Dallas World Aquarium
Emerald Tree Boas
Saturday, May 10th, 2008
A couple of years ago when this painting was in a more painterly state - rougher lines, lots of brushstrokes visible - I entered it in an art competition and was told by a juror that paintings of animals and creatures are not considered as Fine Art. That’s a matter of personal opinion, but it made me ask the question for the first time, “What is Fine Art anyway?”. I thought I knew. Is in finer?
Is Fine Art limited to certain subjects? That’s news to me. I see Art under one roof of creativity and find it hard to compartmentalize, so learning how others perceive it urges me to dig deeper and try new things that might improve my own. This person is probably more technical judge and collector than a painter - creating work and judging it afterward are entirely different points of view. Entering work in competitions is valuable experience, and others speak the truth..it may be their truth, but still, if it makes you question that’s a good thing.
The skin colors and patterns of the Emerald Tree Boas are amazing, and because it has so many details that are a part of its’ character it’s the perfect painting to continue working on and go for more accurate and finer representation than usual… but not Photo-Realism. Compared to the main subject, the background has been more of an effort, and that’s where most of the attention is going now.
From start to finish the process of painting is so much like music, where there are periods of painting and not painting that contribute to the whole. Some paintings take one day and some take a few years before they’re fully realized. Every painting reaches stages where we make decisions to leave it alone or proceed; where just placing one more mark can mean the entire painting has to change and be brought up to par around it. If in doubt it’s sometimes best to leave it for a while, and start or finish another.
The changing state of The Oceans
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Bull Sharks swim overhead in a 40 foot long tunnel in the main floor Mundo Maya exhibit at the Dallas World Aquarium.
Environmental issues are emotional issues. Groups like Greenpeace work aggressively to protect the future of our planet. It’s one way to get the point across, but if we’re talking about changing the habits of the masses, I believe a more gentle approach is in order. As one who was most assertively involved promoting care for the planet about 15 years ago, first-hand public reactions and feedback demonstrated that negativity toward the human species does not inspire or motivate most of us to take action; in fact it can be detrimental to the cause.
Not to be passive by any means, there are small things the average consumer can contribute at any level, practices which, by now most of us are aware of. Appreciation for nature is encouraged via zoos and public gardens, plus the excellent TV programs on the Discovery Channels for example, progressively spawning a keener awareness of ourselves in relation to the Earth and its creatures.
A care-full outlook about life in general automatically changes our attitude toward participating in daily gestures like recycling. We start incorporating regular habits of being mindful to reduce the amount of packaging we buy, plus reuse items or fix them instead of replacing them.
For information about the changing state of the oceans, here is a link to a petition gathering support to increase marine reserves.
Jabiru
Friday, September 1st, 2006
Jabiru - 24 x 18 pencil, eraser on paper
Drawings have a job to do: to provide viewers with more than just a pretty picture.
Before starting I envisioned a drawing based on Japanese principles of using fewer lines and shading, with empty spaces considered as much a part of the drawing as every mark. Here’s what I learned through the process of this drawing: When we view Art we do more than just look; we sense character, mannerisms, and emotions… imparted through every little corner of the work, whether we’re aware of it or not, so within the limitations of gray scale in pencil drawing, Artists need to do more than just show. There are tones implied through those tones!
The irony of the lesson is that this uncommon subject, a Jabiru, is not so pretty upon first glance either, and it’s one of the reasons I chose to keep the drawing soft. By purposely compromising the values and using a lighter touch, my hope was that the viewer’s response might be “nice drawing” before thinking “ugly bird”. To explain further, the Jabiru’s feathers are pure white and its head including beak are very dark grey, almost black. The style I was stubborn about from the start: simple with a lot of white space. The media: pencil on white paper. Whereas a photograph utilizes the whole range of dark and light values in a picture, a person drawing needs to choose how much of black, white and gray tones to apply in order to keep pleasing balance visually, but also as importantly: the effect they have on our impressions.
The Jabiru’s huge beak strikes a strong sillhouette by shape alone, so to lessen the impact of the large odd shape on a fairly empty page, extremes were avoided even though “realistically” the bird’s beak is quite dark.
I really want stress here that a drawing is not a photograph, and a photograph is not a drawing. Obvious… you’d think so, but a lot of Artists even believe that every drawing needs to be perfectly realistic. Photographs might be the source of inspiration or for details that memory has missed or forgotten, but never to duplicate. Drawings that are copied attempting to produce an exact visual likeness, relying purely on the photo, lack a certain warmth no matter how well rendered they are. This is a hot topic with Artists, not arising out of elitist attitudes at all, but because Art includes the human factor. A photo is a product of a machine; the visual details are copied with no sense or emotion; it does what it’s been designed to do. Drawings are unique representations of all that we sense as well as see. We interpret character of a subject not only visually, but also through our multidimensional senses and intelligence.