Got Gesture?

These are 60 second gesture drawing demos I did a few years back for one of my drawing classes at Sacramento City College. They were done with super duper soft/black quarter inch round charcoal sticks. We were doing gestures on cheap newsprint paper. I always turn on some snappy music (love electronic rave or dance music...even the Irish group "Flogging Molly") to help my students get into the gestural movement groove. No time to take proportion measurements. It must all be eyeballed very quickly. 60 second gesture drawing comes at the end of the semester after the students have gotten a lot of representational drawing exercises under their belts. Check out David Lloyd, an artist in New Orleans...he's a gestural drawer/painter I like very much. You can find him in my links section. Gotta stop typing now...my 60 seconds is up!

What NOT TO DO (?) and Help!

Here's some dirty laundry. I was commissioned to do the grandson of the manager of one of the art supply stores here in Sacramento. I took about twelve photos of the cute little tike. Most of them were outside with some very nice shadowing on his face. Then I took a few in my studio bathroom. The bathroom has a frosted window facing the sun. In the afternoon, anyone posing for me is hit with wonderful soft light casting soft shadows (see my February post of the watercolor portrait I did of Stacy, my ex-rep and a comely lass, indeed). But with the grandson (his name is Ian), the photos were in the late morning before the sun came around to face the window square on. The light was flat and diffused. But...I included this photo for the client to see, and his wife loved it, and everyone was on the same page as far as his angelic expression was concerned. So...that was my reference photo. The painting captures his look, and the client absolutly loves the painting. Done deal, sold American. Problem is...boring!!!! Can any of you very talented fellow artists out there give me a clue as to how I could have painted Ian in flat light but with some panache?

Signed,
Sad Artist

Born To Be Wild!!!!

I'm 61 years of age with no bodily piercing or tattoos, and I would never, ever be caught dead on a Harley. They scare me. But they are great, and I like their riders. These are monochromatic watercolors I did on 140lb cold press (no, I NEVER stretch or tape down my paper). The style was inspired by a 20th century chinese painter who worked from the 30's to about the early 70's. His black and white and minimalist color ink paintings were mostly of contemporary urban scenes. I paid $3 for his book in a used book store about 3 years ago.

(Bikers don't cotton to things foreign. That's why I have my quasi-chinese chop {not chopper!} and the Old Glory)

Outdoor Painting Tip #2

You are outside with all your plein air equipment fighting bugs, wind, and heat. You have spent 3 hours of hard, hard, hard painting labor that has gotten you nowhere. Your attempt at capturing the pond, tractor, and wheat field has grossly failed. What do you do with this piece of shit (sorry for the language... but....shit is shit, isn't it?) The answer is simple. Go back to your comfy studio, where you should never have left in the first place, re-gesso that piece of you know what, and do an abstract painting. No pond, no tractor, and no wheat field!


(of course, this would NEVER happen to yours truly)

Outdoor Painting Tip #1

When your tripod easel outfit is not sturdy enough to attach your big, heavy umbrella to and you also happen to be painting on a rocking boat, just what do you do?


(To see the answer, stand on your head and view photo)


I think this macho outdoor painting dude went by the name of John Singer Sargent. He often whimped out by painting in sissy watercolors. What's up with that!

Families Go Abstract!

This last Saturday, I was invited to conduct a two hour abstract painting workshop for families and individuals. This was sponsored by a fabulous gallery here in Sacramento called 40 Acres Gallery. They specialize in exhibiting artist from across the nation. In fact, the workshop was on the last day of the Peter Wayne Lewis exhibit. Peter is an internationally known abstract artist. I gave a short lecture on abstract art and off they went. The excitement was the same as when the starting gates open at the Kentucky Derby! The gallery supplied the over 40 participants with watercolor paper, brushes, tempera paints. I brought in tooth brushes (for spattering) and foam rubber daubers. #1 photo sets the scene. #2 photo gives you an idea of the energy. #3 photo is TROUBLE! #4 photo shows a newby artist who decided to sleep instead. #5 photo is a multi tasking participant. What fun they had, what fun I had!

Rollin Down The River

This is the Steamboat Sough Bridge off the Sacramento River. The view is from the slough looking east to the Sacramento River just beyond the bridge. It is an acrylic on canvas (16"X20") painted from a photo taken from the boat of the couple that commissioned me to paint the scene. I posted another view of this bridge in Nov. '07 (also in acrylic but a lot larger- 48"X60"). Like a great deal of my work from reference photos, I ignore a a lot of the colors I see in the photo, and make up my own. Often times, this is not too efficient, because I feel my way around the color wheel to get what I want. I will play and play and play, but it's a great way to find new avenues of painting without scrapping or waiting days for paint to dry. The subtle colors in the sky and slough were definitely not in the photo, and even the tree colors got monkeyed around with. The cool thing is that with acrylic (I've said this numerous times in my blog) is that I can play with colors, values, etc within very short time periods. After all, acrylic dries within minutes. Not cool for oil painters, but I aint no oil painter (some of my best friends are oil painters...and...different strokes for different folks). Because of this easy ability to play, I'm of the opinion that acrylic can be a great medium to learn how to paint even though the student may end up being an "oiler".