Drawing Show - November 21 and 22

Victorian City Art and Frame in Franklin, PA is hosting an exhibit of my recent drawings. For a unique gift choice this holiday season, select a drawing and have it framed at Victorian City. The event starts Friday evening at 5:00 with a Wine Walk and ends with Light-up Night on Saturday. Come in and check it out!

Binge Drawing

I'm never quite sure when this condition will hit me or how long it will last. The pages of my sketchbooks fill almost magically and drawings pop up in other places as well (invoices, book pages, table clothes, frosted car windows!). There are periods of complete tunnel vision when the only thing that seems to snap me out of it is the phone ringing or Otis whining at the door because he needs to go out and pee! Then I realize hours have passed. I am hungry, my throat is dry, and my hands are covered in graphite. I am tired but happy, my list of chores for the day have gone unfinished, and I want to take a nap.
Binge drawing is not always productive in terms of finished/saleable art, but it's NEVER a waste of time. I always learn from these mad sessions. It makes me think without trying to think. It makes me see things as they are rather than relying on preconceived (and usually inaccurate) notions.
This current binge is a good one! It's been a couple of weeks now and shows little sign of letting up. I sure hope Otis understands!

 

 

Post #300! Let's Talk More About Drawing...

I suppose it's fitting that I start the new year with yet another post about drawing. There are few things in life I find more enjoyable and almost nothing as important to my career as an artist. On my list of goals for 2014, Goal #23 is "Fill three sketch books!" Even for someone who loves to draw as much as I do, this will be quite an accomplishment.

I also want to test out some new materials for my drawings and studies. Perhaps a water-soluble pen or some watercolor pencils? Still, the core of the exercise is always about the drawing. These new materials will present a bit of a challenge as I will have to give myself permission to fail more than once or twice before I figure out how to incorporate them into my work. That's a struggle for me. Allowing myself to fail from time to time offers up a chance to draw with more freedom, capturing gestures and not worrying about the "finished product." They are after all, just studies. They are for me and no one else needs to see them unless I choose. Still, it's easier said than done.

I also need to do more drawing (and painting) in the field. The challenges of field studies can be daunting... especially when trying to figure these things out on your own. I've been doing more outdoor drawing the past two years than ever before. I hope that trend continues. Again, I have to give myself permission to fail on occasion. It can be frustrating as hell dealing with all the elements over which we have no control, but the rewards are well worth the effort!

With the New Year ahead, many adventures seem to be just beyond the horizon. It's an exciting time to be an artist and I intend to push myself past a few very steep challenges of personal and artistic growth. The drawings are just a small part of this, but are also the foundation upon which all other aspects of my art are built. Yes... they are THAT IMPORTANT!

Happy New Year my friends! I hope it's a good one for us all!

Bison Sketches

The past few weeks have been filled with time spent drawing. Bison are such a cool subject for drawing. Their musculature makes for interesting shadow and highlight combinations.

 

Sketchbook Pages

Some days I just don't feel like painting. It is however, a rare day when I don't feel like drawing. Here are just a few pages of pencil studies from the past two days. Keep drawing!!!

Drawing.... AGAIN!!!!

"There is always time to draw, so stop making excuses and just do it!"

Yesterday's field study

It seems I say that a lot these days. During the course of a 4-day show, I'll bet I get asked a dozen times by young artists what it would take for them to be a better painter. The answer is always straight forward and simple. DRAW!

But there are always excuses. "I don't like to draw." "I don't have time." "I only want to paint." Blah blah blah. 

Drawing is the one skill seemingly forgotten among many up-and-coming artists. With the incorporation of digital photography and powerful (and very useful!) programs like Photoshop, drawing skills seem to be largely ignored. Instead of using photography and Photoshop to complement a solid concept derived from a sound creative process, they are used as a crutch or a shortcut to bypass the necessary skills needed to produce good art. That is a huge and very noticeable mistake.

A quick gesture study from a photo on the internet

Most people look, but do not truly see what's in front of them. Their perception is based on what they think they know about an object, rather than actual observation. The ability to block out this preconceived noise and learning to actually see is the most important part of creating representational art. Nothing can teach a person how to see better than constant and repetitive drawing exercise.

So... my young artist friends... buy a sketchbook. Hell! Buy 4 or 5 cheap ones! And start filling the pages with what you see. It's always interesting to look at the pages of a full and tattered sketchbook and see the progress from the first page to the last. It is at that point you will learn the importance of drawing. It is always a productive and enjoyable way to pass the time.

Problems to Solve

I've been working on a piece titled "Rock Star" for several months and I can't seem to finish it to my satisfaction. It has been one of those paintings that came together very quickly, only to land with a thud at the end. It's spent a large part of the past 6 months leaning against the wall facing the corner... being punished like a rotten child!

The bird... the most important element... has been the sticking point. I've painted in several, only to paint them back out as though they had perched for a second and flown away. I have gone back and forth between a white-throated sparrow and a magnolia warbler... working many poses and gestures... but they feel stiff and lifeless to me. They don't yet feel like they belong in the painting and it frustrates the hell out of me!

So I am going back to the drawing. I may even change the species of bird (again!). I'll keep working until something clicks. It's not so bad. The challenge inspires me.

Importance of a Solid Underpainting

When young artists ask me for advice on painting, the first thing I always tell them is to practice drawing. The second is usually about the importance of patience and the understanding that good paintings take time. Like drawing, a good underpainting is another fundamental building block upon which everything else can be built. When I first started painting, I couldn't conceive any good reason to take the time to paint something only to paint over it again. It seemed redundant, but I was young and had little understanding of how paint works.
Of course it helps to know what you want to accomplish before ever putting down a single dob of paint.

90 minute acrylc underpainting

The small barn owl study featured here (6x8) is a terrific example using a thin underpainting to guide a piece in the desired direction. The purpose for this study is to accurately convey the essence of warm morning sun on the owl's back and head, while capturing the glow filtering through its wing. I want to have a few areas of radiance, especially around the head and upper edge of the wing. It helps to establish those warm tones now, rather than try to put them in later over a dark background. It's not impossible, but much easier to take care of it right at the get-go. This is also the perfect time to assess any drawing problems and correct them.
From here, the tones are close and the rough shapes seem to read pretty well. Now I can start refining with subsequent paint layers and much thicker paint.
Now all I have to do is finish it without screwing it up! Stay tuned.

Visual Poetry

Since the last blog post struck a cord with so many readers, I've decided to continue in a related direction. I've included "in progress" photos to help explain the wandering path some paintings take on their way to completion.

In the previous post, I discussed someone at a show suggesting that my paintings were merely photos with paint smeared over them... an advanced version of "paint by numbers" if you will. The absurdity of that concept makes my head hurt. In the days following that rant, I've found that the practice is actually more common than one might think. Suddenly, I feel like my head is going to explode again!

White charcoal drawing over gray gesso

Yes, painting over a photo will certainly make someone's work "look like a photo," but if you lack the basics in drawing and visual problem solving, there will be no poetry in your work. If you possess these skills (see "Talent... or Skill?" Dec 8, 2011), there's no need to confine yourself to the shackles of strictly recreating a photo. That's not art. It's simply a monotonous exercise with no more challenge than a child's coloring book. Period!

Block-in stage

The actual process of making art is rarely straight forward. No matter how much planning I do (and I do a lot!), there are always unexpected problems that arise along the way. It's the unique solutions to these problems that breathe life into a painting. It's that part of the journey that makes me proud to be an artist and constantly keeps me on my toes.

Just for the sake of making a point, I've started off with a photo of my neutral gray gesso covered panel and the initial white charcoal drawing. The drawing is done with a modified grid transfer method.

Starting to refine shapes

The subsequent images show the painting in various stages of completion. I was pleased with the block-in of approximate tones and hues. It always helps when the early stages of a painting start to take on the intended feel. That keeps me excited and hungry to move forward.

As I start to refine the shapes, I also pay very close attention to contrast. The finished painting will have a relatively high level of contrast, though there will be almost nothing painted completely "black". I rarely use straight "out of the tube" black for anything. Most of the darks in my work are achieved by adjusting a base mixture of burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and a bit of crimson.

Time to rethink a few elements and continue to refine

The painting begins to come together using a method I call "focus squares" (see "The Process of Focus Squares" October 13, 2009). Again, I am happy with the progress, but I'm starting to find a few problem areas... the biggest being the blue heron. I originally planned to have the bird lit up with the warm morning sun against the darker hillside in the background. The more I thought about it, I began to feel the painting would be more interesting if the heron was pushed back into the shadows behind the sun-drenched boulders in the middleground. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

Painting Over Photos... Really?!

Last weekend I had my paintings on display in Charleston, SC for the annual Southeastern Wildlife Expo. I always look forward to events like this. Aside from talking shop with the other artists, thousands of people pass through the doors, so it's a great time to meet and greet the public... and just maybe sell a few paintings.

As people stroll by throughout the course of the show, the comments... some meant for me to hear and some not...can be amusing, puzzling, or downright maddening. Yet there is one comment that I've heard several times over the past couple of years that I'm not sure what to do with. It usually goes something like You're just painting overtop of photos, right?

Seriously?!

I'm not aware of anyone really doing that, though I'm sure it's probably happening somewhere. That comment/accusation always catches me a little off guard and I'm never quite sure what the hell I should say. The thought that immediately comes to mind is to flash a glare that says Move along before I bust you in the mouth! (my sister calls it my "stink eye"). However satisfying it might be to send some uninformed little pest scurrying down the isle, in situations like this it's rarely productive (not to mention I'm getting too old to really pull it off and/or back it up). In public, I try to keep the stink eye under wraps.

Of course if I protest too vehemently (perhaps as I'm doing now), I look guilty as sin. If I say nothing, folks automatically think they're correct. I guess the answer is somewhere in between. If people are really interested, I usually try to explain a little about my process, though I'm never quite sure if the message gets through.

Of course I use reference photos. That's no secret. It would be impossible for me to achieve any reasonable amount of believable accuracy in my work without them. In reality, most of my paintings have elements from several photos pieced together to create an interesting composition. Most of the time, it takes a fair amount of planning and drawing to correct "flaws" in those photos that can be distracting to the overall motif. That's pretty basic for most representational painters. Some just do it better than others.

I've recently wondered if I should keep a half-finished painting on hand at these shows just to smack down the notion that my art is nothing more than paint layered on a photo poster I had made at Wal-Mart. How devastating would it be to my career if people actually started to believe that's what happens in my studio?! Sometimes I feel like I'm pounding my head against the wall.

Drawing... AGAIN!

 

I talk (and write) a lot about the importance of drawing and will likely continue to do so. I feel it's that important. A reporter asked me last week if I had any advice for aspiring artists. This was my reply: "Learn to draw and practice often. Solid drawing skills are the building blocks upon which all other artistic skills may be built. It's the one area I see consistently lacking with many of today's young artists."

 

 

I've spent the last couple of mornings doing a lot of drawing. I never tire of it. Drawing keeps me fresh and focused and I never lack for subject matter. None of these studies took more that 15 minutes. Most were less than 10. I just wanted to get the pose on paper as accurately and quickly as possible.

 

Sketch Book Pages

I've been taking some time off from painting during the past week. It's been a much needed break and given me a chance to get out my drawing materials and do some relatively quick studies in graphite. Whether or not these studies ever lead to bigger projects in irrelevant. They help to keep my eye fresh and the more I draw, the more handsome these little studies become. I love working like this and wish I had time to do it more often.

Something Better or More of the Same?

A new year is upon us ripe with possibilities. I’ve never been one to make silly resolutions during the holiday season, but I do make a list of goals for the upcoming year (okay… maybe I make a lot of resolutions and just call them “goals”). I refer to The List often throughout the year to make sure I’m on track and nothing “important” is slipping through the cracks. The List also helps push me forward when I feel like I’m doing nothing but spinning my wheels. Picking an achievable goal and making it happen always gets my motor running again.

Here are a few highlights from The List for 2012:

• 30 finished paintings – In 2011 I managed 26 and it seemed like a lot. Still, with an expanding list of shows and a new gallery, my production level needs to stay high.


• 20 plein air attempts – Painting outdoors is an absolute treat. Of course, not all plein air paintings are successful and the bulk of my work is done in the studio. So I will push myself to just get out there and paint! No pressure… just time in the field.


• Fill a sketch book – If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you know how important drawing is to me. It keeps me fresh and motivated. Sometimes I need to set aside time to just fill a few pages. It’s fun and helps fine tune my eye… making me really look at my subjects and understand more about them.


• Birds In Art – I’ve been a lucky man. Being part of this prestigious event for the past several years has produced many friendships and motivated me to become a better, more well-rounded artist. The weeks leading up to the April 15^th deadline are always focused on completing paintings to be submitted for this exhibit.


• Alaska! – I’ve always wanted to explore a small piece of Alaska. Each year I try to spend a couple of weeks somewhere interesting shooting reference photos and developing ideas for new paintings. If the Alaska thing doesn’t work out, the Rocky Mountain West is always doable J

Those are just a few of the more than 30 goals to make The List for 2012. It’s going to be a busy year!

My First Love...

I love to draw. Since I was a child (and way before I ever started chasing girls), I’ve always seen any scrap of paper as a potential surface to scratch out an image with a pencil. There’s something very intimate about drawing in graphite or charcoal. This intimacy is compounded when rendering the beauty of the female form. I’ve always admired the skill of those who are able to quickly and accurately capture the essence of a subject with a few well-placed lines. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to sit in on several drawing sessions with some very skilled artists. The wide range of drawing styles among my peers fascinates me. Some are able to whip out truly elegant drawings in a matter of a few minutes, quickly taking down a visual spirit and refining from that rough idea. Others are more deliberate, treating the drawing more as a painting, carefully placing each stroke in the exact correct spot before moving on to the next. Regardless of the technique, it’s something I could watch for hours on end. Drawing after all, is the prerequisite skill needed to visually convey our thoughts. Isn’t that what art is all about? Highly developed drawing skills perpetuate a great deal of freedom in an artist’s work. No longer bound by the inadequacies of less than perfect reference material, the ability to move and manipulate objects to enhance a composition allows the artist to push the creative envelop.
So now that those scraps of paper have evolved into pages in sketch journals, I’m able to see the progress in my skill. By no means a “master” of drawing, each page turned is another step forward. Another journal atop the already considerable collection shows a remarkable growth. Comparing the first and last pages of each book, most don’t even appear to be rendered by the same person! It’s the best way I know to improve my work.

Prep Work

It's funny... when I was a kid, all I ever wanted to do was catch and draw fish... especially trout! I even did a few trout paintings way back then and sold every one of them without much effort. And honestly, they weren't very good. Hmmmm...

A renewed interest in fly fishing and all that goes with it has started the wheels turning and I'm considering a series of trout/fly fishing paintings over the next couple of years. There is a fair amount of good fishing art out there, but not a lot. One of my goals with this endeavor is to create a very genuine window into the fish's world... often attempted, but rarely with much success (including past efforts by yours truly). One of the most challenging aspects to this type of painting is realistic and lifelike fins. The fish's fins are propulsion and stabilizing devices, so they are constantly moving. They have a fluid and transparent look not easy to convey with pencil or paint. Many times fish paintings seem to have a flat lifeless look and I think most of that is due to poorly painted fins (and using taxidermy specimens as reference material). Several dozen "fin drawings" are likely in my immediate future. So the prep work begins. I've been very fortunate to have a close friend with a very nice underwater camera she takes scuba diving. After borrowing the camera and shooting a few hundred images, my view of how things actually look in the water has been fine tuned a bit. A lot of drawing will be a priority before any actual paintings begin to take shape. Sketch books will be bursting at the bindings with trout drawings as the composition process gets underway. I also need to shoot a few hundred more images to better understand the "aquatic" look I have in mind for these works. And that means I'm going to have to spend more time fly fishing. Well shoot!☺

More Drawing...

Some days are just meant for drawing. Today has certainly been one of those. With so many ideas rattling around my skull, it's impossible for me to spend too much time on any single concept (some call this ADHD. HA!). I find the time spent forging through the empty pages of my drawing pads is well spent. Ideas spawn more and better ideas. Some concepts are so invigorating, I find myself awake at night thinking about the next day's work. Working it out with paper and pencil makes me think about line, form, and edge before a single brush stroke is ever applied. Oh... and it's fun! The hours quickly pass by with such a delightful task. I think it's time for Otis and I to go for a ride.

Drawing

Drawing is such a large part of being an artist… yet it is widely ignored by so many. I’m not sure why that is, but it always concerns me. Learning to draw is directly paralleled with learning to “see,” so I am constantly looking to improve my skills. Every so often I make a new friend and they teach me something wonderful. This fall, I was fortunate to have met Debby Kaspari. Debby is a wonderful artist from Oklahoma and one of the best I’ve ever seen at putting her thoughts onto paper with a pencil. She is a true creative spirit and was kind enough to share some of her insight with me during a short drawing session. Thanks Debby… it’s helped immensely.

This year during my forays into the field with my bow, I’ve been dragging along a small sketch pad and a pencil. It helps to pass the hours (sometimes days) on stand while waiting for deer to move. Wandering the woodlots of western Pennsylvania, there is never a shortage of interesting subjects to draw. As I’ve always said… time spent drawing is never time wasted.