Mad Scientist Who Never Sleeps

In many ways, we are all students of a certain endeavor at some time or another. My mad scientist/experiment-or/student self never sleeps. Come to my studio and most days you will find a pot of stand oil/varnish medium bubbling away on the hot plate. Alternatively, perhaps a small batch of Red Iron Oxide or Egyptian Blue Frit will be lingering on the grinding plate, anticipating a safe encasement. My dog-eared copy of Robert Massey’s book, Formulas for Painters is a wealth of 200 enticing recipes, and I have cooked most of them.

The surfaces of canvases, boards, and copper panels in my store room are each in a varying state of gold leaf, warm or cool tonings, and texture preparations. You just never know what idea will spark a special substrate to best present a particular composition. Most fellow artists are on their own private student journey, always searching for a new magic medium, unknown pigment, or fresh approach.

Even the skilled curator of European Art at Yale University and University of San Diego, John Marciari, used his student self-curiosity to its utmost apogee. By engaging his knowledge with his inquiring mind, Marciari has unearthed a heretofore-unknown masterpiece attributed to none other than Diego Velazquez. Had he not poked, prodded, investigated, searched, and queried this painting would have languished in the dusty storerooms at Yale for even more decades.

Perhaps there is a little bit of the mad scientist/student in you too. When do you like to put on your detective badge? All the rest of the curious reading this would love to have you leave a comment tell us what motivates you into action when you want to learn more about a previously unknown topic. Maybe there is an unidentified masterpiece in your future.

The Education of the Virgin, Circa 1617-18