Greetings from Philadelphia

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Dear Leslie,

Hi neighbor! Thank you very much.

These three paintings were not commissions, so yes, I felt freer to be experimental, and these are not my children. I have a daughter and I need to paint her again, hopefully soon.

Painting 1 was a neighbor 23 years ago who actually hid after knocking at the door, and I made him re-stage this for a photo reference.

Painting 2's reference photo also goes back 23 years. I have always been drawn to the play of light in this image, and I am currently working on a new interpretation of this image for a show next month. I am not sure about the strange cut-out shapes anymore, so this time its a rectangle.

Painting 3 depicts very distant 10th cousins living in remote hills bordering Kentucky and Tennessee; in fact they don't know which state they live in! The house seems to straddle the border. I shot the reference in 1991 as a stereo set of slides, and then constructed a stereo slide viewer to work from.

Garth

Garth, I only noticed the "strange cut-out shapes" when you mentioned them - possibly a drawback of this cyber medium. I think they work well, though. And I somehow knew that Painting 3 depicted Appalachia; how neat!

And how does one trace cousinship to the tenth power, anyway?

[Garth Herrick]

Well Leslie, they may be eighth cousins. Their name is Scott, they settled there in 1800, building a log cabin (still standing but used as a barn in 1991), and Reuben Scott left for Indiana in 1820, which eventually led to me.

Here is the stereo reference. I have reversed the images so you just have to cross your eyes until you form a third image between the first two, and that will be Stereo!

[Chris Kolupski]

Garth -cool stereo trick. I can't imagine painting like that for too long though! I like your 3 non-commission paintings very much. They each have interesting compositions and points of view.

Reading about your Philadelphia location awoke me from my usual lurking status. I am wondering: have you studied with Nelson Shanks at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts or at Incaminati? If so, how was the experience?

[Garth Herrick]

Hi Chris: No, I have not studied with Nelson Shanks, but he has had a couple of free demontrations over the years that I was able to see with the crowds of admirers. One was at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts about 6 years ago.

He is worth watching, but a man of few words, so during the demo some other portrait painters and I got bored and looked at the museum galleries, and returned just in time for the last strokes of the eye lashes! It was interesing how he can make a commanding alla-prima portrait so clean and direct in just a couple of hours in front of six hundred people. His direct approach mostly began with two values in the face: a shadow mass tone and a light mass worked up aganst it. He kept the colors fairly warm and rich, and the nose began as a red triangle that was later worked into. Every feature was masterfully reduced to a couple of very deft strokes. He managed to keep all parts of the painting developing simultaneously, which I suppose is one of his secrets of success.

I visited his Studio Incamminati during an open-house, and it is a beehive of amazing talent and student productivity. Everybody uses exactly the same prescribed pallette, and most of the paintings are vibrant technicolor figure studies.

I was fortunate to be a guest of Nelson Shanks at his fabulous riverside villa, one evening in 1990 as I tagged along with Capt. Dent of Leonardo da Vinci's Horse. Shanks invited us to see his latest 15th century limewood sculpture aquisition. He has a collection of art to die for!

I am pretty sure Nelson Shanks does not remember me, but we both have mayor's portraits hanging together in City Hall.

Garth

[Jean Kelly]

Hi Garth,

Another belated welcome from Wisconsin. I'm glad to see you here, I feel that you willl have much to offer. Your work is wonderful.

Jean

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Garth,

Quite amazed by the diversity of the mediums
and originality of the compositions you use.

Is there a website of your work somewhere?

[Sharon Knettell]

Have you been sitting under a bodhi tree or something? Your humility is amazing!

I have been trying to work with the figure in a naturalistic way but in more contemporary presentations as I have seen you have done.

I am inspired by your work and will post a few as soon as I can get some decent shots.

Actually, I like your Apothoun? better than the tryptich, less pretentious.

Why are not you doing more painting?