Whitbeck Notes
Summer 2025
Kashan Floral
18" x 24" oil on panel
Over the years of working on still lives I have discovered that painting an intricate background can really add to the overall feel of the piece. I am talking here about the detailed Persian carpets or the illustrative illuminations from a medieval manuscript, things like this, objects and images that contain a secondary story within them that can add to and energize the foreground still life.
The Kashan carpet that I have put in many a painting over the past few years, even though not an image of people and an obvious narrative, can for sure add to the flavor of it; the rich eastern world, quietly gazing out to the viewer with its captivating patterns and colors. No words of description, just a feel. And each viewer might interpret it in a different way.
Sometime back, for the first time, I had added as a background an image from a Japanese story called The Tale of Genji. And it did not really matter if whoever was looking at it knew of the tale or not, it struck a mood. It made you think, "What's going on in there?", "What's the story here?"
Another time, after a trip to Crete, I had used an image from one of my many photographs of two pheasants amongst some flowers. This was from a painted Minoan wall mural that we had found in a museum, a section of what remained anyway. It worked perfectly with the fruit that I had chosen and the images soft pastel colors all combined together, each contributing to the story.
The artistic creativity, genius sometimes, of artisans from centuries ago boggle my mind sometimes. As like today, so many factors contribute to these creations and form the mind of the artist, influencing them one way or another. Politics, society, weather, the general well-being of a people as a whole, hunger, abundance, it all, weather intend or not, can come through in something created by human hands. One such example that has fascinated me for years is a series of carpet fragments from 16th century India. They have so much deteriorated over time, but not enough to dull the curiosity of the viewer. The fragments show an array of various wild animals done in primitive form, emerging one from the other in a symmetrical pattern with the large head of a bull or ox as its central focus. Panthers, cheetahs, water fowl, elephants, birds of all kinds, rhinoceros' all twisting this way and that over a rich red background with flowers intwined. So fascinated was I that I have used it as a background numerous times and I imagine numerous more times in the future!
Indian Beauty
18" x 24" oil on panel
As much as I love doing this, it all adds to the overall time in a painting, for typically my backgrounds range from bure black to a brighter grey/tan, which are only a few layers of paint and take not much time at all.
But with the backgrounds containing images it is almost like working on a whole other painting. A painting within a painting. Especially the Kashan carpet, which you can see in the Kashan Floral painting above. Just the sorting out and laying down of the pattern takes a considerable amount of time, and then many, many hours of working up the nubby pile of the carpet, bringing it to life. Usually having just finished a painting with the Kashan I say to myself, "Not again for a long time!" But then, only a short time later, I get the desire to bring that ol' Kashan back into the studio for another go. Humans are like that I guess. How soon we forget.
The Messenger
18" x 14" oil on panel
Recently a good friend of mine had given me a book titled Medieval Beasts, by Ann Payne. A book focusing on the various animals, real and imagined, known to the medieval world and what their knowledge of them was, usually tied fast to stories from the bible. Fascinating, really. And what a treasure trove this has become for backgrounds in my paintings! So many great illuminations to work with. The artistic style from the period alone can immediately evoke a feeling from the viewer, let alone the image itself. Whales, monkeys, dogs, elephants. Animals that are half lions, half dragons. Serpents with wings. Its all there. Sometimes I get the feeling that no one from the period actually, wholeheartedly believed all this. Maybe something more like a titillating story with entertaining pictures to look at. The more I read the more I get the impression that the "dark ages" maybe were not so dark. Who could not, centuries from now, look back on our way of doing things and think, "how medieval!"
Anyway, with the human figures added to these illuminations we now have a moral tale, ready to chastise, warn or praise the reader. For an example, there is one image (seen above in The Messenger) that has a whale filling out most of the page. At the top is a medieval boat with sailors working the sail and lines. Perched atop the whale is one of the sailors, tending to a stew pot that is hanging over a fire. And for the description of this whale story, roughly put, is that a storm tossed ship and crew mistake a basking whale for an island and desperate for some reprieve from the oceans trials and tribulations tie up to this "island" and begin to cook their meal. The rest of the story goes on to say that the heat of their fire enrages the whale who then dives deep into the depths, taking ship and crew with it.
The medieval reader would then be told that the sailors were the unbelievers who put their trust in the Devil and sank with him to hell. And it would not matter that someone looking at my painting might not know of this story of morality. It would be the illumination itself, with its hundreds of years of spiritual meaning to so many people, deep in warning, imbedded in the very fiber of the parchment, now imbedded in my re-creation of it that would speak to the viewer and maybe tug at some unseen string within them, adding another dimension to what I had created.
Some new paintings started with Illuminations as background
I do not do this all of the time as sometimes I think it is my own interest in these things that brings me to add these stories to my paintings, and that it might not be for everyone. And, so it is that a majority of my work has the typical dark "Dutch" backgrounds and the smaller percentage containing the other. It usually comes about by accident, like my friend sending me the book, or the stroll through the museum in Crete, sudden and unexpected. And the excitement is real and the desire to create something with these images is strong. I love that feeling and hopefully this all comes through in the finished paintings.
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Flowers and Insects
16" x 12" oil on panel
Every now and again in the Whitbeck Notes I will mention a book that I had been reading and thought appropriate for and connected to art in one way or another. And this one does tie into these Summer Notes.
During our Florida tour last March one such book had caught my eye in a used bookstore in Altemonte Springs. On the cover was a curious looking boat, toiling amidst heavy seas and carrying two sails, both decorated with a large, red Celtic cross. The name of the book was The Brendan Voyage. I quickly perused through it, learning that the author, Tim Severin, had constructed a 7th century boat and recreated a voyage with it across the North Atlantic.
With this littler knowledge, along with the great images within, I was intrigued and bought it, stowing it away deep in one of our van storage compartments.
Upon returning back to Massachusetts and unloading the van I had realized that I had forgotten all about this book, and so the next day my wife, Gale and I began reading it.
I am mentioning it in these Notes because I think that it fits right well with the medieval beasts book and its images. Boats, whales, monks and sailors, curious tales, its a perfect companion to these stories of old. Back in the early seventies our sailor, Tim had become fascinated with the mythical (or not) voyage of a 6th century Irish monk named Brendan. Supposedly Brendan and a number of other fellow monks had built a wood framed boat covered with leather and sailed/ rowed it across the North Atlantic, island hopping all the way to Newfoundland, the "Land of Paradise".
Scholars are divided on whether this trip actually happened or not, each side with their theories and research to back it up. Tim was fascinated whether such a trip could even have been made at all using a boat of leather. If so, then that would be real feather in the cap for the "actually happened" group. So after much research on medieval leather boats and navigation and after a year or so of construction, Tim Severin and a varying crew of four to five set sail from Ireland, heading west in hopes of reaching "Paradise".
I highly recommend reading this book. Tim, as well as being a skilled sailor also has a way with words, and as they say, has created a real page-turner, bringing his idea, the building of, departure and trip to life, as well as bringing Brendan himself to life n his 6th century environment. What an adventure and what a book!
Pears with Pitcher
12" x 16" oil on panel
Having just returned home from our "Midwest Tour" the 2025 art show season is now well underway. Chicago was great. Good weather for the most part at both 57th Street and Old Town. Rain had made for a tough take-down at the end of 57th Street and a tricky set-up at Old Town, but for the rest of the time it was rain free and comfortable temperatures. There were also good sales at both shows, making for a pleasant ride home and enthusiasm to get back in the studio to create more work!
Usually my Midwest tour involves both of these Chicago shows and Des Moines with every now and then the Lake Front Milwaukee show. But not this time. I was put on the "wait-list" for Des Moines. And for any of you who had read the last Spring 2025 Whitbeck Notes about applying to shows, you will know all about the wait-list and what that means. And as no other artist had cancelled at Des Moines I was not called off of the list. And so, after Old Town, Gale and our Brittany, Pasha headed home. Which is fine as we have had good shows and I am looking forward to getting back in the studio.
Upcoming shows will be Mystic, Connecticut, Longs Park in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland. So now I will focus my attention on getting ready for these three shows and working on finishing some new paintings.
All my best,
James Whitbeck
(413) 695.3937
