Vo-vvV~ÂĽCLY\d;A.V. 13~T~ by J. Russell Jinishian
T
o most of us, the life of an artist might appear to be free from constraints of the normal working environment-no
overbearing boss, meddling co-workers or office politics, no weekly reports to present or board members to appease. In actuality, it can be fraught with loneliness, insecurity, and anxiety. There are hours spent in solitude, where every stroke of the brush represents an artistic decision that you alone can make, no collaborators to watch your back-or share the blame if you've made the wrong one. From conception to completion, the artistic process is an intensely personal journey that reflects the personality, proclivities, and passions of the artist himself Given th is, T ask you, what are the odds that two marine artists sitting alone in their studios some 9,000 miles apart would decide to paint exactly the same vessel or moment in maritime history? Well, witness here the incredibly skilled paintings of American artist Don Demers and New Zealand artist A. D. Blake, who each unbeknownst to the other, painted versions of the same subject not once, but three times! While their approaches and styles are different and distinct, they both remain true to the tenets of their crafr-historical and architectural accuracy based on thorough research into the events and vessels depicted. Where they differ in composition, paint surface, and the treatment of sky, water and light, each has produced paintings, equally convincing and dramatic, only reinforcing one of the great principles of art-that there is no one correct way to paint a subject. Who is the best? Aha! That's like asking who is the better writer of sea tales: Joseph Conrad, Herman Melville or Patrick O'Brian? An impossible question to answer; rather, we should thank these two skilled practitioners for bringing to life great maritime moments from their own unique perspectives, for our enjoyment today, and for generations of the future.
The Great TransAtlantic Race of 1866 by A. D. Blake, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 inches
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SEA HISTORY 131, SUMMER 2010