A few days ago (the 14th) my painter friend Erick sent me a message to let me know that it had been a yearto the day since my last post. He wanted to know what was happening. The realisation that I hadn’t posted for a yearwas just the kick up the arse I needed to make me get the new site finished. As you can see, it worked and I’m back. ThanksErick.
Of course, it would have been much neater if I could have got this post and the new site up on the 15th, but therewere too many little jobs to do to get the new version ready to go and I didn’t quite make it. Let’s just pretendthat it’s exactly a year since the last post, it seems so much more poignant.
So what have I been up to? Drawing and painting mostly. No surprises there. There’s too much work from the past yearfor me to get it all posted now, but what I plan to do is try to pick a representative sample over the coming weeksthat will hopefully give enough of an update to show where I’ve been going and why. Perhaps the best place to start isthe most recent piece I’ve finished, so here it is:
I know what you’re thinking. It’s been a whole year and he’s still doing value studies. Well, I can’t deny it, I’m stilldoing more of that than anything else. But as long as I’m still learning as much as I do from them, the value studies willkeep coming. I think I could happily spend the rest of my life on value studies without ever getting bored, the subject isendless and there’s always something new to learn. But don’t write me off too soon, I have done a painting ortwo as well which I’ll be posting soon.
During the long process of rebuilding the site, I took the opportunity to re-read some of my old posts, especially thefirst few. It’s interesting how much has changed.
A question which has always vexed me since I started on this road is whetheror not it’s possible to teach yourself representational drawing and painting to a high standard without the benefit of anexperienced teacher. There are advantages and disadvantages the autodidact’s road I think. I’ve heard it said, and hadit said to me, that it’s impossible to teach yourself. Whenever I hear that it brings out my stubborn side and I think tomyself ” Oh yeah? Just watch me.” This jaunty self confidence is generally followed directly by a period of crippling doubt.”They’re right, I’ll never do it. What was I thinking?” The truth is that the verdict is still out for me.
Certainly I’ve made plenty of mistakes as I’ve gone along, no doubt I’m still making them and will make many more. Readingmy first few posts, I was a little surprised to see how obsessed I was with colour. I thought colour was everything. Now Iknow it isn’t. If, right at the beginning, I’d concentrated first on drawing, primarily with line, and then on value, I’dundoubtedly be further along than I am now. Such is the benefit of hindsight. Throughout the two and half yearsI’ve been at this so far I’ve often found it necessary to get back to the basic fundamentals and practice them before Icould move on. This, I think, is the main disadvantage with being self taught: The lack of a logically progressingcurriculum.
Another early misconception which gave me a chuckle was my estimated time-scale for retraining. I thought I might need ayear, maybe two at most. Let’s just say that was a touch optimistic. Another disadvantage, related to the one above, is thateverything takes much longer when you have to figure out the path ahead of you before you can start to walk it.
But if I could go back now to when I started in November 2005 and give myself a bit of advice, I think the best thing Icould tell myself is to take it easy. Don’t be in such a rush to forge ahead. Accept that learning to draw and paint properlyis an undertaking requiring years, not months. As some-one very succinctly said recently on a forum I frequent, it’s a marathon,not a sprint. Which brings me neatly back to this drawing.
This one is actually a study for a painting which I’ll be starting shortly. Probably the main thing that’s changed aboutthe way I work now compared to the way I was working when I started, even a year ago when I made my last post, is the amountof time I spend on each piece. In the beginning, I’d often spend just a few hours on a painting, whereas thisdrawing took four days just to lay in the outlines, and over three weeks to finish, putting in fairly substantial hours every day.
Looking back, the gradual process of slowing down has been a recurring theme in a lot of my posts over the last twoand half years, and it’s still continuing. Part of that is due to moving towards more finished pieces now, but I wouldn’t wantto suggest that it’s simply a case of working longer at the end. Each stage of a drawing or painting is takinglonger and longer – as long as it needs to take to get it as right as I can get it. I can’t pretend I don’t feel a certain amount ofpressure to get pieces knocked out more quickly, particularly since I’m effectively full-time at this lark now and haven’treally sold anything yet (have to work on that.) But I’m trying to resist the temptation to rush, not to be happy with’good enough’, to finally learn this most important of lessons. I think it’s much more important to make sure that each pieceis the best that I know how to make it. After all, if it becomes simply a case of knocking out product, I may as well go backto a nine-to-five job. Or painting cartoon murals in motorway service stations. No thanks.
I’ll tell you about the drawing. It was done sight size (seethis post on Bargue drawing for an explanation of the process, orDarren Rousar’s excellent site devoted to sight size,) and with as much concern forthe accuracy of the drawing as I could muster. I often see people on forums talk about how ‘art’ should be about somethingmore than simply copying what you see. Note it’s always ‘simply’ or ‘just’ copying, as if it were easy. I’mgenerally incensed by the suggestion that there’s anything simple about making a convincing translation of what we see ontopaper or canvas. Such people, I notice, are rarely capable of doing it themselves. But I have to say, I agree with the widerpoint. The accuracy I’m talking about is the laying out of the drawing, getting the shapes in the right place. When it cameto the values in this drawing, I hadn’t a hope in hell of ‘just’ copying, since the range of the subject was so far outsidethe range of my materials.
I think a lot of the mood, feeling, atmosphere, whatever you want to call it, of a painting or adrawing can depend on the treatment of the values. Whether high or low key, compressed or full range, down from the lights or upfrom the darks, there are endless possibilities available in the treatment of values, and the choices that the person at the easel makesgo a long way towards determining the overall effect – perhaps also the emotional impact – of the piece. In terms of creating alife-like picture, values are key too. The relationships between them must be well observed, firstly, and then effectively translatedinto the limits imposed by the medium.
This drawing was done in black and white chalk, using a technique of overlaying and mixing that I learned the basics offrom the very wonderful Kate Sammons. The value range of the chalks is really quitelimited, more so than oils for example, so I also heightened the highlights with zinc white gouache. Still, the availablerange was considerably more limited than the range of values in the subject. So I spent a lot of time trying to judgerelationships, checking the lightness or darkness of each section against other parts of the drawing. I’ve tried to createa feeling of depth, and to give the drawing some atmosphere as far as I was able.
Value continues to fascinate me. As much as I find it technically fascinating, from a point of view of the translation ofvalues into a limited range, I also think that treatment of values can be very expressive. I’d like to be able to play valuelike a musical scale, to create effects and the atmosphere I want at will. But I suspect I’m many years from that level offluency yet. In the meantime, I’m pretty happy if the stuff I’m drawing looks at all like the stuff it’s meant to be.
Value is also important from a point of view of composition I think. In this drawing, I’ve tried to use the fullrange of values and contrast I had available to me to create an atmosphere that’s strong and dramatic, but gentle and meditativeat the same time. You can be the judge of whether or not I’ve succeeded.
This old iron I found in an antiques market I was wandering around with Michelle. She looked a little askance at me when I boughtit. It is, after all, just an ugly piece of old tat. But as soon as I saw it on the stall I saw a painting in my head and knewwhat I wanted to do with it. When I’d finished this drawing, she said that she understood now why I wanted to paint it, and thatshe could see the beauty in it now that she hadn’t seen before. I think that’s one of the nicest thingsanyone’s ever said to me.
Oh, and I know the shelf is wonky on the right (thanks Marsha.) I will fix it, I promise.
Posted 18th July 2008
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Yay, I’m so glad you are back! I was worried you had stopped drawing and painting. This value study is beautiful! The light in the shadow side of the cloth is particularly stunning.
Thanks Sadie! It’s very good to be back. I just hope the new site doesn’t break…
Thanks also for the kind words.
Paul, your work is amazing. All your hard work is paying off. You are inspirational to the rest of us. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Brenda
Paul, glad to hear you’re back in the saddle! Your re-assessment of how you are going about getting where you want to be seems to be something that many of us are doing these days. Just heard from another artist who is also doing that, and I’ve been doing it myself all year.I took a step backward and even though my drawing is pretty accurate I felt it lacked ease and finesse and started taking drawing from an old Chinese artist who was a famous man when he was living and working as an artist in China. Like you I feel that drawing and value are integral to good painting and the proper attention must be paid to them.
Damn, I’m glad you’re back.
Thanks Branda, very kind of you to say so.
At the moment I’m trying to figure out why the comments are displaying in reverse order. Why don’t things ever work right first time? 🙂
Hi, I just came across your site and have spent a delightful time enjoying examples of your exceptional work. I have saved your site to my favorites and am looking forward to many happy returns.
I so pleased you have chosen to continue your amazing contribution to quality art.
Hi Cindy. There does seem to be a growing interest in the fundamentals of drawing and painting. I’m convinced that it’s the best way to progress. I think a lot of us go through the same stuff when we’re learning, which is part of the point of this site – to share the experience.
Hi Marie. I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the site. I promise not to wait another year before the next post.
Hi again, I don’t see your name anywhere. I’m obviously missing it, I see from your email address it is Paul…….
I guess for those who know you it is not missed. However it would be nice to put a name to these lovely paintings.
Kind Regard
Marie
Paul, it’s great to start seeing your work again. I’ll be adding you to my RSS feed, so I’ll let you know if there seem to be serious problems.
Kurt
Hey Kurt, long time no speak! Great to see you’re still around.
An independent check on the RSS feed would be great, thanks.
Marie, my second name is Foxton. Actually, I don’t think it is mentioned anywhere on the site, and now I’ve spoiled the mystery 🙂
I found it. Its PAUL FOXTON you should make it a little more visible on your website.
Excellent bit of sleuthing Marie 🙂
HooRay!!!
Haven’t had a chance to look around this new site yet, but if it’s anything like the old one – it is superb! One of the Best world-wide – Welcome back, Paul.
(the code at the bottom is kind of hard to make out – hope I get it right!)
Hey Marsha! Stop it now, you’re embarrassing me!
Don’t tell anyone, but this new site IS the old site, just with different clothes on. All the content is the same, the main difference being that now you can tell me how rubbish my work is right on the site instead of having to send an email.
Yes, the captcha I’m using is one of the more awkward ones, but it’s for a good cause. look up recaptcha on Google to see what it’s all about.
Hello Paul,
Delighted to see you back in the saddle. I’ve missed your down-to-earth and ludicrously humble tones 🙂
This piece is a beauty. The white cloth is so crisp and vibrant, it practically jumps off the screen, despite the value limitations you were grappling with. I also agree with the lady who mentioned the nice treatment of light in the shady areas on the right. It keeps drawing my eye.
I’m not even close to the horse right now, but I was thinking of you recently and felt a glimmer of inspiration coming back – glad you’re here.
Sue
Sue! Great to hear from you! This is turning out to be a very good day, a bit of a reunion.
Quote:I\’m not even close to the horse right now, but I was thinking of you recently and felt a glimmer of inspiration coming back
What a wonderful thing to say. I demand that you get right back on the horse this instant, no excuses. Act now. You’re work is too nice to deprive the world of it.
Hi Paul! So glad to see you back. Missed you so much as I already told you in my numerous mails…Glad to see that all your friends were waiting for you aswell…It’s a beautiful day!
Hi Paul,
I’m so glad that you are back as well….I think I must have found you right at the start of your year off. I was so disppointed not hearing from you. Thanks so much for returning!
Oh welcome back, Paul. Plese say hello to your beautiful wife Michelle too. (See Paul’s art work, folks!).Love ALL your work. You’ve been missed! I’m sure we’d all like to hear about how you market your work, Paul. Do you have your own Gallery/shop/mail order/prints/cards/posters etc etc for sale??
So glad to see you are back. I\’m looking forward to seeing your new work. The value study is very nice and I like the lost and found edges. I haven\’t visited the site yet, but I have been checking in to see where you had gone. Again, glad to see you back.
Hi Elaine, nice to hear from you. Sorry if I didn’t get round to answering any of your emails, it’s a bad habit. Drop me a line and let me know how things are.
Hi Anita, sorry about the year long post drought. Things should be looking up here again now.
Hey Julie, how’s things in God’s own county? thanks for the kind words. I’m not doing any marketing at the moment (which might explain the dearth of sales.) I’m currently working on my portfolio, so I have all that fun to come when the work is done.
Hi Valorie, glad you like the sttudy. Yes, edges were a priority for me with that one. I’ve come to realise that edges can be as important as value in expressing form.
I’ve been asked to ask you: Would you please let us know which of your art work is for sale and how much? This great website is a wonderful shop window! Best wishes.
Hi Charmaine,
Send me an email at paul at learning-to-see.co.uk.
About time! I was beginning to worry. I appreciate the peice that and your enlightment to the impotance of value as appose to color. I was in the same boat at one time.
-P
Hi Paul,
How happy I am to read you again..Since I discovered your site and your works I was winting for your come back. Here it is!
Slowly but surely is the best way I have found to progress, but you’ve got, and by far, best results than me…
Working on values payed, it’s obvious, your works is much fine and delicate and it seems to me that the hole picture have a greatest harmony that the latest works I have seen (olives and co) .
My best wishes for your new site and wainting to read you again.
Elie
Hi Patrick. I guess it’s fair to say that value is a part of colour, but a very big part. Perhaps most of it, since our eyes are more sensitive to value changes than they are to chroma or hue. I think that, in many ways, value is the key to colour, at least for this kind of work. If a colour seems somehow wrong, like as not it will be the value where the real probelm lies. Would you agree?
Hi Elie. Thanks very much for your kind thoughts. I’ll be posting again soon, but right now I need to get back to the easel having spent the last few days beating my head agaisnt the code for this site! Drawing is easy compared to this.
It’s great to see this back up and running! I have seen many of your recent drawings and posts on RP, but it is ever so much nicer to read about them here on your own turf. As always, I am impressed and inspired by your progress.
G’day! Love the new site and the drawing – it’s good to see you back.
Hi Paul,
I really engoyed your new piece. It’s fantastic. Even without colors, you created a tri dimentional reality, that stand out as testament to your commitment and love of art. I learned a lot from your previous posts, and i am glad that you will be posting again. Thank you very much. These days is difficoult to find an artist that willingly shares his/her experiences. The coal iron reminded me of the silver/flower studies you made a year ago. I really loved the way you made the light play in and out of the ham of the hankerchief/napkin, I think is pure genius. I can see why it takes now a week to produce a piece like that!!! A week well spent i should add. We all have a porpuse in life , and Paul I have a feeling your is painting. Paul I hope you don’t mind me saing this, but i think something is not right with the wooden handle od the coal iron. It is perfectly drawn and the shape stand out right, with the right highlight and shadows but…. the tone is almost the same as the iron. But is wood thance in impossibility. I would change the tone of that handle, peraphs introducing some grain in the wood? Now… don’t ask me how to change the tone or into what that is your realm!!!! I Agree with you it takes a lot without proper directions, but the rewards are bigger as well . You already know you are painting life, and that is the stronger thing that is. Nature is so perfect , a cloud moving in the sky, a blad of grass fluttering in the breeze, the vapor emanating from a coal iron, now if we could only smell it???? Now Paul Foxton if you would concentrate on selling, etc.. versus creating ….masterpieces the world would be a poorer place.
Wishing you great success, happy painting, your friend
Mariano
P.S. I shoul add that you posting are the best art info on the WWW. Please keep posting, you will be rewarded with fame and many friends.
Wowee Zowee! What progress you’ve made! It looks like one CAN learn on one’s own. Your postings are a great inspiration. I’ve missed your posts and I am delighted that you are once again posting. I started the Bargue drawings myself and found your comments extremely helpful. By the way, it’s a mixed bag with art classes – some people can paint or draw and not teach, some can teach and know a lot but are not great artists. I find the main value of classes is to have company doing the tedious work of learning the basics. Thanks for sharing!
Paul! Great makeover! Worth the wait! I still say that you writing your thought process down and letting others share in them is invaluable to people like me that have been away from painting for a while.I agree with others about you listing prices with your work on your site and it’s time for a new drawing of Michelle! Thank you!!! Helen
Hi David, thanks. The best thing about posting them here is that I get to ramble on at random and no one can stop me 🙂
Hi Amanda, good to hear from you. How are your Munsell studies going? Painted any of those cones yet? 😉
Mariano, wow. That was quite a post. I don’t know really what to say that except thanks. The handle on the iron is about the same value as the body, you’ll just have to take my word on that. The difference in surface texture will hopefully come out more clearly when I paint it.
Linda, I’m really glad if I helped with your Bargue drawings. I hear what you’re saying about classes. There are classes run not to far from me but I haven’t come across any teachers yet that I’d want to trust my development to. I’ve seen some whilst hunting around that shocked me, quite frankly. The teachers could barely draw themselves and have no right to be messing up other people’s development, much less charging them for the privilege. I’m hoping that as representational art continues to gain ground, and sound skills become more widespread again, such people will be forced to retire quietly.
I have been pointed at one place that looks very interesting though, the Sarum studio in Salisbury, here in the UK. I hope to get over there for a visit at some point to check it out more thoroughly.
Hi Helen, glad you like the new version. I won’t be putting prices up here though. Long term, I think it’s better to go through the gallery system. By the way, I think I owe you several dozen emails, don’t I? I’ll get back to you soon, promise.
Paul, I can’t seem to find the size of the new piece. It looks like an old B&W photograph. The iron is perfect and the cloth is the best I’ve seen. I would really like to own one of your pieces and see you in a gallery in the US.
Ah, I forgot to put up the size. It’s 16X13 inches. Id like to see me in a gallery in the US too 🙂
Congratulations with your progress and the results achieved Paul. You are an example to us all. I hope we’ll see many more images of your work with plenty of guidelines and tips to do it ourselves! Best regards, William (Belgium)
Hi Paul,
it was gracious of you to reply. You must be incredibly busy with the WWW now that you open back in the saddle. I had the suspect that I was making a foul of myself , and thaht i did because i absolutely trust you specially on matter of tones. So my apologies are in order. Sure this piece generated a lot of responses, I think you hit fame on the bellybottom, I am so pleased for you Happy painting, you friend
Mariano
Hi Paul,
It’s great to see your updated site.
You are an inspiration to anyone who has to face a blank canvas.
Living proof also that self-directed study can, with some vigour and determination pay off.
I’ll be watching this space.
Thank you.
Sean
Hi Paul,
Seems like your progression from only a year ago is immense!
Glad to have you back + thank you so much for the inspiration. We’ll be sure to check back regularly. 🙂
All the best,
Maryam
Hi Paul: So glad the journey uphill amid all the brambles is still on! Thank you for sharing your journey with us – your latest work is fantastic. Will you be sharing a new self-portrait with us soon?
Whoaa!!!
This one looks really nice. You are the master of value studies!!! 🙂
Paul, I would very much like to read the steps of the ‘Iron’ the way you’ve written for your other works, if you journaled it.
Mariano, no need to apologise. I welcome that kind of feedback.
Sean, Maryam and Lynda, thanks. It’s good to be back posting again.
Lynda, I’m just working on still lifes at the moment. So just more pictures of fruit and old bits of tat for a while I’m afraid 🙂
Kai, thanks very much. But if you want to see some work by a real master of values, have a look at Kate Sammons’ work, linked in the post above. I have a long way to go yet.
Helen, I didn’t do a ‘step by step’ of this one. They’re quite time consuming to do, but I plan to do one of the painted version of this piece. I’m just working on a study for it at the moment, so watch this space.
Thanks again to everyone who’s posted and welcomed me back. I confess I’ve been quite touched by the response.
nice to see you back, Paul. Good to know you haven’t given up on the drawing bug… have you been doing any Cafe Sketches lately?
Paul, have you looked into the Florence Academy of Art? google it, and check out the work, its very you. I applied and got an offer which im taking up next year hopefully.
Its all done through sight size and life study, with an intensive drawing program.
wish me luck!
Verity
Hi Thomas, how’s your work going? Drop me a line when you have a mo and tell me what you’ve been up to. Are you still working on the Loomis head stuff? I’m planning a post on that soon, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not quite as useful as I first thought.
Hi Verity. Oh, to study in Florence! I’ve only been once, it’s a beautiful city and I’d love to go back. But at the moment I can barely afford my paint. I do like the look of the Angel Academy though. W.H. Pattersons, a gallery in London, has a yearly show of work from there. It’s impressive stuff.
I certainly do wish you luck. Congratulations. I’d be very interested to hear how you get on there – weekly updates please! 🙂
Paul, I was reading your post again and I kept trying to remember why your comment of ‘playing value like a musical scale’ kept drawing my attention. I just remembered a book I had of Carl Sagan’s called the “Cosmos” For the first time I understood color after reading his explanation that sound and color are on opposite ends of the spectrum but were still the same spectrum.Or that they were different degrees of vibration of the same wavelength. I’m not explaining it well, but my point is, that from your comments about playing value like music tells me you are extremely close to what you are looking for.(I’m not sure if Carl Sagan was known in England, but he was head of the NASA Science Division in the USA for years and had the highest IQ of his time.)
I discovered your site a few months ago and was wowed by it. Not only the art work, but the concept behind it. I too struggle with self doubt and a desire to create. Thank you so much for starting this site, you have no idea how inspirational it is to me.
Hey Paul,
This new drawing is great.
I think your comment about getting a drawing right, such as in a study as this is very important.
The illusion of space being created in such a drawing as this is very well done, even if you think you can not hit all the values of what you saw in nature.
That’s the idea to me to translate nature into a good picture. You can’t make it exactly as you said due to the limitations of the medium.
What you have done is created a very fine picture that has balance and light effect, and accurate representation of the forms and so on.
I don’t think one ever really copies myself. I think our minds are to subtle to do this. It might look this way to a layman but it’s not photorealism.
delighted to see you posting again. the drawing is fabulous! looking forward to seeing more posts.
I love the new site! (And, need I add, your work as well.) It’s wonderful to read these comments, Paul. I’ll come back here often. 🙂
Firstly, William from Belgium, sorry I missed your comment before. Yes, there will be more work and I plan to do more step-by-step posts. But I don’t do tips, it’s the basic principles that matter. I know, I’m always saying that 🙂
But please bear in mind that my posts are not necessarily intended as advice on how to do things, they’re more of a running record of how I’m working at the moment. An excellent resource that contains advice from people far more experienced than me is the Rational Painting forum
Betsy, thanks. I think we all struggle sometimes if we care about what we do. I’m just daft enough to put it all on the web. Part of the reason I started this site was that I was tired of looking at artists’ online portfolio sites which just left me with a lot of questions. I wished that someone would put up nuts and bolts descriptions of how they went about doing what they did. So I thought I might as well do it myself. If it helps you, directly or otherwise, I can wish for no more than that. Thanks.
Hi Jeff – is that Mr. Freedner by any chance? Good comments, I agree with what you say. It’s gutting sometimes when you’ve done what you think is a pretty decent piece of work and someone says “That looks just like a photograph.” Many of the paintings in the BP portrait award this year looked just like photographs – because they were copied from photographs. Where’s the input from the painter? I want to feel that there’s a thinking, feeling human being behind a piece of work, not a mechanical copier. For that job we have – mechanical copiers. I know the photograph comment is well meant however, I think we all get it sometimes. I just wish people would say “That looks real” instead. As well as the values, the edges in this drawing deviated a fair way from what I saw. A painting or a drawing is a world unto itself, with it’s own laws, on a two dimensional plane. If the subject is copied too faithfully, it will lack life and certainly depth, in my opinion.
I think accuracy, in terms of the drawing out, should not be seen as an end itself either. The point of it, for me, is that it trains your observation like nothing else. This is another point I wish I’d understood earlier. Of course it depends on what kind of work you want to do, but I believe that observation is the bedrock everything. Something happens in that last 20% of effort required to get a drawing as accurate as you can. I think of it as increasing the resolution of your eye. Perhaps a better way to put it is that you force your brain to process more of the information that your eyes are giving you, more than you normally would. I believe that real progress comes from stretching that skill. The hardest part of learning to draw and paint is to break out of the normal, cursory way we have of looking at the world. The hardest part is the seeing.
Ujwala, hi.Long time no write! Hows things with you? How is your work going?
Hi Linda, nice to see you here. Glad you like the spinky spanky new site. Have you noticed it downloads faster? That’s because the background is now British racing green 😉 I’ve put you in my resources section by the way. Everyone, go and have a look at Linda’s beautiful paintings, and check out her links to other artists while your there. Except the blog by that Paul Foxton bloke, that’s one’s rubbish.
HE’s BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-):-)
Welkom terug,(welcome back)
Your back! I’ve checked back often wondering when you might return. Your off to an awesome start with your latest project. And your on the right track, capturing the light is all about value relationships. I’ve been on the self taught track myself for 2 years until recently. My first project under my new teacher was a value study on toned paper. In the past I never would have believed I could have made raw toned paper act as a highlight and look bright white, but as I soon learned I could by duplicating the relationships between values rather than the values themselves. So it is great your already thinking this way, I’ll be checking back for updates!
Paul, glad you came around to continuing your blog. You never fail to be an inspiration to a student artist like me. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for your feedback Paul.
You are right about the “tips”, drawing and painting is a matter of hard work and requires a lot of perseverance. And I completely agree with the approach proposed. But on the other hand, it feels good to learn from the experience of others.
I usually never recommend books. Too many books on drawing and painting have already been written by people who are far from experts. And books cannot replace practice. But this is one on drawing and oil painting everybody should have in his library, written by a true master: Solomon J Solomon (published in 1914!). It can be found by clicking on the following link: http://internet.is/b22/books/default.html
See also http://www.painting-technique.com/
The method proposed by SJS is very similar to the one followed by Harold Speed in his book on painting. One of the advantages of this book is that it is very pratical and discusses several drawing and painting techniques. Just take a look at it, you won’t be dissapointed.
I recently looked at several paintings by Henry Raeburn, George Romney and Joshua Reynolds. It seems to me they all followed the same technique, which is also used by Harold Speed and Solomon J. Solomon.
I look forward to seeing more work of you Paul, congratulations once more.
William
Nice to see paintings that show quality. Have you ever used the Maroger Medium? I make it and have used it for over 55 years. It’s great.Contact me if you wish to know more about it. Looking forward to see more of your work.
If anyone could do meaningful work in black and white for a lifetime and pull it off I think you could.
This piece is very fresh and alive.
Again, thank you for the inspiration.
(-:
all the best, jp.
Great work! The chiaroscuro is handled well.
A constructive critique:
Compositionally, the work has problems. I don’t think you have emphasized a focal point well enough. The iron and the fabric are rendered with a uniform amount of detail and refinement. It is slightly overwhelming for the viewer and doesn’t establish a point of focus for the eye. Also, the fabric that recedes into the background takes a sharp turn upward across the backdrop. This is slightly distracting visually, and creates a peculiar image like the cloth is flying away.
Despite these minor issues, I think the drawing is a real success.
Hi René, Nice to hear from you. Good to see that you’re still working too.
Hi Aaron, interesting comment. Value compression isn’t accorded the importance it deserves a lot of the time I think. Who are you studying with? I’d love to hear more about what you’re doing. Drop me a line.
Hi Ettienne. How is your study in Malta going? Are you still at college?
William, thanks very much for the link to the Solomon book. I’ve heard favourable mention of it before so I’ll grab a copy and have a look.
Hi Walt. yes, I have used Maroger, and still do sometimes, mostly for sketches. I get on well with it, but at the moment I’m generally just using a mixture of stand and turps, which works nicely too. Smoother than Maroger, without the texture, but slower drying and easier to handle for that reason I think. I tend to work in long, slow sessions now, and Maroger dries a bit too fast for that.
Hey JP – would that be Mrs. Pohl by any chance? Thanks for the nice comment. It’s nice to hear that a drawing that took over three weeks can still look fresh 🙂 Hope you’re well and still working.
Nick, thanks very much for the crit, much appreciated. I see what you’re saying about the uniform level of finish and lack of focal point. Hopefully that will be at least partly solved in the painting because the iron is pretty much the only area of colour – or at least, the highest chroma will be there. I just finished a colour study of it which I’ll hopefully post later today. The flying cloth, well, you might have a point there too. But I like it like that 🙂
You obviously have experience and a good eye. I’d like to chat more, drop me a line.
I found the site a while back and linked it to mine- i was worried that you had stopped too. Glad to see you post and what a great value study to come back with!
Paul, the site looks great and the drawing is breathtaking–three weeks’ work! But it doesn’t look over-labored, every wisp of light is in the right place. I scanned the comments and agree that when you bring this scrutiny to the figure and portraiture, you might have a hankering to hasten to Florence to spend time in the atelier.
Thanks again for coming back online. Yours is most interesting site I read, a unique and generous contribution.