The Creek in Casein

Although my primary medium is oil paint, watercolor runs a close second, and so does digital work. There isn't quite enough time in the day to work with other kinds of paint like gouache and casein. Still, once in a while I like to give them a whirl. During the winter that's now fading most of the painting I did was watercolor, but a couple of casein works sneaked in.

"Winter Sunshine," casein on panel 2019

In December the weather got cold and outdoor work was less attractive even though there was hardly any snow. Brown-gold leaves clung to trees along the creek outside my studio, and when the sun got into the western sky they caught brilliance. "Winter Sunshine" (left) was intended to show that light against the mostly bare grey-brown branches. I toned the 6x8 panel with red and then painted this scene loosely, allowing under painting to show through, especially around the branches and some of the trunks.

"After the Snow," casein on panel 2019

A few days later that month after we began to have real snowfall, I did another casein from my studio. This particular scene shows clearing skies after a snow storm dropped a few inches onto Iowa. This panel wasn't prepped with an under tone and the scene was painted directly, alla prima. The creek had not frozen and reflected snow banks and sky at the foot of the painting. You can see little spots of stubborn gold-brown leaves still clinging.

The weather is starting to warm in earnest, with high temperatures above 50 degrees coming soon. My plan is to take my casein paint outdoors too.

What is Art For?

Over the history of humans we have made art. From the earliest works dating to more than 40,000 years ago to the latest graffito by Banksy we have made pictures or carved shapes or sung or played melodies, or moved our bodies in stylized ways. Art making is an innate human trait.

Clay Bison, Tuc d'Audobert Cave, France, ca 14,000 years old

We don't just make things randomly; human art making is purposeful. The main purpose of art over the millennia has likely been communication, whether to relate symbolic/supernatural/spiritual concepts to one another, or to entertain or persuade. Some art is made these days for purely personal reasons like self expression, or even personal healing.

Ritual and Spiritual
Paleontologists have speculated for decades that cave paintings and sculptures dating back tens of thousands of years had a symbolic/ritualistic purpose. Certainly they were important to their makers, perhaps to favor hunting but also possibly in other ways symbolizing the animal, or maybe its spirit.  There is of course no way to know for certain. But because these paintings and sculptures are exceptionally remote from usual places of habitation it seems clear they were not for display nor to enhance the makers' stature (at least directly). To our eyes they are also amazingly lifelike. For example, the small clay sculptures of bisons found in the Tuc d'Audoubert cave in the Pyrenees (above) are startling in their realism. Footprints of children and a few adults dating to the same period are still present in the floor of the cave, suggesting a gathering and possibly pointing to a ritual. (The system of caves in France contains other art too, including paintings and carvings, so maybe it was some kind of center for the practice.)

Michelangelo Merisi "Crucifixion of St. Peter," 1601

In the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, much of the art of Europe was commissioned by the Roman Catholic church to tell biblical and moral tales, since much of the world was illiterate. More personal art like portraiture gradually became more important, but most European art was Christian and religious. Some of the greatest art produced by mankind was religious in origin. For example, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio painted numerous canvases for the Roman church, including "Crucifixion of St. Peter" (right) for various churches. This particular masterpiece has always hung in the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. It depicts the Christian saint being martyred by crucifying him upside down, as legend has it.

Propaganda/Commerce
Art has been used to promote commerce since commerce has existed, most likely, and although propaganda isn't quite the same as advertising, the intent is similar. Advertising has been used probably since before Ancient Egypt. Certainly posters and other kinds of artistic ephemera were made in Egypt and in succeeding civilizations. In later times there were painted signs, sculpted images and the like used to show what a building might contain. The need for images increased in the 19th century as advertising and commerce expanded, and art specifically for commercial purposes developed as a different kind, with different goals and different standards. In the 20th century that distinction blurred substantially, so that an artist of the stature of Norman Rockwell called himself only and illustrator though many considered him a consummate fine artist.

Triple Self Portrait, Saturday Evening Post cover 1960

Head of Augustus Caesar as Pontifex Maximus, marble, 1st century CE

Art has always been used for propaganda. The Romans used art as political and social propaganda, communicating the greatness of the emperors and the gods, and Rome itself. During the time of Augustus, for example, sculpted images of the Emperor could be seen throughout the world, sent there by the government as reminders of greatness, and virtually every emperor afterward attempted to follow his example. Alas, some of the images were perhaps too

Emperor Nero, marble 1st century CE

realistic, as can be seen in the image of Nero (right).

A case can be made that portraiture became a way for politicians and other prominent people to advertise their greatness. Certainly portraits of kings and presidents have served that purpose the same as busts of Augustus did two thousand years ago.

Social Causes
Art has been used in service to social causes throughout human history, obviously overlapping its use in propaganda. In our own time many different kinds of art--visual, music--have been used to promote social causes. Today art and artists have been engaged in any number of causes, from pollution to climate change to political commentary. Sometimes art about causes is based in traditional two- or three-dimensional images, but these days art in service to social causes is more often digital, musical or dramatic. An entire post could be devoted only to this particular application of the arts. Perhaps another day.

Entertainment

Art provides entertainment as it communicates, too. All of the arts provide entertainment in one way or another. Visual art gives the observer an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the piece, the beauty of the world it references, the skills and vision of the maker, and tons more. Music provides a similar scope of experiences and entertains the mind and spirit. And so on. In our time, a vast portion of the world's entertainment is based in the arts. A few come easily to mind:

• movies, television and digital 
• live drama and comedy
• visual arts--painting, sculpture, digital, fabric, etc
• illustrative arts--cartooning and comics
• music in all genres 

The impact of creative work--the arts--on the fabric of human existence is undeniable. So what is art for? Nearly everything.

Vanishing from North America

In our part of the world, the northern half of the Western Hemisphere, wildlife are under enormous extinction pressures. A lot of the problem for wildlife is simple loss of habitat. Human settlements, farming and other use of land have stolen the untrod places from under their inhabitants. In North America, many species are endangered or under severe pressure. It's been a privilege to make images of a few of them and point them out.

Hoff, "Red Wolf," digital painting

The red wolf is not always listed as endangered despite numbering only a few hundred, most of those captive. The animal was actually declared extinct in the wild in the early 1980s but a few have been reintroduced and are surviving here and there. So in any event, these beautiful wolves are few in number and very rare in the wild. Its cousin the gray wolf is also endangered, though reintroduction in several North American areas have proven successful in recent decades. These animals are beautiful, with red touches on their ears and other places in their coats. They seem unlikely to survive in the wild without considerable human assistance.

Hoff, "Western Meadowlark," digital painting

Bird populations continue to decline in the United States and across the rest of the continent, shockingly so. Many species are severely jeopardized now (endangered birds), and some of those are very likely going extinct. In the vast plains and prairies of the center of the country where I grew up a very common yellow-breasted songbird was one of my favorites (above). The western meadowlark is about the size of a robin, with bright yellow on it's brow, throat, and abdomen and a black V on its breast. It sings a liquid note that sounds across the tangles of grassland where it commonly nests. Today the wide untrodden and unmowed meadows that are the habitat for these beautiful birds barely exist and the meadowlarks are nearly gone. I miss them.

These drawings and paintings of disappearing animals and birds continue to sadden yet inspire me. Perhaps they do the same to others.

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Fearful Symmetry
White Rhino
Dying Out
Jeopardized

Winter Work

Although the cold and snow have kept me indoors, a lot of the time I stand at one or the other of the studio windows longing for the outdoors. These past few weeks I've posted about the weather (January and Snow in Silverpoint) and included sketches and drawings of the woods and creek outside, my appetite remains unsatisfied. So here are a few more winter works.

"Sunny Moment on Druid Hill Creek," watercolor, 4x6 on paper

This is a postcard-sized watercolor of a short span of Druid Hill Creek on a sunny winter day. The skies had cleared overnight, which lets the land radiate much more heat and causes temperatures to drop. The day before had been warm enough to melt some of the snow on the banks and on the ice covering of the creek, but then the plunge gave us deeper ice and shivering cold despite the warm yellow light. It was interesting to capture both the cool blues of the icy surfaces and the yellow sunlight on the remaining snow cover.

"Winter Sun," gouache and watercolor, 5x7 on panel

Gouache hasn't been one of my favored mediums for a long while. Partly that's because my interests shifted to digital, casein, watercolors, and metalpoint. Nonetheless one application I have for gouache is to touchup watercolors using titanium white. But I had a 5x7 panel that had been stained and a little time to experiment so I used titanium white gouache as a base and mixed some colored gouache by adding transparent intense watercolor. Then using that stained panel the gouache at right was the result. "Winter Sun" is my first gouache in several years.

My plan is to start painting outdoors very soon, given that the midpoint of February is past. So more landscapes are in the future, both watercolor and oil (and perhaps a casein or two as well).

Snow in Silverpoint

Working in series is a common practice and one that becomes a kind of long meditation on a subject. Some artists have done amazing works in series, like Romney's series of Lady Emma or Monet's haystacks. It doesn't matter whether you're indoors or out. This winter has kept me in the studio, but the woods and creek just outside are easy subjects, and the snowy weather in January and February has lasted long enough for a small series of silverpoint drawings. The panels I've been using are all 6x8 gessoed hardboard. While they are intended as supports for painting, the gesso is hard enough and has enough tooth to allow good metalpoint marks.

The snow began in January with a heavy blanket that has lasted ever since, despite a couple of periods of warmer temperatures. The creek has run from snow and frozen solid to sometimes flowing silvery-blue on a rare sunny day. Most days have had a more diffusely flat and wintry sort of light that seems to call for silverpoint.

The first one here is a blue spruce across the creek from the studio. After asnowfall the branches hold snow for two or three days, allowing for observation and drawings like this one. This particular drawing took two or three sessions of an hour or so, mostly while snow fell, making the woods pale and foggy in the background and bringing the spruce forward in space. This particular tree has been a favorite of local deer.

A few days after the snowfalls the skies cleared a bit and the trees shed that thick covering even though the ground was still white. A different part of the woods drew my eye then, in part because of the big trunks and how one leans hard toward the creek. The weak winter sun comes from the left and trees cast faint shadows on one another. Here and there sticks and stems from summer undergrowth poke through the deep snow. Like the other, this one took a couple of hour-long sessions.

Other silverpoint drawings in this group have already been posted (see links below), but more metalpoint is in the offing.

So far, these gesso panels seem ideal supports for metalpoint. More to come.

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January
Metalpoint

Jeopardized

"Hairy Nose Wombat"

These are a few more digital drawings and paintings of animal species on the verge of extinction, at least in the wild. All of these animals exist in tiny numbers in the wild and in zoos around the world. The cute little fellow in the first painting is a native of Australia, the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat, which lives in only one tiny area and comprises perhaps 250 individuals. This particular species is one of only three, all Australian. They may be cute and even cuddly but regardless, the loss of any species results in a significant change in the ecology, often damaging. It seems quite likely that this particular species will vanish very soon, but perhaps there is hope. Fifteen years ago or so estimates were half that number.

"Amur Tiger"

The Amur Tiger used to be known as the Siberian Tiger and unlike it's cousins in India it lives in Russia, North Korea, and China. These are the largest cats in the world, reaching as much as 650 pounds and 10 or 11 feet in length, nose to tail. Like all endangered species their biggest threat is humans because of habitat loss and hunting. There may be about 500 of these animals remaining. As the climate in their northern habitat rises and humans continue to encroach, these tigers are going to be under severe pressure.

"Northern White Rhinosceros (female)"

Many are familiar with the plight of the northern white rhinoceros. So far as I know there are only two remaining, both female. The last male died several years ago. It may still be possible to revivie the species with artificial means, but the odds seem small. There are actually two species of rhinos, the black rhino and the white. One of the main, easily-seen differences is the white rhinoceros has a squared-off lip while the lip of the black rhino comes to a central pointed tip. The southern white rhinoceros is the most numerous--numbering maybe 20,000. One of the most serious threats has been hunting these animals for their horn, which is sold in certain parts of the world in powdered form as an aphrodisiac, though it is in fact worthless for that. These animals have mostly rebounded form serious depletion in the 20th century, but poaching and habitat loss due to climate alterations and mankind remain problematic. 

"Orangutans"

The final species in today's group of endangered species is the orangutan. There are actually three species of orangutan, and although estimates of their numbers vary, all are considered critically endangered. Orangutans reproduce infrequently--every 6 or 8 years. Besides their low reproductivity their forest habitat is shrinking in Indonesia and Malaysia, their principal range. Highly intelligent, tool-using, and wise-appearing, these "old beings of the forest" seem very likely to disappear within the near future, and all they can do is watch and wait.

The continued shrinkage of habitat, killing by humans (intentional or accidental), the change in climate and the enormous destruction of world ecology should make every one of us afraid. Moreover, will climate change ever be considered and emergency?

Dying Out

Extinction of many many species is a reality that is more harsh every day of this century. The precise number of species that are in critical danger isn't clear (after all, we don't even know how many species there actually are) but without doubt the number is in the thousands, more likely the tens of thousands. The loss of biodiversity and the rupturing fabric of world ecology seems poised to accelerate as the planet's climates change. We are all, all species, in danger. The current losses are simply the first wave in a looming mass extinction event that could devastate the planet.

These past weeks part of my daily drawing practice has involved drawing endangered species, partly out of sympathy and partly out of interest and partly to raise my own and others' awareness of the magnitude of the problem. The idea is to study these creatures before they are completely gone. As such these images are simple statements of fact--these animals that are disappearing, some more rapidly than others. Perhaps someone who sees these drawings may be moved to work on the problem.

Hoff, "Cheetah," digital painting

The first animal image posted is of an African cheetah, which isn't endangered, strictly speaking, but close. The cheetah, fastest land animal, is considered "vulnerable," a step slightly above endangered. But loss of habitat and hunting are serious threats to these animals, though many now exist in zoos. This particular image is a complete digital painting.

Hoff, "The Koala," digital painting

The koala is now under serious threat because of bushfires in Australia and humans encroaching on its habitat. The Australian fires killed many koala and destroyed immense areas of eucalyptus forest, its home and its food source. According to current estimates, thousands of individuals are left, but the slaughter of these animals by fire and by humans has reached a tipping point of "functional extinction." The term means that it is likely not enough koala will be able to come together to maintain the species. The fires have destroyed their homes. Many will likely starve. They produce offspring once a year. The outcome may be grim. Perhaps Australia will save their national symbol. I fervently hope so. 

Hoff, "Bonobo," digital

Another African species in significant danger is the bonobo, one of the four great ape species, along with gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. They resemble chimps and were once thought to be pygmy chimpanzees but are now known as a clearly separate species with very different social and behavioral patterns. And they are significantly endangered by shrinking space to live. Moreover these delightful and intelligent cousins of ours are sometimes still hunted to be eaten--so-called "bush meat." Happily, efforts have been underway for decades to save these creatures. This bonobo was purposely given an expression suggesting questioning disgust.

Hoff, "Ring Tail," digital painting

The last for today is a digital painting of a ring-tailed lemur, a species that is in severe danger of extinction. Lemurs all live on Madagascar, where their habitat shrinks with human expansion. These animals are down to fewer than 2000, and perhaps only a few hundred remain in the wild.

The creatures in these drawings are mostly cute, or admirable, or us humans have some kind of emotional involvement with them. But there are thousand of less attractive, or dangerous, or downright disgusting creatures. Some estimates place the number of endangered species in the tens of thousands, with more being added continuously. The list of endangered species in the planet varies from source to source. Regardless, we are killing our fellow creatures at an ever-accelerating pace.

What must we do? What will we do?

It makes me terribly sad.

January

Last month was snowy and cold, which drove me indoors to the studio. Staying inside instead of forging into the deep freeze doesn't mean no landscapes last month, though. The ample snow and changeability were great source material just outside the studio windows. Most of the work I did last month was watercolor or watercolor and ink, but I also managed a couple of silverpoint drawings. Those I did on small gesso panels that have been taking up space in the studio. I posted one of those here a couple of weeks ago.

Watercolor is simple, quick, portable, and if not forgiving, at least easily disposed of when the results aren't optimal. So for rapid sketches and impressions watercolor is my choice. Digital is a convenient tool for drawing too, but tablets haven't been as useful in my practice, and I seldom use an iPad or other tablet for rapid sketches outdoors (they're useful indoors though). For more considered and deliberate work, one of my favorites is silverpoint. Metalpoint is a different animal entirely, required slow and considered application of the stylus with a very deliberate attitude and effort. Silverpoint is slow. Watercolor can be quick.

Hoff, "Spruce in the Snow," silverpoint on gesso panel, 4x6

The silverpoint drawing posted above was finished near the end of January on a cold, grey and slightly snowy day following a big storm. A spruce in the copse of trees across Druid Hill Creek from my studio was draped in snow and the surrounding woods had gone ghostly and pale in the slightly misty-foggy air. It was challenging (as silverpoint can often be) to achieve appropriate value separation, but in the end things often come together. This one is part of a series of silverpoints I've been making this winter. The medium is challenging but rewards diligence with improving skills. My current plan is to make this into an occasional series.

The other thing I've been doing with these silverpoints is trying out small gesso panels as substrates. So far the gesso works like a dream for drawing with metals Nonetheless, this ground accepts the metal readily and provides enough tooth and substance to allow for decent value separations. Gold is softer and may be even better on this surface, but that remains in the future.

Hoff, "Snowy Banks Downstream," watercolor on gesso panel, 4x6

Watercolor was the primary medium I used last month, for reasons already mentioned. One of the best views of the snowy outdoors is north, downstream, on the creek so I sorted out a few to post.

This first watercolor from early in the month (left) was done on the same sort of gesso panel as the silverpoint above. Normally my watercolor support is one kind of paper or another, often in small sketchbooks. But given the number of gesso panels in the studio, it occurred to me that those might serve as good substrates for water media. The surface is quite absorbent, as one would expect, and accepts watercolor readily. Because this was an experiment I used a tiny 4x6 panel that had been stained by something in the studio long ago. The subject was the snowy banks of Druid Hill Creek, downstream. As a test it served well, as a painting? Perhaps. In my eyes at least the yellow stains actually enhance the work.

Hoff, "Snow Day," watercolor on paper, 5x7

For comparison, a couple of other watercolors on paper are interesting. The first is the same downstream view I've used so often in these paintings, this time after that same heavy snowfall that left the spruce tree above so snow-draped. This composition ignored the trees along the left bank to emphasize instead the depths of the snow in the creek bed and tantalize the eye into the grey distance. The light was flat and diffuse that day.

The last of January gave us a return of sunshine and warmth. The snow began to recede, the creek thawed and flowed dark like coffee between banks of marshmallow dollops. In the 5x7 watercolor at the left, you can see lumps of snow standing in the creek and the water is open and reflective. The sun catches distant patches of grey-gold grasses and trees and promises us light and warmth and spring. Tra la.

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Metalpoint