Artist friend Frank Bettendorf is always sharing amusing and inspiring bits he finds on the internet with me. He found the above short interview with Wayne Thiebaud (click here if the embeded version doesn't work).
Thiebaud has long been a favorite painter of mine, and not just because he paints a lot of cake! He is a master of rich, shimmering color and seductive and compelling texture in his oil paints. His paintings vibrate with life, but are simplified to the essentials. In the above short interview (about 9 minutes) the 88-year-old Thiebaud shares thoughts on his work ethic as a painter and capturing the "life of light" in his paintings. You really need to watch this video. (Part of the fun is that you will see him at work and you'll see his sketches up on a drawing board adjacent to his painting.)
You'll also want to view an earlier interview with him (when he was 81 years old) where he talks about having a sense of humor. (I found this one for you to look at Frank!)
Both will inspire you to work harder, to think about your painting, and as Thiebaud says, "live on hope, the next picture."
So get busy!
I loved the video Roz. Since I am "art history challenged", and unaware of him, you can bet that I am off to Google to see more of his work. He has a great style. Thanks.
Posted by: Donna | July 08, 2009 at 07:58 AM
Quite inspiring. Thank you for posting this video!
Posted by: Alberto | July 08, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Donna, you're in for a real treat. Some of his paintings have been used for children's board books, specifically one for counting which I gave my niece (and bought one for myself!). So three and there is a painting with three pies, etc.
His work just makes the color receptors in my eyes happy!
Posted by: Roz | July 08, 2009 at 12:14 PM
oh, thanks so much for this link!
Posted by: Nina | July 08, 2009 at 01:53 PM
Love, love, love him, always have. THANK YOU for the inspiration!
Posted by: donna (a different one ;) | July 09, 2009 at 09:54 AM
I really enjoyed the interview and thank you for posting it, Roz.
Posted by: Carla Sonheim | July 11, 2009 at 01:11 PM
Carla, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I hope it has inspired you to get out some paint!
Posted by: Roz | July 12, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Thanks for that video, he is one of my favorites!
I enjoyed his comment about the different kinds of light, "is there glint, is there glimmer, is there glow?"
Posted by: anna maria | July 12, 2009 at 11:33 PM
anna maria, YES! a great line.
Posted by: Roz | July 13, 2009 at 12:43 PM
watched again today...thanks
Posted by: donna | July 14, 2009 at 08:33 AM