Centerville Barn, etc.

The "etc." first...is it appropriate for me to post a work here? I'm not sure exactly what we're doing on this site--perhaps just creating something as we go along. At any rate, Mike suggested showing some of what we've been working on, so here's mine.

An explanation: I belong to a site, "Painting Friends," where we're doing an A to Z painting challenge--going through the alphabet and doing a painting, sketch, whatever for each letter. Some years ago I happened to see this great old falling down barn in a side street in Centerville, Utah, and took a few photos (it's been torn down now). The front of the barn had so many great textures: old wood, cement, rock, metal...I believe this is about 8" x 8" and I call it a sketch because it only took a few hours and wasn't intended to be a Great Work of Art. I was criticized for not composing it on an angle (you know the rule--never something face-on). Don't care, though--I'm happy with it!
Susan

Getting Going

Hi Everyone!

I joined up and am enjoying reading the posts from everyone.

My question is, what now?

How about some comments on what you are currently working on?

Maybe some posts of works in progress?

How about some form of designation on our signatures to show we belong to a great group of artists?

Mike, BC, Canada

Stilled Life...

One of the joys of creating is to take plays on words... these are inanimate objects, marbles, yet in the arranging, there is a sense of 'caught in motion' - an essential in this case to showing the theme of mindlessness following one after the other... it is also an example of the minimalist approach to showing the essential point wanted by the artist, removing as such all non-needed distractions such as, in this case, any background, yet grounding it by implication to a drafting table mostly offstage...

My Ink Paintings

Hi there,
I am an artist not a writer. It seems that I am more into ink the past few years; ink and watercolor, ink and color pens (gold and/or silver, often), and so on. I have done some stippling work, but freeform suits me more. For awhile I have been looking at photos and then drawing them, and painting on them; now I am getting more into my own original drawings. If you want to see one of mine, you can go to http://ArtdeMar.nobullart.com. I think that variety is the spice of life, and so that is why I get into different media than just oil or acrylic painting.

Portrait - Pam Dignan

Hello everyone, I have not posted to the blog yet so Here is my first. Tazzy asked me to so I said I would. I wanted to say that I am so glad that this group has formed and I hope that we will be able to move ahead and get to that non-profit status and get some much due respect as artist.

This image is of the last commission portrait that I have just recently finished. The photo was taken of Pam by her then, boyfriend, when she was 16. They were riding in a cable car at the largest amusement park in Ohio at the time called Cedar Point. She said she didn't realize John was taking a photograph of her and only found out later when they were viewing the slides at his home later that month. She said that the photo remains his favorite of her. She is giving the portrait to him as a birthday gift. The day was very over-cast so I had a pretty dark image on the original slide (now 35 years old) to work from. I opened her eyes a bit more and made her hair a bit more full since it was being blown back some by the wind. I delivered the finished drawing to her last week and she loved it. Still waiting to hear what John, her husband, thought of it.

The drawing is 16" x 11" and drawn on Hammer Mill, Acid Free, Heavy Cover Stock for Color Laser Printing. The medium is Staedtler "Triplus" Medium and Fine Point Ball Point Pen. I sealed the drawing when finished with a Cristle Clear Acrylic spray. I had 15 hours in the completion of the drawing. Thanks again for looking and any comments can be left here or at my blog spot www.rural-route-one.blogspot.com

Cheers!

Context in Rendering with Ink...

Believe it or not, that bar in the middle is ALL the same shade - it looks different because it is against the varying background... this is perhaps the most effective way to show how context in rendering is everything in governing the drama which is played out in the black and white universe of pen and ink... if the same intensity of shade changes so much depending on what it is played against, consider how much more the variations which could be involved if that shading itself changed - a whole range of values from the black of night to the white of day - which could be used to serve the purpose of whatever is desired, themewise, to the rendering...

"The Yearning Tree"...

In going back over the prior postings, it came to my attention that, inadvertently, this rendering was NOT posted - so here is the missing work... tho thought of as a painting, it is admittedly more stylized than others, as it seemed best suited for the mood and image being sought to displaying the theme/title...

Backgrounds - or the lack thereof.....

"The Politics of Nature", 20"x30"... how often has one seen pictures of the neighbors talking over the backyard fence, and one figuratively 'sitting on the fence'? does it need anything more to show? would adding anything gain or lose the impact? but, it is being said, there are no persons at the backyard fence - only a couple of vegetations... true, and that is what makes this more than a metaphoric rendering - there is an analogy employed as well, for how much of backyard conversing is anything more than a variation of 'watching the grass grow' or ' watching paint dry'?

But, to get back to the central question, what if anything could be added to this in the way of background which would or could contribute to the theming - so, if nothing, then why have anything... not all renderings require flush-walled rendering to be a complete fine art contemplative work [ note the "Original sin" and "Four bitten Fruit" renderings exampled previously - sure, a lower wall to the ledge could had been added, as another wall behind the whole, but would that have increased the theming, or would it have detracted from what was there?]... note, tho, the "Yearning Tree" rendering, which does have a distant background, and how it coheres everything by being there, and which would be less the rendering for the lack of that background... this is why theming needs be given the thought so rarely given - it makes not only the question of whether to have a background, but often what kind and how much it needs intrude [if any] to the fore to be an integral aspect of the rendering [this same holds true, btw, with portraiture, which is why so often photographers use some bland cloth behind their subjects - anything else intrudes or interferes with the 'main event']...

Imaginating...

"Vaulting", 32"x40"... one of the consequences of theming is the tendency of recognizing that those objects within that universe of the four walls are as such props utilized for presenting the theme/title - and that as such they are not in any way portraits of those specific objects as seen in the world... with this in mind, there is thus less a desire to using specific objects so much as similar 'kinds' of objects, and arranging them according to how they are 'seen' in the mind... this is not something that, of course, happens to all artists, but to those with vivid imaginations, it is a natural result... and the end of it is - a world of one's own, existing only within one's mind, from which all manners of arranging can be made according to how best they 'fill the bill' as it were... here is an example - a series of rock pillars, behind which, in the left, is a sign of life amidst the barrenness, followed in another opening with further signs, and further growth - to the end that on the right is a whole oasis of life... the theme/title utilizes both the 'vault' as a hidden place of value, and as a leaping to from something before [and more, as metaphoric relationships offer, as onions do, many layers to sift thru and contemplate on]...

Portraiture, the Revealing of Character...

Portraiture, as character revealment, has a dual process - on the one hand, this is the artist's understanding of the fundamental of the person being rendered - on the other, this is how the person sees the self, as seen thru the eyes of the artist... they are not the same... sometimes it is the artist who sees more into the character of the person than the person - indeed, most often does, as the person senses so when preferring an artist doing the portraiture than the mere photograph being such...

This is called "Blue Muse", and she is one, if not the most enduring of my muses... there is an intensity of her which captivates the desire of tremendous pleasuring, not just of her but of the rendering - whichever one it may be she oversees... her wildness is invigorating, and lasts long into the night - until, exhausted, I am spent, unable to hand another dot or line to the rendering at that time, and must sleep, restoring energy for another time, and more pleasuring, until the rendering is at an end, and there is satiation ... that is the nature of the satisfaction the artist has or should have in the rendering done...

The Metaphoric...

In seeking to 'elevate' a rendering to something more than 'mere' scenic, yet not make a propaganda piece [for those so interested], it helps that there be a central idea consciously being expressed - to me, expressed in metaphoric phrasing because of the multiple 'layerings' that can then be achieved in universalizing the idea... consider, for example, "Generation Gap", a rendering of a brick wall, only one of which is new, the rest all quite old... in so doing, it has taken a well-known phrase and enlarged it to include something not originally considered - and thus opening as it were a door into all similar manner of possibilities, UNIVERSALIZING the idea... yet it does so without explicitly stating a preference to which direction in sense of life viewing - thus avoiding being a propaganda piece and retaining the lever called Fine Art [this work, btw, is 16"x20", so the bricks are actual size, more effectively making the point]... do all fine art need be metaphoric in nature? by no means - yet it does allow for the greatest possibilities in exploring universals in this, our complex world, and allows the artist to show an important idea in a personal manner which could also be shown in another way...

What Gives Satisfaction...

Part of this was originally a comment, but it ought to be said here, too...

I should add that if what one wants to do as a pen and ink artist is to do scenes and/or character work [I prefer that more than to say portraiture], I am not disparaging it nor discouraging it - indeed, GO FOR IT, for that is what gives the satisfaction... but - if such is, like is for me, not enough, then what has been written is a way of furthering the seeking of that satisfaction that otherwise is not there... at the least, even if scenes are the forte, knowing all this other can aid in improving that, crystallizing the essence more so than would have been if not knowing... remember, the essence of art is 'for contemplative purposes' - it is why one goes and looks at a work over and over and over, savoring the impact received, being refueled by the savoring...

Indeed, that one seeks recognition as an artist instead of as a drawer or sketcher indicates an awareness that even to do renderings of buildings or animals or objects involves selectivity, of emphasizing this or over another, of omitting the non-essential, and of seeking to dramatize so as to bring forth furthering interest in the showing - and by thus bringing forth the artist's sense of life, whether consciously held or not, for it is inescapable in the rendering, as is the desire of finalizing the work to the highest standard...

And for the pen and ink artist, this is displayed in the often amazing ability of so many using pen and ink to create so much variety of shades and textures using an 'either/or' medium of black ink, to say nothing of those who go on to use colors as well... drama, it seems, is made for the pen and ink art, for that 'either/or' emphasizes this, forges it really to a degree rarely seen in other mediums...

The Nature of Rendering...

One of the things which needs correcting on is a misconception that titles are extraneous fixture to all but literature... wrong... titles[or theme/titles, as I prefer to consider them ] are, properly, as much an integral part of the rendering as is the case with writing... perhaps it is more so, since it is the key to elevating the rendering from just a 'sense of life' to something more... initially, of course, the viewer is drawn to the visual work sans anything else about it... without knowing ANYTHING else - artist, title, era in which done - the work is first viewed as a glimpse into a self-contained world... it is seen as a universe on its own... within that framework, tho, there is much which can be gleamed...

The metaphysical view, for instance, is instantly discernible - there is a vast difference in how a benevolent universe view contrasts with a malevolent one... is it a world of flux, or is it one of identity? if a landscape, are there vegetation, or is it barren? if vegetation, are they blooming, dying, or dead? are animals in health, or malformed? the humans - happy, serious, fearful? are the colors bright or murky? is it viewed with clarity, or is it as if from a nearsighted without glasses? what is the most prominent feature - the main focus? how is humanity placed within this universe? what size - larger than life, or tiny and insignificant? if no figures, what are the main entities - how are they placed? is there a significant difference of size between setting and object? is the emphasis placed more on one thing than another? figures - their posture: upright and proud or elegant, or bent and awkward? is the painting smeared or distorted, or orderly and complex? the light - bright, or subdued? in still life, are the objects glistening, or tarnished? are they solid, or fractured? and the list goes on...

Make no mistake - few artists are aware of any of this, unless perhaps they took aesthetics in some studies, and even there it often is glossed over for other considered more important matters... far fewer artists, even if aware, have any concern with any of this [and note, am speaking of artists in general, as this applies to at least all of the visual art mediums]... most artists came about their being artists as a form of displaying the skill of rendering, of sketching an object or scene with an ability beyond what most others seemed to possess... continued use gained greater ability, such that, in some cases it led to selling what was rendered, or making copies of the original and selling those... in none of these, however, was there an awareness for the most part in wanting to learn anything more regarding what they did other than the technical skills to better achieve what they were doing... one could say it was a practical attitude, much like crafts or trades... this is not as such to demerit their doing, merely to emphasize that for the majority, that is what is meant by being an artist - and their works, for the most part, are a sort of 'here today, gone tomorrow' kind, without much of any lasting tribute than 'twas nice', whether a scene or still life or whatever...

With pen and ink artists, it is largely the same - yet they have a more forbearing incentive to seeing the best of their efforts seen as Fine Art, as more than just a 'twas nice' rendering... to give a similar example, consider colored pencil renderings, how for many years they were just temporal works used for illustrating in magazines and architectural studies and so forth - until some of them wanted to take that skill and 'fine art' what they did... take a look at their works now, what they choose to render, what thought went into what they rendered, and how painstakingly they rendered - see colored pencil as Fine Art... there is a difference in the 'before' and 'after'... the same can and ought - and NEEDS BE - with pen and ink, if the goal is to achieve that same end...

And GREAT art, to be great, requires awareness of the means of greatness - even if few works succeed at it or artists care to strive for it - if for no other reason than it gives satisfaction to the artist of being successful in showing, in communicating, what is thought by the artist as of great importance - and that all the elements involved in the composition is integrated to that end...

At least that is my view of the situation...

Some Examples, and Not...

Here are a few examples from my personal files... they essentially are 'finished studies', namely that they stand on their own as works of art yet they in fact are copies in part at least of objects and/or photos for other more extensive rendering... further, they have been given themes [theme/titles] after the fact, so to speak, as they were initially rendered as mere studies... the oldest one is that of the horse peeking thru the break in the corral fence - and theme/titled "Aisle of View"... the broom one is theme/titles "After the Haunt"... the horseshoe one is theme/titled "Afterthought", and the cup - is just a cup, a study for the "Opening ritual, Second Cup" rendering... now, why those themes seen for those renderings, and could others have been used, or be even better suited [and if so, why]? To begin with, after so many years of theming so that it has become as second nature to me, this is not as easy as first seems - however, there are clues which can bring out possibilities...

Consider the horse one - the photo was from some magazine my father had and this was something I did to while time away during the period I was with him after my mother suddenly died of a heart attack, so I have no idea what the magazine was, only that the photo looked interesting and seemed a good technical challenge... why? good composition, and an inquiry looking stance of the horse... so - the first thing that popped into my head was the old cliche play on words which became the theme/title as it so well exemplified what was seen in the rendering...

The broom one came into a theme/title as I was applying the background bricks to it, and seeing how it resembled one of Harnett's works - thus, with the Harnett title [After the Hunt] in mind, and a broom hung on the wall, it quickly became "After the Haunt".....

The horseshoe one is a pen/ink rendering of an old acrylic painting from many years ago, and is actually a drawing, not [to me anyway] a pen/ink painting, yet the idea of locking a barn door with a horseshoe struck me as an idea done AFTER horses managed to get out - thus the theme/title [why after they're gone - because the horseshoe is in the unlucky position]...


Now, food for thought - what other theme/titles COULD I have used? and why?

Theming as Seeing...

I am a themescapist - that is, the idea of theming is a conscious one for me, mainly because I never was satisfied at just doing scenes or studies or form composed still life, and always needed to know WHY I was doing what I was doing the way I was doing... but I am well aware that few others approach painting like this...

Most artists react from the visual - that is, they see in the world around them a scene or objects which in the manner of their setting or arrangement as first seen, intrigues... it is of interest, compositionally... perhaps it is something even so simple as a butterfly alighting on a flower... perhaps it is a series of bottles on a shelf... a themescapist sees that - AND MORE... by training to think in terms of metaphors, a themescapist is able to bring to consciousness a 'universalness' out of that incident or setting seen in the world... this means that a themescapist takes from the given and CONSCIOUSLY raises it to a visualization of some fundamentalness... this can be done by using it as part of a larger visualization, for instance... or it can be done by shifting the components for better emphasis, as a crystalization of some importance worth showing - which is given notice thru the theme/title... a themescapist is also, because of this training to think in terms of metaphors, able to draw from the memory banks [the mental 'picture file' so to speak] a visualization, at least in part, of something read or said - the abstraction theme/title itself being the catalyst... sometimes, tho, this does not come with any sense of immediacy - there are in my journal many, many listings of theme/titles for which i have yet to have a visualization of, or for which the ones i have are nebulous at best... but the theme/title itself intrigues me... in many ways, this is the fun and the challenge of being a themescapist - this questing for discovery, for a new insight into this wonderful world we live in... by the way, these theme/titles, either way they are approached, whether from the visual first to seeing the abstraction out of it, or from the abstraction to seeing a concrete visualization, do not necessarily have to be profound... there is plenty of room in the world for lightheartedness, even whimsical - SO LONG AS IT IS LIFE ENHANCING, an expression of enlightenment in the minutae is still an enrichment in the understanding of the fabric of complexity which is the universe...

Theming.........

All renderings, by their nature, contain themes... most artists, however, having only that 'sense of life' to guide them in deciding what is to be produced, are generally not consciously aware of just what it is that is the theme... it is, therefore, usually treated as if it were a consequence, an underlining intuitiveness that comes out, if at all consciously, AFTER the fact... indeed, it is usually the result of some emotional reaction to the 'scene'... Art, however, is NOT concerned with actual events or occurences per se - it is concerned with their metaphysical or fundamental significance to, properly, the rational being [because rationality is the fundamental aspect identifying what a human is and without which it could not survive, even if it is not always applied by individuals]... this, significance or importance, of course, is according to the artist him/herself, understands it and communicates that thru the work to the viewer... learning to consciously apply themes is one of the means of elevating pen and ink renderings to being considered as Fine Art - for, even if in landscapes, its use aids in figuring out the best way to render via size, arrangement, color scheming, and so forth... if one is consciously aware of why one wants to render something the way and manner one is considering, then its end result is a vast improvement, a concisement of objectives achieved, and a greater satisfaction over seeing the end result, the consequences... further, it also fuels creativity in that variations and similar theming ideas tend to come into thought, bringing more renderings to work on, and a more fulfilled life of being an artist...

Connotations...

In literature, there are several ways of intensifying connotative usage... there's, basically, imagery, metaphor, similie, personification, synecdoche, metonymy, symbolism, allegory, paradox, overstatement or hyperbole, understatement, irony and allusion... obviously not all are applicable to rendering... some overlap - synecdoche and metonymy are almost alike, and not particularly adaptable to rendering, at least not in a primary or major way... same, too, with similie, which is an explicit version of metaphor... hyperbole and understatement might best work with style rather than with fundamental substance... the same with irony and allusion, which is a form of symbolism, as is also allegory... paradox and personification might work, but better as secondary rather than primary... this leaves three as primary means - imagery, symbolism, and metaphor... as a rendering is itself an imaging, there is therefore no separate dealing with imagery in a painting... because a rendering is a SELECTIVEness in its creation, EVERY object within it is automatically a symbol to some greater or lesser degree... this leaves the metaphor - which is a comparison between objects or things which at first glance seem essentially UNlike...

Poetry and Its Nature...

Poetry is the closest in the literary arena to a painting in its approach... indeed, a painting could be considered as a logical, even inevitable outgrowth of poetry - the ULTIMATE in 'saying more and saying it more intensely', with the saying being completely visual, completely synthesized into the SHOWING more and more intensely... in achieving this, it is instructive to remember the distinction between DENOTATION and CONNOTATION - which applies as readily to an object chosen for rendering as it does to a word in a poem... a 'denotation' is the specific concept which the word is a symbol of or for - the dictionary definition... a 'connotation' is an associated meaning attatched to an object or word thru contextual usage... connotation is very important to an artist because it is one of the ways in which meaning can be concentrated or enriched, and there are often several connotations to a specific concept or word or object... by the same token, just as a word or object often has a variety of connotations, so, too, it can have several denotations - and this allows also for an enrichment to the rendering... it's thru connotations, however, that I have found a solution to the problem of what to render - and why...

Conciseness...

The literary arena of Art has been around since the beginning of language... as such, it is the most developed, conceptually... in this development of presenting a person's view of the world, including the sensory experience of being in the world - what of it that was known - to others, and the necessity of finding ways to remember these views - especially at a time when the written word had not yet been devised - the results became poetry... poetry's aim was not to just present events [tho that may very well have been its initial usage, or coincided initially], but - as indicated - to present EXPERIENCES...indeed, this became its prime purpose...

But you can only hold so much in your mind at any one time... consequently, forms had to be devised to encapsule as much in as minimal space as possible, yet be retainable as maximally as possible... poetry, therefore, says MORE and says it MORE INTENSELY than does ordinary language... this is so even when the spoken language became more permanent with the written language...

As a means of finding ways to make a better rendering, I have found it very instructive to take a look at the various forms which have been utilized in poetry, and seeing where these may, if possible, be adapted to the painter's end...

If a Vignette.....

If the rendering is a vignette, is it a drawing - or a painting? and if a painting, as these first two are, then why not the same with the last two? they all are fine art, as they each stand on their own as works in themselves....

















["Original Sin", 20"x30", and "Four Bitten Fruit", 20"x30"]

Casas Example...

On Pens - and Size...

It may surprise a few, but many ink artists use ballpoint pens to achieve their renderings... and that does not mean just b/w renderings as this landscape by Harry McCue, but by using some of the multicolor pens have achieved remarkable color works... but even there [or perhaps especially], the size of the rendering still poses some problems in the general public regards to seeing the finished works as Fine Art... admittedly, this seems most unfair, especially since there are a number of artists using, say, acrylics who seemingly not do works much larger than 11"x14" and have no problem being accepted as doing fine art - even when the rendering itself is only part of the canvas, as a vignette, or worse when actually done as studies in the same manner pens are used as sketches and/or drawings and not per se as on their own...

What to do? for one, increase the size of the rendering, obviously... but that does not appeal to a lot of ink artists because there is so much more work involved and interest flags in extending completing the rendering... understandable, especially when the more traditional mediums can render small in a much shorter time, allbeit without that nice quality of detail... another way is to increase the bordering of the finished work - larger matte and frame for instance... to a degree, this works in that it give a more professional look, and even invites closer looking... to me, more the better course, tho much more ambitious, is to vary the sizes, doing one or two larger than used to works among the usual sizes - this gives an inspirational increase in efforts to the artist involved, even if it takes longer achieving the results, and actually increases output for that... this is not to say, however [getting back to ballpoint pens] that one needs, in increasing size, to go the way of, say, Juan Francisco Casas - that is, HUGE [www.juanfranciscocasas.com]...