Something new?

It's the first official day of winter break, I'm free from my day job and excited for the time to focus on my art! I'm also excited by a new dream or goal I've just dared to have. It's too early to share just yet but I hope to share bits and pieces of it along the way and if/when this happens, believe me, I'll be sharing it. Here's to tantalizing new possibilities!

color theory

So it's a little hard to see but I wanted to share. I was working on a painting and noticed color theory in action. The same color will look different depending on its surrounding colors.

The green (though it looks more grey in the picture) triangles are completely the same but they looked different in the orange ring verses the blue. Color theory is cool.

The Process

I've been working on a new painting, I haven't actually started painting it yet but a lot of work has gone into it already.

It starts off in the sketch book, I try different things to see what might work and what doesn't. The next phase is to make a study, I haven't always done this but I'm trying to get better at it rather than winging it as much. Anyway in the study I draw out what I think the painting will or should look like and use colored pencil to give and idea of the colors I want and what they might look like. Things might change from the study to the painting. Drawing out the painting is the final step before painting.

More Museums

I was able to visit two of my local museums a few days ago and it was great. The Springville Museum had a variety of exhibits but the one I was most intrigued by was Fahimeh Amiri's miniatures, she learned the tradition and technique when she was a child, they are fascinating.

I also returned home to my alma mater and visited the MOA. They have a stunning exhibit, Treasures of British Art 1400-2000. I was thrilled to see paintings dating from the renaissance and of such famous subjects as the Tudors. I highly recommend checking it out!

"New" Designs

I've been wanting to get back into geometric designs since I stopped working on the Eight Fold series. I tried some hexagonal based designs inspired by some I've seen from Lisa DeLong, Jeea Mirza, and others. I've been trying something new with the paintings I've been working on and I'm not loving it, so today I took a break from them to try something different. I tried a couple of new (to me) designs from this book.

It probably should have been obvious but pastels are not the best for precision work. We live and learn. It's my first real attempt at pastels.

Walt Disney

Anyone else see the American Masters program on Walt Disney? I was able to catch most of it. Whether you like him or no, there's no doubt that Walt Disney has been incredibly influential. I grew up with Disney and so it was very interesting for me to learn more about the man behind it all and also to take a grown up and different look at things that I've previously looked at with childish eyes.

There have been full length animated movies my entire life and so it was very interesting to learn just how much Disney made animation what it is today, how much he changed it from a simplistic (sort of) entertainment, to a real art form and paving the way for such artists as Miyazaki, etc. I want to go back and re-watch things like Snow White etc. to really appreciate the visual splendor.

Museum days

I didn't actually paint today (or Monday, since it was a holiday) and that makes me a little sad, but today I did visit an art museum and in some ways I feel like that's just as important. I went with my friend to The British Passion for Landscape: Masterpieces from National Museum Wales exhibit. It was a nice exhibit with a lot of beautiful paintings etc. If you're a fan of beautiful and sort of pastoral landscapes, you'll be thrilled. Many of the paintings felt the same to me, though they were obviously different.

I was glad that I went with a friend, on my own in a museum I tend to speed through, perhaps not giving the art the consideration that it deserves; with my friend (who happily has a similar but perhaps slightly slower viewing speed than my own) along I was altering my standard walk through and spent longer looking at paintings, maybe even actually reading the cards posted with the paintings for more than just the artist name or medium and support used. It was also awesome that my friend and I were pretty much in agreement on taste, we liked and didn't like the same paintings. I don't like when I'm with someone at a museum or art show and they say "oh, isn't this wonderful" about something I think is ugly and perhaps wouldn't even consider art; I have very strong views and opinions on art and it's sort of rude to express some of the negative ones when someone wants to discuss art.

This has become a ramble and I'm not sure if I'll post if after all but I think the point I was trying for, is that it's good to get out and view good art, to view art that isn't your own and perhaps even to view the things that I don't consider to be art. It's good to get a little perspective, to be inspired, to study the techniques of others and to get out and do something a little different. I love a good museum trip, from the palaces of art to my own local and perhaps somewhat humble local museums.

100th Eight Fold

About two and a half years ago I began this series to see if there really was infinite possibility for variety of designs from one base. I recently finished the 100th design, it is not infinity of designs but there were times along the way that I never thought I'd get that far. I'm taking a break from the series to focus on other things for a while but I have many more ideas for designs and I'll come back to them in time.
For now I'm striking off in pursuit of different designs and silly though it may be, I'm quite excited. It has it's drawbacks at times but I love the freedom of being my own boss as an artist, if I want to go one direction, I can, and can also change on a whim in another direction.

C
watercolor
9x9in.
2015
Series: Eight Fold

For the love

I stumbled upon a program on the National Gallery in London, it's kind of showing a look at the Gallery and a sort of a behind the scenes look at a day in the life, or year of the life of the gallery.
I've never been to the museum and it isn't one that I've given a great deal of thought to, I knew there were a lot of great museums in London and intended to get there some day, I now fully wish/intend to make it to the National Gallery some day.
Going to the museums, standing among great masterworks is good for the soul, good for my soul anyway (and I would venture to impose it to all souls).

I am an art nerd, the friends I went to Italy with can verify. I get a huge thrill seeing masterworks in person, pieces that I've studied and pieces that I love. It was such a thrill to be there and in person in the Vatican Museum, the Ufizi, the Academia and to be right there, real and in person with the works of Durer, da Vinci, Michelangelo, etc. those that I admire, look up to and respect.  The National Gallery is full of gems, they have a list of 30 paintings, highlights of the collection and the artists, the paintings, they're fantastic!
I may be rambling, I just felt moved, as I often am, by great art and moved to share some of my feelings and enthusiasm. It's been an art rich evening, I hit a few galleries in my local gallery stroll and then this program...art is wonderful.

Paint problems

While painting today I came to wish that I had a different shade of green, I have two but neither of them is really what I would hope. I've been looking around for a new green but I haven't been able to find one that doesn't have multiple pigments, or the possibility to cause cancer etc. The search continues I suppose, maybe I'll be able to find something.
If you know of a green that's great, let me know.

Landscapes

I've been working for at least two years on my Eight Fold series, I decided that once I made it to one hundred different designs I'd do something else for a while. I'm rethinking that some because I'm now working on the 98th design and I still have so many other ideas for designs.
I started a landscape and now I want to do more, so I'm going after landscapes for as long as I feel like.
I feel like I'm a lot more eloquent when I'm not writing on this blog.
I'm really excited to work on landscapes and to find the images to work from. I'm very blessed to live in a very beautiful place, there's lots to choose from.

East Canyon

watercolor

9x12 in.

2015

Important words on the arts

Today I was fortunate to come across this speech which was given at Brigham Young University (my alma mater) in February 1976 by the recently departed President Boyd K. Packer. I read the speech and now I feel like I need to go back and study it over and over again. My faith is very important to me both as a person and as an artist and though my art is currently not overly representational, I try to instill my beliefs into my art.
I have yet to "make it" in the art world, I'm still in what is technically the starving artist phase, meaning I've only sold one painting so far. I feel that I was guided to study art, I was incredibly fortunate to be able to study with Wulf Barsch and other wonderful teacher/artists; it can be discouraging to still not be where I would hope to be. I wonder if I'm doing the right thing and if I'm working hard enough at what I do, honing my skills or squandering my education and talent.
I don't want to be famous but I aspire to be a great artist, for my art to have the impact and influence that some of my art heroes have had, Durer, da Vinci, etc. both with secular and spiritual art. I hope that by studying this speech and working and reevaluating where I'm at, I can come closer to my hopes, dreams and goals.
You should read it too, there are some great things said.

A portrait

I've been working on drawing more and I've wanted to see about creating portraits, with the goal of creating portraits like the grand and beautiful ones seen in museums or perhaps stately homes. This is the first attempt that I've brought to any sort of finished state. There are lots of areas where it could be improved, I used mechanical pencil rather than drawing pencils for example.

This is a portrait of my Grandpa when he graduated from medical school.

Master Studies

I've been continuing to work on drawings and to draw from the works of master artists. Here's the last weeks drawings.

From a painting by Albrecht Durer

From a study by Michelangelo

From a drawing by Durer

From a drawing by Michelangelo

A study by Michelangelo

And a drawing by Michelangelo

As the week went on I started making a greater effort to really finish the studies and not just to get lazy and call it good.

Colors

I am constantly fascinated by color theory, by the way colors interact and influence one another. I've tried to document the process and I've missed days but I think it still gives you an idea, it's just so crazy how this color looks this way with these colors around them etc.

Leonardo's Treatise on Painting

I just finished reading Leonardo's A Treatise on Painting translated by John Francis Rigaud. I feel like every would be artist should read this book, it's essentially getting an art lesson from da Vinci himself, I learned a lot.
I have to say though that this book isn't perfect, I feel like more pictures and da Vinci's actual pictures could have helped a lot. I'm a visual learner as many artists are, makes sense. Anyway read the book, you can learn tons about bettering your craft.
This post sounded way better in my head when I decided to do it the first time the book was blowing my mind. Sorry.

Drawing again

I believe I've mentioned but I've been working on drawing more, improving my skills etc. There are periods where I do better at this and periods when I fall off but I'm on again (hoping to be more consistent this time around) and so I wanted to share my studies of masterworks.

This is from a study Michelangelo did for the Battle of Cascina.

This is a study of Degas' painting The Tub.
They could both be better, but they could be worse. It's a start.

Painters of the past

We've had a painting for a long time, it's by a relative and I just figured out who it was by.

This painting was painted by my grandpa's aunt's husband (so his uncle but by marriage not blood relations) Edgar Jenson. I like it, it hung on our wall all growing up but it got taken down during some home improvements and just came out again so I'm seeing it with fresh eyes. I don't know that it's a masterpiece but it's a lovely painting.

Interesting new product

So today I went to my local art store where they were having a demo on Windsor & Newton watercolor markers and sticks.

I didn't use much of the sticks, I don't know how effective they really were. The blue and yellow were the stick.
 I really liked the markers, they were a lot of fun to work with. The mark at the bottom is how the marker looks on it's own and the pink/peachy is the marker with water brushed over. You can see where the marker lines were, which can be a good thing. It's a fun concept and they claim they work with regular Windsor & Newton paints but I don't know that for me the cost would be worth the novelty. I don't see the markers lasting as long as a tube of paint. If you do plein air painting etc. these might be just the thing for you.

Progress Update

Hey, I've been working towards greater success as an artist and now I want to share some what I've been up to. Check out the updates to my website, including new pieces.

Bios and statements

Every time I think about applying for a show or sending my portfolio out, I revisit my bio and my artist statement. I've been beefing up my portfolio and this is another step. Along with photographing my art, this is another aspect of being an artist that I wish I'd been better prepared for.
I've found out about The Artist's Guide by Jackie Battenfield from a classmate and while I don't always agree with Battenfield on everything, there's a lot of helpful information in this book. My artist statement could probably be much better, but it would probably be much worse without this book. I've also learned a lot of other things from the book and would recommend it.
Check out the updates at my website: http://jmfineart.weebly.com/

Illustrations

They say that one should not judge a book by its cover, but I quite often do, there are good books with unexciting covers but I've also thought that if they don't bother to make an interesting cover, what's the point. This visual judging of books started as a kid, if a picture book has good illustrations, I'm more inclined to read it.

I wouldn't classify a lot of illustrations as "high art" but it was an early introduction for me and so many others, to the arts. One of the books I grew up with was Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and today I got to go see an exhibit of his work. It was fun to have the nostalgia of childhood but also to be able to see these images as drawings, sketches, watercolors, lithographs etc. and to be able to appreciate Sendak's skills as an artist.

Arches

I want to take a moment to say how wonderful Arches paper (pronounced arsh, it's French) is. Arches is fantastic watercolor paper, it's such a high quality, it's the best I've used, though I imagine there might be a few other brands better. Good quality paper makes it possible to make better paintings, there's a reason that they've been in business for centuries. Thank you Arches, for beautiful paper and a quality product!

Work with quality

I recently restocked some art supplies and I was reminded that they can be costly but for all that it can be worth it. I think there's a tendency to use cheaper materials because they're cheaper, I certainly did for quite a while. I was told at one point to use better materials and I resisted for a while, after all I was an art student but I've come to see the wisdom in using better quality materials.
Probably the more obvious reason to use quality is that I'm an artist, I want to sell my work, I don't want to have to worry about someone being upset down the road because a painting or drawing wasn't made to last like they thought it should. I work to make my art archival; you see lots of paintings in museums that are cracked etc. and in many cases there are older works in better shape because they were made in a more archival manner, it's sad to see paintings that grow old before their time. As much as I love da Vinci, his Last Supper is a perfect example, that fresco is absolutely beautiful but due to the experimental method da Vinci used, it had issues almost immediately. I've gotten a little off topic but I go to higher quality materials because they have a greater tendency to be archival as well.
Depending on what type of material and how you use it, you might also be able to make it last a long time. I have some watercolors that I got four or five years ago that I'm still using or only recently replaced.
The less obvious reason, at least to me, was the impact quality materials make on your final product, from brushes to paper, etc. I don't remember an obvious right away realization, it may have been when I used some lower quality materials that I was able to see the difference, better quality materials, better quality work.

Good article on Islamic Design

A friend shared this article with me and it's a good read and intro into Islamic Design. Check it out.

A visit to the Met

Fortuitous circumstances introduced me to this video today and I had to share it! So apparently the Metropolitan Museum of Art undertook to create a facsimile of a Moroccan courtyard. I really hope I get a chance to see this space in person. Back to the video, I love all this video says about craftsmanship, I feel like in many ways craftsmanship has fallen by the wayside here, but clearly there is great worth in craftsmanship.

Creativity

Recently the president of Pixar, Ed Catmull spoke at my alma mater. I wasn't able to attend but I read the news release. It sounds like it was a really great speech. In the speech Catmull said that "Creativity is about solving problems." and warning there's a possible rant here. I think that quote is absolutely true. I know a lot of science/math type people and they're always talking about the importance of math for problem solving skills, and I'm sure that's true (I believe in these conversations I was questioning the actual use and practicality of higher maths for most people) but I always argued that I had problem solving skills and math is not the author of them. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that while math and science are great, I'm really sick of them being touted like they're the only virtues while the arts get side lined. The arts have such great power and creativity is useful to everyone! Anyway read the article, it's a good one!

Spiritual and Religious Art Show

So I mentioned that I was fortunate enough to have a piece included in the 29th Annual Spiritual and Religious Art show. It was a great experience, I always love this show and am so honored to have been a part of it. Thanks to all those who came to the show and for anyone who was unable to come see my painting while it was on display, here it is. A big thanks to the Springville Museum of Art!

Home
watercolor
9x9in.
2014
Series: Finding Home

Ps, it's the top one.

Ancient Greece and News

So we'll start with the news: my awesome cousin has an Oscar nominated documentary! It's pretty awesome.

Also the other day I got to see some of my friends, one of whom is probably going to be a famous scholar someday in history. He's learning/studying ancient Greek right now and so we got to talking about the ancient Greeks and their amazing art. So we know ancient statues to be plain marble (beautiful marble but unadorned) but we have evidence that that's not the way they were originally, was actually painted marble. I haven't been sure how I felt about that, as all I've ever known are the unpainted marbles and bronzes and I feel they're beautiful as they are, it's hard for me to see how they could be improved by color.
My friend was telling me that a tomb or something like that was recently discovered untouched and inside were painted statues, they were able to document them and find out what the paints were comprised of - crushed gemstones, I would really love to be able to see a picture of what that would look like.
We also talked about how insanely precise the Greeks were, probably specifically in the golden or Hellenistic period, like in pottery they were so precise that they'd take shrinking into account during firing - that's a lot. Anyway my friend tells me that the Greeks didn't have much use for numbers, that's so crazy to me. For sure I'm a believer of compass and straight edge geometry rather than number geometry, but the thought of not using numbers at all for something like the Parthenon? It's way hard to wrap my head around that. Art, it's super awesome!

Lessons I wish I'd had more often

There are many lessons I wish I'd learned or learned better while I was in school, but there are also lessons I did get that, as far as I can tell, most students of art either do not get or do not heed.

A while back I was fortunate enough to win a set of 45 soft pastels, I haven't done much with them yet because I haven't had much experience with pastel. Today in getting ready to use the pastels I went through with the research I'd done on the pigments in the pastels; of 45 pastels, there were 14 to 21 pastels that I feel good about using. There are 14 pastels in the set that were both single pigment colors and non toxic, the other 7 are non toxic but with two pigments per color. That's not quite half the set that I feel alright about using.
In all of my art classes I recall one painting or drawing teacher (excluding print making classes) who taught us to be careful about the materials and pigments that we used. This teacher taught us that we needed to be aware of the materials we used for two reasons: the first reason was for our own personal safety (and that of those around us), and the second reason was to make our work of an archival nature, such that it would be able to last for ages.
Artists through history have a reputation of being weird and crazy, some probably came by that naturally but for many it was the result of the media they worked with: lead poisoning from their paint, etc. There are so many toxic or potentially toxic art materials out there, from the pigments themselves, to paint thinner, etc. An example in my personal experience was when I was able to use a shared studio space I happily worked there, but if one or more other person was working in the studio, the fumes from their paint or paint mediums started giving me a headache and I had to leave. There are a lot of potentially dangerous things used to make art, it's important to be informed so that you can use something safely (something may be dangerous in one form but not in another, or may be safe with the use of an air filter etc.).
The consideration of the archival nature (or lack there of) is a very important one. Paintings (other media as well but painting is what I know best) have the ability to last for hundreds of years if the right materials and techniques are used and they do not suffer any undue misfortunes. On the other hand, some of the most beautiful paintings can be lost or greatly altered before their time if not done archivally. As much as I love Leonard daVinci, The Last Supper is a perfect example of this; daVinci used an experimental technique which unfortunately was not a winner and as a result there has been a very real struggle over the years to preserve this masterpiece from itself. Making something archival comes down to the materials you use and one consideration is pigments, and the possible chemical reactions between them. If you happen to unknowingly combine two pigments that have a reaction, it could change the coloring or look of your finial product.
Check labels, do your research, be safe!

Studies

I'm trying to brush up my skills, I've been focusing so much on paintings and geometric designs that some of my drawing skills have slipped. In an attempt to reverse that I've made some attempts to do some studies of master's works, like daVinci and Durer. I'd fallen off of that some but I've recently had some renewed efforts. As I've mentioned I've started a drawing group and I've been making studies when I visit museums or when I see something I like. It's a small step but I'm hoping it will something I can keep up.

New Year

It's a New Year, I don't get into New Years resolutions much but the new year is a wonderful time to review and to look to the future. 2014 was a pretty good year, I've been privileged to participate in a lot of shows this year.
I'm excited for the future, I'm working on big plans for the new year and some fun ones too. I started a drawing group with some of my friends, we'll take turns sitting for one another so that we can all get practice drawing, the first one was fun, I'm excited to have more. I need the practice.
I'm also renewing my efforts to attend gallery strolls. Usually I have intention to go, but by the time it comes around, I would rather stay home instead of making the effort to go out. Well see how it goes.
Here's to art in the new year!