iUpdate

An artist friend of mine sent me an email after reading my last blog about a ridiculous museum show (click here), totally based on name recognition rather than actual artistic ability.
Really the point of that blog post was two fold- first to comment on digital art, and how portable devices are progressing this new medium. An advance that has a lot to owe to the genius of Steve Jobs and his Iphone/Ipad.
Second, the post was to once again show how the established art world (art market) is a small incestuous club that rarely steps out of it's own box to see great work being done all around them. Most major museums are working hard to promote concept over beauty- even if they do occasionally have a show of beautiful work they do everything they can to force their own agenda. A show on 'The Portraits of ________', becomes a comment on feminism, racism, or sexuality. Most art museums do not bother themselves with any discussions on aesthetics.

But I digress.
My friend Bruce Petrie is a local painter that does wonderful landscape paintings. I suggest you check out his work. He is also a well respected lawyer who I am very glad to call my friend. If you read this blog you know I am very sueable.
See his website here.

Bruce sent me one of his Ipad sketches. Despite being a digitally rendered image, it had breadth and beauty of the actual sketch. It is more than a photo of the sketch, it is an interpretation of the image. A visual note that has a lot of power. This image allowed Bruce to learn from a master and quickly, and cleanly take down the information. See his comment about using the iPad below.

i Pad drawing of Rubens Study, by Bruce Petrie, 2011.

"This summer I went to the National Gallery of Scotland and saw in person this Rubens "Study of a Head"....    so I did a study of the study.  One convenience for the traveling artist is that you can carry the tool with you without all the other supplies. The key thing about this, like every other tool, is the purpose to which it is put: i.e. not to elevate the electronic medium as an end in itself but as just one more tool in the paintcraft toolbox.  -Bruce"

Just to be careful, I am sure Bruce would want me to post the following disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in the above blog post are solely that of Richard Luschek and are not necessarily the views of Bruce Petrie. In fact, Bruce barely knows the guy. I mean come on, Luschek is a jerk.