of Morandi's work at the CIMA in NYC. It's nice to read an article about Morandi that also mentions Wolfgang Laib, Tacita Dean, Matthias Schaller, Giacometti and more.

"Morandi quickly made his own way developing his imagery of vessels sitting upon a surface, some which he painted on the inside, some on the outside to achieve his preferable colors and also to dull the surface so his light would drag across instead of racing. The atmosphere is palpable in all his work. We are breathing the Italian air, the dust from the war settling on some of the vessels. He was constant in all, working the same objects over and over in each painting, drawing, watercolor and etching sometimes placing a few more or less and starting a new work. One can dip into Morandi in any painting and come away with the sense of everything he did. His entire oeuvre coming through in the one piece. Magic, similar to looking at a Giacometti and not seeing but sensing all the layers of painting and scraping away, and painting again no longer visible but none the less there." [Read more at source]

Ending Soon - at 1 PM EST Today (current bid: $310)

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Best,

Three Asian Pears in Late Afternoon Light (+ studio photos)

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As promised, I have some photos of my new studio to share with you. I'll post a few at a time in my Studio | World album.

The first few photos show the entryway. Hanging there is trio of original works: a little ink on paper painting of mine, a seascape of mine, and an original hand-printed and hand-signed letterpress print by Seth Godin.

Seth's print includes an epigram from his book, The Icarus Deception, that I read every time I walk into my studio. The first line is "You are not your career" and the last line is "fly closer to the sun." I posted a detail shot of the whole thing so you can read it, if you're interested.

All my new studio photos can be found here. Hope you enjoy, and I'll add more soon.

If you'd like to purchase my work, you can view my Current Painting Auctions and then view All Available Paintings.

All my best,

Sharing an inspiring artist with you

On Monday, I attended an inspiring lecture delivered by Oliver Uberti. The lecture was not recorded, so instead I invite you to watch Oliver's TED talks: Smash the Design Button and Untapped Creativity. In Smash the Design Button, Oliver talks a bit about Gaudí's Sagrada Família, which I posted about in November 2013.

Workshop Update
In the next week or two, I will be able to announce my 2-day November 8-9 workshop at the Peto Museum. Thanks for all your interest/emails in the workshop! Space will be very very limited, so keep an eye out for that post.

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All my best,

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Golden Series: Three Pears (Asian, Bosc, & Bartlett)

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Thinking About Food (in honor of Earth Day)

Last June, I shared a bit about the significant impact that a raw food e-course had on me and my painting work. More specifically, starting on the raw vegan path made me feel like I had woken up to new pathways of creative energy within myself and deepened my relationship to my still life objects in ways that I did not expect or imagine.

Now almost a year later, this week I'm again looking forward to Viva Institute's e-course 30 Days Raw -- and this time I'll be taking it as a refresher. If you're at all curious about raw food, I will say that I personally think it's amazing ("raw-mazing") and life-changing. I highly recommend 30 Days Raw; if you approach it with a sense of wonder and curiosity, it is really a blast. For fun: in the picture above is my own homemade beet/carrot/chard juice (L) and carrot/chard juice (R).

Golden Series
Since I introduced the series in August 2012, I've been periodically making paintings that are part of what I refer to as my Golden Series. This is the second Golden Series painting I've done lately, although I am often thinking about the works by Dutch painters Rachel Ruysch, Caspar Netscher, and Abraham Mignon (all of which I studied at the Uffizi in Florence).

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Happy Earth Day,

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Here's how this painting would look framed:

Still Life with Blue Vase and Asian Pears (the light, the shade)

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Best,

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Here's how this painting would look framed:

Two Asian Pears on Marble (the light, the shade) (+ a Special Contest !)

Private Collection

Yesterday, I shared about Ajo, and I got several great responses about offering a workshop in that wonderful little town. Thanks for your interest and enthusiasm! I will keep you posted. After Ajo, I visited another truly remarkable place in Patagonia called the Tree of Life. I'm still working on writing about this, so look for that post probably tomorrow.

Special Contest
This week, I'm excited to be announcing a "contest" of sorts here and on facebook -- a special offering to "win" one FREE Private Painting Mentoring session with me ($450 value).

I'll explain all about why I am offering this and how "enter" the contest -- look for that announcement in the next couple days.

Ending Soon
The auction for Arizona Tomato with Stem ends today at 2:30pm EDT. View Auction
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All my best,

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