Day 29

Another Rockwell. It started off strong, but it really tapered off towards the end. I ran out of time and work has been really stressful, so once again, my work lags behind. I think this blog will be a study of my frustration with work and how my art suffers... Not that I really believe copying section of other people's paintings is art, but you know what I mean. I'm using the term loosely...

Day 28

Another Norman Rockwell. I still am so impressed with this guy. This is one of the earliest images I remember seeing for some reason.

Day 27

Another little Norman Rockwell study...

Day 26

This another Norman Rockwell. I just can't believe how good this guy is. The subtlety he conveys is just brilliant! This is a section of his At The Breakfast Table. This is considered his "divorce" painting. Check it out, if you're bored out of you mind ever

Day 25

A section of, in my opinion, the best Norman Rockwell painting Breaking Home Ties

Day 24

Another Norman Rockwell study...

Day 23 (Detail)

The first blog looks a little weird. Here's a closer shot...

Day 23

Here's my drawing for the day. I did another Norman Rockwell study. Man, that guy was good and he gets no credit!

Day 22

Here is my drawing for the day. It's a section of a Norman Rockwell painting. I took out the girl holding the doll for time and it was slightly more interesting, too.

Day 21

This is the hardest face I think I have ever attempted (I'm still not happy with it, but I'm willing to cut my losses with it). Her head is tilted at a subtle angle, and she's making a awkward look on her face. Thanks a lot Jon Singer Sargent! Ya jerk! Probably renowned as the greatest artist to walk the planet. However, I think that J.W. Waterhouse might have him beat technically, but not as well known for some reason. Check out both artists!

Day 20

Blah...

Day 19

Here's the drawing for today. It's Gustav Klimt's Judith I. It's a great painting. It's as haunting as it is beautiful. When I first saw my wife, I thought she looked familiar, and then I realized it's because she kind of resembles Judith I. Not that my wife is any kind of haunting...

This, to me, is one of his greatest paintings. It shows what he is fully capable of. His style is very unique - strong geometrical design juxtaposed with soft organic shapes flowing throughout. All of his paintings are incredibly interesting and unique. Which is weird because Gustav Klimt himself was known for being incredibly boring. There was a quote from one of his friends saying, "the only interesting thing about him is his hair" (which in modern days would be considered something like the start of a "comb-over")

In Austria, Gustav was a very big deal. He painted murals in the Vienna art school that were mostly destroyed by Adolf Hilter years later. Hilter wanted to be an artist more than anything (he was a decent watercolor artist actually... not that I'm trying to compliment the guy...). Rumor has it that he snapped after not getting excepted into the school for the second time. Since he was out of options, he decided to try the army, and...and well, you all know waht happened after that. So after his rise to power, one thing on his agenda was to ruin the Gustav Klimt murals... in addition to numerous pieces of priceless art - like a good portion of Monet's paintings. The Nazi's occupied Monet's house and used his paintings to set the soldier's boot on. What a bunch of swell guys!

Anyways, here's my cheap rip off for today

Day 18

Here's the drawing for the day... similar to yesterdays. This a photo taken by Maxfield Parrish for one of his paintings...

Day 17

I'm pretty pleased with this drawing. It's a portrait of one of favorite artists, Maxfield Parrish. A truly brilliant artist. Do yourself the favor and google this guy. How he works with color is beyond unique. However, this painting is not a self-portrait, it's a portrait from an artist named Kenton Cox. It was done in 1905...

Day 16

Hey Gang,

Sorry the flash is so weird on this one. It really bleach out the lower section. I should have just retaken the picture, but I'm reading to go home. So yeah, here is my sad attempt at the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is one of those paintings that is such a part of our culture that everyone is so familiar with her bone structure, so if you're off by a fraction of a centimeter in any direction with any facial feature, people can tell right away. So, as you can see, I'm off quite a bit.

People think that the Mona Lisa is an epic painting because of how technically superior it is to any other painting. People think there are all these hidden meanings behind her eyes or her smile. Not true. This painting has just been the focus of vandalism an theft for over a hundred years while at the Louvre. It started with an angry Italian guard who felt that France should not own art from an Italian painter. He felt it belonged to Italy. So one day, he stole it! It appeared years later only to be victim of different attempts to destroy it. Weird, eh?

Day 15

Here are some new drawings. I had a little extra time these past few days, so I decided to add them all today. These are all Odd Nerdrum studies. If the eyes are crooked or asymmetrical, its a safe bet that it's Odd Nerdrum.

Day 14

Here is the drawing for the day. I wanted to try something a little different. My last few drawings were more loose in the technical approach. I really wanted something more design-based. I always like changing up my technique, especially when I feel that I'm getting sloppy. My last few drawings, I felt, were getting sloppy. However, the Leonardo Da Vinci study I did last, reminded me how simple shapes done well can make the greatest impact. So after I thought about that a little, I went to the master of simple shapes - Mucha. He was the Art Nouveau poster child. Everything we know about this style pretty much starts with him. He was a true master of putting the right simple shape in the right place and making it look incredibly difficult and sophisticated.

Sophisitcated - Yes...incredibly difficult - No, not really. You have to have good muscle memory. And by that, I mean your hand has to know what line your are going to draw and quickly as your brain does. Think of it like your cell phone - when you get a new cellphone, you have no idea how to get your voicemail or how to text when you first get it, but by the end of the first month, you can literally do it without looking. Why is that? Because you have typed hundreds of emails/texts using the same buttons over and over again and your fingers has become a human sensory organ. Your fingertips know exactly what they are doing. You know how many clicks it takes to get to a certain letter, or the sequence of words from the pattern you typed in with T9, or if you have the Iphone (shameless plug), you know the feeling of hitting the top right part of the letter without hitting other incorrect letters next to it. If you think about it, you are pretty talented in that department. You have upwards to 26 buttons in an area smaller that 3 inches. You are very good with detail.

... ok, now bringing it back to art, there are only 4 kinds of lines: vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and curved - That's it! Everything can fit into those categories. All you have to do is decide what kind of lines they are, and use your texted fingers and brain to draw it in the right place. It's that simple! And yeah, you have to draw as many times as you text. Draw a hundred circles, see if you are good at it - if so, draw a hundred more, if not - draw 1000 more.

I did this drawing with that concept in mind. I started with simple circles and build off of them. If you can see up close, you'll see this drawing is very basic. It just had the genius of Mucha behind it all making brilliant decisions on where to put these simple shapes.

That's creative part. Where do you put the shapes? It's like with a great writer, they use the same words we know and use, but how is it that they are published? It's where they arrange the words that makes the difference - much like a musician.

Day 13

Much to my wife's chagrin, I did another drawing today...I tried a painting, but I have to just realize watercolors just aren't my thing...

So I did a study from a Leonardo Da Vinci painting. I like this one because of the little ferret guy she is holding. This one was very fun to draw. The camera flash did something weird to the picture by casting this monochromatic red over everything. I though I'd keep it since it was a little bit of a departure from the usual and it kind of looks like the early studies of Leonardo Da Vinci...

Day 12

Here is the drawing for the day. The drawing is another real subtle value study. She is very lightly complected and in very soft lighting. I'm fairly pleased with this one. The real test of quality is how it looks in the thumbnail. This one looks okay.

My goal is to get to the painting one step at a time. I will not have time to do that until the holidays are over. But if you guys are still interested, I'll definitely do that...

Day 11

Here is the new drawing for the day. I actually had some fun with this one. I forced myself to slow down and not rush it.

I'm glad I'm making a priority of this daily drawing stuff. It is helping me get more discipline one some level.

Watercolors are incredible versatile when you slow down and take the time to learn the language. Let your layers dry!!!

And whatever you do, don't trace...No matter how easy it sounds or how you think no one will ever find out. We will find out!!!!

Day 10

Well, I figure if I'm only going to have a few minutes to work on these drawings, I should probably go back to the pencil for now. The last watercolor almost ruined my night. I actually had a dream about it last night. Anyway, here is a drawing of Dr. Margaret Handy, a friend of Andrew Wyeth. She looks like a crazy albino Native American lady...or a transvestite in Antony in the Johnsons. Her eyes actually look like that, it's not my lack of rendering. She has an interesting bone structure that was relatively easy. Her light complexion made it interesting to find the values. The three values were: white, light white, and medium white. Very subtle!

I'm fairly pleased with this one, especially after yesterday! Shheeesh!!!

Day 9

Well, it just keeps getting worse for me. Once again, had about 15 minutes to this at the end of an 11 hour day of work. I doesn't seem like I will find the time to do this right. So in the mean time, here is a watercolor scribble...

Day 8 Part Deux

Ok, I had to quickly try to do another one...

Day 8

Ha ha...ok, so my return from a 10 year break from watercolor proves that it's not like riding a bike. This is a good spot to start. Hopefully each day improves. I'm interested in turning the daily drawing painting thing into oil painting. It's a process that I don't want to force. Oil is not something you want to rush. So I might do the steps involved in completing a finished oil painting - from the first brush stroke to the last. Would that be interesting? I'm not sure if it is... but I might try it once I do a few more watercolors.

Day 7

So, I'm a little late today. Things have been busy here at the office. I only have about 15 minutes for this drawing...and once again, not happy with it. I'm going to try to remain critical without launching a hundred invites to my pity party. I really see how, if I'm busy or stressed out work, my drawings suffer.

This is a drawing done from a photograph taken of Andrew Wyeth. It's a very interestingly lit portrait that really emphasizes his white hair contrasting with his dark skin. Pretty great little image.

I need to start spending more time on these drawings. I need to work with color. I set my palette up for water colors last night, so I'm ready to paint tonight. And I also need to draw/paint from life. These are the goals, friends...these are goals, but I'm sure I'll be doing another lame black and white portrait of someone else's artwork.

Better luck tomorrow...

Day 6

Ok, today has been a frustrating day. Just one of those days where nothing seems to work out. So it would make sense that my drawing is terrible. This is the first drawing in years that I have had to erase and start over. I felt stressed out during the whole process. I did a study from a Richard Schmid painting. He's a brilliant painting that should not be copied I've decided after today. He's too good.

This was a day that I should not have drawn at all, however, after taking the weekend off, I had to do something. My goal is to not do studies from all the art books I have acquired in the past. However, I don't have the time or resources to find models to sit for me. So, i guess I will just doing second-rate studies and complain about.

I hate this drawing

Day 5

Today I am still doing Andrew Wyeth studies. It appears I'm in profile mood. These two people were friends of Mr. Wyeth. I get the feeling the first guy was local town creep. The second picture is of a lady who used to work for him. He criticizes her as being a mysterious liberal who sat "completely within herself...like a liberal" while he painted her.

Not sure what that means...

Anyways, to finish my previous blog, Wyeth's palette was very surreal to me. His rendering was very realistic, but he maintained a unique sense of color. Everything was a deep sepia type tone. To me, he makes Eastern Pennsylvania look very mysterious - almost scary at times. For a home-schooled, son of an artist who illustrated for magazines and children's stories, he is a pretty haunting guy...

Yeah, check out his dad too, N.C. Wyeth. He's a very talented illustrator. He knew all the tricks for applying paint, as well as, capturing an image to get people's attention. He was a student of Howard Pyle at the Brandywine Art School. He's worth checking out too...

Day 4

This is a study of Andrew Wyeth's "Maga's Daughter." This is a portrait of his wife, Betsy. Rumor has is, she hated this painting because of the hat he made her wear. She had red cheeks because of how embarrassed she was while she was sitting for him.

I didn't have a bunch of time today to work on multiple drawings, so I spent a little extra time into this one. I'm a little more happy with this one than drawings in the past. Proportions are decent in this, and the edges are ok. I really should have spent the time to put this one in color. Wyeth has such a way of working with a color palette that is all his own...and no one is really reading this, so I'm just going to blah, blah, blah....

With a little help from my little friend

We a little cat named Steve...Steve Shreve to be exact. He loves food, my wife, anything that moves, and apparently people who copy other artist...

Thanks, Steve

Day 3

Still continuing working on Odd Nerdrum paintings. If you have not checked him out, do yourself the favor. He is one of the most unique painters today. Which is surprising considering he is "ripping off" Rembrandt. He does manage to add a sense of humor or a sense of fear.

The first painting was a very difficult one. The angle he selected is an extremely tough one. I love this painting because the couple looks like the couple has suffered a painful death, but the title of the painting suggests they are only sleeping.

The middle painting is also a unique piece. He has a very proud one-armed mother, who is apparently and archer as well. The lighting on this one is so unusual. She is almost spotlit from her right shoulder up to her jaw. Typically, people are lit from the forehead down. The glow of the material on her attire case some very interesting reflective light back into her face.

The third drawing is from a series of baby paintings he has done. They all look identical to this (slight differences in the facial features of the baby), and they all have sausage ends where their feet should be (the photo I took cut the sausage end off, and I'm too lazy take another photo of it, so just take my word). A pretty funny, gross way to portray a baby.

Day 2

Here are 3 more drawings. Not too pleased with them, but they were good practice. I really don't like the middle one (though, the eyes are actually supposed to be crooked like that). It still isn't what I was hoping for, but hey, you move on, I guess. The other two are ok. I feel a little happy with some value changes, but my edges need work. All-in-all...not too bad for doing then in about 30 minutes.

I'll slow down and spend time on just one for tomorrow...

Thanks to my four fans!

Still day one, but I did some more drawings

I should probably be spacing these out in case I skip a day...who would ever know? Oh well, here's two other drawings. They are also Odd Nerdrum studies. I will be doing quite a few studies of his work, since he using the best lighting, as well as the ugliest models possible...

And for some reason, I can't seem to draw the eyes level on here. They both are a little crooked. The bottom one is supposed to be, but the terrible job on the top one, makes them both look even worse...

sorry friends, sorry I am limiting myself to about 30 minutes per drawing. So, yeah, parts of them are going to suck...

I will fix the eyes in the future.

This is also a reason why I'm doing a drawing a day. I have really become a terrible draftsman. I really need to practice. I haven't drawn or painted in months.

Try out the the real Odd Nerdrum. He's like Rembrandt, without all that Rembrandt getting in the way.

Day 1

Hello fans of my blog!...Yes, both of you!

I'm going to try to update a drawing every day. I have been inspired by my friend, Joshua Langlais. He has been working on his project www.iheartstrangers.com for a little over a year now. He has taken a photo of a stranger everyday for over a year now. I'm going to try to borrow a little of his motivation and dedication.

...so we'll see

Here is my first drawing of the project. It's an Odd Nerdrum study.

My First Blog

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