Silverpoint

Drawing student Courtney Klingensmith is learning to draw with silverpoint, and we spent the morning yesterday preparing some papers with a traditional silverpoint ground.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to write a little about this ancient drawing medium.

Silverpoint was the medium used to draw fine line drawings before graphite pencils were invented.  Many Renaissance drawings were done in silverpoint or "metal point" on tinted papers, with some areas heightened with white tempera to strengthen the lights.

Here is an example by Filippino Lippi, from the collection of the British Museum.

  Silverpoint is unsurpassed as a medium for fine delicate lines, used in a hatching technique.  This drawing by Raphael is a beautiful example.

In order to draw in silverpoint you need a stylus, which is basically a silver wire or rod inserted in a holder of some kind.  When I first started drawing in silverpoint, I used a cheap mechanical pencil into which I inserted a section of silver wire I purchased from a local jeweler.  It was held in place with a little wad of kneaded eraser.  Now one can buy very nice products from the people at the "Silverpoint Web."  Here is a link to their online store if you want to take a look at their collection of silverpoint drawing tools.
http://www.silverpointweb.com/catalog.html

You also need to prepare your paper to "grab" the silver line.  There are many ways to prepare your paper - the easiest is to buy some Golden silverpoint ground, available at art stores.  It is an acrylic based ground, and it is what Courtney used for her first silverpoint drawing. 

The Golden ground is quite aggressive - making nice dark lines with very little effort.  It is not erasable, however, making the process a little intimidating.

I did this drawing of Dall Sheep on a traditional zinc white and rabbitskin glue ground using a recipe that creates a somewhat "soft" ground that allows you to sand out mistakes.  (Sorry about the poor quality of the photo...)

Courtney and I spent the morning on Friday preparing some paper with this traditional ground, and she will be experimenting to see which she prefers. 

Another beautiful feature of silverpoint drawings is that they "tarnish" over time and the lines turn a warm brownish color that is very mellow and lovely.

Class Schedule

To all students of the Classical Art Academy:

Classes resume next week, be there or be square! 

Monday  January 4 6:00 p.m.  to    8:30   p.m.  Drawing Fundamentals
Tuesday  January 5 9:00 a.m.  to  11:30 a.m.    Drawing Fundamentals
Tuesday  January 5 12:00 noon to 2:30  p.m.    Exploring Painting
Tuesday  January 5  3:00  p.m. to  5:00   p.m.  Anatomy - no model
Weds      January 6  9:00 a.m.  to 11:30 a.m.    Exploring Painting
Weds      January 6  1:00 p.m. to    4:00 p.m.   Advanced Oil Painting
Weds      January 6  6:30 p.m. to    9:30 p.m.   Portrait Practice with Model
Thurs      January 7  9:00 a.m. to  12: 00 p.m     Anatomy with model
Sun         January 17  all day 9 - 4                    Portrait workshop

Happy New Year

The start of a new year is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions.  Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.

-Mark Twain

Illustrated Letter Challenge

I want to thank and congratulate Courtney Klingensmith for honoring me as the recipient for her illustrated letter.  Inspired by the Charlie Russel show, Courtney wrote me a letter illustrated with a bison skull, drawing of the Denver Art Museum, sketch of a Beardsley painting, and a wonderful botanical illustration of some Johnny Jump-Ups. 

Thank you Courtney - so charming!!!

New Year's Resolutions

OMG is it that time again?  The last day of 2009 is upon us, providing yet another opportunity to ponder deeply about art.  (I know, you do it every day, but bear with me...)

I encourage everyone to come up with a one-year and a 5-year goal for their art, and to write it down.  You may keep it to yourself, but we will take a few minutes in class for those willing to share their aspiration.  It doesn't have to be anything grand, for example, my one year goal is to figure out how to produce archivally sound encaustic paintings that are larger than 12" x 16."

To inspire you, here are some snippets of "advice to young artists"  from  Southwest Art's 2008 "Legends of Fine Art" article:

David Leffel:  Learn to love to learn to paint.

Clark Hulings:  Stay in school and study as much drawing and basic painting as you can manage.

Howard Terpning:  Learn the craft and don't worry about making a lot of money.  If you do good work  and work very very hard, success will follow.

G. Harvey:  Being an artist is a one man business, and you have to dig deep and have that desire and passion to do your very best.

Fran Larsen:  Fran's professor told her that the act of creativity is the application of the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.

Richard Schmid:  Besides getting the best classical training possible, never compromise, and never listen to the critics!

Richard Greeves:  Don't think you know how to do it too quickly.  You need time in the harness.

John Asaro:  Just pursue your dream.  Do things that make you happy if you can afford to do it.

Alyce Frank:  Just keep painting.  Work, work, work. 

James Bama:  Get good training and learn to draw.  It starts with drawing.  Then work 17 hours a day.

Merill Mahaffy:  Go to an art school as opposed to a college or university program.  The difference is you are learning art theory at college, but when you go to an art school, you are learning how to draw.

Roy Anderson:  Draw. And draw from life.

Kenneth Bunn:  Draw continually, to teach your hand to do what your eye sees.

Phyllis Capp:  Hear your own song. 

Don Crowley:  Never give up, and never put out anything that you don't think is your very best work; if it sells, you'll regret it.

Robert Daughters:   Keep your nose to the grindstone and always try to do the next painting better.  Really study and try to improve yourself constantly.

Kenneth Riley:  There are no shortcuts.  Learn to draw, draw, draw.  Study the greats of art history, but be yourself; don't be an imitator.

Robert "Shoofly"  Shufelt:  Disciplined work habits make a career.  Build upon strengths instead of resting on them.  Don't get too comfortable.  The goal is to keep talent developing throughout a long career.

Jim Reynolds:  Take your time.  Make sure you know your subject matter.  Make a lot of quick sketches.  Study light.  Without it there is nothing to look at.  Don't look for overnight success; work hard and earn it.

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So... give it some thought, dear students.  What do you want the next year to look like?

Whose portrait is it anyway?

Last night was the final portrait practice drawing session for the year.  It was a freezing cold night, with snow and ice on the roads, so it was not surprising that half the group was missing.  The few hardy souls who did show up to feed their addiction were treated to our wonderful model, Dan. 

You may remember Dan as the model who can hold a Mona Lisa smile for 3 hours straight.  He is a gentleman with manners from a bygone era.   He always models in a camel colored sportcoat and bola tie,  with an expression of poingnant "remembrance."  I find it enchanting, and I wonder who he is and what his life has been like.

I have painted Dan at least 5 times, and last night I gave him one of the paintings as a gift.  He was very surprised and pleased, and kept looking at the portrait during breaks.  He finally said to me that there was something about it that reminded him of when he was about 10 years old.  I must have channeled his life somehow ...  what a mysterious connection there is between artist and model.

Here is a very poor black and white photo of last night's painting of Dan.  I was trying to take a color photo of the painting this morning and managed to drop it between a wall and an unmoveable shelving unit.  Never fear, though, I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a "gopher" grabber wand.  Rescue will be attempted tomorrow.

A new blue pigment has been synthesized

Thanks to Amanda for alerting me about this wonderful new discovery - a stable high chroma blue has been created from manganese-containing oxide heated with white yttrium oxide and pale yellow indium oxide.

Hopefully the pigment will be produced for the fine art market in the near future.  We can use all the blues we can get!

Click here for the full article from NYTimes.com

The article was not written for artists, so it didn't say wether it is a cool or a warm blue (imagine that...), so I  am going to take this opportunity to talk about the blues we have:

-Ultramarine - a warm blue, useful for mixing violets;
-Phthalocyanine blue - (sometimes called GS for green shade) - cool, very powerful tinting strength, great for mixing greens and turquoises; when mixed with white it makes Cerulean "Hue";  There is a Phthalocynaine blue RS (red shade) that is more violet;
-Cobalt Blue - Primary blue, usually a little on the warm side;
-Prussian Blue - very similar to Phthalo - cool, sometimes turns "bronze;"
-Manganese blue - ice blue, unfortunately not available to artists anymore because the mining process is very polluting;
-Cerulean blue - a weak tinting strength light value cool blue.  Very useful for flesh tones.
- Black is a blue;
-White is a blue;

What will the new blue be?