Searching for Subjects

The quest for subject matter is often tough for artists of any kind. You hear quite often about writer's block and of course visual artists may go through a similar phase. When a person begins to make pictures the question of "what" may become enormous. When you're learning, the teacher sets the subject--figures, still life, portrait and so on. After that, unless artists are employed or commissioned, they're on their own. So, the question becomes "what on earth do I paint?" A better question might be how to jump-start the creative process. Here are things recommended by others that have been useful in my own art making.

Hoff, "NIfty '50," watercolor and ink on paper

Hoff, "Rambo," graphite on paper, 2007

• Try a different medium. Painting for me was always oils until about 25 years ago after a hiatus. Instead of picking up the same old palette I began using watercolor. The intense involvement in learning the medium meant producing many works. 
• Look in your sketchbooks. Granted, this idea presupposes that you've been a sketcher, so perhaps the idea should be to keep one. Nonetheless, if you've been a regular sketcher, it can be instructive to see what sorts of things have continually attracted attention. That level of interest can call for paintings, too. 
• Think about what kinds of paintings you enjoy. Do you like hyper-real images like those from photorealism, or do you prefer abstract works? Nothing prevents you giving each of your favorite forms of painting a try. 
• Adopt a regular painting (and drawing) habit. If possible, consider a daily routine of drawing and/or painting. When it becomes habit, stopping is much more difficult, for one thing. For another, daily work begits more work. 

Hoff, "Cubist Skull," oil on panel, 2010

These three images are examples of the results of strategies mentioned. "Nifty '50" was one of my early watercolors. As an incentive to keep going I participated in an online project to exchange watercolor postcards. The system was to send each other a postcard watercolor by mail so that in the end each participant received perhaps a half dozen tiny paintings. The car was one that I mailed.

The drawing of "Rambo," is a graphite rendering of a big, fluffy cat owned by a friend. She asked if I'd be interested in doing a painting of her kitty. I agreed but wanted a chance to draw the animal first.

Finally, "Cubist Skull" came out of a challenge to do something completely out of my comfort zone. Since abstraction is unknown territory, it seemed a stretch to produce a cubist piece. I used a previous drawing of a skull, employed the darker umber and sienna palette, and made this 9x12 oil.

Although none are posted here, those who have read the blog will remember many small oils called "Windowsill Works" that came about because I adopted a regular daily schedule for making them. And of course today my routine always includes a drawing or two, whether digital or otherwise.

In sum. finding subject matter is daunting sometimes, but doesn't have to be. Draw and paint on a regular schedule, try new media, break out of old routines and paint something new.

---
Related:
Windowsill Works Once More
Sketchbook Searches
Abstraction Cubism and All That

Drawing with Graphite

One of the things that makes a difference in the work of art is drawing practice. The more you practice the more accomplished you become. A lot of people, especially those with limited time, don't practice as much as needed because of inconvenience. When you don't have much time and yor materials are special and need to be set up, it becomes less and less likely you'll actually draw.

The old schoolboy method of drawing is the easiest way I know to practice. All you need is paper--any kind--and a common number 2 pencil and you can draw as long as both hold out. The thing about graphite and paper is that we don't put much value or importance on either one so you can forget about making "art" and just draw. These materials are cheap, easy to find, and disposable.You can give yourself permission to let go of whatever inhibits your hand and simply draw. Convenience is key.

Hoff, "Stewart Smoking," graphite on paper, 1990s

Here's a spontaneous drawing of an old friend smoking a cigar. Stewart was well over 90 but every morning after breakfast he would sit on the front porch and smoke his single cigar of the day. We were visiting so he and I spent several pleasant mornings on that porch. I sketched him very quickly one day while he ruminated on life and puffed away. I save this particular sketch because it reminds me of his puckish sense of humor and the sharp scent of tobacco smoke. A fond memory.

Another fond memory is in this drawing of a restored Ford 1950 F-1 pickup that I once owned. The old truck was painted metallic green and had a solid oak bed. Because it was an antique it had no seat belts, nor was the bench seat adjustable; it was bolted to the floor. In the end it had to be sold because there was no longer a place to store it. I drew this on a piece of printer paper one morning, just for fun. And though I no longer own the truck, the memory is mine.

For anyone who wants to practice drawing, grab a piece of paper and a pencil. Graphite is quick, cheap, and disposable. No worries.

Art and Food

One of my favorite cartoonists, Robert Crumb, has become a superstar because of his famous underground cartoons. But his graphic work--primarily pen and ink--has also been quirky. And Mr. Crumb has published some engaging work. His book Waiting for Food is an example--he drew on restaurant placemats while waiting for his order then turned them into a book.

Hoff, "East Lake Bar & Grill," watercolor and ink

No doubt I was thinking of Mr. Crumb a few years ago when I did "East Lake Bar & Grill" (right). We had gone for lunch in Seattle, near Lake Washington and with time to spare I pulled out a small sketchbook that I had toned with an ochre wash. I drew in the salt and pepper shakers and table menu lightly with pencil, washed color onto the drawing, and stippled in dark pepper grains. Start to finish, probably ten minutes.

Hoff, "Breakfast Prophet," watercolor and ink

A few years later and again in Seattle, I sketched a man who resembled an Old Testament prophet while waiting for our breakfast order. This is about 5x9 in a pocket sketchbook. I drew straight on the paper with a technical pen then laid in washes of color. He was seated next to a window with gold light flowing over his forehead, and that was the most important passage in the whole work. I gave his cheek, nose and hand a wash of red, flowed a dark wash over the table top and called it finished.

Another restaurant lunch found us in a deli with the improbable name "The Shambles," for artisanal cheese and sausage charcuterie and local beer. The large room was pleasant, bright and not too crowded. This time the sketch took place between bites of wonderful musky cheeses and a round, delicious stout. My technique was the same, but without any toning of the paper. The column between our booth and the bar made an interesting compositional problem, separating the women at the window from the barman and customer on the left. It was fun to contrast cool and warm colors in a light-washed scene.

The times for sketching can be short or long, but the thing is to keep doing it. The secret, as it has ever been, is to keep going.

Pandemic Faces 4

As the global coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, people from all parts of life are affected. The governor of Oklahoma, hospital workers, and critics and doubters have all been infected, to name only a handful. Many continue to die. These drawings and postings are a tiny sample of the hundreds of thousands worldwide who have died. The coming months will provide hundreds of thousands more faces and stories. These two are from the last few weeks.

Thomas Macias

Thomas Macias knew he was a higher risk than others because of his diabetes. He was careful to stay home and isolate himself during the early stages of the pandemic. But in May after a partial lifting of restrictions he went to a party, was exposed and died within two weeks. This digital drawing is from his smartphone selfie, which accounts for the barrel distortion that makes his jaw appear large.

Paul Waldron

Like Mr. Macias, the man sketched above was at more than usual risk of severity from the virus. The coronavirus  is certainly no respecter of position or power. Over these past weeks we've seen people in politics and government beginning to test positive for the virus. Paul Waldron, shown in this digital sketch, has been hospitalized in critical condition with covid-19 for weeks, reportedly with sepsis and multiorgan failure. A few weeks back in his capacity as county commissioner in a Florida county he voted against mandatory masking.

For anyone reading this, please wear a mask in public, keep social distancing and good handwashing. For us all.

---
In this series:

Pandemic Faces
More Pandemic Faces
Pandemic Faces Again

Plein Air Last Week

The July weather in flyover land is usually hot and often dry. Last week was no exception with days over ninety degrees and a lot of sunshine. Perfect weather for the plein air painter. I spent two hours on the bank of the Racoon River at a spot where it bends from eastbound to north. The current drops a lot of sand along the southern bank.

That morning was still cool and pleasant when I set up the easel, but the sun was bright enough that I used an umbrella to shade my panel. The river was placid and lazy, the water barely rippled by its current. Upstream the pedestrian bridge leading from Waterworks Park into wilder bike trails glinted in the slanting light and the treetops caught the sun.

Hoff, "Sand Bar on the Racoon," oil on panel, 2020

My 9x12 panel was too white so I washed burnt sienna thinly in areas where the foliage would be in the finished painting, using abundant turpentine. After a few minutes time I dove in with color, massing in the darker shapes of the trees along the left (south) side of the painting and horizontally. For the greens I used a variety of mixes. My primary yellow was cad lemon mixed with cobalt green, cobalt blue, phthalo blue or ivory black, or sometimes combinations. The remainder of my palette is very standard: flake white, cad yellow, raw sienna, yellow ochre, cad red light, naphthol red, burnt sienna, and raw umber. Sometimes I use a medium but more and more often turpentine or a touch of oil is all I use when outdoors.

After massing the main shapes--sky, trees, river--blue, green, variegated--the next steps are shapes in each of the big masses, working hard to match colors and values. Facing north or northwest (as I was that morning) gives the longest time to consider and paint a subject because the light changes less quickly. Even so it changes quite a lot in two hours. The sky and distant trees were nearly finished, and the deep values of the river were roughed in before it wasn't possible to go farther. I snapped a couple of reference shots, made some more color notes, and packed it in. That afternoon, armed with my references I added the details. In particular, the surface reflections of the water went on over the darker passages.

The pandemic rages on, so more outoor painting is in the offing.

---

Related

Along the Racoon

Unfinished

Leonardo da Vinci, "La Scapigliata," oil on wood, ~1507

There is something fascinating about unfinished art. When we see a work that the artisthas left incomplete, for whatever reason, one of the first things that occurs to most people is why. Why didn't the artist finish? What compelled her or him to put it aside in favor of something else? Did the artist mean to return to the piece and couldn't? Some works are simply abandoned, of course. Leonardo da Vinci was notorious for failing to complete works once begun. Even though fewer than 20 paintings are attributed to him, a significant number of those remained unfinished. Leonardo's failure to complete works frustrated and angered his patrons, of course. For those of us who came after him though, the unfinished works provide insights into his working methods and allow us to infer his thought process. In the case of the barely begun "La Scapigliata" (Lady with Tousled Hair), the work was sketched in with rapid strokes of umber and then the features modeled with white. At 8x10 or so the small work is more likely to have been a sketch than anything else, since it is essentially a close up of only a face and shoulder.

Elizabeth Shoumatoff, "FDR unfinished," oil, 1945

Sometimes a work is left incomplete because the painter no longer had access to the subject or scene. A famous example is the unfinished portrait of President Franklin Roosevelt, begun the morning that he died at lunch and left unfinished. She later did a similar finished portrait--half length--essentially from memory.

Alice Neel, "James Hunter," oil on canvas 1965

Another quite famous portrait by Alice Neel remained unfinished for a similar reason--the sitter never returned. Although the portrait was to be a seated, full-length image, she was only able to boldly paint the head and outline the remaineder. The portrait is poignant because the young man had just been drafted and was likely headed for Viet Nam.

Gilbert Stuart, "George Washington," 1796

The last painting for this post is the famous portrait of George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart. The original, life-sitting portrait was left unfinished and used by Stuart as source material for many many copies that he sold for handsome sums. This original is the source of the image of Washington on the U.S. one dollar bill.

So the next time you see an unfinished painting in a museum, stop and take a look. There are fascinating lessons and interesting stories behind those seemingly failed works.

Pencil vs. Pixels

Although I've done scores of digital drawings over the last couple of years my output of drawing traditional form--ink, graphite, charcoal, etc.--has been much smaller. It's true that I've done a dozen or more small metalpoint drawings, but not much in the other media. You might think that skills in graphite or charcoal would get rusty but it doesn't really work that way.

Hoff, "Dad," digital drawing, 2019

Drawing with graphite is a bit like drawing digitally, without some of the manipulations. That is, when you draw with a computer you can then pick up pieces, even big chunks of the result and move them around until the drawing is correct. With graphite or ink, though, the artist has to make his marks correct the first time. That's not to say of course that it always happens like that, but accuracy is the constant goal. If you can get each piece of a drawing right the first time it is easier to move on and get the next part right in graphite. On the other hand, practice is always useful and seeing mistakes and fixing them is the goal of all practice. Still, drawing with traditional media require deeper concentration, in my opinion.

Lately graphite has again caught my interest. In the past year or two when I've drawn studies for possible paintings digital work has been foremost. Again it's because the form is so easy to use, easy to change and correct, and so on. But having a pencil and kneaded eraser in hand, drawing on good quality toned paper, and the need for deep concentration have lured me back. Gradually, without thinking about it very much I've done a number of graphite works. Here are two head studies, both graphite on toned paper highlighted with white chalk. 

Hoff, "Head of a Young Woman," graphite & chalk on paper, 2020

Hoff, "Louise B," graphite & chalk on paper, 2020

An American Hero

These past weeks of anti-racist turmoil after yet another african american man was killed in police custody. The frustration, rage and fervent cries for justice boiled over. There has been much talk about lives that matter. Here is one of the people whose life mattered greatly. A man whose contribution to our shared history is particularly important these days. Frederick Douglass is known by name to many but his entire life history is less known even though it's the stuff of drama.

Hoff, "Frederick Douglass 1856," digital

Frederick Douglass was a true American hero. Born about 1818 into slavery, in Maryland, he managed to escape to Pennsylvania in 1838 after years of beatings, feeling as if he had fled a lion's den, as he said later. He did not know his likely white father and barely remembered his mixed-race mother from whom he was taken in early childhood. He was taught some rudiments of reading by a white mistress, and later taught himself to read by various means. The slave masters of the time feared literacy because, they reasoned, a slave who could read would be more likely to try to escape. Clearly, they were right.

A few years after escaping he wrote the story of his life Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which sold enormously, made him famous, and earned him enough money to buy freedom from his former owner in Maryland. He became famous in Europe and the United States well before the American Civil War. His story was so compelling that he was in wide demand as an erudite and entertaining lecturer and a fiery abolitionist. Moreover, throughout his long life he was an advocate for the rights of women and a devout believer in what he called the "Christianity of the Christ" as opposed to the Christianity of America at that time.

On July 5, 1852 Mr. Douglass delivered a short speech that deserves to be heard as much as Abraham Lincoln's address at Gettysburg ten years afterward. The talk became known as "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Considering the ferment of the times, the talk of secession and conflict, it is an astonishing and chastening speech. In it he says, "This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."

He also says, "The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced."

Those words again ring true.

---
In the video below, James Earl Jones reads the entire speech. It is still well worth a listen.

Independence Day

Hoff, "Uncle Sam 2020," digital drawing

As another Independence Day approaches, we've seen one of our national symbols, Uncle Sam, quite a lot. This is an updating of an old digital drawing I did some years ago. Today, Sam looks more angry and unhappy than in years past.