Final Boot Drawing

All art is based on observation, and this, in its time, must be disciplined to be of any value.  Vague recollections are of no value to the artist.  Know what you are looking for and why, and then record it.  Then look again, for what you missed.

              Van Waldron

      Well, I will never look at a pair of old shoes the same way!  The more I worked on these the more I realized how much character they had.  There is something very meditative about concentrating on something for a long time and really seeing it.  This drawing took about 7 hours to complete from start to finish.  There were lots of small details and quite a bit of value changes to deal with.  A great exercise in observing!

Boots Update

Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates.  There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.

              H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

          Well, the boot drawing above is really taking shape.  I have about 6 hours into this and think maybe one more session will finish it off.  It is so easy for me to put things aside and start something new ~ so many pictures to draw and paintings to paint!  However, at this point it is important to finish each piece in order to practice the fine points of value.  Now it is time to really look at these boots in the photograph and really see all the different gradations from lightest light to darkest dark.  Sharp eyes and sharp pencils!

Values

Learn to look at shapes and values, not things... switch over to the right brain's understanding of spatial relationships, instead of depending on the left brain technical skills.

               Laurel Weathersbee

        This past Friday I attended an open studio at Crealde Art School in Orlando.  Nineteen people crammed into one small space to take advantage of a great opportunity to work with a lovely model.  It was fascinating to walk around the room and see the different styles of work and the various techniques being employed ~ amazing what one can learn by watching someone else.  It was also a  great chance to try some of the things about value that I have been reading about in Juliette Aristedes' book.  There is a long way to go in developing my technique but I am starting to get the idea.  The open studio was only three hours so I worked on this a bit more after I got it home.  This coming week I will go again but there will be a different model ~ am anxious to try again.  Maybe I will even be able to do that switch Ms. Weathersbee is talking about!

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!