Learning from Norman Rockwell

Norman Rockwell Exhibit!

 I visited the Frist Museum last week to see the Norman Rockwell collection! AMAZING!!!

I had no idea that his paintings...his brushwork would be such a pleasure to view! Almost as much as seeing Sargent's work in Boston some years ago!!! I did sneak a few shots with my phone! I am not promoting bad museum behavior, I just couldn't resist seeing those beautiful brushstrokes up close. 

It is there until February 9 so by all means, get over there to see it! Notice how he signed his name differently in every painting. The paint on that palette  in this first one, The Art Critic, was about an inch thick in places! It looked like sand & gravel in some of his backgrounds and the edges were not all sharp and rigid like I thought they would be. His skin tones were really amazing! I hope to get back before it leaves Nashville. 

Thank you Frist for bringing it here! CLICK on the images to see them up close!

Kevin Beilfuss Workshop Nuggets

Kevin Beilfuss Workshop Nuggets!

What a great week of instruction and inspiration! Kevin is a very warm, generous instructor with a sense of humor and great humility. I enjoyed the workshop so much. We had lovely models and did 2 to 3 poses a day, drawing with oil and a tortillon.  A tortillon (The french name for /tɔrˈtiːjɒn/; or blending stump) is a cylindrical drawing tool, tapered at the ends and usually made of rolled paper, used by artists to smudge or blend marks made with charcoal, Conté crayon, pencil or other drawing media.

 He uses some wonderful bright colors that I don't normally use, especially in a portrait, like Permanent Rose, Turquoise Blue and Permanent Green Light (chartreuse) 

A few shots of his head study of Brenna.

Some key lessons & reminders:  

• Don't draw what you think you are seeing. Draw the shapes around the subject
• Five darks of the face, all 'under' planes  1. Under brows 2. under eye 3. under nose    4. under upper lip   5. under lower lip (chin)
• First stage drawing, create an envelope where your subject will fit in.
• His instructor, Carolyn Anderson's advice, "Look for and create areas that act like fireflies, catching the eye and moving you around the canvas."
• "Everyone has the will to succeed, but not everyone has the will to prepare, develop the skill and do the work to succeed."
• "If you have an ego, park it at the door. If you don't have an ego, park that at the door too. We are all the same & will be learning something new. You will see the difference when you get home and apply what you are learning." Great workshop advice!!
• Kevin admits to using 'bells & whistles' in his paintings, but cautions, "No amount of bells & whistles can save a bad drawing.

Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro 
I started a workshop series with Rebecca Neef on Chiaroscuro 

Wikipedia says...in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. Chiaroscuro is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body. Similar effects in the lighting of cinema and photography are also often called chiaroscuro.

Here is the first step. Blocking in the composition. 

I will try to post my progression in the next few weeks.

Rebecca www.rebeccaneef.com 

 A classically trained artist and  such a wealth of information. 

One of the things she explained to us relates to the beauty of chiaroscuro being in the way the light hits a very ordinary object that is often lifted up to eye level or above. This elevates an otherwise ordinary and humble object, to a place of beauty and dignity.

Will keep you posted!!

Also heading to Kevin Beilfuss workshop next week!!! 

All the things I love so much. 

Will be sharing what I learn with you in the weeks to come!!

Drawing Paper Tips

DRAWING PAPER TIPS

Love this video by J.D. Hillberry. I have a drawing series going in one of my classes and we are talking about everything to do with drawing: charcoal, graphite, composition, lighting, basic shapes and much more. We watched this video recently. In case you missed that week, he has some great illustrations that will stick with you on drawing papers, the effects on paper of oil in your hands & other tips for getting a better drawing!

Comparing

COMPARING

A few wise words from Pinterest. (Sorry no author listed) 

One of the areas I see artists struggle with the most 

is in comparing their work to others around them. 

Here are a few quotes that may shed some light:

Henrik Edberg: "Instead of comparing yourself to other people create the habit of comparing yourself to yourself. See how much you have grown, what you have achieved and what progress you have made towards your goals."

Henry Nouwen: "Our newspapers and television keep giving us the message: What counts is to be known, praised, and admired. Still, real greatness is often hidden, humble, simple, and unobtrusive. It has become difficult to trust ourselves and our actions without public affirmation. We must have strong self-confidence combined with deep humility. Some of the greatest works of art and the most important works of peace were created by people who had no need for the limelight. They knew that what they were doing was their call, and they did it with patience, perseverance, and love."

Quotes above were found at http://faso.com/

Inspiration from a 94 year old!

INSPIRATION from a 94 yr old!

if you are in a SLUMP!!!

At 94 years old, Hy Snell is an energetic and awe-inspiring gentleman

Drawing & Painting the Head

DRAWING & PAINTING THE HEAD

In case you missed the drawing class this week,
here are a few highlights...

I think of Helen Van Wyk when I teach about structure and volume in drawing and painting. She often talks about painting apples. When you paint an apple, hold an apple in your hand, take a bite of out it, think about the roundness of that apple. When you paint a head, you are painting a 3 dimensional object like an apple, on a flat surface. That spherical shape will have dark, medium, light and high lighted areas, along with a front, side, top or bottom, depending on eye level. It is very helpful to place an imaginary box over the head in the beginning to define these shapes. 

As Sargent indicated in his teaching, getting the feel of that head as a mass is vital. We often jump right into the features without one thought about the volume of the whole head. 

"and under his hands, a head would be an amazing likeness long before he had so much as indicated the features themselves. In fact, it seemed to me the mouth and nose just happened with the modeling of the cheeks, and one eye, living luminous, had been placed in the socket so carefully prepared for it (like a poached egg dropped on a plate, he described the process)..."

Mary Newbold Patterson Hale, in The World Today (November 1927)

 http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/sargent.html

I found the following website and YouTube videos by Stan Prokopenko to be very helpful.

Website for other drawing videos - http://www.proko.com/videos/