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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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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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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Winter Still Life

When the weather closes in here in flyover land, many of us hunker down in our studios and work on something besides outdoor landscapes. One of my fascinations for years has been how light bends and shimmers as it passes through glass and liquids, reflects off a surface or submerges into shadows. Still life is a particularly good way to look at those things, so when winter takes hold, work moves indoors.

During the past month or so much of my studio time has been devoted to still life paintings from setups. I use a still life stage that can be draped and set up in whatever way you want. These two paintings are oil on panel, both 9x12. 

Hoff, "Olive Jar and Squeeze Bottle," oil on panel, 9x12

Sometimes still life paintings are put together with an agenda--that is, there is a point to be made. For example the vanitas format that was popular in the 16h century incorporates various objects that are intended to produce reflections on mortality and evanescence when viewed--bubbles, skulls, smoke, etc. But some still life is just a selection of objects arranged in a certain way, as Giorgio Morandi, the Italian painter of the 20th century did. These were for practice and contain no hidden narrative or metaphor.

For the first (above) I put a jar of olives and a plastic squeeze bottle on a blue cloth, and lighted them from the right. The glass reflected light while the plastic bottle diffused it so there were varying opportunities to study the light as it passed through and how the fluid inside was highlighted. Although the objects are hardly traditional, the study was productive for me.

Hoff, "Pellegrino Bottle," oil on panel, 9x12

The second still life, like the first, was an arrangement of objects on a cloth, this time a bright red one. The tall green bottle was interesting because green is the complement of red, causing the bottle to stand out. The silver cup and lemon were actually inventions--that is they did not exist, only the bottle and cloth were in the setup. The light came from the same direction and about the same angle though. In this one the hardest part was establishing the solidity and transparency of the bottle against the cloth. I did that by varying values, edges, and color mixes as the painting progressed. In the end it feels like a success.

So winter is a busy time for a painter, too. But until the weather warms, it's the studio for me.

A Year on Druid Hill Creek

Organizing files from the past year or so, it occurred to me that there are quite a few watercolor sketches of Druid Hill Creek from each season, although spring and summer predominate. Since it's icy, snowy, cold, and generally dreary now in northern flyover land, it was therapeutic to see more cheerful yellows and greens, if only on watercolor paper. As you might expect, a number of watercolors were done from the same or similar viewpoint of the scene around the studio. One of my favorites is looking downstream (North) along Druid Hill Creek. The creek empties into the Raccoon River, which in turn joins the Des Moines River a couple of miles farther on. The Des Moines is a tributary of the Mississippi River, joining the great water where Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois meet at the corner of our state. A connection to the great waters of the world.

"Spring on Druid Hill Creek"

This view of our creek is what I see from one of the studio windows. The creek runs due north here for perhaps a quarter mile, bounded by scrub trees and honeysuckle undergrowth. Last spring, as the honeysuckle was bursting into leaf I did this 6x8 watercolor while standing at that window. The advancing season made beautiful light in the new growth and on the surface of the water.

"Late, Lush Summer"

The foliage along a creek becomes lush and thick by late summer. When I painted the view again in September (above) the undergrowth was bushy and almost impenetrable, overshadowing the creek banks and engulfing the trees. The deep blue summer sky reflected of the surface with a kind of shimmering effect that was a real delight to watch and attempt to capture in paint. 

"Early Snow, November 11"

Less than two months later, in early November, came an early and wet snowfall. The late warmth this year had kept the honeysuckle in leaf until the snow covered the foliage. Afterward it melted quickly leaving the still green leaves hanging limp. The sky stayed dark the creek even more so and ended the warm weather. From then until now, two more months farther along the calendar, the weather has been mostly very cold with periodic snowfall.

During the last few days, snow has been falling like flour from a sifter--granular flakes so fine you almost miss them unless you look closely against a dark background. The snowy air had meant that these days have been grey and unfocused, not so cold as before but cold enough to encourage the snow and warm enough to make it heavy and wet the way it often is in springtime. But this is only January, and we have a long way to go until then.

"Snow Day on Druid Hill Creek"

The final watercolor of this seasonal set is the same view looking northward yesterday. Days of snowfall have covered the banks and fogged the distant trees. Lumps of thick heavy snow cover honeysuckle and other growth. The creekbed is filled with several inches of snow over the frozen surface, and the undergrowth that shows is only stems and sticks. The trees along the banks are skeletal, and bare, dormant as the world makes its turn around the sun. 

Doing a series paintings of the same subject in sequence is fascinating, as many others have shown in the past couple of centuries.

Metalpoint

Drawing with metal is an ancient method of making marks. In Roman times, lead rods were used to write letters and keep records. In the Medieval period, lead and silver and other metals were used to write and to draw. Today, metalpoint drawing--usually with silver--is undergoing something of a rebirth. Silverpoint, in particular is being used more and more for drawing and for multimedia art.

Leonardo daVinci, "Warrior in a Helmet," silverpoint,ca. 1475

In my practice, metalpoint drawings have had a place for more than a decade. Because silver marks are darker and cooler I prefer silver to goldpoint, although gold makes beautiful, warm strokes. Silver marks age to a mellow color as the silver oxidizes, which appeals to me more. As is the case with other media, some of my past work was copying masters like daVinci and others. One of the attractions of the medium is the fine and delicate linework that can result. In daVinci's profile of a warrior in a helmet you can see the extremely fine lines and subtle hatching that have attracted artists for centuries.

Hoff, "Study of Tree Roots after Constable," silverpoint

Lately my metalpoint drawings have been landscapes, a subject that isn't common for the medium. Some, like the study of a tree were done to study the work of a particular artist (John Constable, right), or as personal exercises. The fine lines of silver seem well-suited to the sinuous grain of wood and offer opportunities to study line weight and thickness, methods of shading and hatching and other techniques. Constable's drawing was made in pencil in the 1830s.

Hoff, "Tree Out Back," silverpoint

Some of my landscapes were done on the spot, rather like doing plein air painting. The drawing at left was done after a big snowstorm which left the landscape very nearly monochromatic. I tried in this particular drawing to use variations in edges to set the scene, with the two trees in the foreground being in sharper focus.

Hoff, "Rosebud," silverpoint

Besides landscape I've also done quite a few still life drawings in silverpoint, in particular floral studies. Flowers and flower buds, especially rosebuds, offer great opportunities for the silverpoint artist owing to the delicacy of the petals and leaves. And while metalpoint is monochromatic, the absence of color seems to matter very little. Instead I find myself marveling at the structure of these evanescent beauties.

The medium of metalpoint forces deliberate and careful drawing, mostly owing to the difficulty with effacing any metal marks. Many sources claim that silverpoint is not erasable, but in actuality that depends on the heaviness of the marks and the support surface. If the support is solid and the priming thick enough you can erase metalpoint with very fine grit sandpaper, applied with a very light touch. Regardless, the best results are obtained without such maneuvers.






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Exotic Pets

The dreadful news that cheetahs from Africa are being poached and captured to serve as exotic pets for the internationally wealthy is the motive behind posting today. The cheetah is dwindling in numbers although not yet listed as endangered. These undeniably beautiful animals are being crowded out of habitat, poached and hunted, and captured to become rich peoples' pets. Shame on humanity.

This digital painting was done with a Wacom tablet and Sketchbook.

Painful Portraits

Edvard Munch, "The Sick Child," oil on canvas, 1885

Many family portraits are done for practice, as I mentioned in the previous post. Young artists from Degas to Dali did portraits of family when they were young aspiring artists. Of course, many were and are made not as formal portraits the way commissions are, but more as personal views of the individuals depicted. Such portraits seek something innate of the individual to suggest or depict. Many are celebratory. Some portraits, though, are made to work through feelings or ideas. Edvard Munch painted his beloved older sister when she was mortally ill with tuberculosis, for example. Some are grieving posthumous portraits like Claude Monet did ("Camille on her Deathbed"). Whatever the family circumstance, these are difficult paintings to see.

In my own archives are two family portraits that are painful but provide good examples of  work. They were done as meditations on each of the two family members, as ways of exploring feelings and triggering memories. Each of these remains in my own private collection. One is a sort of premonition and the other is posthumous. The first is an oil portrait of one of my brothers, who now has significant pulmonary disease. This portrait, painted from sketches and personal references, was done years before his disease progressed but after its ravages had already begun. He is pale and grey-pink--he had begun to fade away before our eyes, even then. Today he looks more like this portrait than ever and he lives on constant oxygen.

Hoff, "Portrait of the Artist's Brother," oil on panel, 12x16

The second portrait is actually a drawing rather than a painting. So far in my own practice I've only made a single posthumous work, the silverpoint drawing posted below. Although it is titled "The Dying Woman" and not called a portrait, the drawing is based on sketches of my mother's final weeks of suffering from metastatic lung cancer.

Hoff, "The Dying Woman," silverpoint, 8x6

Common to each of these, the cause of disease was cigarette smoking.

Portraits of Family

Durer (attrib), "The Artist's Father at 70,"oil on panel, 1497

Painters have always made images of their family members. We have examples of family portraits and family likenesses dating to at least the time of Albrecht Durer and certainly examples abound from before that. Many painters resorted to family members for sitters as a convenience, no others being available, perhaps. Some, like Lucian Freud, painted numerous family members.

Hoff, "Portrait of Kerry," digital

In my own case, family portraits have been an interesting part of my work. Over the years I've made portraits of family as gifts, as experiments, as personal studies, and sometimes as memories. A few weeks ago one of my brothers died suddenly, and during the first days afterward my initial instinct was to produce a drawing--a digitalium made on an iPad--based part in memory and part in a couple of reference photos. He was nearly seventy, usually in good humor and smiling, with a little gleam in his eye. This portrait is a memorial, and as such idealizes the subject somewhat because I wanted to show his general good humor and slightly cynical take on the world. This drawing, done only a few days after my brother's passing, may serve as fuel for an oil portrait. Time will tell. 

Hoff, "Portrait of Bill," oil on canvas.

Other portraits of my family date to several years ago, and all were done in oil paint using standard methods. In almost all cases, these images show family members and were gifted. One of my favorites is this portrait of my mother's husband, from about a decade ago. This oil on canvas was a gift to my mother and Bill not long after their late-life marriage. It is a relatively large work at 20x16, the largest portrait of this format in my portfolio.

Hoff, "Portrait of C.B." oil on panel.

A number of years earlier came this posthumous portrait of my sister, based on a high-school graduation photograph. Like the portrait of Bill, this one was a gift to her widower, and dates to more than a decade ago.

Neither of these would be acceptable as commissioned portraits, and instead represent either my personal vision of the individual or were done as mementos of a remembered life. Although artists of the past did family members from life sittings (certainly they did so before the mid-19th century), none of mine was done from life but instead from reference materials. Perhaps life sittings ought to be next.

White Rhino

Another in my endangered species series is "Rosie the Rhino," a sketch of a Northern white rhinoceros altered to show sadness at the impending demise of her species. It fascinates me how very tiny additions can provide substantial emotional content. The Northern white rhinoceros is down to two remaining females while the Southern white rhino is the most numerous of all rhinos.

Refractions and Reflections

Hoff, "Morning Light," oil on panel, 6x8, 2010

Still life in the studio during the colder months gives the chance to practice--in my work these last few days and weeks I've begun to re-explore an old interest--light, glass, and water.

Studying the way light is reflected and refracted by glass and water and what that alteration of light does to various objects is an endlessly engaging pursuit. Part of my previous sketch series of Windowsill Works involved in studying just that (right). The way light changes from morning to afternoon is particularly fascinating.

Hoff, "Two Bottles," oil on panel, 6x8

So here are a couple of small oil paintings done in a similar format to that long-ago series. These are part of increasing work in tangible materials rather than pixels. While digital drawing, and to a lesser extent, painting, provide great opportunities for quick and simple practice, there is simply nothing like working with real materials. These paintings in oil were done on small supports with a generally short time limit. The short time limit is to promote simplification, simple strokes, and an attitude of "place a stroke and leave it alone," which in turn promotes more calculating observation and mark-making. In these I've explored composition, trying to make brush strokes simple and varying edges to emphasize areas of interest. "Two Bottles," was the first of these re-examinations. I softened and blended edges, especially in the background, to make the green bottle stand out. Likewise the golden bottle has few hard edges.

Hoff, "Two Bottles Too," oil on panel, 6x8

Sometimes it's reflections that strike my interest, as in the windowsill painting of two bottles, one in shadow and one in bright light (below). In this painting, it was important to me to study the way light was reflected from various contrasting surfaces in the green bottle. The bottle on the left was in a beam of sunshine, and glowed brightly in contrast to the green one. Here again one of the goals was to work on edges.

Hoff, "Water Bottle," oil on panel, 6x8

One more bottle in this series is another translucent plastic water bottle (below). In this case my main effort was an accurate study of the water within, and how it reflected and bent the sunbeam streaming onto my studio table from the left. The drawing was less important than the light, but again edges were an important part of this work. In this case, too, I painted into a couch, an ultra-thin layer of linseed oil, which alters how paint handles.

As January proceeds, I'm hoping to do at least one small painting every day, although I'm already a bit behind. More to come.

Fearful Symmetry

Hoff, "Burning Bright," digital painting

The days are lengthening, more light and more warmth are coming and despite the cold we can feel the turn of the seasons edging forward. And the calendar shifts once more. It is the time of New Year for refocusing and reassessing, for squaring shoulders and redoubled determination. "Onward," in other words.

For me, this year will mean more painting in the real world while continuing to learn and make more digital works. The first digital work of this infant new year is this painting of an Amur tiger, the world's largest cat (males average more than 400 lb.). Formerly called the Siberian tiger, these animals are nearing extinction, sadly, with only a few hundred remaining individuals. These are utterly awesome creatures, beautiful and deadly.
One of my goals for this year is to do a series of digital paintings highlighting the beauty and tragedy of the dwindling animal world.