Making it hard on myself...

I now have an official "process" of doing pastel portraits, and tonight I thought I'd test it by "making it tough." By that, I mean, I did a VERY fast pencil "layout," and then quickly transferred the (rather inferior) sketch to the velour paper for the actual painting part. Of course, the sketch was a bit "off" here and there, but I wanted to test my ability to "fix" poor drawings (from a poor photograph) during the pastel stage. You see, the velour paper is HORRIBLE when you're trying to fix mistakes, so I thought a test of its limits would be a good educational experience. You can see in the one photo how another artist painted this girl (with totally different lighting), and then you can see how I painted her. The cool thing is, the other artist is a successful French artist who does these things "live" down in the Caribbean (although he's since moved to France), and that is EXACTLY what I want to do. (Visit his website at www.pastel-portraits.com.) Awesome artist.

...Anyway, I'm happy, in a sense, and unhappy, too. I wasn't able to fix the fundamental flaws in the likeness/headshape/etc., but then again, I think it just might be acceptable in a "live" situation. Of course, a more careful initial pencil layout sketch would aid enormously. ...Also, check-out the crazy flash lighting I had to figure-out. That was actually serious fun. Lots of unexpected reds and oranges and yellows in the face, and abrupt value changes.

I started a Ron Paul portrait in acrylics...

...but, man, acrylics and oils are SLOW and messy... I started this Ron Paul portrait with the idea of experimenting, and I did so, and I've been REALLY studying color mixing for portraiture this past week or so, yet...Yet, I don't have time for this right now. I'd like to have my own "stand" somewhere, maybe at Clearwater Beach, where artists are allowed to set-up for a small fee, and I'd like to offer serious portraits (as well as crazy caricatures?), but I think I'll just stick with the pastels for now, like in the Angelina pic. Pastels are faster, and they're a traditional medium for quick portraits in an hour or two. ...Thought I'd go ahead and post this... I'll finish when I have time. It's really barely started, all rough and craggy, but kinda cool, for a start...

A couple of couples this week

Mr. and Mrs. Pitt... OK, let's move on

Brangelina, goodbye... I need to get out of this family, lol, but I'll post the final studies, ...I must say, I learned a lot. I might just keep doing portraits...

Lesson Learned: Use WHITE paper with graphite

I used a toned "charcoal" paper, and a 6B graphite pencil. And it was looking kinda good until I realized I couldn't add much in the way of highlights. I grabbed some pastel sticks, but that stuff doesn't stick to graphite! I knew that, too... Guess I just wasn't thinking. ...Or is there an alternative? ...Anyway, so I just quit.

Adjusting Angelina

OK, so I threw-in some hair highlights... Not perfect, but better... Think I'm gonna just stop right here. I see some things to work on, but I need to get started on something new...

Pastel Portraiture Revisited

My secret desire is to learn to do real portraits, but it's tough to figure it all out. The human face has a bewilderingly large number of variables: different hues, different values, varying chroma. But I may be starting a renewed effort to learn portraiture. This photo is of my latest effort...
.... To further explain: a year or two ago I tried learning to paint portraits with pastels on velour paper. I failed. Well, I watched a video the other day in which an artist (Joy Argento) does just this, painting a lovely pastel portrait of our friend Angelina on velour, which is a traditional way of using pastels (on VELOUR, that is) for portraiture. So I thought I'd try it again. I went to Art Systems on Friday and got some velour paper and a pastel set. I'm not sure if I used the right colors, but I think I did better than before. Velour is notoriously difficult to use, yet I seem to be getting the hang of it. Masters use velour beautifully. (CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE AND SEE DETAILS.)

I am so very happy...

I just deleted the post I originally had here, because, honestly, the caricature painting I had posted was so bad, I should have never posted it anyway. Instead, I think I will do some complaining!!!

Well, not complaining, really, just an update, and a listing of some difficulties. It's pretty extraordinary. Here goes:
My move onto my sailboat in Apollo Beach occurs at the end of June, in a little over a month. Very exciting! But with some caveats:
I had figured, if all goes wrong, I could very simply live on the sailboat, and take the bus up to Busch Gardens in Tampa and draw caricatures. But it turns out that the bus schedule is impossible, so I'll need to use my (very) old Jeep. But it's a LONG commute, and the pay ain't that great, and that old Jeep of mine could die at any time, and the whole thing looks really bad.
I don't WANT to commute anymore, anyway. I want to live simply, sail, draw and paint, not get rich, but be happy and see beautiful things. Anyway... I'm moving forward: for better or worse, I'm moving onto the sailboat next month.
And here's another thing: my friend says that my marina slip fee will be "at least" $200 a month, so maybe I'm looking at 3 or 400? I don't know. It's a rather informal situation.
Also, I was expecting to pay very little to get my boat's bottom scraped and repainted, but I think now that it might cost $1000 or more. I DO NOT have that kind of money anymore.
My shoulder has caused me to work less, and will continue to do so, as well as hurting my enthusiasm for murals, which, honestly, takes a toll on my shoulder. I lied about that before. Sorry.
I mean, maybe I can get into portrait work, and get a better price for my artwork, but there's so much uncertainty in all this, that I've been VERY depressed.
I've also been sick for several weeks, just a nagging cold virus, and it's over now, but it's dramatically added to my foul temperament.
Next, my former understanding was that I would be getting $600 from the IRS, but I just learned TODAY that I will NOT be getting that check, since I have a debt to the IRS. That's the kicker. That's the one thing I couldn't afford to go wrong, and now it has. I'm in trouble.
I mean, none of this would have been THAT bad, I guess, but I learned a while back that I'm being taken off my work schedule come May 31. Not my idea. I always knew I could just stay on the schedule through most of June (our busiest month) and make some last-ditch savings for the move onto the boat, and that became my plan. That's not going to happen now, unless I can get lots of sub shifts, and at decent locations.
I could go on and on about this, but I don't want to subject y'all to my sailor cursing.

The funny thing is, I AM happy. I think it's because my artwork has become the center of my life. I couldn't say that a few months ago. All I want now is to live cheaply and work on my art. And if I must sell my Jeep, I will. And if I must sell my sailboat, I will. I'll live on a canoe or something, and paint portraits by the beach, or whatever. But GO FORWARD with the art. Live cheaply and beautifully, by the sea. And I am doing that now, in one way or another. It's very exciting. Whatever happens, happens. It'll work-out.
...Just a little frightening.

Thomas Jefferson

I love the portrait of Jefferson below. I strikes me now, a thought!: Portraiture (the greatest of the arts) was long perfected even 200 years ago. It's fascinating to consider: such a technical and ephemeral skill, so magical to the masses, is now being forgotten as silicone tech courageously destroys all else.

And now for some Jefferson quotes. (I hope I don't go to jail for spreading these revolutionary ideas!)...
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. "

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."

"I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. "

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. "

"I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive."

"Shake off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear."

"What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? ...The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all."

"Most bad government has grown out of too much government."

"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."

"The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."

"History, in general, only informs us what bad government is."

"If there is one principle more deeply rooted in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest."

"It is better to tolerate that rare instance of a parent’s refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings by a forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of his father."

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

Discovery of the Atelier

So why doesn't anyone tell me these things...? I guess I'm doomed to discover 'em on my own.

What I thought I knew, I was wrong; what I thought was wrong, I knew. ...In other words. my "impulse" since teaching myself to draw, back a few years ago, in my 30's, was to very carefully learn to draw in a classical sense, whatever that means, I thought. I mean, I had no idea. I was just a nomad, a poorly-disciplined reader of philosophy and porn and vodka labels. But I was vaguely aware that learning to be an artist was something more than occasional sketches, or silly jobs making cartoons of tourists. And when I started making MONEY making cartoons of tourists, I was snobbish, thinking how lousy were the starving artists, who couldn't draw a face, yet had a degree in art, or who were unwilling to draw a face in a comic context, for mere financial gain. But I've come full circle, now. I desperately wish to be like the old masters, and I've discovered HOW, now. The old-fashioned way, through an ATELIER. I didn't know these still existed, but they do exist, and they're making a comeback. I've included with this post an entry from Wikipedia. Now, all I need do is FIND an atelier studio which is in a warm clime (so I can sleep in my boat) and which won't charge me much... Anybody got any ideas? ...Here's the Wikipedia post:

Atelier Method

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The Atelier Method is a method of fine art instruction modeled after the private art studio schools of 15th-19th century Europe. Taking its name from the French word for "artist's studio," the Atelier Method is a form of private instruction in which an artist, usually a professional painter, works closely with a small number of students to progressively train them. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in North America and Western Europe.

Contents [hide] 1 Philosophy 2 Methods 2.1 Drawing and painting from plaster casts 2.2 Sight-size drawing 3 External links

[edit] Philosophy

Atelier programs teach a form of realism based upon careful observations of nature with attention to detail. A series of tasks (cast drawing, cast painting, drawing and painting from the live model, and still life, for example) are done by the student. Students must complete each task to the instructor's satisfaction before progressing to the next. This system is referred to as "systematic progression" or "systematic teaching and learning." The methods used by Atelier instructors may vary greatly from one studio to another; however, artists using the "Atelier" approach tend to be united in their desire to reintroduce classical methods and techniques to modern painting.

[edit] Methods

Because they lack a central governing body, Atelier instructors are free to teach whatever methods they wish. However, there are several methods that are common to most Atelier schools. Atelier schools and teachers generally agree that the practice of careful drawing is the basis of painting.

[edit] Drawing and painting from plaster casts

Student Cast Drawing after Ariadne. Mims Studios School of Fine Art, Southern Pines, NC.

Atelier students often begin to draw or paint using plaster casts as subjects. These casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the human anatomy. Plaster casts provide some of the benefits of live, human models, such as the presence of natural shadows. They also have their own distinct advantages: they remain perfectly still and their white color allows the student to focus on the pure, grayscale tones of shadows. This is the method that contemporary painter Jacob Collins pursues at his schools, the Water Street Atelier and the Grand Central Academy.

[edit] Sight-size drawing

Sight-Size drawing is a method of drawing an object exactly as it appears to the artist on a one to one scale. The artist first sets a vantage point where the subject and the drawing surface appear to be the same size. Then, using a variety of measuring tools -- which can include strings, sticks, mirrors, levels, and plumb-bobs -- the artist draws the subject so that, when viewed from the set vantage point, the drawing and the subject have exactly the same dimensions. When properly done, sight-size drawing can result in extremely accurate and realistic drawings. It can also be used to draw the exact dimensions for a subject in preparation for a painting.

Contemporary realist painter Adrian Gottlieb notes that "while professional painters pursuing a full-time career will develop an 'eye' that precludes the need for measuring devices and plumb lines (tools necessary during the training period), the observation method itself is not abandoned - instead it becomes second nature. Sight-size can be taught and applied in conjunction with a particular sensitivity to gesture to create life-like imagery; especially when applied to portraiture and figurative works."

Wind Song, here I come...

So this is the deal: It's official, I'm moving onto Wind Song in June. It's in Apollo Beach, on Tampa Bay, if you don't remember. Of course, this has been the plan all along, but I'd thought I'd remind everyone. My apartment lease is up at the end of June, and I just now emailed Barbie and "reminded" her of my plans: when my lease is up, I'll be moving onto the sailboat. And that's the plan, and it's only 8 weeks away! Man, this is SOON, I just realized. Whew! I need to get busy. I mean, if it weren't for my bum shoulder, I'd be working EVERY DAY. But that ain't gonna happen. I'll do what I can for now, and when it's time to go, I'll go.
To be honest, I don't have any real work lined-up in Tampa. Hmm, maybe murals, but, oddly, I've felt terribly non-committal to murals. In fact, I've been doing NOTHING toward 'em, of late. Maybe I can draw caricatures at Busch Gardens, but I haven't talked to those guys, and I don't think Dion even knows who I am. And, heck, maybe they wouldn't even WANT me. Or I can draw caricatures at the beach or something. Or, if things get REALLY bad, financially, or whatever, I can always throw-off the dock lines and sail away, and fish, and beg, and/or whatever. I figure I can always walk door-to-door and paint pretty pictures on mailboxes. ...lol...But, no, REALLY, I would do that.
And, yes, WIND SONG, the smallish 24-foot sailboat is gonna be my new home, NOT the bigger boat. That deal didn't work-out. But that's fine. I don't need another bill. Part of the POINT is to get away from bills. I owe the IRS about $10,000, mainly because I refuse to deduct ANYTHING. I say, "Fuck you, HERE YA GO, take this, this is WAY too much, but you CANNOT audit me, because there is NOTHING to audit!" I'll pay the full amount and be happy, just so they can't mess with me. It's rather satisfying. I give 'em $150 a month, and they don't bother me. ... And one day, in 4 or 5 years, I'll have it paid-off. (My four years of caricaturing in Orlando has been both a gigantic blessing and a gigantic curse.)
Beyond that, there's much to say, and there's nothing to say. I'm sitting alone in my apartment. I think I must want it that way. All else is a kind of messiness of the soul, you know: friendship and love. ...I guess that's the best way to put it. ...Damn, I'm an idiot.

Is my thinking fundamentally flawed?

All my life, more or less, especially during my adult years, I've considered mankind to be a fine, good entity. Mistakes will happen, but, I have thought, the goal of the good is universal. Now, I am thinking, such speculation is incorrect. You see, the Internet has opened all sorts of knowledge, and I've been reading A LOT recently, and watching the videos of the History Channel, among others. I'm finding terrible things in our history. Things of history which are virtually without controversy. Things which define us as evil, more or less. And I'm not talking about NAZIs, necessarily, but about the United States, and ancient Greece, and the fella next door, and my own soul. The perils of optimism seem to be overtaking me....
...To be continued... ...

...and here's one from Saturday

I like the guy, but not the girl...so to speak. She is far too awkward, but I got a nice likeness on her boyfriend, and his drawing/painting is more natural and lively, especially the coloring. ...I'm really trying to focus on lively, impressionistic coloring, or as much as is possible in the short time frame of caricatures and the limited palette of naples yellow red, vermilion, and burnt sienna... and a couple of primaries, more or less...

A photo of me at the helm of Moon Song ...

Helped move this boat a couple of weeks ago. Thanks to Captain Richard for the photo. ...Click photo to enlarge (with some browsers)...

Still sick, but getting better...

I felt half normal tonight, but drew badly, then did better. Here's one of a little girl from tonight, plus one from AK a couple of weeks ago (which I just discovered on my camera)... Look at the similarity between the little girl in the one pic, and the man in the other pic. Same nose, and similar hue/value relationship in the middle third of the face... I mean, I SUCK. ..."To DARE, that is the calling..."

Couple More from Last Week

Disney All-Star Resorts caricature stand work from last week. Thought the boy's drawing was cute, but poor likeness, and the girl's pic was good likeness, but in a weird way... I'm always surprised that any of us can get decent likeness when knocking these things out in 15 minutes (or less...)...

Sick...

Suddenly, in the middle of my shift yesterday, I got sick, a sore throat, congestion, chills, aches, shakes... Great! (Sarcasm, there.) ...Anyway, so I immediately got off the fast and got some nutrition and vitamins in me. ...Really bad timing. I have a LONG gig tomorrow, and then a stressful (in a fun way) butt sketch gig on the next day. I really need the money, so there ain't no way I'm calling in sick. ...Been in bed all day, drank lots of water, then did some more practice sketches, and now I gotta go sit at the Nick stand... Woo-hoo!
As far as these practice sketches go, I was looking at actual photos of people on the ButtSketch.com website, rather than looking at DRAWINGS of people. This should help me.
It seems to me that life drawing like this is all about gesture, which, to me, means the "feel" of the sweeping angles of objects. ...And I find myself exaggerating a bit on these...

Butt Sketches

Surprise, surprise! I somehow got a butt sketching gig. And only 4 days notice! ...So, what'd I do tonight? I drew some butt sketches, of course! Actually, they're really fun. I've only practiced these a couple of times in the past (like, a year ago!), and I've never used a marker (pencil only), but here I am, about to go to a gig next Tuesday. Whew! That email frightened me. ...I immediately got out a Pitt brush pen and used that, after carefully penciling it all in. Whole thing takes about 10 minutes. I need to cut that down to about 4 or 5 minutes, I think. Shouldn't be a problem. ... Now, most of these drawings (which I include here) are based on drawings in Keelan's website (K.Parham, that is). But that's only because it's really hard to get reference material for this sort of stuff. In real life, people don't STOP very often, and then online I simply can't find much, just hit and miss, here and there. So I just looked at Keelan's drawings and pretended they were real people. It's funny, because, at first, I tried to match the pics EXACTLY, but then I felt my own style coming on, and I just let it go. ...Not perfect, but I'm satisfied with these early attempts. I'm sure to be practicing these a lot more in the next 3 days. Whew!
...
(Note: That other one is of a Chinese girl painting... Just an image from the WWW.) ...Hmm, I need to get proper markers for shading...

Fast/Cleanse Days 4 and 5 of 25

Not much to report. So far so good. No problems, except... MUST TELL ROOMMATE NOT TO BRING FOOD HOME... Torture! ...lol ...
Actually, I've been off from work the last two days. I think it's easier if I must go to work and not think about food. Sitting here alone in the apartment is tough.

Fast/Cleanse Day 3 of 25

So far, so good. Kinda sleepy today. Drank a couple of Diet Pepsi's to keep alert at work. Good night of drawing. No headaches. Slept well. Weird dreams. Lots of energy otherwise. ... And my shoulder stopped hurting! Unbelievable.