Monthly Studio Update - April, 2003
STUDIO UPDATE: APRIL 2003
Studio Update:
A beautiful woman, and my new art supplier, has posed a few times for the hands of Artemis. We still have a few more times to go. Her left hand is particularly difficult because of the foreshortening, you know what that is--like the poster Uncle Sam Wants You and he is pointing at your face--I mentioned this before but because the hands are far forward, they are closest to us, it is logical that they must be correct, expressive, and beautiful.
In my long career I have only made one watercolor, that is until now. For years I have contemplated working with watercolor but I have shied away from it because I thought it was a wimpy medium, something soft and delicate for old lady hoppyists. Recently I came across an instruction book (!) for watercolor techniques written by David Dewey; it also includes watercolor paintings by Dewey and several contemporary artists. Many of images are very powerful and they didn't look anything like I expected, they are full of light, color, and structure. When I saw those images I knew this was something for me to explore. On further reading Dewey talked about editing with sandpaper, razorblades, and liquid plastics; so out went my preconceived idea as to the wimpiness of the medium. So now, I will show you some of my watercolor works in progress.
This view is painted from home. The painting is two days old and I am working on it from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m., at least on clear days. My guess is that I have two or three more sessions to do to finish the piece. An interesting point and a very real influence is that it is warm and humid here in Florida and the idea of splashing around with lots of water was a big motivating factor for me to work with the watercolor. Another point is that the humidity in the air lends its self to the glowing affects that can be achieved with watercolor.
Another self-portrait. I don't know how it looks on your monitor but in real life there is a very high contrast between the darks of the background and shirt, and with the lightness of my face and the white-painted iron chair. The first thing I wanted to do with the watercolor is see how far I can push the extremes of light and dark, this gives me a sense of the medium's possibilities. I will shadow the folds in the shirt and work on the eyes and darken some areas on the face. An interesting point with this self-portrait is that I am smiling, rare in portraits; mostly because, oftentimes, the people look like are scowling!
Aesthetically, I am fascinated by how the medium relates to the subject matter. Watercolor is essentially a transparent medium in which layer after layer of color washes, like the overlay of color filters, create the image. So a view looking out through gauze curtains is a natural paring. My house is a fifties' house with a few interesting proportions, like in the horizontal window. I like how my composition accents these proportions. The white area will have some very brilliant and cold blues and greens that will contrast very well with the warm interior colors.
Rarely do I paint finishing details first in one area of a painting. But in this still-life the rose is perishable but nothing else is, so I am trying to get it done quickly. I started the piece yesterday. This piece is loaded with personal symbolism, just the kind of thing aesthetic scholars love surmising on, but, for now, I will not give you any clues.
This is a pastel from the life-drawing workshop I attend. For some reason, for this drawing, I had assumed that the pose was going to be for 2 hours, which is what I accounted for, and then an hour later the model changed the pose! It is hard to see but I composed the entire scene before me: the model, the model stand, the chair, easels in the background, two of the students, drawing stools, the back wall, and the ventilation system connected to the ceiling. And I am fairly sure that it is all done in proportion and in perspective. In my approach to drawing after I get everything "lined-up" I normally draw/paint the light, not the subject. (There are some exceptions, like the rose above.) In this case I worked the lightest spot on the back wall and then I continue to work hierarchically: keeping all my lights and darks in gradations related to what is really there.
Another pastel drawing from the same day, a twenty-minute pose. Notice all the shifting colors in the shadows of the white cloth. I actually see those colors. One of the reasons why I can't stand to paint/draw off photographs is because in real life I see nuances of color everywhere I look, where as a photograph of this same scene would be monochromatic.
Non-Studio Updates:
Open Studio
Saturday May 3rd, 6-9 p.m.
Sunday May 4th, 3-6 p.m.
I live in St. Petersburg, Florida. Contact me if you would like to be invited.
For the Foundation for the Advancement of Art I just finished a review Barney's Cremaster Cycle at the Guggenheim. It is going out as a worldwide press release.
Ah. That's it for April. Now back to the rose!