I get so irked when people who do not draw or paint in a realistic fashion say this to me! It is disingenuous.
First of all, what they are really doing is intentionally denigrating those who DO wish to take on the challenging task of learning to draw and paint WELL in a realistic fashion. They are doing this because they themselves do not have the desire, interest, mental fortitude, patience, perseverance and a multitude of other generally considered desirable qualities, to be able to do this themselves. It is a very different thing if someone who IS capable of drawing well realistically chooses to go a more "abstract" path, but this from the mouth of someone who hasn't got a clue what they are talking about is really just sour grapes. NO ONE would every confuse a Rembrandt or even a Bouguereau with a photograph. They are so much more than a photograph. Even hours spent applying Photoshop effects to a photo, which is a kind of artistry, could NOT yield works such as those masters.
This kind of work takes great technical skill as a starting point only and that technical skill takes huge effort and years to achieve. But that is just the basic skill. Artistry in painting and drawing is not about copying a photographic image perfectly. Those of you who are labouring to achieve "artistry" in drawing and painting understand this. The lazy bones who either haven't tried or have given up, don't get it and are just giving themselves an excuse for being lazy.
A much more honest comment would be something like
" I wish I had the chops to draw and paint professionally, but I don't. I love to make marks on paper and canvas and play with colour and that's about all I will ever be able to do because I don't have the attention span to do it differently. This is safe for me because there are no real standards for "doing your own thing" and I can have fun without really being judged. Of course there are millions more like me out there so the market is glutted with this stuff and I can't really expect to sell much or for much money because no one can say that mine is better than the next guy's because, well, there are no standards. Of course if I had attended the "right" art school at a young age and had orchestrated an outrageous appearance and demeanor, then I might have been recruited by the "AVANT-GARDE ART BUSINESS MACHINE" and marketed to a very susceptible affluent art-collecting public. Then I could have been the flavour-of-the-month for a few years and cleaned up and laughed all the way to the bank."
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Monday, March 4, 2013
No Complaints, about some things
Just reporting in on the results of the Art for All Canada conference yesterday.
I had a small group to start with and the numbers blossomed toward the end, though I suspect that was in preparation for the speaker following me: Ms. Nancy Campbell, a curator of the Inuit Art Collection at the AGO.
I took a brief survey and found that only a single member of my audience had ever heard of SketchUp prior to my presentation. My goal was to "share the love" and let other artists in on this fabulous FREE tool. I believe, I hope, that I managed to generate some interest. Certainly I was stopped a few times after the session and informed that it was enjoyable.
ASIDE: I stayed to listen to the presentation of the above mentioned Ms. Campbell who gave us an informative and interesting presentation on the manner in which the AGO selects artists to promote.
I screwed up my nerve and asked her a difficult question. I suggested that it could not possibly have escaped the curators at the AGO that over the last 25 years there has been a gathering storm of realist artists who are demanding equal recognition. The number of ateliers and academies which are attempting to build on the lost skills of 19th century is proliferating. I asked if the AGO had any plans to recognize this huge and hitherto ignored section of the art arena. I expressed dismay that the enormous rewards granted by the annual Sobey's Prize and RBC Prize for fine artists, completely disregards, and thus implies the irrelevance of, contemporary realists. Ms. Campbell indicated that she really really did not know because her work is concentrated on Inuit Art.
In support of my question, a member of the audience mentioned the work of the Art Renewal Center as a significant move forward. I suggested that that was the self-interest of a single benefactor and that he clearly has made no impact on the AGO. Ms. Campbell showing interest, asked for the name of the organization and wrote down the name of the website indicating she had not heard of them. I suggested that that, exactly, was the problem. ( privately I later asked her if she was familiar with Toronto's Academy of Realist Art, and she said that indeed she was. Happy about that.)
But I digress. Watch for the tutorials on SketchUp for Fine Artists in the coming days!
I had a small group to start with and the numbers blossomed toward the end, though I suspect that was in preparation for the speaker following me: Ms. Nancy Campbell, a curator of the Inuit Art Collection at the AGO.
I took a brief survey and found that only a single member of my audience had ever heard of SketchUp prior to my presentation. My goal was to "share the love" and let other artists in on this fabulous FREE tool. I believe, I hope, that I managed to generate some interest. Certainly I was stopped a few times after the session and informed that it was enjoyable.
ASIDE: I stayed to listen to the presentation of the above mentioned Ms. Campbell who gave us an informative and interesting presentation on the manner in which the AGO selects artists to promote.
I screwed up my nerve and asked her a difficult question. I suggested that it could not possibly have escaped the curators at the AGO that over the last 25 years there has been a gathering storm of realist artists who are demanding equal recognition. The number of ateliers and academies which are attempting to build on the lost skills of 19th century is proliferating. I asked if the AGO had any plans to recognize this huge and hitherto ignored section of the art arena. I expressed dismay that the enormous rewards granted by the annual Sobey's Prize and RBC Prize for fine artists, completely disregards, and thus implies the irrelevance of, contemporary realists. Ms. Campbell indicated that she really really did not know because her work is concentrated on Inuit Art.
In support of my question, a member of the audience mentioned the work of the Art Renewal Center as a significant move forward. I suggested that that was the self-interest of a single benefactor and that he clearly has made no impact on the AGO. Ms. Campbell showing interest, asked for the name of the organization and wrote down the name of the website indicating she had not heard of them. I suggested that that, exactly, was the problem. ( privately I later asked her if she was familiar with Toronto's Academy of Realist Art, and she said that indeed she was. Happy about that.)
But I digress. Watch for the tutorials on SketchUp for Fine Artists in the coming days!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Speaking at "Art for All Canada"
Today I am inaugurating a new version of my blog. After an embarrassing hiatus of 4 years (I've been busy flying across Canada teaching SketchUp) I am picking it up again with a new bent. I will personally be focusing on my Fine Art work henceforth, but I would like to be able to share my secret weapon with the Fine Arts community. I have been using SketchUp for everything from planning the seating arrangement at a party, to reorganizing my furniture and foremost, to generate thumbnails for my planned art work.
In this spirit, I offered my services to, and I am thrilled to have been invited by, +Sheila Mitchell to speak at the 2103 Art For All Canada conference at 10AM Sunday, March 3. My topic is "Eliminate the Grunt Work in Planning Your Art: Use SketchUp™.
In the days following the conference, I intend to publish here, the material I am covering there. Ideally I will be covering one helpful hint per day. I am inviting all Fine Artists to add their two cents. If anyone would like to share some great way they have found for using SketchUp in preparing their art work, I would love to hear of it and include it on this blog. I especially invite my friend +Jim Leggit of Drawing Shortcuts and the many fine renderers, such as+Daniel Tal of SketchUp Artists to participate.
However, all matters regarding Fine Art are fair game, despite the title, and I am likely to go off on tangents that are of interest to me.
I should add, that, for the purposes of gaining self-discipline, I just recently completed an 8 month Art Fundamentals program at Seneca@York. It was a mind-blowing, shocking amount of work and I cheated profusely by making ample use of SketchUp. I am including below the very first assignment in my very first class: Colour Theory. This was to use my "Personal Colour" preferences and is executed in Acryla Gouache. The thumbnails are from SketchUp, the finished piece is 14" x 11".
In this spirit, I offered my services to, and I am thrilled to have been invited by, +Sheila Mitchell to speak at the 2103 Art For All Canada conference at 10AM Sunday, March 3. My topic is "Eliminate the Grunt Work in Planning Your Art: Use SketchUp™.
In the days following the conference, I intend to publish here, the material I am covering there. Ideally I will be covering one helpful hint per day. I am inviting all Fine Artists to add their two cents. If anyone would like to share some great way they have found for using SketchUp in preparing their art work, I would love to hear of it and include it on this blog. I especially invite my friend +Jim Leggit of Drawing Shortcuts and the many fine renderers, such as+Daniel Tal of SketchUp Artists to participate.
However, all matters regarding Fine Art are fair game, despite the title, and I am likely to go off on tangents that are of interest to me.
I should add, that, for the purposes of gaining self-discipline, I just recently completed an 8 month Art Fundamentals program at Seneca@York. It was a mind-blowing, shocking amount of work and I cheated profusely by making ample use of SketchUp. I am including below the very first assignment in my very first class: Colour Theory. This was to use my "Personal Colour" preferences and is executed in Acryla Gouache. The thumbnails are from SketchUp, the finished piece is 14" x 11".
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| SketchUp Thumbnails: Personal Colour |
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| Personal Color Acryla Gouache |
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Rockwell: Brushstrokes & Textures
More on my Norman Rockwell observations from the exhibit mentioned previously.
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In other works I it was clear that Rockwell had under-painted the folds in clothing with a sepia smear of thin colour that allowed much of the grain of the canvas to break through. Then, next to the darkness of the depression in the fold, he would paint a thick light swath of paint representing the relief of the fabric. Rockwell cleverly emphasized the impression of depth in the fold not only by the obvious difference in colouring but also in a difference in the density of paint as well as creating an actual physical difference in the “height” of the applied painting, in fact creating visual shadows to fall into the fold from the edge of the paint. I could not find a reproduction of the painting where this was the most evident, but it can be seen in the detail from “ The Problem We All Live With” where it is also used.
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In other works I it was clear that Rockwell had under-painted the folds in clothing with a sepia smear of thin colour that allowed much of the grain of the canvas to break through. Then, next to the darkness of the depression in the fold, he would paint a thick light swath of paint representing the relief of the fabric. Rockwell cleverly emphasized the impression of depth in the fold not only by the obvious difference in colouring but also in a difference in the density of paint as well as creating an actual physical difference in the “height” of the applied painting, in fact creating visual shadows to fall into the fold from the edge of the paint. I could not find a reproduction of the painting where this was the most evident, but it can be seen in the detail from “ The Problem We All Live With” where it is also used. 
Also evident in this detail are 2 other effects that I noted. One, Rockwell made liberal use of charcoal in both his under drawing and often over top the painting as well.
The folds are outlined in charcoal. In some paintings the shadow detail of the fold is not only outlined it is suggested with gentle charcoal hatching, thus creating a mixed media work.
In his painting “The Brass Merchant” the dark outline around the white suit of the woman is actually a dark charcoal edge.
Also evident from the detail of the “Problem We All Live With” is that in many paintings, Rockwell must have first applied a very heavy textured ground before he drew on his cartoon and started to paint. This entire image is heavily textured in life. As though a house painter had prepared a faux stone or stucco wall in miniature. The texture is apparent throughout, not just where the stone of the wall is represented but also in the clothing of the men, though those are somewhat smoothed over.
The paint in the stone work is not only textured, there is also evidence that Rockwell applied many techniques making use of the relief in the texture of the paint such as applying a coat of glaze and then rubbing off allowing colour to collect in the crevices. The sidewalk area has been textured in quite a different way.
In another painting it was very evident that Rockwell had sprinkled sand quite densely into the paint, allowed it to dry and glazed over it.
Many of the paintings showed severe cracking. Rockwell himself had explained that, in an unorthodox fashion, he would alternate paint layers with varnish layers, often, in deference to his deadlines, without allowing adequate drying time. The layers of varnish would allow him to use turpentine to remove dried paint when he was unhappy with his progress without disturbing the portion under the varnish, with which he was contented.
I have always loved Rockwell’s work from his most saccharine to his most politically poignant but I had no idea to what degree he experimented with paint. Visiting this exhibit was a real education.
Rockwell, The Impressionist
I was completely surprised to find that Rockwell’s oil paintings ( see post below regarding the Norman Rockwell retrospective exhibit I attended) were not the smooth textured, tightly painted works I expected from the miniaturized reproductions I have seen.
In fact, Rockwell’s canvases are quite large: on average around 50” x 40” . This allowed him to fit in a great deal of detail as well as to paint far more broadly; sometimes almost in an Impressionist manner, than one would be led to believe in the apparent “tightness” of the reduced images we do get to see. For instance see the detail area of the white cloth on the pants of Abe Lincoln in his painting “ Lincoln for the Defense”. In the painting it all reads as rumpled white cloth but close up it is just dabs of colour.
Note also a detail of the sleeve. Neither the reduced image of the entire painting nor the close up detail shows it for what I saw in person. The ruddy shadowed areas in the folds on the sleeve in life are very hard edged, dry brushed streaks of bright burgundy paint. There is no effort at all to soften and blend them into the folds. In fact, they look a little stark in real life. Rockwell clearly painted with the foreknowledge that his work was going to be shown in reduced format and he understood how his strokes would appear when presented that way.In many paintings I noted faces that were created with streaks of unblended colour that look absolutely tight and precise when the image is reduced
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Scrutinizing Rockwell in Fort Lauderdale
While it appears I have abandoned this blog, that is not the case. I had limited energy in the UK to create daily posts and no internet connectivity in Croatia. Upon returning home I succumbed to a 5 week illness and a major family project that prevented me from posting. I do wish to cover subjects of artistic reference regarding my trip and I will return to that at a later time. For the time, I would like to post on artistic matters that are more current.
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I am currently in Miami Beach and I was fortunate to catch the travelling exhibit “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell “ at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
Rockwell is one of my heroes and I scrutinized his paintings closely. So closely in fact that I was accosted by one of the guards towards the end ( thankfully) of a 3 hour visit and told to step away from the paintings and maintain a 4 foot distance. I thought this was outrageous since, as a perpetual student of art, this would not allow me to study the brush strokes from such a distance. Accordingly, I filled out a comment card complaining bitterly informing the powers that be, both verbally and in writing actually, that at the National Gallery in London, an institution much more august than theirs, I was allowed to examine paintings closely.
The irony is that the image used on the home page advertising the exhibit, and indeed one of the paintings in the exhibit, is Rockwell’s “The Art Critic” showing an individual almost nose to nose with a Gallery painting examining it closely with a magnifying glasss.
During the 2 hours and 45 minutes where I was able to get a good look, I made a number of mental notes and really learned a lot about how Rockwell achieved his effects. More about that in the next post.
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I am currently in Miami Beach and I was fortunate to catch the travelling exhibit “American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell “ at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art.
Rockwell is one of my heroes and I scrutinized his paintings closely. So closely in fact that I was accosted by one of the guards towards the end ( thankfully) of a 3 hour visit and told to step away from the paintings and maintain a 4 foot distance. I thought this was outrageous since, as a perpetual student of art, this would not allow me to study the brush strokes from such a distance. Accordingly, I filled out a comment card complaining bitterly informing the powers that be, both verbally and in writing actually, that at the National Gallery in London, an institution much more august than theirs, I was allowed to examine paintings closely.
The irony is that the image used on the home page advertising the exhibit, and indeed one of the paintings in the exhibit, is Rockwell’s “The Art Critic” showing an individual almost nose to nose with a Gallery painting examining it closely with a magnifying glasss.
During the 2 hours and 45 minutes where I was able to get a good look, I made a number of mental notes and really learned a lot about how Rockwell achieved his effects. More about that in the next post.
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Sunday, October 18, 2009
Beware the Ides of October
Well, sort of. My problems didn't exactly occur on the 15th of October but in and around.
I'm sure that it can well be imagined that there is a great deal of preparation involved in a 2-1/2 week trip to the UK and Croatia. What with the luggage allowance being so low now and 2 different weather situations to pack for, it is difficult enough. Add to that the fact that I have never done any plein air painting before and I have to plan and add materials for that and you have chaos. Not only do I need materials for plein air painting, I will take additional supplies for in class instruction. The list of materials requirements is extensive and I really don't know how I will be able to pack everything within the weight restrictions.
Now add two more little things. In the midst of all this planning and shopping for things and packing and preparing my 17 year old son and 19 year old daughter to fend for themselves, I lost 2 full long days in helping out with a family legal/financial emergency just before Oct 15. Then the piece de resistance yesterday, Oct 17, I spent the morning writhing in agony and the entire afternoon in Emergency: Kidney Stone. Still hasn't passed though the pain is gone but I have a prescription for major pain medication to take on the plane with me tomorrow night just in case.
Didn't really need this now. Anyway, next post will be on the art materials I have decided to take and how I improvised what needed. Perhaps that will be of some use to someone else planning a plein air holiday.
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About an hour after I finished this entry, the pain came back. My son ran out to get my my prescription of Morphine pills. It has been a day marked with last minute shopping, pain, more shopping, pain, packing. Not a fun way to start off my trip.
I'm sure that it can well be imagined that there is a great deal of preparation involved in a 2-1/2 week trip to the UK and Croatia. What with the luggage allowance being so low now and 2 different weather situations to pack for, it is difficult enough. Add to that the fact that I have never done any plein air painting before and I have to plan and add materials for that and you have chaos. Not only do I need materials for plein air painting, I will take additional supplies for in class instruction. The list of materials requirements is extensive and I really don't know how I will be able to pack everything within the weight restrictions.
Now add two more little things. In the midst of all this planning and shopping for things and packing and preparing my 17 year old son and 19 year old daughter to fend for themselves, I lost 2 full long days in helping out with a family legal/financial emergency just before Oct 15. Then the piece de resistance yesterday, Oct 17, I spent the morning writhing in agony and the entire afternoon in Emergency: Kidney Stone. Still hasn't passed though the pain is gone but I have a prescription for major pain medication to take on the plane with me tomorrow night just in case.
Didn't really need this now. Anyway, next post will be on the art materials I have decided to take and how I improvised what needed. Perhaps that will be of some use to someone else planning a plein air holiday.
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About an hour after I finished this entry, the pain came back. My son ran out to get my my prescription of Morphine pills. It has been a day marked with last minute shopping, pain, more shopping, pain, packing. Not a fun way to start off my trip.
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