Saville Drawings

Words of Wisdom

"In the brush doing what it's doing, it will stumble on what one couldn't do by oneself."


--Robert Motherwell (1915 - 1991)

"From the time I was six, I was in the habit of sketching things I saw around me, and around the age of fifty, I began to work in earnest, producing numerous designs. It was not until after my seventieth year, however, that I produced anything of significance. At the age of seventy-three, I began to grasp the underlying structure of birds and animals, insects and fish, and the way trees and plants grow. Thus, if I keep up my efforts, I will have an even better understanding when I am eighty, and by ninety will have penetrated to the heart of things. At one hundred, I may reach a level of divine understanding, and if I live a decade beyond that, everything I paint-every dot and line-will be alive. I ask the god of longevity to grant me a life long enough to prove this true." 

-- Hokusai (1760 - 1849)

Homework # 1

Due Monday, July 4th

Create two drawings, one using additive methods (pencil), the other using reductive methods (charcoal ground and eraser), comprising at least two figures and exhibiting a sense of composition.

• Each drawing must be at least 18" x 24"
• Be sure to tape off edges for clean presentation
• Drawing must be done from observation (no photos)
• Remember to draw from general to the specific... detail is the enemy!
• Always begin with sketches to work out a dynamic composition.
• At its core, composition is nothing more than the arrangement of shapes on a page; not figures, not faces, no the stitching on the tennis shoe of the figure in the background of your drawing, but the interaction of large, general shapes on a piece of paper
• Use quality paper (Rives BFK, Stonehenge, Arches). The reductive technique works best when using char-kole and gum erasers  on heavyweight paper.

Art Blogs to Stalk

Here are some really great art blogs and websites that are constantly showing emerging artists (maybe one day we will see your names?). Be sure to check them out!

Contemporary Art Daily
Art in America
Two Coats of Paint
Anaba
There Were Ten Tigers
(A blog by Alex Ebstein, curator of a local gallery in Baltimore called Nudashank. There are always shows and openings in the city so be sure to let us know if you'd be interested in seeing some!)

One day down, one month to go!

Welcome to Vosseller's Oils class! I hope everyone had a great first day. There was already a ton of improvement from the first drawings you did yesterday and the last ones. Better compositions, better proportions, looser line quality.  The best way to keep getting better is to just practice, practice, practice, so remember to keep your sketchbooks with you at all times and just keep drawing!

I know class was long and jam-packed, but you've already learned some fundamental points about drawing that will be important to keep in mind as we continue working towards actually painting the figure.  Don't forget that a drawing should start at your FEET, and the only way to truly translate what you are seeing from real world into two dimensions is to essentially shut off your brain.  You don't want your brain to interfere by naming every object you are seeing; rather, you are trying to identify both positive and negative shapes.

Andres Zorn "The Toast"

Notice the compositional decisions that Zorn has made -- the large, mostly dark figure in the foreground is balanced by a large white negative space in the upper right hand corner, activating both the areas of detail and "not-detail." The figures in the background also help to draw in the viewer with direct eye contact.

David Hockney "Henry in Candlelight"

Hockney creates a focal point, the figure's head, by treating the face with more detail than any other part of the body and through the strong contrast of the light tones against the small area of darkness. This visual anomaly creates a point of focus. 

Willem de Kooning "Woman"

De Kooning's piece contains much more movement and energy, but even sections of this drawing create the same visual anomaly present in Hockney's piece.  The facial features demonstrate a slowness not present anywhere else, inviting the viewer to spend more time with it.  

Edward Hopper "East Side Interior"

Hopper is great to look at in terms of value and contrast.  He simplifies light and shadow into geometric shapes that create a dynamic composition and relay a sense of longing.

Robert Birmelin "The City Crowd, the Ear"

Don't forget to keep in mind using an interesting point of view, playing with focus and cropping the picture plane to create a certain mood or atmosphere. Birmelin's drawing leaves the viewer feeling tense and uncomfortable.  He merely suggests the figures and landscape and yet our brains fill in the rest and understand the setting completely.

Caravaggio "The Sacrifice of Isaac"

This painting is a great reference when you all begin your (giant!) self portraits.  Before Caravaggio painted in all of the details, he planned out a composition of positive and negative shapes that is active and exciting. The viewer's eye moves along the shape of the angel's arm and Isaac's body and up through the shape of Abraham's knife.  The repetition of the oval (all of the figures' heads) creates a rhythm.

If you're interested in any other slides we looked at today, be sure to look up: Philip Pearlstein, Seurat, Raphael, Rembrandt, Botticelli, Tintoretto, Perugino, Max Beckmann and Richard Diebenkorn.