small things to be grateful for

Peter de Seve - one of those artists I've never met, who nonetheless taught me a lot, and who sounds like a neat guy in real life - hadn't updated his blog since July, and with Sandy, I kinda worried. (It doesn't help that another artist I admire - Francis Tsai, who's awesome - went quiet due to horrific health problems. William O'Connor, who's like de Seve an awesome NYC based artist, updated his blog a little while back, so I already knew he was all right.) Turns out that de Seve just did this neat painting for the New Yorker, so his silence probably is a good thing - especially around this season, as it implies he got more film work.

Man, there are a lot of seriously badass artists out there.

Oh, and also! I got to see an actual NC Wyeth painting. Up close and personal, it's far more obvious how anything which isn't a real focal point is loose and impressionistic, but there were also some fairly direct blue and green brushstrokes added in a red-orange shifted composition. Just totally uncompromising. I'm sort of a wuss about color use and contrast, still, so stuff like that is awesome in my book.