The Studio Journal

A Few More Inks

2010-01-09T07:18:00.001-08:00

Two more pen and ink drawings. The first one is from a photo I found online then edited significantly, cropped, and used as a reference. It's just houses on a hillside, but represented a significant challenge, owing to the detail, etc. The second is a local landmark, the Salisbury House. It's on the National Register of Historic Places and was constructed by a manufacturing executive about 80 years ago using pieces of manor houses from England and elsewhere. As you can see, this one involved heavy used of ink and brush as well as a dip pen. (Both of these are available. They're about 8x10 on illustration board, by the way. Click the image for a larger version.)

Pen and Ink

2010-01-07T16:18:00.001-08:00

Also these past weeks, I've been indulging in an orgy of pen and ink drawings. This is one of my first loves--I orginally worked in ink in the 1960s--but I hadn't done as much these last years. Anyway, I began doing some landmarks and scenes pertaining to Iowa, and these are some of the best of the lot. The first is the local courthouse, listed as a National Historic Building. The second is simply a group of signs that interested me. As you can see, the second involved work with both dip pen and brush. Time permitting in the next few days I'll probably post a few more of these. Working

without color can be very liberating, not to say fun. It's too bad that this medium is used so infrequently these days, compared to the golden years of illustration a century ago.

A New Year

2010-01-06T13:39:00.001-08:00

A new year, and as this year rolls in, like each new year this century, I'm mildly surprised to have lasted this long. Since September I've delivered several portrait commissions and completed three of an ongoing series of portraits of department chairs at my university. This one is 16x12 on panel, done from life over a period of several months.

In the same period I've been working on several other projects, including a group of works dealing with world hunger. Here are a couple of them, each only 8x6 on gessoed panel. I did these as two-value studies, an idea I filched from James Gurney (see his blog, Gurney Journey online at http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/ ). These were done using ivory black and titanium white over a ground toned with raw umber to around value 5. These kinds of studies are teaching me a great deal about how to render form without being "picky"--that is, without using tentative, small strokes instead of thinking about form and about value. Painters who can master that kind of idea--economy coupled with bravura brushwork--are the most appealing to my eye. These days painting is (or should be) more about the paint and often less about faithful rendering. Sub ject is important, but if one seeks photographic accuracy, take a photograph. A painting is much much more. The tone of the panels was actually overlaid onto old sketchwork--hence the varied look of the backgrounds. (As always, you can click on the small image to view a larger version.)

Figures

2009-09-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't posted new work in the past few months, there is a pretty big backlog to put up here. Most are monochromatic, like part of the work posted earlier in June. These, like the others, are done with a palette that is mostly raw umber and lead white with a touch here and there of black. Oil on panel, 20x16.

2009-09-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

Another new one. This is a stormy winter day in Iowa. Oil on panel, 24x20.

A Study

2009-06-17T05:51:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite illustrators is Joseph Leyendecker. His works of the early 20th century have amazing energy and impeccable draftsmanship. I took one of his advertising images, done for a breakfast cereal company, copied and transformed it. Leyendecker's original shows a thinner kid. And his colors are brighter than these. But the essentials of a kid with a napkin tied around his neck, loving whatever he's slurping from that huge spoon, were well worth keeping. This one is 12x12 on panel and will be in the show this month, too.

Pushcart

2009-06-17T05:30:00.001-07:00

Preparing for a show this month, I've been doing more monochromatic paintings. This one, like the others, is based very loosely on an image I found somewhere. Juxtaposing a bright yellow against the (nearly) monochromatic background wasn't really a conscious decision. In many photos every object has a distinct color--often a Kodachrome-like saturation--but even the yellow here is dulled. This one is 11x14 on panel.

New Work

2009-06-11T18:37:00.000-07:00

These last weeks, while I haven't been posting here I've definitely been working. The end of this month (June) I'll be exhibiting new paintings at "The Other Art Show" in Des Moines. The show is actually part of an arts weekend in central Iowa. There is the Des Moines Arts Festival, held in the downtown area, outdoors, which supports the Art Center, among other things, and the "Salon des Refusees" aka The Other Art Show, held at the state fairgrounds, indoors. Personally, in July in Iowa I'll take indoors every time.

Here are a few of the works that will probably be shown. They represent a different direction, I think, being rather dark and almost monochromatic, but they're in line with the one I posted earlier this year, "Goodbye." Both oi these works are 12x12, oil on panel.

Rainy Day

2009-02-23T09:34:00.000-08:00

I did this one alla prima from imagination, based on several ideas I've been kicking around. It's 20x16 on a hardboard panel. What I mainly tried to do was boil the image down into nothing but the essentials. The panel was primed with a mid-value gray and the painting was made with only raw umber and flake white except for a touch here and there of a dulled mix of pale yellow ochre/cad red. The title is "Goodbye..."

More Drawings

2009-02-04T06:00:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of other drawings I just ran across in reorganizing my files. This one is a graphite sketch of a pickup truck I owned years ago. I did this one in preparation for a painting that never materialized. It's a 1950-model Ford F-1. I loved the rounded contours and relatively narrow cab and exaggerated them for the image.

The other drawing is a quick sketch of Stewart, a man I knew years ago. He was in his late 90s at the time, having lived a very full life. He would have a good breakfast and then spend a half hour sitting in the sun, smoking his only cigar of the day. Although he looks pretty sour in the drawing, he was a lovely and courtly man and great fun to talk to. I spent several mornings with him on his front porch, sketching. He had a philosophic view of life (as who wouldn't if he lived that long) and its trials but seemed mostly amused by the whole thing.

Drawing in the Airport

2009-02-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

I've been reorganizing my files these past few days and discovered a few old drawings. In the same way as many artists, I find that airport waiting areas are a fertile place for an artist equipped with a sketchbook. I've spent many happy hours in various airports, sketching instead of fuming. This one was done a few years back when I was delayed in St. Louis.

Sketching in airports, like painting outdoors, brings the curious onlooker and the occasional admirer. I usually give the drawing to the subject, if they're not rushing onto an airplane.

Vanitas

2009-01-26T04:54:00.001-08:00

I finally finished the "vanitas" mentioned in earlier posts. The painting is 20x16 on a panel and although the cap and skull are amusing, the idea is that the items scattered about are potentially deadly--salt, sugar, fat, cigarettes--risks for heart disease.

Perhaps this is more a "memento mori" than a vanitas, reminding viewers that we're all mortal.

The sketch I posted earlier was quite a lot different, but that's the nature of doing this kind of thing. You should work out the final image long before you start the final painting.

Dead of Winter

2009-01-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

Although the days are getting longer, the thermometer keeps falling. I've been working steadily (but not posting nearly often enough) these last months, finishing various portrait commissions and other work. In particular, I've been working on a series of pen and ink drawings, several of which are shown. These are approximately 11"x 7" on Bristol board.

The first three are from a group of inks dealing with vintage railroad subjects. The final drawing in this group is a view of the Iowa State Capitol.

Prints will be available in the spring.

Experimenting with the Abstract

2008-06-18T05:12:00.000-07:00

Lately I've taken a tentative side trip from my usual realism to abstraction. The idea of doing a series of cityscapes has been percolating through the corridors of my mind, but until a few days ago the idea was little more than a collection of random thoughts, and I put them aside in favor of portraits and figures. But sometimes it takes not thinking about it to advance an idea, and so it has been with this one.

The first painting on the right was inspired by an image I saw someplace or other, either online or in an art collectors' publication. Regardless, the picture I saw (considerably different from this one) led me to cityscapes and abstraction. The first is 12x12 on a hardboard panel.

Here are three more experiments in abstract representation, each a cityscape. By the way, the images here are not based on any particular city or any particular location. Instead, they're based on previous cities where I've either lived for a time, or visited. These three paintings vary in size. The first is 20x16 on panel, the next is 8x6 and the last is another 20x16. All are painted on hardboard panels. I've no idea if this series is an aberration or a new direction. Time will tell, as with most of these things. These paintings were certainly enjoyable to make and perhaps readers of this blog (if any) would care to comment?

A New Study, An Old Problem

2008-05-18T10:02:00.001-07:00

Here is a figure study after an old illustration by Joseph Leyendecker. The original has a rather shabby-looking painter frying a sausage while holding his empty palette. I changed him to imply that the viewer is the subject of a painting (the old master is looking at his subject--us). This is 16x12 on panel. Great fun to do because of the wonderful example provided by Leyendecker.

The old problem referred to in the title of this post is simplification and vigorous brushwork. My own prejudice is to use one brushmark for two or three. That is, I want to avoid overworking my paintings and to provide the viewer with something to do--some active involvement--when looking at my work. Leyendecker is a great example. His work is well-designed, economical in execution, and often stunningly real. I've been trying hard to correct this old, overworking problem of mine.

New Work

2008-05-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have been working very hard these past few weeks to complete a commissioned portrait of former four-time Iowa governor Terry Branstad. Finished at last, this painting is big--36"x30"--and represents one of my rare forays into formal, "official" portraiture. Here you see the painting, with the Iowa capitol on the right and the clinic building of Des Moines University on the left. This work will be unveiled formally in the University Library next week.

During the same period, I've pursued other works, of course. To the right is a small portrait of Kathe Kollwitz, the famous German artist of the early 20th century. Ms. Kollwitz wasn't a painter, per se. But she had an unerring eye and hand that delineated the depths of sorrow she felt at the blows that life dealt her. She lost a son in World War I and a grandson in World War II. The Nazi government of Germany prevented her from teaching art. She was marginalized as an artist by the politics of her country. In general, she spent her life in suffering, and it shows in her art. She was a very great artist and an important influence on me personally. This portrait looks darker than it is. It was painted using only raw umber and white; I'm debating whether or not to add color at all, knowing that Kollwitz probably would not.

Finally, during the past month and a half I've

been looking into the old still life genre known as "vanitas." Searching for a theme, it occurred to me that these paintings are reminders of mortality, of the frailty of humankind. And since I once had a career as a heart specialist, assembling a group of objects that symbolize the risks for heart disease seemed especially interesting. So here is a sketch for a much larger painting. This one is 12x9.

Spring

2008-03-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

The earth rotates and the seasons change until finally the frigid winter abates...or not. It is actually snowing lightly this morning in central Iowa, although the flakes evanesce as they touch the warmed ground. There is no cure for winter-weariness except Spring.

Nevertheless, studio work continues. Lately I've been interested in seeing subjects clearly--trying very hard to see nuance and the various differences among values, edges, chroma and temperatures in the object or scene--then translating what I see into paint. These two came out of that. The top image is of a really big red onion that I've had around the studio for a couple of weeks. As you can see, it sprouted vigorous spears of green foliage that contrast nicely with its purple skin. This one is 6x8, done alla prima.

This painting is an experiment in landscape. I tried to paint the Chicago light with as much economy as possible. The medium-value grays visible here are actually acrylic primer on gessoed hardboard. Many painters work on toned supports and I'm no exception; what I did here was to work in a fairly narrow value range using the fewest strokes I could manage. This one is bigger at 16x20. I need to add a few tiny details on the lighthouse itself and the sky needs a second coat of paint. Beyond that, it's pretty much finished.

More Influences

2008-03-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

Here is the final version of my portrait of Frederik Remington, the well-known illustrator of the Old West who lived about a century ago. His pictures of western subjects, particularly cowboys and the life of the plains tribes, have always been an inspiration to me. Growing up in Oklahoma I had many opportunities to visit the Thomas Gilcrease Museum there. They hold a large group of Remington's paintings and sculptures that I came to know as a boy. In particular, they have a number of his late works devoted to painting night scenes or "nocturnes" as he called them. A collection of his nocturnes made up a travelling exhibition called The Color of Night a few years ago. If you'd like a sample of the Gilcrease collections, you can check them out at http://www.gilcrease.org/virtual.aspx
Although some would disparage illustrators like Remington, many contemporary realists recognize that without the work of people like him as well as other 20th century illustrators such as J.C. Leyendecker, Howard Pyle, and N.C. Wyeth to name only three, it seems clear that much of the expertise in representational painting that was hard-won in the preceding two or three centuries would have been lost. Illustrators soldiered on during the age of abstraction despite the art world's fascination with any number of "isms."

As mentioned below, this painting was done as a grisaille made using warm grays--umber and white--and then glazed minimally on the face and necktie.

Influences

2008-02-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

If we think about it, each of our lives is molded by the actions of others--sometimes, perhaps most of the time, people we've never met. Painters today owe considerable debt to the titans of the past. The reputations and actions of people like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and of the myriad other masters of bygone days has made a difference to those who came after them, however indirectly. And each painter today has been influenced as an artist and as a human being by many many people.

What got me thinking about the whole thing is a set of 100 portraits on the website of a gifted painter named Nicolas Uribe. You can see his work at http://www.uribearts.com/ . One of the great things on his site is a set of portraits of various people who have exerted an influence on Uribe's life and work. On the Gallery page, you have to scroll to the right with the menu ribbon until you see a listing of "100 Portraits." Those are the ones showing his influences. Anyway, the more I looked at Uribe's work, the more it seemed to me that doing such a series would be a great way to practice portraiture and it can also provide opportunities to try out new methods, new mediums, etc. Good practice, good learning opportunities.

So I've begun my own group of Influences portraits. This is one of the first, Mohandas Gandhi (known in Hindi as "Bapu" or Father), done using an old photo. I simply drew the image with very thin raw umber, using a number 6 synthetic filbert. After that I picked what I hoped was a relatively innocuous and (I hoped) enhancing green background. Then I painted the dark masses of Gandhi's face with raw umber, used a high-value white/yellow ochre for the robe, and called it finished. This is 14x11 on panel, done alla prima.

I've nearly finished another of Frederik Remington, the famous illustrator from about a century ago. I used a grainy, badly cropped photo, blew it up, printed it, added a derby hat (only the brim showed in the photo). Then I gridded up the resultant photo/drawing composite and transferred it to panel. Then I used an underpainting technique called "grisaille," mixing warm grays using raw umber and lead white. After it dries thoroughly, I'll be glazing the skin tones and adding a few grace notes. So that one will have been done in a completely different way.

As time goes along, I'll post Remington and perhaps, as I think of it, more of these as they're done. By the way, this one is not for sale.

Also, gouache is still on my mind. I'm thinking seriously about a whole series of athletes and athletic action scenes in gouache...maybe. More on that later.

Even More on Gouache

2008-01-27T20:49:00.000-08:00

Well, here's the finished gouache, although I'm still not particularly happy with the player's left hand.

Gouache, it turns out, is versatile, provides high chroma and true reproduction, and isn't very complicated for a beginner if you have some knowledge of water media. But it's also clear that there's a world of possibilities that I haven't come near to tapping. There's a website at Virtual Gouache Land that shows you much more of what can be done with this paint. A friend of mine, a professional illustrator, says that anything you can do with oil paint you can do with gouache, and many times do it better. Lovely soft edges, subltly graded tones, etc., can all be done with gouache. And the best part is it can be reworked. But be warned--reworking makes muddy color, just as it does in oil techniques. Luckily, if you're painting on a smooth surface like bristol or hot-press watercolor paper, you can mist the paint, soften it, and wipe much of it off. That's pretty much what I did with the player's left hand, muddied it up badly, dampened the paint, wiped it off, and tried again. But you lose the freshness and brightness of the color if you've got a muddy surface underneath, as you can see.

Nevertheless, I'm going to do more gouache. No reason not to. People may look down their nose at gouache, saying it's not permanent, etc. Well heck, it's not much different than watercolor, and you can always choose permanent pigments for your painting. Bottom line: gouache is fascinating, fairly simple to begin doing, and has real possibilities.

More on Gouache

2008-01-23T06:32:00.001-08:00

I'm finding gouache a considerably more interesting medium than I originally thought. Although a clerk in an art supply store once said to me that nobody uses gouache any more, I can't understand why not. Maybe it's the advent of acrylics, or maybe it's that gouache isn't "fine art." Whatever the reason, I think it's a fine medium for painting. For one thing, the "rewettability," if that is indeed a word, while perhaps making the paint layer impermanent, also allows better edge control. And the matte quality of the paint means better reproduction, even when using digital cameras.

The images shown here represent a couple of steps in my first gouache--well, actually the second; my first went into the burn pile. As you'll see when looking through these images, the colors are bright and clear.

This is about 20x15 on illustration board, a copy of a Harley Brown pastel that I found striking. It is not for sale.

A New Still Life

2008-01-18T17:50:00.000-08:00

Here is another small still life, intended for the February show. This is also 6x8 on gessoed panel.

* * *

I'm still exploring gouache, but not ready to post anything yet. Still, I find it intriguing because of how easily it's manipulated. The color shift is a problem, but not an insurmountable one. All in all I'm enjoying it. And it's easy to clean up--a bonus.

Gouache

2008-01-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

I've begun some investigation into gouache. In fact, I'm trying some Winsor and Newton Designer Gouache and several tubes of M. Graham gouache as well.

I know, if you're an artist reading this you're probably thinking "nobody uses gouache anymore." And you're probably right. Mostly acrylics have replaced gouache and besides, gouache was once the medium of illustrators because it reproduces well owing to being matte once it dries. And since it was an illustrators' medium, a lot of fine artists turned their noses up to such a plebeian medium. There are others who decry the paint because it may be impermanent. And it is pretty impermanent. One reason is mostly because it was never intended to be permanent, so certain colors aren't rated as lightfast as most oil colors which are generally quite lightfast and likely not to color shift very much.

Anyway, gouache is interesting. It dries very very quickly--sometimes it seems faster than acrylic paint. But the good news is you can rewet it and manipulate the paint layer very easily--you can mist the layer and smooth out brushmarks, blend, or even wipe off excess paint and redo a spot. It's opaque, which takes some getting used to, given the water-based nature of the paint. What I mean is, the opacity is highly dependent on having the right thickness of paint. If you paint too thinly (here I mean spreading out the paint too much, not thinning it excessively) they're pretty transparent. Still, applied properly, the opacity of gouache is quite satisfactory, even when painting light over dark. Mixing gouache--say getting a precise green from mixing--seems harder than it is with oil paint. Part of the reason is that gouache shifts color quite a lot when it dries, so experience with each color combination is essential.

One thing I've liked about gouache is that it gives a bigger sense of freedom than I've felt using oil paint. I think the reason might be a sense that "what the heck, it's just a gouache." After all, it's done on illustration board, usually, or some other smooth surface like hot press watercolor paper, with water-based and potentially fugitive colors. You can always whomp up another one, with less trouble, expense, or emotional involvement. It's only a gouache.

Happy New Year

2008-01-07T21:05:00.001-08:00

Where does the time go? It was November just the other day. I'm posting three new, small pieces I finished in the last few days. They're each 5x7 on panel. I'll be showing in an indoor festival here in Iowa in about a month and unless these sell before then they'll be available. In the meantime, I have several portrait commissions in progress. More on those in other posts. Meantime, I hope you enjoy seeing these.

Just a Study

2007-11-14T08:16:00.000-08:00

I'm working hard on a commission that will include several background images, including the dome of the Iowa capitol building. Here's one of my latest studies. The lower portion of the tower isn't painted because that part will not be in the eventual painting. This is oil on panel, 8x8.

A color/composition sketch was posted a few weeks ago.

A Couple of New Ones

2007-10-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

I've been remiss in posting lately--lots of newer stuff going on, including studies for the commission mentioned below, some silverpoint work, and a couple of ideas for a new series of still life. But I'm also working on a new direction as shown in the "nocturne" at the right. This is oil on linen, 20x16. It's a copy of an original by Frederick Remington, the famous Western artist. Remington did quite a number of night scenes around a century ago, give or take a couple of years. Those were the subject of a travelling retrospective a couple of years ago, "The Color of Night." Being a fan of Remington's work, I decided to give this one, "The Love Call," a whirl. Remington's palette was very muted, and his brushwork exceptionally expressive. I think I did his work justice, if only just.

I've also been finishing up some life portraits, including this one of my friend Duane. It's 16x12, oil on panel, one of a series I've been doing of friends and coworkers at Des Moines University. I'm thinking of putting all of these together into a show. Perhaps.

Portrait Sketch

2007-09-30T07:37:00.001-07:00

This is a sketch for one of my current commissions, a portrait of the president of Des Moines University. If the university accepts this compositional design, the final painting will start in a few weeks. This sketch is 11x14 on panel. The final work will hang in the university library. The intent is to emphasize not only the sitter's current occupation but also his past as a four-time governor of Iowa. So the golden dome on the right is the Iowa capitol and the dark shape on the left will eventually be the university's tallest building, the Clinic. This will be completed and delivered by spring of next year, in time for an unveiling during Commencement Week.

Another portrait

2007-09-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here is a portrait in progress. This is oil on 2x16 panel. The portrait itself is posthumous but since I knew the sitter I think the colors and likeness are pretty close. I posted the sketch on this blog back in March and since then I've worked sporadically on this one.

My palette generally doesn't change much. For this one I'm using cad yellow, cad red, irg ruby, burnt sienna, raw umber, cobalt blue and ivory black. My mixing white is zinc w. and I also use lead white, mixing in about 1/3 titanium white for added opacity.

This one will be finished in a week or two, I think.

Starting Fresh

2007-09-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had the opportunity to start a new portrait. I love the beginning of a painting. Lately I've been toning my panels (I like linen panels from New Traditions) with Mars black. I take the paint, which is relatively lean, and add some underpainting medium from Studio Products, then thin with turp to a consistency of thin cream. I brush that on and then wipe back to about value 5. Then I'm ready to paint.

My sitter arrived right on time and we took some time to look around the studio before choosing a spot for her chair. After a few false starts, we settled on a well-lighted spot in front of the studio door. I shot perhaps a dozen reference photos and then started an oil sketch. I used zinc white and lead white, cad yellow light, cad red light, irgazine ruby, burnt sienna, raw umber, and ivory black.

I don't paint the the same way every time, but these last months I've been using raw umber thinned with turp to lay in an initial, rough drawing. The drawing is mostly simple outlines and landmarks at first, but then I begin to lay in the darkest masses. The toned canvas is the mid-range of values, and then I can add lighter values.

Here's a glimpse of about 90 minutes' work yesterday. I clipped the reference photo onto the panel this morning as I began working on the likeness. While the sitter was here I was much more concerned with color notes. Today we work on the resemblance.

Also, I put the finishing touches on that streetscape I sketched and posted below. Here's "Victor's," oil on panel, 12x16. It will be shipped as soon as framing is completed. I sent a jpeg to the patron and he was delighted. It's great to make somebody happy.

Victor's

2007-08-05T05:50:00.001-07:00

Below you'll find a sketch (9x12) on panel of a street scene in Clifton Forge, Virginia. The owner of the building commissioned me to paint a view of his father's restaurant, a fixture on the main commercial street there. If you look below at the post titled "Virginia Art Festival," you'll see a photo of my booth with the "Victor's" sign peeping out just above the tent.

When I started this one I wanted to show the entire street, but after giving it some thought and doing perhaps a dozen thumbnail sketches, I settled on a tighter composition like the one shown here.

This is an oil sketch, intended to work out values and relationships of color, but I like it enough to show, so here 'tis. The colors are mostly earths, including pale yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and raw umber, but I did paint the tree with cobalt blue and cad yellow, and I punched up the reds with a touch of cad red. Lately I've been using zinc white for mixing color--much cleaner-looking--but for more opacity I often add lead white. I also used ivory black here and there.

Contemporary Realism

2007-08-02T16:49:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, a friend sent me a score or so of digital photos of the work of Ron Mueck, the British sculptor whose work is in any number of important collections and whose huge and surprising "Crouching Boy" (in the photo at right) was a keynote of the London Millenium Dome.

In the same way, the monumental, masklike face shown here is also startling. It's startling because of the expression and because of the extreme hyperreality it exudes. I had a chance to see it in the Saatchi Gallery before it moved from the old London City Hall not far from Big Ben. The work is disturbing--like being in very bad difficulty with one's father--an effect no doubt intended. Although my friend sent me a lot of interesting pictures, I'm only posting these few, including that last one, a truly amazing piece. It's a newborn with the umbilical cord still there, and a truly huge piece, besides.

As an example of good

Contemporary Realism, it would be hard to best Mueck at his best. I enjoy work that has humanity and emotional content and Mueck's work has it in spades. There are many others working in a realist mode these days, but I see so much that looks alienated, aloof, distant, or sometimes just dull that my eyes tend to glaze over. Ho hum. Another distracted, unhappy image. Of course, the artistic

image is too often laden with angst and ennui.

And last, what's the big deal about size? So many of the Modernists before them and the people of our own era work in such gigantic sizes--Twombly, Close, and jeez, even that vacuum cleaner fellow. In my mind enormity in art is simply a gimmick unless there's some point being made. I think Mueck fools around with size for any number of reasons. His "Dead Dad" is considerably smaller than life-size while many of his others verge on the monumental. Regardless of his motive, Mueck never fails to interest me.

So here are a very few images of his work, just because I like it.

A New One

2007-07-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a few pen and ink studies of railroading subjects. Pen and ink is a fascinating medium, and can be quite unforgiving but provides real opportunities for use of line drawing.

This is an E8 diesel locomotive of the 1950-1970 era, drawn from a reference photo. It is 6x7 on 2-ply Bristol board.

Portrait in Progress

2007-07-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

This is the next thing on my easel. It's only a color sketch--the result of a two-hour sitting yesterday--done in preparation for a much larger portrait. The eventual portrait will be one of those "official" kind that includes background items commemorating the career of the subject, who is a former state governor.

The surface was toned with Mars black, wiped back to approximate value 5. Colors on the palette included zinc white, yellow ochre extra pale, cadmium red, a cool pyrollo red, burnt sienna, raw ochre, and ivory black. I sometimes use flake white or even a touch of titanium white when I want a bit more opacity.

This is oil on panel, 11x14.

A Couple of New Ones

2007-07-02T05:19:00.000-07:00

Here are two of my newer works. I finished these early last month but in the flurry of activity that preceded the Virginia show, I had no time to post these. One of them (the more yellow one) sold before I left. A friend was visiting the studio and snapped it up. Both are 6x8.

According to some experts, landscapes and florals seem to sell better than nearly any other genre. Last year I did a 30x36 of the central rosette of an aloe plant but having neither time nor space to transport a painting of that size I made a number of smaller pieces. Altogether there were perhaps a dozen of these but most are no longer available.

Virginia Art Festival

2007-06-25T20:51:00.000-07:00

I spent a good part of last week in Clifton Forge, Virginia, showing at an outdoor art and crafts festival. Called "Magic in the Mountains," the festival featured mostly local artisans and musicians. Clifton Forge is situated in the mountains of southwestern Virginia and is literally surrounded by beauty. This is a snapshot I took from one of the higher parts of town. The mountains seem to go on and on in the distance. And you can see the big Chesapeake and Ohio railyard in the center, rear.

The show was held on one of the main streets in the town, one side of which was cordoned off for the booths. Mine is in the photo. Anyway, the other side was busy all day with auto traffic. Other exhibitors I talked to thought that it would be a problem, but in the end I think the auto traffic added to festival attendance. Somebody who hadn't heard about it may have come through, seen the booths and decided to stop.

I sold a few paintings and managed to secure a couple of commissions, too. More on the commissions after the details are nailed down.

Overall, it was a great trip, a successful show, and some real fun seeing old friends again. We're going back.

Finally Finished

2007-06-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here are the final versions of the two portraits I posted a couple of months ago. Both are 20x16 on panel. The portrait of Linda was done in three life sessions plus a couple of sessions based on studio photos. She was a real pleasure as a sitter, showing great good humor. She gave this to her husband, who I'm told was delighted--a great compliment for a painter.

The other (below) is of my friend David that I posted here earlier this spring in an intermediate state. He's a professor of biochemistry and nutrition. We spent three really delightful sessions discussing everything from global warming to English and American politics. Originally from London, he's a great conversationalist and friend.

Portrait of Roy, Redux

2007-05-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here is the final version of my portrait of Roy, shown in it's initial stages below. This one took a while longer because I was struggling with the skin tones. Roy lives on the east coast and all I've had to complete this one was reference photos. I plan on giving this one to him in a month or so when my wife and I are in Virginia for an art festival and show.

Meantime, here he is.

Spring Fever?

2007-05-22T09:14:00.001-07:00

As ever, spring brings the need to be outside. The few weeks of May we've had so far have kept me outdoors more than in, working the gardens, a situation that means less progress on several of the works that have been in progress for these past couple of months. That's not to say that I've not been working--I have. But I haven't started anything new, alas. And I haven't had time to do any photographs. I do have two new portraits in the works, one of which is posthumous, the other based on photographic references, but neither of which has progressed quite so well as I had hoped. And although I've no photos to post, I've also been working on and off on several small landscape sketches that I may turn into full-size paintings. Almost all of the sketched landscapes are 6"x8" on gessoed panels. Perhaps I'll have time to post photos of these as the next few days progress.

On the portraiture front, I did deliver the final version of the female portrait I posted in April--"Portrait of Linda"--and will be tweaking and delivering the other (of David, the biochemist) I uploaded at the same time. When that one is photographed and ready to go, I'll post the final version of that one, too.

The painting of those d***ed cats is approaching completion but needs considerably more work. I've wondered if I'm avoiding it deliberately, but decided that I'm wrong about that; I've simply needed more reference material. Yeah...that's the ticket!

Spring and New Paintings

2007-04-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

Well, the warm weather seems to have arrived with a vengeance. I checked outside and it's 95 degrees. In Iowa. In April. Global warming? Or Satan? You be the judge.

I've been somewhat derelict in posting new work. My only excuse is that I've been quite busy these last weeks and haven't taken the time. During late March and early April there were several sitters in the studio. To the right is my friend David, a professor of biochemistry and nutrition. I've been working to complete his portrait before the end of the month, but alas, that clearly isn't going to happen. He's a very good sitter and great fun to have in the studio.

Besides David's portrait (which is 16x12 on panel, by the way) here is the other portrait I've been working on during April. This one is to be a gift to the sitter's husband when it's complete. Like the portrait of David, it is 16x12 on panel. And as you can see, this one is closer to completion, but still several tweaks and adjustments remain. I did give her an opportunity to look at this nearly-complete work and she was delighted. So as soon as I do some more work on it and make a final photograph, this one will be delivered.

Also this month I'm going to be initiating a series of still life paintings using various objects. I would imagine that I'll

make the paintings relatively small, probably about the same

size as these two portraits.

There will also be at least three other portraits in progress during the coming summer, and I expect I'll post one or two photos of those some time in May or June.

Oh, and about those cats. The painting is progressing slowly but reasonably well. I'm relatively satisfied with the composition and the cat's owner likes the colors and the progress so far. In the next few days I'll post a pic of the work as it now stands. Much to do on that one.

Small Sketch

2007-03-22T15:02:00.000-07:00

It's taken some time to get back to the blog, but I did take a photo of that small alla prima piece I did about ten days ago. This is oil on masonite, 8" x 6". From life and references. The photo is a bit redder than the sketch. It's far from perfect, but I liked the sitter's expression, which I interpret as an emotional emptiness, a psychologic distance from us, the observers. To see a larger image, click on the picture.

Mostly these last days have been devoted to multiple sittings for two portraits that are currently in progress, but I'm about to start a series of new landscapes, I think. More on that later.

And I'm still working on the cats.

Gathering Momentum

2007-03-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks, as I've moved into the new studio and resumed a more complete painting schedule, it's been something of a struggle to get going. Every time I'd pick up a brush there were literally dozens of other tasks--unpacking materials, sorting old paintings, etc.--that whispered urgently for attention. Nevertheless, like an old freight engine, I've been gathering a bit of momentum.

In other words, studio work is picking up. Over the past several days I've had two new sitters in for portraits, and I've two more portraits in the works. I've also managed a few more cat sketches, in preparation for that one, which is next on the list because the lady who asked me for it is starting to get impatient. And of course there are always drawings to do and ideas to sketch out. Come to think of it, I did a small, alla prima sketch today (8x6 inches) on a gessoed panel that I'll photograph and post in the next day or two.

Life is good.

Portrait of Roy

2007-03-08T06:58:00.000-08:00

This portrait of my friend Roy is nearing completion. It needs some work on the dark passages, particularly in the hair and areas of shadow on the left side of the head and neck.

Portraiture was traditionally thought to be the most difficult of the various genres of art, and for good reason, in my view. Portraits require the painter to not only achieve a reasonable likeness (although everyone misses nuances here and there), but also appropriate color, a good pose, and some kind of emotional content. John Sargent used to say that portraits are paintings of people with something wrong about the mouth. I think that's a fair assessment.

Portrait Sketches

2007-03-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

Despite my cat commission, life goes on in the portrait world, too. Here are a couple of portrait studies, color sketches on canvas panels. The male is on a 14x11 panel, the female on a 12x9. Each photo is a bit different from the colors in the studio.

Neither is completed yet, although the painting of the woman is pretty close. Each of these has been challenging in its own way. The male portrait is from two life sessions plus a reference photo, but needs a bit more work. The female portrait is a posthumous one, and done from a black and white reference besides, which is always difficult. Looking at them here online it could almost be that the reverse is true. I'm uncertain why that should be, except that the value contrasts are a bit stronger in the posthumous photo reference than in the male portrait, done in the studio, where the direction of light made the sitter's face look a bit flat. Clearly there is more to do on the central areas of his face, particularly to enhance values and color. Since there's more to do on each, so stay tuned to see what the final outcome will be.

In Like a Lion

2007-03-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

This month began with a blizzard. Payback for the mild November and December. Over the last couple of days, a warm air mass overrode the existing cold air mass in the upper Midwest, resulting in snow, "thundersnow" (a woman in Des Moines was struck by lightning), and ice. The interstate highways are closed. All 99 Iowa counties are declared disaster areas. Eighty people had to be rescued from their cars at the Audubon exit of Interstate 80 yesterday afternoon. Dreadful weather. Don't go outside weather.

But here in the studio, I've been snug, warm, and happily working on those cats. I'm also working on a portrait of my friend Roy, who graciously sat for me last weekend, during our last big snowstorm. And there are always books and technical information to study. So the March lion hasn't managed to bite me, however much it's mauled the rest.

So here is a study of a cat. Actually, a sleeping calico.

Cats, cats, cats

2007-02-15T15:50:00.000-08:00

These drawings are graphite on paper, ranging in size from 8x10 to around 5x7. They're studies for part of a commission I'm working on. Some of the fun of this is studying the anatomy of cats (and by extension, other quadrupeds). Most animals that go on four legs have similar articulations and bones, so understanding one helps a great deal with others. I partly accepted this commission because of the challenge of animal anatomy. I've painted a lot of subjects, except animals. So this is an opportunity to learn, and I'm treating it as such. These studies will probably not be part of the final painting, but they've taught me some very valuable things.

Studio

2007-02-10T07:20:00.000-08:00

A roomy and comfortable place to work is the dream of most artists, I think. These photos, taken a few days ago, show my newly-remodelled studio as I've been moving in. Note that there are still boxes to unpack and shelves to rearrange (I'm doing it a little at a time). The walls are a beautiful dark green that will complement skin tones.

There is plenty of room for storage and room enough to step back and then forward as I paint. You can see the model's chair next to the easel, a couple of work tables by the windows, and the cleaning station in another corner.

It's mighty good to be home.

President

2007-02-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

Since it's February, and also because I did a painting of our other February president not long ago, I dug up a famou old photo to copy.

I was trying out some Blockxx paint today and decided to do a sketch of one of our past presidents. This is 8x6 on gessoed panel. I used white, yellow ochre, cad yellow light, cad red, a DaVinci red rose sample, Blockxx Blue (phthalo based), mars black, and raw umber. I toned the panel to about value 5 first, then just painted this alla prima.

Now that my studio is finally less cluttered, I've been working more. The next few days will be color sketches for a commission I've been promising since last fall. Then maybe a final touchup of a commission I delivered a couple of months ago.

At least it's warm in the studio.

2007-02-02T13:14:00.000-08:00

Commissions are the life blood of many an artist's career. They're most commonly portraits, but once in a while someone is commissioned to do a picture of a home or a pet or even, rarely, a favorite car or motorcycle. I've just been commissioned to do a portrait of not one but three cats. Given that I've not done much in the line of animal pictures, this one promises to be challenging. It isn't that drawing and painting an animal is much different than doing a person or a still life; like any other subject, if you look critically, plan, and paint what is before you, you're likely to produce a reasonably accurate representation. In preparing for painting cats I'm doing a few graphite drawings of various felines. And just for practice on non-humans, I've been daubing away at the dog portrait on the right. It isn't complete, but nearly so. This is 8"x 8" on gessoed panel, the "sitter" is a friend's pug. I will probably give this one to the dog's owners.

Another silverpoint

2007-01-27T05:21:00.000-08:00

These last few days I've been working in silverpoint, drawing skulls. Drawing skills are crucial for portraiture, particularly to understand the underlying bone structure and musculature. So I've been doing some skulls as a way to better understand the face. As to why I use silverpoint (a more demanding medium) instead of charcoal or graphite, the answer is mostly because it interests me and because it forces accuracy. With silverpoint I can't achieve truly dark darks the way I can with charcoal but on the other hand, close attention can give enough value steps to provide sufficient definition of form. It's rather like an exercise with paint wherein one starts with a relatively lighter color and can still manage to achieve decent contrast between cast shadow and light. And since silverpoint is pretty much indelible, intial accuracy of drawing is crucial if the drawing is to be even close to representation. Here's one of the skulls, done on an 8"x6" gessoed hardboard panel. The grouond is actually white, not gray, but that's the limitation of my photographic skills.

Silverpoint

2007-01-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

I've started doing a few drawings in silverpoint as a way of working on my skills. Silverpoint is in some ways a delightful medium because of the soft gray tones you can achieve but it's also demanding because it isn't erasable. The tool is a rod of annealed silver that lays down a line that eventually tarnishes (just as real silverware does), turning a lovely gray-brown when exposed to air for varying periods of time. Early Renaissance painters who used tempera often made careful underdrawings in silverpoint since it doesn't smear and remains intact. Like those artists, I did the drawing at right on a small panel prepared with traditional gesso (hide glue and whiting) because I like the smoothness of the toothy surface and the sturdiness of the board. This one is "The Dying Woman," and measures 7"x5".

A New Study

2007-01-13T07:18:00.000-08:00

Let's make it a record: two posts in one long weekend. This is a study I've been working on (now approaching completion) of an old Saturday Evening Post cover of George Washington by Joseph Leyendecker, one of the premier illustrators, along with his friend Norman Rockwell, of the golden age of illustration. This one was from the late 1930s and was featured on a February cover.

My version is 12"x 9" on panel and is a bit different than Leyendecker's; I added background wallpaper to emulate the Stars and Stripes and used my own palette of colors rather than trying to match those in the original. If you'd like to see some more of his works, try this website: http://www.curtispublishing.com/List/html/LeyendeckerMayer.html for a huge list.

The New Year

2007-01-12T14:12:00.000-08:00

If you haven't looked in here in a while, welcome. If you've checked in regularly, mea culpa for the hiatus. Life got complicated during the fall, mostly because of the illnesses of two close family members. Henceforth, with family emergencies finally ended and life back to normal, I expect to post here considerably more often. So if I've disappointed you before, take heart and come back again, 'cause there'll be new stuff here on a more regular basis.

Studio remodelling is done and I've moved in (although there is still a lot of "stuff" in boxes) and gotten back to a wider variety of work. During the fall I managed to complete a portrait commission, which I've posted on the Heartland Studio site, and worked rather sporadically on sketches, drawings, and other items. Here's a look at the new space. Notice the commissioned portrait on the easel. This is the painting I delivered only a few days ago. Tough to work in the midst of such confusion...

Thanks again for being patient (if you are) and checking in once in awhile. I'll be in touch.

2006-07-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

The summer's been dreadful for painting. The main studio area is still a shambles from remodelling; the walls aren't finished nor is the ceiling and there is dust everywhere.

I've been working sporadically, mostly on a portrait commission that's due in September, but even that work has been difficult to manage with workmen in and out and nowhere else to go to set up. If I had known how long this was going to take, I might have rented space elsewhere, but now it's probably too late. Live and learn I suppose.

We did a couple of outdoor festivals these past few weeks, one here in Iowa and another in Virginia, and those went quite well--well enough that we're considering a couple more this fall and in the spring. Festivals are a mixed bag, in my experience. It is important to choose carefully, for one thing. If you do a show, be sure of the emphasis. Some outdoor shows seem to emphasize crafts rather than fine art; that often means, in turn, that based on past experience the folks who arrive for the show aren't there for paintings. One of our outdoor shows was mostly crafts; we won't do that one again. The other was about evenly divided between the two and looks like it will develop into a good venue.

I'm posting a pic of our booth at the Virginia show.

2006-06-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

The past month has been very busy owing to a summer show schedule. May 28th was a one-day show and sale; coming up this weekend is an outdoor, one-day festival; and the weekend after is a three-day event. Needless to say, I've been preoccupied with checking inventory, varnishing and framing works for the shows, and trying to occasionally make time to paint. I've painted around a dozen small works ranging in size from 6x8 to 9x12 but haven't had time to shoot photos yet. Maybe after the show this weekend.

There are a also quite lot of works in progress, but those won't be ready to show for a while, except the nearly completed portrait "Lily," which was posted at my online gallery, Heartland Studio.
More work later. Thanks for looking in.

Whitaker Workshop #16

2006-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

And here is my own painting at the end of Day 5.

The photo is not only out of focus but there's glare on the top of the head. Still, this is close to the colors and values of the original.

I know you've read the postings here, so thank you, Bill, for such a great week.

Whitaker Workshop #15

2006-05-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

And here is the demonstration portrait of Alexandra at the end of the workshop. Although the chest, blouse and arms aren't quite complete, the face is nearly so. Notice the use of warms and cools. The white patch on the background has been painted into with a lovely blue, giving interest and liveliness.

Whitaker Workshop #14

2006-05-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

Here is the demonstration portrait on Day 4.
You can see how Bill used a painting knife to add white to the background. In order to make lively backgrounds he often uses a black glaze or a patch of white into which he paints color. Notice that the edges are cleaner and more detail has been worked in. The patches of mosaic color are now more fused and blended.

Whitaker Workshop #13

2006-05-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

Day 4 of the workshop. We begin as always with a continuation of Bill's demonstration painting of Alexandra.

In part because so many demonstrations seem to show how to begin but do not show how to finish, he continues this through the entire week. You can go as far as you like, he says, finding and correcting detail after detail. If you're the kind of painter who enjoys a more highly polished work, this is invaluable assistance.

Today he spent extra time on the background and also on edges. Making some edges harder and others much softer by painting background colors closer and closer helps. At this point, working on the facial details requires using smaller brushes, especially sables. With the background, he advocated using a black glaze to push it farther away then working paint back into the wet glaze to create a more lively effect.

As he did each day, Bill spoke while painting. A few things he suggested that we remember:

Always set up a "home position" for observing and painting.
Work standing. There is no better way. It is vital that you move.
Never stop correcting the form.
Use the lightest touch possible with your brush. You can layer wet into wet that way.
If you make a mark, you have something to correct.

Today, small details are starting to come into focus on the painting.

Whitaker Workshop #12

2006-05-02T07:13:00.000-07:00

Here is an intermediate step in my profile portrait. Although it's not obvious, there are now spots of brighter color (alongside the nose, on the cheekbone, the back of the neck) worked into the painting. Much of the subtlety of color is lost in digital photos, unfortunately. I've also corrected the drawing in a number of places. In addition, the pose is changed by dropping the model's shoulder and therefore giving her a more erect and graceful posture. The ear remains unfinished; there is much to do on the eyes and hair.

Whitaker Workshop #11

2006-05-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Reviewing the posts from yesterday I see that I neglected to add photos of the works in progress. Note that the portrait continues to progress as colors are added, bringing more and more coherence to the initial mosaic. Note that the background is beginning to coalesce as well.

Whitaker Workshop #10

2006-05-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Day 3 began with a continuation of the demonstration painting. I found that watching these demonstrations and then painting afterward did a couple of things. First it gave me cues and clues that helped me to go further with my own work; second I had a sense of painting alongside a true master, which was a real privilege.

Today the painting became much more coherent and whole. The painting day began again with scraping of the painting to remove ridges and imperfections of strokes. Incidentally, by using Maroger medium, the paint is dry to touch by the day after. Some artists in the workshop used Graham walnut-alkyd medium, which also dries quickly. I brought along my personal stash of Studio Products two-part Maroger. Bill mixes his medium into his main colors--white, gray, flesh, asphaltum, transparent red oxide, and raw umber. I mixed mine only into the white.

During the demonstration and the painting day, he continued to repeat:

Use a light touch.
Violate your edges.
Go slowly.
Correct often.
Always look for ways to improve the work.
The only work that counts is your very very best.

And of course there were a lot of others.

In the first photo above, you can see Bill's painting as it stood at the end of today's demonstration.

Whitaker Workshop #9

2006-05-01T21:17:00.000-07:00

My own portrait of Alexandra continued to progress, albeit more slowly. This photo was taken at the end of day 2. Although the picture is a little dark, you can see that I spend a lot of time on the lights and halftones. Note too that this is a profile, a view I've not previously attempted with any degree of success. Its a very unforgiving view because there is less ability to show depth.

Although it appears that I've painted the blouse, what paint you see is still underpainting. The colors are really more gray and less green. Again I spent a lot of time correcting the drawing.

Whitaker Workshop #8

2006-05-01T21:09:00.000-07:00

This image should give you a good idea of the lighting and progress on the portrait. Here you can see that more color has been added to the background. You can also see the mosaic-like paint application. Adding color means putting in patches to match the value, chroma, and hue of each particular part of the subject. Later, these patches are joined by adding areas of intermediate hues and values.

Whitaker Workshop #7

2006-05-01T21:04:00.000-07:00

This photo shows how ivory black has been glazed over the shadows. Note that the darks have been painted into with color. Bill kept the hair quite vague and indefinite through this stage, but as in every step he worked very hard to correct the drawing. He's fond of repeating "we all draw poorly--that's why we have to practice and work hard at it."

Whataker Workshop #6

2006-05-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

Although I made these notes last week, my Internet connection at the hotel gave out on Tuesday and I haven't been able to continue posting until now.

On day 2, the workshop began with a continuation of the demonstration painting of Alexandra. Bill usually starts each painting session by carefully scraping off any ridges in the paint. Today he started by oiling out using Maroger medium. This procedure unifies the painting surface, lubricates it, and brings up "sunken" darks. Today he glazed over the shadow area on the jawline with ivory black mixed with a touch of raw umber. He made this a transparent area of darks and then painted into the glaze and pulled some of it into the lighter surrounding areas.

During the demonstration he talked constantly, relating again some of his most repeated lessons:

Violate your edges
Paint across the form (it gives more solidity).
Use the lightest touch possible.
Set up a "home position" and stay there to observe and paint.
Have your brightest colors swim in a sea of gray.
With color, start strong; you can always weaken the chroma as you go but it's harder to punch up.

Bill added color today, spotting in areas of color and value as he saw them. You can see the effect in the next two photos above.

Working this way, he painted about two hours or so every morning and we painted the remainder of the day. Bill spent a lot of time simply watching, seeing how each participating artist went about the work, suggesting techniques, corrections, and exercises in looking at the subject.

Perhaps the most useful exercise he suggested was to spend a lot of time looking at the model but without looking at one's painting. He suggested that we simply look at the model, experience her, and not think about anything. Just look; absorb the person's appearance. Get to know the landscape of the face. In fact, he advocates that one not think too much during the painting process. Bill says that he makes 2 to 5 sketches of each of his sitters, trying very hard to get to know their features, coloring, and structure. He paints from life almost every day.

(By the way, our model is Alexandra, the daughter of Chris Saper. Chris is a fine portrait painter with whom I've worked in the past. Chris was participating in the workshop as well.)

Whitaker Workshop #5

2006-04-24T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here is my own effort with Alexandra, the same model as in Bill's demonstration below. This is painted on a toned support (I used turkey umber/ultramarine blue, thinned and scrubbed onto the surface with a rag. This is after about three and a half hours today.

Whitaker Workshop #4

2006-04-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

After about two hours' work, Bill has added color. Note that he works all over the painting rather than finishing one passage and moving on to another. He lays in color in mosaic-like patches and avoids blending at this stage.

Whitaker Workshop #3

2006-04-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Somewhat farther along, Bill adds more detail and masses in the darks. This is perhaps thirty to forty-five minutes' work.

Whitaker Workshop #2

2006-04-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

This is the way Bill Whitaker begins his portraits--usually on a toned support, using burnt umber or Gamblin's asphaltum. He strongly advocates getting the drawing right the first time but knowing that you really can't, he stresses continuous correction and an unrelenting critical eye.

William Whitaker Workshop

2006-04-24T20:22:00.000-07:00

Like many artists, I'm always working to improve. Painting portraits and other subjects well is difficult. It takes study, application, and a great deal of time. Naturally, when the chance to work with someone as accomplished and helpful as Bill Whitaker I try very hard to take advantage of that chance. This week I'm participating in a workshop with Bill at the Scottsdale Artists School, a private art school here in Arizona. The school has any number of well-known painters and sculptors (almost all representational artists working with traditional materials) including Sherry McGraw, Greg Kreutz, and others.

Bill has been painting for more than 40 years and has been teaching for almost as long, so he has enormous experience and expertise to share. It's a real privilege to work with him; this is my third Whitaker workshop. I learn more every time. He's a strong advocate of painting from life and doing so in natural light. His opinion is that working from life is "the hardest challenge there is" in art. He believes that to understand form and light one must paint from life--people, fruit, bread, old shoes, objects from Goodwill, whatever--in order to see properly and to paint well. Bill says flatly that while photographs are a useful tool for the painter, working from photos has made painting decadent because photos not only distort form, they distort color too. Instead of copying photographs, he advocates painting from life every day, and he's as good as his word. Bill paints study after study of heads and figures, and says that he destroys perhaps one in three.

There are several maxims that Bill repeats over and over to the students in his workshops:
"Go slowly."
"In painting, 90% is the drawing."
"When in doubt, use a bigger brush."
"Violate your edges."
"All I ask is perfection." (of everyone, including himself)

Today Bill started a portrait and spent two hours demonstrating his methods. He uses a palette of flake white, ivory black, raw umber, transparent red oxide, asphaltum (not the 19th century color but a modern convenience mix from Gamblin), yellow ochre, cadmium red light, sap green, and ultramarine blue. Bill advocates using an arm palette because it allows closer comparison of color with the subject and the work and allows the painter to cut glare on the paint. Bill begins with a rough drawing, generally using the "sight-size" method. Using burnt umber or asphaltum plus a lot of medium he sketches the outlines of the head and masses in the darks. You can see how he starts in the first photo in the next entry. In the second photo above, he's added more detail, always correcting the drawing. Bill pays close attention to angles and proportions, working very very hard to perfect the drawing before he begins laying in color. Eventually, using the palette mentioned, he begins to place patches of color in the appropriate spots in a sort of mosaic of color, as depicted in the third image above.

So check back over the next few days. I'll try to keep a daily journal of the workshop, complete with pictures.

Small, scared kid

2006-04-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is a painting I did a few weeks back of a kid whose has seen too much war and killing. It's 11x14 on a canvas panel. Not intended for sale, but worth a look.

Remodelling

2006-04-09T09:21:00.000-07:00

Remodelling in the studio continues...

Most of my equipment is either in boxes or other useless places owing to remodelling of the studio. About the only thing anyone can do is continue to produce whatever work one can in the midst of chaos. I know that some painters--Francis Bacon comes to mind--had studios that resembled a trash heap instead of a work space, but not me. My studio is often cluttered, but like so many people I know where everything is in the midst of the detritus and so having it all boxed up and in adjoining rooms or in unusual locations is a significant trial for me.

The builders have added two more windows (and two more to come) and an exterior door to the studio. Coming next is demolition of the wall between the studio and an adjoining bedroom plus a new wall between the studio and a sitting room. That wall will have shelving on each side with a pocket door between them to close the studio off completely. The added space plus new paint (probably "Leffel green") and a new floor surface promises to make the remodelling very much worth it.

Now if it was just finished, I'd be a happy painter.

2006-03-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Winter has finally turned, I think. We've had such a mild season--not much snow, not too cold either--that the change is muted right now. Narcissi have speared their way through the crusted mulch layers, grass is greening up, the air feels a little warmer, and daylight gets a few minutes longer with each rotation. Spring. Studio remodeling in progress, with a support wall built right through the center of it, effectively stopping me from working. So instead I'm studying, rereading Dan Greene and Schmidt and thinking about new projects. At least it's Spring.

The visit to the bonobos went very well. I was actually given two hours with them and enjoyed it more than I can say. The man who took me into the facility told me they were in the "greenhouse," the place where they can sun themselves and laze, but added that he was going to go and tell them they had a visitor. To my surprise, the whole group (troupe?) came into the area where I was. They came, looked me over, spent a few minutes more, and most went back to their sun. A couple stayed, rather dreamily leaning against the wall nearby, pretending not to notice me while staring outside.
There were several handheld color charts nearby showing symbols that the researchers and bonobos use to communicate. There is a specific symbol for commonly used words and expressions like Hello, Goodbye, etc, etc. There are several hundred printed on these charts, front and back. The bonobos have them inside their quarters, too. Same charts. I picked up one of the charts, found "Hello," and showed them where I was pointing. One looked at me and immediately pointed to the symbol for "Tickle," basically asking me to play. But of course I'm old and couldn't anyway, so the one who wanted to play (Nathan I think) immediately began roughhousing with one of the other young ones, just the way our kids do. It was a lot of fun to see.
I took a huge number of digital photos, but a lot didn't come out because I had to take them through thick glass against the exterior light (and a fill flash wouldn't have helped since the glass was pretty reflective) so it was tough to find decent ones to keep. I also made a bunch of gesture drawings of them as they sat, walked, played, and so on. Great fun.

And I presented the portrait below to the woman who is the main researcher. She was delighted, and immediately took me into their meeting room with the portrait, to show the others. They were delighted, too. Upshot is, I can go back whenever, they're happy to have me. So I've got some fun coming up, I think...

2006-03-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

I've just made arrangements to spend an afternoon at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, a local primate research facility, getting to know a group of pygmy chimps there. I know that sounds strange, but it's true. I'm going to be introduced to a group there that have very high communication skills--they communicate readily with humans and they also understand English--so that I can eventually do some portraits of the individuals and also perhaps, some group paintings. I'm fascinated by these creatures so it's going to be a real adventure for me. I'm giving the woman who is the primary research worker this portrait of the prodigy of the group, whose name is Kanzi, which I'm told means "treasure" in one of the African languages. This portrait is oil on linen panel, 16x20.

Head Study

2006-02-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

Here's a study for a larger work. "Head," oil on panel, 8x6. $75

A Visit to the Museo del Prado

2006-02-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

Someone on one of the online art forums I frequent mentioned that he would like to see more about museums I've visited over the years. I'm not a big fan of the kind of museum writing I've seen in the past, but I do have some favorite museums and art works, so herewith is a first entry about one of my favorites, the Museo del Prado in Madrid.

I first visited the Prado in the early 1970s. I was in Madrid temporarily owing to military duty and had been reading Michener's massive nonfiction work, "Iberia," so I decided to visit the museum. The nucleus of the museum is the royal collections of paintings amassed by several Spanish kings, including Felipe II and Felipe IV (who was Velazquez' patron).

The museum was and is located near the old city on a pleasant boulevard of sycamores. In those days you entered on the end of the long axis, rather than in the middle of the long side (the way one does at say, the Met in NYC). Ascending the stone staircase, I turned right, into one of the side galleries, and there it was: "The Descent from the Cross" by Rogier van der Weyden. I was stupefied. I knew this painting! Unlike people who grow up in metropolitan and cosmopolitan places, I had never seen this caliber of work, until that moment. And even more fascinating was that I had studied this painting as an undergraduate. Here it was, larger than I had expected, brighter in color, too. Here was van der Weyden's clever and emotional composition, with the dreadfully sorrowful, fainting Virgin echoing the posture of her dead son as his body is being brought down from the cross and the awkwardly but perfectly posed mourning woman on the far right echoing both of them. I stood there, truly stunned, for a long long while. It still amazes me how something produced so long ago can speak to me across the gulf of centuries. That communication, that connection, is one of the essential experiences in art. And it happened to me that day. Long I stood and marvelled.

When I finally went farther into the museum, I found Heironymus Bosch's famous triptych "The Garden of Earthly Delights," painted in the 16th century and a bit farther on the pair "Adam" and "Eve" by Albrecht Durer. All in the space of perhaps two galleries or three at most. Not far from the two figures was the penetrating self-portrait by Durer as well; all three were painted around the same time as the Bosch. Five masterpieces in only a few minutes, and I hadn't even seen a Goya or Velazquez yet! And make no mistake, I was there for Velazquez.

The Prado has Velazquez' works in profusion, of course, from early pieces like the "Forge of Vulcan" to his late masterpiece, "Las Meninas." I spent a lot of time with that Baroque master during my first visit, as I have every visit since. The best of Velazquez is here: portraits of kings, queens, royal children, nobles and commoners, studies of dwarves, wonderful genre works. Works like "Las Hilanderas" (The Spinners) and "Los Borrachos" (The Drunks or The Topers), and "Las Lanzas," which is also known as "The Surrender at Breda," show us Velazquez as the acute observer of humanity and history. These three and several others of similar type hang still in the same large gallery. The first time one enters a gallery of that size in a museum like this one is magical, but to see only paintings by Velazquez crowding all four walls was stupendous. One could spend the entire day in that single room. Velazquez was quite simply a genius and a true master.

But even in the profusion of masterworks in the Prado, one Velazquez that deserves special mention: "Las Meninas." Long regarded as Velazquez' crowning achievement, it was at that time I first saw it hanging in a small, separate gallery just off the main axis of the museum, facing a mirror of the same size. In those days, before the crush of tourists descended on Madrid (Franco was still in power), the museum was much less crowded. Today "Las Meninas" is mobbed and has been moved into one of the main galleries. Back then I had this luscious work all to myself.

"Las Meninas" has had other names. It was once called “La familia del Señor Rey Felipe Quarto” but after it came to the Prado it was catalogued as “Las Meninas”, which is actually a Portuguese word meaning Maids of Honour. But it's not really about portraiture. "Las Meninas" is a very large painting, perhaps ten feet vertically. As you stand looking into the painting you see Velazquez himself at the easel, facing you, working on a very big painting. To the right are little girls, one of whom is the Infanta (the princess daughter of the King and Queen), plus a couple of dwarves (Felipe had a number of them in his court; Velazquez painted several), and a dog drowsing at their feet. Behind is a nun and another courtier and behind those people a very large room falls away into dimness. Deeper in the huge room we make out very large paintings on the walls, peering out of the semi-gloom, hanging as high as the high ceilings. Even farther away is a light-filled doorway leading to a stair. A male courtier is just departing but has turned to look back at us. Next to the doorway, there is the faint reflection of the subjects who are posing for the painting that Velazquez is working on. And at that moment you realize his genius: the subjects are the King and Queen themselves, and we are standing in their place. The sudden recognition that we are the King and Queen, having our portraits painted, was a delightful shock that added much to the charm of the picture when I first saw it.

Turning to look at the work in the mirror just across the small room, I could see the perfection of Velazquez's draftsmanship and technique. The work is utterly flawless, the perspective and sense of space as awe-inspiring in reflection as on canvas.

Over the years, I have visited that one painting more often than any other I have seen, even in this most sublime of museums. Since then I've learned much, much more about the Prado and about art history, but my memory of those paintings I first saw there is indelible.

If people enjoy reading these, I'll post about other museums, some time in the future. And if you'd like to see "Las Meninas" and read more about Velazquez, follow this link: http://museoprado.mcu.es/imeni.html

2006-02-18T08:24:00.000-08:00

"Nail Polish," oil, 8x6 on panel. $75

2006-02-18T08:23:00.000-08:00

"Secondaries," oil, 6x8 on panel. Tubes of paint including the three secondary colors. $75

2006-02-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

"Primaries," oil, 6x8 on panel.
Three tubes of primary color. $75

2006-02-18T08:13:00.000-08:00

Very cold this morning--4 below zero when I got up--but bright and clear.

I've been working only sporadically the past few days. I'm going to post two or three small still life pictures this weekend. Today I'll spend on a full-size portrait of a little girl and work to photograph some more paintings for the website. I may get to a couple of new studies I have in mind, but time will tell since I also have to begin winnowing through the studio for packing and moving. The remodellers will be working outside for a few more weeks, but soon I'll have to move the studio so they can knock out walls and remake floors and windows. The only saving grace for all of that is that the studio will have more useable space. And there's no way to remodel around me. It simply wouldn't work.

I'm also posting a few still life sketches today. These aren't part of the diner paintings but simply works that I've explored for one reason or another these past few weeks.

2006-02-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

Colder these past few days, with minor snow flurries. Nothing to cover the frozen ground, scoured by the north winds.

Luckily, it was warm in the studio today. I spent a lot of time on a portrait of a six year-old girl. It's intended as a sample of a child portrait. I plan on doing another of a boy and then work on samples of young men and women to populate a new portfolio. The current one I'm painting by using color notes from life as well as references. Ideally, portraits are painted from life. Unfortunately, in the real world, photos are critical for completion. Thank goodness for digital photography and manipulation. It makes references much easier to use. I've been taking progress photos of the current work; maybe I'll post them somewhere.

I'm also going to look hard at putting together some larger paintings of the island of Santorini or perhaps Mykonos. I've a large file of photo references and sketches I made a few years ago while we were there. More to sort through and process before I can start, though.

Soon comes studio inventory, packing, and moving. Blech.

(Note: You may have noticed some small ad links here--these links are not for my work but instead will connect you to other artist and art-related sites. If you want to purchase or commission something from me, follow the link in the sidebar to my online art gallery.)

2006-02-11T10:51:00.000-08:00

Here's a small (8x6) portrait sketch I did as a study for a larger, more finished portrait of this child. "Lillian" is oil on gessoed panel. I find that I love this kind of painting, where the artist stays loose and painterly. This one is not for sale.

2006-02-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, when I'm not painting, I wonder if I ever will again. No doubt it's common among people who do that kind of work--"creative" work--to fear losing the knack. Inertia is tough to overcome; once you do, the momentum builds and you seem to forge ahead with considerably less effort. Inertia is bad in winter.

New Diner Paintings

2006-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here are a few new ones in the series of paintings I've been making of common restaurant and kitchen items. Although some painters like to do a small work like these nearly every day, my own approach is to do them as time permits. These were completed during the fall of 2005.

2006-02-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

"Two of a Kind," 6x8 oil on panel. $75

2006-02-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

"Closing Time," 6x8 oil on panel. $75

2006-02-07T10:59:00.000-08:00

"Bedtime Snack," 8x6, oil on panel. $75

2006-02-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

"Empty Jug," 8x5, oil on panel, $75

2006-02-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

"Shaker Study" is oil on panel, 6x8. $75

2006-02-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

A busy week is finally over. I spent quite a lot of time on several works; one of Lilly in the surf (oil, 20x16), two or three small sketches of Greek island landscapes, and a couple of small portrait sketches.

Priority for today is to photograph as much art as I can. There will be some photos posted by Monday evening, I hope. Most will be part of the Diner series I've painted off and on for the past year or so.

Studio remodelling rapidly approaches, which means that I'll be considerably busy moving out and cleaning so the workmen can come in. After that I'll be very limited in terms of space--no studio, no place else to set up an easel--so I suspect my output will be reduced for a month or so. That's likely to cut into inventory for the summer season unless I can set up elsewhere.

Only a few weeks until I travel to Phoenix for a workshop with my friend William Whitaker. Stay tuned for more detail.

2006-01-30T07:26:00.000-08:00

Monday morning is warm and overcast.

The weekend was very productive. Several works are nearing completion including a painting of Lilly in the surf, a still life, and two or three small sketches of Santorini, the Greek island.

Unfortunately, I still haven't taken time to photograph the new stuff (or some of the old) but this week promises to provide me with enough time to get some digital shots and post them here.

2006-01-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

Saturday dawned gray and rainy but still unseasonably warm.

Today is going to be a day for cleaning the studio, rearranging and packing things that need to be moved before remodelling indoors commences in earnest in a week or two, and if time permits a bit of painting.

I worked on two small landscape studies yesterday--one is a view of a church dome and tower on Santorini and the other a small study of a house on the same island. I also worked just a trifle more on the view of Grays Lake that I started last week. I'll take a look at them today and decide what comes next.

2006-01-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a strange winter so far. Say what you want about global warming; it was 54 degrees today and supposed to be almost that warm tomorrow. It feels like March used to.

Progress on the studio remodelling continues, albeit slowly. I'll post a pic or two when there's something to see.

Painting is slow. I did a 6x8 sketch of Gray's Lake yesterday--very loose, very juicy paint without much detail--that I think ain't bad. Beyond that, I'm only in the planning/sketching stage of anything larger. I've done a few sketches of Greek Island subjects and a few still life sketches, but no portraiture. I'm trying to let that bit go for a while.

2006-01-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

Sunny today (no snow yesterday) and colder. My studio is about to be packed up and emptied for remodelling. We've been trying to get this done since last summer but design problems, contractor problems, water problems, and weather have combined to stymie any progress until the last couple of weeks. This means that my winter/spring painting schedule is likely to be disrupted, which in turn will affect shows and competitions for the coming year since who knows how much I can get done with the interruption, etc. Meantime, I'm just going to keep painting and thinking and photographing the work. I got disgusted with the painting of Santorini--badly composed and nothing I could do would fix that--so I wiped it all off and left the panel toned a light ochre, waiting for something new to happen. Perhaps tomorrow.

2006-01-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Monday morning, grey and dim with a hint that snow could return. In the next couple of days I'll be photographing several small works to post--some here, some in the online gallery. These will probably all be 6x8 or not much bigger, and represent work during the past fall and winter. Updates are coming...

2006-01-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

Much to do this morning. I spent yesterday on two new works--one is Lilly in the surf and the other is a view of the Santorini caldera from the top of one of the villages there. But what I really must do is photograph current and recent work. I did set up the tripod but not the lights because my room is so limited. In the end, I gathered a bunch of 6x8 paintings for the shoot but wasn't happy with the way the first ones came out (I use a Canon Eos digital) and really I need better lighting. Maybe I'll get some done today, since I can't really update this journal and the website without them...

I finally figured out how to post links in the sidebar column. HTML is not my forte, obviously. I put in a link to my web gallery, the Cennini forum, the Online Artists Guild, and a couple of others. For anybody interested in the technical aspects of painting, Cennini is a great place to learn. The Online Artists is an artist-owned site that markets members' works, including mine. Stop in an take a look.

2006-01-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

These are a daily series of landscape paintings done a year or more ago. Each began as an exercise in seeing and stating simply. The idea was to be Monet-like in the sense of seeing how the light changed as the winter weather waxed and waned. They're here in reverse order, top to bottom. These are priced singly at $200 each, but I'd sell the entire group of five for $800.
"1/04/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/28/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/27/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"
"12/26/04" oil on panel, 16x12"
"12/25/04" oil on panel, 16"x12"

2006-01-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

"The Patriot," a 20"x16" oil portrait on canvas (not for sale). This is an example of the kind of portraits I produce on commission. The sitter is a former military pilot.

2006-01-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

This one is also 8"x6" and had the same origins--simple object, simple lighting, and as many single strokes as I could manage. "Fancy."

$75 plus shipping.

2006-01-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is another 8"x6" still life, "Two of a Kind," oil on panel. It's a work like the earlier one--trying to see common objects simply and paint them with minimal strokes.

$75 plus shipping.