Advanced Open Studio with Sadie/Part Three

Continuing on from my last few posts, after I transferred the drawing and varnished it, I began on the open grisaille, the initial application of paint on a white panel, which I documented in detail below as a part of Sadie J. Valeri's Advanced Open Studio.

Before I was introduced to a classical realism, I was completely unaware of the term "grisaille". My fantastic oil painting teacher at the at the American Academy of Art, Ted Smuskeivich, introduced us to an under painting technique which uses a warm earth color painted loosely connecting all the shadow areas in one continuous tone leaving the white of the canvas open to represent the light areas. Even though he did not call this method an open grisaille, I recognize now that is what it is.

It has made me think that there must be many adaptations of the grisaille. My watercolor teacher, Irving Shapiro (who was also the Director of the school), used an under painting method of sorts, painting all the shadows as one large connected shape with warm color transitions in the shadows, painting the lights last. I am sure there are more adaptations and variations out there. I have often read about warm under paintings using different mediums underneath the oil, like acrylic paints and even egg tempera.

 At Sadie J. Valeri's Atelier we are learning the full classic method, called the Flemish Technique, which consists of many layers of paint, starting with the open grisaille. The Flemish Technique developed in the early Renaissance when artists were looking for paints that could be manipulated more finely than the quick drying egg tempera. After oil painting in this manner was introduced by Jan and Hubert Van Eyck in the early fourteenth century, it's popularity spread throughout Europe. To read more about the Flemish method and it's cousin, the Venetian method, HERE is an excellent article by Virgil Elliot and a link to his book on classic oil painting HERE.

The Ghent Alter Piece, Jan and Hubert Van Eyck, 1432
HERE is an excellent website that allows you to select each panel and zoom in to see amazing detail on the paintings. Check it out!

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What is "grisaille"?

From Adrian Gotlieb's online glossary: "Term applied to monochrome painting carried out mostly in shades of grey. The use of the French word can be traced only to 1625, since although grisaille painting was done in preceding centuries, it was not referred to as such...at the time of it's origin, in the medieval period, grisaille painting was simply called 'painitng in black and white'"

Grisaille painting was commonly used in the medieval period to imitate bas relief sculpture. In the Flemish oil painting technique, the grisaille functions as an underpainting, first painted transparently in a warm hue that leaves the canvas exposed in the light areas, termed the "open grisaille" and afterwards a second pass termed the "closed grisaille" is painted in opaque warm neutral greys before the final pass of the color layers. This blog post focuses on the open grisaille that I am learning during Sadie's Advanced Open Studio.

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Open Grisaille

Clean brushes before beginning:

Sadie introduced us to this excellent system of cleaning brushes. This is all new to me. In the past I simply washed my brushes with odorless mineral spirits in between color changes and then used dish soap at the end of the day to clean my brushes. There is a better way to clean brushes - Natural Turpenoid!

I filled a silicoil jar with natural turpenoid and have been using it to wash my brushes at the end of the day, leaving the turpenoid on the brushes. However, it is VERY important to remember when you next begin to paint to clean the natural turpenoid OFF of the brushes before you paint; this stuff is designed to strip paint off and not something you want IN your painting! It is ok to leave the natural turpenoid on the brushes overnight because it will  actually protect the brushes. When ready to begin painting, wash your brushes in odorless mineral spirits to make sure they are free of natural turp.

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 Brushes: 

From Sadie's painting materials list: "I highly recommend Robert Simmons “White Sable” brushes with the maroon handles and white bristles, the very best for an affordable price.

There is a national shortage of the Robert Simmons brushes, if you can’t get them, please buy any brand of soft imitation sable brushes - not bristle.

Filberts, 2 each of sizes #10, #4, and #1

Rounds, 2 each of size #1"

 ***note: I bought several in each size. I've found while painting later layers it is useful to have several brushes.

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 Painting:

The idea of the open grisaille is to simply paint only shadow areas and also to have some paint on the panel so that subsequent layers of paint can adhere. Another advantage of creating the open grisaille layer is that you begin to clearly observe the light and shadow areas on the set up.

The first step is to put a small amount of raw umber or burnt umber on the palette. I chose raw umber as my under painting color because it is slightly cooler than burnt umber. My still life set up has a lot of cool earth tones, so I felt this color was a good theme to start with.

Technique: Rather than applying the paint like watercolor, it needs to be somewhat dry. In order to do this, Sadie instructed me to dip just the tip of my brush into the under painting medium and then on to a paper towel to dry out the brush. It is one of those things that sounds easy when put into words, but when practiced is a bit tricky. Sadie corrected my tendency to over-wet the brush many times while I worked on this stage.

Sadie also recommends using blue shop cloths from a hardware supply store instead of cotton cloths, which I am using here. Cotton or paper towels (even Viva brand) have too much lint, which will build up in the painting. The idea is to have as little lint and dust as possible in each layer of paint.

I started with the main pine cone working up from the shadows into the dark background. Do not be tempted to over render and get everything looking nicely modeled. Instead, work on painting the shadows and small amounts of transition areas into the light, leaving the light areas open completely.



The light passages are *not* a thinned down wash of paint, rather are dry brushed paint scumbled lightly on the panel.

My completed open grisaille.

It took me about a day's worth of work to finish this, approximately six hours. At first glance, it might seem like you could blow through the under painting really quickly. However, it is worth slowing down and taking the time to carefully work through each area.

Take a look in the photo below how finely Sadie paints her open grisaille. No wonder her paintings, especially seen in person, are supreme!

*selected from an online article,

"Precise Line, Value and Color, by Sadie J. Valeri", artistsnetwork.com

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***note: As an aside, it is worth mentioning that the Flemish method on wood gessoed panel is excellent for small to medium works, however it becomes impractical the larger the painting is. The wood gesso panel reaches a tipping point in terms of weight the larger it becomes and the technique itself is time consuming; very large works can take several months or more to complete. Also, when working large, the painter can get away with a certain amount of looseness because the viewer tends to stand farther away to view the painting. It was because of these impracticalities that another variation of this technique developed in Venice, called the Venetian Technique, which uses canvas instead of heavy wood. You can read more about it's development by Titian and Giorgione HERE.

Please stay tuned for the next installment, the CLOSED GRISAILLE.

NOTES ON DRAWING METHODS

From about 2010-2014, I studied painting at Sadie J. Valeri's 19th century French style Atelier. Given that Sadie's course covers construction and straight line block in, I wanted to spend this entry notating various drawing methods to make sure I have a clear understanding of each. This is not a part of the course study, rather a culmination of my own research. I am sure there are more systems of drawing out there; these are the primary representational methods and theories that seem the most popular. Please leave comments if you find something important that I am unaware of.
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Sight Size

Sight size is a 19th century observational method of drawing that has recently been reintroduced, most notably by R. H. Ives Gammell, his student Richard Lack and many others. Most, if not all Ateliers teach using sight size so that the student can learn to compare the drawing to the subject very directly. Additionally, the Bargue drawing course also uses sight size as a way for students to learn to measure proportions and develop the eye. (more on the Bargue method in the link)

 Sight size means to place the easel parallel to the subject, making measurements exactly as they are according to what is being seen. "The easel (with the drawing or painting) and the subject must be viewed together, from a distance that is great enough for the artist to view both at the same time. This distance is usually 3 times the greatest dimension of the work. The artist then stands in the viewing position to compare, walks forward to the easel to draw or paint and then backs up to the viewing position to check for errors." - from sightsize.com

Here is an excellent demo by artist Tim McGuire on the Artist Daily website. Entire demo can be seen HERE.

When researching sight size, I found a lot of controversy about it's use. Here is an excerpt from wetcanvas.com:

"While sight size can be a useful tool for any artist, beginning or otherwise,the problem with it for many is that while it is mechanically accurate, it is not always as successful at increasing the line flow or rhythms within the figures or throughout the composition. The connected flow of line (real or implied) is one of the means that renaissance painters used to naturally move the eye about the painting and to create the necessary unity. Without it, you sometimes get paintings that are simply a collection of individual, unrelated objects that are put into the picture and not a simple, unified mass(es) that is designed as one from the start. Look at renaissance figure drawings and at 19th or 20th century atelier figure drawings and you will see a difference. They can both be beautiful as studies or finished paintings but for many, there is a difference in the "life" and the beauty of composition between the two.

The other difficulty is that it is more difficult to use in many plein air or outdoor drawing or painting situations as it requires more time and you must be more particular about where you stand to produce the same sized images, ie model and drawing. This is usually not possible in the field (city or country) and in many real life situations where you have to draw something in motion or where space is limited. The renaissance painters seemed to rely on their knowledge of anatomy and drawing to produce a greater prortion of their figure drawings and were not dependent so much on painting or drawing from life to the extent that the 19th century academic painters appeared to be." - by Richard1, post 14

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Straight line block in

 To summarize, this observational method utilizes a straight object like a knitting needle to find the largest angles and directions in wide sweeping areas of the subject to first form an "envelope", which represents the entire general area of the subject on the page. Once the largest areas are formed, smaller angles are found within using the same manner. As you work, the angles become increasingly segmented with more straight lines, breaking up the larger lines you first placed on the image.The concept is rather simple and seems pretty easy to learn.

Anthony Ryder has a great tutorial with photos HERE. Also, Sadie has an excellent figurative example on her website, which can be found HERE.

Also, a good book for this method is Juliette Aristides, "Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier".

I've tried lots of methods, sight size and others, and have found that the straight line block in saves me a lot of work in the long run if I take the time. What I particularly love about the straight line block in method is that if I want to scale my subject up or down, I can do that easily by making my envelope the size I would like and work from there. I have found when working in sight size that if I want to make a drawing or painting smaller, I need to move my easel way back, which means I can no longer see the details. This is the method I use most often when life drawing/painting, still life, and landscape.

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Construction

All forms of construction are non-observational and at the same time based on truthful principles that exist in Nature. For instance, perspective in a landscape is construction, plotting out shapes of vessels in a still life is construction, creating a system of forms of the the human body is construction. Construction can also be entirely a creation of the artist, like model sheets of characters that are typically used in animation and other illustration.

 Before I met Sadie, I had never used construction or perspective to as great a degree in my still life paintings. I had mainly used construction in my job as an illustrator, where I need to rely on the method for creating landscapes, objects and figures from imagination. I was surprised to find that I also found construction of vessels the best way of approaching man made subjects in an observational painting rather than just relying on a straight line block in. Creating an ellipse is simply more precise when created using construction. If there are irregularities in the object, those can be added afterward using observation. Additionally, when I recently took a perspective course with Carl Dobsky, he mentioned that he uses perspective to create accuracy in his compositions - which makes perfect sense.

Some of the most popular instruction regarding constructing the figure from life or imagination come from George Bridgman, who taught at the Art Student's League. Some of his most famous and influential students include Norman Rockwell, Robert Beverly Hale, Frank Reilly, and Andrew Loomis, among many, many others. George Bridgman studied under under painter and sculptor Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and later with Gustave Boulanger.

These are two pages I scanned from Constructive Anatomy by George Bridgman. They demonstrate the masses and movement of the body.

Other instructors of note that use construction methods include Frank Reilly, Glen Orbick, and Glenn Villppu, and Andrew Loomis. Most of these instructors combine other methods into their teaching but also use construction as a way to think about drawing.

For example, below is the Frank Reilly approach of constructing a figure. Here you can see the general idea of how the forms are broken down into parts that, when memorized, can aide in drawing a subject from memory.

source: http://dhfa.net/reillyschool/

The ideas of construction can also be applied to all kinds of subjects. Often scientific illustrators or artists who create creature designs (usually termed Creature Designers) for film need to use construction methods in order to flesh out their subjects, since often their subjects are either not available to study, or in bits and pieces, or are completely made up. A great example is the work of artist Terryl Whitlatch, whose work can be seen HERE. One of my very favorite books for constructing botanical subjects is "Botany for the Artist" by Sarah Simblet.

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The Loomis Method

Andrew Loomis was a highly regarded commercial illustrator who was prominent in the 40′s and 50′s and taught at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, where he lived most of his life. He authored several how-to books on drawing and painting that are now classics. Many artists from a wide array of genres have used the Loomis Method; often how-to books obscure the original source of this approach which is often derived from Loomis's teaching.

In his book, Fun with a Pencil, published in 1939, Loomis describes proper lighting and the deconstruction of complex shapes in different perspectives. He also explains that a successful drawing must have ten fundamental laws, which he divides into two categories, called the five P's:  Proportion, Placement, Perspective, Planes and Patterns and the five C's: Conception, Construction, Contour, Character and Consistency.

To illustrate, here is a sample page from Creative Illustration that I had pinned up on my wall for many years:

Summary: First draw the subject with line only not using curved lines, but straight lines. Then lightly indicate the shadow line that separates the light and the dark, following the form. Second, fill in the shadow areas with one value. Third, soften the transition between light and dark by modeling the planes, fourth, hightlights and dark accents.

to download online copies of Andrew Loomis's excellent art instruction books, click HERE.

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Organic Structure Theory

When I took Sadie's oil painting class II, she handed out a print out of this theory of organic structure, which concepts I was vaguely aware but had not realized it encompassed an entire way of thinking about drawing. I have since incorporated Organic Structure concepts into my thinking. The idea is that life is always pushing out, growing, expanding, twisting, curving. This in turn influences the way we think about how muscles fit together, how to draw them, and think about them. The same is true for all organic life. 

Anthony Ryder has a good amount of information for further reading on his website, article found HERE. Also, Ted Seth Jacob's book, Dictionary of the Human Form, documents and explains how the body is a highly organized organic creation with complex interactions using these principles. 

Convex Form

Everything in nature is curved and fluid; nothing is flat and angled unless it is non organic. All organic curves are convex, not concave. If you look closely at a seemingly-concave drape or indentation, you can always see very small convex curves along it.

Everything that is alive is growing, evolving - pushing out. When something is no longer alive, it collapses and pushes back in, creating convex curves in the organic subject. Also, interestingly, the height of these convex curves is rarely, if ever, in the middle - the apex is always offset.
There is more information about curves here:
http://www.cgsociety.org/index.php/CGSFeatures/CGSFeatureSpecial/opposing_curves
and here (this is a great article):
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/25315/686/

Wide to Narrow/Tapering

Nothing in nature is parallel, every shape starts wide on one end and gets narrow on the other. A shadow shape will always be a fan, not a square or rectangle. Use this concept to "shape the light".

Nothing in organic structure mirrors the other side in a symmetrical manner - ever.  Nature grows and pushes out in a way that creeps along curving asymmetrically. Look at a tree trunk for an example of this. A lot of people will draw that as a straight trunk, but when you look closely at the way it grows, it is a spiraling asymmetrical curve.

Rounding and Ending/Spirals

Every shadow rounds over a curved surface and ends before the next form begins. Every shadow has a soft edge and a hard edge. Think about the direction of the light - generally the edge of a shadow closer to the light source will be soft, and the edge away from the light will be hard.

What's in Front/ Interlocking

The only point on an object not foreshortened is the point directly in front of your eye, everything else is foreshortened. Every form interlocks with another form, overlapping.

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Gesture Drawing

This method uses a loose gesture with sweeping lines that attempts to find the action or energy of the subject and is not necessarily literal to the subject. The idea is to loosely suggest the overall movement and shapes of the subject. Artists have used gesture for centuries.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Study for St. Jerome Reading,1652

Leonardo da Vinci, Study for the Trivulzio Monument, 1508
(source article here)

The method usually starts with drawing the "line of action" which conveys the over all direction of the pose. Afterwards shapes that represent the head, ribcage and pelvis are hung on the line of action. If the subject is not a figure, the same plan can work by using a line of action to find the main direction of the shape. In my current still life I am painting in Sadie's Advanced Open Studio, I used a line of action to find the direction of the pine cones and then loosely sketched out where the rest of the outer edges of the shape seemed to exist before I found actual angles.

Also, from my own experience in sculpting, we shape our armatures in a gesture of the pose before placing any clay on the form - a critical step that adds to the sense of "life" of the subject when adding structure later. I have even found that the more I exaggerate the armature's gesture, the better sense of movement that sculpture will have in the final results.

Here is a pretty good tutorial for gesture drawing human figures:

http://www.art.net/Studios/visual/Re...eDrawing1.html 

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Caricature

Caricature is a semi-observational method of drawing that intentionally distorts the subject in order to expose that subject's internal character. Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, however Honoré Daumier (1808–1879, French) is regarded by many to be the grandfather of the art of Caricature.

Here are a few examples of Daumier's political sculptures which he made for himself to use in paintings.

and here is a beautiful drawing, also by Daumier:

Further development in the art of the caricature came with Walt Disney's animated movies and short films, as well as cartoons he published. He employed many artists, famously "the nine old men", who propelled this craft and are still influential to many character artists today. Disney encouraged his artists to study human and animal movement - not to duplicate reality, but to use it as a foundation for convincing fantasy.

"The point must be made clear to the men that our study of the actual is not so that we may be able to accomplish the actual, but so that we may have a basis upon which to go into the fantastic, the unreal, the imaginative - and yet to let it have a foundation of fact, in order that it may more richly possess sincerity and contact with the public. A good many of the men misinterpret the idea of studying the actual motion. They think it is our purpose merely to duplicate these things. This misconception should be cleared up for all. I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things, based on the real, unless we first know the real." 

- Walt Disney to Don Graham, December 23, 1935.

My favorite of the Disney classic films is Pinocchio, released 1940. Below are some great examples of caricature art that was used in the production of that film. These photos are not the greatest. I wanted to post them because they are personal favorites and demonstrate the concept so well. They were taken at the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio, San Francisco. It was not clear who sculpted these maquettes or drew the drawing below.

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Symbolic Drawing

This method departs entirely from reality. The artist uses a series of visual symbols that represent things we are familiar with, like eyes, noses, mouths, body parts, etc. These representations are entirely the creation of the artist. Many cartoonists and comic book artists use this system of drawing.

One of the best examples with historical precedence is Manga, a visual language that has become a tradition in Japanese culture. Artists will memorize established symbols and use them to create their own characters and narratives. Additionally, some artists will use this style as a basis for creating a new style.

"Eye shape and size can be exaggerated or changed altogether. Love-hearts and doe-eyes indicate an infatuation, while stars indicate that the character is star-struck. Spirals indicate confusion or dizziness, while flames or wide empty semicircles indicate that the character is angry or vengeful. When dead, unconscious or stunned, "X"s are sometimes used as an indication of the state. Eyes may be replaced with two "<"s facing in opposite directions to represent a variety of emotions, such as nervousness or excitement. Eyes without pupils and reflective glints indicate a state of delirium." - wikipedia

Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon

 
It makes sense that an art form based on symbols has risen up naturally, given that writing  and language itself are forms of symbolic communication. Likewise, as children, when we first learn to draw, we create symbols of the world around us which are universal. As artists grow from childhood, some begin creating their own visual symbols that characterize their specific expression. Symbolic drawing becomes even more sophisticated as the artist develops ways of getting the viewer to relate to and understand what is being expressed and can become quite refined as in the example above.

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Final Thoughts

 If I were to create a spectrum of drawing methods, I would place sight size on one end and symbolic drawing on the other. Methods based on literal realism train the artist to break the internal ideas of how we think we see the world, and symbolic drawing pulls from the internal visual language that artist has developed. Many artists use a combination.

Each is a profound choice in how to see the world, each equally as valid. I find none of these methods lesser or more important than one or the other, rather each way a choice, a different way to see and think based upon the intention of the artist.

My next post is part three of the Advanced Open Studio class with Sadie - open grisaille.

If you made it this far, THANKS for reading! :)

Advanced Open Studio with Sadie/Part Two A

I am breaking up this stage of the process of my still life painting into two separate posts. I am first sharing my technical notes about drawing my set up and Sadie's approach. In the second post, I have done extensive research into many of the various drawing methods available, and I will provide my notes and references for further reading. Even though I have been working as an illustrator and painter, I found it very useful to take the time to read through and understand what methods are available and why an artist might choose one over another, or even use a combination. 

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First part/ My class notes, The Drawing:

Sadie teaches two methods of drawing, construction and straight line block in. While drawing, I am also taking into consideration concepts of organic structure, which she also teaches (more on this in the second post). The straight line block in method is new to me regarding still life painting, but after having tried it a few times, I have found it a very accurate and useful way of translating what I see on to the 2D surface of the paper.

We draw on heavy grade vellum taped to a few sheets of paper and foam core. All of this of course is on the easel. I assume we are using vellum and not a thinner tracing paper because the vellum holds up to lots of erasing. Pencils need to be razor sharp, and we use an kneaded eraser and "tuff stuff" eraser pencil to erase angles and construction lines as we progress.


It is important to know that this method *does not* use sight size. (more on sight size in the second post) You place the easel close enough so that you can see your subject clearly, being careful not to move too close. If so, you will violate the cone of vision. The cone of vision, 60 degrees in total, is the degree to which your vision can see without distorting on either side. A good way to tell if you are painting too close is to observe whether or not you need to move your head from side to side in order to view the entire set up. If you do, move back until your head can take in the entire set up.

Remember to always work with your feet (or what you are sitting on) taped so you can keep track of your point of view.

For this still life, I am working about this far away from my set up, about two feet, which is far enough so I can see everything but also close enough so I am able to see small details like highlights and textures:



 The first step in drawing the set up is to trace the size of the panel on to the vellum. After that, we began figuring out the general placement of the still life on the paper using angular lines to define all of the outer most edges of the still life, referred to as "the envelope". In the past, when life drawing, I have used this method for placing a figure on the paper or a head if it is a portrait, although I did not realize there was a term for it. The envelope makes sense; there needs to be some way of making the first marks on the paper, and this seems to be the best.

Unfortunately I did not take a photo of this stage, so I have scanned an example of the envelope from Juliette Aristides book, "Lessons in Classical Drawing", page 52. (an excellent book - highly recommended)

The student was drawing an animal skull. I noticed in this drawing Aristides must have had her student first divide the paper into halves, making plumb lines in order to find the center. I have also found this very useful in the first steps when trying to place a complex object on to the paper, especially when there are several objects in a still life. I don't tend to use this for life drawing, although I imagine it would be helpful.

After figuring out the first lines I progressed from there to find the placement of each object. I found that it was helpful to use a gesture of each object and lightly draw in where I thought it might be. After that, I checked the placement by holding up a knitting needle to find the angles of a particular object  and noting that on my drawing. I also noted where the bottom of that angle hit another object. By doing this over and over, I eventually found the placement of each item in relation to each other.


Here you can see several construction lines, although many were erased at this point.

My photo is a bit dark. In order to record this light drawing with the camera, I needed to darken the photo a bit, especially since it is on vellum.

At this point, instead of drawing with the straight line block in, Sadie instructed that I construct the glass pedestal symmetrically, and also the large wood tree slice that I am using as a base. To do this, I took my drawing off of my easel got out my t-square.

This step is quite revolutionary to me, and different from anything I have learned in the past about painting from life - construction. While I have worked in the animation industry and as an illustrator in gaming, I have always used construction methods to compose drawings, but I have never used it for observational painting. In the past, I simply blocked in shapes with straight lines and shadow shapes before painting. After having tried construction in this way, I've realized it is an incredibly necessary way of composing man made objects in any still life.

Using my t-square, I made a box around the top of the glass pedestal, and found the exact shape of the ellipse.I also found an ellipse for the bottom wood base. Even though it is an organic object, Sadie said that it would be helpful to draw it as a true ellipse first, and afterward add the asymmetry and variation where I observed it. Here is a good tutorial for how to draw an ellipse.

In all, I spent about five hours or so drawing out my still life using the methods described above - I assume that as I absorb these methods I will be able to work a bit faster. I only took the drawing to about this level, below, finding important key points before I transferred the drawing on to the panel.

Before I transferred the drawing to the panel, Sadie informed me there was too much texture on the surface of the panel. It looked as if a machine had sprayed on the gesso, which is probably the case. (I am using a brand called gessoboard, which is widely available in art supply stores) To get rid of the texture, Sadie had me wet sand the surface with a high grade sand paper with a little turpentine. I worked in a circular motion in small areas until I got a paste, and then wiped that clean from the surface. After an area was finished, I started another area.

To transfer the drawing, I used Saral brand wax-free transfer paper, taping my drawing on the vellum to the panel.

my drawing on the panel after the transfer

After the drawing was transferred, I worked a bit longer, drawing in all the details of each pine cone, making minor adjustments, and refining the entire drawing before varnishing it.

The drawing is then sealed with varnish. The varnish mixture Sadie uses is:


1 Part Dammar Varnish
1 Part Odorless Mineral Spirits


Shake jar gently to mix. Apply a thin coat to drawing using a clean make up wedge, which you can purchase at Walgreens. Remove any lint while varnish is wet by picking up debris with the flick of a corner of the brush. Don't over brush - it soon becomes tacky. Apply only one coat and allow to dry overnight, leaving a full 24 hours to dry. 

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Stay tuned for part two! Thanks for reading!

Advanced Open Studio With Sadie/Part One

For the past several Sundays, I have been working on a painting during Sadie J Valeri's advanced still life painting course. I have taken Sadie's oil painting course in the past, which I wrote about HERE. This time, I was interested in moving forward with a subject of my own choosing and practicing the Classical Realism techniques I learned in the first course. The Advanced Open Studio takes place all day on several consecutive Sundays. I will break up what I am learning into several blog posts as I go along in the course. 

Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions. I will do my best to find the answer and share what I've learned so far. :)

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 Notes

 When painting still life subjects in the past,  I have simply set up an adjustable table, arranged some things I liked, and then lit it all with either a north window or a spot light and painted in the alla prima manner. Here are a couple of examples of paintings I did in the past. 

The problems and questions I encountered working on my own were numerous. I did not seem to be able to find the answers to my questions anywhere other than within the classical realist school of painting. Fortunately, Sadie J. Valeri's Atelier is literally right down the street from where I work and live - what an incredible opportunity to expand my knowledge base and develop my work further!

Some of the problems I ran across in my still life paintings were:

1. how close to the set up should I be in order to approximate life size? In the past, occasionally I would set up a still life, tape up some canvas on my art board, spend hours drawing everything out and then realize afterwards I drew everything too large. Why was I was making this mistake and sometimes not?
2. Sight size or construction? What is the difference and where do I fall in the debate? How can I ensure accuracy?
3.  how can I achieve dramatic lighting? North light is ideal of course, but sometimes I want drama in my still life paintings. Just placing a spot light seemed like it wasn't getting the effect I wanted. I was curious to know what I could do to manipulate the light.
4.  basic equipment. Believe me, as simple as it sounds to set up a still life, I have tried so many options for equipment.What is a good set up that I can work with for the long term and add to it as my interests grow?
5. am I truly understanding how light moves across a surface? How does the light affect chroma, hue and value in each area? How can I be more deliberate in my color choices?
6. Which do I want to emphasize, value or color?
7.  Perspective. I often wondered about how perspective was affecting my still life, and how to control it. When working, it is impossible to keep your eyes and body at exactly the same location, which alters the point of view. How can the point of view be controlled in the final painting?
8.  which method of painting suits my temperament? There are a few schools of thought and approaches to painting. Which one seems right for me?
9.  What do I want to say? Perhaps the most important question of them all.

  Part One/ Equipment

 To secure the objects in my set up, I used Quake Hold Museum Putty. The putty is like chewing gum, but with less chew. It will hold just about anything in place. Highly recommended for keeping your subjects secure while working on a long term painting.

At Sadie's Atelier, we place our still life subject in a shadowbox. The shadowbox is composed of three sheets of black foam core, taped with black tape on all sides (I hadn't taped up the sides yet in this photo). To the left of my set up is a HUGE North light window which provides consistent lighting but is a bit too strong, washing everything out. The shadowbox controls the light to exactly the effect I want, without having to worry about too much bounce light coming from another direction. In the future I plan to experiment with different backdrops using colored paper or cloth inside the walls of the shadowbox.

To control the light even further and get REALLY nice light effects, Sadie set up a photographers flag. I have found it revolutionary; moving the flag back and forth allows light to come into my still life area a little at a time, creating exactly the effect I want.

The photographers flag comes separately and needs to be attached to a stand, which also can be purchased at a photography supply store.

The shadowbox and still life sits on top of a tall black stand while my supplies sit on the bottom shelves. If I would like to change the point of view, I can paint a new set up on a different shelf while having a built in shadowbox to maintain the light.

Ikea shelf unit:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00134047

Besta Shelf Unit

Also use these caster wheels, they are made to attach to the bottom of the shelf unit:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40134187

$10 for 2/pk

To my right is a table for my supplies. The table simply holds the supplies I am using during the session, like my pencils, sandpaper, my notes, paints and mediums. Sadie keeps a shop cloth on top to keep the table clean. Usually I store only what I need on the top level and keep the rest in the black shelving unit that the still life sits on. I don't like to have too many things out all at the same time. If I do, my table becomes cluttered which ends up distracting me from the task at hand on the painting.

this side table to hold my supplies stands about waist high, which is nice so I don't have to keep reaching down too far to get my supplies. 

The easel I use is at eye level height. It is a simple Stanrite metal easel. I like using this lightweight easel because the top and bottom bars that hold your panel have grooves, which secure a thin panel. The grooves are a minor but important detail that make a big difference; I no longer need to worry about my panel shaking while I work or become distracted momentarily by having to tighten the top bar to tighten the hold on the panel.

 
The sturdy, lightweight, and economical stanright easel. 

 

When working on a painting, it is also important to tape your position. You want to remember the point of view you are painting from. If you move a little to the left or right each time, you are not observing the specific situation. Taping your feet or chair is a good way to keep track of your spot. It is not necessary to tape the easel. What's important here is keeping track of where your eyes are viewing the subject.

 

taped feet. the easel can move around a bit but not your body, which should be in about the same place each session so you are painting the same point of view each time.

In the next post, I will share my notes about the drawing stage and the questions I tried to answer. Onward!

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible." ~T.E. Lawrence

Sketching in France: Paris, Angouleme, and Saintes

Jamie and I just came back from an inspiring two week trip to France, where we visited Paris, Angouleme, and Saintes. 

I knew the Musee d'Orsay in Paris would be an epic day, and true to its promise, I was completely overwhelmed. Taking in the Ingres, Bouguereau paintings, as well as the Naturalist painters and Impressionists was more than a full day's worth of viewing. Yet, it was the sculptures by Carpeaux that left me speechless. Carpeaux's sculptures contain that rare combination of not only perfect anatomy and structure but also, perhaps more importantly, the personality, gesture, and the life of the subject. I stood a long time looking at this sculpture, The Dance, commissioned for the Opera Garnier in 1869.

Because the museum is huge and I was eager to see everything, we did not have a lot time to draw. I chose to sketch this bust by Jean Carries because it's so unusual to find a bust of an infant. I'm not sure I captured it very well due to a lot of glare on the glass case.

study of La religieuse souriante, vers 1893-1894, Buste gres emaille 
(More samples of his work here)

I could spend a life time drawing in the Musee d'Orsay...

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After a few days in Paris, we took a quick train ride down to the comic book festival Angouleme (in the town of the same name) where we met up with our friends, art book bookseller Stuart Ng, and Ted Mathot who was doing a book signing for his comic, "Rose and Isabel".

Comic book artists in France are like no other; the work is typically of very high quality, and the top artists are  revered for their ability to draw well. Fans line up to get their "dedicace", dedication drawings on the inside of the book by the artist, each of which is expected by fans to be unique.

 

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After a fantastic time in Angouleme, we got on another train and headed south for the historic coastal town of Saintes, known as Mediolanum Saintonium when it was the Roman capital of southwestern Gaul. There, we met up with Jamie's father and step mother. We were all thrilled to see each other, and excited to be in Saintes, the center of art history and culture for the region, possessing a wealth of architecture, complete with The Arch of Germanicus, remnants of a Roman ampitheater, Roman baths, archelogical museum,  and  11th Century Churches.

 This temple of Roman fragments contained so many samples of decorative stone work, I wanted to draw it all. However, the choice was pretty obvious - the Julio-Claudian torso needed to be studied!

The temperature read 25 degrees the day we decided to study the Roman torso, and our hands really felt it! Given that my hands were turning to ice blocks, I decided to work on the line drawing as best I could from life, and then took several photos so I could finish the modeling of the form later.

Before we embarked on our return journey back to Paris, we sketched inside the Sainte-Pierre Cathedral in the center of town. I picked a warm spot to study some detailing on a plaque, but instead of the cold being a factor my problem this time was light! The dark interior of the church and the early setting sun made this sketch extra challenging. I couldn't get it all because I could barely make out my drawing pad and pencil.

For many years now I've admired the details in the decorative arts, many of which were created by artisans and craftsman whom we do not know. These artists contributed decorative details to churches, shrines, cups and saucers, pitchers, and on and on...I feel a certain brotherhood with these artists; the work I do professionally as an illustrator is how I earn my living, and is as close as I can get to contributing my skills to the culture. These artists were lucky that their work survived a 500+ years, whereas my digital-photoshop files for video games will most likely be lost in the binary ruins.

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Before heading back home to San Francisco, we took a 2-3 hour train ride back up to Paris, where we spent two more nights, giving us enough time to spend an entire day sketching at the Louvre.

While I studied and sketched two Barye sculptures, Jamie sat in the main courtyard through the far archway sketching Hercules versus Achlous.

I was completely enamored by this particular case of sculptures by the Romantic period sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye. I wanted to draw them all, especially the elephants in the upper left, but the sun was setting and the room was getting dark. I was happy and felt honored to have spent some time studying these two gems from my favorite of the Romantic era sculptors.

Roman Emperor heads and incredible gilded ceiling at the Louvre. That's me in the center looking at a sculpture of Ceaser's head. Jamie took the above panoramic shot with his iphone using the "autostitch" app.

Before the journey, my father gave me an audiobook, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough, which I listened to on the plane ride back. I was thrilled to learn of the many artists who made the journey to Paris, over extended their stay, studied and made copies of numerous masterpieces in the Louvre (and even writing home about a few that made a deep impression on me). These fellow artists of the past also came away as I have done on this trip, feeling that our American culture lacks art and craftsmanship on the whole, and that striving for Beauty is a more than honorable quest.

I must get back to Paris.

Studying the Loacoon, Plein Air Sculpting

On Thursday nights I sculpt with a group of friends who are passionate about studying the figure and sculpting. Recently, when we set up our model, Jennings, we decided that the poses he was gravitating toward reminded us of "The Loacoon". We decided to go with it and have our fabulous model take the pose of the famous sculpture.

If you are unfamiliar with this sculpture, there is a wealth of information for you to learn about this incredible example of sculpting history. My brief summary is as follows:

The Laocoon comes from the Hellenistic Era, about 50 BC, when Greek sculpture evolved from a rational and classic art into a passionate and emotional expression whilst still retaining the idealization of the human figure. 

The group depicts a scene described in Virgil’s Aenid. The Trojan priest Laocoon and his sons are set upon by serpents at Poseidon's command as punishment for Laocoon warning the Trojans against the wooden horse. Three sculptors are credited by Pliny to have sculpted the group: Hagesandros, Athanadoros and Polydoros of Rhodes.

The sculpture was lost until it was discovered on January 14, 1506 during an excavation in a vineyard of Felice Fredi at “Sette Sale” on the Esquiline hill in Rome. When the sculpture was found, the raised arm was broken off. Michelangelo believed that the missing right arm was originally bent back over the shoulder. Others believed it was more appropriate to show the right arm extendeded outwards in a heroic gesture. The Pope held an informal contest among sculptors to make replacement right arms, and the contest was judged by Raphael. The winner, in the outstretched position, was attached to the statue. In 1906 a fragment was discovered and believed to be the original arm. This arm sits on the statue today.
*summarized from Wikipedia

Pope Julius II placed The Loacoon Group in the Vatican where it still resides. Many casts were made of it subsequently and acquired by museums around the world. One of those casts sits just outside the Legion of Honor Museum, tucked away on a quiet path, making it accessible for study.

"Loacoon and His Sons", outside of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, California

Our Thursday night poses are typically set up for six three hour sessions. We decided that when this pose was over, we'd take our sculptures to the real Loacoon and work from the actual sculpture for comparison.

WOW. What an education...

I found that when I sculpted my block in from the live model, I interpreted the muscles of the back VERY differently. The back muscles I sculpted from our model Jennings were anatomically correct and logical but not simplified or idealized in a way that communicates strength and agony. My block in did not communicate this essential truth of the original and was merely an unemotional study of anatomy.

In addition to the enlightening exercise of sculpting from life and then from the actual sculpture, I found sculpting outside to be incredibly FUN. With a few careful preparations and perhaps fingerless gloves to keep hands warm, it would be possible to sculpt other outdoor studies of other sculptures in order to learn how to interpret and idealize the form. 

Practically speaking, an artist must come prepared. Blocking in the figure ahead of time either from the live model or photographs is helpful and necessary. Once there, you can use your hands to warm up small bits of clay and add to or take away as necessary. We used our plein air painting boxes placing our studies on top of our stands. My friend Lenny used a sculpting stand called "Hercules" that he recently bought, which seemed like a great option for indoors and out.

Hercules Sculpture Stand

***A note, however: although the stand is called "Hercules", it has it's limits regarding strength. The bolts at the bottom of the tripod are not strong enough to withstand heavy weights, I'm guessing over 50 pounds. However, for smaller works it is fantastic. The top has a rotating base that you place your board and sculpture on which sits upon a tripod, making it easy to transport or put away in a closet when not in use. 

After I got home from hours outdoors and defrosted my frozen fingers, I took a long look at my block in. Before we went to sculpt the original sculpture, I knew something was not working in the torso and back, but I was unsure of what. After seeing the original sculpture live, my vision became more clear and my understanding about what to aim for about the entire piece understood. A sculpture (or a drawing or painting) is not about the individual muscles but about the whole. Each area is important and can be idealized, but it makes no sense if the gesture is not working. All of those individual muscles will be meaningless if they are not working together to communicate the idea.

In addition to the gesture and over all idea of the piece, there is an enormous amount to observe and learn about how to idealize various areas of the body. It is unlikely that one particular model looked like this man. Rather, several models were used for various areas and each form made to be "the best" way to depict an area of the body. There is so much information in this one sculpture group to learn from.

I will continue to work on my study of Loacoon here and there over the next few months bringing my block in with me to study the idealized figure. This will be a long term project, taken in slowly, allowing the beautified form to seep into my consciousness a little at a time.

For drawing practice and sculpting study and reference, I may also purchase this Mask of Loacoon's head.

http://www.giustgallery.com/sculpture-reproductions/detail/laocoon-mask/item-46/

and also his torso:

http://www.giustgallery.com/sculpture-reproductions/detail/laocoon-torso/item-135/

Two Portraits

I have been inspired lately to use conte, pan pastel, and pitt pastel pencil on Rives BFK paper. I love this particular mix of materials with the velvety texture of the paper. Even with all smudging I did, I found that Rives BFK paper was able to withstand multiple layers of conte, smudging and erasing. I can't wait to draw more!

 "Walter", conte and pastel pencil on rives bfk paper

"Christopher", conte and pastel pencil on rives bfk paper

My kitty Maggie watched me during much of these portrait sessions. She's a great studio companion except for the occasional snoring.

This past year I have spent almost my entire life outside of my full time job taking workshops. Although my personal schedule was definitely pushed the max and at times stressful, at the end of this year I am looking back and feeling hopeful, energized and inspired. For about ten years after I left Chicago to move to San Francisco, I stopped painting outside of my illustration job because I was too busy making a living. This year I've made connections back to what truly inspires me; I've been studying Nature closely and all the while looking deep within my own heart, thinking carefully about what I truly find beautiful.

I am eternally grateful to those artists around me, right here in San Francisco, who generously choose to pass on their wisdom and support!

With so much gratitude, thank you!

Classical Realism with Sadie J. Valeri

Last January, I took a two week Classical Realism workshop taught by Sadie J. Valeri in her San Francisco studio.  
 

At the time I took the course, my interest in Classical Realism was purely practical. I paint at home nights and weekends, which for me has meant that the Alla Prima (wet into wet paint) method I was trained in at the Palette and Chisel and American Academy of Art, has required immediacy and speed, a process not well suited to my current working full time life style.

I thought perhaps the layered and methodical process of the Dutch/Flemish indirect process might provide me with a better working method, allowing me to work in stages rather than all at once, better suited to coming back over the course of several days and nights. While all of this is true, what I found after taking Sadie Valeri's course was far more enriching and enlightening than I'd expected.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Classical Realism refers
 to the contemporary rebuilding of a legacy of art instruction which developed from the Renaissance ateliers up through the 19th century Academies, which was nearly lost in the anti-figurative philosophies of the 20th century. Sadie uses a process of indirect painting that was developed by the Dutch and Flemish painters, but many ateliers use a two or sometimes three step process.

For further reading, you can find extensive information HERE at the Art Renewal Center website along with many examples of past and present works. (also a huge array of articles and information on schools)

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Construction Exercises and Value Control

The first exercise we worked on was a value sphere. I wrote extensively about this exercise, the terms and lighting effects HERE. At first glance this exercise might appear simple. I assure you, it is not! Like practicing scales on the piano, the value sphere is the equivalent for artists.

After we we practiced the value sphere, we studied the principles of organic form in Nature, contour and shape, perspective, and how best to construct objects, including a fantastic lecture on ellipses. **note: for this blog post I will focus primarily on the painting method and will outline in later posts the important information regarding structure that I learned.

We began our still life painting by taping a sheet of mylar (vellum) paper to a board on our easels which were leveled in direct line with the still life set up. Using a viewfinder, we mapped out our composition by making small thumbnails. We then went over principles in construction of objects, breaking down our subjects into shapes using the straight line block in technique rather than sight size. **note: the two links are 1) example of a figure drawing using straight line block in from Sadie's blog and 2) a discussion on wetcanvas.com about sight size vs. other methods with good comments about non reliance upon sight size.

Each student's easel was set up almost at eye level with the still life. Our easels were set far enough away to make the set up just under life size, in this case about 4-5 feet away.The reason for this is practical; comparing side by side makes measuring and comparing easier rather than guessing and translating on to the page the size you would like the objects to be.

Also important to note here is that Sadie's studio is set up for North lighting, the most consistent form of natural light. We did not use any form of artificial lighting whatsoever for this course.

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Materials for Painting

After we transferred our completed drawings to the gesso panel, we began painting. Here is a list of materials we used which can also be found on Sadie Valeri's website HERE:

Brushes: 

Robert Simmons "White Sable" brushes with the maroon handles and white bristles (very affordable)

Filberts, 2 each of sizes #10, #4, and #1

Rounds, 2 each of size #1 (one brush for the light areas, one brush for the dark areas)

Mediums:

Refined Linseed Oil

Stand Oil

Odorless Mineral Spirits (Turpenoid)

Natural Turpenoid  (ONLY for cleaning brushes, never get it into your paint)

"Silicoil" brand brush cleaning jar filled with Natural Turpenoid 

Paint Rags:

Shop cloths are used (can be found at Home Depot) for the reason that other paper towels have too much lint - especially the popular Viva brand paper towels that many impressionist painters employ. 

Palette:

classic wooden artist palette with thumb hole so we can pick it up or clip it to our easels.

(If it's brand new, brush on thick coats of linseed oil every night for several days/weeks and rub it into the surface or it will absorb oil paint.) 

**note: when I was in art school we used untempered masonite panels cut to size at Home Depot, which we coated with linseed oil in the same way. these have no thumb holes but are great palettes and can also be clipped to an easel if needed.

Panels:

smoothly sanded gesso panel with no texture. Sadie makes her own panels (detailed blog post on her site HERE). You can also use Ampersand smooth panels or make your own. 

**note: Daniel Sprick mentioned in his workshop that he coats untempered masonite panels with shellac, then five coats of Golden brand gesso, the last few coats he sands with a belt sander, and then applies Alkyd white to obliterate the texture completely making a smooth surface.

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First Stage of Painting

The Open Grisaille Layer

"Open Grisaille" means "dead grey layer" in French. The idea of this is a basic first pass of values that also creates a surface for later layers of paint to adhere to.

We began by mixing a thin layer of burnt umber, a touch of ultramarine blue, and small amount of white, thinned down with *only* turpentine. We used two brushes: one with paint and the other with turpentine on it which functioned as an eraser for mistakes.

We began by washing in the darkest dark in a thin layer. Rather than "swiping" in big strokes, we used small strokes, building our darks. This stage is called "open" grisaille because the white is the white of the panel - not white paint. This stage seems similar to watercolor in respect to how the paint is used, staining the paper in varying degrees of saturation, the white of the paper being the highest value. Here the "stain" is thinned oil paint on a very smooth panel. Thinking of it this way helped me through this layer.

 

This layer will eventually be completely covered up in the very next layer. However, skipping this step is not advised as it will help the oil paint bind to the surface of the very slick panel. I also found this step a good way to make "pathways" into the brain for understanding the nuances of how the light is working on the set up, kind of like a "warm up" for subsequent layers of paint.

Usually the open grisaille will take about six hours to dry. The panel must be dry before moving on to the next layer of paint.

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The "Couch"

After our panels dried over night upon completion of our open grisaille, we came back the next day to apply the couch. In fact, after each step is completed and dried, it is almost always necessary to apply a "couch" layer of underpainting medium on to the panel.  A couch layer on a dried panel aids the application of the new paint layer and helps the paint absorb into the panel.

The underpainting medium (linseed oil + turp) should be applied in the thinnest layer possible using a clean large brush. Sadie will also sand between layers after applying the couch, (which is called wet sanding) using the finest possible sand paper tooth - #600 - in order to remove dust and lint that adheres to the panel over night. Many artists have various recipes for the couch - Sadie uses underpainting medium.

Also, we applied the couch only to an area we were working on that day  because if we oiled an area we weren't painting, over the course of the day the oil would drip or become gummy.

**note: a good source for information about couching is in the book, Oil Painters Handbook, an encyclopedia that documents time tested techniques for oil painting materials and methods.

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Closed Grisaille - The Black and White Value Layer 

After the Open Grisaille step, we moved on to the "Grisaille" layer or Closed Grisaille stage. More information on the history of this method can be found HERE. This layer involves white paint and is completely monochromatic.

The colors we used to mix this grey are French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna,

and Titanium White.

We mixed seven values, counting white as value one and near to black as seven. This in itself I thought was an excellent exercise for understanding how best to boil the infinite value scale down to a workable palette.

**Side Note: These black and white values are really warm greys. If you are not familiar with the differences between true cool greys, neutral greys, and warm greys, I highly recommend going to the art supply store nearest you and looking at sets of markers or gouache sets. You will notice the difference between the shifts between them, and it will help you gain an understanding of how how cool, neutral, and warm colors work. You could also buy some sets in three values of each marker and do some exercise sketching. When I worked as a background painter in the 90's, very often I would do value studies using these three greys - it is amazing at how "full" the color can look when really there is no color at all (or very little chroma, which is what is really going on).

After mixing up our value strings, I was more than eager to cover up the open grisaille layer. Again, I found interesting information regarding how best to apply the paint that was quite different from the Alla Prima technique I was trained in. A lot of artists learn to apply paint in values that "band" together and then blend those value bands. Sadie instructed us that this methodology does not produce a truly accurate and nuanced representation of the values and causes loss of control. It is better to instead think of the paint as small tiles that move across the form, painting each as a very small "dab" - not swiping at all - moving across the form rather than up and down. It is important not to rush or feel like you need to get it all down in one day. The importance here lies in getting as accurate as possible the values of the set up before moving on to the color stage.

I love the look of a palette at the end of the day, although I don't recommend having your open can of diet hansen's ginger ale next to all those solvents. :) However, Sadie also instructed us to always keep the lids on our solvents and mediums while we painted to reduce the toxic effect in the air as much as possible. I was amazed at how six students were painting and yet the room barely smelled of paint at all! (a nice thing for anyone with asthma like myself)

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 The Color Layer

After working a couple of days on refining the closed grisaille, black and white layer, we moved on to color.

the colors on the palette below, from left to right: Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson Permanent, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Viridian Green, Mars Red, Burnt Umber.   

At this stage in the workshop, Sadie lectured about COLOR. Instead of getting into the ins and outs of this chart, I will post the Munsell chart. If you are a digital artist using Photoshop, you will find this easy to understand since Photoshop uses this color wheel system. If you are new to this concept, I suggest reading more about this HERE:

When I began laying in the initial color, I found it difficult to get the paint to adhere to the black and white layer with out picking up some of the black and white paint, which was muddying the color. To make sure this doesn't happen, make sure the closed grisaille layer is completely dry before applying color. I did appreciate the black and white layer, however, because I felt it made the color layer easier to focus on. Because the values were already noted carefully, I did not have to think about the value as much, which left me thinking about chroma and saturation instead. Nice!

Here we started by mixing up the dark color of an object, the light color and a mid tone. We painted thicker in the lights and thinner in the shadows, commonly referred to as "thick over lean", concentrating on the lights rather than the dark colors. We typically mixed a "string" of color before painting an object.

Another important difference I discovered between Alla Prima and Classical Realism was the handling of the highlight. Typically in Alla Prima, I would paint the warm tan-grey of the bottle first and then lay the highlight on top of that layer. When faced with the highlight in this set up, that is exactly how I began to do until Sadie intervened, explaining that in Classical Realism everything is painted right next to each other. In other words, the highlight is painted right next to the bottle color rather than on top of - sometimes referred to as "windowing".

** note: In addition, when I attended a Timothy Jahn demo at Sadie's studio in October of this year, he also mentioned this same thing: that he paints only a small section of a painting at a time, bringing it to full completion and then moves on, moving out and around the painting from there. (Visit his website here)

In the above photo you can see the black and white layer was mixing with my color. I found the next day when the layer had completely dried, the color went on cleaner without picking up the layer underneath. Be sure that b&w layer is dry!

My set up included a crumpled brown paper bag, which I was not able to complete. I mainly focused on the egg and dish, bottles and two glasses. I quite enjoyed this step and could have worked on it for much longer, but at this point the two week course was finished.

My semi-finished painting, above.

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 Demonstration and Lecture Photos

Sadie J. Valeri lecturing while she demo'd the grisaille "dead layer". I noticed how light her open grisaille layer was compared to mine. You can't tell in this photo below, but the paint barely made any texture at all on the surface.

Three eggs in three steps, by Sadie J. Valeri. First, the pencil construction, second, black and white value layer, third, full color (although there is an open grisaille step before the black and white stage):

Here is Sadie's finished egg from the demo she started in the above photos. As you can see, her skill is well honed! It looked even better in person.

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Final Thoughts

The methods used in this kind of painting were commonly taught in Ateliers in Europe and America, but diminished during the late 1800's through 1900's during the age of deconstruction in Western Art. (which happened in all the arts, including writing, dance, architecture, sculpture, poetry, etc) A revival has been taking place over the last thirty years for artists who wish to learn Classical painting methods driven by those who have a deep desire to depict Nature in it's true visual state. As a result, Classical Realism has become a richly poetic form of visual art in recent years thanks to the many Ateliers popping up all over the US and Europe and support by collectors world wide.

But what if you don't have a desire to paint in this manner? While I see a lot of painters begin at workshops that are loosely structured and sometimes even stylistic, I highly recommend that students begin with Classical Realism. Additionally, if you have already attended art school, Classical Realism studies will solidify accumulated knowledge and enhance an understanding of visual principles. Every form of painting, Impressionism, Alla Prima, Naturalism, even Abstract Expressionism is an off shoot of this hundreds year old tradition. Modernist avant guard schools function as a reaction to and against Classical Art tradition. Knowing this, why not fully understand the founding principles of technique and explore the truths of Nature? Once an understanding is mastered and practiced, along with the philosophy and historical context, exploring areas of visual expression is borne out of a place of understanding and relevance with a nuanced and intended expression of a visual idea. 

As for me,  I have spent most of this year using my vacation time and weekends to take workshops of all kinds, and truly enjoyed them all. Because of this, I have intentionally put off my personal work. I still have a great deal of questions and interests to explore, which I hope to address in my own paintings next year. I will definitely be using this technique for many of my studio works and am very eager to start!

Bowie the Greyhound

 On Thursday evenings, I attend a sculpture workshop with some friends. Usually we hire a model for figurative work. This time, however, we thought we'd tackle something different,  the greyhound of one of our favorite models.

 We set Bowie up on a sleeping mat while we sculpted. Occasionally she would get up and walk around the room or go outside for a quick run. 

While I was making the armature, I observed the incredibly graceful movements of our model. I noticed the long flowing s curves repeated throughout her form and her incredibly "springy" stride. I wanted to somehow capture that kinetic grace in the pose.

I didn't make any gesture drawings, but instead decided to just mess with the armature until I found a pose that worked. I put a base layer of clay on the armature, adjusted it several times, and after about two sessions found a pose that had movement. I had trouble with the armature because I used aluminum wire where I should have used steel; the clay is heavy and can bend the aluminum wire. To compensate I decided to make a sturdy base at the bottom and balled up aluminum foil for the rib cage.

Eventually, our Thursday night sessions ended and our model was no longer available. I decided to take the sculpture home to work on it little by little after work.

The truth is, I am not really a sculptor. I am a two dimensional artist studying the 3rd dimension, sculpture. In the 3 years since I have been learning about sculpting with my friends each Thursday, I have found that the practice aids my understanding of depicting nature in two dimensions greatly. My mind is better able to process how form turns and how light falls on those forms far better than if I hadn't.

My underlying interest in visual language is the idea of making something, anything feel alive to the viewer, whether it is realistic or fantasy; I want to be able create an illusion and spirit of life, the sublime. I strive to transcend technique in order to create something beautiful that reflects Nature in a visually poetic manner. It is this idea that keeps me pushing forward, wanting to learn more, improve my abilities and become increasingly skilled at how I might do this. Sculpture has helped me understand in a different way how to think about how to capturing "aliveness" of a creation. While I am certainly a lesser sculptor than others, I feel exploring this medium has helped me solidify ideas about visual illusions.

At this point, I decided to place a black board behind Bowie so that I could see more clearly the lines of her form. I started to soften the muscles and add some areas of compression along with skin folds. I came to the conclusion that although some of the sculpture might not be entirely "correct", it was my choice in serving the design at this point; I enjoyed rounding out forms and accenting areas I found the most beautiful.

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My "finished" sculpture, at least as finished as I want it to be:

"Bowie", oil based clay on wood base.

s curves in motion:

While I worked on this sculpture throughout the summer, I took breaks to attend the Weekend with the Masters painting conference, which you can find in some of my previous posts, but, perhaps more interestingly, during this time I immersed myself in the work of string theorist Brian Greene, author of "The Hidden Reality". *

Aside from ideas about the shape of our questionably infinite universe, one fact about Greene's work stands out as entirely relevant to every day considerations: 

"Nothing in the laws of physics points to free will. Therefore, like time, it is a useful illusion. We are a bag of particles governed by the laws of physics.  And that’s it.”

 (from an interview with screen writer Charlie Kaufman)

 Really? Assuming Nature created these complex particles, it also created the desire for some of us to want to recreate it in art. Why? To understand it? For what purpose? Maybe meditating on Nature's beauty is somehow important in the grander scheme. It certainly is for me at least.

*You can also watch a fantastic PBS dvd series based on his book by the same name, "The Elegant Universe", which explains quantum mechanics in layman terms and is pretty enjoyable regardless (among numerous articles and speeches published all over the web).

Weekend with the Masters - Daniel Sprick Demo

On the last day of the Weekend with the Masters, hosted by American Artist Magazine, I took a one day workshop with an artist I have admired for years, Daniel Sprick.

The painting conference was structured so that students could take several one-day courses, choosing one instructor for each day (look to my two previous blog posts for other instructors courses I attended). All twenty instructors were master painters on the Realist fine art scene; quite an impressive roster with a wide span of approaches and philosophies ranging from the alla prima direct painters, to the Rembrandt school of thought, to the Classical Realists of the East Coast atelier scene to the many noted plein air painters of the West coast.

I was surprised and delighted when I saw Daniel Sprick's name on the roster since I had never before seen offerings of workshops taught by him in the past; this was a rare treat to meet the artist I have admired for so long. I was not disappointed.

An excerpt from an article written about him on his website:

"A Vermeer-like glow infuses many of Daniel Sprick’s paintings, often falling on objects from some unseen source. It spreads arbitrarily through his interiors, picking out this tangerine and that bottle, causing their color and form to bloom, submerging other parts of the painting in warm shadow. From Vermeer too, comes the suggestion of worlds within worlds. Oriental rugs imply distant exotic places (and perhaps Sprick’s obsession with flying via magic carpet as well). Paintings and fine art prints tacked to walls, tantalizing reflections in a blank television screen, figures half-seen through distant doorways enhance the notion of time and distance. Daniel Sprick also revisits the tradition of the still life as memento mori. Yet again, in these contemporary works, the traditional images of decay and dissolution –faded flowers, broken china, eggshells, a human skull---are leavened with humorous elements such as nibbled cookies and a seeping stain that spreads from a paper bag to the book it stands on. "
-- Jane Fudge
Jane Fudge is assistant curator of modern and contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum, and a visual art and film critic.

Daniel Sprick, "Passage", 36x30, oil on board

Two interviews, the first from the Denver Art Museum, and the second, below, an excerpt from American Painting Video Magazine:

  

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Because the conference was expensive to attend, I appreciated Sprick's thoughtful note on the supply list that mentioned that we could use whatever supplies we already had. He provided a list of his specific materials also, and indicated that we were welcome to use those if we chose but that it was not necessary.**

His supply list can be found here.

However, for this demo, Sprick was using Royal Talens water based oils that were provided as samples from a representative from Royal Talens/Canson at the conference. He used them all weekend in order to test them out, and seemed to like the results.

Sprick explained his process for preparing panels at home, which are Masonite panels primed with golden sandable gesso. The medium he uses with his oils is Liquin.

He began by drawing out an accurate silhouette of the head using angular lines rather than curves. After he figured out the height, width, and overall shape, he then filled in the shape of the head with a thin wash of a warm sienna-like tone. This under painting technique is called a grisaille or dead layer, which many artists use as a base for subsequent paint layers. 

He intentionally left the area around the head white since he has been creating a lot of figurative works in his studio with a white background as a compositional element. Sprick's aesthetic for portraits and figures often employs stark white backgrounds foiled against a fully painted realistic portrait or full figure. He explained some of his influences in this direction, referring to a Renaissance painter, who's name I unfortunately did not catch, that also played with this idea. Additionally, contemporary print media often make use of photographed figures photoshopped against a white background, a visual motif surrounding us today.

After he finished the flat, wash of the silhoutte, he began to paint on top of the grisaille, filling in the shadow areas as one connected shape all over the head (below) with a thicker consistency of paint.

Sprick then mixed up the colors of the light in big piles from which he also used as a base for mixing middle tones.

At this stage, he began to lay the paint on thicker and in a "dabbing" manner instead of blending brush strokes together, carefully modeling the forms of the light.

He continued in this manner, slowly building up the light, mid tones, and adding further shape to the darker values.

It wasn't until this stage that he added the sharpest, darkest values and the lightest lights. 

 

After he added these accents, it seemed to be a matter of adding a few very small accents in the highest range of the light in order to shore up the accuracy of the portrait.

It may look as though there are a lot of meticulous brush strokes on this portrait, however up close I noticed the painting was far more economical than I'd realized. Sprick has such command of the figure that he is able to make incredibly exacting choices.

The finished demo, Daniel Sprick, 2011

Below are two additional demonstrations he painted from other sessions:

During the break at lunch time and before we painted from the model, Sprick showed us a slide show of his STUNNING portrait work on his ipad. He also talked about his interests in lighting for his still life paintings, using unusual sources of light including hot, artificial spotlights (on occasion) and interesting bounce light effects, like mirrors with blue gel on top, which bounces back into the set up. He also glazes areas of his paintings after they are completed if he finds the composition is not working the way he prefers, using the glazes to either push back or pull forward specific elements of his still life.

It was truly a joy to be in the same room with Daniel Sprick, talk with him and paint. I will not soon forget the experience!

** The Weekend with the Masters was quite expensive (for me), considering the cost of the course, $1200, the fee for the hotel (I shared a room which came to about $500), PLUS additional supplies for each chosen instructor and dining fees. Thankfully I traveled by car, saving on air fare and cutting the cost.  I suggest to the hosts at America Artist Magazine to increase the attendance among the student population, that they include a discounted student rate much like the CTN Expo does for the Animation industry students.

Weekend with the Masters - Quick figure painting with Susan Lyon

A few years ago I had stopped fine art painting entirely due to a very busy illustration work schedule, which took me very far away from my practice of life drawing and painting the figure. It was around 2006 when I visited Susan Lyon's website, a former classmate at the American Academy of Art and Palette and Chisel Art League friend, that I became inspired again to continue to push forward and develop my observational figure painting and drawings.

I was so happy when I found that Lyon was also getting into oil quick sketching on vellum, a medium we used in art school to save on canvas, and even happier to learn she would be teaching her approach to oil quick sketch at the Weekend with the Masters, hosted by American Artist Magazine, in Monterey, California!

Here are a few samples from her blog:

All of these are oil on vellum, 45 minute poses. Also on her blog is a link to a video she made further explaining her technique.

I also have the pleasure of owning a few pieces by Lyon. While we were in school at the American Academy of Art, I posed for my classmates on Friday afternoon. (clothed - I'm not THAT brave) At the end of the session, I was surprised when Sue gave me her watercolor painting (below, left). I still have it on my wall at home along with a pastel drawing (below, right) that I purchased from her in 2006.

 

It was so fun to see her again after all these years. Susan Lyon is a delightful and energetic teacher who gladly shares her process with students. Below are a few shots and notes from her one day demo at Weekend with the Masters. Enjoy!

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On her Open Box M glass palette, Lyon mixed big areas of color with a somehwhat limited palette, variations on red, yellow and blue. In this session she used a convenience color for the flesh, Caucasian Flesh, Charvin Rubine Lake, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Orange plus Titanium White. Lyon explained that the small amount of cadmium orange was for sharper richer color accents which are usually found in the hands and feet where the flesh typically becomes more reddish.

Also, as far as medium, the only one she uses is mineral spirits to wash her brushes when switching colors, which you can see on the bottom left in the photo below. To wipe off the brushes, she uses Viva paper towels.

She proceeded to mix up a few big piles of paint so that she didn't have to worry so much about mixing during the 45 minute pose. She then tapes a 14x17 piece of vellum (she has tried many variations and feels an artist needs to find which one they prefer) to a white board, and then proceeds to paint the largest shadow mass with a large bristle brush using the warm brown tone she mixed on her palette.



Lyon explained that after she lays in the shadow shape rather loosely, she then defines the color mass of the light areas using a loose sight size method which has become like second nature after painting for many years. 

She simplifies her brushstrokes as much as possible, using only mid range values, feeling that the middle ranges tend to give a more life like feel for the figure. The only dark accents she adds are very small touches toward the end of the session.


 

Lyon said that she tries not to stress out too much about the exact hue on the model, and that her color is not super exact "true" color. Rather, it is relative to the palette that she sets up, working within the context of those colors. For instance, the green cloth depicted in the photo below was actually black, but she wanted to show the warmth of the skin tone against a cooler color.

Susan Lyon's finished demo, oil on vellum, 45 minute pose.

In the afternoon students did three 45 minute poses. I had a hard time getting used to the vellum; it's literally been over 15+ years since I've painted on it. By the third pose I started to get the feel of it. Here is my 3rd 45 minute quick pose.

I would really like to get a group together to practice quick poses in oil. I currently attend a Tuesday night figure long pose session and Thursday night sculpting, so adding one more night is pushing it...still, I would love to do this. Quick poses in oil would be good practice for getting the form down quickly while also abbreviating color, only putting down what is necessary. I imagine after a year or two of weekly practice, an artist would make huge leaps!

Weekend with the Masters - David Jon Kassan demo

David Jon Kassan is an artist I was really excited to meet and study with at the painting conference I recently attended, American Artist's Weekend With the Masters, in Monterey, California.  Aside from his technique and acute observational abilities, Kassan has been an artist I've admired for his subject matter and unusual juxtaposition of realist figures against street art or other interesting abstract textures. 

I've also enjoyed the videos he has put together, particularly a portrait on an ipad tablet using the ArtRage app as well as traditional portrait sessions of people around where he lives in Brooklyn, NY.  If you haven't watched them yet, be sure to check out his blog and enjoy.

From Kassan's artist statement on his website:

My influences are understandably just as contradictory as they have fed and connected my perspective on painting. I am constantly seeking out work that is congruent with my own which has led me to explore the work of life size old master paintings, urban stencil and graffiti street art, Marcel Duchamp's found objects, abstract paintings by Robert Rauschenberg, and finally the sheer conceptual and executed realism of Caravaggio.

A flexible and open mind. I like that.

Notable supplies for the day included pan pastel in black, Generals charcoal pencils in blacks, greys, and white, a custom maul stick he made using a collapsible tent pole and coat hanger, and binoculars...

Kassan's drawing supply list can be found here.

He began the demo on toned paper in a mid range moving up or down the value scale in order to model the form. He started by massing in the key darks of the eye sockets, under the nose and mouth with black Pan Pastel.

After he laid in the darks, he refined them by looking into a set of a binoculars at the model (not the drawing) to find the exact edges of these shapes and adjusting with an eraser. I had never before seen an artist use binoculars and was really curious to know how he was using them.

Kassan explained that the binoculars aid in finding the exact edges of shadow shapes and help in observing specifically where forms turn. He told us that occasionally students find this device controversial. His view is that while yes, binoculars are an optical aid, the mind and the hand are still creating the work; an artist still has to understand the form well enough to know what to look for in the first place as well as translate what is being seen on to the page. I have no problem with this myself. I wear eyeglasses for the same reason so binoculars to me feel like essentially the same thing.

After he adjusted and refined the shadow shapes with a tuff stuff eraser, he used a white General's pencil employing crosshatching, another departure from my own training and one that attracted me to Kassan's work.

As he continued to refine the form in the light and add more depth and accuracy to the darks, he explained further about his use of crosshatching with white in the light tones. He follows each form around the face according to the natural grain that grows on that particular feature, something he learned from Costa Vavagiakis, with whom he studied at The Art Student's League in NYC. Years later Kassan learned from a doctor who was also a student of his that there is a medical term for this concept, Langer lines !!!

 

 

Kassan's finished 3 hour demo drawing:

It was cathardic for me to hear about Kassan's use of white pencil, crosshatching and langer lines. A seemingly innocent thing like cross hatching has become a bit of a flash point in my personal art.

Many years ago, while I was in high school, I became completely obsessed with Langer lines, although at the time I didn't realize that is what they were. I had been at a local book store and discovered the Dover Press Alphonse Mucha's Figurative Decoratives, a book which remains incredibly inspiring to me to this day. I stopped experimenting with this technique when I went to art school because I learned that lines do not exist in Nature, that light illuminates volume creating tones rather than lines. Additionally, when I began to study at the Palette and Chisel during the early 90's, this idea was reinforced quite powerfully as tone being the best way to accurately depict light in Nature.

While this concept might be actual fact, it does not take into account that visual language is a human way of depicting our world on to two dimensional surfaces. During a lecture given by Quang Ho, he mentioned line as a part of visual language - and it caused a bit of an on stage controversy. (more about this in subsequent posts)

 I have always loved the line work in Mucha's life drawings throughout the years; It was the addition of using white plus line work in the lights that attracted me to Kassan's work and in my personal life I know so many comics artists who use line ONLY to create absolutely stunning work. It was a relief to hear from another artist in the fine art Realist community who is intrigued by cross hatching and line work and makes no apologies about it.

Further, during the above portrait demo, Kassan mentioned that he felt it was a good idea to try out various techniques in order to find what fits your personal temperament - also an idea that resonates with me.

a nice flickr set of Alphonse Mucha's Figurative Decoratives can be found here.

Here are some of my more recent experimentations using Langer lines: 

"Bilge" pastel pencil on Strathmore paper, 9 x 12 

"Tiffany", brown and white pastel pencil on Canson's Mi Tientes paper
*note: this might have been more effective had the lines followed the forms on the face and body - and if the hand were more accurately drawn.

What I've learned over time, perhaps more than anything else, is that the art community is rife with opinions about the 'right' way. It is quite easy as a young and eager student to be overwhelmed by a Master, especially as I was genuinely blown away by some of the artists around me and wanted to paint exactly like they did.

Later in life, I have begun to realize my own internal temperament is different than those who influenced me in school, but they are still difficult to to ignore; I want to explore the idea of drawing with lines and yet I feel horribly when I do because it is the opposite of what I was taught. The only way I can address it is to break away from that line of thinking completely and put my fine art work "on hold" while I experiment with whatever I seem to gravitate toward.

So far it has been an interesting journey in finding my original influences, the things that attracted me to drawing before I even went to art school which are still deep within like a burning ember that never went out.

”…pay attention to the urges that motivate you…it’s your job to make it yours…not to judge it or compare it to other expressions…no artist is pleased…it’s just a divine dissatisfaction…a blessed unrest that keeps us marching…and makes us more alive...”
Martha Graham

Words of Wisdom

"I want to paint like a pig eats." 

Last week I attended the Weekend with the Masters, in Monterey, California. The weekend is a conference with some of the top American Realist painters in the fine art scene. 

Painter Richard Schmid kicked off the event by giving a fabulous lecture about his adventures through a life time of painting, during which he stated that he wanted to paint like a pig eats. He explained what he meant: without holding back, without feeling self conscious and indulgence in the act of painting.

 

This phrase, "to paint like a pig eats", was repeated throughout the workshop days mostly joking around by student painters and instructors. On the last day I took Daniel Sprick's demo, during which he said that in a later conversation Schmid elaborated that the statement was derived from a critic's quote regarding Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla when his paintings were exhibited at the 1933 World's Fair held in Chicago. The critic scoffed at the direct painting method Sorolla used and wrote, "He paints like a pig eats!"
 

Walk on the Beach, 1909 - Sorolla

To which Schmid is clearly stating that indulgence in painting is OK. Why shouldn't it be?

Overall, the Weekend with the Masters was a lot of process and philosophy from various top fine artists. However, most interesting were the panel discussions that tackled ponderous big questions and definitions around what Realism really means. (as a Sci Fi fan, I love contemplating what reality is - and was surprised to find many Realist painters think about such things too!)

Please stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for my notes, photos and discussion. I am eager to share!

September 11th/Ten Years Ago

Ten years ago I was working as a full time freelance illustrator from my home studio here in San Francisco. I had moved here the previous year with my ex husband, Mike. I had been working happily as a background painter at Calabash Animation in Chicago and Mike was a lead animator and Director. In addition to working in animation, I was also painting and selling work in a gallery but the money I earned was not enough to make it a full time venture. As traditional animation turned toward cg animation, we were forced to look elsewhere for jobs. Mike and I both applied for jobs all over, and ended up in San Francisco when Mike landed a great position directing at Mondo Media.

San Francisco was not as giving to me, however. As it turned out, the first year and a half we lived here, 100% of my clients were from New York, Chicago, and Denver. The client I was working with the weeks before the attacks was the Art Director I worked with at Enesco in Illinois, with whom I had a professional relationship for about seven years. When she moved to another giftware company, she contacted me. My first assignment was to paint some beautiful angels, which would first be made into greeting cards and figurines if the paintings were well received. The project held the promise of royalties and long term expansion of my career into a field I always enjoyed - collectible sculpted figurines.

Although I am not the kind of artist that typically paints angels or spiritual themes, I was excited about this job because it was figurative. Much of the work I painted in commercial animation was background environments, color design of characters and props, and color scripts of story boards. I fell in love with animation during my time at Calabash and was eager to continue working in the field, but found I did not have enough experience when I moved to San Francisco, and also had no digital skills whatsoever. Although I applied to animation studios around town, the answer was always the same. They wanted digital work, not traditional.

So this particular job held much promise for me as a new direction. I threw myself into the project. I spent long hours thumbnailing various poses, made studies of decorative elements from Art Nouveau designs, and researched costuming that I felt would work for this theme. All of my research sketches are lost, unfortunately. In addition to the pencils below, I had also rendered close up details of the edging along the bottom of the gowns, sketched out wings, and had designed specific flowers for the hair.

 The pencils above are the first versions I sent. She requested that I change the faces to look at the viewer, and have a slightly happy expression. I felt angels would look more heroic, as they are intended to be, if they were not looking at the viewer, instead looking toward the heavens. I tried to convince her but she insisted on a friendly appearance and felt my pencils were too serious.

I have two versions of this pencil (below). One is flipped. I can't remember which was the final version of the painting. Also, the reason there is tape all over the pencil is because this was the pencil rendering I used to transfer the design to illustration board. I painted all of the paintings in watercolor and gouache, my preferred medium that I had a lot of experience using as a background painter.

On Monday, September 10th, I had gotten final approval for all of the pencils and the go ahead to start painting. I spent all of Monday transferring the pencils to illustration board. I was set to begin painting the first angel on Tuesday, September 11th.

The morning of Tuesday September 11th unfolded - and like the rest of the nation, I was horrified and consumed. 

My deadline came and went. I found myself unable to paint. Every time I put my brush to the illustration board, a flood of images and thoughts raced into my head - the artists who lived in studios in the towers, the pastry chef from San Francisco, the firemen who rushed in, the people in the Pentagon, the people on the planes. Painting angels felt so terribly ridiculous. I could not - would not - feel a sense of peace and hope while so many were lost in such a horribly violent attack. I explained to my Art Director that I would not be able to deliver the assignment on time. She was very upset with me and told me, "life must go on."

I eventually finished the assignment. However, I lost the client. The original paintings were never returned to me. I never received samples of the finished product. I did get paid, thankfully. I never heard from my client again. I rolled up these drawings and put them away.  

Across the country, work completely dried up for freelance artists, causing great financial hardship for so many artists. The only silver lining for me during this time was that my father bought me a copy of Photoshop and a Wacom tablet for my computer. I spent all of my time learning how to paint digitally and rebuilding my portfolio, which led to a background painting contract at the Learning Company, a contract I was so grateful for.

Although it is natural to look for meaning in events, I still cannot make any sense or connection with these images of angels I was assigned to paint at this particular time. My art director was right in saying that life must go on. However, I feel strongly that we must pause to grieve for the loss the victim's families suffered that day and remember the soldiers who were called to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Peace

.

Weekend with the Masters

The second week of September I am taking a four day intensive seminar called Weekend With the Masters, organized by American Artist magazine.

The seminar is in Monterey, California, which is about a three hour drive from San Francisco. The location is a major plus because the seminar weekend is expensive, running about $1200 for four days plus the hotel and materials; saving on the additional airfare makes it more in the affordable range.

It is going to be a grand weekend and a reunion of sorts too. Some of the painters teaching at the seminar are friends that I went to school with at the American Academy of Art and the Palette and Chisel - artists who really raise the bar for this kind of intensive. It will be so great to see my friends who have gone on to lead successful fine art careers and catch up, while also learning a little more of their well honed painting skills. As you can imagine, I had a difficult time choosing who I would study with.

In the end, I chose to mix it up a bit with artists I am already well familiar with and artists that are entirely new to me, who come from differing schools of thought than what I have been trained in. 

Here are a few of the artists I will be studying with:

A full day lecture by Jacob Collins, the founder of the Water Street Atelier, The Grand Central Academy of Art and Hudson River Fellowship. I am so excited to finally be able to meet him and attend this lecture. He will be lecturing with Daniel Graves of the Florence Academy  and Joseph McGurl:

An evening painting demo by master alla prima painter Richard Schmid. I had the honor of attending the Palette and Chisel in Chicago while Richard Schmid was president of the art league. Schmid's lectures and demos changed my life...what more can I say? Richard will be painting artist Alexy Steele:

A full day of quick pose paintings with Sue Lyon. I have been a fan of Sue's since meeting her back in art school. She was always a really nice friend and even helped get me into the Palette and Chisel long ago. How could I ever forget! She was a great painter then and even better now (I even have a watercolor portrait she painted of me in art school. I'll post it someday.):

Drawing the portrait with David Kassan. Who can forget the famous you tube demo David did on the ipad  - http://www.youtube.com/user/DavidJonKassan#p/a/u/0/5OLP4nbAVA4. It will be really cool to learn from him. I love his work:

Lecture with Quang Ho. Of all the direct/alla prima painters out there, Quang Ho is one of my favorites. His still life paintings have not only a fresh feel but also incredible composition and sense of Zen. I dream of owning one of his works someday. Listening to his unusual philosophy about painting is bound to be an amazing learning experience.

Here is a little of his biography, in his own words:

"Realism and abstraction—it's all the same to me. The real essence of painting is the dialogue between shapes, tones, colors, textures, edges, and line. Everything else follows—including light, form, concepts, personal beliefs, and inspirations. For me, painting is a marriage between the mastery of those basic visual elements, the discoveries and understanding of visual statements (the search for what is true on a personal level artistically), and the trust in one’s own intuition and inspiration. Understanding gives rise to higher understanding. Working this way allows me to open the door to new ideas and inspirations. One day I may be interested in a color statement, the next perhaps a relationship of simple shapes, and the next an extremely complex arrangement of texture and edges—with every painting there is a singular visual thought to be completed." :

A full day of painting the figure with Daniel Sprick. Sprick is another of my favorite painters. I am really excited to paint with him!

I will break down my notes on this blog and show the work I did for each day. If we are allowed to take photos, I will post those too. I am eager to learn about the different philosophies and approaches to observational painting.

I am still continuing to work on my "Spring" painting, but my busy schedule has forced me to put it on hold until after this course. I have booked a model for the pose and will be taking reference photos. I am interpreting the form into an stylized figure with some bits of fantasy, which is my intention with this subject, but will explain why I need reference for this particular painting.

I also have two sculptures in the works, which I will post about once they are complete. One is a portrait of an older man and the other a greyhound - the first animal sculpture I've ever attempted. I'm not sure if either will turn out to be successful sculptures, but I'll post about it regardless.

I am eager to continue sharing the things I learn and experience on my blog.
Thank you for visiting!

San Diego Comic Con & Trickster!

BOOTH 1329!

My Sephilina pin up that I painted for Jamie Baker's comic, "Sephilina the Nauti Girl" will be on sale at his booth, #1329. The print alone is $15, but the book + the print are $20 - a $5 discount on the print!

ALSO only available at TRICKSTER:

FREE GIFT with Purchase of one of Jamie's books! 

I've been spending all week in the lab with ROCKET RABBIT AND THE PROFESSOR brewing up their secret special recipe ROCKET CARAMEL CORN! With every purchase of one of Jamie Baker's books or prints at Trickster, you will receive a FREE bag of Secret Recipe Rocket Caramel Corn! Available only THIS SATURDAY at TRICKSTER and while supplies last!

I will be splitting my time between helping out at Jamie's booth and helping out at Trickster. Please stop by and say hello!

Bill Cone Plein Air pastel workshop

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For Valentine’s Day this year, Jamie gave me a three day weekend trip to Bill Cone’s pastel plein air workshop in Idyllwild, California. :))

 If you are unfamiliar with Bill Cone, he is a Production Designer at Pixar and has worked on many of their films. His position at Pixar is similar to that of a cinematographer, but since the medium is cg animation, his concepts for lighting and atmosphere are painted and usually include both environments and characters for the film. This process helps not only the director to visualize, but also aids the production down the road when scenes are built and lit. In addition to his stellar filmography and illustration history, Cone is an accomplished landscape painter who passionately studies the behavior of light and color. To see some of Cone’s work, check out his blog HERE. (I highly recommend reading his thoughts and insight on the blog in addition to looking at his beautiful pastel paintings)

I have admired Bill Cone’s work for a long time being familiar with it through the various “Art of” movie books, and became more impressed when I went to his one man show of pastel plein air works at the Studio Gallery in San Francisco. I was delighted to learn that he also teaches workshops, and have since wanted to attend. I was so surprised when Jamie gave me a Valentine's Day gift of signing me up for the workshop, especially since I had tried to sign up myself and found the class full! :)

Bill’s approach to pastel painting reminds me of the impressionist style of thinking capturing the LIGHT and SHADOW, as opposed to the Classical Realist approach regarding documentation of exacting detail. Precise placement of detail is a lower priority in this workshop, the emphasis on capturing the light patterns, color temperature, atmospheric effects, composition and over all impression of the scene. Focusing on placement of each and every branch or leaf might be better suited to studio work afterward if one chooses to create a highly precise work, but while out in the field, prioritizing everything ELSE seems to work best. In fact, the scene really cannot be observed properly unless you squint down, do some interpretation, a few edits, and simplification to a degree.

(In fact, Scott Christensen's blog "Flow" also posted about this kind of editing and interpretation in landscape painting: The Fiction of Art.)
 

In addition to listening to Bill's approach to landscape painting, I learned what a fantastic medium pastels are for painting out doors. One of the best advantages is the physical property of the medium, large square pieces which force you to choose big shapes and commit straight away. The most difficult aspect for me was this very thing because I am so accustomed to fine detail work in figurative drawing and illustration at my job. I also like the idea of laying in color all around the picture for the purpose of being able to judge how correct each area is against another and adjusting as you continue to develop the scene. Much like alla prima painting, the first statements around the picture are increasingly accurate as experience is gained.

Bill recommended that we purchase a set of hand made landscape pastels from Terry Ludwig. After trying them, I see why; the feel of them is so rich and buttery, and make beautiful opaque marks in addition to softer more subtle ones. I bought the basic landscape set which seemed to have each and every color I need. A great buy!

Bill also required us to work on Canson Mi Tientes toned paper, Twilight and Tabacco (shown above). Some students mentioned that they like to work on sanded and toned pastel paper called Waichilus because it is more forgiving. I might try it in the future, although I rather like the Cansons (I also use it for life drawing). It took a few tries to get used to working on toned paper outdoors, as I was unaccustomed to using a dark surface. The best way to regard the brown surface is the think of it as your mid range value and work either up or down from there. Same with the blue paper, if the scene in front of you is higher key then it most likely requires the lighter blue toned paper. 

I must add here the rich brown tone might also work well for portraiture, as often times the shadows are a nice Transparent Oxide Red or Burnt Sienna-ish color. Most organic form has an undertone of warm, which is a good starting point for laying color on top.

Here are some of my plein air sketches from the workshop.

 

This painting was the very first I tried with pastels. I was uneasy and nervous considering that I had not ever used them before (except for ONE homework assignment way back in art school) and was used to working on white canvas rather than a deep brown color. Bill helped me punch up the contrast and showed me some ideas regarding technique with pastels.

I really struggled with this painting of the water and shore of the lake we visited on the second day. Bill does a lot of beautiful paintings of water and it's lighting effects (in fact, I'd say he's an expert on this). He helped me in a few spots, like the ground and gave me some tips in trying to get everything in all over the picture rather than in just ONE spot so that I can judge colors against each other and correct as needed.

Regarding composition, I learned that a distant view is more interesting when a sense of scale is achieved. In order to accomplish this, many landscape painters add a few foreground objects that we know are smaller than the thing in the distance. In this case there were a line of evergreen trees at the bottom of this scene. The scene might be more dramatic had I included them, giving the viewer a sense of how large and how distant the mountain top is.

This was one that I had to paint! I can't resist a figure in a landscape. Not sure I captured the scene, but it was certainly a joy to paint. 

I've thought since coming home from the workshop that I might expand my set of landscape pastels and add more colors. I am currently working on my "Spring" studio painting and would like to try a color study of it after I am finished with the pencil design. 

Bill's animation experience and pastel work got me thinking about the concept art for Disney animated movie, Fantasia. When I got home, I went through some photos I took (secretly) from a recent visit to the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. I have seen these very paintings in books over the years many times, but was quite moved when I saw them in person. The technique is the same, focus on the LIGHT and shadow, done in pastels on toned paper. Inspiring, beautiful, and most importantly, connected to naturalist ideas. In fact, the reason I think these work is exactly that, because they are not only caricatures, but also based on light and natural form. (and isn't a caricature also based on natural form?)

If anyone noticed that my last post on my studio spaces has gone missing, there is a reason for that. I found more photos and decided to write a longer post. Will post again sometime this summer. Next posts will regard further process on my painting, "Spring" and also notes on "Structure/Form," which will include how I am trying to learn/think/approach the human form in sculpture and also some notes on flower painting and organic subjects.

Thank you for visiting!

The Seasons, "Spring" - Work in Progress, Butterflies and Bees Sketches

I made some progress on my "Spring" painting this past weekend by studying butterflies and bees. I have not previously studied either insect up close had some questions about how wings look in various positions.

  After studying some photos, I found three axises regarding perspective of the wings.

and here is a better illustration of the perspective lines:



I noticed that sometimes one of the blue lines moves closer to the main axis while the other stays farther away, usually the wing that is closest to us. Using this trick helps to draw wings in perspective, although I have not tried it in every wing position.





I also did some bee studies.





I will incorporate some of my favorite sketches of the butterflies and bees into my final pencil rendering for "Spring". But in order to finish the pencil rendering, I need to work on the main figure, which is what I will work on next. After I have finished some studies and finalize the figure, I will compose all of the elements in photoshop, print that out, and draw one final drawing, which will be the blue print for my painting.

It might seem like a lot of work before making my final painting - and it definitely is. Experience has taught me that the effort is worth it in the end. I enjoy the process of learning and discovering while working on a painting; the things I learn always stay with me.

Please stay tuned for more progress on my painting, "Spring". :))
In between posts about "Spring", I will also be posting about the workshop with Bill Cone I'm attending, and also my long promised post on some notes I've taken regarding Structure.

Thank you for visiting!

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Here is a documentary about bees that looks fantastic. "Queen of the Sun, What are the Bees Telling Us?"   In theaters now.

http://www.queenofthesun.com/

The art of sharpening pencils

 I went to the American Academy of Art, in Chicago, where I quickly learned the art of sharpening a pencil, charcoal, china marker, and any other writing instrument that can be sharpened to a point. At the time I thought it was over kill to sharpen my pencils to such an extreme as required by my professors. I soon realized the reasons and advantages for doing so.

The methods taught to me at the American Academy of Art were passed down from the previous generation of professors, most notably William H. Mosby, the academy's master artist professor and graduate of the Belgian Royal Academy, and the great Andrew Loomis, who also taught at the school during the 30's and 40's. Some of Mosby's notable students include artists Gil Elvgren, Bill Parks, Ted Smuskiewcz, Howard Terpning, and Richard Schmid, who credits Mosby as his most influential art professor. (I had the good fortune to study under Bill Parks and Ted Smukiewcz while at the Academy, and learned a lot watching Richard Schmid paint and dispense wisdom at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago - an amazing learning experience!)

It is the influence from Mosby and Loomis that no doubt caused my generation's professors to require their students to sharpen their charcoal sticks and pencils in such a particular manner. I am still amazed the information lived on in our era of deconstructivism and forever grateful that it has. As silly as it might seem at first, sharpening drawing instruments is an important feature in mastering dexterity and refining technique, and I encourage everyone to try it at least once or twice regardless of final intention, be it illustration, "fine" art, cartooning, or whatever.

I try all kinds of pencils for sketching, but particularly love col-erase in various colors (mostly brown or red) for preliminary drawings (a habit I picked up while working in animation) and Staedtler Mars Lumograph 100 series in 2H, H and HB for final lines. I don't care for electric pencil sharpeners because they will not go far back enough into the pencil. I like to expose a good portion of the lead, say just under 1/3 of the way from the writing end. Part of the reason for this is because once the lead is exposed, I can also use the side of that exposed lead for blocking in or textures. Pencil sharpeners, electric or otherwise, just don't do the job as nicely as a utility knife or razor blade does. I also find it quite meditative and zen to spend some time getting my drawing instruments ready and have come to love the process.

My typical drawing/sketching materials are from left to right:
staedtler sanding pad, col erase pencil, staedtler mars lumograph pencils in 2H and H, papermate tuff stuff eraser stick, olfa brand snap off utility blade, kneaded eraser (top right). 

I have tried many different types of utility knife over years, mainly using raw razor blades. Recently when I took Sadie Valeri's classical realism painting course, she suggested we purchase an Olfa brand snap off utility knife, one that I had not tried before and now quite like. I always carry these materials in a small bag in my purse and a sketchbook and at home I keep them in a bowl on my desk that I can sharpen the shavings into.

The technique is simple. Shave away the woody part until the lead is exposed.

Once the lead is exposed, sand the tip of the pencil using a sandpaper pad until sharp. By sharp, I mean really sharp, like a needle. The sharpest you can get it. It takes some time and practice to get it just right and there are bound to be broken points, which is completely frustrating. I always trudge ahead knowing that having those sharpened points will give me one less thing to worry about while i'm drawing.

I use the same method for drawing with charcoal. I like to use Nitram Fusains, medium to soft, but mostly medium. When I sharpen this, there is no need for a razor blade or utility knife, just sand paper. I always sharpen at least two pieces to a fine point and keep a raw square piece for textures and block in of large areas.

I've also recently started using sharpened pastel pencils, Faber-Castell Pitt brand. Same methods apply. However, this pencil is quite soft, being a pastel, and therefore when sharpened does not keep it's point as well. That's ok however, because usually when I'm working with pastel pencils I like to smudge a bit.

And when I'm sketching gestures or quick 5-10 minute poses, I like to use a red or brown china marker which I sharpen, unwrapping the paper around the wax lead. It was in art school, again, where we learned to draw with a china marker as the great illustrators did. China Marker (not sure why it's called by this name) is really fun and produces a lovely line. I like to use red and brown tones because those colors are usually the undertone color of organic material.

So many artists are passionate about materials and quite specific about the type and methods used. It makes sense, after all. Pencils, charcoal, pastels, inks, feel like extensions of our hands. We channel all of our energies into whatever tool is being used; I sometimes feel like the pencil is a part of my hand.

Toronto Comic Arts Festival: Pencil it In from Toronto Comic Arts Festival on Vimeo.

Happy drawing! :))

I am honored to be featured in this video with so many talented painters I admire! Thank you to artist Michael Guilmet for putting this together!

My painting, Peonies, is the first image on the video. It was a painting I did after finding incredible inspiration at an ikebana flower show here in San Francisco. Later, I painted some similar peonies I saw at the show from life. I never sold the painting (or many others on my website) because I chose to stop showing my work in galleries for many reasons. I still keep the passion alive for alla prima painting while I explore other facets of interest. Will come back to it someday soon.

Here is a list of the artists featured (notably the late Jeffery Catherine Jones):
http://www.feastpaintings.com/