Musings From Being Laid Up...

Nothing to do but plan, sketch and do more sketching. Two months so far of being away my easel and palette loaded with colors. Two months maybe more of resting and rehab. I have taken to sketching heads and landscapes, hopefully the landscape will become paintings when I am back in front of the easel working with my oils again. The heads I sketch are keeping me sharp for when I am beginning one of my figure paintings. 

Checking out what others are doing is another thing I am able to do via Facebook. I love seeing the art others are posting and reading what they are doing and going through. I love seeing art being posted with "Sold" with it. I get mixed feelings when an artist post questions about not selling art. Some artists choose subjects that are too out of the mainstream. They love their subject and their style of painting, but cannot deal with the idea there are few collectors out there for them. I question myself every time I begin a sketch of one of the gentlemen that caught my eye at Jake's. They are a hard sell for me especially when I do them and file them away. I love doing them, but I understand why someone wouldn't want a sketch of a stranger hanging in their home. A full blown portrait is even a harder sell. Takes a true art lover and collector to buy a portrait of a gentleman covered with tattoos.

A friend just called it quits, put everything in his studio up for sale, paints, brushes, easel, everything. Years of study in Florence and in New York and he quits it all. I do not have an answer, just more to think about. I have friends who hold down full time jobs and paint on weekends. 

What works for me isn't for everyone, so I keep my opinions and suggestions to myself. Making a living from art is no easy task. Each artist has to look closely at themselves and their art and see where it fits in to the art scene. I have to make adjustments at times, take commissions which I really hate doing. Portrait commissions for me is letting someone into my mind and soul, telling me how things should be. 

I tend to bend over backwards to please the person commissioning me. I like being able to paint my model's eyes blue when they are nearly black, or give them blond hair when it's actually dark brown. Some times artists need to change. 

Fifty-three Years Ago...

Fifty three years ago Mr. Van, my life drawing and painting teacher, told me to be very sparing with highlights when working with the human figure. That was while working with a spotlight in a classroom. In art school I made a study of light and it's effect on the human figure, driving Mr. Van nuts with my questions. I'm still studying the effects of light these days on the human figure and on everything I paint. I no longer use spotlights. I like natural lighting which I define as the light people live with, like a lamp in a living room or sunlight streaming in my studio window. Or the light that makes it through the canopy of the trees my models lay under. Seldom are highlights pure white. When the skin is wet, highlights appear white but even then they take on a bit of color. 

I tell my students and any artist that will listen to work from life whenever possible. Working doesn't always mean actual painting or drawing. When having breakfast with my friends I study them for how the light is working on their faces and their hands as well. What the light coming through the window is doing to Georges face, his hands and what type of light is it. Is it a cloudy day a bright sunny day? Is there reflected light? 

I recommend studying what the light is doing. Make notes, then take a photo and see the difference. In the studio I study Jordan's face for colors and the reason why those colors are there on that day. The colors change from day to day and it is mostly due to reflected light and what in the studio is causing those changes. 

Using a photo off the internet you are not learning much of anything. You may even be hurting yourself. Nothing wrong with using photos as long as they are your own photos. Using a photo from the internet is nothing but copying someone else's work. When I take pictures to paint from I know the light falling on my subject, I know my subjects themselves. I have reasons for wanting to do a painting which makes me look at everything that will be going into it. How important are the hands, the feet, the folds in a skirt, the shadows on the blanket, the shadows on the grass around the blanket? 

A hundred photos come into play along with years of experience working with the model I pick for a particular painting. I use the same models many times just so I know when I am looking at a photo to create a work of art, I know the circumstances effecting every thing in that photo. When sketching a stranger from a photo, there are reasons for wanting to do a sketch of that person. I make an effort to really study that stranger, to study his gestures. I never take these studies of strangers beyond studies. Sometimes I just need to sketch, I find sketching is quite relaxing.