Author Archives: JMN

About JMN

I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.

A Black Hole Sings in B Flat

Posted on April 11, 2019 by JMN

There is great buzz today around black holes in celebration of the latest observations. The sense of awe these phenomena induce has intersected just now with my private boning up on fundamentals of music theory, leaving me astounded on many … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Quotations | Tagged music | 2 Comments

“I don’t paint what I see but what I saw”

Posted on April 11, 2019 by JMN

There’s much that’s discoverable for me about Munch. These excerpts stood out. Artists I admire are similarly self-critical and leery of pretty pictures. Munch’s house and studio were on a remote hillside above Oslo, where he fled after his 1908 … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Quotations | Tagged painting | Leave a comment

Side Hustle

Posted on April 7, 2019 by JMN

How old are “old Chinese sayings” and how many are actually Chinese? Fewer than all of them, I surmise. However, one I encountered said that wisdom consists in getting things by their right names. It appealed to me because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged language | Leave a comment

Paint-by-Numbers

Posted on April 6, 2019 by JMN

For art critics, painting-by-numbers was, and is, a byword for robotic repetition and unoriginality… (Jonathan Jones, “From Warhol to minimalism: how painting by numbers revolutionised art,” The Guardian, 4-5-19) At some point in my pre-teen years I was given a … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary | Tagged painting | 4 Comments

“Perverse Obliqueness”

Posted on April 1, 2019 by JMN

Brexit defies me as much as my native political scene defies me. Anomalies aside, I find here a stretch of forceful writing to savor for language’s sake. I came to attention from “carapace” forward. What follows illumines for me something … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged language | Leave a comment

“All right — take the picture!”

Posted on March 31, 2019 by JMN

Annie Leibovitz’s latest exhibition of her photography is Annie Leibovitz: The Early Years, 1970-1983. It includes a shot of Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of her idols, during her time roaming Paris as a budding photographer. The notoriously camera-shy Frenchman glares into … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthology, Quotations | Tagged photography | 1 Comment

Some Fizz for ‘Fissile’

Posted on March 31, 2019 by JMN

“That’s Alex Jones’s M.O.,” Owens said of the deposition. “To flood any topic with confusion and doubt so no one can grab onto anything.” But under oath, Mr. Jones’s tactics fissile. (Charlie Warzel, “Why Courtrooms Are Kryptonite for Alex Jones,” … Continue reading →

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Stubborn Repetition

Posted on March 29, 2019 by JMN

In my own modest easel practice I’m trying to psych myself into painting a subject more than once. Artists I admire do it. Real artists. They dwell and go deep; obsess, in a good way. I’m afraid I have a … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged art | 3 Comments

Dyspeptic Rumination

Posted on March 29, 2019 by JMN

A French aphorism says, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”: “the more it changes, the more it’s the same thing.” It’s sometimes paraphrased in English as, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” My comments, … Continue reading →

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Cartoon Transfer Technique

Posted on March 28, 2019 by JMN

The article is about Raphael’s preparatory cartoon for his fresco “The School of Athens” in the Vatican. What caught my eye in particular was mention of the method used to transfer the image to the walls. Its value must have been … Continue reading →