James Gurney paints a mud puddle

One of many reasons I admire artist James Gurney so much: he finds beauty in almost everything.

Yesterday I took my car to the shop because it needed an inspection. The rain was pouring down. There wasn't much space in the waiting room. So I sat under the awning out back between an old rusty engine and a forklift.

While I waited, I sketched the mud puddle beside me. The rain streamed off the corrugated roof  and splashed the water, making big bubbles. The puddle was a sea of overlapping ripples.

James Gurney gets his car inspected

• [RobDobbs]

   #sigh# My office actually blocks that site.

  • [Bucket]

    At first I couldn’t think of any possible reason to block one of the most fantastic art blogs on the internet, but then I realized he frequently posts the paintings of John William Waterhouse, who often features nekkid boobies, the horrible evil pervert.

• [nosehat]

  he finds beauty in almost everything

  That’s the best way to live, and definitely a plus for an artist of any kind.  I’d love it if this was on my tomb stone some day.

  • [awjt]

    Can you give us some examples of stuff that doesn’t make the cut?  Maybe a few of those should be listed on the tombstone, as well, just so that people are clear.

    • [nosehat]

      You mean like this…

      Here Lies Nosehat
      R.I.P.
      He Found Beauty In Almost Everything*

      *except country music, motivational office posters, …

      I like the way you think!

      • [Nagurski]

        By completely writing off country music, you have disqualified yourself…from something.

• [Jim Schmidt]

  I would pay money for a print of that… had I any money to spare for it :(  Watching puddles in the rain was always a favorite pastime in my youth, and I wish I could do it more often now that I’m all “grown up”.

• [Finnagain]

  My dad spent a fair amount of time appreciating the patterns of melting butter in a skillet. Find beauty where you find it.

• [MichaelnotTChristian]

  I love the Artist James Gurney, and have had a signed print of his in my Art collection for years….. “The Dinosaur Parade” hangs in a prominant spot in my house……….

• [scionofgrace]

  “he finds beauty in almost everything”

  Now that’s something worth doing.

  I love watching water move, too.  Doesn’t matter where or how.

• [LydiRae]

  His instructional books are on my shelf, and should be required reading.

• [David Hoskins]

  I’m not a great fan of that ‘Christmas card’ romantic style of painting. But he’s clearly talented.

• [Bob N Johnson]

  I think you’re missing the difference between a blog and a newspaper.

• [Felton / Moderator]

  Sorry for the orphaned comments.  The troll has been successfully released into the wild.

  • [RJ]

    I heard about some trolls that were released into the wild somewhere on the west coast a few years ago. They made it like a quarter-mile away before being eaten by a Great White Moderator.

    More on-topic:
    That painting is lovely. It has a kind of zen to it, if that isn’t too pretentious a way to say it.

    • [Rich Keller]

      Drawing and painting can be zen-like activities. The observational techniques are really effective exercises in mindfulness. Sometimes that can be conveyed in the image.

• [Jesse & Kimberley Paulson]

  It reminds me a lot of M.C. Escher’s “Puddle” from 1952.  Nice.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puddle_(M._C._Escher)

• [Guest]

  Well hey, they included a comments section, and you showed up. What sort of standards are you expecting here?

• [millie fink]

  Yeah, cuz we all need Experts to tell us what “great” art is. And also to tell us why other people, who are Experts too just because they have shit-tons of money, are right to use the money they save through tax breaks and other dodges to buy the “great” art that the rest of us could never afford.

• [millie fink]

  edit-nevermind, the comment i was responding to here is gone.