Monthly Studio Update - August, 2004

Non-Studio Update:

I gave the following lecture at The Objectivist Center's Summer Seminar in Vancouver, B.C. - July 9th, 2004

Innovation in Art: Today's Thriving Representational Artists

"The individual, the great artist when he comes, uses everything that has been discovered or known about his art up to that point, being able to accept or reject in a time so short it seems that the knowledge was born with him, rather than that he takes instantly what it takes the ordinary man a lifetime to know, and then the great artist goes beyond what has been done or known and makes something of his own."
Hemingway

 

This last week I set up a new website: www.AnArtistsVoice.org, it is the gathering spot for all of my online presentations of articles, reviews, lectures, and interviews.

 

The Foundation for the Advancement of Art has published a 2 - DVD set of our October 2003 New York conference. It's $39.95, if you would like to order one, allow 1 to 2 weeks for delivery, please contact us at artadvancement@earthlink.net.

 

 

I have recently set up a mentor art program. It is an intensive 9 - month program for talented artists that want to learn what it takes to become masters. www.NaissanceAtelier.org.

 

Studio Updates:

Just signed this yesterday, July 31st. It's a simple oil sketch, 12 x 16", I'll price it in a day or two at www.RomanticRealism.net.

 

 

Last night I drew this as a web cam demonstration for an apprentice; we are working long distance. I drew it in about 45 minutes. The lesson was how to: neutralize objects to make them recede in space, and how to increase contrast to make objects come forward.

 

 

This is pastel study of a woman's face, in pastel.

 

I was working on this charcoal later last month...I would like to take it up again soon.

 

I started working on Venus in Greece and a good friend from Rhodes was modeling for it. After being a year in St. Petersburg I finally found a wonderful model to step into this work. After she has come to pose, 3-hour sessions, I have worked on the water, mountains, and rocks in the foreground. I am long past worrying when it will be finished...I just zone out and get into the flow of painting; tweaking, correcting, zapping.

 

The painting of Joseph is almost complete, two or three more short sessions, about 4 hours of work I should imagine. It is 12 x 16", acrylic.

 

Glass Jar on the Toucan Table is progressing slowly but I am getting exactly what I hoped for. I am very excited to start with the glass and the reflected colors are really wild. It takes some discipline to stay with bringing out all the nuances surrounding the glass but I know from experience it will pay off big time. Oil, 12 x 16".

 

That's it for now!