So Still the Broader Vision...

Pen and ink artists, whether inspired by those of the 'dark side', or from a visioning of their own, do still put out landscapes here and there - be they cityscapes or the pleasantries of the countryside... and they are as much with the b/w as would be assumed with color - to great effect...

The Other Side Solidified...

Charles Ewing was the man who invented clayboard, which elevated scratchboard from an ink-coated cardboard to something with much greater support and thus to better achieving fine art status possibilities... among inkers, his renderings are inspirational, not just to scratchboardists themselves but to all pen and ink users, especially in raising the possibilities of detail and drama far beyond mere midnight lights, as most were doing with scratchboard... and further, showing possibilities of larger works with more grand theming - something most needed to pen and ink renders, who often got [and still do get] bogged into

small sizes for the time spent on doing the detail needed for the rendering desired..... this last, for instance, is a tri-panel totaling 36"x60" - a fantastic size for an ink rendering, especially one of such realism...

The Other Side of Pen and Ink...

In the pursuit of pen and ink as fine art, there is another aspect to look into - the 'dark side' of pen and ink - scratchboard... these are some of the renderings of Norman Gaddini, one of the masters of this way of using pen and ink - and the first one to color scratchboard, back in 1975... most of these were on boards of about 18"x24", so on the large size as per most ink artists, yet the detailing and clarity is easily as good as most any regular pen and inker....

Carrying On with This...

Sometimes, in theming, only the essence of the theme is mentally 'seen', and the rest is a sort of necessary 'fill in' to ground the theming... in this rendering, "Soulitude", 40"x27", this can be noticed by the odd fore tree trunk... the thematic idea here, of course, was the sense of solitude among the heights of a large boulder at the edge of an open sea... the human factor is seen as the projected platform on the upper left, as well as the implied steps going up the side of the rock... what, then, was having a 'snakeskin' trunk to do with the theming? other than an experiment in doing a different tree, none - and here lies the problem of what happens when a work, however nice in the idea, fails some without the needed thought going into the whole of the work BEFORE the rendering commenced... indeed, other than as a framing device, there is no use for the trunk at all - more smaller boulders and perhaps shoots of trees would have done it better... still, it works for the reason that it is not too intrusive, as it would have been if more intensive shading and texturing been done to it - the consequence of that 'unforgiving' nature of ink, and the consequence of not having paid attention to it when it should had been as if an automatic when working with pen/ink... a lesson learned, as it were...

Tho with Best of Intentions...

While it is nice to think that, given the quality of needing forethought in rendering with pen and ink, there can be a sense that all then produced are masterpieces, would that such were true... the fact is, tho, with all the best of intentions, not everything 'makes the cut'.... this, for instance, is one of them, at least to my own judgment - 'The Birthing Tree', 40"x27"... the idea was an offshoot from my 'Mother Lode' of the tree, but with part of the original of that transformed into not a series of isles amidst receding water, but layers of retreating rock formations... it was intended to use the metaphor of birthing to refer not only to an old literal use of a place where women went to actually give birth, but as the primary from which other vegetating [or life affirming] took place, extended beyond the original boundary... unfortunately, it did not quite fill the bill in as much an impact as had first envisioned... part of this was from technical reasons - trying for a colored landscape with pens without being too garish of the colors, yet being able to have a 'translucency' to the rendering... also, this was another constructed figure, even as actually had a pregnant woman pose to get the belly part valid.... and finally, not all the views I have in my mind seem as clear as others, and it can at times be hard to 'see' the work clearly enough to render it as wish [the imaginary world sometimes has fog, and as thick as any in this world]... still, there is nothing of regret in having done it - the theming is there, and it is a respectable rendering - just that it is not to the caliber of other works...

Terms of Characters...

One of the greatness of pen and ink rendering is that in utilizing this 'either/or' and 'unforgiving' medium, there is much effort put into the quality of the rendering, not just in so much of the detailing, but in terms of expressing the character of the rendering - most obvious, of course, when doing portraits of persons, obvious too when doing portraits of such as dogs and cats and horses, and even, tho lesser noted, obvious when doing birds and reptiles... but note, while it is almost a given that character is found in portraits of humans, and their familiar pets, what is described as character of the other animals is more what is imparted by the artist to the given subjects - and that this is also seen when NON-living subjects are rendered, as in sports vehicles... most often, tho, this sense of valuing is not a conscious choosing by the artist, but a reflection of that inner sense of life which in effect flows outward from the fundamental premises the artist holds... if the renderer would take the time to note this, then perhaps an improvement in the composition might be seen above what has been done or intended to be done - and thus again elevating a work into a more grand and finer art than otherwise, would it not? or no...

This is but one of the reasons for thinking in terms of theming, as theming involves utilizing and/or bringing out more forcefully the 'character' involved in the subjects chosen for the works, and when more than one subject is involved, a means of co-ordinating these characters to harmony, even as their separate ones remain true to themselves...

Consider, for instance, this rendering of a lizard on a post - "Overseer" - and the impact of its angle of appearance, to say nothing of the metaphoric implications both of the theme/title itself, and the social connotations associated historically and culturally... an animal rendering, yes - but not as a study, a difference oft overlooked yet one good to consider whenever animals or other subjects non-human chance worth the rendering...

Spiritual Visualizing...

As I have mentioned before, I am a themescapist - that is, one who takes abstract ideas and visualizes them, using those ideas as the themes for the rendering... while am well aware this is not how most others approach their rendering, I thought it might be instructive to explain more of how this theming works, the foundations so to speak on which I build my understanding of what art is and what it takes to present what I consider of importance in showing...

Most artists, as I think have also mentioned, are not very philosophical about their field - it is sort of taken for granted of that field, that they like being involved in it and what they choose to show... but, for me at least, having a formal grounding as it were helps solidify my renderings, and indeed aids much in that continuity of being creative - something which would be of interest, am sure, to others, even if they not agree with some of my foundational views...

The basis for my being a themescapist is that I see the artist as much more than a mere illustrator [not that there is anything wrong with that, only that there is more to art than that] - I see the artist as a 'spiritual visualizer'... this means that the material world is just that - it simply is, nothing more, and that the spirituality involves showing value to those aspects of the material, showing meaning to what otherwise is meaningless...

Spirituality means recognizing that life, too, simply 'is', a normal aspect of existence within the universe, and that whatever meaning is applied to it - is PERSONAL, something which one gives to oneself, and directs as such, as one's own 'captain of soul'... creating, as such, one's own destiny... one way to help in doing this is to understand what aesthetics itself is all about - the science of beauty - involving order, proportion, balance, harmony, and grace... this way, one can learn to discern those aspects of the utilitarian which lead one to appeal to them and desire them, even if only as visual aspects of reality which remind one of interrelationships with the world at large... that is, one could say, the purpose of it being within the crafts - and why those crafts themselves are used within the created realms of the renderer, the artist... this also involves understanding that there is a spirituality of productiveness, of the utilitarian aspect of survivalship for being human... productiveness is a form of practicalizing ethics, with the spirituality involved in the qualification of that productiveness - especially from the personal standpoint of the individual... productive ability is a moral value - and, like all values, a course of virtue is required in order to gain and/or keep it... this means recognising that all "work is an act of creating, and comes from the same source - from an inviolate capacity to see thru one's own eyes", as the philosopher Rand wrote... a businessman/woman, fully as much as an artist, or artisan, is an exponent of spirituality... moreover, since there is the key factor of integration involved, an artist or artisan, fully as much as a businessman/woman, has to be involved in the material of the universe... one could well say that Art, like any legitimate area of endeavor, has a life-sustaining purpose - and that its creation demands objective, reality-oriented thought, with the then embodiment of that thought in a physical medium... this further means that there is no such sense of opposing the 'spiritual' versus the 'material', that no rational area may be pitted against another - that ALL proper arenas or fields require thought AND action - that ALL exemplify the integration of mind and body, as is the naturalness of the universe... remember - there are no contradictions within the universe, and if one is perceived, then there is a need to check the premises, for one or more of those are in error...

As a spiritual visualizer, it should be clear that an artist, then, should show purposefulness - which means productiveness, either directly thru the metaphorical examplings, or indirectly thru passages of effects... this last would mean the showing of progress thru the various stages of developness of whatever was being shown... using metaphoric relatings, the moralness of being productive can be made visual - not propagandizingly so, but as a natural course of events AS SEEN IN THE UNIVERSE THAT IS THE RENDERING... this is emphasized because it cannot be stated too much that purposefulness involves, as Rand pointed out, 'remaking the earth in the image of one's values'... further, that this in turn implies the recognition that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS INTRINSIC VALUES, that the earth simply is, and as such simply is material to be used...

Why is it that VALUES are so important to an artist? For one thing, it has to do with that universe within which is shown in every work rendered... what is or is not within the boundaries of the canvas displays the morals of the artist... at first glance, this does not seem to be so - but consider the implications of the fact that what is included within is so because it is considered to be of importance, and what is considered to be of importance stems from one's value, which are the source of importances... if there is no such thing as intrinsic values, that the elements of reality simply exist and as such are there to be ascribed value by those wishing to make use of the components, then whatever is shown within the confines of any work of art is an expression of what the artist considers to be of importance, and as such, what is of value to the artist...

Now, there are values and there are values - a value, as said, is what one acts to gain and/or keep - and the only values worth pursuing would, therefore, be those which are VIABLE VALUES, values which pertain to enhancing the well-being of being human, values which aid in the flourishing of being human... this is the task of being a spiritual visualizer - to show these possible viable values and how the materials of existence can be utilized to incorporate those values into the reality of each person's life...

[DO NOTE THAT THE WORD 'VALUE' USED HERE IS NOT THE SAME MEANING AS WHEN URGING ARTISTS TO 'PUSH THE VALUES' - just in case someone has a wee bit of confusion]

Crops....

[from the Visioneer Windows blog]

One of the delights in doing imaginative rendering is, to me at any rate, the almost imperative happening of variations coming to mind... this not only is in regards to the major participants of the original, but at times the theming itself demands other thoughts on the same material - both to such an extent at times that a whole closet full of variations in one respect or another can come from the one singular rendering... then there is an offshoot - which, in its turn, also gives off vibes of variations, and the process can at times be like an avalanche of ideas which may seem like is threatening to drown the artist in an abundance of percolating thoughts that seem to have no end... this is a lot like Camille Saint Saens' remarked of in his saying he 'got ideas like plucking apples off a tree' [disgusting, no doubt, to those others who sweated to little avail at times in coming up with even the simplest of compositions]... but which is why I actually do not know what an 'artist block' is - the notion is simply foreign to me...

This is not to say, tho, that all of these ideas and variations are good, at least as they first present themselves to my consciousness... I have had a number that, in doing the rendering, have found to be of less than desired in how they came out, or discovered they needed more to the developmental aspect in my mind than was willing to engage in... this is where 'crop' has another meaning, as in to cull - and is of equal value in the artist's arsenal, and as often not used to its most effectiveness... but there is a necessity of it, as one only has so much time to place in doing these renderings, thus needs to weed out the lesser ones for the sake of those which more show that manner of importance which is what the showing is all about... and this is sometimes something I overlook, and find myself fretting about - until another idea pops into mind and am off again to pursue the consequences...

"Generation Gap"...

As a themescapist, whose emphasis is on utilizing metaphors for showing universal themes, it is always a delight to find similar thoughts from others from time to time... the original idea of this, for instance, came from an old friend of mine from many years ago, John Paul Sherman, a poet, who used this as his theme/title to a poem...

Along the wall of time appeared
A singular niche: the space of a minute.
Trowel of skill,
Mortar of will,
This appropriate brick I placed within it.

This itself came from another rendering of years earlier, "Veneration", which had the reverse, one old brick among new ones on the wall section... the original idea had been to show opposite senses of life - except it didn't happen, as each of these can and does display a positive view of man's relationship to the universe...

I make mention of this because one's sense-of-life has a lot to do with what one chooses to render, what draws one's interest as worth the rendering - even to how important is the desire to showing the importance of the rendering idea in terms of the size of the work in mind, whether the artist consciously sees this or not [it is reflective of the sense of 'greatness' within the artist, for better or worse - whether that 'greatness' is justified or not, and by what criteria is used to identify that sense of greatness, and by whom ]...

I say this because - consider for a moment, the size of this one work, and ask oneself whether its theme/title would have as much effect on the showing if, say, half the approximate life size it is? or if double the size? [and in this respect, not considering the medium used, only what is being shown] then ask 'why' - and what the size differences does to the grasping of what is being shown, or what else is added or removed from the showing in consequence... I say this because these things do matter, and the greater works have these thoughts behind them among all the other thoughts going into the creation...

[to say nothing that this itself is yet another layer in this particular metaphoric onion]

The Saved.....

Being Saved from the Unforgiven...

As I have mentioned before, one of the greatness, and hazard, of pen and ink is its unforgiveness - the ink, once down, is THERE, and thus requires forethought in doing one's rendering...
however, if there is a mistake, a 'bloop' as it were, from the nib, despite taking care, it is possible to overcome this, with judicious use of white ink [at least on Stonehenge paper] and thus be able to continue with whatever rendering was in progress at the time... here is an example of the process, using FW acrylic artists ink...
it may require several rounds to cover the mistakes, but is can be so done to allow further continuing of the desired rendering...
I have to repeat - at least on Stonehenge paper - as this does not apply with illustration board [at least the ones I've used do not have that same 'whiteness' as it seems the Stonehenge has] - tho again, if the rendering is full cover, and the blooped spot is to be covered, as was in this cup instance, then it still might work [one could only try and see]...

However, there is a craveat to this - laying on the white ink is not to say laying on a white bloop to cover - that would only make for another bloop, and the whiteness would as such indeed be greater than Stonehenge paper white... what is needed, then is, as mentioned, to judiciously lay in the white - that is, to use a small amount and spread it to covering, so it all is soaked in, not laying on top like a plastic shell... that way, too, as each round it done, one can see when to stop, when the amount is just enough to cover and no more...

The Pin-Tailed Duck WIP ~ by Shari

GREAT WIP Shari!!!!!!! Thanks so much for posting it -- I love to see how other artists work. I also enjoy using Watercolour Pencils with ink, and love the combination you have shown us in this terrific WIP. I hope we see more from you.

Val.

The Pintailed Duck WIP ~ by Shari

Have been wondering what I could contribute to the wonderful world of Ink painting and Drawing? I seem to be best at WIP's, so may I present to you~

This is one of my Duck photographs and it is of a Pintail duck. This painting will be my more traditional Pen & Ink with watercolor pencil wash.

Took me a few days to roughly pencil it in.

Find that it is better to put the Ink down first, then add the color. Tip: Ink goes on easier straight to the paper, so you should do that first if you can.

You can also see areas that I just started adding color, like I would with Traditional water color, working from light to dark.

I must subconsciously like stripes... was trying to get away from Cat fur stripes but instead... I am painting Duck feather stripes. LOL And this Duck as thousands of them.

Here you can see how I am rough inking in the Ducks head. These are the first layers of feathers. I will be doing 4 to 6 layers of ink on the head alone.

For a comerical interruption...... My view from my Art desk.

Working on the ducks head, adding more ink and some color, making sure to put my Brush & Ink strokes in the direction the feathers lay. First layer of color added to the beak.

Still inking away at all the millions of stripes... yes.. I do believe it feels like they have multiplied from the thousands I previously said. LOL
Right now I am just doing the first layer of ink, once I have the duck totally striped in.. will go back and darken and add highlights.
Sooner or later I will also have to think about what I am going to do with the water part of the painting.

Started adding the first layers of color for the water on the far side of the duck and have been inking all those tiny little stripes. I need to do two more layers of color on the water, also decided not to do the water like it is in my photo. Want something a bit more blue/ green and darker.

Am starting to make some headway. Did the first wash of color for the reflection and the first layer of color for the water in the front. Worked on the Duck's feathers a bit more.

Added the third layer of color to the water, will need to work on the reflection a little more. Have added some more details to the bigger feathers but still have more to do on the striped feathers and the Duck's head.

The finish!

For some reason the scanner lightened the water despite the adjustments I made and doesn't show the green as well but I am happy with the results.

This painting is about 70% ink, the rest a watercolor pencil wash, I find that these two mediums can be married together quite nicely. The paper I have used is "Aquella Fabriano Artistico Bright White hot press Watercolor Paper". Is the only paper I have found that can take the many layers of Ink and wash I tend to do on my paintings.

Written and presented by Shari.

Moleskine art

Just a training in moleskine
Hugs
M.Ramos

The Rules - or Preferences...

One of the things I occasionally come across is the notion of 'the rules', mentioned as if words of some gospel... to some degree, there may be validity in this, as in dealing with realism there needs be some formulations that make good for the 3-D turned into the 2-D of the paper or other support being rendered on... but in terms of what makes for the showing, sometimes they stale the objective being desired... a case in point is the preceding rendering of an old barn, where there was criticism of it being in violation of 'the rule' that one does diagonals, not head-ons in rendering... of course, the proper response is to inquire as to the purpose of why doing it head-on... in this case, the obviousness of playing for the multitudes of textures in a sort of trompe l'oeil of the wall of the barn makes this 'rule' a burnout - the desired effect would be lost largely if the rendering had been done in diagonals...

There are many others of these one comes across every now and then - and the thing to remember is CONTEXT, the all important word in placing most anything according to what is wanted to be achieved, what it is of importance that the artist seeks to show, and how successfully is thus the showing [and remember, too, this implies that necessity of being able to communicate, to 'speak the language' - in this case seeing perceptual concretes, objects which make sense to the viewer - else is nothing but gibberish, and a failure of the artist, NOT the viewer in grasping the intentions of what is to be considered as of importance according to the artist]...

Indeed, in this particular case, can see a variation come to mind - being old and looking of multi-generational, one could do a version in which the wood and/or stones have been carved here and there with names and initials - "The Family Record" , so to speak - and am sure others could envision further variations, opening a whole crop of new renderings effectively done [to say nothing of colored ones, and ones in different time-of-day spans] and all based on this 'rule violator' ...