A Little Bit of This and That with Tommy B. McDonell

Instructing or Instruction

2012-01-06T17:17:00.000-05:00

See How it is Done at the Artist League of the Sandhills this Sunday. I am teaching in March a class on Watercolor on Yupo. And so today I helped, somewhat, to hang a show and my...

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Almost December

2011-11-21T11:59:00.000-05:00

It is hard for me to believe but it is almost December. The November Sale is going on at the Artists League and I am doing commissions. But every now and again, I do some painting just because it is...

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More Paintings!

2011-10-07T18:35:00.001-04:00

Everyone wants the same paintings and while my medium is truly not alcohol ink, this is what is selling. And so, for the November sale, I am making more. A colleague said " oh you are making things...

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Ugh. It is now easier to paint than to explain!!

2011-09-22T20:47:00.001-04:00

All my life I have written or taught writing. But now I find it difficult to write. How to synthesize nine months of painting is not at all the same or as "easy" as coming up with categories and...

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Groupings: escapes--vacations, landscape, horizontal or ???

2011-09-18T18:59:00.001-04:00

If you consider these three paintings, how would you classify them and why? Must landscape mean horizontal because of our technological printing image? Or can a landscape be considered flat such as...

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Not a Dream: September 11, 2011

2011-09-18T18:44:00.001-04:00

While this is definitely not the last painting I will do, it is the most important painting I have done for my show, and I believe it is a breakthrough. It took me 17 paintings that could become...

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A New Name and More

2011-08-21T19:50:00.001-04:00

When I originally started this blog, I taught academic writing at New York University and I had begun studying watercolor. At that time, I noticed certain similarities between international students...

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Peaceful Harbor

2011-08-21T08:21:00.000-04:00

This is the front of my invitation for the October Show, Escapes: Cities and Towns Landscapes with Tommy McDonell and Karen Walker. Our opening is October 2nd from 2-5pm. Can you come? Through...

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Honorable Mention

2011-06-06T11:06:00.001-04:00

When I waited for a colleague of mine to defend her dissertation, I thought about the fact that in art there is no defense. People like it or like you or don't. People who defend their...

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"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."

2011-04-06T07:56:00.000-04:00

It's spring and the world is mud luscious. .... And it is about time for me to update my blog. Long past time actually I moved a few weeks ago. So prior to moving I mostly packed and or slept or...

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Learning New Things

2011-02-06T17:37:00.000-05:00

is so difficult, especially if it is something technical such as setting up a brand new website, or learning how to use a new pen, or a new medium. And then there is framing. Grr. My friend, Betty...

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Revisions

2011-01-26T08:06:00.000-05:00

Writers, especially now in this day, rarely consider how lucky they are that they word process their work. But I know that some of you got your degrees in what I call the dark ages. We typed our...

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Writing and Painting as Learning: Work

2010-12-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

As always I sent some fellow artists/colleagues/friends (some fit all three categories!) a new painting. I particularly liked it which I admit is so rare. I like what I am willing to sell, but I...

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Commissions are worse than final exams

2010-12-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

Some artists live for commissions. I am not one of them. To me they are exactly like the thought question at the end of a final exam, or something that a professor sneaks into a description of a...

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A Happy "Mistake" or something

2010-11-22T17:23:00.000-05:00

Somethings in art never ever happen in writing. And that is the "happy" mistake. When somehow something appears or happens that you like. There are, mind you, plenty of unhappy mistakes such as runs,...

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Editing Papers, Editing Art

2010-11-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

There are lots of differences between writing and painting. One of the main ones I believe is editing. When we write, we mainly change words on paper with our word processor. When a student edits and...

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Assignments

2010-11-06T15:10:00.000-04:00

As an undergraduate and graduate student I hated writing assignments. I thought I wanted the freedom to choose my own topic. As a doctoral student, however, I learned just how daunting that could be....

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November's Sale is almost like Midterms!

2010-10-03T13:03:00.000-04:00

With the exception of the doctoral candidates whose work I edit, my fellow students at NYU, and their faculty, are beginning to think about bigger papers, or worse, midterm exams. What you say? How...

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What is Old is New--Fall to Winter Mixed Media by Tommy McDonell

2010-10-03T12:52:00.000-04:00

This first painting below is quite old. I started it last fall as watercolor on Yupo. Periodically I would add something, or subtract something. I'm sure that turning it upside down was also...

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Oh my god another Iris try

2010-10-03T12:35:00.001-04:00

I keep trying to paint an iris because a) they were my dad's favorite flower, and b) I know my doctoral candidate would like a painting in her living room when she gets her Ph.D. So this is yet...

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Acrylics Keep Coming by Tommy McDonell

2010-09-22T19:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, I am on an acrylic "kick" so to speak. And I do have other things to do. Someone has commissioned a watercolor from me (heaven help him and me); and, I am going to try to get my paintings into a...

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Copying Your Own Work by Tommy B. McDonell

2010-09-22T19:18:00.000-04:00

Writers have absolutely no trouble copying their own work. They even footnote themselves. One educator I know cites only himself sometimes in books. Alas, while I seem to use the same colors,...

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Last Post today

2010-09-06T13:39:00.000-04:00

Sorry to all of you who got a few emails today, but since I have hardly posted this summer, perhaps you can just hit delete? While writing may be done in different styles, for the most part people...

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This Summer

2010-09-06T09:19:00.000-04:00

I wanted just to try acrylic paints so I just used a scrap of Yupo paper. A friend said "but it has no background." No but to me it looks okay, for just a scrap of paper. Perhaps I can make a nice...

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Probably not finished or maybe just not worth it

2010-09-06T09:14:00.000-04:00

I worked again on the painting we last saw. I did make changes to it, trying to give it more value and some type of depth. I still don't like it. I don't hate it, I just don't think it is right or to...

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