Where did all the #30×30 posts go?!?
I’ve moved everthing from #30x30DirectWatercolor to its own page.
Click Here – or – go to the tab #30x30DirectWatercolor on the navigation bar.
Thanks!
Original Post:
I’m excited to announce, a new event: The Thirty by Thirty (30×30) Direct Watercolor Marathon!
For the month of June, myself, and a group of five friends will take on a challenge to paint thirty watercolor paintings in thirty days.
The goal is simple: we all want to do more painting!
Plus, we want to share in the benefits of daily practice.
Painting, like any art, sport, or science, calls for commitment. Like a musician doing scales or an athlete in the gym, a painter needs to paint. Ideally, every day.
For this entire month of June, we’ll be posting our daily progress. Success or failure, inspiration or slog, the five of us will share the results of our experiment – and – we hope some of you will come along for the ride!
What is #30x30DirectWatercolor2018?
- PAINT 30 watercolors in 30 days, from June 1-30 2018.
- POST your paintings in our new Facebook group: <HERE
We’d like to centralize the discussion around this group, to spare our usual sketching clubs all the extra traffic this might create :) - HASHTAG your work on any other social media (twitter, instagram) with the hashtag: #30x30DirectWatercolor2018.
This will help people find your work in the future. Here are some FAQs on how to use hashtags: FB | IG | Twitter. - Any size, format or subject is ok. I personally hope to paint on location, but it’s going to depend on weather and the situation at home.
- I plan to paint in watercolor, working as directly as possible. But if you want to tint drawings, or add in some mixed media, we’re not going to be enforcing rules. I won’t however, have a lot of advice about techniques I’m not thinking about this month.
- Our goal is experiencing sustained daily practice. If it’s better for you to do seven paintings on the weekend instead of one a day, that’s totally ok. Same with posting progress. One a day makes a good story – but do what works for you.
- It’s also completely normal if you fail to make 30! Or to need a few extra days. Like any marathon, just participating is the first reward. Though I’m sure any of us can catch up with some super fast, super small sketches if we have to!
In the next few days, I’ll post some introductions and advice from the other artists, and a few notes on my sketching kit for the summer. Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, if you want to go back in time and read my very first posts on Direct Watercolor – here’s a little historical archive.
And of course, if you want dive a little deeper, there’s my new book Direct Watercolor <affiliate link, thx). Plus: Here’s some sample pages.
~m
Cloning Napoleon’s Nieces
I was at the museum traipsing through a show on Napoleon. Ran across this double portrait by Jacques-Louis David portraying Napoleon’s nieces Zénaïde and Charlotte.
In the painting, (according to the didactic panel), they are posing as steadfast echoes of the Empire.
Crowned with gold tiaras, perched on a chaise decorated with imperial bees (?) < apparenlty a Bonaparte logo), brandishing a letter from uncle Joseph, no doubt encouraging them to produce lots of sons who might yet become future emperors. (Zéni. had 12 kids, Lottie – dunno – couldn’t find that info – but they both died in childbirth).
In any case – I felt like making a study, and so, here it is. And, as always, it’s about as faithful as anything I paint :) I want to learn – but I learn by play :)
I’m no expert, but it’s my understanding the jury is out on the practice of master copies.
Other than the secluded chambers of artist’s ateliers or the Chinese art factories – is anyone else doing them?
Send me some links if you are! Please post in the comments. I’d like to hear what other people are doing.
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When I went to school, we were discouraged from copying historical painting. Other than as appropriation in the context of critical analysis. Which is a fancy way of saying – other than making fun of them.
I understand of course that we were being positioned against of all the misogyny and class warfare and imperialism inherent in the work. (I can get behind that). And as good students, we would turn our backs on the patriarchy of representation and make conceptual art. (That — I couldn’t quite get there).
But isn’t it more interesting what we can learn from this painting?
I find it fascinating how this is a kind of propaganda. The use of art, beauty, and elegance to portray a kind of right thinking young lady doing their part for the empire.
What virile King of Spain wouldn’t want one of these ladies as wives?
Deposed King Ferdinand as it turns out, refused Zéni’s hand. Forcing her to marry her cousin Charles – sire of those 12 pure-blood kids.
>
The best thing you can say (about the death of master-copies) is that art colleges are not trying to produce skilled-but-slavish craftspeople any longer. Rather, we want free-thinkers.
I think this is fallout from the post-war obsession with originality in art, which is can be blamed on the explosion of (artificial) value in contemporary art, and the perceived need for every single piece to be 100% from our own mind – so we’re always adding value to our portfolio.
This is something collectors want – as they need a body of work they can collect, market, and profit from.
It’s not necessarily anything artists should want – as they need to be thinking first about developing their skills.
You know – if you ask me :)
~m
Montreal Insectarium
We need only look at nature to be inspired by its infinite variety.
I love to paint creatures, big or small.
You have to know, you can’t really beat the universe at its own game. Just look at this!
Still, it’s fun to try :) And you learn something from every attempt.
These sketches are making me say this – I think you don’t need an art school or a teacher. You just need to get out and experience what life has to show you. Look at how far I’ve come in eight years since sketching the Insectarium.
The doing is more important than the having done, and the journey is the goal itself.
Never Fear the Blank Page : CSPWC/SFA Canada/France Exchange
I recently undertook a set of still life paintings of manual typewriters. I’d like to think, this is the one I’d use to write a detective novel.
Some people say they get stuck for ideas. Artist’s block! I’ve never had that problem – for paintings, (or for writing).
I keep lists. And lists of lists. Little books full of thumbnails, folders full of sketches. Subjects that won’t go away keep re-surfacing. I find the same sketches over and over (sometimes years apart). I come up with a concept, and I see I already have it on a list, buried in an old notebook.
I finally got around to these typewriters – just in time for the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolor. We’re doing an exchange with the Société Française de l’Aquarelle (SFA), and, I’m happy to say ‘The Mystery Writer‘ was selected for both shows. Halton Ontario at the Helson Gallery, June 6- July 7, and in Avignon, France at the Cloître St. Louis, Aug. 28 – Sept 17.
This one is clearly for a science-fiction screenplay. It doesn’t get more retro-futuristic!
Here’s a step by step of the painting process.
You’ll see I did a clean line drawing. Then it was simply a matter of taking on each major component one at a time. Not quite following my normal Larger>to>Smaller and Lighter>to>Darker approach. Mor of a nit-picky, one element at a time version. It’s a bit like assembling a model airplane or doing a jigsaw puzzle. A good rainy day activity.
Collectors of these antiques might know this particular machine. If you do, you’ll see I’m taking plenty of liberties. Just like that time I was sketching motorcycles.
I enjoy the game – giving the impression of mechanical gew-gaws without rendering every cog and flywheel.
This one is kind of a comedy of errors. I call it ‘The Cheshire Cat‘.
Once you see the cartoon grin, the painting is doomed. You can’t take it seriously any longer.
I debated showing this one at all, but I suppose it’s interesting that a piece can fail for reasons that have nothing to do with your drawing skills or paint handling.
I’d spotted that brassy grin early in the painting – and should have just junked it then. I’d hoped somehow I could down-play the illusion with the right values. But like the Cheshire Cat, the grin is persistent :)
Announcement: Direct Watercolor $20 Pop up Sale at USK:MTL, April 22d, Redpath Museum
Next Sunday, April 22, starting at 11am, Urban Sketchers Montreal is having a sketch-out at the Redpath Museum.
I’m going to be there with signed copies of my latest book, Direct Watercolor.
Even better – I‘ll be offering books for $20! (While supplies last).
As we speak, Amazon Canada has it for $31.34.
Such a deal I have for you!
Hope to see some of you there :)
~marc
And of course, if you can’t be here in Montreal, you can order from any Amazon outlet.
Thanks for your support!
~m
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Laguna to LA : iPhone Photo Journaling
Following up my post on abstraction, still on the topic of alternatives art-making :) What about photography? It seems like sketchers often ignore the obvious. Everyone else is mad about photography! But we stubbornly turn away from it. Why is that I wonder?
This past December we brought my parents to California. Which was a big deal – given my stepfather is fully in the grip of dementia.
By the way, I have no advice on flying with intellectually compromised people. Other than don’t try it. He was on the edge of crisis the entire time, and, had we lost control we’d probably have grounded the flight. So – it’s driving trips or none at all from now on.
Anyway, I’m trying very hard not to make this blog all about my dad, even though it kind of takes over your life. Last comment on that for a while, I promise!
The short story here is – there were many times on this trip I’d normally have been sketching – but instead, I was taking pictures with my phone.
After all – it’s right in your pocket, you hardly need to stop walking to take a shot.
I’ve never given much thought to photography as an artistic end-product. You know, as opposed to just taking snapshots for color reference.
I feel like, I have to be doing something creative. Life is too short to go a day without.
If there’s simply no possibility of doing a drawing for ‘reasons’. Well, you have to adapt.
I *should* have been doing simple line drawings – something like [ these ones ]. But we were in California! So much nicer than Montreal in winter! I had my mind locked on [ painting like this ], and thus I only mustered the willpower to take the paints out once on the entire trip. Which is fine. But sometimes, with travel sketching – if you get greedy, you lose out.
I don’t think photography will be a regular thing for me. (?)
Probably not – I mean, I’m so invested in drawing as a lifestyle, I don’t see how I could switch.
But it’s interesting how you can take the same creative energy and put it into a new thing.
If you have no choice.
A New Manifesto!
So, in recent days I’ve been thinking about abstract art.
Naturally, I got on this line of inquiry through my stepfather’s artwork. The paintings he created after the onset of dementia. < a post about that).
I’ve been spending more time with him lately, not exactly by choice (if I’m to be entirely honest), but because he needs someone around 24/7.
We watch Netflix, or read, or, for a couple of days, I worked on these paintings. Sitting with him on the couch painting on the iPad.
He was more interested in these than in a show. If I watch TV, he can’t follow it, so he just sleeps.
These, he’d watch what I was doing for a while, and sometimes want to tap the screen himself. Even though he isn’t able to paint anymore, he remembers doing it.
I was going to use these for a hilarious April Fool post. I was imagining a fake declaration about abandoning watercolor forever and switching to abstract art.
It would have been super-funny.
But eh. Who’s got the time for jokes.
I’ve always said I don’t understand abstract art.
Trying it for the first time, (even half-seriously) it feels like trying on a doctor’s scrubs or a fireman’s coat.
Getting dressed up for a job – but it’s only putting on a costume.
It’s very possible that I’m just over thinking it :)
It’s true, when I paint on location, I don’t worry about slavishly rendering reality.
Yet, I find it difficult to create entirely from imagination. I normally want to be looking at something, and then maybe I can break the boundaries of reality.
I will say – I think I’m short-cutting the real deal by painting digitally.
You can try something, and if you don’t like it, undo it.
There’s no element of risk.
When you’re contemplating a big move on a traditional painting you feel real fear!
Holding a dripping brush over the canvas, you’re afraid you’re going to ruin the painting, and really wish you hadn’t done that, and it’s going to take you hours to get it back, if ever.
With digital, you don’t have any fear, or any boredom waiting for paint to dry, or any exhaustion from the physical effort.
So, with this silly April Fool prank that never became a prank, all I can say is – you can’t learn anything about painting sitting on your couch.
Classical Remix
Here’s a few more pencil drawings from the MBAM. These are from the classical wing, just to the left of the old main entrance, which you can’t get to anymore from the street.
These begin as a doodle, drawn in the museum in pencil (that’s all they officially allow). Then later I use all those squiggly lines to remind myself of where the light and shadow were.
I actually painted these on a different day, while sitting in the botanical garden :) I could take some cellshots to help later – and sometimes I do – but mostly it’s not necessary.
You can just go with what you see in the drawing. Sometimes it’s more interesting than getting it right.
Mesoamerican Clay Figurines at the MBAM
There’s a little side-room in the permanent collection at MBAM where they keep some cultural artifacts from Mesoamerica. They don’t get as much traffic as the big shows. It’s easy to pass right by them on the way to something more ‘exciting’.
My favorite display case has three small shelves of tiny clay figurines. They’re small – smaller than the palm of your hand.
I didn’t read too much about them – we were just sketching and chatting. But it’s most likely they’re fertility wishes. Something someone would make and say a prayer for conception or a safe childbirth.
Any anthropologists out there can chime in on what these are all about? (Jennifer? are you reading?)
I’ve really been enjoying tiny little sketches lately. I have no time right now – life is a bit crazy – and it’s one way to keep going with not-really-daily-drawing.
There’s no watercolor allowed in our art gallery exhibits, so they’re simple pencil drawings, which I tinted later on.
I would call this tinting approach – “Puddle and Poke”.
Make a wet shape with a base tone that fills the entire figure (minus the highlights) and touch-in contrasting (cool) color washes. Then – as things begin to dry down – add some small darker accents with pure pigment. Sometimes these are tiny dots or dashes of pigment – like the eyes and mouth on the mask-like heads below.
I love the free interpretation in these figurines. It would be fun to make some of these.
Maybe I’ll get out some polymer clay someday and play around with some arcane little characters!
~m
So, about those motorcycles…
So, I was thinking I was pretty clever, going to the Montreal Moto Show to try and sketch some people for #OneWeek100People2018.
But once we got inside, I realized, yes there are a lot of people here, but – the show is kind of about motorcycles.
And I can’t draw a motorcycle to save my life.
Oops!
So, the first thing that’s challenging about motorcycles, is you probably don’t know anything about how they’re built. They have an anatomy, but we don’t know it like we know a human skeleton.
When you find yourself in front of something too difficult to draw comfortably – just go back to the basics. I put away the brush and watercolor, and tried to understand these machines with just a ballpoint pen.
I’d start first with the shape of the tank and saddle. Kind of the ‘spine’. Followed by the big pipe of the exhaust. That way you’ve enclosed the small details, inside the larger shape. You can draw any old scribbles where the engine goes, and they’ll pretty much work.
Same with a tire. Sketch the outside circle, and the disk brakes, spokes, and tread become texture on top of the big shape.
I still don’t feel like I can draw Motorcycles! But I’ve taken a few steps closer to a goal :) Which, in a way, is what #OneWeek100People2018 is was about.
~m
Citizen Sketcher 