Day two hundred and forty-nine: Not much time today for an in depth study. The subject matter in this silly scribble was triggered by an exhibition that’s being installed at work. Called “Here and Now,” it is a show of prints, drawings, and photographs by contemporary Philadelphia artists. It is going to be fantastic with many fascinating and awesome works of art. Much more stunning, with many more compelling things to see than in this doodle!
Tagged cartoon
Day two hundred and forty-eight: An indirect request from a colleague at work steered me toward sketches after photographs by Paul Strand. I wasn’t very satisfied with the final product of yesterday’s study of “Rebecca,” but I did enjoy applying and blending color to create shape and surface. I thought I’d try one more, so here’s another. I’m not sure of the photograph’s title, and it’s still not a great copy of the original, but it generally captures the girl’s expression. I used no outlines to lay this out. Only surfaces of color, which I then blended.
Tagged face, oil
Day two hundred and forty-seven: I’ll be the first to admit that, aside from the pose, the woman in my sketch doesn’t look like the woman in the photograph I used as a model. The original is a Palladium print at the Getty Museum of a photograph taken by Paul Strand in 1923. It’s titled “Rebecca.” I can see why old masters made grids on pictures they were copying to ensure accuracy, but I’m not willing to take the time. I’d rather start sketching, see what happens, and fix mistakes as best as possible. So the proportions are wrong, and it doesn’t look like Rebecca. And the shoulder is too big. But it does look like a sleeping woman, so that’s a plus. What’s more, it didn’t take me very long, and I had fun pushing colors around the screen. That’s what matters most when you’re a daily sketcher like me. Little improvements, one day at a time!
Day two hundred and forty-six: When I started reading a section on homemade pasta in an Italian cookbook, I didn’t realize I would be making some a few hours later. But with some extra time on a long, relaxing weekend, it was the perfect thing to try. Without no pasta machine, I decided to follow the instructions for flattening the dough with a rolling pin. I had a taste for a sausage and fennel sauce that called for ziti, but I opted to cut and roll the pasta into boccoli, which are supposed to resemble ringlets. It took awhile to make, but it came beautiful, and it was exceedingly delicious. A real Labor Day treat I thought deserved some fancy lettering!
Tagged food, oil
Day two hundred and forty-five: Today a visiting artist asked to study a painting on paper by the Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940), whose work explored cubism, expressionism, and surrealism at different times. My sketch here is inspired by Fermata, painted by Klee during a brief period in the early 1930s. The original is much more refined in many ways, but especially in the repetitive spots. As I mimicked them to the best of my ability and in the time available, I realized that the variety of colors are not random, but carefully chosen to lend depth and tone to the background. The red circles that float over the surface seem to allude to Klee’s time working and teaching at the Bauhaus, shortly before he painted Fermata. I’m not sure whether it’s my computer, my color choices, or both, but working on this made my eyes feel a little dizzy.
Day two hundred and forty-four: I woke up from a dream last night, and couldn’t fall back asleep right away. I remembered dreaming of a giant oracle that looked something like this. She originally appeared as a beggar on the sidewalk who would not let me pass. When she trapped me and spoke I realized she was a seer because she was blind. She was a little scary, but then any good oracle should be. I’m not sure where the vivid dream came from, but suspect it was the dozens of wild surrealist drawings I sifted through yesterday at work. I first considered drawing my oracle in the mode of Salvador Dalì or Federico Castellón, but then I thought that copying another surrealist’s style wasn’t really adhering to a true surrealist objective. So I drew this mysterious creature from the memory of my dream, and let the style flow, as much as possible, from my subconscious mind into the picture.
Tagged allegory, figure study, surreal
Day two hundred and forty-three: My work this afternoon led me to stare closely at a large pastel by Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917), an activity which led, in turn, to a discussion with my co-worker Sharon about creating art with pastels. I commented that I had never really tried it – even on my digital drawing pad – but that I thought it would take some serious experimentation with the settings to achieve anything close to the rich texture and layers of color set down by Degas. I was right. Rather than attempt to reproduce the entire picture, I decided to try just a small detail of the woman’s arm. Not only did this allow me to play extensively with the vibrant colors and the variety of pastel settings in my painting program, it is much more akin to the view I experienced while gazing deep into the surface of the artwork.
Tagged art on art, landscape, pastel
Day two hundred and forty-two: I started and scrapped several sketches before I decided to flip though travel photos for a subject I could paint. Scrolling through a set from Agrigento, Sicily reminded me of the ancient and very worn sandstone columns in the so-called “Valley of the Temples.” Based on descriptions of the area in Cicero’s Verrine Orations, these solid and heroic remnants of Greek civilization in the 6th century BCE are believed to have been part of a temple to Herakles.
Tagged ancient, architecture, art on art, oil
Day two hundred and forty-one: This afternoon I went sleuthing in storage because I knew something was amiss. Two original woodblocks carved by printmaker Howard Norton Cook (American, 1901-1980) were listed in the collection catalog with the same title, and I needed to see which really belonged to an impression of Hotel New Yorker. I found the correct block easily, and then looked for the other. It was unexpected tiny, but as soon as I saw its face, I knew what print it had made: Skyscraper #1. This sketch is a detail from that little print, and a study of the style Cook used to represent the awesome towers of New York City at the end of the roaring 20s.
Day two hundred and forty: I’m a fan of German Expressionist, Emil Nolde’s, intaglio printmaking, particularly for the sense of layers he achieve when working with etching and aquatint together. My study today is based on a detail from his 1911 print Schriftgelehrte (Scribes), which is one of my many favorites in the Thrivent Financial Collection. Ironically, I forgot to create layers in my painting program before I began, so I had to truly build up the layers on a single canvas. There was no backing up, unless I started over. “Like a real artist,” I thought to myself, “I’ll have to accept my mistakes and work them into the surface.” I think I only used the “undo” function on my inscription, which took me a couple tries to fit it into the available space and make it legible. I think if I were to try making a print, I would start by etching copper plates with acid to see if I might create effects similar to those of Nolde. To see the (much more subtle) original print, check it out on MoMA’s website.
Tagged art on art, face, nolde, oil