The Sleep of Trees

F. Scott Hess

11 p.m. in my Hours of the Day series. The woman sleeps, but the man is twisted in the sheets, restless. Sketchbooks, and tomes on Michelangelo and Bosch are at his side. The rigid, gridded interior gives way to a mounting storm outside. The laundry basket and paint brushes from the 11 a.m. hour sit in the grass, while the boat from Through the Fence (7 p.m.) is swamped by roses. The trees swirl and twist, past the house with the red door, up the road, to the electrified storm clouds in the distance.

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Bijan Anthony Shabandi

Keep coming back to this one. Dido Truijillo’s statements.

March 25, 2012

Marc Trujillo

This is one of my favorites as well, the setup reminds me of Hopper’s ‘Excursion Into Philosophy’ I was going to post a thumbnail of that painting, but wasn’t sure about the copyright. I like this one more anyway. The different temparatures of light on the figures is a nice touch.

March 15, 2010

1 kudo

F. Scott Hess

I just looked at the Hopper again, and can see the similarity. It wasn’t a source, but I’m struck by the different tone of each piece, at least to me (an artist is perhaps the worst judge of the feeling his/her work gives to others). I feel for the guy in the Hopper, and it is a heavy self-association. A bitter giving in to age and diminished expectations. I thought of my awake double in a more positive light. You can’t sleep in those creative periods, but it is a good feeling. The energy of invention sets all your nerves on edge and your mind can’t slow down.

March 15, 2010

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Maureen Ward Doyle

In the US, if the work dates to before 1923, it’s in the public domain. Laws are different (and tighter) in other parts of the world, including Europe. Some museums assert rights for the images of their public domain works (i.e. Tate, National Gallery).

Open Museum (although global by being virtual) is located in the US and so we adhere to US copyright law.

As for US Fair Use, there’s a 4-part test …

In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.¹

March 17, 2010