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I highly recommend the book The Art Spirit by Robert Henri compiled by Margery A. Ayerson. It was recommended to me by my Mom!
True Story:
My Mom and I were talking on the phone. She and my Dad were preparing to meet with a contractor due to property damages from Super Storm Sandy. She mentioned the book. Said it was a must for my wife Jessica and me. Jessica and I were in my
mother-in-law’s home. While speaking on the phone with my Mom, I turned around towards the bookshelf behind me. There, on top shelf, the second from the top of a stack of eight books, lay The Art Spirit by Robert Henri.
Disclaimer: My mother-in-law was a painter. (She sadly passed away two weeks ago after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.) More accurately, she was an artist.
In so many ways. Her house is a respite from the chaos of the world. Her backyard a fortress of tranquility. The artwork that adorns the walls of her house the soft strokes and gentle hues of water color. So it really is no surprise perhaps that Pat would have the book my Mom suggested.
However, the book is years out of print. If I am correct (and that’s a big IF), the last and first paperback printing was back in 1984. According to mathematics, that’s 28 years ago.
Also, my Mom was a primary school teacher and not a specialist in the arts as my mother-in-law Pat was. How my Mom all of a sudden suggested this uniquely inspiring book on painting (and all artistic endeavors) is beyond my imagination.
Except now I do now recall that recently my Mom took up the study of water color. And, based upon samples of her work that she sent to Pat, she is quite good. She
seems to have an intrinsic understanding and instinctive touch.
So now it seems that things have come full circle? No, not really, just a curious coincidence. My Mom takes up water color painting (which happens to be a specialty of my mother-in-law), reads the book The Art Spirit by Robert Henri (which happens to be on my mother-in-law’s bookshelf), she mentions it to me while in a phone discussion, I turn around during the same conversation and look directly at that very same title The
Art Spirit printed on the binding of the first book upon which I lay my eyes on the top shelf…. Oh yeah. The book is out of print.
Private investigators and police detectives say there is no such thing as coincidence. I don’t care what you believe. You are entitled to your own opinion. But your certainly should do yourself the favor of finding and reading a copy of The Art Spirit.
“Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. They can help you. All the past can help you.”
Excerpt from The Art Spirit by Robert Henri