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.

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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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.

The Carder Method

When I decided to embark on this journey a year ago, I knew that I wanted to work in watercolour but I was also looking for a method that would allow me to apply the "academy" method of drawing and painting to watercolor work.  As mentioned, I had studied at the Academy of Realist Art and I wanted to find some book or home instruction applying those methods to watercolour.  While I found some wonderful artists who create realist watercolours in drybrush, there was no course or manual.  However, I happened upon a wonderful DVD training program by Mark Carder, a successful and well known Oil Portrait Artist.  He has a special technique for speedily training individuals the more physical aspects of drawing and painting.

What I liked about the DVD was that it required a studio set up that I was accustomed to from the Academy: all black walls and floor. Further, the starting exercises are still life paintings set up within a black box.  This was also what was done at the Academy but I never did get to that point. 

Unfortunately I realized, that as a starting position, I couldn't easily adapt the method to watercolour and I would have to do it in oil.  Because I was pre-occupied with watercolour and the formidable studio set up per the DVD, here I am a year later and all I have accomplished is the studio set up and the materials acquisition and preparation.   I do mean to do these exercises as they are going to be invaluable and I will then apply the lessons learned to my "realist watercolours" but it will just have to wait a bit.  In the meantime, as an owner of the DVD, I have been able to participate in the lively, active and informative forum.  Wonderfully helpful individuals all offering advice and help.  Mark Carder himself, is also there to help.

Joe Dowden, Painting Holiday

To hone my watercolour painting skills, I am going on a painting holiday with a much admired watercolour artist, Joe Dowden.

I really love his work.  I discovered him from an instructional book I purchased when I was an architectural illustrator.  His spatter technique for foliage is something I really want to become accomplished at.

I have several practice sheets where I have worked on separate techniques from each section of a complete painting he demonstrates in his books and DVDs. I have many of them

Shown here is a pracitce sheet trying different greens and yellows and techniques for distant sunlit terrain.  Looks odd on its own. Fits really nicely with a sunlit tree laden landscape.

I  leave for the UK on Monday Oct 19 so I can tour around a little before I leave with his group to go to Croatia on the painting holiday.  I have a lot of preparation before I go so I may not post for a while, but I am hoping to post my progress on the painting holiday. I will only post things that are not too horrible so there is a possibility there will be no pictures.

Artist Groups

I have joined 2 different local Artists Groups.  It is a wonderful opportunity to gather information and a wonderful social experience with like minded individuals.

The 2 that I joined are the Willowdale Group of Artists and the Markham Group of Artists.  Both have been around for a long time and are very well organized. I have already attended some free workshops as well as some with a very nominal fee.

I was struck by the preponderance of gray haired individuals and I thougth how sad it is that most artists must wait a life time to allow themselves to pursue their interest.  My next thought was that I really wished that I had known such groups existed when I graduated University.   Since I was not an Art Major, I really didn't know any other artists and had no one to go sketching with or to exchange ideas with.  I am not one of those "solitary" artist types.   Even in my high school art classes, it was never mentioned that these groups exist.  Had I known, I would not have wasted all the intervening years. 

At a recent meeting, there was a model and an instructor for life drawing.  This was free, included in the modest membership fee.  Life drawing is my "thing" but I hadn't attended a life drawing class in 10 years.  You know what they say "use it or lose it" and it is so with drawing as well.  It took a bit but it came back to me.  This was supposed to be a sustained 2 hour pose but the instructor failed to tape off the position of fabrics, appendages etc and after each break, the postions did not match.   I really only had about half an hour on this version of the pose. I tried to pick it up again in the next half hour but her leg had changed, her hand and thumb had changed and I had not yet completed those.  I made a half hearted effort to incorporate the changes and then decided it would ruin the drawing and instead spent the last bit on her lovely face.

Watercolour Practice

Since it has been a number of years since I worked in watercolour, I have decided to do some exercises from some wonderful instructional books.  This one is the first.  It is from "Watercolor Bascis: Light" by Judy Morris.   Frankly with all of my flubs, it was an exercise in "how to save a painting" at almost every turn.   As most artists, I am not happy with it and all the flaws are glaring.

 However, it was a very good first exercise in trying to get my hand 'limber" again.   If you have the book or the DVD you can compare mine to hers and you will note that I have intentionally omitted the few stucco "nubbins" that she had.  I didn't like them.  Also, my wall is quite a bit darker than hers is.  While it wasn't planned, I actually think it works better than the lighter wall since the contrast with the black bit on the left is not as stark.  Of all the flaws, the shadow is by far the worst.  It arose  because I did not follow her instructions to paint around the shadow with the wall colour and then wait till dry and paint the shadow next.   Instead, I painted the wall colour right over the shadow area and when dry, I then painted the shadow shape over the previous layer.  From past experience I thought that this would result in a cleaner edge with less build up of edge ridges in the watercolour.  However, those ridges are really needed here to create a nice crisp edge. Should have listened to Judy.  Throughout the piece, my greatest issue was impatience.   I just couldn't wait for things to dry enough, even when using a hairblower,

Sitll, this was a great exercise.

My Illustrious Past

The last juried exhibition that I entered was with a graphite drawing.  This one: Siesta.   This was in 1993.  While I didn't win a prize, I was told that my drawing garnered more positive feedback than the winners.  My work is not paritcularly avante-garde so I am not likely to be winning prizes.  I was well satisfied with the positive feedback.

The point is that I am more of a "drawer" than a painter and I really want to make that transition.

My most cherished memory is that of my grade 7 art teacher convincing my mother to provide $50 dollars and allow him to take me to buy oil painting supplies and teach me to paint twice a week after school.  He took me to the "Rowney" warehouse ( which I believe is no longer in Toronto) and we bought a wooden case, which I still have and use, and a load of oil paint tubes.  He was only at the school for that one year and then I was on my own.  I did a total of 3 very childish oil paintings and that was the that. That is except for years of art classes in high school, various workshops through the years as well as instruction through Art Instruction Schools, OCAD, and many others.

Even when I signed up some 10 years ago for my only year at  the Academy of Realist Art ( then Angel Studios) I was years away from being allowed to paint in oils.  During that year I worked on countless life drawings from the model and completed 2 pain-staking Bargue Drawings.  These are they.

The Baby and Augustus.

My painting medium of choice is the devilish watercolour. I did do some watercolour while I was an architectural Illustrator and a few characters and trees for my Entourage Collections.   but I am very far from a master and that is my goal at this time.