Myth Busting One Art Rule at a Time

Yesterday while painting rocks I had an ah ha moment....

"The Certainty of Youth and the Complexity of Wisdom" detail
(diptych in progress)

As I share my knowledge of painting with my students I also delight in debunking ART RULES as they understand them.

The ah ha moment today came when I realized WHY this is crucial to growth as an artist, particularly to a realist artist...drum roll please...

If you have a preconceived idea of what something SHOULD be you can't get to the thing as it REALLY is.

While all the technical stuff I share is important what I really want my students to do is observe nature, really observe nature.

The conversation usually starts when I say something like "Look how warm the shadows are here" then one of my very accomplished students says something like "But I thought shadows are cool and highlights are warm" then I say "That's what I used to think too." And then we are off!

I've come to think of these statements as Art Rules that Hinder. While painting in the solitude of my studio I find myself problem solving ways to help students rethink these rules, ways to shake them up just a bit.

So for my lovely students (you know who you are), I'll be debunking the rules one by one and having fun rocking your world!

Myth Busting Art Rules that Hinder

1. "Shadows are cool and highlights are warm"

Wrong, it's all relative. 

If you are trying to fit what you are observing into a painting formula you cannot see the magical natural phenomenon that is right in front of you.

Example: The hot southwest sun shining on a mesa is warm and the shadows cast by the mesa are cool, but a cool north light will make the highlights seem cool, in comparison to the shadows which will seem warm. 

Think of your paintings as movies, you be the director and set up any number of color temperature scenarios and variations.

Here is the illustration I use in class. This is a small still life I set up in a box, it's a wooden finial I painted flat white and mounted to a canvas board. The light is the same, all that changes is a piece of colored paper on the right hand side reflecting into the shadows.

With  black paper to the right of the box the shadow is dense and fairly neutral.

There is a red-orange piece of paper to the right of the box, notice all the gorgeous hot colors bouncing around. The highlight in comparison to the shadow is cool even though the light source hasn't changed.

Same light, but now with a cool blue paper reflecting into the shadows, the highlight is positively warm. 

Simply shine a light on a white object, put a piece of red paper on the opposite side of the object and really observe the light and shadow. In relationship to the red bouncing around in the shadows the highlights will seem warm. Yes this is reflected light, but it's also the color temperature in the shadow. My point is that it is all relative to the situation you set up or observe in nature.

If anyone knows any Art Rules that Hinder just send them to me. This is going to be fun!

"Power Struggle"

30x40, oil on panel. This piece is fresh off the easel and not yet varnished so I'll have better pictures later.

A profile is tricky business and this intense light situation made this a challenge, it's been on the easel for a couple months now. I hope the photos show the multiple layers.

The shadows were so intensely warm with the light bouncing up from the yellow table that the entire scene was flooded with a warm glow. To keep it from being almost monochromatic I pushed the idea that the highlights were cool.

 

"Mary Lee as Artemisia Gentileschi"

Incognito Project, 16x16, oil on panel.

Mary Lee is a friend of mine here in Birmingham, an artist and mother of three. She lives her life artfully and identifies with many aspects of the Renaissance artist Artemisia Gentileschi's unconventional life.

Mary Lee had a tough time deciding on her costume because she has so many interests, which eventually pointed us in the direction of Renaissance Man, er... rather Renaissance Woman.

Here are couple of shots of Mary Lee from the Incognito Project, Part 1, the day of the photo shoot last summer at my studio. Photos by Christina Lopez.

The picture of her costume from the back is amusing, it's all about the disguise! Which in this case was an authentic Renaissance costume I rented from the Samford Theater Department.

Mary Lee's hairpiece is made of feathers, flowers, an acorn and a small compass, signifying an artist's love of the study of nature and the use of art as a compass for life.

I invite you to sign up for my monthly newsletter where I share news about up coming shows and painting tips.

Here's a link to other posts about The Incognito Project.

Enjoy Artemisia's epic self-portrait that helped inspired my composition.

 

 

A New Illustrator on the Scene

In honor of my daughter, Carly embarking on her next great adventure, I thought I share a link to her art,
carlystricklandart.com.

Carly graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design on June 4, 2011.

 Carly Strickland, "Self-Portrait with Ray Gun", Vector Illustration

Her artistic voice has been called "fun, quirky, & irreverent".  Like all good art, hers is a great reflection of her personality. Most of her current work is vector based illustration, although she is well versed in many media. 

I particularly enjoy her retro style, excellent draftsmanship and sophisticated color palettes, I think you will too!

Special Delivery Eight Years Later

"The Lion Tamer" is the first of the Incognito Project pieces to be delivered to it's new home. This is the model and her daughter. My collector has generously agreed to loan the painting back for the eventual show, but in the mean time she and her family get to enjoy it while I finish the rest of the paintings for the show!

Peggy is a Birmingham local, art and marketing is her profession. She is someone who always has a smile on her face and a sunshiny personality. She is thrilled with my depiction of her "fierce" incognito personae. I've caught glimpses of this steely strength in the years that we've been friends and it was fun to have her share that side of herself with me.

"The Lion Tamer-The Incognito Project", 16x16, oil on panel, and details

 

As I'm posting this I realize just how long I've been friends with Peggy, she in fact modeled for me when she was pregnant with this very same daughter. At the time, 2003, she told me she'd always wanted to be an artist's model and was happy to check that off her bucket list.

"Dawn", 7x15, 2003

This painting was in my first museum show at the Meridian Museum of Art in Meridian Mississippi, January 2004. It is now in the collection of Carly Strickland. I really do have the coolest friends!

The Incognito Project Gets a Shine

I varnished the first batch of The Incognito Project paintings this week. Fun to see this work coming together, and varnish day is always exciting, seeing the colors come back to their full saturation.

 "The Lion Tamer", 16x16, oil on panel

 "The Rake", 16x16, oil on panel

 "Bram's Lullaby", 16x16, oil on panel

 "The Activist", 16x16, oil on panel

 "Yippee Ki-Yay", 16x16, oil on panel

 "The Torch Singer", 16x16, oil on panel

This work is for a self-produced show that will be here in Birmingham, AL, details to be announced. To see more about the project click here.

Tornado Relief Benefit Poster

My oil sketch "Tuesday Night Blues", 12x9, has been used on a poster to advertise a benefit festival for Alabama Tornado Relief and Hands On Birmingham.

The poster was designed by Randy Webb, talented Birmingham artist and guitar man. My sketch was done at our local life drawing group, X's 8, where we both go to draw.

Randy Webb, Self Portrait, 14x17, Charcoal

Randy also makes really cool cigar box guitars when

he's not making art, playing the blues or doing good deeds.

"Ode to Melancholy"

24x36, oil on panel

The model is my daughter and the title is inspired by the poem
Ode to Melancholy by John Keats, 1819.

No, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist

Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;

Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd

By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;

Make not your rosary of yew-berries,

Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be

Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl

A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;

For shade to shade will come too drowsily,

And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

 

But when the melancholy fit shall fall

Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,

That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,

And hides the green hill in an April shroud;

Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose.

Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,

Or on the wealth of globèd peonies;

Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,

Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave.

And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

 

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;

And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips

Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,

Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:

Ay, in the very temple of Delight

Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,

Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue

Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;

His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,

And be among her cloudy trophies hung.