Coming March 30: Introducing The Painturian, the Larry Witham Art Blog

ONCE A WRITER, ALWAYS A WRITER. By the same token, once a painter, always a painter. After a forty-year hiatus from my college painting degree, I have returned to full-time fine art painting. This has inspired me (a career writer), in turn, to offer this twice weekly blog on all things 2-D fine art. So, may I introduce The Painturian, a Monday and Thursday blog.

You may naturally ask, “Oh, are you selling something?” Of course I am! I am marketing my oil paintings on a new e-commerce website (www.withamartstudio.com), more hobby than bottom-line business, but an earnest venture. In publishing we said, “Why write a book if nobody reads it?” Similarly, “Why paint a picture if nobody hangs it on their wall.”

Most of what I write is already known by experienced painters and professional art historians, so for them I hope to at least entertain, and at best offer a refresher course. For students in the art field, the blogs may be pointers to different areas of inquiry. Perhaps a topic for a class paper. And for the general public, while entertainment is key, I hope to lift the veil on the tribe of painters and what our world is all about.

I will try to make my reflections on painting, the art scene, and art history relevant, though please don’t expect headline scoops or fiery rebuttals on hot topics of the hour. Nor will I write how-to lessons in painting. Instead, expect a little bit of the droll attitude of someone in his late sixties. Having been a career journalist, author, and lay art historian, though, I do enjoy putting some bite into my jottings.

Thank you for visiting, and for reading to the very end.