My mom and I have been drooling over Mark Hearld’s work for several months now. Definitely check out this video of him…it is delightful! I think I got his book back in early February and have attempted some collage works based loosely on how Mark Hearld works.
I love the fact that all the images in his work is taken from his growing up years on a little farm in England. He has loved nature all of his life and this shows in the wonderfully whimsical collage/paintings he creates. Much of his work is a lovely layering of a watercolor painting with collaged papers on top. He even incorporates his lithography work. Many of the collaged papers have been previously painted and then cut up into the shapes he wants. I was trying more of that in the collage below.
This collage was made a few months back, whereas the first collage (tulips) was made just last week. I’ve discovered that I’m an impatient collager.:) I really don’t enjoy spending time painting the papers I’m going to collage with…I’d just prefer to use all kinds of papers as they are, whether decorative or “junk”, cut ‘em up and glue ‘em down! Of course, I love the watercoloring bit.
The first collage has been added to my ETSY Shoppe for sale! (***As of this very afternoon, this collage has already SOLD! My. Thank you so very much!) Also in the Shoppe is a recent watercolor, titled Tulip Dance, which you can see in this post here. The same day I offered this painting, I also offered Purple Tulips, in this blog post, but it was scooped up pretty quick. I’ll try to alert you when I’m adding artwork to the Shoppe as soon as I can. Thank you, thank you, for your interest and purchases!
Perhaps you’d like to try your hand at collaging like this. Here’s a step-by-step suggestion for you:
1. Swoosh some watercolors around on a fresh page, not mingling the color too much, but allowing them to oozle and wazzle with each other. (These are highly technical art terms, you know!;) A floral piece works well with this, since the somewhat random watercolors suggest foliage and flowers in the background!
2. Cut shapes of found and purchased papers to suit what your subject is. Vary tones of one color, or choose different colors… it’s fun to explore lots of approaches to this. Maybe you would like to paint or draw on the pieces of paper before cutting them.
3. Glue them down according to your idea and vision.
4. Take other media, such as oil pastels, watercolor crayons, markers, pens, soft pastels to add any flourishes or designs to your collaged piece.
Et Voila! Enjoy!
**Oh, and one more thing…would you like to see the photo I worked from to create the first collage?? Here it is. See if you can find the 2 tulips I looked at while assembling their shapes.
Brian Rutenberg, in his Studio Visit #18 , quotes a German artist, Walter Sickert, who said, “Drawing is about captivity. Painting is about freedom.” This one little quote has stuck with me and caused all kinds of back & forth in my brain as I consider what’s being said here. I don’t think Rutenberg is in any way pitting the one against the other to somehow say that one is better than another. He is merely putting forth a fundamental difference in the ACTION of or the RESULT of drawing & that of painting.
He says, “I’m really invested in that notion of capturing something and using that as a springboard into the process of abstraction.”
I love that. Brian calls himself a Painter. Every time I hear him say that, I find myself wanting to say…”And I am a Drawer.” Which doesn’t mean that I do not paint…I do and love to paint! But fundamentally I love to capture the Beauty of the world around me whether it be recognizable things, places, people, or events which are inherently lovely OR whether it is something I’ve had to hunt for in the midst of the mundane in life, or even in the painful places of life. I feel it is my job to look for and capture any hint of Beauty by drawing it in my sketchbook or on larger pieces of paper or canvases.
I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Brian Rutenberg’s drawings of trees (you can see a few of them in the documentaries). They are exquisite. I have done a fair amount of drawing/painting trees and they are some of my favorite works. As I look at his “drawings” of trees, they seem very painterly to me. This distinction between what is considered “drawing” and what is considered “painting” is not a black and white issue to me. I believe one can paint with a pen, a pencil, and with charcoal…mediums that are typically associated with drawing. And I believe one can draw with watercolor, acrylics, and oils…definitely paint substances. Is it merely the presence of line which marks a drawing? Is it the evidence of brushstrokes which denotes a painting? Or is it a massed-in approach (blocking in the large shapes before the smaller ones) which deems a work a painting? Or…what? I’ve settled on it being a fuzzy area and which really doesn’t need to be defined.
But if I go with Sickert’s definition here, I have to say that I am definitely a DRAWER. My eyes are constantly on the lookout for things/people/events/places that I want to capture in my sketchbook or larger papers or canvases. Yet even Sickert’s definition may be fluid. As I capture these moments by drawing them, I experience a sense of freedom. As if, the simple act of drawing (or painting:) sets me free to say “yes” to the moment, to accept where I am, and to fully inhabit the gamut of life’s beauties.
So…was I drawing or painting the first image? How ’bout the tree…did I draw it or paint it? It really doesn’t matter. I was definitely capturing something, whether it was an idea about the tangle of creative thoughts or an assertion of the wisdom and experience of an old tree. In capturing these, I was also freeing them to exist somewhere other than in that space and time AND freeing me to embrace all the wonder that life has to offer. I do enjoy thinking about these things. It seems that Mr. Rutenberg does also.
Thank you, once again, Brian.
And here’s a quote by Edgar Degas I came across recently…good stuff to think about:
“Drawing is the artist’s most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.”
“Do not fail as you go on to draw something every day, for no matter how little it is, it will be well worthwhile, and it will do you a world of good.”
(Cennino Cennini)
In case you do not know who Cennino Cennini is (like me), click here to familiarize yourself with this artist from the 14th-15th centuries. It is incredibly amazing to me that we live in a world where the voices of artists who have gone before can still be heard.
I am also encouraged by knowing and drawing with artists who have been at it for years longer than I have. My friend Susette (drawn above and here: second drawing; and here: second drawing again) is just such a person whose life-long love of and commitment to drawing has continued to inspire many in our area to draw together. I first joined up with the Drawing Circle she started years ago in Winston-Salem. I had two young children then and it was my getaway day on Saturdays to draw with them in the morning. Sometimes I brought my kids for us all to draw. Many of these artists still have their drawings of my kids and of my third child, when she was born and brought in her car carrier to Drawing Circle. Susette has now begun another group on Tuesdays where I’ve been drawing at Barnhill’s Bookstore. I’ve loved reconnecting with her and the folks who draw on Tuesdays.
Encouragement to draw can be gleaned from so many inspiring people!
Something about my little beach drawrings made me think of Maurice Prendergast, an artist I’ve admired for years. This was only after the fact, not something I was aware of while drawing at the beach. But it made me google him and read more about him as an artist when I found THIS!
You simply must download this for yourself! You’ll love it! A peek into one of his very own sketchbooks, circa 1920-23.
In Brian Rutenberg’s Studio Visit #16, he begins the talk recounting some casual banter between friends over dinner one evening. The subject was “limitations”, which he says “Every artist has” and that he is continually inventorying his. I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard him say this, wondering what, if any, limitations to being the artist he wants to be, he might have.
It was incredibly encouraging to hear an artist of his stature speak of limitations. Though his list of limitations has largely to do with ways in which he would like to expand artistically, I nevertheless found it amazing that he often goes through the ways in which he feels limited and yet finds a sense of “spaciousness and comfort” there.
What I find myself listing as limitations in my art is largely in the categories of station in life (ie. motherhood), resources, and opportunities (living in a small town as opposed to an art mecca such as NY). Nevertheless, I was encouraged and inspired by Brian to think of these boundaries or limitations as places where I actually can find freedom and “permission”.
He says, “Because perhaps it’s the intensification, the concentration of those limits, that give our work its truth and its humanity and its vigor…and content. It’s that continual longing to break from those inescapable things, those limits, to get better, that I’ll never be good enough, that it’s the longing to get better, the longing to speak more clearly, more directly, with less, that keeps me going. It’s very comforting, these notions.”
Wow.
To say that his words were encouraging would fall short of the affirmation I received on hearing that all artists struggle with, or are at least cognizant of, limitations. And then, to be inspired to think of these limitations as places of “spaciousness, comfort, and permission” is something I’m carrying with me every day as I go about all the motherly and household duties, as I go about teaching art to young children, and the myriad of other things that seem to come between me and being the artist I long to be. He goes on to say:
“So for me it’s not the question, “Are there limitations?” The question for me is, ‘Do I inhabit my limitations?’ And I think that’s the really important point: one must utterly inhabit their work.”
These final words on this subject were incredibly centering for me. I now have this wonderful call to INHABIT my limitations each and every day. To embrace them, and to create works in my sketchbook that continue to grow out of those limitations. I may not be working on huge canvases and exhibiting them in galleries and shows, but I have the same call to create art and I must inhabit the life I have in order to create works which contain even a grain of “truth, humanity, vigor and content”.
I’ve recently discovered an artist whose work and words I’m eating up these days. To say that his paintings are delicious would be correct…the color, movement, and draw-you-in composings on canvas are breathtaking. His words are equally inspiring.
Brian Rutenberg lives and works in New York City. His work is about as far on the other end of my own artistic offerings as one might be. He has an art degree while I have a French degree. He was a Fulbright Scholar and has made his living from his art whereas I have raised kids and worked small odd part-time jobs while my art-making has been stashed in-between every-which-way. He works in oils on HUGE canvases and currently I work in a sketchbook. He works in abstraction, with his drawings in charcoal being representational; I draw representationally with forays into abstraction.
We do have a few things in common though: born in the same year, southern upbringing, family people (he is married with two children; my husband and I are raising three). But the largest common denominator is a love for articulating all-things-art. And this is what I want to share with you…my reactions and responses to a few of the ideas and thoughts he presents in his marvelous Documentaries.
There are 18 of these 10-minute videos of Brian speaking to us about his work. I’ve watched them all, eagerly absorbing and mulling over the concepts he espouses and describes so eloquently. You really must watch these. I suggest watching only one or two and then spend a few days thinking about them and letting the ideas seep into your way of creating.
ID #105
I have also been making more of these Improvisational Drawings (as I’m calling them:). I’ve started numbering them with ID (stands for Improvisational Drawing) and then a number. I’ve also taken to writing about each of them on the back, or on a sheet of paper placed in an envelope I glue on the back. I enjoy creating the words that speak to how the drawing evolved, any thoughts as to why, and specifics about approach, or underlying ideas. The drawings themselves are in no way an attempt to replicate Rutenberg. The thing I’m going for is to consider the elements surrounding the drawings, the making of them, the impetus behind them…like Rutenberg, as he so wonderfully communicates in his Documentaries.
My next post will be responding to one aspect of one of his talks. In the meantime, see if you can watch a few of his documentaries. It will be time well spent!
There are several approaches to drawing, three of which I’ll be highlighting in these Mini Lessons. The one I tend to gravitate towards the most is CONTOUR drawing. There are many reasons why I love this way of drawing, which you can read about here and here. But chiefly, I love contour drawing because, first… it is the most meditative of the approaches, slowing me down in my busy life. AND second…because the very motivation behind it, is to fully engage with your life.
Here’s how-
When you set your mind to create a contour drawing, you are to focus your eyes on your subject and NOT on the paper. You are to imagine that the tip of your pencil, pen, (drawing implement of any kind) actually IS your hand, or finger, following the contours and shapes of the subject in front of you. Here’s how Kimon Nicolaides puts it in his book, The Natural Way to Draw. (This is a book on drawing I would highly recommend. It may seem a bit heady and wordy if you’re a beginner. But when you’re ready to dig deep into the world of drawing, it is a treasure trove of instruction.:)
“…move your eye slowly along the contour of the model and move the pencil slowly along the paper. As you do this, keep the conviction that the pencil point is actually touching the contour. Be guided more by the sense of touch than by sight. This means that you must draw without looking at the paper, continuously looking at the model…. Develop the absolute conviction that you are touching the model. This exercise should be done slowly, searchingly, sensitively. Take your time…” pgs. 10 & 11.
Love that! So, draw up a chair somewhere in front of a family member, your morning cup of coffee, a tree in your backyard, etc. Place your pen or pencil on your sketchbook page somewhere that corresponds approximately to where you’re beginning to draw your subject. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU BEGIN! You could start with the eyes, or the top of the head, or the shoulder, WHEREVER! Just begin.
*And as your eyes move slowly around the contours of your subject, draw on your paper as you go, as if your eyes and your hand are ONE. Do not limit yourself to outer edges. The contours available to you to follow, are BOTH on the outside of your subject (edges of face, arms, feet) AND the inside of your subject (folds of a jacket, lines of crossed legs, neckline of shirt, etc.) Try not to get ahead of yourself…keep your eyes and hand moving simultaneously. Go slow. Caress the contours!
*Allow your hand/pen to NOT COMPLETE all shapes. Can you find the places where I did that in the above drawing? Let the contour line move you from the edge of the pant leg to the leg itself, EVEN IF you have not finished drawing the pants!! This is an essential element, in my opinion, to contour drawing. You are not trying to delineate complete shapes, but rather describe the lovely flow of contours as they morph in and out of each other.
*Allow your hand/pen to CROSS OVER already drawn contours!! This is another essential element. Don’t restrict yourself to thinking you can’t draw the leg of a chair OVER TOP OF an already drawn purse or bag sitting nearby. Draw right on through it and keep going!
*Feel free to BACK UP with your line. I will often take my pen/eye back over what I’ve just drawn to get back to another contour I want to follow for a while.
*DO NOT FRET over your hand/pen going off the side of the paper!! So what, if your drawing is not perfectly centered on the page?? Simply, place your pen back on paper and keep going! I personally, think this gives the drawing a feel of spontaneity and in-the-moment authenticity.
*Try contour drawing with various amounts of BLINDNESS. You can actually create a drawing in this manner without EVER looking at your paper. These are called Blind Contour Drawings. The above pastel drawing was developed from a blind contour drawing created during a Drawing Group. If you saw the lady I was drawing, you would not know this was her!! Most of the time, I look at my subject for a length of time while drawing, glance down for a brief second WITHOUT DRAWING OR LIFTING MY PEN, and then return to looking at my subject to draw. I suppose these would be called Partially-blind Contour Drawings.
*Try keeping your pen or pencil ON THE PAPER THE ENTIRE TIME, never lifting it to move it elsewhere in your drawing. These are called Continuous or One-Liner Drawings. Although the above drawing is only one or two complete lines from top of the page to the end of my name; most of the time, I draw one line for as far as I feel I can go and then pick up my pen and place it somewhere else to begin another line…again and again. Perhaps these could be called Several-Liner Drawings. Check out Picasso’s One-Liner Drawings! Very cool!
**A key element to contour drawing in this manner is to LET GO of your desire to have “pretty” results. (Remember the last lesson…“Leggo My Ego”). Just go with the flow, engage with your subject matter by drawing its contours, and then have a little chuckle at the result. THE IMPORTANT THING is the PROCESS of drawing!!! It’s NOT to have a “perfect” drawing, that is to say, a drawing with perfect proportions, scale and perspective. I, myself, ACTUALLY PREFER an off-kilter, wonky, funky drawing done freely and lovingly. Mr. Nicolaides says it beautifully:
“When you looked at your first completed contour drawing, you probably laughed. No doubt the lines sprawled all over the paper, the ends did not meet in places, and one leg or arm may have been much bigger than the other. That should not worry you at all. In fact, you will really have cause for worry only if your drawing looks too ‘correct,’ for that will probably mean either that you have looked at the paper too often or have tried too hard to keep the proportions in your mind.” pg. 19.
A Blessing: May you slow down and enjoy your life, by caressing its contours through drawing…this week and throughout the years to come!!
Addendum: It occurs to me to point out some things that may seem obvious to you. And here is where I absolutely, teetotally LOOOVE art for this. There are SO many things we can take from this lesson on contour drawing and apply it to our lives. For instance-
**We really, truly, absolutely need to slow down.
**We would do much better to enjoy and focus on the JOURNEY of our lives rather than on the PRODUCT or ACCOMPLISHMENTS of our lives.
**We need to be ok with some things just not being completed. Being willing to let things in our lives be open and unfinished is a good thing.
**Sometimes we need to back up. Then take a new direction.
**When we fall off the “paper”, we need to get back on the proverbial “horse” and keep going!
**We need to make an effort at NOT getting ahead of ourselves. Be where we are…fully!
**We need to “let go” of having a particular outcome.
**And last, but not least…we need to have a little chuckle as we look around at our lives.
***Access all Mini Lessons for Drawing Your Life at the top of the home page on my blog! (OR just click the highlighted words in blue!)
I was recently loaned the video titled Between the Folds, A PBS Independent Lens movie. I fell in love…again.
When I was a child I had several origami books (which I wish I could find!) and spent hours folding and folding and trying to figure out the diagrams for creating all kinds of animals, boxes, people, etc. I have continued to enjoy origami as an adult, buying a book here and there to share with my kids. Currently in my art classes at school, I’m teaching tesselations. To my delight, I discovered in this film that Origami is a kind of 3-Dimensional tesselation! How cool is that!
I was enrapt from the beginning of this video to the end as it expounded all the heights to which origami is currently taken. An exquisite art form, a way to teach geometry and other mathematical subjects, a practical problem-solver for industry, as well as huge scientific strides being made through Origami. If you can get your hands on the full, hour long video, PLEASE DO SO! It is hugely inspiring!!!!
But here are links to a couple of mini segments from the film:
The above photo is of all our creations this past weekend. Maddie, Catherine, and myself made lots of cool things from butterflies to swans to boxes, to a person and on and on. This is too much fun! You should go pick up an Origami book and some square papers (I’ve often seen very inexpensive books with papers in the Bargain section of Barnes n Nobles) and you will have so much fun!!
Sometimes I think I must be as crazy as Eric Joisel about art…sure wish I could say, as he does in the video for his excuse, “…but, of course, I am French!”
**To be noted: the first three letters of Eric Joisel’s last name, are the French word for Joy. He indeed brought a lot of joy into the world through his art!
