John Sloane is an award-winning artist whose detailed paintings reflect simpler times and restful places amid the unspoiled beauty of the American countryside…. [Pinterest]
Artist John Sloane
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Author Archives: Iowa Life
Artist John Newton Howitt
“John Newton Howitt [Pulp Artists.com] was born May 7, 1885 (1958) in White Plains, New York. His parents were John and Addie Howitt. His brother Louis was five years younger. They lived at 21 Lake Street. His father manufactured ladies’ clothing.
At age four John Newton Howitt contracted polio. During his convalescence, his father interested him in drawing. After his recovery he wore a metal brace on his right leg. In 1901 he graduated White Plains High School at age sixteen…
In 1902 Howitt studied in New York City at the Art Students League with George Bridgman and Walter Clark. When commerce collapsed during the Great Depression, slick magazines suffered from lost advertising. Howitt began to work for pulp magazines instead. The pulps were funded by newsstand sales and were growing extremely profitable as idle workers began to read more. Howitt was an excellent pulp cover artist. He signed his covers for Western pulps and romance pulps with his regular professional signature, “JOHN NEWTON HOWITT,” but he also painted many ghastly and shocking pulp covers, and these were all signed with only his initial “H.” Most pulp artists who wanted to disown the covers would conventionally leave them unsigned and uncredited. Howitt’s “H” is only a modest deception, which seems to imply some ambivalent pride in even his most outrageous pulp covers.”
[Perhaps most peculiar for me, is that there was quite a collection of similar artists born in the late 1880s that went to work for various advertising and publications. The most famous I would say by a landslide was Norman Rockwell. But why? That’s my question. They were all wonderful artists with very enjoyable art, yet Rockwell garnered all the attention. Why him?]
Illustrator John LaGatta
John LaGatta (1894-1977) enjoyed painting women more than anything else. It worked well for him as an illustrator and as a result, he and his wife were able to live a very comfortable lifestyle. His career was substantially taken with illustrating women for romantic stories, magazine covers for all sorts of periodicals, as well as creating exotic fashion illustrations, and eye-catching advertising pictures of his beautifully idealized women. LaGatta’s images appeared in the nation’s most famous publications: Life, Ladies’ Home Journal,Cosmopolitan, Delineator, Women’s Home Companion, andAssociated Sunday Magazine. [more at American Illustration]
His style has been referred to as “racy”, I didn’t see one car or horse. I loved his use of color and the incredible way he captured form. But most amazing for me was the way he implied motion. The link above is from the illustration museum. To me “illustrator” means ‘stuff you enjoy looking at’.
Artist John W. Jones
“Born May 11, 1950 in Columbia, S.C. Jones has been a freelance artist and illustrator for more than 25 years. His former clients include Time Life Books, IBM, Westinghouse, Rubbermaid, NASA, Gadded Space and Flight Center, and the U.S. Postal Service.
Jones explores life through art. This multi-talented artist uses oils, acrylics and watercolors for his painting. Striving for detail in light and reflection, he meticulously draws each painting first, and then layers it with color, resulting in very realistic interpretations of everyday life and landscapes, as well as historical insights into our past.
Jones’ goal is to paint the African American experience starting with the slave trade in Africa, through the Middle Passage and pre-civil war era, and contrast it with African Americans today.” – from Gallery Chuma
[I just love art of people doing their thing, living their life.]
Artist John Walter Scott
John Walter Scott (1907 – 1987). “John Walter Scott, Jr. was born on December 1, 1907 in Camden, New Jersey. His father of the same name was a second generation immigrant from Scotland, and was a draftsman at the Camden Shipyard. His mother was Helen L. Scott, who was of Irish ancestry. They lived at 7 Wood Street, which was one block from the busy riverfront piers. he and his father were avid fishermen. During the Great War his father rejoined the U.S.Army and attained the rank of Captain before dying in 1919. His mother took a job at the La France Tapestry Mill in Philadelphia, and in 1923 at age fifteen, he left school and began to work at the same mill. The mill operator offered free night school classes in various facets of mill work to him…” [From Ask Art]
It took me a minute to figure out that even though he signed his paintings ‘John Walter‘, it was actually the same guy whose bio I kept seeing, ‘John Walter Scott‘. This is the type of art I just love. From warm homey scenes, to hunting and fishing, to True Detective type cover art. Wonderful stuff. His memories and subjects would range from WW I to the end of the Reagan administration. When America was at its finest. These artists are not nearly celebrated as they should be in my mind. Perhaps they harken to a time some people would rather forget, or pretend had never existed. This type of art would make a wonderful calendar.
Ray Cresswell
My search skills are so poor I was unable to find out anything about this English artist. Just the obvious. He creates art that is used to make jigsaw puzzles. I would guess he is still alive. This one is called ‘Boot Sale’, in that is their term for car trunk, so I assume that’s what’s going on here, a sort of farmers market or thrift market. Fancy Dan art is boring as hell to be, wonderful landscapes without a sign of life in it. No animals, no people. Just seems really dumb.
I know one of the early printers of this genre (not quite as busy as this) was Currier and Ives (below) in the 1800s. Art with animals or people in it capture a moment frozen in time for me. My mind creates a story of what it sees. Looking around my room I can always check in on the little doggy at the sidewalk café. The girl on her bike. The couple kissing under the umbrella in the rain. I just have so much more respect for artists that can represent people, faces, dogs, cats and wildlife. No its not “sophisticated”, but its fun.
8 1/2
GARA (general aviation revitalization act) had the effect of keeping foreign competition out of the small aircraft business, thus assuring prices in America would remain jacked up for all eternity. Private ownership plummeted. Hollywood’s monopoly control of the movie industry in America assures them the same thing. Let’s see, does competition make things stronger or weaker?
America may be good at basketball and baseball, but they are horrible at automobile design and movies. Foreign competition killed our automotive industry. If the movie industry suffered a similar fate it would be more than timely. Long overdue as a matter of fact. TCM this morning happened to be playing this classic from nearly 60 years ago, 8 1/2. Federico Fellini’s masterpiece along with La Dolce Vita.
The IMDB page on it revealed a couple of interesting stats on it. 107,758 people gave it an aggregate score of 8.0 out of 10. Yeah? Okay, can’t argue with the wisdom of the crowd. The one I actually let out a laugh on was the worldwide gross: $188,000. The crap factory known as Hollywood regularly churns out pictures that pull in $100 million dollars plus!
The reviews on the film (at the IMDB page) are absolutely wonderful! What a gamut! One I really liked was from a Howard Schumann. He explains the psychological aspects of the film I wouldn’t have figured out in a million years. I fall in love with the visual aspects of film. I look at cinema for its eye appeal. In the scene at the moment a circus troupe is playing a bizarre tune while marching on the beach at dusk! I love it!
And I think that is where half the reviewers missed it. “Boring”, “Self-indulgent!”, “A waste of time”, “An artist with nothing to say”. All true, if you are unable to see film for what it is. Its not a book. Its not a machine. Its not an oil painting. It can’t be everything for everyone. Its a motion picture. Its a collection of words and images for that specific 2 hours of history. My point is that Italian, French, Indian, Japanese and other directors have done it much, much better than Hollywood. They keep out foreign competition for a reason. Survival.
Hallmark’s Christmas Waltz
Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp in Christmas Waltz
Hallmark’s Christmas Waltz premiered last night. Lacey Chabert and Will Kemp were paired once before in Love, Romance, and Chocolate (I kind of vaguely remember him as a Genovian Prince so it might be 3 times). IMDB had 1,175 people rate it for an average 6.8 out of 10. That seems a little generous to me, okay a lot generous. I gave it a 5 of 10, and that’s generous. I remember watching how it ended last night and thinking, “That’s the dumbest climax I’ve ever seen.” (and this is from someone who thinks L Chabert is the most desirable woman in the world) You have to know Hallmark. Their formula is to have two people meet, hate each other for 90 minutes, discover they love each other for 20 minutes, then have an argument at 10 till the hour when they go to commercial, come back, resolve it and kiss promptly at 8:59. Roll credits.
The night before , 5 Star Christmas was a breakthrough of sorts for them. It actually had something of an entertaining plot and the thoroughly enjoyable Victor Webster. The wild and crazy retired Dad has started up a B&B with shaky results, so the whole family decides to take on the role of employees and false identities. Laughter and hijinks ensue. (Oh my God I just discovered there were 535 Hallmark movies) They all have the same formula, and about 10 overcome them with incredible chemistry or good writing. That leaves about 525 bad ones.
Its the formula that bothers me, why would you do that? You’re supposed to be a professional production unit, and every movie is the same? I just don’t get that. You just change sets and insert different actors. It doesn’t stretch them, it doesn’t stretch the directors, nobody grows. I can name the ones that standout. Love in Paradise with Luke Perry. A Country Wedding with Jesse Metcalfe and Autumn Reeser. There was one I haven’t been able to find the name of yet. It was were 2 childhood sweethearts when they were 10, meet 25 years later and don’t recognize each other. My Secret Valentine with Lacey Chabert and Andrew Walker.
I used to think any thing with Lacey Chabert in it was watchable. Not so much anymore. I see how they waste her. They’ve taken her to Africa, Italy, Belgium, England (Genovia), and they always manage to muck it up. Pairing her with these people like Will Kemp with no discernible chemistry. I don’t understand it. The Italy one really hurt, it had screen legend Franco Nero in a completely wasted part. It was like when TV shows went to Hawaii and were required by State Law to have Don Ho in the episode. When the chemistry is absent like that I don’t know who to blame. The writer? The director? The actors? That’s about the only ones I can think of. Mysteries bother me. I like to be able to figure things out.
Its strange how it works. Luke McFarlane, Brandon Penney, Tyler Hynes seem like so-so’s. But then my favorites like Victor Webster and Ryan Paevey can fail just as easily with the wrong women. Andrew Walker made Lacey’s best movie, never saw that coming. Maybe it is the actors? Luke Perry transcended it all. Or maybe its the directors fault for not holding out and demanding a good take? Who knows? But frankly, what Hallmark is doing is sealing their own fate. They’ve been doing the same formula for over 10 years. Lackluster writing for over 10 years. Uninspired acting for over 10 years. Don’t blame us when people quit watching.
Oh and how could I forget Paul Campbell and Hilarie Burton in Surprised by Love! That one makes me think its a group effort: writing, directing, acting. Yeah trying to figure out why 1 gem comes along after a dozen dogs will drive you crazy. (in this one Paul Campbell plays a very likeable character named ‘Gridley’. What makes 1 person likeable and another not?)
Were they nuts?
Yes, I believe they were. Hitchcock, Tarantino, Scorsese, De Palma, Stephen King (I threw the author in with the filmmakers as that’s where a lot of his trash ends up). Two really interesting actors were in The Rope this morning on TCM, Jimmy Stewart and Farley Granger. The third principle John Dall just comes across as irritating. The movie was about two twits who thought they could commit the “perfect” murder for some bullshit reason or another. Stewart as ‘Rupert’ (who names their kid Rupert?) figures out their deed and summons the police in a unique way.
But my point, if there is any is: What sort of psycho spends their entire life obsessed with murder? Think about that, what sort of nut doesn’t just use it as a random plot device once or twice in a career, but wallows in it. Bathes in it. Immerses himself in it. Who does that? Women filmmakers didn’t. Films with John Wayne as an example sometimes found it necessary that the good guy would have to kill the bad guy, but the films were never about celebrating the taking of innocent life. If the good guy had to kill someone, it was for a reason. Not because he was just a sick, twisted individual. Reveling in the most heinous of human acts.
What’s going through their mind? What sort of sick caldron exists in their head? Its not normal. Its not good. Film can go one of three ways. It can seek to extol the highest good of the human existence. It can seek to be an objective recorder of human events. Or it can appeal to the dark and evil recesses of the mind. Substituting shock for skill. Reaching for the grotesque constantly doesn’t elevate film or the human experience. It simply appeals to the ‘naughty’ factor.
After sufficient exposure, it simply coarsens, and perhaps inspires sick people to commit sick crimes. I would put it on the same terms as the way pornography is destructive to the mind. That there is something called ‘violence porn‘, which is equally destructive to the soul.
Before sunrise
You can find the most amazing things in the wee hours. This video circa 1978, at the height of Evil Knievel fame, is rich in so many ways. His audience watching from the apartment building (being England it was raining of course). No helmet, but does have oven mitts to protect the hands. Interesting bicycle, has Stingray style handle bars, but a 26 inch or so frame. As silly as it seems, he was out there keeping it real, he wasn’t on his ‘device’. (the channel, ‘Ozzy Man Reviews‘, is a case study in insanity itself)
Shortly before it became unwatchable, I was watching, Enter Laughing (1967). Being a heterosexual male I immediately noticed Nancy Kovack. She played on a Star Trek: A Private Little War as a witch doctor type character. On Bewitched as Sheila Sommers, Darrin’s man-stealing ex-girlfriend. She had 8 beauty titles by the time she was 20 (no need to fact check that). Like a lot of beauty queens, her last role was when she was 40. She moved to Germany and lives happily ever after.
“A native of Flint, Michigan, Nancy Kovack was a student at the University of Michigan at 15, a radio deejay at 16, a college graduate at 19 and the holder of eight beauty titles by 20.”
Then there’s the Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams…
There’s a million stories in the early morning, and this was one.
Iowa life 