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Text Box:   Don Haggerty, artist You can contact Don by e-mail at don@redstepgallery.com

 

Text Box: Why Do I Paint? I paint because I love the magic of brushwork.  I’ve often watched Chinese artists execute works of calligraphy and have felt as if I was watching a ballet.  The real beauty of brushwork is that the dance it performs can be re-lived over and over again in the mind of the viewer.  Each stroke is as much alive a thousand years later as it was the day the ink first dried. My oil painting is inspired by such quotes as this from Osvald Siren’s The Chinese on the Art of Painting: If one discusses painting with a view to its faculty to render distance, one must admit that it does not equal real landscape, but if one considers the wonders of brushwork, it becomes evident that real landscapes do not equal painting. Therein, I believe, lies the reason both for making art and for buying art. With all its subtleties of gesture, variations of expression, drapery, light, shadow and mood, figurative painting has provided me the perfect context for brushwork and for inviting the magical results that can happen when brush is put to canvas.  For me, figurative painting invites magic, for once the initial spark of inspiration has been ignited, elements of line, color, shape and pattern rush to the forefront.  The inner dialog I find going on as I paint sounds something like, “Don, if you love that line, show me how MUCH you love it.  And if you find that shape pleasing, bring it to life, let it SING!” My Influences Through frequent visits to museums and galleries, I’ve been highly influenced by the likes of Monet, Klimt, N.C. Wyeth, J.W. Waterhouse and John Singer Sargent.  It was through the works of such artists that I gained permission to paint freely in my own style. I’ve also learned much about painting and the art life from the writings of such great teachers as Robert Henri (The Art Spirit), Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way), David Bayles and Ted Orland (Art and Fear), Charles Hawthorne (Hawthorne on Painting) and Osvald Siren (The Chinese on the Art of Painting). I’m sure, too, that growing up in Taiwan (1957-1970) played significantly in the deep appreciation I feel today for the beauty and power of a finely executed brush stroke. My Approach I paint subjects I feel passionate about.  The passion may be sparked by a single compositional element, or perhaps a gesture, or the dancing line of a twisted torso.  This spark then ignites to drive an entire painting. After the discipline of starting a painting, knowing when to say “finished” is perhaps the most important decision I have to make.  The point of “finished” is different for every painting.  I love the quote, Judging a Manet from the point of view of Bouguereau the Manet has not been finished.  Judging a Bouguereau from the point of view of Manet the Bouguereau has not been begun.  (from Robert Henri’s, The Art Spirit) I work from a simple palette and in a simple studio environment.  Rather than using an easel, a canvas hung by a couple of screws directly on my studio wall suits me fine.  A simple approach seems to make an elegant outcome that much greater a reward!    Don Haggerty, Artist  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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