Aha!

Ross Merrill 1943- 2010

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:23:45 -0400

*This past weekend, on June 11th, there was a memorial paintout for Ross Merrill. The paint out took place on the Eastern shore of Maryland at the estate “River House at Sycamore Point” along the Corsica River. Ross passed away December 15th, 2010. It was his wish that friends and family gather together for a day of plein air painting. His ashes were interred under a beautiful golden willow tree. Click this link to view a slideshow (photos by Sara Linda Poly) of the Merrill Memorial PaintOut, http://www.wslp.org/gallery/RossMerrillMemorial/Slideshow/index.shtml

Ross was the Chief of Conservation at the National Gallery of Art for almost 30 years. Below is the eulogy I gave at his funeral on February 12, 2011.

EULOGY FOR ROSS MERRILL Feb 12, 2011

I am humbled and honored to speak to you today about Ross.Merrill.
He was my friend.My mentor, my teacher.
And I miss him. As I know you do,too.

I met Ross about eleven years ago when another friend, Ed Ahlstrom, who had introduced me to landscape painting, recommended that I sign up to take a Fall workshop painting in the Blue Ridge mountains of Madison County,Virginia...at a little place called Grave’s Mountain. Arriving at Sunday noon, I was nervous and shy and unsure of myself...but here came this bright yellow jeep up the mountain road, and out walked Ross... Aloha shirt, shorts, and a paint splattered jacket announcing to all that Sunday supper was fried chicken! so lets eat! and get to know each other before we paint this afternoon. His charm and story telling immediately put everyone at ease and we knew it was going to be a good week.
And it was.
So good, that I continued to paint with Ross for the next ten years...back to the mountains of Virginia, in Annapolis and the Eastern Shore, Hope Town in the Bahamas, and a grand trip to Normandy France .

Ross was a gifted and fun teacher. He’d always begin with a morning demo painting, patiently explaining his technique and telling entertaining stories as he worked. He had the ability to capture the landscape in simple bold strokes, layering the details as the painting progressed. If you wanted to know “how to paint water”, Ross would show you, and while doing so give you a history of how other artists might have approached the subject. The depth of his knowledge was truly awesome. The storytelling would continue thru out the day and during group dinners. But the true high light of his generous spirit and knowledge was the power point slide show lectures he would give in the evenings....with the moon high over the mountains, we’d gather in one of the Inn’s rooms with our glasses of wine or Wild Turkey and listen to Ross speak about landscape painting.... his well known lectures on Impressionism, or maybe Winslow Homer or others.

And in the end,....he always ended with a family photo..... “His Alice and his Ashley...”
Here’s this brilliant, respected charming man who is known for his story telling and humor and knowledge, his teaching, his art, beloved the world over.....but his wife Alice, and his family were his anchor. His inspiration. His heart. And it shined in his eyes when he spoke of them.
It was good.

One summer, years later during one of his one man shows in Alexandria, I asked him how his summer was going...... .that same light shined in his eyes.... and he told me about his road trip with his son David....on.... motorcycles.
And it was good ,too.

I will miss his voice saying “Coming along nicely” “Got a good start there” when doing his critiques. His eye was good, and he was kind in giving honest constructive advice on improving a painting. He respected individual style.

There were deeper, serious moments in our friendship, when the workshops were over, the other students gone and we would talk. Pretty much about everything. But a lot about art and being an artist and balancing family life with creative time. Ross encouraged me.... when nobody, not even myself, believed I had a chance with my art, he believed in me. He pushed me and at the same time, in that beautiful Texan drawl would say, “Lani, just have fun. It’s only paint”.
Then we’d talk about our families some more. Our love for our spouses, our children. True Love. He had found it and so had I.

It was a Blessing. He was my friend.

But he was that way with everyone. Like the pied piper he welcomed all to join him in the world of painting. A gifted teacher, a gifted speaker, a gifted artist...a brilliant and humor filled mind. He got it. He got it all...respected and loved around the world as the Chief of Conservation for over 25 years at The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Respected and loved around the world as a friend and fellow artist.

He was the heart that held many of us together.

He’s still with us. In his paintings. In all the articles he wrote for publications around the world about conservation or painting. In The Washington Society of Landscape Painters archives, in photographs, in archived videos of his lectures and demos, in books he co-authored and more.

He’s the Spirit you feel when you’re over on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, say Tilghman Island on some bright day and painting your first water scene of the season. He’s there when you’re looking at Winslow Homer’s paintings of the Bahamas and remember the advice he gave you about bringing emerald green in your paintbox to paint the water (and by the way the pina coladas are really good, too).

You’re still with us, Ross.
I KNOW that.

Thank you for being my friend & teacher
You were a Blessing and Inspiration in my life.

How FACEBOOK destroyed my blog

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:55:27 -0400

It’s true.
FACEBOOK destroyed this blog.
I joined FACEBOOK last Fall, thinking I would use it to promote my website. I uploaded some paintings, added some links, posted some photos and some music and began finding and adding friends.
It seemed such an easy way to stay in touch with family, friends and colleagues.

I then created a “Washington Society of Landscape Painters” FACEBOOK fan page, which I administer. As the archivist for WSLP, it seemed a smart thing to do. Here I could post a link to The Washington Society of Landscape Painters web site (www.wslp.org), but we could have a little more fun. Our upcoming group exhibitions as well as personal shows and news were posted, photos from our art receptions, and videos. (“Join FACEBOOK! Become a FAN!”)

Administering the two sites with the option of quick little updates fell into an easy pattern. Much easier than sitting down and composing my “bigger” thoughts for this blog.

My husband, Charles Browning - whose music (see below) is scattered through out my “Aha!” blog is also a journalist. He’s worked in advertising, marketing, and publishing. He’s now with The Washington Post in their magazine division. We have watched and discussed the changing media with the rise of the Internet, social networks like FACEBOOK and TWITTER, YOU TUBE, and the dismal state of newspapers and . . . really, all print media. It’s a changing world.

Add in the global recession.

Galleries are closing, advertising agencies are merging or shutting down, and discovering the best way to get your product, your information, your art OUT THERE is a challenge. Many in the Art Community who are already blogging have been wonderful addressing these issues and how to survive in today’s market.

I’m finding my role as WSLP’s archivist changing. In the past I collected exhibition postcards, now they are sent by e-mail. Artists who used to mail out paper press releases, now send e-mail blasts. I can’t remember the last time I clipped a newspaper article. I receive a lot of links to personal web sites or YOU TUBE videos. When some of our members who are juried into the popular plein air competitions around the country, I follow the festivals and their status on TWITTER for the archives.

Do I print these for the archives? Some I do, some I don’t. But I can tell you that most of my archival work is from the Internet and that I am always ordering print cartridges and paper from Staples. There is something ironic about going from a paper based media to a paperless media, and converting it back into paper for history. I haven’t decided yet how to deal with the video beyond burning them onto DVDs. Who knows what format video will be viewed in in the future?

There is a good book out by Seth Godin called “Tribes”. We are each our own tribal leader, creating our own tribe, within our community of other tribes. You could call me a part of the Apple Tribe. I’m not a leader in that tribe, but I embrace it for my own tribe and use it’s tools to expand my tribe. Music, too has long had tribes - think Grateful Dead and PHISH. Think, too, how much the music industry is changing - what can the art world learn from the music world?

Clint Watson with his blog www.fineartviews.com/ writes about this in 11/27/2007 blog about becoming a microcelebrity “ learning to manage our identity and ‘message’ almost like a self-contained public relations department’. Pretty forward thinking for 2007.

We are told how to survive in this day and age : we need a website, a blog, a FACEBOOK and TWITTER account, YOU TUBE painting videos, auction our art on EBay, join a daily painting site, enter as many competitions as we can, a smart phone to stay in touch, email and upload instant photos and video, write a book, teach workshops, update ourselves on www.wikipedia.com and www.AskArt.com and the hundreds of other sites available.

Whew. It all can make me tired. Too much typing and uploading. On one hand it is exciting, the possibilities out there are endless. But I wonder as we spend so much time marketing ourselves and ‘ leading our tribes’, are we allowing enough time to just paint? Be creative?
Read a book? (on Kindle?!!) Spend time with loved ones? DO NOTHING?

When I was a kid we moved around a lot. We were a Navy family. We also didn’t have a lot of money for extras. Time stretched out unscheduled, and that is when I discovered art. Hours and hours discovering my creative self. I had TIME.

It’s up to each of us to choose how to fit into these changing times. The choices are exciting. I’m impressed by friends who manage to pack so much in, compete, run galleries, have full time jobs and still paint a collection of beautiful paintings. I’m equally tickled by friends who refuse to join networking sites, or have e-mail, and believe in the elegance of a handwritten letter.

Me? Well, I like having a website, especially now that I’m my own webmaster. And I like FACEBOOK since for me it saves time - everything in one place instead of sending out multiple emails. And I like my “Aha!” blog... but I have learned I will never be a daily blogger, just an occasional one. I hope when you do visit my website, you wander over here and read my latest posting.

I’m curious ... what works for you?

Thank you for visiting my website and reading this long delayed blog entry... check back again! Who knows when I may feel like writing again?

~ Lani

Washington Society of Landscape Painters, Interview: Lani Browning

Mon, 8 Sep 2008 01:52:08 -0400

Technical Questions

• What is your medium now? (oils, acrylic, pastel, watercolor...) What medium have you always wanted to use, but haven't yet? What mediums have you used in the past? Why do you prefer your current medium?

I use oils now.(Gamblin and Winsor & Newton) When I was an illustrator I worked in gouache, which I still carry with me sometimes when we're traveling. Over the years I've tried pastel and watercolor but they just don't appeal to me. When I was a young Mother I worked a lot in colored pencil, and still enjoy the quiet honesty of pencil. One area I really enjoyed in the past was printmaking. I especially liked etching/aquatint, hand coloring the plates before printing. I've also tried sculpture (loved it), pottery (I was absolutely terrible at it! Clay flew everywhere!), jewelry making (utter failure, too much work! gave me profound respect for jewelry makers!)
I'm curious about egg tempera, and I'd like to someday take a workshop in pastel or watercolor - see if I like it any better.
The "Artistic Process"

• What time of day are you most creative? Early morning? Afternoon? Early evening? Late at night? Which season do you feel most creative? Winter, Fall, Spring, Summer? Why?

It depends on the weather. Spring and Summer are my favorite seasons. I love Spring. The first warm days and the garden "waking up" with bulbs peeping out of the earth, buds about to burst on the trees, I am like a little kid and only want to be outdoors. The hard decision is I have to ask myself if it's a gardening day or a painting day? Toss up which wins, but usually the garden wins first, when it is tidy the next day is my treat to paint all day. On beautiful sunny warm summer days, I love to get up early, have a cup of coffee, and set up for a full luxurious day of painting. I dislike Fall. In the winter, I like to do snowfall and nocturnes from the comfort and warmth of my studio windows.
"Working Environment"

• What does your studio look like?

My studio is the top floor loft of my home and it is my sanctuary. It is organized with separate areas for all my different needs. I have a storage room to organize supplies, frames, panels and paintings, etc. and an industrial sink for clean up. There is a framing table, and many bookcases filled with all my favorite art books and magazines. There is a wall mirror to check paintings in reverse, and a ledge to prop up paintings that are drying or still "works in progress" . I just had installed a large bulletin board ( 4 x 6) where I keep art notices, meetings, competition information etc. My desk is set up here with computer, printer, scanner, fax and all my digital recording equipment, as well as a phone and a small TV that plays DVDs and is hooked up to cable. There are chairs to sit on and read a book in, a daybed to take naps on, an ijoy chair for massages, and always a vase of fresh flowers as well as a couple houseplants. Scattered around my studio are various little things that bring me joy......my children's first art, friends sculptures, mementoes from traveling, some photographs. The walls up to my studio are hung with my art, but this is more my system for keeping track of frame sizes, or art that is being prepared for a show. There is track lighting and a ceiling fan and two large windows looking West. .........and most of the time one or both of our two cats sleeping on the window seat (they steal my paint brushes when feeling mischievous!)
• Do you listen to music when you are painting? Have a TV on? If yes, what are your favorites? Do you use an ipod when painting outdoors? Or do you prefer silence?

All of the above, it depends on my mood. Sometimes when world events are dramatic, I keep the TV on to listen to the news. Sometimes I'll turn the TV to Turner Classic Movies and just let it run all day (no commercials). More often I turn my computer on to itunes and just let it shuffle through my library of music - a very eclectic collection ranging from Hawaiian Slacke Guitar, African drum music (Telek) gospel (Sweet Honey in the Rock), 40's (Nat King Cole), folk, classical (Yo-Yo-Ma), jazz (Etta James), and the blues....Mississippi John Hurt and my current favorite, Kelly Joe Phelps.
Then of course somedays I prefer the meditative sound of silence.
I always take my ipod with me when painting outdoors, but interesting, rarely use it.
"Personal Art History"

• When did you first want to become an artist? (And when did you realize you were one?) Did you draw or paint as a child? What were your subjects?

I don't know if I ever "decided" to become an artist, it's just something I always did. When I was little I used to lay on the floor and draw elaborate pictures on the underside of my Mother's tables. This probably began when I'd make tents under the dining room table hiding out during hurricanes. When I was 6, I won a poster contest for the new library. We were a Navy family, moving often, drawing and painting kept me company. I used to draw houses, design houses, draw and design gardens, copy flowers, do little portraits of friends, copy paintings I liked. Later, my first paintings (in acrylic) were copies of Renaissance painters. I loved Raphael and Leonardo Da Vinci's Madonna and child paintings.
• Are there any other artists in your family? (including all the arts)

Yes! My Mother had 5 brothers and all of their children became artists. One cousin was the head of Hallmark artists for years and now does op ed news page illustrations ( John Overmyer), another cousin is an illustrator out in LA (Ron Overmyer), another a wildlife artist in Idaho, and another a designer in New Orleans. My brother is a cartoonist (and an Episcopal Priest ). My GrandMother was the first woman architect of Ohio and an illustrator. She designed the Ohio State football stadium, the TKE house and various other buildings as well as did early cover illustrations for House Beautiful. Our son is the Editor of The Independent newspaper in Montana, and his wife is a Dance professor at UMT. Our daughter is also a dancer, married to a musician, and my husband is a musician. Neither one of my parents were artistic, but they were always encouraging and supportive.
"Inspiration"

• Which artists (past or present) do you turn to for inspiration? Why?

Ahhhhhh, so many I like! Mian Situ, Jeremy Lipking, Richard Schmid, Scott Christianson, Daniel Sprick (present) William Merritt Chase, Sargent, Whistler, Edgar Payne, Frederick Remington, Maynard Dixon, Birge Harrison, Sydney Lawrence, Degas, Boudin and more!
"Fantasy" Questions

• If you could travel anywhere to paint, where would you go and what would you like to paint?

I'd go to a secluded beach house in Hawaii, stocked with fine art materials, a housekeeper and a chef. I would paint everything, from the smallest blossoms to the largest banyan tree, to the grandest sunrise........barefoot.
And then I'd go back to Ireland, to a rural farmhouse in a small village and paint the miles and miles of green.
• If you were not a painter, what activity would you be pursuing?

Oh...........couple things: theatre & costume design. Or animation, movies, special effects. Or elder care counseling- Hospice work..............or maybe just own a small village flower shop.
"Random" Questions

• What is your favorite color, and why?

Jade Green........viridian. Don't know why, but I am drawn to this color and paintings and rooms with this color: Whistler's Peacock Room at The Freer Gallery in Washington DC. is one example.
Here are three colors I dislike: red, orange and acidic yellow. Probably why I dislike Fall.
~ Lani
* Footnote: As the archivist for The Washington Society of Landscape Painters, I am interested in the biographies of our members. In 2005, I began writing a series of Interview questions for our current members. Artists became our monthly “Featured Artist ” on our website (www.wslp.org) in the order they completed their Interview. The questions were in different categories: Technical, Artistic Process, Working Environment, The Business of Art, Personal Art History, Inspiration, “Fantasy” questions, and Random questions. Each category had about 10 questions. Artists could choose any 10 questions they liked from any category. As we complete the cycle through our juried 40 member’s interviews, we will begin again with their next set of 10 questions and answers. This month I am the Featured Artist.

Missoula Montana Farmers Market
with my granddaughter, Annabella Rose (age 3)...
my little painting buddy!
July 16, 2008

Gardens, Painting and Tasha Tudor

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:49:44 -0400

Food, Friends, Gardens, Books and a video

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:54:11 -0400

   Well I'm a little late getting interested in all of this....have gotten lazy these last years. Maybe it began when we moved here to VA and the closest grocery store was the organic grocery chain Whole Foods - those who know me well know I hate to drive and Safeway and others stores were a hassle to get to. Plus, there was just the indulgence- more time in my studio to paint if Whole Foods prepared our meals.

Ireland last summer was a revelation. The whole country was into the "slow food movement", plastic bags and water bottles are banned across the whole country. Restrooms had rolling linen towel bars instead of paper and everyone seemed to be talking about the plight of the honeybees.

    We made baby steps toward smart light bulbs and carrying cloth bags everywhere.

    But I recently picked up Barbara Kingsolver's new book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of Food Life " about her family's move from AZ to VA and embracing the slow food movement. Though I have read about many of the things she covers, she's such a fine writer, it's a delight to have all the information in one package - filled with great recipes, too - I highly recommend it.

And for those who know I hate to drive, they also know I am passionate about flowers. Talking with my friend, Lindsay in England the other day, we were discussing The Chelsea Flower Show, which she recently attended. Lindsay sent me the BBC link to tour the gardens . Unfortunately, only those in the UK can see the videos but it's a fun site to explore. I wandered into "Ethical Gardening" and just sat here at my computer feeling really stupid when I read a long article about PLASTIC flower pots.....and alllllllllllllll the plastic containers and little pots and trays that summer herbs and annuals and plants and hanging baskets come in....and alllllllllll the ones stored in the garage, and allllllll the ones thrown away. Here is a very simple place to begin recycling. If you'd like to read more the link to the BBC website is ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/

    In the same week I saw a Nightline special on a man in California who lived in the suburbs who was able to turn his entire tiny 1/5 of an acre into a producing "farm". Juli just sent me the link to the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPEBM5ol0Q. You'll be inspired.

      And as if the Universe were standing up and saying"Hey!" . . . this Spring I had a visit with my friend Jerri - always delightful and always challenging me with her activist forward thinking. After a discussion about HOA's and creative rights for homeowners (mailboxes to doormats ) we started talking about Bette Midler and what she was doing in New York City for the neighborhood parks. Somehow I have landed on our neighborhood HOA Board - in charge of the grounds, it's been challenging to balance keeping our community attractive and home values stable in this dismal real estate market. Jerri sent a wonderful book on urban community gardens that was filled with great ideas to put our common grounds to good use. It can be done!

     And alllllllllllll of this made me think of my friend Pat and her husband Paul, who way back in the early 70's went "back to the earth" and started Long Branch, an environmental living non profit community. They have been "double digging beds, growing food, canning food, recycling, gravity water, self composting toilets, the whole works for almost 35 years now- deep in the mountains outside Asheville North Carolina. (It was their home that inspired Charlie's song "Laughing Waters".on his "ChoirBoy's Lament" album years ago. This past Sunday, Pat and I were able to have a good long catch-up chat about everything under the sun (but truthfully there were a lot of stories traded about our darling granddaughters, too!) Towards the end I asked her what it was really like to be living in the country so self sufficiently. Practical questions like wild animals and aren't you just tired? To learn more about Longbranch or their intern program or just to see some pretty pictures, here's their website:http://www.longbrancheec.org/tour.html



It is unlike me to recommend things. I am just finding all of this very interesting - so I thought I'd share it with my friends out there who are gardeners or cooks or creative spirits or just plain love to eat good food or hear new ideas. We're living in interesting times. When I'm in an intense painting period I still will probably pick up dinner at Whole Foods but will choose more often our good local wines over (sigh) Italian......
      Good Cheer to all of you! ~ Lani
* This originally was an email sent to friends, too much good stuff not to share.