Oh the Romance

Perhaps it didn't start with van Gogh and the impressionists but certainly since that time the general public has had a tendency to romanticize the lives of painters. The hungry artist working in a garret studio engaged in the heroic pursuit of some idealized vision. The more suffering and torment the more romantic the endeavor.

Nude study, oil on linen, 9 1/2" X 7 1/2", 2015

All art is to some extent a product of its creators environment. Throughout the ages, except for a select few, artists must have worked under difficult conditions. But in the end paintings are fantasies. The real world circumstances behind their creation are rarely known. For some reason working under and overcoming adversity does romanticize the process and enrich ones art.

The picture above is of a room in my current studio as I first found it two years ago. This image doesn't begin to capture the worst of the problems. Who but a lowly painter could possibly see this as anything short of appalling? In spite of the condition I was immediately drawn to the place - where better to begin a romantic adventure.