Anna Rose Bain's Art Blog

Recap: Putney Painters Week at the Scottsdale Artists School

2012-01-22T13:43:00.002-06:00

This past week, I had the amazing privilege of attending Nancy's Guzik's three-day workshop in Scottsdale, AZ. The workshop was part of "Putney Painters Week"-- an event hosted by the Scottsdale Artists School and the Legacy Gallery -- and was one of several workshops and demos by some of the best artists in the country, including Kathy Anderson, Rosemary Ladd, Daniel Keys, Casey Baugh, and Stephanie Birdsall.

I came with an open mind and a feeling of immense gratitude to be surrounded by such inspiring and gifted artists. And for the entire week, I was pretty much unable to wipe the silly smile off my face. For me, this was heaven. I don't think I've ever had such fellowship with like-minded people, many of whom were my own age!

Nancy's workshop consisted of drawing on the first day, and then painting for the next two. She spent an entire morning doing a painting demo for us to show how she deals patiently with the subject, mostly by being patient with herself and not allowing fear to take over. She has mastered the art of channeling her fear (yes, even she gets afraid!) and turning it into a controlled excitement that can be used to better the painting. Here are some pictures from her demo:

Below: this is about as far as she got after the morning session. It is a great likeness and painted with complete sensitivity as well as confidence.

Since all of our models this week were children, I learned a great deal about the difference between a child's features and an adult's, as well as how to capture the child's age. It was also fun to see how Nancy kept the children happy and entertained between sittings. They would color or draw, or make up stories to think about while they sat still (not an easy thing for a young kid!). All of the kids we worked with were stunning models and great at sitting still!

By day 2, I was biting at the bit to start painting, so you can imagine my excitement when our model turned out to be this beautiful 13-year-old with a sweet little dog that sat by her side the entire time! The dog's name was Angel... I think I'll title my painting, "Two Angels."

Below: mine at its start. It was actually a pretty good likeness. I worked slower than I usually do though, trying my best to follow Nancy's advice and direction.

This is as far as I got. I'll be sure to finish it in my studio, though. (Never mind those yellow marks - that happened in transit on the plane ride home...an easy fix)

Below: here's our model from the last day of the workshop. This time we worked for 6 hours, and as a glutton for punishment, I decided to attempt head and hands once more. While I may not be 100% happy with what I did, I believe I learned a lot and look forward to utilizing this new information at home in my studio! And, as my friend Kim Carlton told me once, "If you're happy with a painting you did in a workshop, then you didn't learn anything!"

I decided to stick around for two more days after the workshop ended to enjoy some of the other events with Putney Painters Week, including the "Dueling Brushes" demo by Kathy Anderson and Stephanie Birdsall (see below), and the opening reception for the Putney Painters exhibition and sale.

I had a wonderful time meeting many of the great artists in this show, and getting to know some of them a little better. Nancy, of course, is a ray of sunshine.

Friday: Casey Baugh gave a fabulous painting demo. I learned a lot from him about designing a good composition and taking your time with posing the model to create an image with lasting impact. He is also amazing at painting edges! Wow.

The finished demo.

Below: lunch with some fabulous young artists. From left to right (not including yours truly): Tyler Murphy, Daniel Keys, Ryan Mellody, Michelle Dunaway, Qiang-Huang, and Taaron Parsons. I am so blessed to have met these people. We have so much in common; it's just great to know that we're all in the same boat - trying to make it as artists and create great art, to the very best of our ability.

For more pictures from this week, see my Facebook album. Next week I'll be in Judy Carducci's workshop, so there will be even more to learn and write about! We'll see if my brain can handle it... ;-)

Painting in the Snow!

2011-12-24T12:54:00.001-06:00

Steve and I have been in our home state of Wisconsin for the last couple of days, enjoying the Christmas season with family and friends. We checked up on the local weather before leaving Texas, and there hadn't been any snow on the forecast. In fact, it really looked like it would be a "brown Christmas". I REALLY hoped for at least a little bit of snow... and it turns out, my wish came true sooner than I thought it would! When I woke up on Thursday morning and looked out the window, there it was: a fresh, beautiful dusting of white fluffy stuff covering the trees and fields of my in-laws' surrounding country land. I got outside as soon as I could! Now, I've never painted out in the snow. There was one early-morning painting session in Switzerland that had me a little bit uncomfortable (I think it was about 45 degrees outside), but this time it was 32 and cloudy. I bundled up as best as a Wisconsinite-turned-Texan sissy knows how, and headed outside. I chose a small lone red pine for my setting, with the snowy trail nearby coming towards the viewer in the composition. The clouds made everything a dull chroma, but I tried to pull out as much color as I could see. Also, I followed the recommendations from more experienced plain air painters, who said to use Permalba white or some other white that is a bit more runny, as the paint gets stiffer when it's out in the cold.

My dog, Bella, enjoyed running around in circles and eating snow during my entire painting session (what a joy for her to be back in the country!). I lasted for about an hour before losing feeling in my fingers and toes (even though I wore gloves the whole time). It was still quite exhilarating and I had a lot of fun with it. I hope that next time, though, I'll have some sunshine to bring out more of winter's beautiful palette. So, praying for another snow storm! I'm just getting started!

Painting and Drawing from Life, Part II

2011-12-13T11:46:00.001-06:00

Once again, it's been WAY too long in between posts! I'm not really sure what happened; November just flew by. I find that I am becoming more and more protective of my studio time -- it really is precious. And, with Christmas less than two weeks away, I am scrambling to get as many hours of painting time in before my husband and I make the drive to Wisconsin to spend the holidays with family. I don't think I'll be able to go nine days straight without painting, so I'll bring my pochade box along just in case the overload of food and fellowship gets to be too much for this hermit. :-)

Now, as promised, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the aesthetic side of working from life.

Excitement and focus of the artist
Some go sky-diving for the adrenaline rush; others ride roller coasters, race cars, snowboard or water ski. Personally, I get the most wonderful rush when painting from life! Whether I am outside in the open air -- or in my studio working from a live model -- there is a pronounced difference in my overall mood when I'm engaging with the real, living, breathing thing rather than working from photos or props. And let's face it, places like this (below) are enough to excite anyone, whether they're painting or not!

What does this have to do with aesthetics? Well, the more excited you are about your subject, the more focus and energy you'll be willing to invest in it, and therefore, you'll start to produce some of your best work. Having been to the Portrait Society of America's annual conference several times now, I can tell you, after having my portfolio critiqued, that the most experienced and successful artists know in an instant whether or not something was painted from life or from photos. Not only do they know for technical reasons (the photographer used flash, the whites are washed out, or the subject has a big toothy grin, etc.), but they can tell because there is something stale and stiff about the image. Working from life brings all of the artist's enthusiasm to the forefront and makes for a more lively, energized painting. This leads me into my next point...

Speed and decision-making
When we first start out practicing from life, there is usually some fear and trepidation over the time crunch. Perhaps you are painting en plein air and the lighting will pass in just a moment, or your model can only sit for a couple of hours before she's gone forever, moving to Spain or something (yes, this did happen to me!). That time crunch can be used to your advantage! I do not promote "panic-painting;" rather, I would encourage you to take that wasted time looking at the clock and use it to zero in on the most important elements of your painting. Before you even lay down a mark, you should know (a) what your focal point is, (b) where your lightest lights and darkest darks are, and (c) what your hardest and softest edges will be. Those decisions can be made in an instant if you are willing to think carefully about your intentions from the very beginning. We should have a specific goal for each and every painting we start, rather than mindlessly slashing away at our canvases and then getting angry when we run out of time, with little to show for it! Some of my best life studies were done in less than three hours, such as this one of Salvador (below). My goal was to do an accurate portrait by starting with the core shadow line and working out from there (this was during a Judith Carducci workshop last January). Because I kept my goals simple and my expectations realistic, it ended up working quite well.

"Salvador II" - 10x8 - oil on canvas board

During the decision-making process, the artist also has more control over how they use their brushwork to make a statement. Photos naturally lend themselves to being slavishly copied, but when working from life, you are much more likely to squint down. Squinting is key, as it helps you to simplify the scene before you and break it down to its most basic shapes, values, and edges.

Essence, Energy, and Empathy
Finally, there is something crucial that can only be captured fully when working from life: the essence of a person, place or thing. Some artists are so experienced that they can create posthumous portraits from photos and still capture that person's essence (Michael Shane Neal is a great example), but only because they have put in many hours of practice before a live model. I find that many of my life studies say more about the model's personality than paintings done from photos. I am also acutely aware of the model's physical and emotional presence while I'm working, making me empathize with them even more. I ask the question, "How can I make this portrait special? What is the model's story, as told by artist Anna Rose Bain?" As artists, it is our privilege to convey a person or place based on our own unique experience. Let's really make that experience shine by working from life to the best of our aesthetic and technical abilities!

Life Painting + Photography + Photoshop...The Technical Side of it All

2011-11-12T11:58:00.004-06:00

For the past year and a half, in my spare time (which I have very little of!) I have been slowly chipping away at a project that I am passionate about because I think it will help a lot of people. I am working on a "Photoshop Handbook for Traditional Artists". This project will cover a lot of the basics of photo-editing, whether it be for reference photos or photos of artwork. But I am also going to discuss why I use both photo references AND life studies in my work. It is a fine line to walk, as I believe in working from life as MUCH as possible, but... have chosen to write a book on how to edit reference photos! My hope is that with a good understanding of both, we can become more excellent and well-rounded artists, without compromising our standards.

That being said, I am going to touch on some of what will be covered in the book, and share in detail my own personal reasons for choosing to work from life. I will also compare these points to how photographic reference can either help or compromise the integrity of an artwork.

Today I will discuss the technical reasons for working from life, and in my next blog post, I'll touch on the aesthetics.

Technical reasons for painting from life:

Anatomy
Anatomy can be learned from textbooks and copied from photos, but an artist can't really grasp the 3-dimensionality of the human form until he or she has had the opportunity to work from a live (ideally nude) model, and not just during art school, but rather, on a continual basis. The advantage to practicing from life is that you can walk 360 degrees around the model to see where and how the form connects, overlaps, and turns toward or away from the light. Being able to observe the model's movements and see from all sides is invaluable for gaining further skill and understanding.

Values
Most of us know from experience that photography causes details to be lost, both in the light areas and the darks. The reason for this is that most cameras can only meter one extreme or the other, causing the lights to be over-exposed and/or the darks to be underexposed. When working from life, the artist has the advantage of being able to see into both the lights and the darks for their actual values. There are often way more details in the lights and shadows than a snapshot can capture. Of course, it is up to us to make the aesthetic choice of whether or not to include or leave out those details (classical technique discourages too much detail or thick paint in the shadows), but at least with life painting, we have that choice!

Colors
As much as we can enhance our photos later, photography often causes certain colors to be lost, especially bright reds or burgundies, or subtle colors in the sky. Below is an example of a painting I did on location, next to the photo I took of the spot. I may have slightly exaggerated the colors and the curve of the trail for the sake of aesthetics, but still, there was definitely more color to be found by painting from life than what the photo would indicate!

Perspective
As objects come forward in space, they appear larger... as they go back in space, they appear smaller. Photography usually exaggerates this fact, to a fault (unless you are standing a ways back from the subject and using a zoom lens). I paint portraits and figures from life whenever I can, because too often, if I am relying solely on photos, a hand or a foot will appear too large.

Below is one of my photo references for the painting, "Music of the Spheres." If you look at it carefully, you can see that the model's left hand appears substantially larger than her right. I had to make sure I corrected this in my painting, as errors like these are always much more obvious in paintings than they are in the photos!

Now, here are some technical reasons for supplementing my life studies with photography and Photoshop:

Props or settings that the studio or location doesn't offer.
Cropping / Composition
I can't always afford to buy new props for every painting. But I have a limitless imagination (and a sketchbook on hand to jot down ideas!), so usually, my lack of props can't stop me from coming up with a great idea. My best example of this is again "Music of the Spheres." You are seeing something I have never shared before: a "before" shot (photo references of my studio set-up with the model) and an "after" shot (the finished painting as I envisioned it). I wanted a spherical composition and a peaceful yet mysterious kind of setting. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to work out my composition before starting the painting. I made the globe much larger and moved it around to where I wanted it, I changed the curtains to make them all satin, added the oriental rug, window and night sky, and moved the lanterns around to better serve the spherical composition. I also changed the model's hand to look more elegant holding the violin, which required using a different photo reference than the original. Oh, and I added flowers to her hair. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but the point is, with a clear vision and proper knowledge of the tools, one can make their vision come to life!

Dramatic color or value changes
There are times when I want to change a shirt color or make the painting more dramatic by pushing the values. Photos and tools in Photoshop can help me experiment with these things before committing to the change in the painting.

Capturing a pose that cannot be held for a long time
Of course, this is invaluable when painting moving figures, such as dancers or athletes, and very young children who can't sit still. Or, if you enjoy conveying candid moments, photo references are perfect for those as well. With commissioned portraits, the client does not usually have time to sit for extended periods, OR the portrait is supposed to be a surprise gift. In this case, we artists are often forced to work from the client's photos. Having a good understanding of what to look for in reference photos and a solid background in working from life can help make a commissioned painting turn out without looking flat or obviously copied from a photo.

More to come on aesthetics... one of my favorite topics for discussion!

Figurative Painting, Ballet, and... Photoshop

2011-11-08T18:06:00.003-06:00

Thanks to a client who is interested in ballet, I have several new paintings of classical ballerinas in the works! This is especially exciting for me, since I have been wanting to expand my figurative portfolio and study the human form more carefully. Recently, I was humbled when another artist pointed out that one of my pieces had some anatomical errors. I realized that the human figure is truly the most challenging, yet exciting, thing to paint, and that I need to study it diligently in order to avoid such errors in future paintings. If I am going to do it justice, I must know how each body part moves, connects, and relates to the rest of the whole.

I began some "research" a couple of weeks ago when my sister and I went to see a ballet, and I realized I hadn't been to one since college. Back then, I don't think I had the appreciation for the human body that I have now. It is incredible how many ways the body can twist and turn and move in space, and it is also incredible to see what kinds of things the body is actually capable of! I was blown away by the grace and beauty these dancers were able to convey while doing moves that required a great deal of physical strength, agility, flexibility, and endurance.

Then, by a wonderful twist of fate, my weekly painting group lined up the perfect model to pose in a formal tutu and pointe shoes! She held a tough standing pose for us, and I was able to begin two paintings from it, both of which have great promise. The first is a full-length, 3/4-view composition, and the second is from the back and closer-up, detailing the model's beautiful shoulders and arms. The first painting is still in the works, but I just finished the second one, which you see below:

"Ballerina with Venetian Mask" - 18x12 - oil on linen

I should probably mention something about the mask... she wasn't originally holding anything when I began this painting from life. When I took the painting home after the session, I was pretty happy with it, but I felt like it needed something more. So I dug through a bunch of my photos from Europe, and happened to find this:

As you can see, I circled the mask I ended up using in the painting. It took a couple of tries in Photoshop to find one that would be perfect as far as lighting and positioning of the "face." Which reminds me... I am still working on an instructional book on Photoshop for visual artists. I can teach you this technique. Photoshop really comes in handy for situations just like this! I got the best of both worlds: a quality experience with a live model (gaining more accurate values, colors, anatomy and excitement about the pose), AND a chance to add some aesthetic changes, thanks to my enormous catalog of photo references and some help from Photoshop.

In my next post, I will blog about painting from life, and why it's so important for preventing the kinds of mistakes I made in my [aforementioned] piece. :-)

A Trip out to California

2011-10-22T14:58:00.001-05:00

Last week, Steve and I went on a five-day trip to Napa, Yosemite, and San Francisco (and everything in between!). Our original excuse to go was that I had a painting accepted into the OPA Western Regional Exhibition in Calistoga (Napa Valley), so we were going to the opening reception. But that ended up being a very small part of the trip. Having never been to California before, I was in complete awe of the diversity in the landscape and climate. I knew the landscape would be beautiful, but it was more than that... it was a breathtaking display of God's creation which offered unlimited opportunities for painting!

We did it right as soon as we arrived by renting a red Camero convertible and driving down Hwy 1 from San Francisco to Monterey and Carmel. That afternoon, I had the wonderful opportunity to set up to paint at Point Lobos State Park. It was so overwhelmingly beautiful, and I realized I still have much more to learn and explore in my journey as an artist. The waves crashing up against the rocks looked different with every single pulse, and it seemed a nearly impossible task to try and capture the movement of the water. But I tried, and had a great time doing it! Life couldn't get any better than this! When I experience moments like these, where my love for nature and art become united, I feel like I can let all the cares of the world crash against the rocks like the waves, while I stand on the rocks up above, free from it all. I can simply enjoy those moments where the ocean breeze hits my face and the only sounds that reach my ears are those of the waves and the birds overhead. Wow.

Where was Steve during this time? He out and about, climbing on the rocks and taking pictures of me while I painted. He got some really great shots!

Above: the finished painting: "Late Afternoon, Point Lobos" - 12"x9". I decided not to touch it up at all when I got home, because I really enjoyed the freshness and immediacy of this one.

Below: here we are in Yosemite. It was a cloudy (and later RAINY) day, but we enjoyed the beauty nonetheless. And I painted by the waterfalls until I got rained out.

Then there was Napa Valley, where we stayed for four of the five days. We toured several of the wineries and had some wine tastings (that's just what you DO in Napa!), but I also did some painting. And, I discovered a gem of a gallery in downtown Napa, called Quent Cordair Fine Art. They feature only "Romantic Realism," so a lot of figurative painting and sculpture. Steve and I lingered there for quite some time.

This was the only painting I had time to attempt in the vineyards (below) -- "Four Rows, Napa Valley" - 12"x9". You can see that the colors are different in the photo. The light was changing very quickly in the valley as in neared sunset, so by the time I stopped, everything had turned orange and pink from the setting sun.

Our adventures took us to San Francisco, where we saw the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz shrouded by fog. We explored Fisherman's Wharf, took a look at the city from Coit Tower, and strolled through Chinatown (my favorite!). It was a wonderful trip and a good source for fresh inspiration. Where will my art take me next, I wonder?

The Challenges of Self Portraits (from a mirror, or course!)

2011-10-05T22:30:00.000-05:00

American Artist magazine is currently running a cover competition featuring self portraits, so that gave me some incentive to try my hand at, once again, the ever-intimidating self portrait done completely from a mirror.

Some things I learned from the experience this time around:

You have to cope with the model moving all the time. You'd think that since I look at myself in the mirror everyday, I'd have my features memorized. But this time it felt like I had to learn them all over again, in this specific lighting, under these specific circumstances. The lighting changes everything!
I asked myself the question: "Do I want to idealize myself or paint me the way I look, in this moment?" True to my classical-realist tendencies, I answered with both. The idealization was unintentional, as it is most of the time when I do a portrait. I have a real empathy for my subjects, especially this one! I also included some of the not so perfect things that make me the way I do... like the dark circles under the eyes, the big chin, and the fact that my mouth is always open when I'm concentrating on a painting!
You can still squint at yourself as a subject, unless you're working on the eyes. :-)
You can only look at one eye at a time! So, I had quite the challenge making sure my eyes in the painting weren't focused in two different directions!
Each self portrait should be different in some way from the last. I wanted this one to include at least one hand (mission accomplished, in natural window light, with the addition of my easel and canvas inside the composition.

Self Portrait by the Window - 15" x 14" - oil on linen

I also realized (and this was completely unplanned) that in my self-portrait and the portrait I'm working on of my husband, we are wearing the same color shirts. Weird. I'll post pictures of that one soon.

Meanwhile, here is a picture from this morning's 2 1/2-hour painting excursion at the Dallas Arboretum. It was absolutely gorgeous out today, and I hope that while the beautiful fall weather lasts, I can make this a weekly thing. There are thousands of pumpkins out there right now, as well as azaleas, roses, and chysanthemums. It's just beautiful!

I may tweak this a little more in my studio, but here is my rendition of the Poetry Garden.

"The Poetry Garden" - plein air painting, in progress

New Plein Air Sketches

2011-10-01T17:03:00.001-05:00

I have been doing more plein air painting, now that the weather is finally cooling down. Here are a few little studies, the first three of which are from the nature preserve that is within walking distance of my house. Because the rocky stream curves and bends so often, there are countless potential paintings waiting to be created just in this one small area.

I went out with my painting students on a couple different occasions and created these sketches.

8" x 6" study - 1.25 hrs

7" x 9" study - 1.25 hrs

12" x 9"study - 3 hours

This last one was painted at Lake Lavon in Wylie, Texas. It was about 95 degrees, with mid-day lighting, so all in all, VERY uninspiring. However, I decided to give it a shot. At least I had fun!

The Finishing Touch: When a Painting Finds a Home

2011-09-29T11:09:00.002-05:00

As promised in an earlier newsletter, I thought I'd share a couple pictures of paintings in their owners' homes. This is what truly finishes a work of art... when it finds a home, the picture is complete! Commissioned portraits, especially, are often designed with a specific wall or space in mind. It's very gratifying to see the finished painting in its frame, hanging in the space that it was meant for.

If you own one of my paintings and would like to share a snapshot of it in the room where it's hanging, please send me a picture! I would absolutely love to see the art in its home and share it here on my blog! Please send pictures to: annarosebain@gmail.com, and thanks in advance! :-)

The first picture features a 30" x 24" painting called, "The Young Explorer." The owner (the mother of the 18-month-old little girl) decided to hang it in her music room, and I think it looks fabulous there!

The second image is from another client's dining room, which she painted and re-decorated just for the portrait of her son. I think the finished painting makes a wonderful statement and is a beautiful centerpiece to the room.

It is the perfect time of year to commission a portrait. If you are interested, please visit my website at http://www.artworkbyannarose.com/commission.html, or email me at annarosebain@gmail.com.

New Painting: "A Venetian Spectator"

2011-09-24T17:38:00.001-05:00

Today I finally finished one of my paintings from this summer's trip to Italy. I enjoyed working on this one from start to finish, and found myself continually imagining up stories about this old woman's life, and what she might have to say if I were to sit down and have a conversation with her. Her expression could read any number of ways, from sour and grumpy (i.e., "Those damned tourists!") to thoughtful and lonely or simply enjoying the fresh air. Either way, I purposefully juxtaposed the old woman with a very cheerful scene at her window: brightly blooming flower pots, topped off with a rainbow-colored pinwheel. Of course, flowers, green shutters and pinwheels are familiar sights in Venice and other Italian cities, but I felt that this image had something special about it that was worth capturing in a painting.

"A Venetian Spectator" - 30"x24" - oil on linen

Originally, the old woman was looking out from a very boring window. I decided to take her and put her in the scene that I created in the painting. Here is one of the original shots (a slightly different pose in this one but it gives you an idea of the original setting):

I looked all over for the perfect reference photos (Steve had taken at least a thousand pictures of windows!). Here are a few of the images I considered, but none of them ended up working out.

I did at last find an image of a window that I could use. Thanks to Photoshop, I was able to piece my reference materials together, making sure that the lighting matched. I was able to place the pinwheel and flowers exactly where I wanted them. I am very happy with how this painting turned out and look forward to sharing more of my works in progress soon. :-)

A Studio Filled with Potential!

2011-09-16T09:46:00.006-05:00

Taking a look around my studio today, I counted twelve works in progress, or paintings that I've started within the past two months or so, and have yet to finish. Three of them were started just this week, and two of those were started yesterday! I'm not going to share pictures of every single unfinished painting; some have more potential than others. Some will be finished very soon because I'm excited about them; others may never see completion but will instead get sanded off and painted over.

As a 20-something, my life is in a stage of constant change. During this decade, there are so many things that happen: we graduate college, get married, buy a house, have kids, change jobs once or more, and essentially leave all of our childhood familiarities for the new and different. If I look back at the past three years since leaving my home state and moving to Texas, it's quite remarkable to see how much my artwork has progressed. Just look at some of my past blog posts -- you'll see the difference, too!

What's my point in telling you this? Well, each painting is an opportunity to learn something new, to experiment or try something different. The goal is to take my artwork to the next level and make each painting better than the last. As long as I keep this goal in the back of my mind, I can't fail. Some paintings might turn out better than others, but at least I'll have painted with intention. We think that painting is supposed to be relaxing... but that is the difference between a hobbyist and a true painter! When I "check out" during a painting, that's when I start to fail. Instead, my mind has to be utterly focused on the task at hand, without distraction. How many of us spend our time picking away at our work, or as some describe it, "licking the canvas?" How many of us actually try (and I say try because with the exception of a very few, this is impossible to perfect...) to make every single brush stroke count? As painters, we should be absolutely exhausted at the end of the day!

Well, that's what happened to me yesterday. I began two new paintings, employing some of the methods I learned at my latest workshop with Clayton Beck. I decided to go with the flow on these, and allow my style to change somewhat if it serves the painting better.

The first is a huge canvas (54" x 36") of a full-length girl, seated on a wooden chest in front of a bookshelf. The shelf is filled with old classics, art books, and various objects, including a stem of orchids, a brass pitcher, and a bust of Michelangelo's "David." The girl is holding a note and appears deep in thought. The painting is still untitled. I'm leaving her expression and pose up to interpretation, but am still working on story line of my own. Anyway... it took me literally all afternoon to block this in. I only used white, terra rosa, and ultramarine blue for the block-in, and limited my values, especially on the figure. In the next painting session, I hope to begin developing the values more, while incorporating accurate color temperature. The light source is very warm, which is somewhat different from the usual daylight bulbs that I work with. I believe the warm lighting appropriately creates a more intimate atmosphere for this setting.

Here she is: the first image is the scene as it's set up in my studio. The second is my painting on the easel from the actual vantage point that I decided on (I'm doing this thing from life). I had to sketch the image on with charcoal before starting any of the painting. It was just too large to try eye-balling! Click the image to see larger:

I began a second painting yesterday, some time in the evening after my husband got off of work. I have been badgering him for months now about modeling for me. We've been married for three years and he's never modeled for a portrait! Finally, last night, he was willing to sit for at least the start of one. My idea with this portrait was to bring out his wonderful quality of being a good problem-solver... and that will actually be the title of the painting: "The Problem Solver." He'll be holding a rubik's cube and looking out directly at the viewer. That's just his personality: direct, bold, strong. And since it would take me forever to solve a rubik's cube, I have to brag on my husband just a little - he can solve it in about two minutes!

Since the model lives with me (ha!), I am doing this portrait completely from life. I was only able work on it for about 40 minutes, but here is what I accomplished during that time (the dimensions are 24" x 24"):

More progress pictures to come. I'm very excited about all my projects, even if a dozen seems like an overwhelming number! I love what I do, and feel privileged every day to come into my studio and paint. I hope those of you reading this are also inspired to do what you love, and do it to the best of your ability. :-)

Preparing a Linen Canvas: How To

2011-09-09T10:48:00.004-05:00

I've been getting a lot of e-mails lately asking me how I prepare a linen canvas, and also why I prefer it over cotton canvas. So, from now on I hope to simply refer these requests to this blog post. Hopefully this helps! If you are glueing linen to panel, that is a different thing. For our purposes today, I am referring to stretching, sizing, and priming a linen canvas on stretcher bars, not panel.

My reasons for using linen: linen is very different from canvas, not only in its texture and weave, but also in the way it is prepared and how it feels to paint on. Linen is much smoother, especially if prepared properly with a size such as rabbit skin glue or PVA glue, and an oil-based gesso rather than acrylic. The oil primer really makes for a smooth working surface, whereas acrylic gesso tends to "eat up" your oil paint during the first several working layers, causing the paint to lose its luster. This can be very frustrating. Although linen is generally much more expensive than canvas, I don't think I could ever go back to canvas. Once you've tried it, you'll realize too that there's no going back!

PREPARING A LINEN CANVAS FOR OIL PAINTING – STEP BY STEP

by Anna Rose Bain

SUPPLIES

Linen: Many artists purchase pre-primed linen, but I always buy mine “raw.” I find that being able to stretch and size my linen is much easier and produces better results if I do it all from scratch. I’ve tried many different kinds, but my favorite linen to work with is Daniel Smith’s Finest Belgian Linen. Linen can be expensive, so make sure you look for an online coupon code before you buy!
Stretcher bars: You can get stretcher bars of any length through just about any art supply store or website. I often buy them from Hobby Lobby, but my favorite stretcher bars for heavier-duty, larger canvases, are from Utrecht. For any canvas bigger than 24x36, I recommend using a cross brace, attached with T-bars.
Double boiler
Plastic drop cloth or garbage bags
Sizing: Some artists use PVA glue, but it doesn’t size the canvas as tightly as the good old traditional standard, rabbit skin glue. I know, it sounds cruel – it IS actually made from rabbit collagen… but this method has been tried and true for centuries. Not only is it is the best coating to protect a canvas from the linseed oils in paint (which would naturally destroy canvas fibers over time), but it also makes the canvas so tight that you can pluck it like a drum. You can purchase rabbit skin glue from Daniel Smith or Utrecht. It comes in powder form.
Scissors
Marker or charcoal pencil
Stapler: I have a couple that I purchased from Hobby Lobby in the canvas/painting department. They are called “EasyTackers” and call for No. 3 or Arrow JT-21 staples.
Rubber mallet
Measuring Square
Medium-grit sandpaper
Gesso brushes (one for the rabbit skin glue, and one for priming). They should have soft bristles and be fairly large, at least 3 inches wide. For sizing, you may also use a sponge instead.
Oil primer: you can purchase this from Utrecht
Bucket
Putty knife
Oderless mineral spirits or turpentine
Paper towels
Plastic spoon or stirring rod for mixing

DIRECTIONS:

STRETCHING:

1) Assemble your stretcher bars, using the square to make sure they are straight.

2) Line up the stretcher bars with your linen on the floor; using a straight edge and a marker or charcoal pencil, draw a line around the stretcher bars on the linen, measuring about 1.5”-2” all the way around your stretcher bars, depending on how thick they are.

3) Cut the linen to size.

4) With the canvas still face down on the floor, staple the linen to your stretcher bars, starting with one staple in the middle of each side. Make these tight, but leave just a little slack in the middle. This is different than stretching a cotton canvas, where you stretch it as tight as you can. Continue to staple outwards towards the corners, pulling the linen relatively tight before each staple, and working all the way around rather than one side at a time.

5) Once you’ve reached the corners, fold them around neatly (if you ask me real nice I’ll make a YouTube video on the technique for folding corners!) and staple them secure.

6) When the linen has been stapled on completely, wipe off any specks or hairs on the front of the canvas before moving on.

SIZING:

1) Lay your canvas out on a plastic drop cloth, on a flat surface

2) Using a double boiler on the stove, prepare rabbit skin glue according to directions. Some directions require you to soak the RSG overnight, others don’t. I’ve tried both and found that as long as the mixture has had enough time to dissolve, whether overnight or on the stovetop, it still produces great results. Keep the burner on low, never allowing the mixture to boil. It should be heating for at least 45 minutes before it’s ready to use.

3) When rabbit skin glue is completely dissolved and nice and warm (but not HOT), take the pan off of the boiler and prepare to brush the mixture onto your prepared canvas.

4) Using a 3-inch gesso brush, apply the glue generously to your canvas, starting in the very middle and working your way out. Make sure to brush onto the sides as well. You will instantly see the canvas begin to tighten. I’ve also recently taken to using a sponge instead of a brush (you’ll want to wear rubber gloves if you do it this way!).

5) Allow canvas to dry several hours or overnight. If the canvas starts to warp because it’s been stretched too tightly, hold down opposite corners with weighted objects.

6) When dry, lightly sand canvas.

7) Apply a second coat of glue. Leftover rabbit skin glue can be re-heated, but make sure you use it up within no more than a couple of days, as it can go bad after a while.

PRIMING:

1) Lightly sand your canvas again before priming. Keep it on the plastic drop cloth.

2) Put about 4 parts oil ground and 1 part odorless mineral spirits in your mixing bucket, and stir with a mixing stick or plastic utensil (something disposable). It should be a smooth consistency but not runny.

3) Using your putty knife, apply the primer in thin, smooth strokes across the top of your canvas, working from top to bottom in one direction (as opposed to from the middle outwards, like the glue).

4) Smooth your knife strokes with your gesso brush, also moving in one direction. Make sure you prime the sides of your canvas as well.

5) Allow first coat to dry. When dry to the touch, lightly sand your canvas, wipe the surface with a slightly damp rag, and then apply a second coat of primer, this time brushing it perpendicularly to the direction you applied it before.

6) Allow this second coat to dry. If desired, a third coat may be added, but usually two coats are fine. The final coat of primer will need 10 days to dry before you start painting on it.

7) Before painting, make sure your canvas has been sanded to remove roughness and impurities.

8) Happy painting!

Clayton J. Beck, III Workshop at the Woodlands Art League

2011-09-06T21:48:00.003-05:00

My head is still spinning from the overload of information I received at last week's three-day portrait and figure workshop with Clayton J. Beck, III at the Woodlands Art League. I felt extremely privileged to be there and grateful for the instruction, as it was a totally new way of thinking and painting for me.

Clayton Beck is, as my friend Michael would say, a "Schmidling," meaning that he studied under Richard Schmid once upon a time during the "golden age" of Schmid's teaching at the Palette and Chisel in Chicago. Beck now teaches there, and through his classes and workshops, he carries on the methods used by the 19th-century American artist John Singer Sargent as well as several of Sargent's contemporaries such as Anders Zorn and Joaquin Sorolla. Richard Schmid is arguably the greatest living painter, and so, to study with him or any of his former students is a HUGE privilege.

One of the many demos of Clayton's that were on display during the workshop. So inspiring!

The workshop consisted of two evening sessions with a figure model, and three full days of portrait work. Clayton's emphasis for the duration of the workshop was on values, so much so that he didn't bother to correct drawing mistakes or deal much with color (even though he's known for his ability to paint gorgeous colors!). I took a LOT of notes, but instead of writing them all down here, I'll simply share a few of the more important highlights:

Instead of getting wrapped up in line work to start, look at your subject in a deep squint. If you can capture the stuff you initially see in your deep squint, then you'll be all right.
Don't think about what things are, but rather, what they look like.
Never start a canvas without knowing what direction you're going in.
Have a realistic understanding of your own abilities and how you will react to the scene in front of you, within the time frame you are given.
Sometimes it's better not to have a concept. Let the model relax into the pose - yelling from eight different people to "move your arm," etc., creates tension for the model. Instead of making the model stay stiffly in the position you dictate, paint parts of the figure by opportunity. If a hand is out of place, work on something else.
Consistently compare areas of your painting to each other. Everything MUST relate. The harmony is in the light source, in the same way that a piece of music is written all in the same key.
Envision your painting from start to finish. You have control over how your painting will turn out - it is not an accident!
Think of everything you see as a value, an edge, or an angle, rather than a hand, hair, a mouth, etc.
There's no such thing as half-tone or middle value. There's only light and shadow. Look for the darkest part of the light and the lightest part of the shadow. This is where you begin your painting. Your whole world as an artist should be a division of light and shadow.
Work only as quickly as you can with accuracy.
Plan ahead; as you lay down color, know how the next brush stroke will relate to it.
Don't get distracted. Stick to your original idea, and finish it out.

I really enjoyed Clayton's teaching style (um... he's rather like a drill sargeant!), and I hope I get to study with him again. Here are some pictures from the last part of the workshop.

Day 3 (I was working too hard on days 1 and 2 to take many pictures, ha!): Clayton painted along side us. Here is his amazing portrait of the model so far... you can see that he established his lightest light (on our left) and darkest dark (on our right).

The model's 2-year-old son kept sitting on her lap, but he held pretty still while entertaining himself with her phone.

Clayton added an impromptu sketch of the little boy in about 20 minutes!

Here is the finished painting.

Here are my efforts from day 2 of the workshop, with our model, Pete. I was focused primarily on finding "the darkest part of the light and the lightest part of the shadow." Later I started adding in color temperature.

Day 3: My attempt at painting the model with more time spent on developing my values more gradually. The result is really a solid-looking head. I can't wait to take this method even further!

While I have a pretty solid background in classical drawing and technique (solid enough to sell my work and make a living at it, thank you very much!), I'm always excited about learning something new and adding to my painting repertoire. I've been thinking about this workshop ever since I got back from it last Friday night, and I have a feeling I'll be digesting the information for months - perhaps years! The thing that really struck me is that I had never understood how Sargent (...or Richard Schimd) painted. I always felt that their methods were completely out of reach and beyond me - that I'd never learn how to do it. I never even bothered copying a Sargent painting because I didn't know the method. Now that I've caught a glimpse of it, I'm more excited than ever to try my hand at "painting like Sargent" here at home! So now that I'm back, I've been downloading high-res images of works by Sargent, Zorn, and Sorolla from the Art Renewal Center. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ARC, it's a fabulous resource for artists!

Well, onward... I have a lot of work to do! :-)

Skin Tones and New Colors

2011-08-19T13:19:00.003-05:00

Whether showing my work in my studio, in a gallery, at an art festival, or--if I'm really lucky--in a national publication or competition--my portrait and figure work has consistently received more attention than my landscapes or still lives. While I'm really okay with that, it still makes me think about the quality of my work and wonder where I could improve. I'll be the first to tell you that I'm relatively new to landscape painting; the freshness of it and the required quick reaction time when on location are things one can perfect only with hours of practice. Still life, like landscape, is a genre that's been done time and again and there's nothing new under the sun. For both landscape and still life, only the very best will stand out. Portraits and figures, however, are a different kind of challenge. My conclusion as to why viewers, jurors, and collectors alike prefer my portrait work to everything else is this: (1) figurative work is just plain difficult, and (2) they can all tell where an artist's true passion lies. My absolute favorite thing to paint is skin tone. There's nothing more mysterious, luminous, or colorful.

About a year and a half ago, I was challenged by another artist to take a good look at my work and see whether or not I was really getting somewhere with my painting in the area of color. One can't really be a painter, of course, without an obsession with color... however, this person essentially told me that while my local colors seemed spot-on, there was something lacking in the area of chromatic "nuance and vibration". What did he mean by that? Well, I started looking at other artists' work and seeing things I had never noticed before -- beautiful greens, purples, reflected lights, and much more, mingled in hair and skin tones -- all a direct result of careful observation of the quality and temperature of the light. These little gems of color did not detract from the paintings or make them look unrealistic; on the contrary, images with such color nuances seemed more realistic. I'm thinking particularly of modern masters such as Dan Gerhartz and Scott Burdick, but even some of the Academic painters of the 19th century have a bold understanding of color while maintaining a tightly realistic style.

Detail of painting by Daniel Gerhartz

Portrait of Gabrielle Cot, by William Bouguereau.

To see a high-resolution version of this image, visit the Art Renewal Center here.

What is "local color"? According to ArtLex.com, local color is "the true color of an object or a surface as seen in typical daylight, rather than its color as seen through atmosphere or interpreted by the taste or imagination of the artist. Thus the characteristic local color of a lemon is yellow." The problem with painting everything according to its local color is that color is completely dependent on light. So the color of a thing will change based on its relationship to everything around it, including the light source, the temperature of the light (warm vs. cool), and the local colors of surrounding objects.

All this to say: I'm on an ongoing mission to explore the nature and nuances of color (as if mastering brushwork, values, and drawing weren't difficult enough!). To give you an example, here is one of my current works in progress, "Taylor's Dance" (60" x 36" - oil on linen):

I am studying the relationship of the red cloth and the model's skin, as well as the nature of the very cool light source. The areas that are in the light should be cool, but the shadow areas are warm. When there is a warm light source, the shadow areas should be cool. Additionally, there are subtleties in the skin tones that emanate blues, greens, purples and pinks depending on the anatomy (veins, arteries, muscles, etc.).

See the greens, blues and purples in the feet? There is so much beautiful color in skin! Now, I have a number of favorite "recipes" for skin tones. My go-to green is Viridian; I've also come to enjoy using Cobalt Violet because it's very subtle. Brilliant Pink is perfect for lips and cheeks, and the delicate warm tones found in fingers and toes. Lately I've also been adding some supplimental colors to my palette, including a spread of "Radiant" hues from Gamblin. I find that they are a wonderful addition for cool skin tones. I'm curious to hear from other artists what you enjoy using for skin tones. Thoughts?

There's always the problem of less-than-exciting skin tones when working from reference photos. Should the artist make up colors that aren't there? Well, no... but having a solid understanding of skin tones under different lighting conditions is key. The more you practice by working from life, the more you'll be able to "fill in the blanks" when working from photos.

News from My Studio - An Unveiling; New Projects

2011-08-04T16:19:00.002-05:00

What a busy summer it has been! While away in Europe, my portrait of USAF Colonel Charles Fisher was unveiled; he was kind enough to send me a couple of pictures from the event, so here they are:

Above: the portrait is unveiled

Below: the change of command

Wish I could have been there, but Cl. Fisher was very kind and told me that the portrait received excellent feedback!

After finishing several other summer commissions, and standing up in one of my best friend's weddings, I had some time after wedding to take full advantage of some leftover flowers and do a fun, girly painting called "Summertime Stilettos." Now, for those of you who know me, I'm not very tall, but I'm married to a man who is 6' 4". The shoes I proudly sported at my friend's wedding were not very practical, but very fun, and helpful for someone vertically challenged like myself... I liked the shoes so much that I made them part of the painting. My purple bridesmaid dress made up the background. I love the color harmonies in this one, and was especially excited about the myriad of colors to be found in the flowers, particularly the light pink roses. The natural window light really brought out some gorgeous warms and cools.

"Summertime Stilettos" - 16" x 12" - oil on linen

Below: detail of roses

Finally, as time allows but once in a while, there are literally dozens of projects just waiting for me to start (or complete) from my trip to Europe (I brought back enough material to keep me busy for at least another year!). One such project was a larger studio painting I wanted to do based on my plein air study of a gorgeous mountain sunset, which I painted on our hotel balcony in Beatenburg, Switzerland. Here is the 1/2-hour long study, followed by the studio painting:

And just for kicks, I'll show you both of them next to each other. It's funny how, in the plein air sketch, I "condensed" the mountain scene before me to fit the little 8x8 canvas. With such a grandiose scene, it's difficult to simplify. One just wants to take it all in, yet enjoy the moment. The sun had set before I knew it...

More new projects on the way. In the mean time, I hope to continue some discussion on the idea of "good art vs. bad art." Stay tuned. :-)

A Portrait Painter's Analysis of the Plein Air Experience

2011-07-19T10:59:00.004-05:00

Well, obviously since it's been over a month since my last post, things have been busy here at Artwork by Anna Rose! It's a good kind of busy, though - all of my projects are fun and exciting, and I'm doing a lot of teaching this month, which is wonderful. However, even when the business of life is good, it's easy to get worn down. For this reason, I am realizing more and more that it's important for us artists to have fun, zero-stress projects to work on every once in a while. I learned from my trip to Europe that the few times I had to paint en plein air were really moments to cherish, because they were incredibly relaxing. True, there are always logistical and aesthetic problems to solve while working outdoors (e.g. those pesky bugs, or that tree that doesn't quite fit in the composition...), but that's the kind of "stress" I enjoy. Plein air painting has suddenly become for me an escape from life's stress and the mundane, with each hour or two I spend at it like a mini artistic retreat. I have only taken to it this past year, but now I understand why so many artists love it, and why so many portrait artists suppliment their commission work with landscape painting. The adrenaline rush I get when painting a portrait from life has now extended to painting landscapes from life, and I am absolutely enamored with this new branch of exploration in my artistic journey.

As a portrait artist, I find that landscape painting is relaxing, first of all, because there is no need for a 100% accurate likeness. While capturing a likeness has never been too much of a struggle for me, it still requires a great deal of concentrated observation, and demands complete focus. With plein air, even if the scene is well-known (like a famous bridge or mountain), there are many more liberties that can be taken. This kind of painting is teaching me how to simplify, leave things out, or perhaps bring things in from the surrounding landscape in ways that photography simply can't.

Secondly, I find painting outdoors to be relaxing because I've always been a lover of nature. I get cabin fever pretty easily, especially in this Texas heat, so a little field trip to the great outdoors is just the solution. I can spend time outside while still being productive!

I should mention that proper equipment is a must! I've posted several pictures here and there of my plein air set-up, but for my artist friends, I'll describe it in a little more detail. I use a Guerilla Painter Travel Box, in size 9x12. This box is fabulous, as it is lightweight, it can hold all my paints as well as several wet 9x12 panels, and it mounts to a regular camera tripod. It fits inside of a large backpack, along with all my other supplies (paper towels, brushes, camera, etc.). You have to purchase accessories separately, but I highly recommend at least getting the Mighy Mite brush washer, the paper towel holder, and the multi mount collapsible umbrella. I also purchased wet panel carriers in various sizes from Raymar Art, and would recommend Raymar panels over any other brand.

Here is my partial set-up, down by a river near where I live. I wished I had brought my umbrella, on this particular occasion, but at least I remembered to wear a hat!

Here is the first painting I completed while trying out my pochade box. The painting sold at my local gallery after just a week or two.

Stripes of the Storm - 9x12 - oil on Raymar panel - private collection

Below: using my pochade box on my trip to Europe. This was in Florence, overlooking the Arno and the Ponte Vecchio. You can see the paper towel holder in use. My palette was a Jack Richeson "Grey Matters" pad of grey wax paper in 9"x12", which fit perfectly inside the pochade box. The wine glass is optional...

And below: a little gem from this past weekend. I think I'm getting better at plein air. It sure is exciting!

"Morning Calm in Texas Summer" - 8x8 - oil on Raymar panel

For me, plein air painting isn't about whether or not I'm destined to be an excellent landscape painter - if that happens, then I consider that a bonus. What it really comes down to is this: with this experience, I've become better at seeing. Suddenly, I'm beginning to learn how to leave my brain out of the equation, and react instinctively to what's in front of me. This added knowledge will transcend to all other aspects of my work -- portraits, commission work, figurative painting... So, dear artist friends, I recommend you do the same - get out of the safety of your studio and head outside for some fresh air, easel and brushes in hand...

Siena, Rome and Everything in Between

2011-06-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

Steve and I have been back in Dallas as of late Saturday night, but I am just now getting over the jet-lag and attempting to catch up on things. I have one last post to share about our wonderful trip before I move on to other things. Thank you everyone for your comments and support - I took so many of you on this trip with me in my heart. :-)

On June 6 (Monday), we left Florence in our rental car and made the short but scenic drive south to Siena. This beautiful hilltown seems preserved in time. In fact, it hasn't changed much since the Renaissance, when it was controlled by the Strozzi family, which was constantly at war with its neighboring city of Florence under the Medicis. The emblem of Siena can be found in sculptures, reliefs, and images all over the city, and depicts the she-wolf suckling infant brothers Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome.

Steve and I stayed outside the city, hoping for some beautiful drives around Tuscany and the Chianti region over the next few days. Our first day in Siena was gorgeous and we had a lot of fun exploring the city and walking down every single street (it's not hard to do, as long as you can handle hills!).

The famous Duomo, completed in the 13th century. One of the most distinctive things about this cathedral is its white and greenish-black marble stripes.

A gorgeous view of the city and city walls.

Steve and I with a view of the streets and tower of the Piazza del Campo behind us.

Tuscany and the Chianti wine country were absolutely breathtaking, but after our first day there, I was disheartened somewhat by the cloudy and unpredictable weather, so I didn't really get a chance to paint. You know that what that means... I'll just have to come back. :-)

Here was a happy sight, as we left Siena and were on our way to Rome: acres and acres of sunflowers!

In order to return our rental car, we had to drive it into the heart of Rome to the central train station. For future reference, we will plan on finding a way to AVOID driving in Rome! After that experience, Dallas traffic looks like a cakewalk. I was so proud of my husband as he navigated the crazy streets without denting the car or running over one of the many mopeds and cyclists that zipped in and out of traffic on their way to the front of the pack. Whew!

Once we had returned our car, we took a cab to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Abruzzi, which was right across the square from the Pantheon. As soon as we arrived, I flung open the shudders and the view took my breath away. From our room on the third story, I could look down upon all the foot traffic and honking taxis alike as they passed through the square or loitered near the fountain. And of course, the magnificent building itself stood before me in all of its ancient glory, its dome, cornices and triangular pediment casting blue shadows in the early evening sun. Without unpacking, I whipped out my paint box and got to work.

I ended up working on this painting for two evenings in a row, but will probably have to finish it in my studio if I want the architecture to look more true to life. Still, it was exhilerating to have such a famous building at my disposal.

The rest of our time in Rome consisted of an excellent guided tour of the Vatican, Vatican Museums, and Sistene Chapel (which I had seen once before and nearly cried when I saw it!), long walks around ancient Rome (the Coliseum and Forum, among other historical sites), and hunting down Michelangelo sculptures, Bernini sculptures and fountains, and Caravaggio paintings scattered throughout the city. We walked nearly eleven miles on Friday alone! With so much to see, it seemed impossible to do Rome in just two and a half days, but Steve and I felt pretty good about what we accomplished. Here are some pictures to show for it:

Our view of the Vatican on our way there, the morning of our tour.

A tapestry of the resurrected Christ that displays an optical illusion similar to that of the Mona Lisa, where the eyes follow you as you move around the piece. In this piece it's meaningful because Christ is watching over us always - in our past, present, and future.

Details from Raphael's "School of Athens" fresco. Pictured above is Euclid.

Raphael did this enormous commission while still a young man. He included a self-portrait in the fresco; he is the second to the right, making eye contact with the viewer.

Our tour guide asked the group, "Have any of you been to Milan?" I nodded my head. He then asked, "Have you been to the Pinoteca Ambrosiana?" I nodded again (I had just been there!). He then said, "So you know about the drawing that's there that is of great importance to this painting..." he then asked me to relate to the rest of the group about the full-sized cartoon, or preparatory sketch, that I had seen of Raphael's "School of Athens." I happily complied and would have prattled on about it had he not cut me off for the sake of time. But from then on till the end of the tour, he called me his "assistant" or the "art historian," which pretty much made my day. Moments like this, ever so rare, help me feel like all of my nerdy studies in art history have not been in vain!

A larger shot of "The School of Athens (above)." I mentioned the cartoon for this drawing in a previous blog post, but failed to post a picture. As you can see, the central figure in the foreground (the man leaning on a short pedestal), is not in the drawing (below). Raphael added him later, and painted him as Heroclitus in the form of Michelangelo, a contemporary Renaissance artist whom he had recently come to admire.

There was much to see on our tour of the Vatican and Vatican museums, and sadly I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, but that was definitely the highlight. Second to that was being able to view Michelangelo's "Pieta," one of his earlier works and the only work he ever signed.

Here we are in front of the Spanish steps, an enormous set of stairs built in the 1700s to link a church to a piazza in a way that would be both functional and pleasing, while dealing with the enormous geographical slope that separated the two. The steps have become an icon in Rome, as well as one of the top tourist attractions. We happened to miss the "peak" season, when the azalias all around are in full-bloom.

Coffee at a local caffe.

A view of the Roman Forum.

Our last day in Rome. Not only did we walk nearly eleven miles, but I also got a two-hour painting session in, while sitting under the blazing sun. I think this little study of the Coliseum is one of my strongest though.

Here's the view from my perch.

And with the finished painting.

More ruins. I'm fascinated by them, and I know many artists before me have found inspiration among the ruins of Rome. I guess it reminds us of our own finiteness and the fact that no culture, country, or empire -- no matter how great -- will last forever.

One of the Bernini sculptures we hunted down. Bernini's Baroque style, alive with movement and energy, was highly sought after in Rome. This sculpture, "Ecstasy of St. Theresa," is located at the Church of Santa Maria Della Vittoria. The statue is famous for its vivid and sensual representation of St. Theresa's account of being visited by a seraph: "I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it..."

We also saw this sculpture of Moses, by Michelangelo. Housed in the Church of San Pietro in Vicoli, the sculpture was the only one fully completed for the commission of the tomb of Pope Julius II, and depicts Moses with "horns," due to the Latin Vulgate translation of the passage in Exodus. The passage describes Moses as having come down from the mountain, after receiving the Ten Commandments, with his face "horned from the conversation with the Lord." The Greek translation says this (and I believe this is the more conventional translation!): "Moses knew not that the appearance of the skin of his face was glorified."

There is so much more I could share, but I must get going. In the mean time, here is a picture we took at our dinner table, on our last night in Rome before heading home. I hope to post many more pictures on Facebook, and eventually have better pictures of all the paintings I completed on this trip. All in all, I did 16 oil paintings, averaging 1/2-hour to 2-hours apiece. I learned so much, and had a wonderful time. I hope that every artist gets an experience (or MANY) like this to explore their media, see the world, and fall more in love with what they do.

The City of Priceless Treasures - Florence, Italy

2011-06-06T15:56:00.000-05:00

Steve and I left Venice on Friday morning and drove to Florence, stopping at a beach on the Adriatic Sea along to way. We didn't stay long, as it was windy and threatening to rain, but it was fun to say we've now seen the Adriatic! Neither of us had been there before.

Florence... now, this city is near and dear to my heart. I lived here for a summer five years ago, when I studied with Maureen Hyde at the Florence Academy of Art... and it was hard to be there by myself. However, I saw and did as much as I possibly could, going to class every morning and spending every afternoon and evening at the museums, churches, or historical sights. Now, to relive it with my husband is really a dream come true for me. I felt a bit like a tour guide as I showed him around this beautiful city. I can tell you where many of the most precious treasures of the Renaissance are to be found, from the most popular among tourists (like Michelangelo's David, housed in the Galleria dell' Accademia), to the lesser known but equally priceless (like the fresco of The Procession of the Magi, by Benozzo Gozzoli in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi). There is so much to see here - in the birthplace and mecca of the Renaissance! For example, we visited the church of Santa Croce. This beautiful church contains the tombs of an all-star Florentine lineup, including Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Dante. Florence is extremely proud of its historical heritiage, and boasts monuments to its heros all over the city.

As we learned on Saturday morning in our guided tour of the Accademia, the statue of David (1501-1504) alone represents a great deal for the city of Florence: political strength ("small but mighty"... although Michelangelo's David is hardly small at 17 feet tall!), the rebirth of Roman civilization and a new spirit of optimism after the Dark Ages, and in many ways, the beginning of modern art. Let me explain: Michelangelo didn't care about the historical accuracy of his David. His David had to look like this and only this. He is about 25 (not a teenager, as the biblical text describes), there is no head of Goliath at his feet, he is completely nude, and uncircumcised at that. After seeing the magnificent David, as well as the unfinished sculptures of slaves (which were supposed to be among the many sculptures to adorn the massive tomb of Pope Julius II), I am pretty much convinced that Michelangelo was the greatest artist who ever lived. He refused the help of assistants, but had a body of work that no artist will ever match or surpass. Even more remarkable is the fact that instead of carving his marble statues all the way around, as most sculptors would work, Michelangelo worked from front to back (very risky when working with an expensive block of Carrara marble!). This method backs up his own claim that instead of simply carving a statue, he was freeing the form. As he said of one work, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

Here are a few pictures from Florence. Friday night was lovely and magical for Steve and I; we climbed the steps to the Piazzale Michelangelo, a beautiful lookout on the other side of the Arno that gives you an incredible view of Renaissance Florence, complete with the Biblioteca, the Ponte Vecchio ("Old Bridge"), the Palazzo Vecchio ("Old Palace" - one of the older Medici homes), the Uffizi, and of course, the famous Duomo (cathedral) and Campanile (bell tower). Steve and I enjoyed some Chianti Classico, which is the only wine you should drink while in Florence, and I painted the beautiful scene before me.

My painting drew quite a spectacle among tourists, but so did the incredible sunset. It was glorious.

The light changes quickly out there. I didn't have time to paint the lovely orange flowers in the foreground, but I enjoyed every minute of my painting.

Chianti - the truest of Tuscan red wines. :-)

The beautiful Duomo and Campanile. Notice the colorful green and pink marble, charactaristic of Renaissance Tuscany.

My art supply store was closed. :-( Steve and I still managed to swing by this morning (Monday) before we left Florence. They have everything a girl could want! Okay, maybe not shoes...

A visit to the Boboli gardens produced this little plein air sketch. It was very relaxing, as I simply sat down on a park bench and enjoyed painting in the nice weather... which later turned to rain. Thankfully, we were visiting the Uffizi when it started pouring.

I am so glad that Steve and I reserved a tour for the Vasari Corridor. This corridor is seldom open to the public, but contains thousands of priceless works of art, including the largest collection of artist's self-portraits. Pictures were not allowed, but we did sneak this one of me (below), completely elated to be there!

The Vasari Corridor, designed by artist and author Georgio Vasari, was built for the Medici family in 1565 on the occasion of the royal wedding of Francis I to Joan of Austria. The purpose of the corridor was to separate the royal family from the common people as they passed from their old palace (the Palazzo Vecchio) to the new (the Pitti Palace, to which the Boboli Gardens are connected). The corridor crosses over the Ponte Vecchio. I found it interesting to hear that the reason the bridge only contains the shops of goldsmiths and jewelers is because the Medici didn't want to smell anything bad (like fish or meat) when they crossed over. Today, the bridge is still home to small shops of fine jewelry. Also, it wasn't until the 19th century that the corridor came to be used as a place for hanging paintings. The Medici did possess an enormous art collection, and thanks to the last Medici in the family line, Anna Maria Louisa (d. 1742), the works of art stayed in Florence and remain to this day.

I was astounded by the treasures there and grateful to see them with my own eyes, even though the tour went quickly. Among some of the highlights were self-portraits by Anthony Van Dyck, Joshua Reynolds, Jaques Louis David, John Everett Millais, Cecilia Beaux, Philip Alexius De Laszlo de Lombos, Henri Fantin Latour, and Anders Zorn (my favorite of the lineup!).

Anders Zorn - Self-Portrait - 1889

Currently, Steve and I are in Siena and will be here for two nights. We will finish our Italian tour with Rome and be back on June 11. I can't believe how fast it's going! More to come...

"Ah... Venice!"

2011-06-02T15:16:00.004-05:00

Steve and I watched several movies in anticipation of our European trip before we left, including "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (see my quote in this post's title!) and "The Tourist." We also watched a bunch of travel documentaries, but it's always more fun to see how Hollywood romanticizes different places.

Anyway, we are here in Venice, and will be leaving early tomorrow morning, but I feel like I've seen and done everything I would have wanted to in this romantic and colorful city. The last couple of days, Steve and I simply got lost in the city... we had a map, and used it to get back to our hotel, but otherwise, it was fun to simply wander the streets, especially when it was picture-perfect with the turn of every corner!

Unfortunately, the light wasn't the greatest during our stay, and so I only managed to squeeze one painting in. With the humidity, the crowds of tourists, and somewhat cliche gondoliers whistling cheerfully as they toted tourists down the canals, I felt that I would have little or nothing new to offer in my own artistic interpretations. However, I still feel that Venice is extremely beautiful and worth visiting, and I'm hoping that as I begin to absorb all these new experiences, I'll be able to share them through my paintings, both now and later on when I return home. Here are a few pictures from our stay:

The day of our arrival: crystal blue skies and calm canals.

An amazing frame shop. I really enjoyed seeing all the specialty stores, especially the beautiful paper mache Venetian masks (I picked up a couple!).

Another lovely scene, colorful in spite of the gray skies.

Steve took these pictures of me on a bridge that was less-travelled, so I was able to paint in peace.

Dusk on the Grand Canal.

The expensive but worthwhile gondola ride. Where else can you do this? It WAS as romantic as everyone says it is. :-)

Switzerland: An Artist's Paradise!

2011-05-31T14:57:00.003-05:00

Now that we are in Venice, I've managed to get some faster Wi-Fi, and here are the pictures I promised from Switzerland. While I had a little difficulty finding painting subjects in Milan, Switzerland had me chomping at the bit to paint from the moment I arrived. It was completely wonderful and overwhelming to be surrounded by this majestic beauty, to breathe such clean fresh air, and to feel so small beneath the towering mountain peaks. Steve and I loved every minute in this glorious country... this haven for artistic creativity.

While the views everywhere are fantastic, our hotel also had an amazing view. You can see the Jungfrau itself, a peak of 13,642 feet, from our room's balcony.

A sampling of the views from our hotel room balcony (above and below) - one at later in the afternoon, and one at 6:00 in the morning.

Here I am at one of the many restaurants we ate at with a birds-eye view of the mountains beyond. We started feeling pretty spoiled!

On Saturday, we visited Lucerne and Brienz, and just about everything in between. Lucerne is a romantic city, especially near Tower Bridge, the oldest surviving wooden bridge in Europe. The overall atmosphere is made even more nostalgic by the talented street musicians, and elegant white swans floating down the river.

Hard at work in Lucerne. The boat took off before I could finish my painting. Will have to put in a few more details later. :-)

Steve and I spent some time hunting down beautiful buildings and mountain peaks on our Alpine drives, sometimes driving up so high that we thought we might tip off the hillsides. This little gem of a chapel is something I would like to paint.

On our way back to the hotel from Lucerne, we stopped for dinner in Brienz. There is a walkway all along the north shore of the lake there, so Steve and I enjoyed a leasurely stroll.

Sunday morning, up bright and early and freezing my little fingers off to get in this pastel landscape. I wanted to capture the soft light, and unfortunately, it required getting up at 6:00 a.m. I did three paintings that day! (See below)

Another shot of my morning painting.

Sunday morning: Steve and I spent most of the day in the Lauterbrunnen valley (see the shot below). Above: our first stop was to visit Trummelbach Falls, incredible waterfalls that come down through the mountain. Lauterbrunnen is part of the larger Jungfrau Region and is one of the most spectacular places in Switzerland! The waterfalls cascade down cliffsides and into tumultuous rivers. The water, which is fed from mountain glaciers, is extremely pure. Steve and I had a taste when we refilled our water bottles directly from the river!

Lauterbrunnen Valley, view from our cable car headed to Murren.

Getting started on my second painting of the day. I set up on a hiking trail above the car-free town of Murren. Had we chosen to go up further, we could have ended up at Mount Schilthorn, where there is a revolving restaurant and an incredible view of the Jungfrau.

This was my favorite painting of the trip so far; with so much inspiration, it can be a bit overwhelming. This time I just had fun with it, and the sketch turned out great! For my artist friends: I have been working with a Guerrilla 9x12 pochade box, which mounts on a camera tripod and fits nicely in a large backpack. My panels are Raymar panels in either 8x8 or 9x12.

Steve and I stop for one more picture before heading back for the day.

Relaxing with a bottle of the house wine on our hotel balcony. That's when the sun started setting and the scene before me was this: ...

How could any artist resist painting this amazing beauty?! I set up one more time, and ended up doing a quick sketch of 1/2 an hour. The light changed rapidly, but it every minute of the painting was exhilerating.

Here is a partial line-up of my paintings from this trip. So far I've done a total of ten paintings. Below are two more from yesterday, which was our last day in Switzerland.

A lone tree in front of the mountains, in Grindelwald.

Later that afternoon: the clouds were beautiful; Steve and I drove around Lake Thun, and I ended up finding this great spot on the north side.

No trip to Switzerland would be complete without a picture of a cow wearing its cowbell. I'm thinking about getting one for my dog so I don't lose her on the mountainside... ha.

Well, this morning we left early and drove straight to Venice. We spent the afternoon exploring, and were very thankful for our street map in finding our way back to our hotel. No paintings today, but perhaps tomorrow. Until then, buona sera!

Museums and Mountains: From Milan to Switzerland

2011-05-27T16:10:00.002-05:00

I've gone from sweating as soon as I step outside to having to wear four layers! But, for Steve and I, it is a welcome change.

I am now at the Hotel Beausite in Beatenburg, Switzerland, just 10-20 minutes up the mountain from Interlaken. But before I share about Switzerland so far, I should mention a few things from my last couple of days in Milan.

I decided to make Tuesday a museum day, since my back has been "out" for the last couple of days and it's difficult to carry my supplies around. While my Milan guidebook tends to paint a positive picture of the city, it has failed to mention how dirty the streets are or how every inch of wall and bridge has been defiled by graffiti. It's very sad, and unfortunately, has left me somewhat uninspired. Still, I've found a few quiet nooks to paint in here and there. But, as I said, Tuesday was museum day. I had the privilege of going to the Palazzo Reale, a museum that hosts various temporary exhibitions and is located right next to the Duomo. They were currently hosting an Impressionist exhibit of the Sterling and Francine Clark collection from Massachusetts. I couldn't believe how many famous pieces were in this collection, including Renoir's Box at the Theater (1880) -- among quite a few other Renoirs -- Giovanni Boldini's Crossing the Street (1873-75), Monet's The Cliffs at Étretat (1885), and Bouguereau's Seated Nude (1884). You can view the works that I saw here. I spent a good two and half hours staring at the art and hoping to somehow take it all in.

After my museum visit and a little bit of shopping (I mean, let's be honest... how can one NOT shop in Milan??), I had a late lunch at the Duomo Cafe, located directly across from the front facade of the Duomo. The view was spectacular, and there was a cool breeze on our faces as those of us sitting outside lingered even after our lunches and espressos were gone. I enjoyed people-watching, and watching the shadows move down the side of the beautiful cathedral as the afternoon went by.

That evening, Steve and I had a romantic dinner at a restaurant near the Brera. There were roses on the tables, and rose petals strewn across the cobblestones at our feet.

Wednesday was our last day in Milan. My excursions began with a visit to the Ambrosiana Library and Museum, home of the Codex Atlanticus, the original drawings and notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci. Not only was the library where they are housed a breathtaking site, but the rest of the museum had some real gems. Most notable was the "cartoon," or preparatory drawing, of "The School of Athens" by Raphael. The cartoon is one of the only surviving preparatory sketches from the Renaissance, and is massive in scale, just like the fresco, which is in the Vatican. I did a sketch of the drawing, and took note of the solid composition, the fluidity of form, and the motion of each figure. Raphael made several of the star characters look like his peers, including Plato (in the form of Leonardo Da Vinci) and Heroclitus (in the form of Michelangelo).

On Wednesday afternoon, I visited yet another museum, the Brera. There they had a wonderful exhibition featuring Milan's favorite 19th-century painter, Francesco Hayez. His most famous painting, "The Kiss" (1859), was a perfect representation of the Romanticism of the time and even more so, the Italian unification ("Risorgimento") that was underway.

The Kiss, by Francesco Hayez (1859), oil on canvas, 43" x 35"

Later that evening, I went with Steve and one of his coworkers to the Naviglio Grande. The two guys sat in a restaurant and enjoyed Happy Hour drinks, while I set up to paint nearby. I was worried about becoming a spectacle, but as people passed by, they were curious and kind, but kept their distance. A couple stopped and asked questions. The experience loosened me up and I actually really enjoyed it. The light changed very quickly, so I may have to finish my oil sketch from photos. Here are some shots from the evening's painting session:

So that was a good way to end our time in Milan. I hope to post many more pictures from this trip to Facebook when I return...

Yesterday's travels were strenuous; I had the painstaking task of getting myself and all of my luggage from Milan to Switzerland, without the help of Steve (who still had two more days of work!). I honestly wasn't trying to look like I was struggling with my luggage, but I really was! Thankfully, there were lots of kind people along the way who helped me out. :-) When I finally arrived in Switzerland, the views from my hotel more than made up for the trouble. Our hosts, Rita and Kasper, welcomed me graciously to the Hotel Beausite. I was able to enjoy a long walk around Beatenburg, the little hill town above Interlaken where Steve and I will be staying for the next few days. It was beautiful; however, rain came in, so I rushed back, and enjoyed an amazing Swiss dinner at the hotel.

Today is Friday, and I haven't gone out all day, unless breakfast downstairs counts. It has been very cold and rainy, with a fog so thick I can't see beyond the patio outside my hotel room. Thankfully, Steve has arrived her safe, and I consider today to have been a good day. I got a lot of rest, painted an 8"x8" self-portrait, which I entitled, "Self-Portrait on a Rainy Day," and caught up on some much-needed e-mails and general news, thanks to the free Wi-Fi here at the hotel.

I hope to post many more pictures soon, especially of my plein-air paintings and the views here in Switzerland. Until then, guten nacht, dear friends.

Miles logged in Milan = Unknown

2011-05-23T15:59:00.003-05:00

Even though I remember well the hours of walking through Florence, I knew I would have to tough it out once again for these first few days exploring Milan. Three days in, my feet are covered in blisters and bug bites that swell up to the size of quarters, and yet, there is so much to do and see that I keep on going out every day to take it all in.

The Church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie (to the right is the refectory with "The Last Supper"

Yesterday Steve and I visited perhaps the most famous of Milan's attractions, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper." We booked our tickets several weeks ago, knowing that was the only way we had a chance of seeing it. The painting is well-known and has been recreated over and over again, even though it has deteriorated a great deal, due to Leonardo's dry tempera painting technique (unlike true fresco, where the paint chemically bonds with the wet plaster beneath it). Still, when we stepped into the room where it is housed (the rectory of the church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie), it still made me catch my breath. It is bigger than I imagined, and the atmospheric background behind the head of Christ still seems to glow. The 1-point linear perspective is immaculate, and directs the viewer's eye directly to the figure of Christ. We were only given 15 minutes to view this masterpiece before being ushered out quickly, but I used every last minute to stand in awe of the "Last Supper." No photography was allowed, but the memory of it, and how I felt when I saw it, will stay with me forever.

Other sights from today and yesterday included a walk along the Naviglio Grande (Milan's Grand Canal), a visit to the Science and Technology Museum (which houses replicas of Leonardo Da Vinci's many inventions), and even a soccer game! We bought matching jersies and went with Steve's two co-workers to an Inter-Milan game at the city stadium. This soccer game wasn't originally on my to-do list, but I'm glad we went. :-)

The enormous stadium, with a view of the city behind it.

Sporting our Inter-Milan jersies. :-)

This was definitely the wild side of the stadium. They were waving enormous flags and firing flares. Thankfully, Inter-Milan won, so we didn't have to experience an Italian riot. :-)

The Naviglio Grande

Happy Hour in Milan lasts from 7-9. You buy one drink for 8 euros or so, and get this huge spread of food for free! We filled up tonight on happy hour food and ended up skipping dinner!

Milan, a City that Embraces Old and New

2011-05-21T15:57:00.001-05:00

Five years ago after finishing a summer class with the Florence Academy of Art, I left Italy and promised myself that I would return, but not alone... I wanted to come back with my husband, Steve. This week, the dream came true, and it was all made possible by Steve's new job working for a company called Festo. Last week, he was in Germany, where Festo is internationally based, for work. This week, he was scheduled to work in Milan, so on Thursday/Friday, I flew in to join him. After his work week is finished, we will spend the next two weeks exploring Switzerland and Italy. It is an opportunity I never thought would be possible so soon, and I am grateful to be here!

I've promised many of you that I would blog about this experience, so consider this my first little update. Of course, I could write a great deal about all the cultural differences and the little things I've felt silly having to learn the hard way (like how to buy an underground metro ticket...), but everything comes together in the end, and the Milanese are gracious people, willing to help even with the language barrier.

When I first landed in Milan, I felt my heart flutter. I could hardly believe I was back in Italy! Still, Milan, as I have discovered, is very different from Florence or Rome, and I am anxious to learn more about it. My first introduction to the city basically consisted of curious, random wandering for an entire day. I only had one goal on my first day here, and that was to find an art supply store where I could buy solvents for oil painting. Once I finally found one in the Brera district, I continued to wander, wondering what kind of portrait (or series of portraits) I would end up painting of the city of Milan. It's unlike Florence, which feels locked in time, and also unlike Rome, which revels in its historical fame. Milan is extremely urban, bustling with real city folk who go about their day, but dress more fashionably than Americans and yet aren't ashamed to take public transportation. I have yet to see the high-end shopping districts or go into the art galleries, but I've seen enough to realize that Milan's beauty is unique, and it will be challenging for me to find places to paint that really capture this dichotomy between the old and the new. The city, so rich with tradition, is also a leader in the modern age - art, fashion, technology. So, the question I have is: what portrait shall I paint of Milan?

Day 2 (today) - Steve and I unashamedly playing tourist... here are some pictures of our adventures.

Steve and I in front of the famous Duomo, which is charactarized by its numerous architectural styles, as it took over 500 years to build.

One of the impressive views of the buildings and streets below from the top of the Duomo.

Walking through some of the expensive shopping areas in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. This was an impressive window display for Louis Vuitton.

At the Piazza Della Scala, with the statue of Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci was very active in Milan; tomorrow we will be going to see "The Last Supper."

One must have gelato as often as possible when staying in Italy! These flavors were mixed berry and milk (this is branching out for me - I'm usually a stickler for chocolate!).

A typical, beautiful city street.

These strawberries in a Milan fruit stand looked absolutely mouthwatering.

At the Castello Sforzesco, a fortress built in the 1300s.

Final notes from the Portrait Conference before Taking off to Europe!

2011-05-18T23:27:00.001-05:00

I've got Europe on my mind (flying out tomorrow)... but before I forget, I wanted to post the last of my notes from the Portrait Society. This last segment was a panel of professional portrait artists giving us tips on “Steps to Professionalism." So here you go:

Gordon Whetmore:
One of the first steps to professionalism is the sale of your work.
- Make a portfolio of excellent photos, including a biography and price list. Include only your best work.
- Make a client list of at least 20 prospecta, and make appointments to speak with them about a portrait.
- Paint demos for prospective clients
- Paint your best sample portraits - don't show anything you're not proud of.
- Build a solid reputation by being timely in your completion and delivery.
- Set up an article about you and your work with the local paper
- Develop a thoroughly professional attitude. Take on the attitude that the customer is always right. Be sensitive and take clues from your clients, even if it means you have to start the painting all over.
- Participate in charity auctions.
- Work with agents, such as Portraits, Inc.
- Organize get-togethers or luncheons with live demos
- Mentor others; teach / have workshops
- Give greeting cards, prints, and other gifts to your clients as a thank you; keep in touch with your clients; send them notes and Christmas or birthday cards
- Your best prospect is always your previous client

Jennifer Welty – on Competitions
- Don’t let competitions define you as an artist
- Don’t allow rejection to get you down – just keep painting.
- Learn to paint well, and paint what you love.
- Photograph your work well
- Be willing to pay your dues
- Set aside a yearly allowance for entering competitions, and enter a lot of them
- Hang with professionals and watch what they do

Rich Nelson – on Building Good Relationships
The client is as nervous and uncomfortable as you are, if not more. Find out if they’ve bought a portrait before – if not, make it stress-free for both of you. Clients can tell if you’re nervous, but on the flip side, if you are confident, they’ll also feed off of that.
- It’s not always stress-free. Use good common manners, especially when things get ugly.
- Good communication and good listening. Pick up on their signals. A lot of people are not comfortable telling an artist there’s something wrong
- If you’ve taken good photos, send them along with the client.
- Pick up the dinner tab.
- As far as working with agents, remember that they’re clients too. Try and make them look good. Include them in every aspect so that you don’t blindside them. Copy them on emails. Be ready for the unexpected or things you might not have originally thought of.
- If you’re doing everything right, we can all get through this together. They’re willing to put up with our weirdness as long as we can connect on some level.
- Finally, deliver amazing work.

Bart Lindstrom – on Organization and Time Management
- Have a place for everything, and have everything in its place. This is especially true of your studio.
- Set your studio up so you can sit down and paint quickly. It should embrace you. Same is true for your business side of lie.
- Try to write one thank-you note per day.
- Record your mileage. Keep a notebook in your car. Write on your receipts – note as to why it’s a business expense.
- Try to have some time during the day to clear your desk and re-organize.
- Have a to-do list. Prioritize, and pick the hardest one to do first.

Patricia Watwood – on Goals
- Most artists only produce about 500 paintings in their lifetime. How many great paintings are you capable of making in a year, or in your lifetime?
- What is this painting you’re working on right now and how does it fit in your lifetime of work? MAKE IT COUNT.
- Think about what it is that defines your work. No matter what your subject matter, there’s a particular quality about your work that is uniquely yours. Learn to recognize That quality and how to make it shine. Show it off to its best advantage.
- What is it that really gets you up every morning and keeps you going? You’ve got to have something bigger than you to live for. We all have to deal with rejection and uncertainty, so you have to dig deep and find a source of strength and inspiration.
- Inspiration doesn’t come by repeating what you did before. By nature, it’s always original. Think about continuing to grow and challenge yourself. People know inspiration when they see it.
- Think long-term – you have to keep growing. The very best artists are never too proud to study and go back to the basics.
- Develop good relationships. The art world is a mystery, so you’ve gotta trust in good people. Be genuine. Always put people first.

Judy Carducci – on Volunteering and Advancing our Discipline
- Why teach? Those of us who are in traditional art lost several generations worth of instruction during the 20th century, and we are working to get it back.
- Don’t teach until you can learn not to trample on your students’ vision. Let them discover their own style and taste. When you solve your own problems, then your work takes off.
- Judy started by giving a local workshop and doing a pastel self-portrait. Someone there asked her if she’d like to teach in France. One thing led to another.
- Mentoring is less teaching skills than it is encouraging and helping someone through their ongoing career. Develops out of a friendship and teaching relationship. Can be a lifetime thing as long as both people want it.

My own thoughts on this (in case anyone cares about my two cents!):
Gallery work is “safe” and “predictable.” Competition pieces should be more creative and take more risks. I try to set aside time from my commissions for 2-3 competition pieces per year. Ultimately, those will end up being my best and most creative work.

"HeArt of Hope: a Portrait of Sudan" - Teaming up with Makeway Partners

2011-05-15T11:14:00.005-05:00

After attending the first exhibition of "HeArt of Hope: A Portrait of Sudan" last night, I wish that I had advertised for it a little better. It was absolutely amazing. Here was the general event information that was posted to our local radio station's website (KLTY, 94.9FM): Kimberly L. Smith, President and co-founder of Make Way Partners and author of Passport Through Darkness will speak on the topic of human trafficking. Make Way Partners is a Christian mission agency committed to prevent and combat human trafficking and all forms of modern-day slavery by educating and mobilizing the Body of Christ. Following her speaking engagement, Kimberly will sign books and an art exhibit and sale (HeArt of Hope:A Portrait of Sudan) will follow. HeArt of Hope is a fundraising effort by more than 25 local artists. HeArt of Hope continues to take in more portrait artists and travel throughout the area to bring hope to widows and children who suffer from the effects of modern day slavery. All proceeds go to Make Way Partners.

The keynote speaker, Kimberly Smith, shared about her experiences in Sudan and opened my eyes to some of things that I didn't know could still happen in this world. Because Sudan has been at war for three generations, the women and children who survive know nothing but a life of suffering. There is lawlessness and hate, with Islamic warlords doing whatever they can to wipe out the "lesser" indigenous tribes. Local women trek three miles to find clean water, with the risk of getting raped multiple times along the way. They go instead of their men, because their husbands would simply be murdered. The children who have lost their parents to the wars or slavery, live simply to survive. At night, they sleep in trees, or they will be picked off by hyenas. By day, they risk getting caught by traffickers and sold into slavery. These are the "orphans and widows" that the Bible speaks of. It is our responsibility as the body of Christ to help these people, and Kimberly's organization, Makeway Partners, is doing just that. She left a corporate job and the American dream to start orphanages in these forsaken places, including Sudan, Congo, Romania, and Peru. Kimberly did emphasize in her talk that we are not all called to drop everything like she did; God has a different plan for each of us. In my case, I was honored to be a part of it by donating a painting to the cause. I just hope that these works of art will be purchased so that the funds can go directly to helping the widows and orphans.

Our hope is that more and more artists will join in, and the art will be sold as it continues to be exhibited around north Texas, with all funds going directly to the organization. Giclees and prints are available along with the original paintings. If you would like more information about this event, please e-mail the coordinator, Lisa Temple, at charliepotter@sbcglobal.net. Her own story about how she was inspired to put together this fundraiser is quite wonderful.

My painting for "HeArt of Hope"

Having attended Kimberly's talk, I had the opportunity to buy her book, which I plan on reading on my flight overseas next week. She wrote on the inside cover, "May all your days be painted by God's dream just for you." God's dream is more often than not different than what we have in mind, but I am encouraged by this, and know that as long as I keep my heart open to it, He will use me in ways I never thought possible.

More Notes from the PSOA Conference 2011

2011-05-07T18:24:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite moments of the weekend with the Portrait Society of America was when Michael Shane Neal painted his mentor and long-time friend, Everett Raymond Kinstler. To give you a little background: Kinstler is well-known as a painter of presidents and movie stars, with a bravado of brushwork that could rival Sargent. He estimated that he painted nearly 2000 portraits in his lifetime, an acheivement few artists will ever be able to match. His student, Michael Shane Neal, has an extensive resume of official portraits as well, including Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner. But it wasn't their experience that held the audience's rapt attention - it was the relationship they have and the humorous conversation that ensued during the 2-hour demo. Kinstler never held still or stopped talking, but I found his comments to be wonderfully insightful. And the stories - well, I could listen to him talk all day!

Some of my notes on things the two mentioned:
First of all, Kinstler, who was one of the judges in the International Portrait Competition this year, divulged exactly what he looks for in a great work of art: Imagination, feeling, and the ability to communicate. I think I'm going to write these down in permanent marker on my mirror!

Second, Michael Shane Neal had some important points as he worked:
- When adjusting your painting, the key is not so much re-painting, but re-stating. Make it stronger than it was before.
- Don’t take your eye off any part of the canvas as you work, because everything relates.
- Someone asked what he does to varnish a painting when there's a delivery deadline and the work hasn't had a full six months to dry. The solution? Gamvar varnish. The only downside is that it is high-gloss (personally I have yet to find a matte retouch varnish!). Otherwise, if you have the luxury of waiting till the painting is completely dry, Neal's varnish of choice is equal parts of Dammar varnish, matte varnish and English distilled turpentine.

On Saturday night of the conference, I attended the awards banquet for the international competition winners. The quality of work this year was absolutely impressive! If you wish to see all of the finalists, I recommend checking out "Underpaintings," a blog by artist and conference attendee, Matthew Innis. I was both very happy for the award winners, and a little overwhelmed at how good they are! It's a little disheartening, realizing you have such a long way to go! But, the challenge is good, and just what I need to get back into the studio and work hard. I was especially impressed by the work of young artists Teresa Oaxaca (for her painting, "Father Time"), and the grand prize winner, Jesus Villareal, for his self-portrait, "The Studio."

Here is our little group from the Dallas area:

It sure is nice to get out of those painting clothes and dress up once in a while! :-)

Notes from the Portrait Society of America, Continued

2011-05-05T18:43:00.003-05:00

If you've ever met Bart Lindstrom or heard him speak, you'll probably agree with me in saying he's one of the funniest portrait artists in the business. There's nothing better than having a sense of humor about this profession, especially when times get hard. While Bart is great for a laugh, I have to say that he is an amazing professional who takes his work very seriously.

Here he is at the Face-Off demo from Thursday night:

And the finished painting:

On Friday afternoon, I had the privilege of hearing Bart's talk about "Creating Timeless Compositions." Here are some of my notes from this lecture:

- Composition is the foundation of your painting. We get impatient sometimes and just want to start throwing on paint. Just as it’s smart to carefully think through your plans when designing a house, so you should carefully compose your painting.

- A good composition is open to debate, but here are some general guidelines:

(1) Dividing the canvas in thirds and making one of the connection points your focal point location.

(2) Never put an important element at these points (see below).

- Pay attention! Orchestrate the composition.

- USE THUMBNAIL SKETCHES. Do lots, and make them small (postage stamp size). You should only see the lights and darks.

- ABSTRACT VALUE PATTERNS are what the image would look like if you broke it down into its most basic shapes and values. For example, Sargent's painting of the Windham Sisters, has an abstract value pattern of almost two squarish shapes: a dark square on top of a light square.

- Next step from the thumbnail sketch is a color study, no bigger than 4x6.

- When you put down a brush stroke, it must be right in 5 ways: it must be the right shape, be in the right place, be the right color, the right value, and have the right edges. What are we doing here? We are trying to see the end painting at the beginning. Always ask, “What is the abstract value pattern?

- The color study should be FAST. Use three primaries and three secondaries. 10-15 minutes. If you’re fast and relying on intuition, you’ll be using the right side of your brain and not being too picky / analytical.

- When it’s raw canvas, you’re painting, when it’s paint on paint, you’re blending.

- To determine a correct value, mix your color-value, brush some of it on a 3x5 card and hold it up to our subject and make sure it’s just right.

- Orchestrate your composition with value and then color. The goal is to get something you are excited about.

- Paint from a well of knowledge and decisions you’ve already made.

- Get busy and have more fun!

- Don’t take shortcuts. Put your painting at the very top of your priority list.

- Look at the abstract value patterns of other great artists – it’s okay to borrow these.

- Lack of attention / focus causes you to lose your best brushstrokes... those little gems that you may never get back if you're not careful to preserve them!

- Make a vision book of paintings you want to do. Paint like Roger Federer hits the tennis ball – with all his might and with the greatest of accuracy.

A Weekend with the Portrait Society of America, Atlanta, GA

2011-05-03T12:18:00.004-05:00

I just returned late Sunday night from the "Art of the Portrait" conference, held by the Portrait Society of America. This event is always one of the biggest highlights of my year, and I look forward to the next one almost immediately as soon as the previous one is over! The finest artists all gather together for a weekend of learning from and fellowshipping with one another, and I've found that even the most famous of portrait artists are kind, generous, and approachable. They're some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

For the sake of many of you who were unable to make it to the event this year (it was held in Atlanta from April 28-May 1), I've decided to type up my notes from some of the lectures and demos that took place over the course of the weekend. Hopefully they will make sense to you and perhaps even help you in some area of your work, as they have for me (though to be honest, I'm still just trying to process all the information...).

Thursday night was the "Face-Off" competition, in which 15 leading artists painted for three hours from several different models, and the rest of us milled around the room to watch their progress. It's an incredible thing to be able to see so many amazing artists working in their own particular style and have them all come out in the end with a unique masterpiece. After they were finished with their paintings, the conference attendees were given the chance to vote for their favorite, and the winner (Anthony Ryder) did a solo demo the next day. I have an entire album of pictures from the conference, including pictures of the finished demos, on Facebook. You can check them out here.

Here are some of my notes from the demos. Please note that these are the views as expressed by the artists giving the demonstrations, and not necessarily my own. There was a great variety of styles and methods represented by the artists in attendance, and it truly made for a wonderful educational experience.

Friday, April 29 - David Leffel’s demo:

Leffel did a self-portrait from a mirror.

There are two kinds of edges: (1) dynamic edges, and (2) structural edges. Dynamic edges are the “eye candy” , e.g. Zorn or Sargent. Incorporate lost and found via squinting, and exhibit a striking visual quality. For example, dark, hard edges against a light background. Structural edges go back to the Old Masters – edges become part of the form and structure of the painting. “Half tones don’t exist except as a painting problem…What is the value / temperature of a half-tone? It’s nothing you can extrapolate on. But edges do exist in nature.” Light hits a plane and travels as far as the place facing the light goes, and as the form turns away from the light, there will be a soft edge. So you’re not getting a half-tone – you’re getting a soft edge which eventually turns into a shadow. So nature has soft and hard edges. Edges naturally turn in sequence from hard to soft – it’s an abstract sequence. Color, like edges, alternate from warm to cool. So if you have a warm plane, next will be a cool plane. This is true regardless of subject matter.

There are painters and there are renderers. In painting – instead of seeing form in a circular fashion, you see the world flatter, in planes, like sculpting. Rendering – using the wrist and brush, and doing a lot of blending. Leffel considers his style “abstract realism,” and he is a painter as opposed to a renderer.

When starting, the most important thing to consider is size and placement. The more empty space you have, the more important the filled space becomes.Start with a gesture drawing so you immediately know the design of the whole thing. Endings are abrupt, and continuations are soft. So even if you’re some distance from the model, you should know what to do.

Edges also control color and value. As you soften an edge, that area loses its impact, so it becomes an aesthetic rather than technical problem. The more impact you want an area to have, the quicker the turn. The less impact, the softer the edge.

Put down what you consider pertinent to the final painting. Learn to put down as quickly as possible what is significant. Know already where your edges and planes are, “and then all you have to do is finish the painting” (grin)

Work from big to little.

Background is very important. When you’re painting it, it is an integral part – it’s part of the “air” of the painting. Consider the color and value of it. It’s the local color and the color of the air between the subject and the background – as though you’re doing a landscape.A finished painting is a relationship of all the elements in the proper order. If you want something to go back in space, you lighten it, like a landscape. Learn to understand the abstract nature of painting. Just add information to your original idea (the gesture drawing). Build on the idea. “Try to only put down good brush strokes. Don’t waste time putting down bad marks.” A good brush sroke is descriptive of either structure or form. Structure goes across and form goes along. Zorn and Sargent, for example, preferred painting along form because the long brush strokes were more virtuosic. Just the change of direction of brush srokes gives you a totally different emotional impact or feeling in a painting. Part of it is intuitive or psychological, but part of it is conscious decision-making.

Highlights are anchors in the sense that they’re in the extreme. You have to know exactly where they go, so the painting should be “finished” before you put them down. A corner is where a plane changes direction.

Cleaning the brush is an unnecessary interruption while you’re painting. The solvent changes the consistency of the paint. Just get to know your brushes, and wipe them as you work, but save the solvents for when you’re finished.

You know a painting is finished, very simply, when you run out of energy. As long as you can see something to do in a painting, you have energy. Monitor yourself and your energy level, or else your painting will go downhill. If your painting is losing energy, either stop or work on a new passage or new painting. This will refresh you enough to go back to your original spot and find things that need work.

Here's the finished demo:

More notes to come in my next blog post!

Spring Experiments

2011-04-15T20:21:00.001-05:00

It's spring here in Dallas, and just like previous years, I find that there's an awakening all around, not just of blossoms and blooms, but of people. We emerge from our hibernation after hunkering down to wait out the cold, and here we are, with a positive new spirit and an eagerness to begin again.

I love all the bright colors this spring - and earlier this month, I got to smell some REAL lilacs (my house is littered with candles that attempt to replicate lilac, but poorly). I was walking the dog and happened to pass by a house that had some lilac bushes in full bloom. So I unashamedly went up to the lilacs and stuck my nose in them. No harm done. In Wisconsin, the lilacs don't bloom till much later - here, I feel lucky just to find them!

Spring always brings new joys and new challenges for me as an artist. This year I've started something new (well, new to me at least!): teaching. So far I'm really enjoying it, and selfishly, feel like I'm learning more from it than my students are! I hope to write more about this later on.

In my own work, there are some techniques I've been playing around with lately and really enjoying:
- Colorful edges next to more neutral tones.
- Finding creative ways to altogether avoid using black.
- Painting alla prima... I know, I know, everybody paints in alla prima these days, i.e., completing a painting start to finish in one or two sittings. But given that I worked in colored pencils before moving to oils, I'll readily admit that I'm one of those traditional painters who usually works in layers, so it's a fresh change for me.

I've applied all of these techniques to a recent little figure painting, "Sunlit Porch." You can see some of the looseness and bright color edges particularly in the detail shot.

I hope to to have a picture up soon of the portrait commission I'm working on of a U.S. Air Force colonel. I've been working on it for quite some time and it's almost finished...

Nudity in Art: Final Chapter

2011-02-23T06:12:00.009-06:00

Well, after coming down with a cold this week, I'm trying to muster enough energy to finish this blog series! So here we go...

We at last move to some of the modern painters and their approaches to the human form. Pablo Picasso was creative and ingenius in ways that conservatives are often resistent in giving him credit for. He was also very talented; if you look at his earlier work (before 1906), you can see that he knew classical technique and anatomy. This nude, for example, "Blue Nude", from 1902, is quite beautiful and well-rendered.

Picasso - "Blue Nude" - 1902 - private collection

However, Picasso soon went in a different direction. While Gauguin's work had remained essentially representational, his figures were somewhat androgynous. Picasso took this much further, to a point where one could no longer distinguish between men and women, or even between a person and his surroundings. Picasso sought a solution to the universal question --"What is real?" -- in abstraction, the breaking down of forms to their most basic, simplest shapes. Cezanne had already paved the way; now Picasso made his canvas his universe, and made himself the god of it. The results are frightening. Here we see his defining Cubist work, "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon." It shows five prostitutes from a brothel in Barcelona, all painted somewhat differently. Their faces look more like demons or African masks than human. Surely this is not a depiction of the human figure as God intended it, either in form or content...

Picasso - "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" - Oil on canvas, 8' x 7' 8" - 1907 - Museum of Modern Art, New York

Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) broke down form even further, until nothing was recognizable and art became simply absurd. His objective was not to create art but to destroy it. Often he would give pieces a title that had nothing to do with the work, but would be suggestive in nature (for example,"The Passage of the Virgin to the Married State"), causing the viewer to look for something in it that resembled its title. One of Duchamp's most famous and controversial pieces is "Nude Descending a Staircase," an enormous abstract work consisting of cylindrical and conical elements that appear to move in space, but give us no clue as to the subject's sex, age, individuality or character.

Marcel Duchamp - "Nude Descending a Staircase" - oil on canvas - 1912 - Philadelphia Museum of Art

There is much I could say about Duchamp and his destruction of conventional art, but I must save that for another blog post. For our purposes here, it's safe to say that as Modernism progressed, the old traditions were done away with, and the beautiful nudes of classicism seemed to be gone forever.

On the bright side, there were (and are) still several outstanding artists practicing traditional techniques during the Modern era, and for their contributions, we are most grateful. These artists - Eakins, Sargent, Zorn, Sorolla, Homer, Repin and Wyath, just to name a few - kept the old aesthetic alive.

Thomas Eakins - detail from "The Swimming Hole" - 1884-45 - Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth

I am not saying that only realistic nudes are acceptable, and that abstract art is bad! That is definitely not the point I'm trying to make. Instead, I believe that the nude is such a sensitive subject that it must be viewed from more than one angle, with questions such as, "What was the artist's intent?" "What is the historical and intellectual context?" "Was it painted to be beautiful and uplifting in some way, or to tear down and destroy?" The bigger question at hand is: how can we as Christians accept and embrace nudity as a crucial aspect to our artistic heritage? Purpose, content, form (or execution), and context, are all crucial when observing a work of art. I agree wholeheartedly with Matt Clark, an art teacher at Veritas Academy in Lancaster, PA, who says in his article, "A Christian Perspective on Nudity in Art", "We do a disservice to our students (and ourselves) when we teach them to be reactionary instead of thoughtful and discerning." The whole article is definitely worth reading (he includes some great Scriptural examples), especially for those of you who are teachers and are perhaps still unsure about where you stand on the issue.

In the past few blog posts, I've mentioned at least a few of the reasons for the use of nudity in art, but let me sum them up, and add a few more. Nudity can:

Symbolize great ideas or truths
Represent our humanity and help us see our need for a Savior
Depict reality, not only in secular subject matter, but in biblical subject matter as well
Help artists develop their skills in anatomy, gesture, and expression
Help us appreciate, from an aesthetic viewpoint, the beauty of the human form

This is all under a huge assumption that the nude has been depicted in the proper context and rendered with the deepest of respect. The artistic nude has been greatly abused over the past few centuries, and as a result, Christians have shied away completely. But it is time that we drop our prudishness and reclaim the nude in our art for noble purposes, like those mentioned above.

I've already discussed the first couple of points and given examples of these from art history. The third point, about art depicting reality, can be seen countless times in art history in many different forms, from the nude Christ child of Renaissance paintings to the beach scenes of Sorolla (public nude bathing was very common in 19th-century Spain), to the intimate bath scenes of women and children by Mary Cassatt. I haven't even touched on the subject of nudity in scenes depicting mothers and their children, but you probably already know my view on this - that those done by Cassatt and others (particularly women artists) are excellent works of art because they beautifully relate a level of tenderness and maternal love that is unparallelled.

Joaquin Sorolla - "Female Nude" - oil on canvas - 1902 - private collection

So let's discuss the last two points, artistic skill and aesthetics, which often go hand in hand. I’m immediately reminded of my first time drawing and painting from a nude model. I was taking a summer figure painting class at the Florence Academy of Art. There were ground rules about working with the model (i.e. no photography, absolutely no touching the model, asking the teacher to speak to the model rather than speaking to her directly, etc.). These rules seemed like common sense but only solidified the sense of awe and respect I already felt upon viewing firsthand this beautiful woman before us. To speak in Platonic terms, I was moved by the tangible presence of the model’s true “essence”. She was so... real... and as I placed her contours and shapes on my canvas, I began to comprehend that reality in my work. But with such reality came great responsibility, not just in showing respect for the model, but in how I would convey the model’s “form” to the painting's viewers. I realized it wasn't at all about me, but about a sensitivity to the subject and how that would translate to other artists and non-artists alike.

When working from the nude (at least in my own experience), there is a kind of progression that happens in the artist's mind. First, there is that awe, and an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy. There is a strange reality about the naked form that compells us to look away, and yet we can't stop looking. But once the artist begins working and observing the model, there is a breaking down of the complex for the sake of beginning - a simplification of shapes and lines and negative space. Suddenly the model is less intimidating, as I begin to see her in circles, ovals, cylinders, etc. As the drawing develops, so does my understanding of the model. Subtleties and nuances of shape and color temperature are not lost on me - those visual treasures are what I find most fascinating and fun about working from the nude. The model shifts in her pose; there are thoughts and musings going on in her head that I will never know, but perhaps I can catch a glimpse of it in my painting. It is a journey of discovery, one which, for the traditional artist, has nothing to do with sex or arousal -- only beauty. My point is, artists have studied the nude for centuries because there is no greater challenge.

Anna Rose Bain - "Florence" - Figure painting from my studies at the Florence Academy of Art, oil on linen, 2006

I like what Gordon College (a Christian school in Massechussetts) says in their policy statement on the use of nude models in art classes: "We have chosen in the Art Department... to work respectfully with the human figure attempting to bring honor and glory to God in the process. We base this, in a Christian context, on a time-honored professional practice, holding the belief that the human form is the crowning acheivement of God in Creation - worthy of our expert knowledge, and analogous to the scientific knowledge of the human body in medicine and biology. In our tradition as artists, it is seen as the linchpin of our practice of visual knowledge. If you can accurately and expressively draw, paint or sculpt the human form, you can draw anything."

A gorgeous example of an "academic" nude, by contemporary figurative artist Robert Liberace: "Maenid" - oil on board

In addition to developing strong technical skills by working from the nude, the artist has the wonderful opportunity to simply create a beautiful picture. This sounds a little silly, but aesthetics are no less important than any of the other points I've brought up. The visual impact of a strong composition, color harmony, and gesture can make for a great painting, without needing any kind of underlying message or narrative. One artist whose work does just that - depict beauty for beauty's sake - is California artist Jeremy Lipking. He is one of many amazing artists who are currently helping to revive realism, and I absolutely adore his work. Here is one of my favorites, "French Beauty." This painting is not even about the porcelain nude on the couch - it is more about the stunning combination of colors and shapes, and the pleasing direction these visual elements take the eye around the painting. That red makes me exclaim, "Wow!" every time I look at it!

Jeremy Lipking - "French Beauty" - oil on linen

Here is another example by North Carolina artist Scott Burdick -- a piece he created simply for the sake of beauty.

Scott Burdick - "Forest Beauty" - oil - 40" x 30"

As I said before, there is a huge responsibility on the part of the artist as we walk a fine line by using nudity in our art. What is our purpose in painting the nude? Is it to show beauty, or incite arousal? With pornography so prevelant in our culture, and a heightened sense of eroticism in Modern art especially, it's no wonder that parents are hesitant to take their kids to art museums. I hate to subjectify the matter too much, but it really comes down to the individual. One person's art might be another's pornography. The artist may have pure motives in creating a fine art nude, simply with the intent of making a beautiful work of art and celebrating the human form... but the viewer might take it differently. Like so many other things in this world, art can start out as something good and then be perverted into something that is not. It is the artist's responsibility to keep his or her work within the proper context and to know know their own heart. The artist should also be sensitive to the viewer; if, by painting nudes, we are leading someone else astray and causing them to stumble, then to us it is sin. From a Scriptural standpoint, we can refer to Paul's epistle to the Romans: "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way. I know and am convinced by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself; but to him who considers anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:12-17)." The artist is obviously not the only one who must be responsible in this matter. If you know your own weakness, then learn to discern what to look at and what to avoid. But don't judge others for their artistic sensibilities.

Finally, the concerned parent asks, “Why subject my child’s innocence to nudity for the sake of beauty?” The answer is: sensitivity, education, and timing. These will be different for everyone because children mature at different rates. If nudity will cause the artist or viewer to stumble, then it should best be avoided. But I firmly believe that children should be educated about art history, so they can understand why fine art nudes are more than something to giggle at in museums! We should explain to our children that God made man and woman naked in the beginning, and that He pronounced His creation "good." But when sin entered the world and the man and woman disobeyed, they were ashamed, not of their bodies (for their bodies were God's creation), but of their sin and the realization that they were naked. Naked does not equal "bad" - instead, there is a proper time and place for it.

I thought I would close with one more example from a contemporary painter (forgive the lack of sculptural examples - I am somewhat biased, being a painter myself...). Below is a painting by Ohio artist Carl Samson, entitled, "Triumph of Truth". It is the perfect allegory of traditional art taking back its ownership from Modernism, by depicting an athletic, spritely young woman standing defiantly atop a dead Minotaur, a subject often painted by Picasso, but in Samson's painting, rendered realistically. This painting sums up beautifully everything I have discussed from art history and in my points about the purpose of nudity in art. I would like to quote Carl Samson himself here as he explains his painting further: "In 1907, Picasso painted 'Les Demoiselles D'Avignon' - a full frontal assault on all that was held dear by the great painters... The Demoiselles, incidentally, are featured behind this model in my painting. She's strong, confident and intent on exacting some revenge for all the injustices perpetrated on the fairer sex by Monsieur Picasso." Samson has created a masterpiece, which perhaps makes a prophetic statement about the direction of fine art. Beauty is making a comeback, with works like "Triumph of Truth" proudly paving the way.

Carl Samson - "Triumph of Truth" - 96" x 62" - oil on canvas

This concludes my discussion on nudity in art from a Christian perspective. Of course, I am happy to answer any questions you have - and if you disagree with me, by all means, leave a comment! I love controversial discussions, especially over things I'm passionate about. Thanks for reading. :-)

For Further Reading and Review, here are some of my recommendations:

Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, by H.R. Rookmaaker
The Arts of the Beautiful, by Etienne Gilson
Art and the Bible, by Francis Schaeffer
A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture, by Francis Schaeffer
The Judgment of Paris: the Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism, by Ross King
Article by Matthew Clark
State of the Arts, by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God, compiled by Ned Bustard

Nudity in Art: Gauguin Continued

2011-02-15T06:13:00.001-06:00

I had just a bit more to say about Gauguin before I continue on. I mentioned that Gauguin frequently used Eve as a theme in his works of Tahitian female nudes. I would like to clarify that while this may seem a pure attempt to revive beauty as of old (and the paintings are quite beautiful!), Gauguin's "Eve" played a much different role. As we have seen with Manet's "Olympia," the problems with nudity in 19th-century art had to do with finding an appropriate setting for it. After all, nudity in Salon art (see works by Ingres and Jerome, for example) had become decadent and eroticized under the guise of classical themes. Gauguin wasn't merely attemping to revive the old themes - if so, he might have chosen Venus, rather that Eve. However, Eve's nudity was depicted throughout art history as representational of sin and shame, along with the knowledge of good and evil. Gauguin's desire was to reconceive the idea of the nude into one that was erotic but without any connotations of shame or scandal. Thus he rejected the concept of the biblical "Fall," and the idea that nakedness should in any way be connected with sin. In order to accomplish the paradoxical combination of sensuality and chastity, Gauguin had to both remove his Eve from society and depersonalize her in such a way that we look at her as we would an animal in the wild.

Gauguin was interested in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of the "noble savage." In works such as "The Noble Woman" (shown below) and "Two Tahitian Women" (shown in last post), it seemed as though he had been successful in finding the ideal and separating himself from the loss of innocence in Western society. His Tahitian Eves live at peace and harmony with nature, effortlessly and innocently fulfilling their natural instincts, while the male viewer is given full liberty to view and partake. But there was a cost to this radical reworking of biblical themes, this challenge against nudity in traditional art. First, by taking to the opposite extreme of the sexual repression in Western culture, Gauguin set the stage for the sexual "freedom" that would characterize the 20th century. Second, his depersonalization of the female nude may have done more harm than good for Western sensibilities towards women, as it objectified the figure by allowing the viewer to look on, free of emotional connection or guilt.

Paul Gauguin - "The Noble Woman" (1896)

Pablo Picasso took Gauguin's depictions of women to the next step. His work was remarkably inventive; no artist has since been able to revolutionize painting the way he did... but sadly, I'll have to save my discussion of Picasso, and more, for my next post. Sorry to drag this out, guys! But I hope you are enjoying this little tour of art history as much as I am... and yes, I promise to get to the point! :-)

Continued - Nudity in Art from a Christian Perspective

2011-02-10T07:09:00.007-06:00

Sorry for the wait - I wanted to have this finished two weeks ago! But when you're an artist it's a blessing to be busy, and for the past two weeks I've have been exactly that. I also hope that I'm not boring you too much with all this art history. I really believe that in viewing a work of art, it is crucial for us to understand its historical context.

So, moving on, I should at least mention briefly some of the movements that were being questioned by the 19th-century Realists and Impressionists. Up until the mid-1860s, the Paris Salon had been the main authority in art. The Salon accepted traditional work in its exhibitions, but by this time, there were already many signs that the old values were dead. Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and the work of the PreRaphaelites (please look them up - no time to expound here!) - which were characterized by a tightly academic style - tried to revive the old themes but came across as little more than pieces of sentiment and idealized genre pieces. Though much of the work from this time is breathtakingly beautiful and masterfully painted, it lacks a true connection with contemporary viewers.

Example of Academic painting that would be acceptable to the Paris Salon: Alexandre Cabanel

"Phèdre" (1880), Musée Fabre, Montpellier

We wonder where "Christian art" was during all of this, but the spirit of the age was still very much entrenched in the ideas of the Enlightenment, and God continued to be pushed out of the picture, even in biblically themed narrative paintings. H.R. Rookmaaker describes the spirit of this age as that of the bourgeois, often characterized by the middle class. He writes (forgive the long quote, but he describes it far better than I can!):

The bourgeois were people who looked for certainty and security. With their lips they might have honoured God, but in their hearts they looked for a more 'tangible' kind of foundation. They found it in money, in a career, in status, in their moral uprightness (sound familiar??). And so morality became moralism and insurance often took the place of the assurance that God does not forsake man... These very nice people lived in the Age of Reason. And of course, they looked with dismay on the new generation who were taking to the principles of the Enlightenment. Morals were going downhill, and the old-established rules were being challenged. This was bad enough. And when the new thinkers were preaching that man was basically an animal, that his love was really only sex, then they were shocked...Yet, what could they do? Had they not got desires themselves? Oh no, we haven't got them, they told themselves. And so they began to push the fact that man has a body, and especially his sexuality, into the dark, hidden corners of life... So towards the end of the eighteenth century the bourgeois world... began to build up the defensive attitude towards sex that later became known as Victorian. We, living so much later, and following this period, can no longer really understand what it was like in pre-Victorian times - how people knew that the fact that they had bodies and sexual urges was because they were human. We can only understand the loss of it. (Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, pp. 76-77)

Moving on to more of the secular artists leading up to Modernism... I've aleady mentioned Gustav Courbet, the leader in Realist art which bridged the gap between the traditional and the "modern" (Impressionism), and Eduard Manet, who took Courbet's ideas even further. Meanwhile, Monet, Renoir, and the other French Impressionists took their ideas about reality in a different direction - one which became gradually more accepted by the public than the work of Courbet or Manet, and is still very popular today. The general concept with Impressionism is that these artists painted what they saw, based on their visual perception of the scenes before them and how light and color could be translated to a two-dimensional image. Again, because we are so famliar with Realism and Impressionism today, it's hard for us to imagine that these art movements could be "shocking". But this kind of straight-forward reality was something the public had never seen before.

Not only was painting style and technique changing considerably, but so was subject matter. Epic historical scenes, biblical characters, gods and goddesses, and even portraits of the upper class were being replaced by matter-of-fact pictures of real people and places. There was an emptiness to it that left some artists, such as Paul Gauguin, searching for something deeper (albiet a noble cause, Christians can't accept his solution to the problem as biblical...). He wanted to depict more than the eye could see, and to avoid slavishly copying nature. His new style took on a very human approach to reality by expressing his understanding of the human situation through unique handling of paint, contour, and composition. This quest for the genuine and the real through personal expression gave the artist great freedom to use colors and design in ways that had never been tried before, and it would carry on all the way to our present day as a key characteristic of Modern art.
Guaguin was disenchanted by the lack of authenticity in urban life, and so he sought to discover a simpler, more natural lifestyle by living in the midst of a more primitive culture. His escape from civilization led him to Tahiti, where he did a series of nudes that would define his career and also make a new statement about Western attitudes towards female sexuality. Gauguin frequently used Eve, from the book of Genesis, as the object of his studies of women. He practically worshipped Manet's painting of Olympia, but according to Yale professor of humanities, Peter Brooks:

Gauguin wants something else, something that would remain fully erotic but without the connotations of shame, scandal, and exposure. That he repeatedly insisted on the figure of Eve --rather than, in the manner of Bougainville and nineteenth-century Salon painters, moving back into classical mythology and the evocation of Venus -- indicates a stubborn and no doubt accurate perception that Venus was no longer the point, no longer what nakedness was all about in the Western imagination. It is precisely Eve, with all the connotations of sin and shame, and the complex entry into the knowledge of good and evil, that is central to our perception of nudity, and that thus must be reconceived. As Gauguin stated in an interview in 1895, in response to the question why he had gone to Tahiti, 'To do something new, you have to go back to the beginning, to the childhood of humanity. My chosen Even is almost an animal; that's why she is chaste, although naked. All those Venuses exhibited at the Salon are indecent, odiously lubricious....' Thus Gauguin takes on the almost impossible challenge of revising Eve, of creating a nude in paradise whose nakedness is meant to be looked at in joy and erotic pleasure without the sense that her evident sexuality is connected to evil and pain. His success in this revision is of course dependent on a certain depersonalization of his Eve: in praising her "animality," he removes her from traditional cultural constraints and brackets her own subjectivity, in gestures that could be considered typical of both patriarchy and colonialism. (from "Gauguin's Tahitian Body," online source).

Gauguin - "Two Tahitian Women" - 1899

Gauguin's work, as Brooks goes on to describe, is very much about sexual freedom; for example, in "Two Tahitian Women," the subjects stand unabashed before us in all their erotic beauty. Their expressions are vacant, and so they become no more than an object of the male gaze.

And so, the female nude becomes objectified. But I must stop here - I will hopefully come to a conclusion in the next post. Thanks for your patience!

On Medieval Nudity and the Art of the Sensual

2011-02-02T03:04:00.001-06:00

I'm back! I wanted to address a couple of questions that were brought up by one of my readers before I continue forward in art history.

My friend Matt, a fellow Hillsdale grad, had a two-fold question as follows: "Firstly, if Medieval artists wished to point to genuinely divine things and ultimately to God, using human symbols - Mary, Jesus, the saints, animals, etc., why did they avoid nudity? On the contrary, by and large they piled clothing on their characters. Were all the artists simply prudes? Perhaps the iconographic nude can't and won't open directly up to the contemplation of God. Why is this? Is it something to do with purity? Has it something to do with Him being an infinite person?

Secondly, Titian carries this sort-of Platonic Christian humanism, that you describe, to a high erotic pitch that barely remains appropriate. By precisely that balancing act his paintings have a sensuality that has never in my opinion been matched. But what exactly is the relation between the intellectual experience of sensuality, perfected in the art of the nude, and the knowledge of beauty? Is the sensual aspect of the nude really the best way to get at beauty? Are there others? Did Titian indulge so much in the human side of Venus that he missed the divine?"

To answer Matt's first question, there is some nudity depicted in Medieval art, but it was a culure dominated by the Christian faith. From the fall of the Roman Empire and the split of the Greek and Latin churches onward, there were still oppositional forces in play: pre-Christian culture versus a new Christian worldview. Early on, the Christian faith stressed the value of chastity and celibacy. Nudity had negative associations with pagan religions, and unlike the Greeks and Romans, whose focus was on a fleshly ideal, the Church had no need (or desire) to display nude deities in their art. There were also new attitudes against nude athletics, public bathing, and even the value of the human body. Adam and Eve were still depicted nude, but most of the time, nudity was meant to be a representation of the shame, helplessness and depravity of man. I don't believe the artists were prudes (that comes later, with the Victorian era!), but they were creating their art within the standards and worldview of their time. There are a few nude icons painted in a positive light; they are usually depictions of martyrs, saints, or the resurrected Christ. Iconography was initially designed to be symbolic and unrealistic in an effort to avoid idolatry (again, a reaction to the pagan religions). It is ironic that many Christians went on to worship and pray to those icons anyway...

Matt's second question--"What is the relationship between the intellectual experience of sensuality, perfected in the art of the nude, and the knowledge of beauty?" --is one which has been addressed by the philosopher Etienne Gilson in his book, "The Arts of the Beautiful," which I recommend to every artist and non-artis alike! Gilson explores the meaning of beauty in his introduction to the philosophy of art. He says, "We are not saying that the beautiful itself consists in the pleasure it gives, but rather that the presence of the beautiful is known by the pleasure that attends its apprehension" (p. 23). He goes on to explain that beauty can be caused by nature, truth, or by a work of art "expressly willed for its very beauty". Thus, according to Gilson, the artist can't go wrong in their work as long as they are pursuing "as their proximate end the creation of beauty" (p. 45). The intellectual side of sensuality in art depends largely on the original intent of the artist. We may never know what Titian's thoughts were as he painted his Venus, but as Gilson points out, there is a specific distinction btween the artist's point of view and that of the spectator or the reader. True beauty does not cater to our baser instincts, except when put in the appropriate context - for example, sex within the context of marriage. But a work of art may still be "sensual" and "good," depending on its context and the dignity with which the artist portrays the subject.

Obviously there are many great works of art (landscapes, still lives, portraits, etc.) which display beauty without using the nude form as their subject matter. Nudity, in its proper artistic context, is just one of the many avenues by which we can somehow catch a glimpse of the true and the beautiful. (Hopefully, Matt, I've answered your questions, at least in part).

Weekend Distractions

2011-01-28T07:44:00.000-06:00

My birthday is on Saturday (yes, wish me a happy birthday ;-)... so, I may not get around to finishing my discussion on nudity in art until the beginning of next week. I hope, by then, to also have a finished painting to share with you! I've been posting progress pictures of it on Facebook, but I'll be very excited to finally get it up on my website, after three months of hard work. I'll have pictures, and a detailed explanation.

In case you were wondering what artful things I might be doing for my birthday... Steve is taking me to the symphony to hear one of my favorite piano concertos of all time, Brahms' 2nd! I wanted to learn one of the movements back in college, just for fun, and my piano teacher told me, "Don't even bother." Not the most constructive thing to say, but his point was, "That piece is way too hard for most everyone." Ha!

Well, have a delightful, creative weekend!

Nudity in Art, Part II

2011-01-25T00:48:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, nudity in classical art was meant to personify an idea or to reveal certain qualities of the human condition. During the Renaissance, the Catholic Church was still one of the biggest patrons of the arts, and as a result we have such priceless treasures as Giotto's The Life of Christ frescoes in Scrovegni Chapel and Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel. Both painters demonstrated new-found understanding of anatomy, foreshortening, lighting, form and drapery. Images of Christ being taken down from the cross, or being carried to his tomb, depicted Him nude or semi-nude. I find it refreshing to see the physicality of Jesus in Renaissance and Post-Renaissance painting, because the Bible tells us that He was both fully God and fully Man.

Giotto di Bondone, Lamentation, in the Scrovegni Chapel (1305)

Of course, Michelangelo, who was greatly influenced by Humanism, took this physicality a step further in his commission for the Pope Julius II, painting the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel. The frescoes tell us the story of God's creation, man's fall, and humanity's utter need for salvation as offered by God through Jesus. With over three hundred figures, mixing both characters from biblical stories and figures from ancient mythology, Michelangelo successfully combined Christian theology with the Humanism of the Renaissance. While the amount of nudity met with some criticism, I am inclined to agree with Pope John Paul II when he said, "It seems that Michelangelo, in his own way, allowed himself to be guided by the evocative words of the Book of Genesis which, as regards the creation of the human being, male and female, reveals: 'The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame'. The Sistine Chapel is precisely – if one may say so – the sanctuary of the theology of the human body. In witnessing to the beauty of man created by God as male and female, it also expresses in a certain way, the hope of a world transfigured, the world inaugurated by the Risen Christ."

Michelangelo, detail of Adam and Eve from the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512), Rome

The symbolism of the nude would carry on through the 18th century; we can see an excellent example of this in one of my favorite paintings from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, "Peace and War," by the Italian artist Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (whose work - on a side note - would later greatly influence American artists Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West). Perhaps ahead of his time, the phrase "Make love, not war," comes to mind when looking at this painting. War is represented by the Roman god Mars, who appears fierce and unstoppable in his armor. Pax, the goddess of peace, pleads with him with her gaze and gently pushes aside his sword. Her tender breasts are exposed to symbolize both strength and vulnerability. The two simultaneously come together, and push away. It is a work of art riddled with meaning, particularly as we look at the date it was created and remember the historical events taking place at the time.

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni, Peace and War (1776), oil on canvas

However, the above painting is perhaps an exception to the trends that were already taking place by the 18th and 19th century. Art was changing considerably. Not only did God disappear from art, but so did man. Obviously enough, art is a man-made thing. It is what separates man from the animals, for we do not find animals creating works of art, erecting buildings, or composing symphonies. However, the Enlightenment stripped from man even his humanity, by turning man "natural". The consequences were severe: if man is just another animal, then the great ideas believed for centuries to be principles of truth no longer have their meaning. Can there even be such a thing as "love?" Science's answer was that love is nothing more than libido, a carnal and animalistic instinct. Love is sex. The great art critic and historian, H.R. Rookmaaker, has summed it up this way: "Life itself, instead of the varied and deep meaning it had in biblical language - man's full being, his true humanity, his work, dreams and aims, so that Christ Himself was able to say that He is the Life -- life became nothing more than biological life, the beating heart and sexual urges and quest for food and drink. We can understand the man who, standing at the end of this development, asked recently in one of the underground papers, 'Is there a life before death?'" (Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, p. 47).

That being said, nudity in art changed along with the attitudes and beliefs of the times. Around 1800, the Spanish painter Francisco Goya painted his mistress in two versions, naked and clothed. In both paintings she is laying on a couch, evocative of the goddesses from the 16th century, which would have been familiar subject matter to anyone living at the time. However, this woman is not a goddess - she is simply herself, clothed and unclothed. It is possible that Goya created these two pictures to show that Venus was dead, and all that was left was a man and his mistress.

Goya, The Clothed Maya, and the Nude Maya (c. 1800-1803), Museo del Prado, Madrid

Gustave Courbet dealt perhaps the biggest blow to traditional themes. These themes included great facts of history, biblical stories, and mythology (such as our reclining Venus), and were used to illustrate both human and Christian truths. Courbet rejected any old ideas for choice of subject matter and began to paint exclusively what he saw in the world around him. He is famous for saying, "I have never seen an angel, so I shall not paint one." Instead he painted peasants and workers, shocking the public by making these paintings as large and important-looking as any of the portraits commissioned by kings and nobles. His paintings tell us that truth lies only in what we can see and feel.

Eduard Manet took Courbet's ideas even further, and is particularly famous for his "Luncheon on the Grass" and "Olympia." While "Luncheon on the Grass" still looks ridiculous to us, 150 years later, we can only imagine the shock with which it was received in 1863. It depicts two fully-dressed men, picnicking casually with two women who are as naked as can be. Manet painted them on a huge canvas, which would normally be reserved for grander subjects. I would love to elaborate on the history of this painting (a great source for further study is Ross King's The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism) ... but for our purposes here, the painting simply represents a rejection of the old, and an embrace of a new "reality:" that the only place we might see such a scene is in a brothel or among people of questionable propriety. Gone is the reclining Venus, or the fearless Lucricia demanding justice for the crime commited against her (another popular theme in classical art).

Eduard Manet, Luncheon on the Grass (1862-63), oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Manet's "Olympia" also translated the old theme to a contemporary one, by depicting a prostitute reclining on a couch, much like a traditional Titian or Giorgione, would have shown Venus. Instead she is a high-class prostitute, waiting for a client. She gazes out at us, unabashedly and without modesty. Manet included many little details in the painting to make it clear what this woman represented; for example, the black cat symbolizes prostitution, and the orchid in her hair, cast off slipper, and pearl earrings are symbols of wealth and sensuality.

Eduard Manet, Olympia (1862-63), oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay, Paris

In my next blog post, I will finish my brief discussion of nudity in art history, and talk about where Christianity ties in to all of this. My goal is help us become more comfortable walking into art museums, educating our children about art, and embracing art as a vocation, by understanding what we are looking at.

More to come. :-)

Introduction to “Good Art / Bad Art” from a Christian Standpoint; On Nudity and Art

2011-01-24T07:41:00.009-06:00

Ever since graduating from Hillsdale College and starting a career in painting, I have searched for ways to use my artistic calling to glorify God and contribute to our culture in a way that is meaningful and uplifting. In my quest for meaning, I’ve received a lot of advice and suggestions. Many people suggested that I write and illustrate children’s books, donate my time to churches by painting murals, or paint narrative scenes depicting stories from the Bible and great biblical truths. While all of these things have their place, I found that whenever I heard such proposals, I was hardly enthusiastic. Recently I’ve figured out why my reaction was so indifferent and half-hearted.

“Christian art” as we know it has become watered down and sentimental, with little or no basis of reality. It leaves us feeling either warm and fuzzy or cold and empty, because the gravity of everyday life has been stripped from it, leaving only the Hallmark-esque, Sunday-school art we’ve become accustomed to. In fact, we are afraid to embrace “Christian art” as anything more, lest we fall into the secularism of our time.

But what if there’s no such thing as “Christian art?” After all, Christians are not perfect – they, too, can have a skewed vision of the world, and so their art will follow accordingly. Biblical themes have been portrayed in art by Christians and non-Christians alike (something we will get into later on, among other things). How are we to determine which works of art are “good” and which are “bad” from a biblical standpoint? And how will we decide as artists what kinds of subject matter to portray in order to contibute positively to our world?

Though I have little experience and I don’t claim to be an art critic, I’ve given this matter a great deal of thought. So… I humbly offer my opinion here in the hopes that this discussion will spark some thought, and perhaps even inspire other Christian artists out there to reevaluate their own standpoint on art and culture.

The Nude: Timeless Symbol of Culture and Worldview

I’ve decided to start my series on “good art / bad art”, with the topic of nudity. I know, it’s a strange way to begin, but I got your attention, didn’t I?

Nudity is actually a subject that encompasses all the aspects of art which I would like to address in my discussion. These aspects incude content (what it’s about), form (the craftsmanship of the work), purpose (what it’s for, or what message it intends), and historical context (how people would have understood the work at the time of its creation). If the content and form are both good - that is, if the idea or message conveyed is good, and the work is technically excellent, then the work of art may be called "good." We will find that there are many things we enjoy, such as songs, paintings, or movies... but they might not be good based on these guidelines. Taste must be differentiated from truth.

When my husband and I first moved to Texas, I proudly displayed my paintings and drawings in my home studio space. Many of them were academic nudes from various classes I had taken, including a series from my studies at the Florence Academy of Art. However, shortly after we moved in, some family members came to visit, and they brought their two young kids. These children, both under the age of nine, had never seen fine art nudes before. I felt embarrassed and slightly awkward as they peered up at my drawings and exclaimed, “Look, bare butts! Boobies!”

As humorous as this situation may seem, the topic of nudity in art is actually quite a quandery in our culture today, as people are either passionately for it or adamantly against it. Christians and conservatives are especially indignant about their children being exposed to the naked human body, whether it is considered fine art or not.

The truth is, we are indignant because we are ignorant.

The Nude in Art History

Considering how often the nude has been portrayed throughout history, I'm not even scratching the surface here, but I'd like to explain the relevance of historical attitudes towards nudity, as well as knowing the story or idea that a work of art is portraying.

According to the ancient Greeks, who believed that man was the measure of all things, the human body represented an ideal. Thus, the Greek sculptures we see depicting the nude (such as Myron's Discus Thrower, below) show us this ideology. Greek art is highly idealized, as its purpose is to show us what the human form should look like, rather than what we see. Though Christians are inclined to disagree with the content of Greek art (i.e. false gods, deified human beings), we cannot deny that this art is excellently crafted and beautiful in form.

Myron, The Discus Thrower (Roman marble copy- 400 BC)

Looking at art from the Middle Ages, we see very little nudity. The Medieval artists were focused on creating art that was more symbolic and pointed upwards to God. We especially see iconic depictions of the Madonna and Child, and the saints. Mary is shown to be pure and supernatural. She is not painted realistically, or meant to describe a particular moment in time, as a photographic image might. Instead, she symbolizes something of great importance, which crosses beyond time or history.

Duccio (1255-1318 AD), Madonna and Child, tempera on wood

As the Renaissance dawned, however, artists began to look back at the art of the ancient Greeks and Romans. There was a renewed interest in anatomy and linear perspective. Humanism was growing in power and popularity, and quite often, went together with Roman Catholicism rather than against it. It is very difficult for us to imagine the world before Humanism, because we are still living under its influence. The basic idea, of course, is that man’s insight and power are what shapes the world. Once the Reformation took place, Humanism catered almost entirely towards secular activities; however, the Renaissance was steeped with it, and so we must attempt to understand this worldview when studying classical art.

The most common nude themes we see in 16th and 17th century painting is those of Venus (or Aphrodite) and other Greek and Roman deities. Whereas the ancient Greeks and Romans worshipped these gods religiously, no one in the Renaissance actually worshipped them or believed they existed. However, the images of pagan gods became allegorical symbols of very real concepts which could be made visible through art. For example, Mars stood for war, Venus represented beauty and love. The classical Venus was always depicted respectfully and symbolically. Though she herself was not “real,” the love and beauty she represented was absolutely real, and gave the viewer much cause for reflection and realization of that reality. An excellent example of this is Titian’s “Venus and Music.” The woman reclines nude on a couch, while a musician plays. The two figures are separated from each other, but the organist gazes back upon Venus, looking to “love and beauty” for inspiration in his music. It is this symbolism that makes these paintings meaningful; the reclining nude in 16th and 17th-century art represents inspiration. She is a muse. She is not a woman of questionable propriety, because she is not real. Instead she represents the higher things and provides a way for man to contemplate human values and truth.

Titian, Venus with Organist and Cupid (c.1548)

Later on, with the dawn of modern art, the symbolism of the nude would gradually be stripped away, along with meaning as a whole...

However, this is getting long enough for a single blog post.

TO BE CONTINUED. :-)

Judith Carducci Workshop, January 2011

2011-01-11T05:19:00.002-06:00

It's 4:30 in the morning and I've been up all night. This is not my normal schedule! Just ask any of my former college roommates: they'll tell you with just a hint of ridicule that I like to be in bed by 10:30 p.m.! However, my work hours have been turned upside down since Steve switched positions within his company. Last week, he was on 1st shift (5:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.). This week, he jumped from those ungodly hours to even worse hours -- 3rd shift (10 p.m. to 6 a.m.). So, I am attempting to match my sleep schedule to his. Strangely enough, it's working out okay. I just finished a delightful painting session during which I completed an arm and a leg; meanwhile, my dog slept peacefully on the floor next to my easel while I listened to the soothing sounds of Beethoven. I'd say it has been a good night. I never considered myself a night person, but I'm making the most of the schedule change, and so far, so good.

I wanted to write breifly about the Judith Carducci portrait workshop which I was privileged to attend from January 5-9. It was hosted by Michael Mentler and the Society of Figurative Arts here in Dallas. Judy did 3-hour demos in pastel each morning of the workshop, followed by 3 hours of insruction and guidance in the afternoon as attendees took their shot at drawing or painting from the model. I've always found that the best teachers can say just a few words and it's like a lightbulb goes on above your head and that you're able to progress immediately. Judy is no exception - she explains her process with clarity and patience, much like her former teacher, the renowned Daniel Greene.

I'm sure that every single person at the workshop took home something personally challenging that they could apply to their artwork. In my case, I heard the words of every art teacher I've ever had still resounding in my head: "Soften your edges!!" But beyond that, I took these things to heart:

- If you're going to be a portrait painter, you had better know anatomy. Learn the anatomy of the face so that you know what to look for... but on the flip side of that, always paint what you see rather than what you know.
- When doing commissioned portraits, the emotions of the client (how they feel about themselves or the one they love being portrayed) will always be different from the emotions of the artist. The most successful paintings come as a result of the artist being true to their own aestheic standards, while remaining sensitive to the subject.
- You're the artist! Make good aesthetic choices, especially when forced to work from photos.
- A note on technique: use cross-contouring to give the figure volume and roundness.
- Here's the hard one (the one that takes years to master...) Paint with "panache"! Make every stroke count!

Well, there were also a lot of things covered that I already knew (like VALUE, VALUE, VALUE!), but it was definitely good to hear them again and be reminded of what a truly great calling it is to be a painter. Judy has SO much fun while she paints! She relishes every sroke, every shadow, every highlight, every contour. I have a long, long way to go before I ever reach Judy's level of skill and experience, but she will be the first to tell you that it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. As an artist, one never truly "arrives". That's a good thing! If ever we stop having fun in our artistic experiments, clumsy mistakes, and little victories, we ought to turn in our brushes and choose a different career. Judith Carducci has become a role model to me for good reason: she LOVES painting, loves people, and loves life.

Here are a few pictures from the workshop:

Here I am with Judy (I'm dressed up because Emily and I were models on the last day of the workshop):

More photos can be seen in my Facebook photo album here.

P.S. - A Nice Surprise for 2011 - Feature in "Informed Collector"

2011-01-04T06:22:00.000-06:00

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning to discover that I've been featured as a recommended portrait artist in The Informed Collector, one of the e-newsletters sent out by Canvoo, a major online art marketing site. The feature came as a result of "Twin Arts" being a finalist in the Raymar Fine Art Competition.

You can check out the feature by clicking below:

Blessings for the [Artful] New Year

2011-01-04T06:10:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Good things are already happening here at Artwork by Anna Rose!

Don't worry... I haven't forgotten about my discourse on good art / bad art and Christian art philosophy. But I am still working on what I want to say, and how I want to say it, so in the mean time, I'd like to pause and dwell for a moment on this past year, while looking forward to our brand new one, 2011.

In spite of the many negative things that took place around the world in 2010 (e.g. the gulf spill, the economic crisis, politics in general...), I felt very blessed and encouraged by all the artistic growth I saw, not just in my own work, but in the work of other artists whom I've come to know either through social networking, artist groups, or here in DFW. I was extremely grateful for the portrait commissions I received throughout the year. The ultimate compliment to an artist, especially in hard economic times, is when a patron is willing to spend their hard-earned money on a work of art. I also saw a rise in interest in art, in general. I realized that perhaps people were beginning to miss being surrounded by beauty, and so the demand for art increased. Of course, things were still "slow" for most of us artists, but we have been encouraged by small victories throughout the year.

If you think about it, an artist is a remarkable person. There are so many obstacles he or she must overcome, whether they be finding time for art while balancing family or another job, finding the right representation, fixing faulty technique, or simply having enough money to buy art supplies. The few artists who are lucky enough to create art full-time know how good they have it and try not to take it for granted. Artists must get used to spending many hours alone in the studio, while being able to socialize on the rare occasions that they are in the spotlight. Artists realize they think differently than most, and so they seek out other artists with whom they can relate. When no other artists are around, they turn to old books and the great art critics and teachers of the past for fellowship. Or, in this new generation of social networks and online tools, they start forums and find places where they can be an active part of stimulating conversations. They constantly struggle to master their technique, to find their own voice, and to be seen as relevant in today's world. Yes, the artist's life is hard, but in spite of all this, we must realize just how good we have it! I mean, gone are the days of storing oil paint in pig bladders... we live a life of luxury and freedom, and we are blessed beyond measure!

I write this not to brag or tell you how special I am (I mean, come on... I have a long way to go!), but rather, to congratulate my peers and to encourage them to continue in the great work that they are doing. We are all in the same boat together, and we are ready to embrace this new year and contribute what we can in order to make our world a more beautiful place.

Dare I ask it...What is GOOD art?

2010-12-13T11:55:00.000-06:00

One of my good friends who happens to be an art teacher at a Christian school, recently gave a lecture to her colleagues about how to look at art and judge for yourself whether it is "good or bad" from a strictly Christian viewpoint. The lecture was given at the request of her colleagues, as many of them had little or no background in art, art history, or art criticism of any kind. The questions being raised were, "How does one define 'good art' or 'bad art?'" and, "How can I as a Christian protect myself from 'bad' art while uplifting and supporting that which is 'good'?"

Truthfully, many Christians either buy into the attitude that all art is subjective, and it's really up to the viewer to decide whether it's good or bad, OR they steer clear of art altogether, seeking shelter in self-imposed gated Christian communities of sorts, and leaving the subject of art to the world, which seems to have firm possession of the arts as a whole.

Now, I could get a lot of flack for this post, but I was very moved by my friend's exploration of this topic, and realized that without advertently saying the words, I too have been on a mission to discover ways for truth and beauty to be once again manifested in art, to be shared for the common good and benefit of all.

Even from a secular viewpoint, I'm not alone in this. A well-known group of painters in California, including Jeremy Lipking, Tony Pro, Ignat Ignatov, and Alexey Steele, have started a movement they call "Novorealism," a style of realism that is attempting to userp Modernism's power in the contemporary art world. Another of my favorite painters, Scott Burdick (who is an atheist), recently gave a slideshow lecture for American Artist's "Weekend with the Masters", appealing for the return of beauty in the arts. You can view the video on his YouTube Channel by clicking below:

I'm not going to attempt to answer the above questions in a single blog post; instead, I will explore these questions, and more, over the next couple of months. In the mean time, I will say one thing: good art, from a Christian perspective, MUST do two things. It must (1) glorify God, and (2) manifest beauty. The interpretations of these conditions are vast and diverse. To be continued...

On Music and Color

2010-12-05T16:18:00.001-06:00

Since the inception of "Twin Arts," I have realized what a powerful hold the theme of music and art, or art in music, have upon me, and how I wish to continue exploring them my work. Actually, these themes were fascinating to me and vital to who I was, long before I became a professional painter.

I grew up playing piano, and often found musical instruments to be aesthetic wonders, not just for the sounds they produced, but for their graceful forms and shapes. To take it a step further, a human being playing an instrument is a joyous thing to watch, as though that instrument were an extension of the person's own self. Translating that connection to a painting is both a challenge and a joy.

Countless artists have been inspired by music in their work; countless musicians are often inspired by art. During my junior year of college, I wrote a paper about one such musician, Olivier Messiaen. I felt a connection to this great 20th-century composer because he was heavily influenced by color and nature in his work. You can read the paper here.

I often found that "coloring" directly onto my musical scores helped me understand the music on a much deeper level. Musical tones, like colors, can have their own "temperature", "value", or "hue." It's a little hard to explain, but perhaps if you look at these copies of my score, you'll see what I mean...

Here is a page from Debussy's prelude, "Bruyeres (Heather)." I indicated its overall feeling by using pastel colors in warm and cool.

Here is another page, this time from my old score of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G# minor - a much more intense piece. I only used two colors, but indicated how the piece "heats up" and "cools down" throughout in varying degrees.

I'm not sure my brain interprets musical chords in the form of color to the extent that Messiaen's did, but there is definitely a connection. I would love to hear from other artists out there whether or not they experience a similar sensory reaction to music. Comments are welcome!

Enter the Christmas Season

2010-12-03T09:35:00.001-06:00

Painting most certainly isn't the only kind of art I appreciate...

I was flipping through one of my most beloved college textbooks last night, an anthology of English literature, and I happened to stumble across a favorite poem by the early 20th-century poet, T.S. Eliot. I couldn't help but think, "What a great way to welcome in the Christmas season!" I love his poetry because it's filled with flashing imagery and astounding truths. I find something new and profound to dwell upon every time I read it. The poem is thoughtful, and a little sad, but oh, so beautiful! Here it is, T.S. Eliot's, "Journey of the Magi."

A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times when we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities dirty and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wineskins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Being Grateful

2010-11-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is tomorrow already! I'm ashamed at my lack of communication with the outside world these past several weeks. I've been so busy that the blog, social networking, and e-mails have gotten shoved to the wayside. But, I am back, and just in time for the dawning of my favorite holiday! Why is Thanksgiving my favorite? Well, not because of the amazing food and relaxation (although those are certainly great things! A huge plateful of turkey always makes me crave a good nap...). I love Thanksgiving because it reminds me of all the blessings in my life - all the good things that make the bad seem small and incredibly insignificant. On Thanksgiving, I'm reminded that I am blessed beyond all measure to have a wonderful family, friends, and the ability to work with my own two hands doing the thing that I love.

And, perhaps the busyness and the hard work are paying off. I was recently named a finalist in Raymar Art's monthly online competition for "Twin Arts." (To see the other finalists, click here)

The same painting was also made a finalist in International Artist Magazine's "Portrait and Figure" competition, and is now featured in the December / January issue. It is wonderful to be recognized for my work, and I find myself encouraged and motivated to produce work that is equally or more exceptional than "Twin Arts." It is both an exciting and scary time for a young artist still trying to get her foot in the door!

There is so much more to mention (and SO much more to express gratitude for!), but I must save that for another time. Meanwhile, have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Clutter-Free Studio and Mind!

2010-10-29T11:20:00.000-05:00

After a successful art show this past weekend, the question remained: "What to do with paintings that didn't sell?" Steve was gone on business on Monday and Tuesday, so I was able to spend two full days taking a break from painting, cooking, and the usual weekday activities and recuperate from the weekend. Actually, I needed to recuperate from the weekend AND the two months before it which were consumed with LONG hours in the studio preparing for the show! Instead of laying around for two days (tempting though it was...), I ended up being very productive - it really felt good to give my work space and home a "makeover."

They say that artists, by nature, are messy...but I have discovered that I always feel more at ease and able to sit down to paint when the space around me is clean and orderly. Too much clutter makes me feel distracted, uneasy, and unable to focus on my art. Now, my studio looks great - I have all my paintings hanging in new places around the house (although some will be delivered to the gallery soon), and I'm able to move on to new projects without feeling stressed. So this is my challenge to other artists: if you are creating beautiful works of art, why not apply the same care and attention to detail to other aspects of your life? You'll be a happier person for it, I promise... :-)

Autumn Joys

2010-10-19T10:43:00.003-05:00

I've been consumed with painting projects lately (and consequently, everything else is kind of falling apart...phone calls, emails, cleaning, etc., will all have to wait!). My attempts to finish nearly a dozen paintings in less than two weeks, so far, have been successful. I still have until Friday. All these paintings are in preparation for the only art festival I'm participating in this fall, Huffhines Art Trails. I'm giving you a sneak peak today...

I actually started "Autumn Joys" a year ago, when my parents drove down from Wisconsin to visit, some time around the end of October. My mother, who is known for sharing the bounties of her incredible vegetable garden every summer, of course brought a giant gift basket filled with goodies that she had preserved. She is most famous for her pickles, so she brought those, as well as some blackberry jam from berries picked fresh from the back woods, and homemade salsa, from tomatoes she had grown in her garden. I decided to commemorate her efforts in a painting, which includes the pickles and salsa, and even the basket that she brought them in. This painting, to me, represents so much of the joy in sharing God's blessings with others - something my mother excels in. :-)

"Autumn Joys" - 12" x 16" - oil on linen - Available

Soon I will be posting ALL my new paintings on my website. My website itself is in the process of getting a makeover, so keep checking back for updates!

Artist's Statement

2010-10-14T09:11:00.002-05:00

I have been working for the past several months on re-writing my artist's statement to better explain my style and choice of subject matter. I think it still needs some tweaking, but here's what I have so far...

Art was once a bridge between the human and the divine. Those things which define a culture relate directly to the work of the artists living in it. When I see the art produced by our culture over the past century, I am both terrified by how close we have come to losing beauty altogether, and grateful to hear a resounding cry for its return. I believe we are in the midst of a rebirth of realism – and my response as an artist is joy and gratitude as I play my small part in this movement back towards what High Art once was.

My work covers a wide variety of subjects, but what remains consistent throughout is a deep love for beauty, especially as revealed by the human face. I am still young, and know little of human experience or tragedy… but when I paint, I feel my brightest hopes and deepest fears all at once. I feel connected to my subjects at a level that can only be obtained through the series of silent questions that take place during the creative process.

I believe that human beings are created in the image of God. When I remember this principle, I’m reminded that a portrait is not really about me, but about the subject and its inherent connection to God’s likeness. Thus, my goal for every portrait is to draw out that facet which most reflects the Divine. In some small way, each portrait then becomes a picture of Him.

My paintings are an expression of gratitude. They often depict men, women, or children in peaceful settings or places that evoke happiness. My art focuses on the enjoyment of life, and is permeated with a love for nature, music, and all things good. My style might be considered “classical realism,” which attempts to idealize the subject while preserving its true essence. I hope that whoever views my work finds their senses awakened as they respond to the use of color, light, and tangible subject matter. I am captivated by those things that go beyond the surface, and I hope to convey this deep and abiding interest to everyone who sees my work.

Upcoming Art Festival

2010-10-08T09:45:00.000-05:00

Time really gets away from me when I'm busy painting! I'm not exactly sure where the month of September went...

It's been a while since I posted, so I thought I'd write about my latest projects (all dozen or so!). My goal is to have all of them completed in time for Huffhines Art Trails, an upcoming art festival in which I'll be participating. Look for my booth! Times, location, and other information can be found at their official website, http://www.huffhinesarttrails.com/ .

I did finish my little portrait of Laura; it ended up becoming more of a finished painting than a sketch, but I am happy with the final result. She has a peace about her that is calm and almost whimsical. The word that came to my mind was "poise," so naturally, that became the title of this painting.

I've recently completed a couple of small landscapes for my art show (view them on my website). Additionally, I've been working on two wine-themed still lives, one featuring chocolate and an old vintage magazine ad, and another reminiscent of my memories of Tuscany. I have several new portraits, still lives, and a couple surprises to throw in. My booth will be filled almost entirely with new work!

In other news...I recently found out that my large-scale work, "Twin Arts," is a finalist in International Artist Magazine's "Portrait and Figures" competition, to be featured in their December / January issue! This is very exciting - I feel incredibly priviledged to be able to share the story of this painting with the rest of the world.

More updates on the way... :-)

Burton Silverman Retrospective

2010-09-13T16:45:00.000-05:00

Last month on our way back from Wisconsin, Steve and I included Tulsa, Oklahoma, on our route south, so that I could see Burton Silverman's retrospective show at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art. I first heard about Burt Silverman when I was a freshman in college. At that time, I was searching for purpose and direction in my work, and I felt greatly inspired by Silverman's artist's statement, which describes his work as a love affair with "the landscape of the human face, where it seemed all the emotional states of life could be found." Silverman says he is "particuarly affected by the faces...of the ordinary and the unheralded, of those people who have been left out of the loop, who exist below the radar of celebrity." I absolutely love this statement, as it expresses a love for capturing something deeper that perhaps would have gone unnoticed forever had it not been for his depiction on canvas.

I'm sharing a few pictures here - they don't do the originals justice, of course, but I hope you enjoy them.

Look at those hands! Such perfection in the modeling of the lights; such simplicity in the shadows.

Every one of his pieces makes me wonder what the model is thinking.

More images in my facebook photo album.

Memories from Hillsdale College

2010-09-08T09:28:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again...when September arrives, I become aware once more that many students are going back to school, and I'm not. This will be the fourth year now that I've been out of college, and I always miss it right around this time. I even have dreams that I'm going back to school and starting up classes, rooming with new people and seeing both new and familiar faces around campus. If I'm anything like my mother, I will probably end up having dreams about college for the rest of my life. Of course, being the teacher's pet that she was...her dreams were usually nightmares involving getting a C in a math class, so hopefully mine will be better...

Nevertheless, I still miss my dear old Hillsdale College, and think with great fondness and pride of my four years there. I was self-taught until entering college, so I owe a great deal of my artistic nurturing to Hillsdale and the great teachers I had there. As an artist who is constantly moving forward and looking ahead towards the next project, I'm not the type to dwell on the past. However, I thought I'd share a few memories for old time's sake. These are mostly art-related, but trust me, there's a whole lot more I could share!

The art studio - I can still smell the oil paint, and hear my professor's classical music playing (his favorite was Copland's "Appalacian Spring").
This was the beginning of my first still life painting.

I really miss the music hall - I would practice anything besides what I was supposed to, because that was my time to unwind and decompress. If I was getting worn down by my other projects or assignments, I could always play a little Haydn or Joseph Martin to refresh my spirit.

Did you know that once upon a time, I could play Rachmaninoff, Debussy, or Beethoven really well? (Wow, this is an old picture)

...or that freshman year, my sister and I, along with the help of some friends, made a giant snow squirrel?

...or that I carved a killer pumpkin one year (yes, that's Escher!), but it got stolen?

...or that my favorite non-studio classes were music history and art history? Here's a colored pencil repoduction I did of Caravaggio's "The Taking of the Christ." (On a side note, there's a great book about this painting, called "The Lost Painting.") I absolutely loved doing art reproductions and writing papers on art or music. Good times...

Did you know that sophomore year, I assisted the Hillsdale art department in installing and hosting a high-profile exhibition called "America Seen?" Featured artists included Harvey Dinnerstein, Carl Samson, Scott Burdick, Burton Silverman, Richard Whitney, Allen Banks, Daniel Greene, and Henry Wingate. Below is the Burdick painting we were lucky to display (this painting sold at the show):

...or did you know that senior year, I dyed my hair red for an SAI concert?

It was still red at my senior art show, which, I'm proud to say, was the first solo studio art exhibit in the college's history! This picture shows me in front of my poster (which I designed), and the "parental advisory" warning parents that the show contains nudes. *Gasp!*

One major milestone for me in college was my first official unveiling of a commissioned portrait. Here's "Father Tom Butler," unveiled at the priest's 25th jubilee celebration.

I don't have a shot from graduation of me with the art faculty, but since I've left Hillsdale, the art department is stronger than ever, with students continuing to produce top-notch work, while the faculty continues to thrive and challenge not only the students, but themselves. Currently, my painting professor and chairman of the art department, Sam Knecht, is preparing to unveil a grand-scale oil painting of the signing of the Constitution at Hillsdale College's brand new Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies in Washington, D.C. He was also just featured in American Artist's Studios publication. You can watch a video about it here.

I'm so proud of my school's legacy and happy to have been a small part of it. But now that I've had my moment to reflect...as my painting prof would say, ONWARD. :-)

Completed Works!

2010-09-03T09:07:00.001-05:00

I wrote about the success of the Nicaragua Art Show in my August Newsletter, so if you would like to read it, click here.

In other news, I'm very happy to announce that my Sorolla-inspired family portrait is finished and on display in its rightful home. I drove to Houston yesterday to drop it off, and it was very well received by the family. There's no better feeling than knowing you've just created an heirloom that is going to be treasured for generations. David and Evelyn are wonderful people who decided to take action and have a portrait done while their son was still little. Here are the results (detail shots are on my website.):

I also created an 8x10 head study of their two-year-old son for them, complete with his bright smile and rosy cheeks:

More projects are in the works...keep checking back!

An Accidental Note of Encouragement

2010-08-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

This morning before starting work, I happened to be flipping through one of my "idea sketchbooks." I was looking for a free page to add a new sketch for one of my *brilliant* ideas...when at the very back of the book I happened to see a sentence written in my husband's handwriting. I had never noticed the little note before, nor could I remember a time where he saw my sketchbook (much less knew I had it!), but there it was. The note read, "It's a wonderful day to wake up in the morning and know your calling."

Thank you, my love! What encouraging thoughts for today (and for the rest of my life!). :-)

Updates from my August trip to Wisconsin

2010-08-25T11:29:00.002-05:00

There's always hope that I'll have a chance to see my family in the Midwest at least once or twice a year, but I had no idea I'd be making the drive twice in one summer! Steve and I had two-week long vacation up there, beginning the first weekend of August, to attend a wedding, visit family and friends, and spend some time at his family cabin (a place that is very dear to both of us, because that's where we got engaged). We drove because we wanted to take our puppy with us to experience some unleashed fun up north.

I don't have a lot of time to write (too much painting to do!), but I thought that I'd at least mention some of the highlights of our trip before my next post, which will no doubt be about the upcoming Nicaragua Art Show at my church.

Here are some pictures from our week at the cabin. We saw some amazing sunrises...

...Sunsets... (this sunset was so incredible, I look like a cutout! I was there - honest!)

...and even a bald eagle flying so close that you could hear his wings beating.

I got some painting time in, while Bella kept me company.

And of course it wouldn't be a true cabin experience if we didn't go fishing.

Bella usually rode in the canoe with me, but occasionally she'd decide to jump ship for Steve.

Steve even modeled for me, sitting in the beautiful natural light that always comes in through the cabin windows. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this little head study some time next week...

After our time at the cabin, I had the opportunity to visit one of my closest friends from college, Laura Nehlsen. Laura was one of the best art models I ever drew or painted during my time at Hillsdale College. She was the *famous* model for my charcoal portrait that was featured for a long time on my website and business cards:

Now a proud mother of two, Laura is as beautiful as ever, and still a great model. We didn't have much time, but she sat for about 45 minutes for me, enough to start a portrait, which I will eventually finish from photos. She's one of those models who never has to try hard - she naturally exudes a subtle sensuality and grace. I only wish she lived closer so she could model for me all the time!

Here are the results of my hurried first efforts:

...and here I am with the beautiful model.

I've come back feeling refreshed and excited about my many ongoing projects. I'll post more pictures soon!

Completed Twin Portrait

2010-08-02T18:05:00.002-05:00

Okay, so by now I've had "Twin Arts" finished for a couple of weeks, yet failed to post it on my blog. Like most other painters, I tend to move ahead to the next project once I've finished a painting, no matter how invested I've been in it. My apologies! You can view detail shots on my official website.

Drawing from the Past - Sorolla's Beach Paintings

2010-08-02T10:54:00.002-05:00

One can't be a classical artist without looking frequently to the past for inspiration. We all have our favorites, and most any portrait artist will tell you they worship the likes of J.W. Waterhouse, William Bouguereau, Anders Zorn, and of course J.S. Sargent... if you want me to talk about my favorites and which ones have shaped my painting style, that's a subject for another post. But I do want to mention one particular artist whose work has helped me with some of the challenges in my current portrait commission.

Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla (1863-1923) is perhaps best known for his renditions of fishermen, sailors, and bathers on the beaches of Valencia. His sunlit whites are usually drenched in color so bright and convincing that you squint as though you are right there on the beach. Sorolla's renditions of naked young children playing in the water look so slippery and wet you can almost feel the salt water on your skin, and you find yourself thinking about moments from your own childhood when you played so long at the beach that you had sand covering every inch of you. This is the convincing and powerful nature of Sorolla's work. I've been studying his beach paintings to help understand the qualities of light and water which I've just mentioned, for a family portrait I've been working on. First, here are a few samples of Sorolla's work:

Finally, here are a couple detail shots of what I'm working on, a portrait of a family of three. They wanted a bright, happy portrait on the beach - it was their 2-year-old son's first time seeing the ocean. You can see I wasn't quite as bold in my highlights as Sorolla, but the family wasn't immersed in the water, either. :-) Still, I had a wonderful time capturing all the color in the lights of their clothing and the glow of their skin.

I will post a picture of the finished painting once it's been delivered to the client.

Paintings for Nicaragua

2010-07-26T08:20:00.003-05:00

I'm very, very excited to announce that my church, Woodcreek Church, is putting together its very first art show, coming up on August 29. The show is going to feature the amazing photography of Clint Brewer, who spent two weeks this summer in Nicaragua, documenting the everyday lives of people living in Managua as well as the missionary work that is going on there and being supported by our church. Clint has asked me to create a couple of paintings for this art show, and I'm greatly honored to be a part of this. You can read more about our church's involvement in Nicaragua here: http://woodcreekchurch.com/twenties/nicaragua-10/.

In the mean time, I have some painting to do! I'll keep you posted... :-)

Domestic Goddess?

2010-07-13T17:15:00.000-05:00

I was sick with a nasty cold over the weekend, which made it difficult for me to work on painting; however, I find that "busy work" helps distract me from how crappy I'm feeling, so I decided to be a good steward of our small rented space and take up...(drum roll, please)...canning!

We may have the dinkiest back yard in the whole neighborhood, but in that yard are two trees: a fig tree and a peach tree. This year they were both in their prime, their fruit-laden branches drooping from the weight. I can barely keep up with harvesting them, although thankfully, some neighbors are relieving my burden somewhat by coming over and helping themselves to some of the fruit per my request.

So, assuming I did everything right, I now have a humble collection of pints and half-pints of: canned peaches, peach jam, fig preserves, strawberry-peach jam, and strawberry jam just for kicks. :-)

Dog vs. Oil Paint!

2010-07-09T13:53:00.004-05:00

I've already posted these pictures on facebook, but for those of you who read my blog, I just had to share!

My dog of almost two weeks had her first major run-in with oil paint yesterday morning.

My sister came over to paint with me, and had her box of oil paints sitting on the floor. We try to keep Bella supervised in the studio, but for one reason or another, she was able to steal a tube of paint from Emily's box while nobody was looking. The next thing we knew, Emily and I were both screaming, "Bella! What is on your mouth?!" We realized that besides having a giant green mustache, the dog had giant globs of paint all over her neck, her two front legs, and paws. She had also destroyed the oriental rug in my studio with what we discovered to be a tube of Thalo Green, arguably the oil color with THE MOST intense tinting strength - a color which, when I use it (and that's rarely), I only dab a tiny dot onto my palette because it can spread among your other colors like a disease.

Yep, Bella chose to rip open a tube of Thalo Green all over our floor, and though I was thankful we don't have carpeting, and the paint wiped off the wood floors just fine, she still destroyed my rug, and when I gave her a bath, I realized that bright green paint was on her for good.

Thankfully, Thalo Green is non-toxic. Bella will have green droppings for a while, and a heck of dye-job, but other than that, she's fine, and Emily and I have one fantastic memory to laugh about!

Bella, you've been initiated now: you're officially the dog of an artist!

This picture makes me laugh every time I look at it...

Here's what she looked like today, after yesterday's bath and some time to dry off, shed a little, and go for several walks outside...much improved, but I think I'm going to have a green dog for quite a while.

Various nicknames now include, "Witch of the West," "Elpheba," and "Shrek," although personally, I think she looks like a poorly dipped Easter egg, but I'll let you judge for yourself. :-)

"Twin Arts:" Almost Finished!

2010-07-02T17:18:00.000-05:00

I haven't had much time during the past two weeks to work on "Twin Arts," but I thought I'd post an update anyway. I worked on the piano and piano bench quite a bit (sorry about the glare in the picture - this painting is so large, it's somewhat hard to photograph).

Then today, in between several hellish sessions of trying to leash-train the dog (she's an angel indoors, but a devil as soon as you step outside with her!), I finally found some time to work on "Twin Arts" once again after a two-week hiatus. I've posted a detail shot, since mostly what I worked on was Emily's hair, back, and arm.

More to come - this piece is almost finished!

A Trip Home; Fresh Inspiration

2010-06-29T10:48:00.002-05:00

I just arrived home late Sunday night from a week-long trip to Wisconsin. Emily and I drove up there together and spent some quality time with family, getting to see our brand new nephew (as well as our 2 and 4-year-old nephew and neice), our two teenage brothers, and our college girl sister, Cara, and our parents' new dog - all the while enjoying an escape from the 90+ degree weather in Dallas! Wisconsin has gotten so much rain in the month of June that everything looks incredibly lush and beautiful, and unlike Dallas, it cools down at night to a pleasant 65 degrees. It was wonderful to be out in the country again; my parents have 80 acres of land, complete with meadows, woods, streams, and a scenic bluff, where my siblings and I have countless memories of exploring, hiking, and rock climbing as kids.

On Thursday morning, I took the opportunity to climb our bluff once again; I got up at 5:30 a.m. and carried my art supplies up there with me. I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the top, but the incredible view was worth the work, and I spent an hour and a half creating an 8x10 oil sketch en plein air.

Here's a view from the bluff facing north-west:

And my perch on the eastern cliffs, overlooking a neighboring bluff - with my French easel and plein air sketch.

Painting up there was so fun, and truly peaceful. I can't wait to come back and do some more plein air.

The rest of the week was spent with my parents, my siblings, and my neice and nephews. 4-year-old neice Alayna and 2-year-old nephew Hunter were great fun to do some face painting with.

Emily even let Alayna paint her face! Perhaps there's another future artist in my family?

Well, maybe not!

To top the week off, I brought a puppy home with me! It's not typical for Steve and me to make such a big, life-changing decision this quickly, but to make a long story short, my brother Jake's dog had puppies back in December. My dad got one of them, and the rest, they tried to sell, but four months after they sold Bella, the owner decided she didn't want her, and they were forced to buy her back. This was all a week after they just had a new baby, and their house was literally becoming a zoo! Anna and Steve to the rescue - Bella is the sweetest, most angelic dog I've ever met. She's a beautiful purebred English Springer Spaniel, now six months old, and already pretty well trained. She also travelled amazingly well for the 17-18 hour drive back to Wisconsin - she didn't have a single accident!

Anyway, I'm sure Bella will show up in some of my artwork eventually. I tend to paint those who are close to me, and she is going to be my new companion. It will certainly be nice to have her around during the day when I'm alone in my studio.

"Twin Arts," Part 3

2010-06-14T12:28:00.001-05:00

The big project is coming along nicely. I think Emily's and my faces are just about done. I was shocked the other day when I stood on the opposite side of the room and looked at Emily's portrait. It's really her! And the fun thing about it is that her face is mostly in the shadows, so there are very few details. Meanwhile, the rest of her head and body are lit up by the light. My face is turned towards the light, while the rest of my body is mostly in shadow. It's an interesting dynamic...

The latest progress, besides faces, includes starting the palette, working on the carpeting, and the dresses.

And finally, Emily was able to come over and model for me! There are many subtle details especially in her back that I was able to work on. Here is a picture of the work in progress - I post pictures of the final results later.