An American Artist in Paris

A few weeks ago I was able to take a trip to Paris and fulfill many dreams. One of the coolest things I was able to do, was to go to the Louvre. When I went to Italy there were several moments when I was geeking out over beautiful art and things I'd studied in art history, the Louvre is even more like that. In one room they have practically a whole semesters worth of French art history. The Louvre has at least five da Vinci's, some quick googling tells me that, that's about a third of his paintings! There was an amazing Vermeer exhibit while we were there, it was so cool to see tons of Vermeer's in one place and the work of his contemporaries.

We took a flying tour of the Louvre, it's massive and I wanted to see as much as possible. The top of my list were the Mona Lisa (beautiful but obscured by selfie-ists) the rest of the da Vinci's ( so cool just to see a row of da Vinci paintings!) the winged victory (so beautiful!) and the Venus de Milo (also quite beautiful but obscured by many people).

We hit the Islamic art section, that was cool, many beautiful things there. One of these days I'll have to get a camera that works better in low light because museums are often dark (to protect the art).
I was interested by all the students/artists that were making sketches and studies in the Louvre. I wish that I had been assigned or encouraged to do that more when I was in school, we didn't have the Louvre of course but the MOA and the SMA have some really great exhibits.
One sad note about the Louvre, it is not very accessible for those with limited mobility (I'm not sure any of Europe really is), if you can't or don't want to climb the stairs and do all of the standing and walking, you might just want to google it.
We also went to the Musee d'Orsay, which is where the major impressionist collection is, it's pretty cool as well. We got a little burnt out when we were there, it was our third sight seeing event of the day.

The Orangerie was also very cool, there are two oval rooms that Monet designed for panels of his water lilies. They also have a smaller collection of more impressionists.

 I think those are all the museums we went to but we also went to some beautiful cathedrals, Notre Dame, and to Sainte-Chapelle. I think Sainte-Chapelle is lesser known but it is absolutely amazing, just walls and walls of stained glass.
Really all of Paris is kind of a work of art and there are statues and monuments everywhere. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go again someday!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

I'm trying to get back on track. I've been working on new pieces, reading art related books and getting back to my master studies as I've stated before. I think I missed last week on master studies but I've got a new one this week.
I think the last few drawings I tried to be really measured and precise but this time I just went for it.

I go back and forth as to whether this is to be able to perfectly replicate the drawing or just to get more practice. I looked through all my drawings and compared them to the original drawing and while I think some are much better than others, somehow the eyes all seem very upset or angry, where as I get a different feeling from the da Vinci sketch. I keep thinking that it might be time to move on to another artist or another sketch but I think I'd like to keep trying to get the eyes better at least. Eyes are a very important part of a portrait, they convey so much, or at least they can.

Kandinsky and a master study

So looking back on the dates of my master studies, I haven't done one since May... it's been a busy summer. Anyway, I decided it was high time that I got back to that. Here's my latest study, still from the same da Vinci study.

Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this but I love back to school (even though I haven't been back to school in years) and it get's me excited to get back on track after perhaps a summer of getting lax. As part of that this year I'm getting back on track with reading (pleasure and educational). I've tried multiple times to read multiple works of Wassily Kandinsky (I even own two) and I've never really been able to get much out of them. I keep trying because they came up a lot in some of my art classes. Anyway I've decided to take another stab at Kandinsky's Point and Line To Plane. I've been going very slowly and really working at making sure I understand what he's saying. So far I've been really intrigued by what I've read. I've really liked the points he's made, so I'm going to share a bit.

"The general viewpoint of our day, that it would be dangerous to "dissect" art since such dissection would inevitably lead to art's abolition, originated in an ignorant under-evaluation of these elements thus laid bare in their primary strength.

Painting and Other Art Expressions

In reference to analytical examinations, the art of painting, strangely enough, assumes a special position among the varrious forms of art expression. Architecture, for example, by its nature closely bound up with utility, consequently requires from its very start a certain degree of scientific capacities. Music, which serves no practical use (with the exception of march and dance music) and which has until now remained abstract, has long developed its theory; perhaps so far it is only one sided but, nevertheless, it is constantly being developed. Thus these two diametrically opposite forms of art expression have a scientific basis about which no one seems to feel offended."

pages 17-18

So what I get out of this (and I could still be getting it wrong) is Kandinsky's saying that visual art lacks theory, that you should be able to pick it apart somewhat, like in music you might be able to say that this is a symphony, it has this movement and that movement, etc. that it's a little ridiculous that you can't really say the same about a lot of art, here's this element of composition, or this part builds to this part. It was over a hundred years ago that he wrote all this but I absolutely agree with him. Even if you want to ignore or break the rules, you've got to know them first. Anyway, those are my thoughts.

Words of wisdom from Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci is one on the most famous artists of all time (deservedly so) and he is one of my favorite artists and art heroes. I love da Vinci's art and I love being able to read his writings and thoughts. I have this book called Leonardo da Vinci in His Own Words, which is full of great da Vinci quotes on a variety of subjects. This is some of what da Vinci had to say about art.

"Painting does not have the need for interpreters for different languages as does literature."

"Truly painting is a science, the trueborn child of nature, for painting is born of nature, but to be more correct we should call it the grandchild of nature; since all visible things were brought forth by nature and these her children have given birth to painting. Therefore we may justly speak of it as the grandchild of nature and as related to God."

"Painting is the way to learn to know the maker of all marvelous things."

Master Studies Update

Alright, once again it's time to update the progress of the master studies. You can see the previous posts here and here. I only had one study in the last week, I did however finally take a picture of the image I've been working off.

And here is my latest study.

Side by side like that I feel like I've improved.

Master Studies continued

I have one more master study to share, though I have gotten a bit busy with other things. Hopefully I'll have some more in the future.

I tried to size this one more along the lines of the picture I was drawing from. I think on the whole this one might have been better than the others to date but I think there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Master Studies

I love Leonardo da Vinci and his work, he's fantastic, he's left-handed (which I can sympathize with) and just a genius. In the old academy systems the students started by drawing the prints or drawings (etc.) of the masters I've been doing quick studies from one of da Vinci's sketches to follow suit.

I forgot to take a picture of the sketch I've been drawing and I can't find it online so maybe I can do that later.

I've drawn it three times in a week, mostly pretty quick studies.

This was my first attempt, I may have spent more time on this one, I'm not sure.

This was the second, a few days later. It was a much quicker sketch, also the nose is really bad.

This is the one that I did today and it probably was a length of time in between the other two. The nose is even worse but the mouth and eyes might be a bit better.

It's a process. Anyway, here are some other things I've been working on this week. Have a good weekend!