Anthony Zierhut

We spent a long-planned weekend with my inlaws visiting the galleries in Laguna Beach. A beautiful place that, believe it or not, I’ve never visited before. I saw some fabulous sculpture work by Richard MacDonald and Paige Bradley; and I was really pleasantly surprised to see some Rembrandt etchings – unbelievably inspiring. My favorite one was an etching of The Resurrection of Lazarus. Check out the image in the link. Look how casually the Christ figure exerts his powers – like “no big deal” – like a superhero but without all the self-conscious, silly superhero drama. While all the people around him witnessing the scene are freaking out. Just awesome. If Rembrandt were around today he could easily have been a storyboard artist. That’s the kind of emotion, storytelling and staging that we all strive for.

I did a little sketching which I’ll post here later, but not in the same post as Rembrandt. I just can’t follow that act.

The latest issue of American Artist – Drawing (quarterly) is loaded with some beautiful drawing and sketch work. The article on combat art from Iraq is really amazing. For me the ability to draw on the spot with accuracy and speed is a powerful, difficult and rare skill – something worthy of eternal practice. To add the life-threatening element to that mix is awe-inspiring.