PORTRAIT OF GWENAELLE GLOTIN ARTIST

Uniball pen, watercolor on Canson paper 11" x 15".  Gwenaelle Glotin is a fellow SBS klassmate and artist from Amsterdam.  Previously posted on SBS site.

PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH FLANAGAN ARTIST

Uniball pen, watercolor on Canson paper 11" x 15".  Elizabeth Flanagan SBS artist and Klassmate. Previously posted on SBS site.

PORTRAIT OF JENNIFER RANGER

This portrait is 18"x 24" charcoal on paper of my good friend Vincent Ranger's daughter Jennifer.  It is in his collection.

PORTRAIT OF SUSANNE PINTURA

11" x 15" watercolor on Canson paper.  This is a portrait taken from a photograph posted by SBS klassmate Susanne Pintura.

PAINTED LADY RED AND GREEN SAN FRANCISCO

Uniball pen and watercolor in 8 1/4" x 11" Moleskine sketchbook.  Posted in SBS. (From photograph).

LAWRENCE FERLINGHETTI LOOKS OUT AT CITY LIGHTS

He has owned and operated City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco for over 60 years.  Now in his 90's he still paints, writes and live life to the fullest.  Here is a short video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G963q31ZgBI

DRAWING MY DREAMS

In this dream I'm sitting in a bar with James Joyce and two bored angels. I told him I had to read Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in school, and that I knew June 16th is the day Ulysses took place but I have never read it. Already he is looking around to find someone else to talk to. I'm just another pest who thinks they can come up to someone they don't know and start jabbering away. I see that I'm losing him. So then I drop the bomb. "Hey man," I said, "I've tried to read Finnegan's Wake but let's face it, it's utter crap". With that he turns to me and says "What do you expect? Don't you see my fingers?" I look at his left hand and sure enough, his fingers are melting and rolling down the bar to the floor! I rush to try and somehow scoop up the liquid fingers to save them but I wake up.

Ok...According to scientific research everyone dreams.  But you have to take steps to remember your dreams because they are ephemeral.  Even an intense dream that seems "real" when you wake up at 4:00am can be lost by 6:00am when you get out of bed.  For me the key to remembering my dreams is to keep a small pad of paper and pencil on the nightstand on my side of our bed.  When I wake up from a dream and am still foggy headed I just lean over and jot down single words about the dream.  Then later when I get up and start my day I take this sheet of paper and start writing in my special dream journal everything I remember using the sheet of paper to jog my memory.  You would be astonished by how much comes back to you using this method.  It pours out.  Then if it is a particularly vivid dream, has a special quality or imagery begging to be rendered I try to draw a scene which shows it clearly.  If time permits I draw it right away.  Often I get up early and get at it, but if not I at least have the bedside paper to refresh my memory. Like anything else you have to commit to this practice and develop the habit.

If this is all new for you I recommend you check the library or bookstore for books on dream work.  I started with:
 The Dream Sourcebook by Phyllis Koch-Sheras, Phd. & Amy Lemley 
also very good is:
The Complete Dram Book by Gillian Holloway, Phd

As I got into it I studied Lucid Dreams by Keith Harary,Phd and Pamela Weintraub.  Studying this helps one have more control and active participation in your dream state.

This field of study led me to the realization that dream practice held great potential for my spiritual journey.I reached a point where I tended not to focus on the meaning of my dreams but on the mysterious processes that  underlie the whole of our existence, not only our dreaming life. These days I am slowly working through the book The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. 

As I make progress I will report more in future blog post.  Feel free to comment or ask questions.

MR. HACKWORTH

This painting is 18" x 24" acrylic on canvas of the father in law of  Nancy Hackworth, our wonderful friend and neighbor when we lived on 12th court in North Bend, Oregon.  It was done from a photograph and hangs in Nancy's house.

LLOYD BEIL

This portrait is 18" x 24" oil on canvass of an old friend of mine Lloyd Beil of Portland, Oregon.  Lloyd was a native Portlander who knew all the best places to go and he drove me to all the best art supply stores and frame shops.  I painted this for him as a present for being a great friend.

GRAHAGM KEENE

This portrait was 18" x 24" oil on canvas.  Graham Keene was the brother of Emily, our sweet neighbor who lived across the street from us when we lived on Oak Street in North Bend, Oregon.  They were old family southerners from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  She really knew how to make old fashioned mint juleps with real crushed mint leaves.  Graham worked as an illustrator/animator for Disney for 35 years and gave me great advice about using color.  Both have passed away but we have fond memories of our friendship.

LYNN COHEN ARTIST

Uniball pen and watercolor on 11"x 15" Canson paper.
This is a portrait of artist Lynn Cohen who is a member of the SBS group.  I love her work and learn so much from it.  In SBS we have decided to run things ourselves for a while until the next term begins.  One of the things we are doing is portraits of each other.  This one is based on a photograph she supplied.

PAINTED LADIES

One of these days I'll get around to visiting San Francisco so I can paint these beautiful old Victorian houses in person.  Until then I have to make do with photographs and add my own touch to it.  This was done using a Uniball pen and watercolors in a 8 1/4" x 11" Moleskine sketchbook.

HEIDI LIKAR ARTIST CLOSE UP

This is the photograph of Heidi Likar that I worked from.  I decided early on that I would leave out the camera strap around her shoulders.  If it was important to her I could always add it in later.  I mentioned this in yesterday's post and I want to be more emphatic about it today...when working from a photograph it is important to use Picasa 3 program or any program that allows you to view the photo zoomed in.  You can really see all the little changes in color on an object as the light travels around it then.

I start with the eyes:

 I only adjust the colors if they are too outrageous but I still want to have an exciting colorful look.  The color of her eyeglasses really throw a lot of purple and purple variations out there and that works to bring attention to the eyes.  In this photo Heidi has a strong penetrating gaze. To me that is what makes this pose powerful. As I study the shapes I apply the colors I see.  I sometimes just use my finger to wipe a color that is too strong. I work across to the other side and downward.  It is usually very normal when I paint to loose the likeness of the subject.  It is very important not to get panicky at that point.  What is actually happening is that you are unable to sustain such focused concentration.  I usually just take a break and come back to it.

 Below is the finished drawing. 9" x 12" on watercolor paper.

THE COLORS OF KATE SIMPSON - ARTIST

Uniball pen and watercolors on paper 9" x 12".  Kate Simpson is a klassmate at SBS and her artwork is terrific.  She views my work as "psychedelic" (whatever that is) and that is fine with me.  She called me the "King of Color" which made me laugh.  A few questions from Donna Schulte and other Klassmates were posed as to how I choose to use colors in my art.
I think drawing and painting are the same thing.  So the first part of the process is to draw.  I use the pen which forces me to really spend a lot of time looking.  I spend more time looking then drawing for sure. There is a huge difference between drawing from a photograph and drawing from a live model.  But out of necessity I use photographs and I don't worry about it the way others do.  No big deal.  Relax...
To me getting a likeness is just that.  A likeness.  I like the drawing to RESEMBLE whatever I'm drawing, but it doesn't have to be photo realistic.  That is all about seeing and trying to get the relative shapes fitting together.  In Kate's portrait I just try to make sure one shape is placed correctly next another. When I'm satisfied with the drawing I brake out the watercolor.  I get asked a lot about what brand I use.  Honestly I think as long as you use artist grade instead of student grade they are all great.  One thing I do differently than other water colorists is that I really lay it on thick.  I may put five or more layers on top.  I don't care if the paper wrinkles or warps.  If that is a concern I will use  watercolor block paper. But I like crinkly paper. I can't over emphasize the need for everyone to just have fun and not drive yourself crazy over things like expensive art materials.  For me it's more about no choice but to make the art.  Show up and get it done.  

When I first started reading about watercolor a lot of artists warned of it's "unforgiving nature".  Sounds like a threat, right.  So, what...  if I put down something on watercolor paper and it's "wrong" that's it...I'm doomed?  Bah, I don't by it.  That's too neurotic.  The only thing I guard against is muddying up the colors.  All the rest are happy accidents that are incorporated into the drawing. As long as I try my best then I'm having fun.  I love being in the uncertainty of the moment.  When things are feeling hopeless and I'm falling, then I know I'm ok.  Instead of feeling bad at this moment, I feel good because I know this is the creative process.  It's not accounting for Pete's sake!

In looking at the photo of Kate I view it in the Picasa 3 program.  I zoomed it up to see what colors I see.  When drawing from a photo I try to see how the light travels around the head.  Remember you are not painting Kate's head, eyes, nose, etc.  You are painting the EFFECT of the light spilling over these forms.  For quick fun paintings like this I just use 3 degrees of tonality: Shadow, halftone and light.  David Hockney (I urge you to look at his work) uses various shades of purple for his shadow areas.  So I did this around the eyes, cheeks and chin.  Anywhere I could see shadow (and I squint when I look) I put a mixture of purple, red, burnt sienna.  I use a piece of bristol board paper or watercolor paper to the side and test out how the color mixtures work and look before I put them on the drawing. (Later if it looks wild enough I draw over this test bristol board and get interesting drawings or just utter crap).  I adjust the colors if I have to on the palate or even on the drawing itself.  I don't worry about it looking too neat. After I put in the shadows I repeat the process for the halftones(cheeks, nose, around the mouth) using a basic skin tone formulas of white, cadmium yellow and red.  Then for the highlights I use white and yellow ochre or naples yellow.  On the background I just put down the colors I thought went well against the head and would reflect what I imagine would make the viewer happy.

So for this kind of sketchbook painting I do play with it very loosely, I do go by my mood and improvise a lot.  I'm not trying to duplicate. Rather I'm trying to re-create . I like it loud, bold and happy!

What I do lot of is copy the work of artists whose work I like.  I don't pass it off as my own, of course, but it is a fun way to get used to using the tools and colors.  I recommend the work of Elaine De Kooning, Xenia Hausner, van Gogh, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, David Hockney just to name a few. Some books on color that I use are:

Color Healing by Lilian Verner-Bonds

Colors For Your Every Mood by Leatrice Eiseman

Artist's Color Manual by Simon Jennings

Vincent van Gogh's letters to Theo

I read that Adolf Hitler said "Anyone who sees and paints a sky green and pastures blue ought to be sterilized."  This made me so mad that I have since gone out in total freedom to paint using whatever colors I wanted to! I try to entertain the viewer and make them feel good.

I hope this explains how I use color.  If you have any questions just ask in the comment section and I'll answer them.

VEIL

This was done from a photograph that I saw online.  I used a Uniball vision fine pen and Schmincke watercolors in a Moleskine watercolor album 8 1/4" x 11". Previously posted on Sketchbook Skool.

COLLEY STUDY IN COLOR

You can see from my copying this study by Colley that the Pitt pens have a wide range of color and blend really easily.  Done in the Strathmore sketchbook.

COLLEY STUDIES

People studies copied from Don Colley.  Done in Strathmore sketchbook with Pitt pens.

COPYING MORE DON COLLEY

This sketch is actually a combination of a Don Colley sketch of someone driving and I sketched in a R. Crumb on the phone. Done in a Strathmore sketchbook with Pitt pens and Uniball pen.

STUDYING AND COPYING FROM DON COLLEY

The work of Don Colley is very instructive.  One can learn a lot from his sketches online and also from watching his Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EK4OiwWgU8 
He got me hooked on the Faber-Castell PITT artist pens.  I am patiently waiting for him to return to the Pacific Northwest so that I can attend one of his lectures.

This drawing was done using the Pitt pens in a Strathmore sketchbook.

STUDYING AND COPYING FROM JAMES JEAN'S SKETCHBOOK

James Jean is one of the artists I study.  His work is fantastic, but I have not been caught up in the rush to buy the type of pen that he uses.  I am hooked on my Uniball vision fine pen but I do love Jean's lines.  So I practice in my sketchbook by looking at his sketchbook (PR-3) http://www.jamesjean.com/bound/2010/Process+Recess+vol.+3/1