January 2008 Goals Review

It's the end of January, are you 1/12th of the way on your goals for 2008?

My January To-Do List and Analysis:

Composition research (book reviews, info gathering)
I did two book reviews, 60 Minutes to Better Painting and Painting With Your Artist's Brain. And I read some great posts (see the list at the bottom of post). We've got another month for this project, so let's hope I can get in another two reviews and some other research. This item gets an in-progress check.

Anatomy of the head (daily sketching, sketching from memory)
Yes, albeit not daily sketching since the first half of the month. I did try and do a few heads from memory the other night, one a memory of a drawing I had studied, the other just an imaginary head. Neither were spectacular, but they were better than what I could have done at the end of December. So, this gets a check.

Mendelowitz drawing exercises
I did one exercise and read a bit more in the book. Then I stopped reading to do an exercise, the book still awaits. Didn't really progress here.

3 starts
I managed one, two, and three starts. That third one I never posted, it's the orange blob at the bottom of the pegboard - a close-up on clementines and grapefruit in a bowl. I'll give a check on this.

1 planned, executed, finished piece
The idea behind this goal was to end up with 12 nice pieces to shape into a calendar at the end of the year. If, I end up being happy with the piece you see in progress above, we'll call this my one piece. I also did a portrait, but I don't want to count that towards the calendar. Jury is still out on whether I get a check here.

Update website
I did add a few images. Once the piece above is done I'll update again with that and another. Pending a check-off.

Honestly, I'm a little surprised at this. I panicked at the beginning of the month that I had tried to get in too much. So, I've done better than I thought I would. Also, I'm surprised that the research and drawing exercises are what fell to the bottom of the pile. It's been a busy "life happens" sort of a month for me though so that may account for my unusual choices.

Thanks everybody for indulging me on this review - this sort of exercise really keeps me pressing on and not giving in to discouragement!

Has it been a good month for you? Are you heading the way you want to, even if it wasn't what you had in mind a month ago?

Overthinking or Underthinking?

The last few months I've really been trying to play around with colored pencils, wanting to develop a way of working that suits me. I'd really like to believe that colored pencils don't have to produce ultra-realism. I just feel that they can be used in a looser way, but how I have yet to discover. Obviously, I'm not just guessing here, there are some artists already doing this sort of thing - with abstraction, color choice, focussed and non-focussed areas, etc.

But, what loose means in my Rose-colored world, has yet to be defined. I came across this quote last night (while exercising ;-).

"There is another aspect of research which I would like to mention - that is, technique or craft. In the present headlong dash for self-expression, too few artists take the trouble to ground themselves in knowledge of their media. The technical ignorance of many present-day artists and students is appalling. The use of cheap, improper materials is already causing many art works to crack open, change color, peel off in shreds or pop off their supports, curl up, and die. Too many painters do not take the trouble to learn to paint in the strictly technical sense of the word. There are no short cuts to knowledge, and impatience is no excuse for carelessness, especially today when knowledge is so readily available. The study of color, design, draughtsmanship, techniques, and methods will not inhibit the creative process. Rather it is a fascinating and stimulating pursuit which will increase the artist's creative possibilities." -- "The Importance of Thorough Research" by James Lewicki, in American Artist magazine Dec. 1962 issue

I think that is what I needed to hear, especially that "impatience is no excuse for carelessness" bit. That sort of leads me towards thinking at a slighter higher level about the craft of painting. Hmm.

The image is a work in progress for my "paying it forward" project. As you can see, it isn't loose in almost any sense.

Charting Your Course

Recently I've given in on something. I finally decided to make myself a chart of my colored pencils. I've seen other artists use them, but I just felt like it would take way too much time and that it was more about doing it perfectly than it was about using it.

I was finally pushed over the edge by:

• the fact that the colors on the ends of my pencils do not correspond well to the actual pencil colors
• once I get thinking about color, I tend to forget all about value (and I recently read that skipping values in CPs tends to give them a muddy appearance.)
• sometimes I want similar, but not the same combinations - so all the apples don't look identical.

I discovered:

• it didn't take very long
• I just didn't bother about perfection
• I wrote out guesstimates on the values as I did it - very useful
• I use it extensively when setting up a piece, in fact, I used it more than the reference concerning the colors.

So, if you've ever wondered about making one, I'd say go for it and post it in your working area! Katherine - thanks for the tip on the image location and bulleted lists!

Tagged Again

My buddy Belinda tagged me. I've done this before, but it's fun to play. So, here goes.

5 Random or Weird Things about Me

1. I homeschool my son 3 days a week. He attends a university model school. He spends two days a week with a professional teacher, and three with me. It has been far more rewarding than I ever imagined it would be.
2. When I was pregnant with my eldest, I dreamt that I was wandering around a marketplace with a bunch of little boys hanging off me. Still living the dream! :D
3. This weekend I bought Drawing Clothed Figures by Barbara Bradley, the UK version of this book. Happily enough, I got it at a discount compared with Amazon.
4. I am a Christian, thankful for God's grace to me every day.
5. I have a cup of black coffee every morning. Every afternoon, I have a cup of tea with milk. I like both bitter, without sweetener - perhaps because I like a sweet roll in the morning and a chocolate bar in the afternoon. :D

People I'll tag: (please don't feel obliged to participate, but if you want to, it's fun to get to know people a bit more.)

Ann Nemcosky - I only know Ann from her blog posts. She's a talented artist and homeschools.
Valerie Jones - she's a Fine Art Friend - she has a great eye and a lots of CP knowledge.
Debby Kaspari - I only know her from her blog as well, she's very talented.
Steve Chipman - a talented artist and software engineer.
Jeanette Jobson - I'm sure she's been tagged before, but she's a fascinating person.

Two Last Tips from Purcell (and one from me)

Two last hints from the Purcell book that we've been looking at all week.

Leave it!
"Keep your strokes few and simple. Watercolor is like golf - the fewer the strokes the better the game. Every time you go back over a previous brushstroke you weaken it's power." --Carl Purcell, Painting with your Artist's Brain, p.28

I think this also applies to pen and ink (and brush and ink).

Color Choice "Flood rich colors into the shadows and avoid flat, ugly darks."--Purcell
I think that where you put the rich colors and where the flat areas are depends a bit on your medium. But it is an interesting idea to think about in relation to your favorite mediums - where are the flat areas and how can you jazz them up?

Tip from me: if you watch NFL playoffs and sketch, without a pencil outline, your sketch is likely to come out skewiff, as my poor copy of Luca Signorelli's Head of an Old Man above. :D

Have a good weekend everybody! I'm off to celebrate a 3rd birthday!

Shaping Your Values

Yesterday I showed the importance of values and value differentiation. Why is that and how do you make your value shapes better?

Why Values are Important:
"The value pattern is the structure that holds a painting together and the details merely entertain." Carl Purcell, Painting with Your Artist's Brain, p. 109.

• The reason that values are so important is because the way that our eyes register what they see. Your eyes see the value patterns (or shapes of the different areas of value) first, then your brain decides what it is that you see.
• Maggie Steifvater's recent portrait, Billy and Bertie, demonstrates this idea. As you see she's got funky colors all over the place, colors that those dogs definitely don't wear - but why does the painting work? It works because the values are right. The color in this case (i.e. the detail) is only there to entertain and Maggie is an excellent entertainer!

How do make your value shapes better: (this is, of course, relative, but Purcell has some good ideas)

• extend your dark shapes to hit edges of the piece
• put your dark and light shapes next to each other at the focal point
• keep your light areas around the focal point
  

These images are some more practice with a brush and ink.

Valuing Your Values

Yesterday I mentioned that the values in your painting are important. Here's an example of mine that shows you just that.

The drawing with little value variation:
The drawing with values heightened:


The first one is very accurate, the second is accurate and has panache. That's the difference that values can make. All that changed was that I darkened certain areas in the second one.

Purcell offers a few ideas to help you see values more:

• when looking at a possible subject, don't describe the objects, describe the values (e.g. I like those dark vertical shapes against that light patch.)
• go through a stack of photos, paint the darkest shapes, add some water and paint the midtone shapes, then move on to the next photo - the idea being to train yourself to see the value shapes first
  

Empowering the Director

"You are the director, everything out there wants a part in your visual production. Use only the tools that best serve the needs of the painting. Then direct them to do what you want them to do." --Carl Purcell, Painting with Your Artist's Brain, p.123

Up until recently my art development has focused on rendering, improving accuracy, and exploring media. This book really addresses where I need to go next: composing a beautiful painting, offering more than a photograph, and creating a unique view.

To some degree, I edit what I see when I create a piece. I may simplify a complicated background, leave out some trees, etc. But this book pushes the reader a little farther. He encourages you to change the trees to a different type, put the rocks in a different place, change the shape of things to make a better composition, change the colors that you see for effect, etc.

Many of us begin with high hopes of doing that instinctively, but the beginner often makes mistakes in what they change and then loses the nerve to change things - at least this beginner did. But now, with more experience in looking at shapes and values, I feel like I might have a better grasp on how to direct the elements. Tomorrow I'll show you the difference that value makes to your drawing.

The image above is a WIP on my PIF project, a portrait of one of my favorite bloggers. Putting it on the monitor really does help you see the areas that need working on!

Book Review: Painting with Your Artist's Brain

As part of the composition project I've been reading Painting With Your Artist's Brain by Carl Purcell. Today I'll do a general overview of the book, the rest of the week I'll be discussing specific points from the book.

I saw this book at the used book store and decided to get it because it looked like it addressed some areas that I was looking into. When I came home I read the amazon reviews and one said that it was a poor knock-off of Betty Edwards' Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. Now, it is true that Purcell makes the same distinction between artist brain and intellectual brain that Edwards' does with right and left sides of the brain. It is also true that he sort of beats the reader over the head with the idea in the first chapter or two. But, I actually think that he takes the concept a step further than Edwards. She makes the distinction to increase accuracy in drawing, whereas Purcell uses it to make a better painting (not just accuracy, but in classic terms of value, shape, and pattern.) In the end, the concept is the same, he is just taking it more in a painterly direction than a rendering direction as Edwards does.

Beyond that opening section, and a section on using watercolor, he spends the remaining chapters discussing different elements of composition and how to make them work for you. Value and shape are not revolutionary, but he spends time discussing them in specific instances and helping you see how he evaluates them. I really appreciated the examples where he showed a reference photo and then went through a discussion of why he deviated from it for the painting.

There were also a fair number of watercolor tips and tricks included. He had a section that gave exercises to do to improve your watercolor technique. Frankly, watercolor scares me, but I may just have to break them out and have a go at some of his ideas.

As per the usual rating system, I would give this book four out of five pencils. In fact, I think so highly of it, I'll be posting some discussion on it all week long, come back and join in!

The image above is part of my month long study of the head - taken from Paul Leveille's Drawing Expressive Portraits.

Free Stuff!

A while back I joined in on a paying it forward meme. Jeanette Jobson has sent me a piece of work, so I better get busy fulfilling my end of the bargain. Last time I mentioned this I got a few responses that people wanted to join in, but were just too busy with end of the year stuff to join in (although, I'm changing the rules, see below). My readership has increased since then, so I thought I'd give it another go here. If I don't get enough responses, then I'll just find a few ways, offline, to pay it forward.

To the first three commentators, I offer a choice of the following:

• graphite portrait of an individual, 9 in x 12 in on Bristol board, based on a reasonable photo (reasonable meaning, if it's too blurry and I don't know you, I doubt it will be all that successful - see my website for samples)
• colored pencil or pen and ink work based on a subject you suggest and I agree to
• or if you have no preference, something of my choice
• 4in x 6in Canson sketchbook, 50 pages, I picked this up a while back and while I'd like to think I'll get to it, I just won't.

In return, I won't require you to do anything. It would be nice if you found a way to do a little paying it forward yourself, but I won't demand it. If you do some PIF, you don't have to publicize it either, if you don't want to. So, there you go, free stuff! Any takers?

Sight-size Method Experiment

Yesterday I tried a little experiment. I tried using a version of the sight-size method. Jo posted this link to Kelly Borsheim's post. I was intrigued, found this article by Ben Rathbone, and decided to have a go.

I'm way too lazy to formally implement such an idea, but I gave it a college try, above you see my setup (My paper is on the side of a bookshelf, the pepper is resting on my palette which is sitting on a shelf). My goal, more than improving accuracy, was actually to work on trying to see shapes of color. I've really been trying to see like a painter sees, I can't really say that it worked, or that I liked the results, but it was interesting to try. Down in the comments section of Kelly's post she responded to my questions and gave me a little more food for thought on the subject of mark-making.

Happy drawing! See my next post for some free stuff on offer!

Simplifying to Get Down an Idea

I found another deal at the bookstore a few weeks ago. I found this book of drawings for $5. It's a great big huge book with lots of drawings, both by names you would recognize and some from names you wouldn't.

I was looking at some of the sketches, where the artist was working out ideas, composition and layout. I was amazed at their short hand for faces - you can get alot of structure with just a few triangles. Above you see some of the copies I made, after Rubens and Rembrandt. They are just simple shapes put in to stand for features. Of course, that idea doesn't sound revolutionary, but when I go to sketch out an idea, I end up using lines, not shapes. Perhaps this is why I draw and not paint. It sort of clicked in my mind with some things I have reading, more on that later.

My Studio

The Fine Art Friends have recently been discussing workspace and storage. I was in need of some organization, so I took their ideas and this is how my "studio" now looks. It's a corner of our bedroom.

I also have a changing table that is now used as shelves - it works well for oversized items that don't fit on regular shelves.

My favorite part of the new setup is the "ice tube trays" (see picture below) for holding my CPs. They are sorted by color, grouped into values in the little tubes. They are for freezing ice that you can put into sports bottles. The blue bottoms are loose, but I could always glue them if I find it a problem.

Getting Inside Your Head

I'm studying the head this month. Here are the bone landmarks I'm working to memorize:

Frontal bone - the forehead, the largest frontal plane on the face
Superciliary Arch - underneath the eyebrow, sticks out more than the forehead
Nasal bone - very short, actual nose extends further
Orbital cavity - where the eyeball sits, much larger than you might expect
Zygomatic bone (Arch) - curved bone below eye, sits between down plane underneath eye and the cheek form made by jawbone
Maxilla - upper row of teeth, larger space than you might expect
Mandible - jawbone, shape of it has major effect on shape of face/head.

The image above is my "test". The left column is me drawing from memory (original images posted earlier in the week). The right column is a quick "correction" where I reviewed what I had forgotten on the left. I've discovered that if I write something down, particularly in pictorial form, I remember it. This year I am trying to learn to draw figures from memory, the goal is to be more able to draw what I can see in my mind.

Gurney on Composition

James Gurney (author of the fabulous Dinotopia, among many talents) has a great post today about composition and the path that your eyes take on a painting. Good information to throw into the mix for the composition project.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my blog! One year ago today I decided to start up this blog in order to join in on the "Sargent in January" project. And here we are a year later, blog and art going full-steam.

Thank you to everyone who has encouraged me over the last year. Your comments, emails, and conversations mean so much to me. Without them, I wouldn't still have the blog, I wouldn't be producing any art, and I would be unhappy.

The image above is my second start in the 50 starts project. It was done from life in CPs on vellum, 5" x 7".

Radiograph Pens, worth it?

Recently, I invested in some Koh-l-Noor Radiograph Pens. I do a fair amount of pen and ink work and I've noticed the expense of replacing Microns all the time.

After reading The Technical Pen, I just had to go for it. So, are they worth it? Yes, they are worth it! They are way better than a Micron. The metal tip glides in a way that the Micron, Zig Millennium and others don't - it really enhances the drawing experience for me.

In the image here you see me playing around the pen and working on the structure of the head. I was trying to simplify a photo of a skull I was looking at into planes - as you can see, it got overly complicated and I left it. This week I will dig up a drawing that has the head already simplified into planes.

Finally, I've been playing around with the template on my blog, let me know what you think. I went with a template closer to my website template, for continuity.

Balance in Composition - the technicals

Poore's first chapter is on "the importance of balance." And yes, the chapter reads as dry as the title. It is essentially a great long list of types of balance found in art, many with examples.

Balance is one of those slippery terms, the ones that you think you understand, intuitively, and then all of a sudden mid-conversation, you aren't sure what anyone is talking about! (Perhaps this only happens to me, perhaps as a result of being married to philosopher! :D)

Anyway, the following quote helped me to really understand what balance Poore was talking about:

"In the survey of a picture, the eye naturally shifts from the focus of interest, which may be on one side, to the other side of the canvas. If something is there to receive it, the balance which the eye seeks is gratified."

He later adds that if the "receiving something" creates too strong an interest you've created "divided interest" instead of balance!

The image above is copied from "Drawing the Human Head by Louise Gordon", it's a part of my month-long pursuit of learning the structure of the head.

60 Minutes to Better Painting - a review

One of my goals for the year is to complete 50 painting starts, spending about an hour on each. Much to my delight, I recently found a book all about that. Here's my review of that book.


60 Minutes to Better Painting: Sharpen Your Skills in Oil and Acrylic
by Craig Nelson

Overview
This book is designed to encourage beginning artists to learn to paint, by painting quickly. So, it is ideal for someone considering joining the daily painting movement or a project like my 50 starts. The opening chapter lists the benefits of this sort of effort.

Structure
The book is structured by the above-mentioned list. There are chapters on process, editing, color and light effects, finishing a painting (not part of the 60 minute scheme), and a summary chapter on exploration in painting.

Topics I Liked

• Chapter on Process - gave an outline to steps to follow with a time line. (Obviously, this will differ with every artist, but it at least gives you a starting point.)
• Quick Analysis - he gives the reader a "push" towards learning to edit quickly and analyzing both the subject and your painting quickly.
• Surveys of Color Approaches - a few different ideas to try - ones that can be implemented easily without new supplies
• Tips for Finished Paintings - this is both about lessons learned from quick studies and how to refine a quick study a bit more

A Note About the Acrylic Side
It says oil and acrylics in the title, but almost every example is in oil. There is one acrylic study shown (that I found). For the demonstrations he lists supplies in both oil and acrylic, but then does it in oil. I think a better second title would be "why you should learn to paint quickly," this book doesn't list good skills to have or good practices to follow, it's more like a signpost to a path of learning.

Rating
If I was to give it a pencil rating, I'd say three out of five pencils. I enjoyed it, I'm glad I read it, glad I took notes to refer to later, but wasn't tempted to plunk down money when I saw it in the used book store last week. (But someone else was, because it wasn't there this week!) I did really like it as an encouragement to get on with my project - above you see start number one. It was done on the Nintendo "sketchbook". Honestly, I'm embarrassed to post that image, but one has to start somewhere! :-)

After Vuillard in Brush and Ink and Pen and Ink

Last night I decided to get some work done in my Mendelowitz book. The chapter I just finished reading was on line. He mentioned the standard ideas around lines. He stressed quality of line, lost and found edges, weight of line, etc. One of the exercises was to play around with a brush and ink.

I have been hoping to explore the brush with ink for a while, so it seemed the time to do it. (I even recently bought a sumi-e kit - that's for another night :-) So, I messed around making all sorts of lines, trying different brushes, and adding water. He suggested either copying a drawing from the chapter or doing something similar. I chose the Edouard Vuillard drawing of his mother. I wish I could find it for you online, but it's a wonderfully sensitive, delicate sketch in pencil.

First, I tried it with the brush, see image above. Before putting brush to paper, I knew that the brush would naturally give me heavy lines and so to convey the delicacy I would need to be careful. Without outline, I just went line by line and tried to capture what I could see. It came much closer (in terms of delicacy) than I expected.

Second, I tried it with a dip pen, see image below. With the pen, I knew I would get a delicate line, but whether it would be "flowing" and "graceful" enough, remained to be seen. Again, without outline, I attempted to be as fluid in my movements as with the brush.

All in all, a challenging and fun exercise. I certainly feel more inclined to keep trying with the brush and ink. I did a few sketches of random things around my bedroom - even tried adding a bit of water and using a "wash" for shading. Ah, it's so fun to explore!

Composition Project: Resources

Here's a start on the list of the resources I hope to be pulling from for my research in January and February on composition. (A few are still on the wish list! :-)

Books

• Composition in Art by Henry Rankin Poore (an early edition of this book)
• Painting with your Artist's Brain by Carl Purcell
  
• Composition: Understanding Line, Notan, and Color by Arthur Wesley Dow
• The Simple Secret to Better Painting by Greg Albert
  

Web Articles

• 9 Steps to Creating Better Compositions, Empty Easel
• Comparision of Technical Composition Rules
• History of Composition

Image above was a fun little sketch - playing with colored inks! We're still in "holiday break" mode around here, so the posting will be as and when - there is sketching going on though. :-)