People Studies

 

Two things that are on the edge of my comfort zone ---- drawing people & using acrylics.  I decided to practice a little with both in the above.  Unfortunately I didn't quite capture the smirk expression I set out to paint.  The sketch was done on day one & painted on day two (not sure if i'll do more fine tuning since it is a study).

Out of curiosity I went back to look at some of my old sketch books to see if my people drawings are getting any better.  Here are a few below.  My favorite view, 3/4s is the one that seems the hardest to get the right proportions.  (This gets trickier when the subject's head is tilted.)

Falling

Study for another project.
Do cats ever not land on their feet in the falling dream?...

By the way, finding a really large inexpensive compass is a challenge.

Dots Color Study

One of my New Year's resolutions is to try to post more, do more quick studies, and become more comfortable with color.  This took an hour or two using watercolor pencils on wet paper (sketch is a little skewed..)

Year of the Horse

First Printing Attempt

I happened to come across a pristine square of printmaking lino that I hadn't cut yet buried in my old supplies & thought I would put it to use.  Sketch, transfer,...Next step--carving.  I wonder if I have any ink left.
Might be interesting to create a large scale collage with a collection of carvings.

Bird Quixote

Sorry it has been a while since i've posted anything on here.
Here is something I created in my photoshop class (I had a great instructor, very inspiring).  I am finding that I am becoming a little addicted to photo montage (originally I just wanted to learn how to create a quick something I could use as reference to draw etc.).  I have a new found respect for all the work that goes into creating a seamless result.

     Here is another attempt to work "big" this time with charcoal primarily.  Working at this size forces you to move back periodically to get perspective on what you are drawing up close....good exercise too!  (It is good practice for me to work this way since I have the bad tendency to not to get up & look at a piece from a distance when the work is smaller.)  I used the red string and tape placed at different positions on the paper to get a rough idea of proportions while working....I think this is the first human I have drawn full size.
     There is a painting by artist Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) of Napoleon visiting a plague-house at Jaffa that has always fascinated me.  In it Napoleon fearlessly & with compassion (of course) reaches out with his glove-less hand to touch a plague-stricken man.  As history goes, it is likely that this never happened but instead the painting was a fictional device to create good propaganda for Napoleon.  The subject of touch & positioning of figures in this work also reminds me of Caravaggio's "Doubting Thomas" painting...I wonder if Gros had seen his work?   
     As far as the subject goes...at one time or another in our lives I believe we all can relate to this character as well as Napoleon's character reaching out but with gloves on.  We all fear disease, death, poverty, but also surprisingly we fear passion.  It is understandable why--passion can be the spark for political upheaval and it is a short jump to associate passion with mental unbalance.
Here is the drawing in an earlier stage.  Interesting how the picture in its current state makes the surrounding room (not in the photo) littered with art supplies look less messy.

The View from Within

     Recently someone mentioned to me something that they heard Lily Tomlin say on a radio show.  I am not sure if the quote is correct but it went something like this "reality is nothing more than a collective hunch".  I found it interesting that this came up as I was finishing the drawing above since it seems to relate.  My idea for the picture came from thinking about the saying "a bird's eye view".  Discussing the nature of reality can easily take you down a philosophy rabbit hole which often leads to more disorienting questions than answers. (It seems it takes a comedian to successfully bring such stuff up in general conversation outside the academic classroom.)  Drawing itself can be an exploration of the nature of reality---sometimes what we see conflicts with what we think makes sense.  I wonder in our experience does any view besides our inner one exist?  How often are we aware of this?  Is this freeing or confining?

Project Sketching & Perspective Practice

One of the things I love when looking at another artist's work is the sketches of the idea or project to come.  I almost wish every art work could be displayed with its "baby photos" by the side so you can see its origins.  Of course not everyone works this way.  Some people just dive right in which I used to do when I first started drawing.  Recently I've been fascinated with all those preliminary sketches done with perspective, when the technique was first explored in the Renaissance from about the 1400s on.  Here is my sketch of a project I started a while back (it is currently in the "awkward teen-age" stage).

Progression.....

More done.  Not happy with the colors thus far, will come back to it.....

A Diversion in Clay

Of all my sketching I find that I prefer the drawings I did when I had the 3D object in front of me to work from.
Lately i've been missing the 3D world so I got out some clay and this is the unfired result (I haven't worked with clay for so long it is highly probable that this will crack in the firing process--if I can get it to a kiln we will see.....).  (In case you can't tell) yes, pelicans again, something about the beauty of a bird hidden in the awkwardness of a semi-bald, pudgy chick.    

 As far as construction goes-- I started solid, cut it into 3 pieces (head, body left, body right), hollowed it out and re-attached.

Not sure where this one came from...... I started out with the verb "shed" and it evolved from there.

Charcoal, pastel, colored pencil on paper.

Another bleach drawing

I've got a few more things to fix but at least the board is covered with paint finally.......

Pollock & Realism...?

For some reason I am drawn to taking pictures of what some might call trash.  Lots of lovely lines walking about here to inspire.....

This ground scene of leaves, wire, and ash reminds me of a Jackson Pollock painting.  I wonder if given a camera (and take away the stick + paint can temporarily---don't worry Jackson we'll give em right back) what imagery he might capture?
 

Truth, Beauty, & Art (reaching for the infinite)

Silly me, I was looking for truth outside my window...............
Turns out you can find it right inside the sill if you look close enough.
Plus it seems to have its origins in the USA, no wonder why we Americans sometimes tend to think we are the center of it all. 

There seems to be a common thought that art reveals the truth and that truth & beauty are closely associated.  This way of thinking has always confused me.  Let those who have an aversion to others expressing random philosophical thoughts be warned before reading the following.

    If one thinks of truth as "the whole picture" then truth is composed of infinite points of view (not just the one taken in a singular work, no matter how complete a view).  In this manner the truth is unknowable to the individual who is bound by the limitations of their senses and viewpoint.  I just  read an article about vision in birds which discussed how much of the light spectrum their eyes can see (like UV light) which we cannot.  (Thinking about this I made a futile attempt to imagine what a Vermeer painting must look like to a crow.)  If beauty lies in the eye of the beholder then it is just one aspect of the whole.

However, a piece of art may expand one's viewpoint by one (and if you are lucky that viewpoint might look a little different each time you come back to it).  I do not mean to trivialize this in any way, just to point out the possible smallness of our grasp of truth in the larger scheme of the universe.  

     Maybe as mortals (like the movie line) "we can't handle the truth".  There is a part in the Bhagavad Gita which illustrates this I think.  I do not know much about Hindu writings but from what I have attempted to read of this text a warrior named Arjuna stands at a battlefield conversing with the god Krishna before the conflict begins.  Arjuna expresses his doubts and feelings about the war to come to Krishna.  At one point Arjuna asks Krishna to be able to see him in his non-human form.  Krishna obliges and shows Arjuna a glimpse of himself and the universe; the experience of which is awe-inspiring but also overwhelming and frightening to Arjuna.  This idea of truth being composed of many view points is what I now see when I come across the pictures of Hindu gods with their multiple eyes, faces, and limbs.

      In the Western world I know, society's version of beauty is often presented by altering & avoiding showing the real in its raw form---we are surrounded by polished ads, movies, and video games.  By now many of us have experienced the oxymoron of  "reality TV".  Reality is what you make it when you don't have all the info.   Maybe the "truth" is that we never will be privy to all the info in physical form.

OK enough philosophy talk for now--sorry if this line went a little further than just a walk.

More Bleach Drawings

Word for the day....

   Autogenous -  self-generated,  from the Greek autos "self" + genes "formation, creation"

 In looking for something to draw in bleach I took inspiration from the bleach bottle right in front of me.  That is when I found I was fascinated with the circular idea of something that is made from itself.  It might be interesting to do a series of artwork where the representation of the subject is produced from itself.

   As far as the other subject goes--
For those who haven't heard of coral bleaching disease  & want to learn a little, here is my short explanation....

Healthy corals form a symbiotic relationship with algae which live within their cells.  The coral "breathes" out CO2 to feed the algae and the algae "leak" out sugars which feeds the coral.  Coral bleaching occurs when the coral expels the pigmented algae from its cells and turns white.  No one seems to know for sure why this occurs but it is thought to be linked to stressors in the environment like increase in temperature (global warming) and pollution which effect this fragile relationship.  Eventually the coral dies (and then only the white skeleton is left).

   Some sources predict loss of our reefs in the next 100 years.  Aside from the their beauty, corals have also been found to contain some substances which may be potential chemotherapy agents.
I hope my drawing disappears long before we loose our coral reefs if either are destined to fade away.

Playing with Photoshop again

Photos of subjects I collected from nature at rest.
(For some reason to me there is nothing sadder than a dead bee, don't you agree?)

Harry Harlow's experiment in the 21st century

graphite on paper 24" x 30"

   In our future, I hope we are not moving towards a social world which exchanges technology for direct human contact (...this I state as I ironically sit by myself at the computer and type up this post).  But if it is a choice of text message or nothing I suppose most would opt for the text.

   This scene might look slightly familiar to anyone who took a science or psychology class.  I would venture to say that those textbook photos evoke a reaction in most readers.  You can find some info on the 1950s Harry Harlow's experiments with baby rhesus monkeys & social isolation here (Harry Harlow).  I am not sure what definitive info was gained in doing them but it is clear that the costs upon its monkey participants were great.  From what I have read, these experiments led to questioning the ethics involved in the treatment of laboratory animals.  I don't think that such experiments would be permitted today, so thankfully this drawing is entirely fictional.

   On a side track, in regards to the subject of captive primates and social isolation, there is a recent documentary called Project Nim (http://www.project-nim.com/) which follows the life of a signing chimp named Nim and the effects that the human world had upon him.  Evidently not every signing primate has a life story like Koko the gorilla. 

Drawing with Bleach



"Bleached Black Sheep"

   Yes, your mother probably told you not to play with bleach when you were little but despite the hazards it can produce some interesting effects on black paper.  Above is the result of my experimenting with drawing with straight household bleach (in a well ventilated area of course) using wooden toothpicks or chopsticks to apply it to the paper.  I found this new "media" to be very unpredictable when trying to produce lighter or darker lines (more bleach doesn't always create a lighter line--- I think probably that the air exposure/chemical reaction upon the dye in the paper has more influence...should look this up).  Different types of black paper also give different results; anything from browns to coppers, to yellows to faded bluish colors.  The paper used above is Strathmore's Artagain brand.

   Of course this type of art is very impermanent.  Eventually when the whole paper fades your lines will disappear into the bleached void like disappearing ink--it has a definite lifespan.  I like the idea of mixing this concept with the idea/subject matter of the drawing involved.  One of the things I try to consider when thinking about and looking at art is the media chosen.....what is its significance to the work, how would the work change if another material was used.

Rodent Skull

A paper-weight "800 lb Gorilla"

 This is an older "big" drawing I started about a year back I decided to work on again.  

In regards to the subject, I was pondering whether the need for a religious explanation of the world only comes from awareness of self.  When we were little what was it like before any idea (not necessarily belief) of "god" exists in our mind or was it always there?  What is external or internal?  (Also...not so deep, just thought it would be "cool" to draw a really big gorilla.)  

In something I was reading recently I came across the animal metaphor/phrase about the 800 lb gorilla which refers to an entity so powerful it can do whatever it pleases (I guess most gorillas weigh less than 800 lbs).  I thought that this put an interesting spin on the picture.
Although to some there might be more satisfaction with one definite statement it seems better if art can act as a catalyst for further thought.
Need to work on anatomy some more---too bad there aren't many gorilla models about to pose.

Getting tired of this one yet?

Have to admit I have been working on some other projects too....I definitely have artist attention deficit disorder (AADD).

big board update