Living Home Furniture: Academic Painters

Showing posts with label Academic Painters. Show all posts

Automated Selectivity

One of the reasons we like to look at paintings is that reality is filtered through someone's brain. Painters select the important elements out of the infinite detail that meets our eyes. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNaeEBJrZH7OXAnjbLlMD_UWbPZ3lpEj6VF6EHXOL50GNAh4B_r2h1Ui83DMQWVNLJNcjntVL3ZWcGkxvA7APqwqel9ZBk7L7UR-rItMJ3uYMzbQAW7WZyBNppybykaMu5j8doUObztU/s1600/Parker_Night_Call.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXNaeEBJrZH7OXAnjbLlMD_UWbPZ3lpEj6VF6EHXOL50GNAh4B_r2h1Ui83DMQWVNLJNcjntVL3ZWcGkxvA7APqwqel9ZBk7L7UR-rItMJ3uYMzbQAW7WZyBNppybykaMu5j8doUObztU/s320/Parker_Night_Call.jpg" width="242" /></a> Here, Al Parker chooses to show us detail in the hands and face. He sinks everything else into a flat tone. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0zhTMMkZcSIJQuZltPiUAq6P0HX3AwUq-nzohDsBWlR6u1t8ZJTQ43XDvT4CHNLUQaJ5XTqCbJDupLJVfAvAjz4BPnuOIySFuG2bAmcV7gTBv5U9d9s6EzGmxitXuzTarlcZVumPOlOM/s1600/Sargent.Street_in_Venice.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0zhTMMkZcSIJQuZltPiUAq6P0HX3AwUq-nzohDsBWlR6u1t8ZJTQ43XDvT4CHNLUQaJ5XTqCbJDupLJVfAvAjz4BPnuOIySFuG2bAmcV7gTBv5U9d9s6EzGmxitXuzTarlcZVumPOlOM/s400/Sargent.Street_in_Venice.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> John Singer Sargent could have detailed every paving stone and roof tile in this Venice street scene. Instead he softened and simplified the background areas and put the focus on the faces. This selectivity isn’t arbitrary. The detailed areas correspond with the parts of the picture that we want to look at anyway.  As we’ve seen in previous posts, eye tracking studies have demonstrated the cognitive basis of selective attention. Viewers’ eyes consistently go to areas of a picture with the greatest psychological salience: things like faces, hands, and signs. We’re hard-wired for it. What happens if you combine eye tracking data with computer graphics algorithms to automate the process of selective omission? Would the result look “expressive” or “artistic?” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YNLCKYr5wMP9KjVu_pdZfnJs-wI7PF1qnOTr4V4dq0Gu5ApatetLm7jdDF8rrgJRy9EYKghTxL5EC3oJSfCr_oGAdxsvkLs4n5YcoZ7ODcyYLxYgs0-5cICn2pfzJQvsx0QonlU-MGk/s1600/Painterly_Abstraction.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2YNLCKYr5wMP9KjVu_pdZfnJs-wI7PF1qnOTr4V4dq0Gu5ApatetLm7jdDF8rrgJRy9EYKghTxL5EC3oJSfCr_oGAdxsvkLs4n5YcoZ7ODcyYLxYgs0-5cICn2pfzJQvsx0QonlU-MGk/s320/Painterly_Abstraction.jpg" width="265" /></a> (Click to enlarge) In his doctoral thesis for Rutgers University, Anthony Santella did just that. The photographs on the left include a set of overlapping circles showing where most people spent their time looking in each image. The larger the circle, the longer the concentration on those areas. Santella combined that data with a rendering algorithm which simplified other areas of the image. In the top image, note the flattening of the far figures and the arches above them. In the bottom image of the woman, note how the wrinkles in the drapes and the textures in the sweater are rendered with flat tones. But her eyes, nose and mouth are still detailed. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib97z3ZmBpEzMSeyTYeMBGEnxdTUsR15MYfopT_Vx4ffhzUT7GFGIXC7y6gp-mrff4KTUerC0UIIDP8_l1s9OQwilsOMnczCVnozKeFx2rvQMrTavOS2HReDw48CckBFeekRoPJmAaHA/s1600/Guitarist_Street.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib97z3ZmBpEzMSeyTYeMBGEnxdTUsR15MYfopT_Vx4ffhzUT7GFGIXC7y6gp-mrff4KTUerC0UIIDP8_l1s9OQwilsOMnczCVnozKeFx2rvQMrTavOS2HReDw48CckBFeekRoPJmAaHA/s400/Guitarist_Street.jpg" width="400" /></a> The rendering algorithms can be designed to interpret the source photo in terms of line and color. Or the shapes can modulated in size according to the interest factor. Note how the outlying areas of each rendering is simplified. Whichever rendering style one desires, the output image has a sense of psychological relevance, more so than <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/01/automated-painting.html">rendering algorithms based merely on abstract principles</a> such as edge detection. As a result these computer-modified photographs have a sense of something approaching true human artistry. The results of this interaction between eye-tracking data and computer rendering algorithms suggests a heretical thought: What we think of as a rare gift of expressive artistic judgment is really something fairly simple and logical, something you can teach a machine to do. "THE ART OF SEEING: VISUAL PERCEPTION IN DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF NON-PHOTOREALISTIC RENDERING" by Anthony Santella <a href="http://www.research.rutgers.edu/%7Easantell/thesis.pdf">www.research.rutgers.edu/~asantell/thesis.pdf</a> Final two sets of images are courtesy this online graduate thesis.  Previous related posts on GurneyJourney: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/12/abstraction-generator.html">Abstraction Generator</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/01/automated-painting.html">Automated Painting</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2007/09/al-parker-at-rockwell.html">Al Parker at the Rockwell</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/11/eyes-have-it.html">The Eyes Have It</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/01/stroke-module.html">Stroke Module</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/eye-tracking-and-composition-part-1.html">Eyetracking and Composition, part 1 </a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/eye-tracking-and-composition-part-2.html">Eyetracking and Composition, part 2 </a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/09/eye-tracking-and-composition-part-3.html">Eyetracking and Composition part 3</a> Introduction to eyetracking, <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-are-you-looking-at.html">link.</a> How perception of faces is coded differently, <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/never-forget-face.html">link.</a>

Automated Selectivity

One of the reasons we like to look at paintings is that reality is filtered through someone's brain. Painters select the important eleme...

10:11 AM

When to switch to two point perspective

Here’s a painting called “Admiration” by Vittorio Reggianini (1858-1938). <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8rDE3_TeicqAJmBAy-68M5oE-ujv0BStVw_MTVTONQXzR-1bpcJnOI6GBK2G-XOxWd7RL3DgTnb4V9spwOfUSKQd6rY2SnJ8WhQb7Jgoqno9oZ3VlJohKUhMH15eRK0DYAo4ZznE3mQ/s1600/One+and+Two+Point.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8rDE3_TeicqAJmBAy-68M5oE-ujv0BStVw_MTVTONQXzR-1bpcJnOI6GBK2G-XOxWd7RL3DgTnb4V9spwOfUSKQd6rY2SnJ8WhQb7Jgoqno9oZ3VlJohKUhMH15eRK0DYAo4ZznE3mQ/s400/One+and+Two+Point.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> A mishandling of perspective unintentionally gives it a funhouse quality. If you dropped a marble on the floor, it looks like it would roll off to the right. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaogwi9avjt7Qwbpb9uUHIWIXiTsTollTj7D4Rz0nitcPBzfYQMi7U_2erKSrgn3FryL3ta2YHohTNJE6f9DYN-BpiYO-G99TF_KCMAqr5ANpBlUZIFTfQuX1Ci-c76wPlAVofaucdeyU/s1600/Perspective+Lines.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaogwi9avjt7Qwbpb9uUHIWIXiTsTollTj7D4Rz0nitcPBzfYQMi7U_2erKSrgn3FryL3ta2YHohTNJE6f9DYN-BpiYO-G99TF_KCMAqr5ANpBlUZIFTfQuX1Ci-c76wPlAVofaucdeyU/s400/Perspective+Lines.jpg" width="400" /></a> The problem is that it goes into two point perspective when it should be treated as a one-point perspective picture. A basic rule of thumb is that if the main vanishing point is within the central third of the picture, the other set of lines should stay horizontal. If that distant vanishing point were placed way over near the side of the picture, the lines in the floor and the window mullions could begin to slant a bit.

When to switch to two point perspective

Here’s a painting called “Admiration” by Vittorio Reggianini (1858-1938). A mishandling of perspective unintentionally gives it a funhouse q...

3:59 AM

Bouderie (Sulking)

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90AIPuZan16HDsMPYmzi2GiwuYCywRmlM_t58iVfr74XhzUAx5e1Xen_8gEo45d1Igp-_uhWxSLqp-BdS5ADP8KoJuJwR4vHg_wStGqV7myPZI3W4q2is0Yd3kTqULHFFcyT0Uabm75Q/s1600/Dagnan.Sulking.Det.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>A painting with an intriguing bit of storytelling has surfaced in <a href="http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=30495">Sotheby’s </a>auction preview, currently on view in New York. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi94qVLA1bFal1xVEwlbrw8KbgYmIc7SrmjjFZf8PWsqvoKy_Zx0fblXsYsWF7FxUM-0aRMrj7hCJO8mD9rvTk3X4qy-BvTSwiNL9VyXVn71EEqAmWr1oYEhH6S_Dn0V83C51mlWcAHWXk/s1600/Dagnan.Sulking.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi94qVLA1bFal1xVEwlbrw8KbgYmIc7SrmjjFZf8PWsqvoKy_Zx0fblXsYsWF7FxUM-0aRMrj7hCJO8mD9rvTk3X4qy-BvTSwiNL9VyXVn71EEqAmWr1oYEhH6S_Dn0V83C51mlWcAHWXk/s400/Dagnan.Sulking.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> The scene by Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929) shows Dagnan’s friend, the painter Gustave Courtois slumped on a colorful studio sofa, still holding his brushes and palette as if he’s taking a break from painting. At the other end of the sofa, a woman in mourning veil sits aloof and dignified. She might be a model keeping her distance, or a patron commissioning a portrait of her deceased husband. Why isn’t she making conversation with the artist? Is she unhappy with the likeness in the portrait he’s painting? <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90AIPuZan16HDsMPYmzi2GiwuYCywRmlM_t58iVfr74XhzUAx5e1Xen_8gEo45d1Igp-_uhWxSLqp-BdS5ADP8KoJuJwR4vHg_wStGqV7myPZI3W4q2is0Yd3kTqULHFFcyT0Uabm75Q/s1600/Dagnan.Sulking.Det.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh90AIPuZan16HDsMPYmzi2GiwuYCywRmlM_t58iVfr74XhzUAx5e1Xen_8gEo45d1Igp-_uhWxSLqp-BdS5ADP8KoJuJwR4vHg_wStGqV7myPZI3W4q2is0Yd3kTqULHFFcyT0Uabm75Q/s400/Dagnan.Sulking.Det.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> And why is the artist ever so slightly grinning? Dagnan teases but doesn’t give the story away. The obvious thing would have been to show the easel and the portrait. But by concealing, by showing enough and not too much, he invites the human interest of the viewer. The auction preview continues from 10:00 to 5:00 at <a href="http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=30495">Sotheby’s</a> on 72nd and York.

Bouderie (Sulking)

A painting with an intriguing bit of storytelling has surfaced in Sotheby’s auction preview, currently on view in New York. The scene by Pas...

5:14 AM

Antony and Cleopatra

One of the most magnificent images of Antony and Cleopatra was painted by the Victorian academician<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema"> Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema</a> (1836-1912). <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSY4QUhUdlxK01XB6OE7j_o2erM74qf-pXe4UvKBPjtfPGwaZviUdGEemj-ua-iEVZ1wsWt4uhC_N17y48iqS6FsnGtdZW9z1SGlDMVkHilIRdFXv7g9p9CP8FDFE4j3ilf302INNwaRQ/s1600/Alma_Tadema_Antony_and_Cleopatra.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSY4QUhUdlxK01XB6OE7j_o2erM74qf-pXe4UvKBPjtfPGwaZviUdGEemj-ua-iEVZ1wsWt4uhC_N17y48iqS6FsnGtdZW9z1SGlDMVkHilIRdFXv7g9p9CP8FDFE4j3ilf302INNwaRQ/s400/Alma_Tadema_Antony_and_Cleopatra.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> Based on Shakespeare’s play, Tadema’s scene shows the fateful first encounter. Mark Antony has left his trireme in the distance and approaches the Egyptian queen’s royal barge. She holds the traditional flail and crook, lounging on a throne decorated with baboon figures. The royal barge is draped with cloth-of-gold and flowers. Slaves waft incense and her assistant plays the flute.  Alma Tadema’s archaeologically based paintings were a huge influence on the early Hollywood film spectaculars like Ben Hur, Intolerance, and the Ten Commandments. This painting will be put to auction on May 5 at <a href="http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=30495#/r=index-fhtml.jsp?event_id=30495%7Cr.main=event.jsp?event_id=30495/">Sotheby’s</a> in New York, with an estimate between three and five million dollars. You can see the original painting, along with an assortment of other 19th Century European paintings at the preview sessions from Friday, April 29th through Wednesday, May 4 from 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM. Sothebys is in New York City at 1334 York Avenue at 72nd St. Tel: +1 212 606 7000 You can <a href="http://www.sothebys.com/app/ecatalogue/fhtml/index.jsp?event_id=30495#/r=index-fhtml.jsp?event_id=30495%7Cr.main=event.jsp?event_id=30495/">browse the e-catalog at Sotheby's Web site</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Alma-Tadema">Alma Tadema on Wikipedia </a>

Antony and Cleopatra

One of the most magnificent images of Antony and Cleopatra was painted by the Victorian academician Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema (1836-1912). ...

7:37 AM

Guptill’s Right and Wrong Methods

Arthur Guptill’s book <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vHBTAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=sketching+and+rendering+in+pencil+by+arthur+guptill&source=bl&ots=Sg-yGMvyM8&sig=sAinQAqFnvVe65otjDipHjwB53o&hl=en&ei=DlCwTfeeMqTh0gHKmuD1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false">Sketching and Rendering in Pencil</a> is one of the classic textbooks on pencil drawing. He wrote it in 1922, back in the days when it was OK to say a method of drawing was “right” or “wrong.” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIdjonr6iG2Q82qeKf5lZaWbryNgyrMV6BONLgWZZ_Xh_sR0s4LzVgKWUgmE5wBUZyZMcVqwKrx3nHMmAnFS2aOmUxCeHC5k2On7V2jmXh_JbS72u7AmOPsji1qhRaTCGRjMlxqEzz6Q/s1600/Guptill_Drawing_Methods.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGIdjonr6iG2Q82qeKf5lZaWbryNgyrMV6BONLgWZZ_Xh_sR0s4LzVgKWUgmE5wBUZyZMcVqwKrx3nHMmAnFS2aOmUxCeHC5k2On7V2jmXh_JbS72u7AmOPsji1qhRaTCGRjMlxqEzz6Q/s400/Guptill_Drawing_Methods.jpg" width="400" /></a> The upper left drawing, labelled as the “wrong method,” shows the outline drawn around the outside edge of the form, starting at “A,” The pencil moves slowly along the edge to record every bump and undulation. The method resembles the “contour drawing” approach recommended years later by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimon_Nicola%C3%AFdes">Kimon Nicolaides</a> in the influential 1941 book The Natural Way to Draw. The contour method was almost universally taught at the high school and college level when I was in school, and is still recommended by some teachers, especially as a way to help a developing artist to experience right-brain perception. What’s wrong with that method? The result looks pretty good, but they're only going to be perfect in very experienced hands (see <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/14724439749828805512" rel="nofollow">अर्जुन</a>'s <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/04/ring-job.html">anecdote after yesterday's post</a>). Guptill says the problem lies in the judgment of proportions: “However careful one may be in drawing each small portion as he goes along, the larger forms are almost sure to be wrong, which in turns means that the smaller proportions are wrong, too, in relation to one another." In the case of the shoe, Guptill says, the ankle is too thick, the sole is to low compared to the heel, and the toe doesn’t point up high enough. These inaccuracies may not be a big deal with a shoe, but if they occur in a person’s face, the results will be disturbing. So what’s the right method, according to Guptill? Instead of fixating right away on the little bumps and wrinkles, the artist should look for the big shapes and relationships first. The right method is to measure the slopes, check the vertical alignments, and double-check the proportional measurements. The small details like the wrinkles and laces are seen in relation to the big shapes. But the foundation must be right first. Download<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=vHBTAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=sketching+and+rendering+in+pencil+by+arthur+guptill&source=bl&ots=Sg-yGMvyM8&sig=sAinQAqFnvVe65otjDipHjwB53o&hl=en&ei=DlCwTfeeMqTh0gHKmuD1CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false"> Guptill’s copyright-free book</a> from Google. <a href="http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/">Thanks, Matt!</a>

Guptill’s Right and Wrong Methods

Arthur Guptill’s book Sketching and Rendering in Pencil is one of the classic textbooks on pencil drawing. He wrote it in 1922, back in the...

8:45 AM

Ring Job

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNw2ghWrZewT-cTV5C-jhAIpwn0l1EX6oPYiQQ4OBMKApvwWuPbGu3ntEyRF6vAHSgqxeBA9VPzjni04TOm5709Yse2dK8A44dAIMRdRHe992QMhfNzsnQHoD9O7kP92bB8dsqILtPvoc/s1600/Ring_Job.574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNw2ghWrZewT-cTV5C-jhAIpwn0l1EX6oPYiQQ4OBMKApvwWuPbGu3ntEyRF6vAHSgqxeBA9VPzjni04TOm5709Yse2dK8A44dAIMRdRHe992QMhfNzsnQHoD9O7kP92bB8dsqILtPvoc/s400/Ring_Job.574.jpg" width="223" /></a></div> In case you need to draw somebody falling off a horse or flying through the air, you can suspend them from large metal rings hanging from a roof beam in your studio. Cool idea. Can’t say I’ve tried that yet. ------- From "Artists' Models in New York," by Charlotte Adams, <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=garPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PR5&dq=artists+models+by+adams+falling+from+a+horse&hl=en&ei=1hGvTY3IB4HLgQf6vMzxCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=artists%20models%20by%20adams%20falling%20from%20a%20horse&f=false">The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Volume 25,  page 569</a>. Previously on GJ: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/02/painful-poses.html">Painful Poses</a>

Ring Job

In case you need to draw somebody falling off a horse or flying through the air, you can suspend them from large metal rings hanging from a ...

10:08 AM

A page from Byam Shaw's sketchbook

A page from Byam Shaw's sketchbook

A page from Byam Shaw's sketchbook. More on Byam Shaw (1872 – 1919) in a previous GurneyJourney post

6:01 AM

Animals Indoors

French animal painter<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Bonheur"> Rosa Bonheur </a>(1822-1899) kept several animals in her studio, including an otter, a parrot, and various rodents. Sometimes she invited in a couple of old lions, goats, or horses. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpxI_Q2JGsTITWZ_OWjDpjDQ9H-v0W1eGoLzcm7oBRpXzFlvRX0HDVZ98PX4-OeOg-LmSW5oMLZGeV4MX6Uz5Z4dyHbMQkN40uYoghrbjiOetrA_brRsrvgeetXTc1VaRGbcSg0PfBTMs/s1600/Rosa_Bonheurs_Studio_1870_by_Chardin.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="332" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpxI_Q2JGsTITWZ_OWjDpjDQ9H-v0W1eGoLzcm7oBRpXzFlvRX0HDVZ98PX4-OeOg-LmSW5oMLZGeV4MX6Uz5Z4dyHbMQkN40uYoghrbjiOetrA_brRsrvgeetXTc1VaRGbcSg0PfBTMs/s400/Rosa_Bonheurs_Studio_1870_by_Chardin.jpg" width="400" /></a> The otter had “the bad habit of leaving the water and getting in between the sheets of Mme. Micas’s bed, so that all the bedclothes and even the mattress would sometimes be wet through.” Rosa Bonheur grew up in a family that was at home with animals. Childhood friend Hippolyte Peyrol remembered playing hide and seek with a goat that the Bonheur family kept upstairs. There was a tame squirrel living in the hollow leg of a plaster cast of a woman. The squirrel once gnawed through a picture hanging rope, which made the picture crash to the floor. Rosa brought home some quail and let them loose in the studio after putting a screen over the windows. To make them feel at home she set up a little wild garden in the corner of a room. ------ from <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=jLVCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=rosa+bonheur+by+stanton&hl=en&ei=O3mcTbSVIsndgQe7qsiRBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Reminiscences of Rosa Bonheur, edited by Theodore Stanton</a>, 1910. It’s a book you can download and read from Google Books Wikipedia on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Bonheur">Rosa Bonheur</a> Previously on GJ: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/bonheur-ram-studies.html">Bonheur Ram Studies</a> <a href="www:%20amisderosabonheur.asso.fr">Friends of Rosa Bonheur </a>(French website)

Animals Indoors

French animal painter Rosa Bonheur (1822-1899) kept several animals in her studio, including an otter, a parrot, and various rodents. Somet...

7:34 AM

Progress of Spring

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6v8cxRkf48tDsiNue637Wm_EkgnajN1NaUt-D-ESwdOL7-vXIhphW-hvhv0mWXoI_YZ7qzkOhePekb2spbtNIvGV-nZJr307Qldiej-_BSN7Tqtl0af5ufFbsjqnfeSWxXKpxMNAGqls/s1600/Ward_Charles_Progress_of_Spring_1905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Spring arrives today, along with the “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/20/supermoon-photos-moon-mak_n_838115.html#s255567&title=A_perigee_moon">supermoon</a>,” the full moon in its closest approach to Earth on its elliptical orbit. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6v8cxRkf48tDsiNue637Wm_EkgnajN1NaUt-D-ESwdOL7-vXIhphW-hvhv0mWXoI_YZ7qzkOhePekb2spbtNIvGV-nZJr307Qldiej-_BSN7Tqtl0af5ufFbsjqnfeSWxXKpxMNAGqls/s1600/Ward_Charles_Progress_of_Spring_1905.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6v8cxRkf48tDsiNue637Wm_EkgnajN1NaUt-D-ESwdOL7-vXIhphW-hvhv0mWXoI_YZ7qzkOhePekb2spbtNIvGV-nZJr307Qldiej-_BSN7Tqtl0af5ufFbsjqnfeSWxXKpxMNAGqls/s400/Ward_Charles_Progress_of_Spring_1905.jpg" width="400" /></a> This is “Progress of Spring” (1905) by <a href="http://goldenagepaintings.blogspot.com/2008/07/charles-d-ward.html">Charles Daniel Ward</a>.

Progress of Spring

Spring arrives today, along with the “ supermoon ,” the full moon in its closest approach to Earth on its elliptical orbit. This is “Progres...

10:20 AM

Menzel’s Drawings

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATgp3FH7cauyf-G_9tusxeNYos8mHHtsVBVeZs_Uo1SRerynkevewlQKfxNzGGJLEiatbhlbn8g7A2bF1zTFBQ9ZGuFg_G_-DHlJPIqdn9DuMiv5V_2xcdXT47clszK74gamuTobuaxM/s1600/Menzel.Portrait.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Nineteenth century German artist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Menzel">Adolf von Menzel </a>(1815-1905) was a tirelessly curious artist who drew everything, from buildings to wagons to his own big toe. Here’s one of his late drawings, a study of an old woman. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATgp3FH7cauyf-G_9tusxeNYos8mHHtsVBVeZs_Uo1SRerynkevewlQKfxNzGGJLEiatbhlbn8g7A2bF1zTFBQ9ZGuFg_G_-DHlJPIqdn9DuMiv5V_2xcdXT47clszK74gamuTobuaxM/s1600/Menzel.Portrait.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjATgp3FH7cauyf-G_9tusxeNYos8mHHtsVBVeZs_Uo1SRerynkevewlQKfxNzGGJLEiatbhlbn8g7A2bF1zTFBQ9ZGuFg_G_-DHlJPIqdn9DuMiv5V_2xcdXT47clszK74gamuTobuaxM/s400/Menzel.Portrait.sm.jpg" width="265" /></a> “I never do drawings with a view to selling them,” he said. “As a rule I do them only as nature studies for a particular picture or as a casual thing for later use.” <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZOx0P16iBdnQTb6HeHA_ec94F-qvx2ppmzWuq_bIQmoQRVGhf74H2U5XMxPMjRc5uMuUZAKcOJfZeHYfV9Sx6i3w15qwdHuxU3N-EwiYdQQqt7AIfBQ2OFK-egCEKJ5KoodkKaFTMBo/s1600/Menzel_Rolling_Mill_Study.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfZOx0P16iBdnQTb6HeHA_ec94F-qvx2ppmzWuq_bIQmoQRVGhf74H2U5XMxPMjRc5uMuUZAKcOJfZeHYfV9Sx6i3w15qwdHuxU3N-EwiYdQQqt7AIfBQ2OFK-egCEKJ5KoodkKaFTMBo/s400/Menzel_Rolling_Mill_Study.jpg" width="275" /></a> His drawings often capture life on the run. “Art is a bolting horse,” he said. His pencil captured the tumultuous modern scene around him. He made many studies on location for a painting of the interior of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Adolf_Friedrich_Erdmann_von_Menzel_021.jpg"> iron rolling mill (link to painting)</a>. “For weeks on end from morning to evening I stood between the huge whizzing, oscillating wheels and belts with red-hot blocks, and sketched.” “Art has kept pace with all the advancements and deviations of the development of the mind and will always keep pace with them, as artists, like mankind, are an integral part of this development.” Quotes from Menzel by Bruckmann Previously on GJ:<a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/menzel-beyond-appearances.html"> Menzel: Beyond Appearances </a> Portrait of old lady from <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_406539947">"The Later Work of Adolf von Menzel," by Jarno Jessen, Magazine of Art, 1902, page 49 </a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Menzel"> Wikipedia on Menzel</a> <a href="http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=60">Drawing of rolling mill worker from the Getty collection</a> (which I believe incorrectly states that the drawing was not drawn on location. All the studies were done on site, according to Menzel's own letters.)

Menzel’s Drawings

Nineteenth century German artist Adolf von Menzel (1815-1905) was a tirelessly curious artist who drew everything, from buildings to wagons ...

8:16 AM

Mucha’s "Le Pater"

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgURAE1m7V5ILBk0FGQv2XEl6ZerguAVk_zWVilk9LB-pomRYttb5X7cN2B4kyIzrQlRuhMkT99AuF101U1XxmHJolhniohxFhtqN33slyl95kPyO8IlrrmLLf-FYa3N3VLlhXl91139DY/s1600/Mucha_Le_Pater.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Half-naked figures prostrate themselves in misty gorges, struggling and writhing before serene spirits of light. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgURAE1m7V5ILBk0FGQv2XEl6ZerguAVk_zWVilk9LB-pomRYttb5X7cN2B4kyIzrQlRuhMkT99AuF101U1XxmHJolhniohxFhtqN33slyl95kPyO8IlrrmLLf-FYa3N3VLlhXl91139DY/s1600/Mucha_Le_Pater.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgURAE1m7V5ILBk0FGQv2XEl6ZerguAVk_zWVilk9LB-pomRYttb5X7cN2B4kyIzrQlRuhMkT99AuF101U1XxmHJolhniohxFhtqN33slyl95kPyO8IlrrmLLf-FYa3N3VLlhXl91139DY/s400/Mucha_Le_Pater.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> Among Alphonse Mucha’s greatest achievements in his mature years were his seven pictures from the Lord’s Prayer, known as the “Pater Noster” or “Le Pater.” He created a separate image for each line of the prayer. Above are the images for “Thy kingdom come,” and “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Mucha visualized the familiar prayer as a universal expression of humankind’s relationship with the divine, mixing traditional Catholic devotion with an Asiatic-tinged occult mysticism.  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivintvY-KDuudktYM-HGto4YM8qIY8CdVBaLx1rwMSccZrpO2wbc1berKC5Kya8Se1jsAvbVCcVKmSGC_Fk_RnEvQOtnfQp1UJt32nIVPVimB8D7hfFMWKYA-kuXqkIKtWfjE1OXMdirw/s1600/Mucha_Temptation_LePater.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivintvY-KDuudktYM-HGto4YM8qIY8CdVBaLx1rwMSccZrpO2wbc1berKC5Kya8Se1jsAvbVCcVKmSGC_Fk_RnEvQOtnfQp1UJt32nIVPVimB8D7hfFMWKYA-kuXqkIKtWfjE1OXMdirw/s400/Mucha_Temptation_LePater.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> Above: “Lead us not into temptation” and the cover. The Century magazine in 1904 described Mucha’s unique conception of God as “no longer the benign or wrathful Father, but a mysterious Being whose shadow fills the earth. Nature is personified as a luminous, adolescent giant, and Love descends from heaven in the guise of a woman.” You can see all seven images, as well as the decorative elements and calligraphy Mucha produced for the cover and the intervening pages <a href="http://www.szecesszio.com/2010/02/26/alphonse-mucha-illustrations-from-le-pater-1889/">at this website.</a> Quote from: “<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=GYfPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA218&lpg=PA218&dq=century+magazine+alfons+mucha+mysticism&source=bl&ots=EHM9mMpcOd&sig=Mcel2ZJUHmkVpXxTSKIwTSPHJWA&hl=en&ei=V-WATYLQMoW40QGN2cz8CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=false">Alfons Mucha and the New Mysticism</a>,” by Christian Brinton, Century Magazine, 1904. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha">Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) on Wikipedia</a> <a href="http://www.linesandcolors.com/2009/02/19/alphonse-mucha-alfons-mucha-update/">Lines and Colors update on Mucha with a LOT of helpful links </a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alphonse-Mucha-Agnes-Husslein-Arco/dp/3791343564/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300292885&sr=1-2">Good reproductions of all seven pictures in the Belvedere Catalog  </a>

Mucha’s "Le Pater"

Half-naked figures prostrate themselves in misty gorges, struggling and writhing before serene spirits of light. Among Alphonse Mucha’s grea...

7:51 AM

Ernest Meissonier’s Costumes

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFSqadRrk0TAVNw6ABnWz4goHmGAOloIbidokfpYwcJj9SnkRmFa7lUsu8toYiogeNiBzyMObRhX_WG1V7AOcugd4FI7Turs8bAh5F7r87y4Sk0ssdKyTJemag1RVirHt9O4F2dDs6rB4/s1600/Meissonier_-_A_Game_of_Piquet.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFSqadRrk0TAVNw6ABnWz4goHmGAOloIbidokfpYwcJj9SnkRmFa7lUsu8toYiogeNiBzyMObRhX_WG1V7AOcugd4FI7Turs8bAh5F7r87y4Sk0ssdKyTJemag1RVirHt9O4F2dDs6rB4/s400/Meissonier_-_A_Game_of_Piquet.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-UWK9wyd5Fw0bTIiAWKo358UDAXwMOttXtc_saWUEdVMM4mCTe5J3epE4M1xg68kkHy92tQgQPP6xPxSe6WhP6lfUfH68yzTLQ4y2yPVVgm1gNQ9GJc2PNUctjvF2BBc9Qy5_LxFwOZc/s1600/Meissonier+and+Costumes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-UWK9wyd5Fw0bTIiAWKo358UDAXwMOttXtc_saWUEdVMM4mCTe5J3epE4M1xg68kkHy92tQgQPP6xPxSe6WhP6lfUfH68yzTLQ4y2yPVVgm1gNQ9GJc2PNUctjvF2BBc9Qy5_LxFwOZc/s400/Meissonier+and+Costumes.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> ---- From Masters in Art: Meissonier, by Gustave Larroumet, 1893.

Ernest Meissonier’s Costumes

---- From Masters in Art: Meissonier, by Gustave Larroumet, 1893.

6:40 AM

Exhibit: Illusions of Reality

An old man struggles to carry a heavy load of wood as his daughter (or granddaughter?) stops to pick flowers. It’s a simple and universal human story, painted with extraordinary sympathy and attention to natural detail. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimf1RaCZre_5zipBqbV8XunWbBg59Fjylf1G95ZxVefuEarqGmQisiGnZVTPaS3q0yFFmFk5fkyFrmW1KrEvt79cramjk2rAjfRYYAXoFdhkjAxmqEjnNzgSln1yQMqhezZcXglkJ_soY/s1600/Bastien.Lepage.Wood.Gatherer.1881.Milwaukee+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimf1RaCZre_5zipBqbV8XunWbBg59Fjylf1G95ZxVefuEarqGmQisiGnZVTPaS3q0yFFmFk5fkyFrmW1KrEvt79cramjk2rAjfRYYAXoFdhkjAxmqEjnNzgSln1yQMqhezZcXglkJ_soY/s400/Bastien.Lepage.Wood.Gatherer.1881.Milwaukee+copy.jpg" width="368" /></a> This painting by Jules Bastien-Lepage is part of an exhibition at the Ateneum museum in Finland. The show includes paintings, photography, and cinema of the Naturalist movement. The curator of the exhibition is Gabriel Weisberg, an expert on naturalism, and on the early uses of photographic references by 19th century painters. “Illusions of Reality - Naturalist Painting, Photography and Cinema, 1875-1918” at the Ateneum Museum in Helsinki, through 15 May, 2011. According to blog reader Christoph, there’s a<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Illusions-Reality-Edwin-Becker/dp/9061539412/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299523161&sr=1-1"> nice catalog</a>, too. ----- Thanks, Christoph Heuer <a href="http://www.ateneum.fi/default.asp?showInfo=14237&docId=12532">Ateneum museum</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Bastien-Lepage">Bastien-Lepage on Wikipedia</a> <a href="http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/2009/02/whats-on-view-march-2009.html">More on current exhibitions of realist paintings at the excellent blog Underpaintings.</a>

Exhibit: Illusions of Reality

An old man struggles to carry a heavy load of wood as his daughter (or granddaughter?) stops to pick flowers. It’s a simple and universal hu...

10:40 AM

Academic Methods, Part 2: Russian Art Academy

There are several different approaches to an academic art education. Yesterday, Michael John Angel of the <a href="http://www.angelartschool.com/">Angel Academy of Art</a> presented his teaching methods and philosophy. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjk6qCpoW06HwT6fyxRkglW4v936rfe8ivGAmtWHyoxez3_dobYz6_dUXgcu1KM5MjyUWjtR2Tpa-hw_lyoGbQ0TI5xIFAKa-a34Nf5wUPFyyaftt7MB7n5N5BtP5Qr1EIv8liVD0MVA/s1600/Sergey_Chubirko.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcjk6qCpoW06HwT6fyxRkglW4v936rfe8ivGAmtWHyoxez3_dobYz6_dUXgcu1KM5MjyUWjtR2Tpa-hw_lyoGbQ0TI5xIFAKa-a34Nf5wUPFyyaftt7MB7n5N5BtP5Qr1EIv8liVD0MVA/s400/Sergey_Chubirko.jpg" width="325" /></a> A somewhat different approach is offered by Professor Sergey Chubirko, who teaches at the Russian Art Academy, which is also in Florence, Italy. Rather than try to summarize Professor Chubirko’s method myself (I have not visited his school) or to presume to draw comparisons to other academies, I thought it would be helpful just to look at his drawings and to ask him a few questions about the thinking behind his work. <blockquote>Gurney: Do you draw what you see or what you know? Chubirko: I try not to copy unconsciously what I see. The most important point about the model for me is that the model must be inspirational; it must provoke my imagination for the creation of an image. That is why I never start drawing before I see clearly the image, which I would like to show, through the model. Knowledge of anatomy and the laws of form are certainly necessary as they help me to work independently and to render my thoughts freely and quickly. Such knowledge must be automatic so that it does not distract, does not bound imagination and, at the same time, introduce independence to the hand. This is the automatic skill that provides an artist with freedom and fluency when he works. An artist should only care about “what” to express not about “how” to do it. </blockquote> <blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG19cuydG7thxz6LDQk8ObUTE1ZVYYypDsxnYj2H2SCcQF20ceVz6buzTeIOytNeJM-IztaBaNT2SiiN9vMlMIBvbWEqvN8NMj6AqU69ZoldMSzCz6OTgF_dg1kvV5mlmP9AymUiOuRdU/s1600/Sergey_Chubirko_Portrait.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG19cuydG7thxz6LDQk8ObUTE1ZVYYypDsxnYj2H2SCcQF20ceVz6buzTeIOytNeJM-IztaBaNT2SiiN9vMlMIBvbWEqvN8NMj6AqU69ZoldMSzCz6OTgF_dg1kvV5mlmP9AymUiOuRdU/s320/Sergey_Chubirko_Portrait.jpg" width="264" /></a> Gurney: How does the knowledge of anatomy shape the way you interpret what you see?</blockquote><blockquote> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAS0yu5XdlKB_nNZ5bHAfnHoeQm6_AM5M9Qn-cNA5Frg5Vn_korhdm6rQIVe2q95tyIHiEcwhtTqKtyn-OvjIN7IPVFCgVGIPHWrBHCMt52CG7dy_jTC4bYnxy1pKYvhYY5Jt7gOaVyY/s1600/artac01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Chubirko: For academic drawing, knowledge of anatomy and the rules of the form need profound studying at the initial stages of art education. Such knowledge should not be ignored as, for instance, knowledge of the alphabet cannot be ignored when one wants to learn to read and write. </blockquote><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAS0yu5XdlKB_nNZ5bHAfnHoeQm6_AM5M9Qn-cNA5Frg5Vn_korhdm6rQIVe2q95tyIHiEcwhtTqKtyn-OvjIN7IPVFCgVGIPHWrBHCMt52CG7dy_jTC4bYnxy1pKYvhYY5Jt7gOaVyY/s1600/artac01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAS0yu5XdlKB_nNZ5bHAfnHoeQm6_AM5M9Qn-cNA5Frg5Vn_korhdm6rQIVe2q95tyIHiEcwhtTqKtyn-OvjIN7IPVFCgVGIPHWrBHCMt52CG7dy_jTC4bYnxy1pKYvhYY5Jt7gOaVyY/s400/artac01.jpg" width="400" /></a> <blockquote>When we learn to read and to write we start with A, B, C, after that we put letters into syllables; later we learn how to compose simple sentences, then finally – complex sentences. And, as soon as we have learnt to express ourselves freely in complex sentences, we do not need to go back to the alphabet again. We do not think about letters any longer because they are just tools for a very creative process of reading and writing; for expressing our thoughts and feelings. Same is in drawing. Knowledge of anatomy and the laws of form is just a tool necessary for an unlimited work of imagination and creation of the artistic images.</blockquote> <blockquote> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTaVjER37sRNSnNUGV0W6lR62nq1Fko2QQW3RYvEER6E6UCitAOE1nlRVGGNc4rtm8o1zPMAxdPxOc0_uDk-16N9kjHmkRTj1NnO02C9sRKslYFgE8sNPyuaraPa8LWX95J-O7IU52ew/s1600/Sergey_Chubirko2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGTaVjER37sRNSnNUGV0W6lR62nq1Fko2QQW3RYvEER6E6UCitAOE1nlRVGGNc4rtm8o1zPMAxdPxOc0_uDk-16N9kjHmkRTj1NnO02C9sRKslYFgE8sNPyuaraPa8LWX95J-O7IU52ew/s400/Sergey_Chubirko2.jpg" width="246" /></a> Gurney: What do you change when you draw? Chubirko:  Selection in drawing is very important and this is the artist who selects what to show and what not to. Any model always has in itself the essential and the supplementary, secondary things. The aim of the artist is to see what is really important and to emphasize it. The author’s selection in this case should be convincing for the viewer.  That is why when I am drawing a live model my personal vision as well as the image I would like to create is much more important than a model itself. Every model has its particular features, which, in fact, define artist’s choice of the main and the secondary points. </blockquote> _______  I am very grateful to Sergey and Irina Chubirko and Dorian Iten for helping me to learn more. For more information, check out the following websites: <a href="http://artac.org/">Russian Academy in Florence</a> <a href="http://artac.org/faculty/chubirko/">Sergey Chubirko portfolio</a> <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/03/academic-methods-part-1-john-michael.html">Academic Methods, Part 1: Angel Academy </a> <a href="http://www.atelierstockholm.se/index.asp?id=64&parentid=64&lang=1">Atelier Stockholm: Sight Size and its Disadvantages</a><a href="http://www.atelierstockholm.se/index.asp?id=64&parentid=64&lang=1"></a> <a href="http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=181642">More discussion and examples of Russian Academy & Repin Institute work</a>

Academic Methods, Part 2: Russian Art Academy

There are several different approaches to an academic art education. Yesterday, Michael John Angel of the Angel Academy of Art presented hi...

9:36 PM

Academic Methods, Part 1: John Michael Angel

The teaching methods of the ateliers and academies of the 19th century are undergoing something of a revival around the world. Various teachers have sought to recapture or preserve some of the classic approaches to drawing the figure and composing pictures. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV5z6M3y5UopirsGdg240cc2dLOTLkDZJrR0c8Ue52yEeXcCHF5K1lM9umWRfyohwLCcNU3PL4WlDr-b731z0Gm5aMUzt9s_sxXckpRxWGvE-mzYpTJXKCRnhOGji9mc_yHHVrXE1zuE/s1600/kathy_mcnenly-large.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMV5z6M3y5UopirsGdg240cc2dLOTLkDZJrR0c8Ue52yEeXcCHF5K1lM9umWRfyohwLCcNU3PL4WlDr-b731z0Gm5aMUzt9s_sxXckpRxWGvE-mzYpTJXKCRnhOGji9mc_yHHVrXE1zuE/s320/kathy_mcnenly-large.jpg" width="272" /></a> The approach varies from school to school, and the methods are hotly contested among their aficionados. For the next two posts, I thought I would share two different approaches in the words of the teachers themselves. First is Michael John Angel, whose studio in Florence I visited late last year. In a series of three short videos, he lays out his principles of academic pedagogy: <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DsiP2pUT2qQ" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lUd1J4wMijQ" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="290" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ijzxRfR5odI" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe> -------- Here are a bunch of links if you'd like to learn more: Direct link to YouTube videos:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsiP2pUT2qQ">Part 1:</a> , <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUd1J4wMijQ">Part 2:</a>,  <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijzxRfR5odI">Part 3: </a> <a href="http://www.angelartschool.com/">Angel Academy of Art</a> <a href="http://www.angelartschool.com/mja.html">Michael John Angel</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Bargue-Jean-Leon-Gerome-Drawing/dp/286770166X">Charles Bargue Painting Course</a> (Book from Amazon) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Annigoni">Pietro Annigoni on Wikipedia</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atelier_Method">Wikipedia on the Atelier Method & Sight-Size Drawing</a> Off the Coast of Utopia, <a href="http://offthecoastofutopia.blogspot.com/%20">http://offthecoastofutopia.blogspot.com/ </a>fascinating blog by Martinho Isidro Correia, an instructor at Angel. Note in particular his <a href="http://offthecoastofutopia.blogspot.com/2011/02/make-fine-gesture-post-of-few-words.html">post on Bouguereau deviating from a pure sight-size method</a>. Related GurneyJourney posts: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2010/11/angel-academy-of-art.html">Angel Academy</a>     <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/search?q=toronto+realist+academy">Academy of Realist Art, Toronto</a>    <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/04/grand-central-academy.html"> Grand Central Academy, New York</a>

Academic Methods, Part 1: John Michael Angel

The teaching methods of the ateliers and academies of the 19th century are undergoing something of a revival around the world. Various teach...

9:23 AM

Studies for "Love's Baubles"

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwJjZ7TPJXT0ZBcTaLTDYPvydWKKcThWjiFDA9dBOQ2eX5Ue-4UmZv6gCbuncbkEir0ZvDatQYMViWqM4upALJqKmFsJnDr_ioBHqSKGxRoWmoNXfNtf9VUOfA94kczPGv6rt8Sddvmpo/s1600/Shaw-Byam.Studies.lovesbaubles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>Byam Shaw,  (full name: John Byam Liston Shaw, 1872 – 1919) was a British painter known for his scenes of history and mythology. Like many of his Royal Academy contemporaries, he went to great lengths to make studies before he began the final painting. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRqlZwb-9wGCHcWcWXh9wavStFTILPO03fgSa1PMGYSQ3FTqa56QvlUtoREfE71Ae3b13tljAKY_LaT7mHN3OZWcsmLysGkcv92bFIECMIJ7bPJgdUvTdehadz3ZzZo7uNDsS2mgLmS4/s1600/Shaw_Biam_Loves_Baubles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRqlZwb-9wGCHcWcWXh9wavStFTILPO03fgSa1PMGYSQ3FTqa56QvlUtoREfE71Ae3b13tljAKY_LaT7mHN3OZWcsmLysGkcv92bFIECMIJ7bPJgdUvTdehadz3ZzZo7uNDsS2mgLmS4/s400/Shaw_Biam_Loves_Baubles.jpg" width="400" /></a> For example, on one of his masterpieces, "Love's Baubles,"  he went to the trouble to make charcoal drawings of the nude figures beneath the costumes.  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsN5-kPO_NVrewoYN7ZrENx1ywj-hRGpsHMiWUNWCBmg04RI8Afsgt0u1pzB_7VrZXCwTVH275JFNDGVCzHqiFHGIVvM0Zm5ypzMXx9g_bfVUNKjMtIuE7cVVSM2n0uNcMMDN2MfaMlA/s1600/Shaw.Studies.Baubles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsN5-kPO_NVrewoYN7ZrENx1ywj-hRGpsHMiWUNWCBmg04RI8Afsgt0u1pzB_7VrZXCwTVH275JFNDGVCzHqiFHGIVvM0Zm5ypzMXx9g_bfVUNKjMtIuE7cVVSM2n0uNcMMDN2MfaMlA/s400/Shaw.Studies.Baubles.jpg" width="298" /></a> This makes a big difference for getting the action of the pose right, especially with voluminous costumes.  <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwJjZ7TPJXT0ZBcTaLTDYPvydWKKcThWjiFDA9dBOQ2eX5Ue-4UmZv6gCbuncbkEir0ZvDatQYMViWqM4upALJqKmFsJnDr_ioBHqSKGxRoWmoNXfNtf9VUOfA94kczPGv6rt8Sddvmpo/s1600/Shaw-Byam.Studies.lovesbaubles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwJjZ7TPJXT0ZBcTaLTDYPvydWKKcThWjiFDA9dBOQ2eX5Ue-4UmZv6gCbuncbkEir0ZvDatQYMViWqM4upALJqKmFsJnDr_ioBHqSKGxRoWmoNXfNtf9VUOfA94kczPGv6rt8Sddvmpo/s400/Shaw-Byam.Studies.lovesbaubles.jpg" width="400" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZsN5-kPO_NVrewoYN7ZrENx1ywj-hRGpsHMiWUNWCBmg04RI8Afsgt0u1pzB_7VrZXCwTVH275JFNDGVCzHqiFHGIVvM0Zm5ypzMXx9g_bfVUNKjMtIuE7cVVSM2n0uNcMMDN2MfaMlA/s1600/Shaw.Studies.Baubles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a> And the hair is not an accident either. Shaw did careful studies to work out the braids and the locks. It all shows in the final painting. --------- Painting repro from <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">"Preraphaelite Paintings"</a> <a href="http://preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com/search/label/John%20Byam%20Liston%20Shaw">More paintings by Byam Shaw </a>on the same blog collection <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byam_Shaw">Wikipedia on Byam Shaw</a> Black and white studies from "The Magazine of Art," vol. 22, page 633

Studies for "Love's Baubles"

Byam Shaw, (full name: John Byam Liston Shaw, 1872 – 1919) was a British painter known for his scenes of history and mythology. Like many o...

10:37 AM

Juana la Loca

In his painting Juana la Loca, Spanish painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Pradilla_Ortiz">Francisco Pradilla Ortiz </a>(1848-1921) told an epic story worthy of a best-selling novel or a Hollywood movie: <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZoHsr2jswlhY4cvDyogd04A8cemp5DB4OxKIgAzez6IqFJoB-kjMUwGhDnckOwmiKYFq-BheRuTwbxHAY05w-JPdJsbp7ltwn1n60D_47XzKn0ATdTLpFPauUc647hcIa2nIRAqRKSw/s1600/Pradilla_Juana_la_Loca.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVZoHsr2jswlhY4cvDyogd04A8cemp5DB4OxKIgAzez6IqFJoB-kjMUwGhDnckOwmiKYFq-BheRuTwbxHAY05w-JPdJsbp7ltwn1n60D_47XzKn0ATdTLpFPauUc647hcIa2nIRAqRKSw/s400/Pradilla_Juana_la_Loca.jpg" width="400" /></a> “It is chronicled that Juana, wife of Philip de Borgogne and mother of Charles the Fifth, being distractedly in love with her handsome husband—a reputed flirt—became possessed of a superhuman jealousy which over-balanced her intellect. “Philip meantime ‘shuffles off the mortal coil,’ and his unhappy Queen Juana, in a frenzy of grief, insists on accompanying the corpse to its last resting place, situated at the furthest extremity of Spain, Granada—then the burial place of the royalties—being five hundred miles from Burgos, where Philip died. “The route lay through a wild, uninhabited country, utterly impracticable to vehicles of any description, so that the Court, the prelates, nobles, and knights, who made up the funeral procession, had a long trudge, her Majesty leading, behind the coffin. “The pathetic scene given us by the painter takes place at the close of a bitter December day when three months had already been passed on the road; footsore and perishing from cold, the Court mourners spied the walls of a convent, hailing the prospect of hospitality contained therein with delight. “The Queen, who felt neither cold nor fatigue, acceded to the request of her people, and the bier was taken into the church of the convent, the Queen in close attendance on her treasure, when suddenly a shriek was heard from the horrified Queen, who screamed ‘Out, out of here this instant!’ “Her majesty had unwittingly come into the camp of the enemy. The inhabitants of the convent were not —as supposed — friars, but nuns. “The spectral figure of the worn-out queen, in whose gaze, fixed upon the coffin, can be detected the wanderings of a mind shaken by the mad jealousy which still consumes her, the coffin itself, illuminated by the light of a miserable campfire, the smoke of which is utilized by the painter to detach the sombre centre-figure, the well-disposed groups which crouch around, half dead with exhaustion, who had been so ruthlessly deprived of a warm shelter by the unconscious cruelty of an afflicted woman, are all remarkably finely rendered. “The dawning light which illumines feebly the dreary scene—including the obnoxious convent—all combine to render the painting a drama in all save in theatrical accessories and get-up.”  ------ Quoted from<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=qvkEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=%22It+is+chronicled+that+Juana,+wife+of+%22+pradilla&source=bl&ots=57XlcBh5UW&sig=BR2i4rqsT6g723fIjP_kFdPbVCg&hl=en&ei=WhlpTdTiLIjrgQfX5dHLCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22It%20is%20chronicled%20that%20Juana%2C%20wife%20of%20%22%20pradilla&f=false"> International Studio, 1901. </a> Image from Wikipedia:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Juana_la_Loca_de_Pradilla.jpg"> Juana la Loca1877</a> Wikipedia on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Pradilla_Ortiz">Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (teacher of Sorolla)</a>

Juana la Loca

In his painting Juana la Loca, Spanish painter Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (1848-1921) told an epic story worthy of a best-selling novel or a ...

7:21 AM

Painful Poses

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Artists’ models often had to endure difficult poses in the Royal Academy. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPg7uhBOvvnlCSec-Vu1F6YM9Z3x15s9UiIGTTfG23ah-eTQ6fGcSYZS0RSgFIfmx7BW-xo66A24fH6lY2kFNoix7NlbrmCAmTTjoRUV-U9PYsiGXHktbhjSY9dNMcdiPg4xWmZiHwkwA/s1600/birch.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjPY3xENrPyz-dkx3apf18n2jGydIRmsfvU17fVvezG8NURp4JvOu9SsaOWCqzDJoCk-qV-_sv5iHKv5GaGSHnj_v9LFPBgmWphkQxnASpEvBjFUPtusPtVZo1H3OMchC63gyPL2XjeM/s1600/MagofArt.1888.p136.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjPY3xENrPyz-dkx3apf18n2jGydIRmsfvU17fVvezG8NURp4JvOu9SsaOWCqzDJoCk-qV-_sv5iHKv5GaGSHnj_v9LFPBgmWphkQxnASpEvBjFUPtusPtVZo1H3OMchC63gyPL2XjeM/s400/MagofArt.1888.p136.sm.jpg" width="347" /></a> “The pose is occasionally very painful to retain for any length of time, especially when the head is turned or the arms uplifted,” said M.H. Spielmann, a contemporary observer. Models that moved the least bit ruined their reputation as a sitter. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPg7uhBOvvnlCSec-Vu1F6YM9Z3x15s9UiIGTTfG23ah-eTQ6fGcSYZS0RSgFIfmx7BW-xo66A24fH6lY2kFNoix7NlbrmCAmTTjoRUV-U9PYsiGXHktbhjSY9dNMcdiPg4xWmZiHwkwA/s1600/birch.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPg7uhBOvvnlCSec-Vu1F6YM9Z3x15s9UiIGTTfG23ah-eTQ6fGcSYZS0RSgFIfmx7BW-xo66A24fH6lY2kFNoix7NlbrmCAmTTjoRUV-U9PYsiGXHktbhjSY9dNMcdiPg4xWmZiHwkwA/s200/birch.jpg" width="160" /></a>A model’s uplifted arm was often suspended by ropes or chains. The dying horseman for the painting “Last Call” by the sculptor Charles Bell Birch (1832-1893) held onto a bar attached to the rafters, while his “horse” was raised up on pulleys. </div><div style="text-align: left;">----</div><div style="text-align: left;">Second image (and Birch bio) at <a href="http://tiscali.co.uk/">Tiscali.co.uk</a> M.H. Spielmann in Magazine of Art, 1888, page 139. </div>

Painful Poses

Artists’ models often had to endure difficult poses in the Royal Academy. “The pose is occasionally very painful to retain for any length of...

7:15 AM

Activating Your Imagination

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuRHBbkTAtuh-syG_PykW_GyEP22BmvTkskgRNzstpONGDf_kOzevz21CTRLDlogxb3lMCrVdgRREYiCyUryJYRq5Xr-LcKeOYmRNjcbxJGXqurnhM_otLqZncNw6YARUVYfgwe2paPSo/s1600/Mucha.SlavEpic.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>A student in an academic atelier recently asked me the following question: <blockquote>Dear James, </blockquote><blockquote>Do you have any advice on how artists can keep their imagination active while studying things like anatomy and observational drawing of casts and models? I've noticed recently that I've become really scared of sketching things off the top of my head, which I used to do without much thought. I find myself thinking "where's my photo reference?" or nitpicking every little flaw in a throwaway sketch when I should just be trying to have fun.   Sincerely, Stumped Imaginatively</blockquote> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuRHBbkTAtuh-syG_PykW_GyEP22BmvTkskgRNzstpONGDf_kOzevz21CTRLDlogxb3lMCrVdgRREYiCyUryJYRq5Xr-LcKeOYmRNjcbxJGXqurnhM_otLqZncNw6YARUVYfgwe2paPSo/s1600/Mucha.SlavEpic.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuRHBbkTAtuh-syG_PykW_GyEP22BmvTkskgRNzstpONGDf_kOzevz21CTRLDlogxb3lMCrVdgRREYiCyUryJYRq5Xr-LcKeOYmRNjcbxJGXqurnhM_otLqZncNw6YARUVYfgwe2paPSo/s400/Mucha.SlavEpic.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> Dear Stumped, You said it! This is a common feeling! Every pro has had it from time to time. Anyone who works in the field of concept art or science fiction or fantasy has a passion to turn our dreams into something tangible. But most of the time the images always start out as hazy and hard-to-capture. The reality of the model or the photo is much more compelling. When you set out to paint a scene from the imagination, like the scene above from the Slav Epics by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha">Alphonse Mucha</a>, you’re facing a whole different bunch of challenges than you would if you were painting a portrait or a landscape from observation. Here are some suggestions to keep your imagination active, and to develop your ability to draw scenes totally out of your head. 1. When you do a painting from the model, for a change from the usual straight observational approach, try to imagine a story driving the pose. Add something to bring out the story: paint a forest background, a set of angel wings, or re-imagine the figure as a robot. Howard Pyle used to have his students do that. He said: "Don't paint the model," Instead, "make a picture." 2. Keep a sketchbook just for image generation, rather than observation. Use it not only for creature designs and other stuff from your head, but also for quick copies from whichever old masters you like. 3. Try not give in to the desire for photo reference too quickly. Keep an idea in pure sketch stage as long as possible. Shoot (or better yet draw) your reference studies to fit your mental image as much as possible. Dean Cornwell used to project up his rough poses and mental-image composition onto the final canvas before he sought out models. 4. Learn to draw a mannequin figure out of your head. The Famous Artist’s Course from the ‘50s has a good mannequin formula made up of tapered cylinders. “How to Draw the Marvel Way” has another good system. Copy the figure work of comic art masters like Winsor McCay, Hal Foster, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Jack Davis, or Mort Drucker. These systems help improve your imaginative drawing so that the ‘nitpicker’ guy in your head shuts up. 5. Work on memory drawing. Observe a face or a figure or an architectural façade and try to reproduce it only from memory later in your sketchbook. This is superb training for good imaginative work. 6. Since you’re in an academic program, remember that the original 19th C. Ecole and the ateliers weren’t just about drawing what you see. The students did a lot of sketch practice for the Prix de Rome, which was all about doing multi-figure compositions from the Bible and Greek mythology. Those students could draw the cast or the figure brilliantly, but they were always experimenting with sample multi-figure story assignments. 7. Remember the words of Howard Pyle: "You should not need models. You know how a face looks. How an eye is placed and the form of it and you should be able to draw it from your knowledge. That is very difficult with students from other schools. They say ‘That is a good draughtsman.’ Yet ask him to draw without the model and he is utterly helpless. He has learned nothing of real value, for you cannot draw until you can be independent of the model. And so I would advise you to draw your figures and carry them as far as you can without the model then get the model to correct by.” --------- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Mucha">Alphonse Mucha and his Slav Epics on Wikipedia</a>

Activating Your Imagination

A student in an academic atelier recently asked me the following question: Dear James, Do you have any advice on how artists can keep their...

12:23 PM

The Sky’s Dual Gradations

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-BFORO9K8KlVUV4bAZdMR7vIyuEj6WFpKYOGnykplqaJoegGCRN3BBLy8vENxlEAix6fpYj2CZeNB_XSMAiS6MTA7VTfCxV2xw6Pm26wNaoiFdO0nau9RzLCdg_tkKN2UyecTeZ_CRQ/s1600/Dual+Sky+Gradations.sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>You may recall this painting of an oak tree, below. It is painted over a 'sky panel', a prepared sky gradation recorded from observation on a previous day. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-BFORO9K8KlVUV4bAZdMR7vIyuEj6WFpKYOGnykplqaJoegGCRN3BBLy8vENxlEAix6fpYj2CZeNB_XSMAiS6MTA7VTfCxV2xw6Pm26wNaoiFdO0nau9RzLCdg_tkKN2UyecTeZ_CRQ/s1600/Dual+Sky+Gradations.sm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-BFORO9K8KlVUV4bAZdMR7vIyuEj6WFpKYOGnykplqaJoegGCRN3BBLy8vENxlEAix6fpYj2CZeNB_XSMAiS6MTA7VTfCxV2xw6Pm26wNaoiFdO0nau9RzLCdg_tkKN2UyecTeZ_CRQ/s400/Dual+Sky+Gradations.sm.jpg" width="400" /></a> If you take a section of color from each corner of the sky, you can see how the sky is created with four different starting colors. The sky gradated in two directions: 1. From top to bottom, as a result of “horizon glow,” 2. From left to right, “solar glare.” The sun is to the right in the painting, so the colors are lighter on the right swatches. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzp4H0QhNbfBAeY5-btJLZlGJXIg2OVFBd1I0VlUoJR_UdDfQQC1TiCkrei3jX1ZLw8K5bHWMJWAptT3MVtccb7h50r0scQhNH94vGe7itWONIKmDYhICSCDBOLTfkx8-2yTrCJ6V4Uc/s1600/monchablon.landscape.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzp4H0QhNbfBAeY5-btJLZlGJXIg2OVFBd1I0VlUoJR_UdDfQQC1TiCkrei3jX1ZLw8K5bHWMJWAptT3MVtccb7h50r0scQhNH94vGe7itWONIKmDYhICSCDBOLTfkx8-2yTrCJ6V4Uc/s400/monchablon.landscape.jpg" width="400" /></a> Both gradations are going on in this landscape by <a href="http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=1110">Jean-Ferdinand Monchablon</a>. The sun is also coming from the right in this scene. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJ6UX6oVM_eyblCLliLngPf0_DdjUEo4mUNg13bSSqqhQxJHG1z-P3iG64t-Jh-ybwjSBbCipEl_nknXT4bUpUASOxDxmppQSYw5m-PkdYaywRnSjpBDpOgJD_dkE2nbraEM48VmDKP4/s1600/Monchablon-xJean-Ferdinand-Le_Paturage+copy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWJ6UX6oVM_eyblCLliLngPf0_DdjUEo4mUNg13bSSqqhQxJHG1z-P3iG64t-Jh-ybwjSBbCipEl_nknXT4bUpUASOxDxmppQSYw5m-PkdYaywRnSjpBDpOgJD_dkE2nbraEM48VmDKP4/s400/Monchablon-xJean-Ferdinand-Le_Paturage+copy.jpg" width="400" /></a> Here again, Monchablon gradates his sky both ways. His paint is very thin, probably stippled with the end of a brush. Monchablon’s skies retire back from the plane of the canvas, allowing the viewer to travel into the painting for miles and miles. This is a great and very difficult achievement. It’s easy to make a sky look like paint. It’s hard to make it look like a radiant veil interposed over infinity. For more on painting skies, pick up the new Feb/March issue of <a href="http://www.international-artist.com/splash.aspx">International Artist magazine</a>, where I begin the first of a ten part Masterclass series on atmospheric effects. ----------- Previously on GJ: <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/01/sky-panels.html">Sky panels</a>, <a href="http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/04/sky-blue.html">Sky Blue</a> <a href="http://www.international-artist.com/splash.aspx">International Artist magazine</a> <a href="http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=1110">J.F. Monchablon on ARC </a>

The Sky’s Dual Gradations

You may recall this painting of an oak tree, below. It is painted over a 'sky panel', a prepared sky gradation recorded from observa...

8:35 AM