My last WIP piece!!

21cm x 90 cm
Copic Multiliner SP 0.1
3 months until now =)

demise, not!!! computer been down

Integrating the Mind and the Body......

Because most all of my themescapes are first the theme/titles, then the visual, from the mind to the rendering, it usually means making use of the imagination, creating in effect archetypes - symbols - for use in the metaphoric relationships depicted, which is to say the objects depicted are not from models as such, but the memory of knowing what the object kind looks like, which is also to say not portraits of the objects... for the most part, this is for me little problem because of observing over many years all manner of such objects I'd likely to make use of, as well as seeking in sources examples and from those mentally 'see' the object which is in turn made use of..... because there is much in variation in reality of most of these objects, deviancy from specific examples is of little consequence... however, when it comes to the human figure, despite 'seeing' in my mind what is desired, there has always been a curse of not getting the body [the hand] to integrate well with the mind...

the consequence is a preponderance of still life and only a few bits of landscapes between - not that there aren't a number of ideas from which to work, but the ease of doing the objects and foregoing the stress of dealing with the figure - for the figure it seems, unlike the trees or fruits or rocks, cannot be deviated much else it looks distorted or lacking in 'lifeness' - the difference between a mummy and a model... the consequence is also a frustration of not being easily able to see some of my visions as soon as wished, or even seen at all..... all my works are human glorifying, but many times have been accused of setting up stages, and waiting for the actors and actresses to appear - as if the effects of humanity is not enough... for a long time this bothered me, especially when it seemed to take much time in thought as was to create the integrated works - so turned to the still life as a means of being productive...

at the present, am it seems at a crossroad, and it is coming at a time not in my spring of life, which makes for an urgency and, at times, something much worse... an artist is and has to be, by the nature of what is done, a loner... but this does not mean having to be alone - they are not the same thing.... and when they are together, it can create an insufferableness, and a sense of not being at peace and integrated with the world around - a sense of seeming to be 'out of context'... no, for me at least, it fortunately does not last, or last forever, but it does leave an effect - a greater than wished interlude between creating.... so it remains to be seen what will come from this one..........

Act of Creation.......

One thing which seems to be a uniqueness with me is that my composing of a theme/title rendering is mostly mental - that is, very rarely do I bother doing doodle sketches in working out the ideas... indeed, my journal of ideas is all writing - sometimes detailed notes on how the image is visualized in my mind, including the vagueness of the outside areas if such be the case, as means of forcing myself to concise the intent of what it is am wanting to show... for the most part, this has always been my way, even as it is something I not know anyone else doing, and yet it has worked for me, as whatever image was in my mind when first wrote down the notes, that remained what was worked on in the refining process... perhaps it is a consequence of being, as most artists of course are, so visually oriented, yet at the same time a consequence of being aided in this refining by at times turning to poetry as a means of concising my intents - something which am sure very few others ever thought of doing, let alone going for ... why this?

When, many years ago, first got into thinking of what I wanted to do as an artist, how it had to be purposeful and not the usual willy-nillyness of impromptu and impulsiveness so many others were doing, I lived with a person who was a poet - not an ordinary kind that sprouted gibberish and wang-tang nonsense, but a craftsman kind, who took words and ideas seriously, and where every word and image led inexorably to the proper and could not have been otherwise conclusion - who indeed worked from the theme, the abstract idea, to the verbally visual concrete words... it was he who told me that as a means of better understanding what it was I wanted to show, to write poems about it, or at least to think in terms of verbal as means of 'seeing' that visual more sharply, more integratedly... and it has worked, and has been my means ever since...

[oh yes, this is not to say there are no sketches to be found regarding my compositions, but that they are much more in the finalizing stage, that of putting down in concrete the mental image being molded in my mind - and from there finalizing further, if need be, in order to have the theme/title match the visual AND the intent, as integratedly as possible........ even if, from time to time, it not always fully succeed even then]

Theme/Titles..........

In the between times of rendering, and oft during those times as well, coming up with new possibilities have a habit of 'dropping' in on me, as much [sorry to say for some] as apples off a tree........ a couple came to mind this morning as was on my daily walk - "Heirloom" and "Reflections"... in Heirloom, it is a still life, sort of in the fashion of Second Life, where objects are on a shelf in front of an open window, with parted curtain seen behind on the right... in this case, it is a polished large bowl and ladle... the curved base of the ladle reflects a group of oldtimers [original idea was like those in old folks homes sitting in rockers on a porch, but now thinking of an old photo of pioneer folk], a reflection of an offstage photo, as the ladle is turned such to make this possible... the bowl itself reflects a child in a highchair, in this case offstage to the left or perhaps behind the viewer... in the distance is a spired building rising above clouds, implying of course the view is also from such a building... this is the beginning, the initial impression as formed while walking - in time, when can get to working on it, will be interesting seeing how the final version stacks with this, how much changing will be needed...

The other theme/title, Reflections, stems from the same initial impression, but takes a different course... here, the shelf is a short one, and on a wall to the right, ending about a third across, and only a large spoon is seen, again polished to show a reflection, this time of a lad sitting, knees pressed to chest, in thought... to the left is seen access to another room, with a window, from which is seen another figure, a lass, also sitting in contemplative thought... in between these rooms is an open doorway, from which is seen a distant bluff, on which is silhouetted a standing figure looking skywards.... somewhat trite, but for the moment gives at least an idea on which to do further 'reflecting'... this one, of course, is a large work, probably 30"x40" or so... sometimes, over the course of these concising of ideas, the end result might come out widely different, but usually the initial impressions are such that the basic ideas are 'seen' strongly enough to remain - this one, indeed, might turn out to have just the spoon and its reflection remaining, the rest folded away for a different theme/titling, thus a much smaller and simpler work - will see........

These will be just thoughts on which to ponder as I proceed to the next rendering, the "Looking West", which is now slated to be 15"x40"....

Part of the reason for mentioning this is the need to better introspect in order to better understand the process of creativity - and no, knowing the process does NOT remove the creativity, for that is a myth, and a most devastating one at that, for ignorance is NOT bliss, even in an attempt to evade knowing something [for to know is to be able to deal with reality, and to not know is to decrease your viability, fatal to a creative person]... in the course of my exploring my creativity, perhaps useful insights can come to the fore - or so it is hoped... it is not by accident a someone, even intuitively, chooses one over the other in composition, or arranges something thus and so instead of another way - and the ability to grasp the how and why makes for better art........

"Engagement" 14

And I have made an end of it.........

"Engagement" 13

And the first layering of the back ground, red earth, is now finished, and the antelope brown next to go... yes, originally had thought of red earth as a nice back ground, but mentally seeing it as a wee garish, so hence the layering of antelope brown over it, to give a warm dark brown as the background color......

"Engagement" 12

In doing the background, am layering in two layers - and so as to show how it ought to end up, am showing both, in progress, so to see why the first one [red earth] is there, and layered over with antelope brown...

And got the layering of antelope brown over the drawer, thus getting the dresser, for now at least, done... next is the back ground - then will see what has yet to be adjusted...

"Engagement" 11

And added antelope brown to the rest of the dresser, minus the drawer...

"Engagement" 10

Went and got the nibs anyway, even tho risking cutting it fine on the acct - so am back at it layering colors... this time is antelope brown, then raw sienna, then another one of antelope brown...

"Engagement" 9

However, with the fine nibs either worn or snapped, and having thus to wait until Friday to get replacements, have decided to go finish the grisaille - which is seen here....

the reason being that the back ground, being darker, does not need use of fine nibs, so can use the more sturdy ones still available...

"Engagement" 8

And the grisaille of the dresser is now done, leaving only the back ground to do after the dresser is layered in colors...

"Engagement" 7

Grounding everything... still the drawer and support yet to grisaille, then be on to layering the colors...

"Engagement" 6

Now y'all get to see what is engaging... like all the rest before, the stand and horseshoe were first grissailled in prussian blue, than layered over - the stand with sepia, then a swish of lemon yellow across the lit areas..... the horseshoe, seen in progress to show how was done, layered with black...

"Engagement" 5

Rock grisaille done - now, on to coloring it.......






which was done layering FW Flesh.......

"Engagement" 4

Having the daylight bulb blow out over the weekend, had a delay in getting more of this done - but now, with a working bulb in the lamp, am at it again - first adding a layering of lemon yellow to the lit areas, then sap green to the shade areas, with a spot of black in the eye for emphasis... further refining of this will wait until the rest of the rendering is laid out....

"Engagement" 3

First layering of color - light green [FW acrylic ink]...

"Engagement" 2

And the shading of the lizard is now done on the grisaille ... so - on to the layering of colors...

"Engagement" 1

The rest of the scales are now laid in, needing only the shading to finish the grisaille of the lizard, and be ready for the coloring...

"Engagement" WIP

And the inking on this has begun... the transfer was yesterday, but not posted as the graphite is too light to see well, so beginning with the ink - which is, really, where it should begin anyway]...

Hellboy - Commission

One more finished =)

Hugs
M.Ramos
www.pontilhismo.com

Variations on a Theme.....

As so often has been the case with me, as seen in all the cherry renderings and marble ones, variations of some of my themeworks just seem to keep flowing from me... and so it is again - "Engagement" is the next rendering-to-be and is another lizard one, but this time intend the lizard at least to be in color, and MAYBE the rest as well... size will be different, as am still working off old blanks, and have run out of the 24"x18" primed canvas sheets [finally] - so this will be a 15"x20" on illoboard.... the sketch is now done, but the transfer not - so will have that all up to go rendering tomorrow...

what will the lizard be looking at this time? ah well, tune in to find out...
[and remember, this IS, like the preceding, a still life]

Re-Presentation and the Decorative Arts...

An offshoot of the 'debate' regarding realism in Fine Art is the presumption of many that what properly belongs to Decorative Arts is being surreptitiously presented as Fine Art... in many ways, this is the consequence of interior decorators, who tend to treat Fine Art as just another aspect of the 'harmonious' desire to getting interiors to 'blend' together in their disparate parts, which include what goes on the walls as well as the wall color itself, to say nothing of matching the sofa colors... this is an unfortunacy, to be sure, but understandable in light of how interior decorators tend to look at things... forgetting that there is a difference between what the artist seeks, and what the decorators desire, and the lack of constructive understanding among artists themselves, many are deluded into the notion that by framing decorative constructs, one can therefore create Fine Art without having to bother showing anything of importance beyond conformity to design purposes - and further, fake it by pretensions to a nebulous 'view' that suckers in the unwary who never had known of the importance of the mindfulness of Fine Art and that emotions as such are not tools of cognition but EFFECTS, which can only come in consequence to the the preceptualness inherent in a Fine Art work [contrary to a number of proponents, whatever emotions may be garnered from particular colors, for instance, is only a tendency, not an inherent absolute, and is as much involved in context to whatever is around the said color, not just from the surrounding environment as in on a wall but as in one's own cultural background influences as well]...

Now, to be sure, this does not much pertain to pen and ink artists - by the nature of the medium they employ, they see the world cognitively, grasping percepts and employing them in dramatic fashion... but it does not hurt to have an understanding of some of the fashions around them that seek to demerit their insights and mindfulness of the works they do - not so much when employing the fundamental essence of black and white as when engaging color, where there can become a tendency to forgo the mindfulness and allude to specific places wherein the works is said to perforce reside ...

Remember, the purpose of Fine Art is to show, to present to others what the ARTIST has to say, visually, and the means of so doing is thru what can be perceived and as such grasped cognitively - that is, thru the viewer's mind, the reasoning faculty, for there is where understanding reside... remove that, the perceptualness, the cognitivity, and there is nothing being said, just babbling mindlessness... no, this is not, as some claim, 'spoonfeeding', any more than speaking of some information - but it is enlightenment, to the mutual benefit of both the artists and the viewers.....

Realism and Virtue in Art.......

Every so often am accused of pandering to 'convention' because my work is realistic - indeed, sometimes very realistic... 'if one wanted to see realism, take a photograph' is oft the comment... but this merely seeks to hide the real issue at hand - WHY the realism? for one, contrary to presumptions, realism is NOT imitating reality, a mistake which is why positing photography as a 'valid' replacement... there are several reasons why the error, some of which are innocent mistakes bourne of ignorance, others being deliberately crafted attempts to 'invalidate' realism in art... to begin with, until the invention of photography, art served at least a dual purpose, ONE OF WHICH WAS THAT OF A VISUAL RECORDER, something oft overlooked in art and realism discussions... it is an importance, moreover, which aids in seeing how art was served over the centuries, and why, after photography's invention, that serving no longer was of prime or even if of importance in terms of the nature of art...

the proper understanding of art is that it is a SELECTIVE RE-PRESENTATION of reality according to the artist's FUNDAMENTAL [or metaphysical, to be more precise] VALUE-JUDGMENTS... note - selective re-presentation, NOT imitation... further, to grasp at the issue of realism is to recognize that humans do NOT begin their viewing of the world thru mere sensations, but thru PERCEPTIONS, which are as automatic as sensations are in the lower animals - and it as such that seeing the world as percepts is the beginning of how humans see the world is why realism, which is based on perceptual concretes, is the basis for grasping whatever the artist intend to show [for that is the purpose, TO SHOW ]... to show - what? well, THAT is what the 'fundamental value-judgments' are all about - as those are what the artist considers as of PRIME IMPORTANCE... this ties back to the 'selective' re-presentation, since one cannot include all within the borders of the canvas 'universe', thus must decide what to include, AND WHAT TO EXCLUDE as NOT being of prime importance... further, such considerations of, say, colors or shapes, serve, as consequence, MEANS TO ENDS, of the perceptual concretes [the objects to be included within the work]...

note, too, that in dealing with the nature of art, one is utilizing one's conceptual faculty - the reasoning aspect of one's consciousness, which takes the perceptual concretes - those objects of reality - and make abstractions of them, so as to make sense of the world around us - and of the world within the canvas borders... this is why aspects of those objects, the colors or shapes, for instance, have no meaning aside from the objects, but serve only as means to particularizing those objects...

note further, that these objects themselves serve also as means to the end - of the THEMING, of which the work itself is the means - the what and why of the importance which is considered as so fundamental... in other words, there is no copying of the world about, but visualizing abstractions of that world to serve a theming end, abstractions that, because of the primal perceptual nature of our seeing the world cannot be reduce further and make objective sense [that is, sense applicable to any and all who would see the work]... which means that works claiming to be art, but which pertain only to the senses, avoiding the perceptual, are contradictions in terms - without the perceptual to show meaning, there is nothing to give meaning, and as such there is no art there [decoration, perhaps, but nothing more]...

The Idea of Theming...

[Sometimes it is worth re-saying something of importance, so it gets revived in attention - so it is with this, originally run near the beginning of the Society blog]

It was mentioned about 'upgrading' pen and ink rendering to Fine Art... what would this mean, and why be wanting to do this? the issue has to do with theming, something which most artists are only dimly aware of, and rarely ever having had any understanding of its nature, let alone of its importance... in visualizing the universe, the world around oneself and/or especially the world within the four corners of the canvas [whether actual canvas or not, but a convenient metaphor for the support on which the rendering is done], there is, for the artist, a necessity, whether consciously seen or not, to sift and choose among all the possibilities, what is considered by the artist of primary IMPORTANCE - indeed, within that universe of creation, by the nature of this choosing, everything which is deemed of importance enough to include is as such metaphysical in importance, precisely because in the choosing, whatever is included assumes fundamental values to the artist... why? as I see it, it is because in creating a work of art, especially Fine Art, an artist is involved in 'selective re-presentation', of necessity - because not everything CAN be included, thus what is, HAS to assume prime importance, whether consciously considered or not... further, the more an artist consciously is aware of this process, the more an artist deliberately strives to arrange and compose according to this premise - the more consistent the end result will be, and the greater the work will be in consequence...


This is, actually, a logical extension to the illustrating [which, of course, also dealt with theming, but from the standpoint of the story and not the rendering itself]... here, tho, it is raised to the work itself, for the work itself, so that one can contemplate the work and grasp that there are layers to it [like the proverbial onion], which in essence is what elevates it beyond mere fancy sketching, or even crafted drawing, to Fine Art - just as is the same with the better works in other mediums...

Further........

In showing, thru his/her renderings, what is considered of prime importance to consider by others in this contemplative measure, this means that even in doing scenes, there needs be more thought to placement of the objects within - their relative sizes, detail emphasis, and so on, so as to better being out the showing of the artist's intent... after all, an artist, a painter, like a writer, is communicating with others, the showing, the visualizing - it is the means of communicating, and if it is unintelligible, then there is a failure to communicate [and if there is a claim of not wanting per se to be communicating, then there is no sense in there being a showing]...

For pen and ink artists, this almost comes with the territory, so to speak, because of the conscious attrition of the unforgiving ink, requiring forethought before depositing, and thus forethought on where and in what manner is to be depicted what is to be deposited by the ink... this, in turn, fosters the creativity, which is an offshoot of this fore-thinking in composing... even in such renderings as portraits, both human and of animals and or/ objects like vehicles or buildings, how these are depicted owes much to the creative thinking, even if heavily taken from photographic references - which, for one, is why they are superior to photographs, for all the attempts of configuring character to the photographic images themselves... for many if not most, all this is more or less intuitive - but the more one is conscious of this and deliberately composes the rendering to this, the better the work and the more a pen and ink artist can claim to be doing Fine Art...

"Bestilled Life" 13

And I have made an end of it.........

"Bestilled Life" 12

Almost there - is somewhat distorted because of hand-holding the camera... the drawer needs at least one more pass on it [has two already] and then see if dark enough to not remove the emphasis on the two subjects above it...

oh yes, turns out the lines are NOT parallel, so is an old cabinet with sloped top... seems slipped when laying the ruler across and the right side turned to being 1/4 inch higher... a minor detail, and, actually, turns to adding character to the work, so is a good save......

"Bestilled Life" 11

And now closing in on the bottom, getting in the drawer of the cabinet... [the photo is slightly off - seems not to be quite straight-on - but the lines are parallel in reality]

"Bestilled Life" 10

In progress - showing some of how am achieving the textures, and the pen/nib used...







and the first round of this part is done - now to go over again, seeking to smooth a bit the roughness seen in the first... and so is understood, this is actually being done with the rendering on the side, stroking vertically, so best to keeping as much the straight lines as possible...

"Bestilled Life" 9

Took a sort of break today and just did the stand on which the lizard/rock sits...


and yes, there is spatter beneath, but of no mind, as will be 'buried' in doing the cabinet top - is a consequence of using a soft fine point nib over the coarse primed canvas, a hazard to be aware of, tho could had been avoided if went very slow over the area instead of my usual speed...

"Bestilled Life" 8

And the background is now done... so - onward to the rest of this...

"Bestilled Life" 7

And now am into the final lap of getting the background done...

"Bestilled Life" 6

And now enters the 'other performer' to this rendering...

"Bestilled Life" 5

Got in a wee bit this morning, maybe an hour and half total [have to take breaks as otherwise my hand aches too much for control]... this, btw, is closer to the non-glare of it than previous photos...




and this will do it for today... be glad when this part is finished - end result looks great, BUT IT IS VERY TEDIOUS...

"Bestilled Life" 4

Into the background... while this is seen this way, the actual position is upside down when it is being rendered.... and yes, using the same nib as have been all along.........

and yes, there is glare at the bottom, which is actually as dark as above it...

and managed to get in some more before the end of the day........

"Bestilled Life" 3

Got this far yesterday, and hoped to get rest of this section done by evening, but the hand cramped [it happens from time to time], so leaving it as such for now and will try to do rest of it today...







And thus finished this section... now - on to the background.....

"Bestilled Life" 2

Got more done last night... still a rough, of course, with much tuning yet to do...







and managed to get in about an hour and half today.....

"Bestilled Life" 1

It begins with a close-up, one which, like the rest of the rendering, has a lot of fine-tuning yet to do on the inking....

Theming into Tomorrows

It must be remembered that there are only two states of existence - the past, represented by nostalgia - or the future - and even the present is, by its reckoning a near past... as one who considers the past as a done deal, and life is by its nature, at least to humans, to the future, all my renderings deal with it, even as the metaphor at times seems to envelope a yearning to the past... it doesn't, tho, but it IS a recognising that we live in a continuum, and the past, tho a done deal, is a part of that continuum - and in the case of the fact we as humans are always in the position of making choices, a planning, a plotting as it were of the possible in the particular person's future [our life is a book, so to speak, and how we live is the plot, one in which each individual has whether by design or default a major part in its creation]...

As such, the next projected rendering, "Bestilled Life", will present an even more obscure metaphoric relating, one which is bound to make for wonderings of where my mind has gone, or applause for the cleverness of it all [yes, I would prefer it be the latter, but at times am not all sure just how objective I can be on such subjects]... even more, this will be an extension to what have been rendering - there will be wildlife in it [ or will it be but seem so - part of the intrigue]... will say this much - will be on 24"x18" primed canvas sheet, and be using black acrylic ink..... oh yes, there will be something from above, from below, and in the middle of it all...

"The Betsy Threads" 6

And it is finished [actually was several days ago, just forgot to upload a photo]...

"The Betsy Threads" 5

The blocking in of all the major parts to this rendering are now done - next comes the refining, the detailing...

The back ground wall has also been given another layering, this time of sepia, filling in most the cracks left by from the first.....

"The Betsy Threads" 4

Beginning the flag coloring - some of the stripes seem narrower than ought, but there is a lot of folding involved here, so it works out ...

 and finished outing the red........

"The Betsy Threads" 3

Working on the background wall... first layering is burnt umber...

"The Betsy Threads" 2

Getting the spool threads down [see have overlooked one], then the background wall is next... then the flag...

"The Betsy Threads" 1

Transferred, the coloring begins, with antelope brown, lemon yellow, flesh, and flame orange per the spool woods... the threads, from the right, are light green, sap green, process yellow...

"The Betsy Threads"

The rough draft and the more polished sketch, which will, after getting the loose spools rounded rightly, be transferred to the 4"x15" foamboard for rendering...

To Think About.........

"A truly productive person is motivated not only by the monetary return for his work, but also by the satisfaction of creating value. The creation of value is the primary motive for work, the money one earns is a social recognition of that value but cannot replace one's own judgment and commitment as its source." David Kelley [Unrugged Individualism]

Exhibiting Takes up Time

but there are rewards - this 3'x2' won second place at the Senior Fest last week, a resounding success of pen/ink in competition with the more traditional oils and watercolors.....

trainstation #25 finished and open to order Prints !!!

 

Finished one!!!

Open to order prints =)

Hugs!!

M.Ramos

"Looking West"

In addition to "The Betsy Threads", there is another much larger work being planned, also to be in colored inks - a vast panoramic landscape on a 15"x40" size primed board, with a figure on the right, by the shore, looking off to the left across a vast field of grains, beyond of which off in the distance is a chasm, the other side being higher, and on which spreads a developing cliff and beyond city - "Looking West"... and, like "The Betsy Threads", tho an obvious theme/title metaphoring, an appropriate one, especially at this time in American history.......... hopefully this will get done by July fourth, but in any case, that Revolutionary Spirit will be behind the both of them.........

Sailing Beyond the Sunset..........

It has been two years since this Society blog began..... and it sails on yet, seeking out new territories to explore, new ways of 'seeing' what to render, what to contemplate , what to enlarge on to be able to better create fine art thru pen and ink... and in this time of furthering, reflect on the progress of what has gone before, in part as a guide to going forward - how to newly look at the works to do, or how to newly explore the possibilities of expanding and variating works and themes once broached on - pushing the metaphoric boundaries to new understandings of the mindfulness of man, whichever the gender........

and perhaps most challenging yet important of all, recognizing that a visual artist is a 'spiritual visualizer', one who grasps that mindfulness, that reality-orientedness, that rational self-interest and relates it in integration to the rest - in the name of the best within you, so that you may live long and prosper......... flourishing as a human ought to, and needs to - in order to be, properly, human.........

What's next?

Having finished "Improvisation", one of the ideas in mind to do is a still life involving a folded worn flag, with several spools of thread on it, the fore ones being [of course] red, white, and blue...  and is to be in a long narrow 4"x24" piece of foam board...  it is to be theme/titled "The Betsy Threads"...  one of my more obvious ones, but still a good idea all the same...

and yes, this is to be in color........

"Improvisation" - 21

And it is essentially finished...  I may do some more tweaking later today, or not - but otherwise is done...