................ Joseph Zbukvic and his 1956 Triumph TR3
All of my communication has been with Janine, until recently when I was stunned to see an email arrive from Mr. Z himself. Anybody not familiar (if that's possible) with Joseph's renowned work, needs to stop reading now and go here. And here. People who are familiar with his work know that he's regarded as one of the all-time masters of this medium. I'm proud to now call him a good friend, and humbled to be considered a colleague. When I picked up the paint brush again in 2003, I had no idea things would take this turn.
Joseph and I are planning on meeting in Seattle in April for some good times, where I'll be doing a workshop at CWB, and he'll be flying in to do a workshop for Art Escapes Montana at the fantastic Glacier Camp Lodge in Kalispell. Through the organizational genius of Jamie Kelley, Joseph and I will do back to back workshops at scenic Granville Island, in Vancouver, April 2010. More details on that soon. By the way, in 2011, Jamie has me doing a dual workshop with one of my cherished mentors, watercolor legend Barbara Nechis. To our knowledge, this has never been done the way we are planning it. I'm excited!
21 comments:
well - i have Joseph's book. it has some memorable images if i remember them rightly. must dig it out from my shelf.
i think he was originally a Melbourne lad... i might be wrong.
i would love to study with him one day. if you can Nick - can you ask him if he is going to do any workshops in Melbourne anytime in the future? can you tell him about this up-and-coming watercolor artist that is in Melbourne looking for friends and direction (that would be me)???
:)
Keep us posted on the events as they unfold...
-- Joel.
Wow!!!! Thanks for the link to Joe's site and film! On another subject: I'm putting together a paint off with Milind Mulick, Mryna Wacknov, maybe Mike Bailey, maybe David Burge, and me to do a water media portrait from a common photo ref. Are you interested or do you know of anyone else that would be. With email addresses, I can send particulars and the ref. photo.
Yes I can thank Joseph Zbukvic for teaching me to paint with my coffee and drink my paint!
Seriously though I'm pleased to hear of your liaisons with Joseph which is like the aligning of the watercolour planets.
I'm feeling understated tonight so I'll say that I regard Joseph as the leading living master of the medium.
Thank you Nick ! One more wonderful link in the world of water color ( or colour ). To paraphrase : So many painters, so little time !
How very exciting for you NNG!
Meeting with JZ
The planets allign
The talents combine
I'm just driving by
Honking that horn...hubba hubba!
That car that is!
:)
Nick, you must be over the Moon. How exciting! And thank you for introducing me to Joseph's work.
nick - you know how i feel about zbuk's paintings - and yours too; you deserve to be there - enjoy!
chris!
Congrats Nicholas! Knew this kind of action was waiting to catch up with you. Doors opening - pretty exciting stuff. You're hanging with all the right heavies as your art environment shifts into place. A pleasure to see the wheels rolling in the right direction - and what the hell you worked hard for it...
Joel - I think Joseph is originally from Zagreb (?) but has lived in Australia for a long time. He has a workshop page on his site, that might be the best way to learn if he'll be doing something around there. Thanks for posting!
David - nice to see you again, it sounds like fun, I'll email you soon.
Dake - notice that nobody has offered any contradictory opinions so far!!! :)
Janet - thanks for dropping by, which reminds me I need to do that box project...I'll get right on it!
PG - as long as you keep both hands on the wheel! Speaking of which, how would you like to drive by in that '56 Triumph. Joseph tells me it has two speeds - stop and flat out!
Billie - if you didn't know his work, you definitely owe me one!
Chris - yes this has been a favorite subject of ours...who knew it would ever come to this? I'll call soon, and hope to see you soon too.
Bill - the world becomes a smaller place, and the mountain a bit easier to scale. I brought an extra ice axe in case one of us drops one, hope you remembered the Sterno.
Hi NNG...
But of course!
10 and 2 with the occasional stick change...
I personally like 'flat out!'
JZ's watercolour paintings are exceptional (!!!) as are yours of course.
Enjoy the 'fast lane' and company.
PS...there's always a PS ;)...How are your plans for the classic Jag coming along?!
HA! - 'Stop and flat out!' That's an oldie but a goodie!
Ciao
Hi Nick. My congratulations on your successes and your workshops and above all for being in the elite world of Watercolor. I hope I can participate in a workshop in September that Joseph taught in Catalonia (Spain), and knowing him personally. I would also like to know Janine,,, but not if it will be possible.
I am sure that some day will also coincide with you, at least I would like. No matter what you do not have a Triumph TR3, ha, ha, we can always give us a bike ride. Un abrazo. (My sorry for the poor translation)
Joseph's "British Racing Green" Triumph reminds me of my late uncle's MGB: my uncle held a trophy for the 'scratch record' in an official race down (a very circuitous) "Bobbin Head Road" in Sydney. Joseph's watercolours are masterful. To me, one of his many areas of excellence in the medium is in the area of atmospheric perspective: achieving a compelling sense of depth-of-field, and of space, of looking through space/atmosphere/haze etc and, by the same token, includes a keen attention to and accurate articulation of tonal ("value" in US) relationships. He's also most adept with brush, achieving fine calligraphic details that *emerge from* mists, shadows, haze, etc.
Barbara Nechis inspired some of my first abstract watercolours (via her book). She's brilliant imo and has a rare ability to translate a feeling for Nature through (often)a quite spare poetry of colour and forms, through interactive watercolour allowing the watercolour medium to be an active player in the outworking of the image.
Janine's work looks very ethereal transparent, subtle, atmospheric, apt to the medium of watercolour..
...Nicholas Simmons... rising aquamedia superstar accelerating at a pace of knots! Intense colour, free flowing, more musically expressive (in a colour and rhythmic sense than i can think of in almost any other artist's work at present), an East-West interconnectedness, and therefore in that sense, 'globally resonant'..
..racy, racy!! Dynamic combo!!
PG - the classic Jag?? I'm not sure I follow, unless I've told you my dream garage contains a cherry XK-120 and a C-Type. Not holding my breath, either!
Victor - que pasa mi amigo, and I'm sure we will cross paths someday. A bicycle works for me - the single most elegant and efficient machine ever invented!
Wayne - and my dad had a '64 Triumph TR4, (BRG, naturally) that was probably the first sports car in our hometown. Between you, Joseph, Janine, and Barbara, I think I'd end up as brush cleaner - a good entry-level position that would afford me the opportunity of swiping a picture now and then! Thanks for that great post, and I'm also loving your entries over at Moore's place. :)
Hi everyone, this is pretty amazing! All i do is paint watercolours really...what can i say? Everything else happens after. Thanks for all your lovely comments and in particular I must thank Nick for responding to my original approach via Janine Gallizia. I am a bit of a fossil as far as internet goes so I find all this somewhat increadulous. However, I have decided to set up a Facebook account (whatever that is).
Thanks again Nick!
Happy washes!
Joseph - you did it! Welcome to the blogosphere, great to have you aboard. Get Janine and Herman to drop by and we'll pretty much have the whole of the Aussie watercolor pantheon in the house!
The whole "Aussie watercolor pantheon"??? Love it!!! Good to see you guys getting along so well. We ought to organise a painting weekend together, can do it here in Europe; Venice, London, Paris... when you are both over for the show in Oct. Herman will be here too!!
Janine - how Venice AND London AND Paris?? Just as soon as Bernie Madoff sends my check! lol
Well said about JZ. Tremendous artist for sure. Also am very happy for all of your achievements as you deserve every one of them. You're the BEST, Nick. Hope that you will come back to Texas one day. Since taking over as editor of the magazine and working internationally now, I'm too busy to breath. Would love to feature some of your work in the magazine with a porcelain kicker. Let me know if you're every going to consider doing so. Also...I studied two weeks ago with Peter Faust....just as you ordered last year. PERFECT genius as well.
Blessings to you and your lovely family
Celeste - how nice to hear from you, it's been a while since we shared the trenches! I'd love to hear about your Thailand experience and anything else that's going on. Hey...I just got a brilliant idea...how 'bout a blog?! (as if you have time) Thanks for stopping by, and hope to cross paths with you again soon. :)
Hola amigo, congratulations on your workshops, exhibitions and meetings, wow Janine, Joseph, Nick ... BIG WORDS, I can see you have enjoyed.
I'm a little bit to the south to go to those workshops :) but maybe some day who knows.
Thank you for sharing these stories,
un abrazo. Fernando
Fernando, I imagine we'll cross paths one of these days, I hope so amgio!
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