Boots' Progress

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work.  I told her I worked at the college ~ that my job was to teach people how to draw.  She stared back at me, incredulous, and said, "You mean they forget?"

              Howard Ikemoto

 Just a quick look at my drawing board.  The boots are coming along ~ mainly working with only a 2B charcoal pencil.  It is always amazing to me how much more one can see in something the longer one looks at it.  At first all I saw was a pair of boots and now I am lost in all the little bits and pieces that make up each one.  God bless the shoemaker!  Tomorrow I am off to a life drawing class ~ been a long time since I have given that a whirl ~ we'll see!

Monochromatic Master Copy Painting

To a true artist only that face is beautiful which, quite apart from its exterior, shines with the truth within the soul.

                  Mahatma Gandhi

 The first exercise I have attempted out of Juliette Aristedes Classical Painting book is to try my hand at a monochromatic master copy painting.  I chose Marie Genevieve Bouliard's self-portrait for many reasons but mainly because I have long wanted to try my hand at portrait painting and thought using a very limited palette might make the process a little easier.  For my painting above I used only zinc white, ivory black, burnt sienna, and burnt umber.  I mixed a value range from 1 to 10.  Although my Genevieve doesn't look so much like the original Genevieve I was happy with the overall result.  I was more than amazed at how only two colors with the addition of black and white produced such a range of depth in the final piece. 

The next chapter discusses value ~ very interesting!  According to Ms. Aristedes "the portrayal of light and shadow is itself one of the driving forces behind most successful works of art ~ infinitely greater than the most carefully rendered inventory of objects."  Sounds to me she wouldn't be too disappointed in my Genevieve either.  I am still going back to my drawing board, however, as my ultimate goal is to paint paintings that actually look like the subject!

Shoe Drawing

The simple things are also the most extraordinary things and only the wise can see them.

                            Paul Coehlo

 The top photograph shows the initial drawing of the shoes done in 2B graphite pencil.  I used a few graph lines to find my major points and then measured off from them to get the rest of the outline.  After getting a fairly accurate drawing I went back and retraced it adding a few more lines with a 2B charcoal pencil.  After 2 hours in I now am ready to start adding the finer lines and some shading.  It has been a long time since I have put so much work into a drawing ~ forgot how much work they can be but also how enjoyable they are to do.

As for my work with Juliette Aristides' book I am continuing the chapter on composition ~ tackling the concept of root rectangles.  This is another system used by the classical artists to create harmonic divisions within their paintings.  Using geometric principles a different armature from the armature of the rectangle can be made ~ again providing an endless variety of compositions.  It is suggested to study the compositions of past master paintings in order to familiarize oneself with the structure of the piece.  Sounds like a trip to the art museum to me!

Harmonic Ratios

There is music wherever there is harmony, order and proportion; and thus far we may maintain the music of the spheres; for those well ordered motions, and regular paces, though they give no sound unto the ear, yet to the understanding they strike a note most full of harmony.

                                                Thomas Browne

 My new year's present to myself was Juliette Aristides book Classical Painting Atelier.  According to the jacket "Aristides uses the works of old masters and today's most respected realist artists to demonstrate and teach the principles of realist painting, taking students step by step through the learning curve, yet allowing them to work at their own pace".  This book is just what I have been looking for ~ and anyone who is interested in joining the new renaissance of classical, realistic painting will be delighted with this book as well.  Besides giving an outline of the basic steps in learning to paint, timeless principles and practices are covered as well.  I have just begun the chapter on composition ~ an in depth discussion of how the harmonic ratios discovered by Pythagoras came to be used by artists to divide up their pictorial space.  I had already chosen the top photo above for a drawing exercise.  The second photo is a copy of the armature of the rectangle used by artists to create an infinite number of compositions.  The third photo shows a portion of the armature sketched on to the photo from which I am working.  One of the most important thing about any work of art is its composition and being able to recognize the elements of a good composition is paramount to the work's success.  Ms Aristides book, so far, has been a great resource on explaining the harmonic ratios used in successful arrangements within a painting ~ fascinating the extent to which master artists of the past relied on geometry for their work!