Off the Coast of Utopia

Resurrection of a Painting - Part Three

2012-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

After deciding upon an image (see part two) and collecting reference I began the drawing for the final painting. I started with a harmonic armature within which I placed the figure and other elements. An armatures can help to create order amongst the various various elements and to the whole:

After transferring this to the canvas the wash drawing was begun:

The reference came from many different places. I took photos of my friend and student Juan Pablo:

Drew Struzen's Star Wars posters have wonderful renderings of light effects. They really are a modern interpretation of halos. Illustrator Mike Sass uses similar effects on his art for the Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic:

For sky, drapery and flag I looked to Titian:

I found this image of a lake in Alberta and used it as a source for the rocks at front:

For the clouds, Cagnacci's Assumption of Mary Magdalene:

The broken gates I borrowed from Casper David Friedrich:

The cross comes from San Filipo Neri church in Florence:

And the Hubble space telescope provided the cosmos:

Mix it all up and shake real hard:

Anastasis

The final painting is now in the private collection of His Eminence Mauro Cardinal Piacenza in Vatican City.

Little Known Treasures of Florence -Part One

2011-11-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, Florence

Also known as Dante's and Beatrice's church, it contains this beautiful painting, The Wedding of Beatrice by Raffealo Sorbi:

New Palette

2011-11-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting with a new restricted palette that gives results I like:

Titanium White ( Michael Harding) - I also like Cremnitz White but supplies are non existent these days.

Permanent Lemon Yellow (Maimeri) - a nice light, bright yellow which, when mixed with red, gives a nice highlight for skin colour.

Roman Ochre (Zecchi) - A rich ochre that when mixed with red gives a beautiful flesh colour.

Cadmium Red Light (Windsor and Newton) - A bright, light red.

Burnt Umber (Old Holland) - A low chroma orange.

Raw Umber (Michael harding) - A low chroma yellow/green, the greyest of colours before black.

Ivory Black (Old Holland) - A rich, cool black.

Ultramarine Blue (Old Holland) - works well as the blue on this palette.

The above portrait of Conor was completed with this new palette.

Santa Trinita, Firenze

2011-05-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share the beautiful representation of the Trinity over the main entrance to Santa Trinita in Florence. The church itself was constructed between 1258 - 1280. The Trinity (1593-94) was sculpted by Giovanni Battista Caccini and Pietro Bernini, father of Gian Lorenzo.

Nuit Blanche

2011-05-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

The old stories are always the best. From director and cinematographer Arev Manoukian.

Resurrection of a Painting - Part Two

2011-04-21T00:21:00.000-07:00

The painting of the Resurrection and accompanying thesis arose as a result of my reflection upon the chapter on “Art and Liturgy” in Cardinal Ratzinger’s book The Spirit of the Liturgy. Specifically, it is first a response to a statement that our Holy Father makes: “All sacred images are, without exception, in a certain sense images of the Resurrection, history read in light of the Resurrection.” Later, after a discussion of the theology of the icon he asks, “Is this theology of the icon, as developed in the East, true? Is it valid for us?

I investigated the development of early Christian art, when the Church was still unified, and studied the connections to theological and cultural developments. I researched the history of the icon in order to understand its context in the Eastern Church. From this arose the idea to combine the Orthodox and the Catholic traditions in one painting of the Resurrection, an image that could be a part of the liturgy in the same way an icon is, but one that uses the traditions and language of beauty developed by the Western masters of the past 1000 years.In my research I read many books and perused several others. Those which I found most interesting and useful were:

1. Alain Besançon, The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000. I highly recommend this book for anyone iterested in theological and philosophical influences on the development of art.

2. Paul Evidokimov, Art of Icon: A Theology of Beauty. Translated by Steven Bingham. Redondo Beach: Oakwood Publications, 1990. A beautiful (but rare and expensive) book on the meaning of the icon.

3. Michel Quenot., The Resurrection and the Icon. Crestwood: SVS Press, 1997. This is an excellent resource on the meaning of the Resurrection

4. Timothy Verdon, Il Catechismo della Carne. Siena: Cantagalli, 2009. Timothy Verdon's books are an excellent resource. I do not know of anyone else writing art history from honestly Catholic perspective. Despite being American most of his work is in Italian.

The first image I drew was an idea that involved the design of the whole altar with the Resurrection painting as an altarpiece.

From this point I decided to work only on the altarpiece and developed a number of sketches.

Early Christian faith was anchored in Christ’s Resurrection. The actual episode of Christ’s Resurrection is not narrated in the Gospels, and for this reason we do not see it illustrated until much later in Christian art. Depictions of the Resurrection of Christ came to be represented by the descent of the Saviour into Hades. The theme of the Descent in Hell has it's origins in the allegorical liberation images of the victorious Roman emperor who drew the defeated peoples toward him and in the god/hero of classical mythology who descends to the lower regions to bring back the dead. Called the Anastasis or Harrowing of Hell it is based on I Peter 3:18-20 and the Apostles' Creed which states that Christ “descended into Hell” before his Resurrection.

For the early Church this came to be the icon of the Resurrection and continues to be so for the Orthodox Church today.

Hosios Loukas Phocis - Greece 11 Century

Gerdmars 2000

As the west shifted its spirituality to a focus on the cross, the old model of the Resurrection is seen less often. Pictures of the Anastasis degenerate into exercises in artistic imagination as the Resurrection seems to lose its intimate connection with the cross and an understanding of it as an essential part of our salvation. The Harrowing of Hell continued to show up every so often in the work of lesser known painters but in no image that contained the carnal force of the crucifixion or the spiritual power of the best representations in the east. The Resurrection came to be represented by Christ's exit from the tomb and other Biblical scenes most notably the Supper at Emmaus and Doubting Thomas.

Piero della Francesca 1463

As I drew I searched for an image which would most able to combine the Eastern and Western concepts of the Resurrection. This is what I eventually came up with:

From this I developed a number of colour studies:

At this point I moved to working with models. Eventually I felt that this image was not iconic enough and so I developed this image, working with photographs and photoshop:

In part three I will outline the painting of this image and describe the interesting journey it has taken.

Godfathers of the Renaissance

2011-03-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

"Godfathers of the Renaissance" is an excellent PBS documentary on the Medici and Florence of the quatrocentro e cinquecento. You can watch it free on youtube.

A Small Splinter

2011-03-01T15:14:00.000-08:00

Painters take note. Any one of these would make a great painting.

Resurrection of a Painting

2011-02-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

The overview of Christian art history and the survey of Resurrection images presented over the last few entries was a way to prepare myself to create a sacred image of the Resurrection. My goal is to take the best of the Oriental and Occidental art traditions and combine them into one painting, producing an image of the Resurrection that contains carnal force and spiritual fullness. Over the course of my research, I discovered a number of interesting points useful towards this end:

-Developments in theology have always been followed by developments in art.

-The images of the dominant or secular world were always a source for Christian artists. The church has never been afraid to appropriate what it wanted and needed from the culture at large and invest it with Christian meaning.

-The Anastasis is the original icon/image of the Resurrection. This icon continues to be at the heart of the eastern icon and feast cycle. While the dominant image of the crucifixion in the Western Church implies the Resurrection, there is still a place for the Resurrection in a cycle of liturgical images.

-The work of Michelangelo represents the high point of the infusion of spiritual with the natural. Caravaggio fully expresses the carnality of Christ.

Today’s culture, no longer having an understanding of the cross needs to be spoken to with an explanation of its fullness. An expansion of the importance and clarity of liturgical art can do this. In this world of images, the right ordering of images can help to trigger a desire to understand more fully the heavenly realities. "Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day" (Jn 6,40).

Theology, ancient texts and art history have all provided wonderful sources for my development of an image that would proudly continue the tradition of Catholic art. Specifically, Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body played a huge roll in my theological understanding of the body. But to feel like I was truly carrying on this tradition I imagined myself an artist working on the walls of the catacombs. I looked extensively at the culture around me and undertook an inventory of the best figurative art of today. A lifelong exposure to pop culture has been useful in developing my picture.

From comic book heroes

John Byrne

Alex Ross

to pop culture illustration

Drew Struzan

Michael Kormack

to contemporary figurative painting

Daniel Sprick

Shane Wolf

beautiful human figures litter the contemporary cultural landscape. Many of these interpretations of the human body have their origins in traditional art. It was an artistic tradition with Catholic origins.

My painting of the Resurrection of the Son of God, called Anastasis, is a Harrowing of Hell painted in the Western style, using modern reference and designed to be a part of a larger pictorial cycle within a church.

Below it is presented in situ at San Filipo Neri church in Florence, Italy.

In upcoming posts I will share how I developed this image.

Reflections of Glory

2011-02-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Reflections of Glory is a very good short documentary about the development of Early Christian Art and how it lead to the icon.

Make a Fine Gesture (A Post of Few Words)

2011-02-20T02:17:00.000-08:00

Look at how Bougureau interprets gesture from the model (Notice he is not using sight size):

The original painting: Le Jour

Now go back and take a look at the model he was using.

To quote a former student, "Damn, he was good!"

Iconic Developments

2011-02-13T12:31:00.001-08:00

The history of the icon is the history of a unified church, of both the Catholic and Orthodox artistic traditions. The Orthodox however, cannot make claims to the Catholic tradition that developed after the Great Schism. By remaining rooted in one region and era, the icon has a rather limited artistic expression. Continually repeating canonic formulas carries with itself a certain amount of monotony. It is because of this shortcoming, the icon is easily mass produced without loss in its internal qualities.

Despite the Orthodox insistence that the icon arose independent of any influences, it has its origins in Roman sculpture and Egyptian funerary painting combined with theological developments and local veneration traditions. The enormous amount of writing that has arisen around the icon tends to create a smokescreen insisting the viewer not take the image on face value but must bring with him a whole history of theology and encyclopedic rationalizations. The existence of such texts certainly does not guarantee validity. In order to qualify the icon we must put aside these rationalizations and place it aside western paintings to be appreciated and evaluated for what they are. The canonical models evident in the icon, elongated bodies, large eyes, small mouths, etc. are meant to represent spirituality and in the best models, they do. Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Raphael, and many others employ similar artistic distortions to express the same concept. Certainly, both Monreale and the Sistine Chapel speak of a similar beauty. Icons are not great because of what is written about them. They are great when they are beautiful. Theological validity does not carry with it aesthetical validity.

From the 16^th to 20^thCenturies, while the West developed its own artistic tradition, the icon lost its appeal. Beginning in the seventeenth century, as the icon borrowed from Latin prototypes, it began to whither as a genre. In the 19^th Century Russian academic artists use the artistic developments and forms of the Renaissance within the traditional arrangements of the iconic cycle. The beautiful integration that resulted is visible in two churches:

The Church of the Spilled Blood, 1883-1907 in St. Petersburg:

And the Cathedral of St Vladimir, 1862-1882 in Kyiv, Ukraine

The Russian artist Victor Vasnetsov worked on both churches but had a much greater roll in St. Vladimir's. Below are some of his murals, which show the combination of the Eastern and Western sacred art traditions, that the art critic Vladimir Stasov labelled "a sacrilegious play with religious feelings of the Russian people."

References:

Alain Besancon, The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm.

TimothyVerdon, Il Catechismo della Carne.

Wikipedia

The Two Andreis

2011-02-08T13:48:00.000-08:00

Andrei Rublev is considered one of the greatest icon painters and his Trinity, ca. 1410, is one of the most well known icons. This icon was painted in memory of St. Sergius, whose whole life was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Andrei used to sit in front of the divine and venerable icons at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and elevate his spirit to the immaterial and divine light. It was in this light that Andrei transmitted his icon.

In this icon we can distinguish three levels of reality/history. The first is the Biblical story of the three pilgrims to Abraham and Sarah (Gn 18: 1- 15) upon which this icon is based. The absence of Abraham and Sarah invites us to penetrate deeper into the icon passing into the second level, that of divine economy. The three heavenly pilgrims form the "Eternal Council". The landscape changes meaning as well. The tent of Abraham becomes the temple-palace and the oak becomes the tree of life. The cosmos is represented by the cup.

The three angels with their wings and elongated bodies give the impression of being weightless. Inverse perspective abolishes distance and depth, bringing the figures to the fore and showing us God is everywhere. The third level, the intradivine, is hinted at. God is love himself, in his triune essence, and his love for the world is the reflection of his trinitarian love.1

The second Andrei, Tarkovsky, is one of the greatest film makers of the contemporary age.

"Tarkovsky for me is the greatest [director], the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream." - Ingmar Bergman

The films of the great Russian film maker are now free to view on line. Included is his 1966 film of Andrei Rublev. Do yourself a favour and spend a couple of hours with this masterpiece.

1.Description of the Trinity icon taken from: The Art of the Icon: A Theology of Beauty, p 243 - 248

Sacred Art and Liturgy - Part Two

2010-11-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

The influence of Franciscan spirituality gave a renewed meaning to earthbound reality and triggered a major transformation in art history. Begining with Giotto, artists began to focus on created reality as a source for artistic inspiration. The artists that followed him in this development continued to paint the Resurrection, which was now imbued with a new significance as artistic developments came to be applied to old models. In the Scrovegni Chapel, Giotto’s inclusion of the sleeping soldiers in his Noli Me Tangere (above) is interesting as it suggests that Jesus has just exited the tomb. This image has its origins in the Rabbula Gospel mentioned in the last post.

The first image of the Resurrection as a “snapshot” of an actual event is in Pietro Lorenzetti’s Resurrection of 1320, followed a few years later by Ugolino di Nerio in his Santa Croce Altar piece of 1324.

Artistically influenced by Giotto, in these paintings Christ continues to be earthbound, his burial cloth hanging from his limbs as he steps up and out of his tomb. The soldiers sleeping at his feet inhabit the same realistic space. This particular scene, being non-scriptural, has been rejected in traditional Orthodox imagery. Yet, Jesus did exit from the tomb, it was an event that happened, and therefore within the canon of Occidental art it is perfectly acceptable.

Between 1300 and 1500, this new version of the Resurrection continues to be a dominant theme in the artistic oeuvre. Fra Angelico depicts the traditional themes of Resurrection in the developing western style. His Harrowing of Hell is a straightforward and rather uninteresting scene of Christ freeing Adam and others from Hades .

In Fra Angelico’s Christ Resurrected and the Maries at the Tomb, he includes the figure of Christ in a glorious mandorla hovering above the open sarcophagus.

Piero della Francesca takes Ugolino’s model and gives it new life. Piero’s figures have a very specific individuality and are set into a precise illusionistic space.

This depiction of the body of Christ, both strong and tender, exiting from his earthly tomb, becomes the model for Western artists’ depiction of the Lord for the next several hundred years.

Titian 1544

Tintoretto 1579

Cecco da Carravaggio 1619

Noyel Coypel 1700

Carl Bloch 1881

Tissot 1882

Sacred Art and Liturgy - Part One.

2010-11-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

I recently finished writing my thesis, titled The Resurrection in Art and Liturgy. This thesis and the resulting project arose as a result of my reflection upon the chapter on “Art and Liturgy” in Cardinal Ratzinger’s book The Spirit of the Liturgy. Specifically, it is first a response to a statement that our Holy Father makes: “All sacred images are, without exception, in a certain sense images of the Resurrection, history read in light of the Resurrection.” Later, after a discussion of the theology of the icon he asks, “Is this theology of the icon, as developed in the East, true? Is it valid for us?”

In order to respond, I investigated the development of early Christian art, when the Church was still unified, and studied the connections to theological and cultural developments. I researched the history of the icon in order to understand its context in the Eastern Church. From this arose the idea to combine the Orthodox and the Catholic traditions in one painting of the Resurrection, an image that could be a part of the liturgy in the same way an icon is, but one that uses the traditions and language of beauty developed by the Western masters of the past 1000 years.

Early Christian faith was anchored in Christ’s Resurrection. The actual episode of Christ’s Resurrection is not narrated in the Gospels, and for this reason we do not see it illustrated until much later in Christian art. Jesus raising Lazarus is the most frequent image in the catacombs that, along with the story of Jonah, refer to the Resurrection come alive.

Depictions of events surrounding the Resurrection are also familiar in all Gospels. We read of the three Mary’s at the tomb, based on the accounts described in Mark 1, which is the first recorded event that took place with reference to the Resurrection. First images of these myrrh-bearing women date back to the year 230.

The earliest Christian artists shared their hope and faith through illustration of scripture. The Sarcophagus of Domatilla of the 5th Century uses the Chi-ro symbol above the cross to illustrate the Resurrection and Crucifixion as one event.

The Rabbula Gospel of 586 is unique in that it depicts both the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the oldest treatment in Christian iconography.

Depictions of the Resurrection of Christ came to be represented by the descent of the Saviour into Hades. Called the Anastasis or Harrowing of Hell, it is based on I Peter 3:18-20 and the Apostles' Creed which states that Christ “descended into Hell” before his Resurrection. For the early Church this came to be the icon of the Resurrection and continues to be so for the Orthodox Church today.

Thus, Holy Tradition has shown us that the quintessential icon of the resurrection was the Descent into Hades where Christ with His soul and divinity went down to Hades and shattered the gates, freeing the souls of those awaiting him. This icon then does not represent an historical event but rather the dogma of the abolition of Hades and death and the resurrection of all humanity.

By the 11th Century, the composition for the Descent into Hades is set:

This iconographic type represents the Lord in Hades surrounded by a radiant glory; He is trampling upon the demolished gates of Hell and bears in His left hand the Cross of Resurrection, while with His right hand He raises from sarcophagus Adam, who represents the human race.

Fine examples of the Descent into Hades from this time are found in the monasteries of Hosios Loukas ,Phocis, Nea Mony and Daphni all in Greece, and the churches of San Marco in Venice.

In the next post I will look at the influence of Franciscan spirituality that gave renewed meaning to earthbound reality and shifted the entire focus of Western art, inspiring a new interpretation of the Resurrection.

Creating a Caravaggio - The Painting Stage

2010-11-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

The first step in the painting stage is called dead colouring. In this stage, each element of the painting receives a coat of opaque paint. One colour for the part in light and one colour for the part in shadow. This is the overall average colour of an area that sets up the big relationships between all the parts. It is this big relationship that carries the painting and guides the addition of later details. Notice for example, in the image below, how the flesh colour of the head and hands is both darker and redder than the flesh of the torso.
The medium used here is one part linseed oil to three parts damar varnish.

Next, in the first painting stage, we focus on creating the illusion of form with colour. This is the stage in which all the variations are placed into the simplified earlier stage. The look should be one of a mosaic of colour with little or no blending. The medium used is one part linseed oil to two parts damar varnish.

Finally, in the second painting stage, the colours are replaced and attention is payed to the subtlety of blending. The goal is to recreate in paint all the various textures. The medium is one part linseed oil to one part damar varnish.

Once the painting has dried take a look at the overall effect. Some parts may need repainting. Often a simple glaze or tone of color will achieve the desired look- either darkening some part or softening an edge here and there.

Make sure you wait six months to a year to apply the final varnish.

Creating a Caravaggio -The Drawing Stage

2010-08-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

As a follow-up to the post " The Perfect Painting Method," I thought I would share with you that method put to work in a copy of Caravaggio's St. Jerome.

The first step is the drawing (above) which in this case was done by making a grid copy of a print of the original. The drawing should be a simple two-value silhouette, focusing on the light and shadow pattern of the image. This simple image is the starting point to organize the complex visual information of reality.

Next, transfer this drawing onto a canvas that has been toned to a mid value (here, Old Holland burnt umber mixed with a little lead white was used). Once this campitura has dried (the longer the better), you can transfer the drawing. This is done by tracing the image onto tracing paper, rubbing charcoal on the back of the tracing, placing it on top of the canvas and going over the lines of the drawing so the image transfers to the canvas. Often, there are traces of charcoal dust that end up staying on the canvas. This is easily removed by blowing or brushing it away.

Finally, reinforce the lines and flll in the darks using raw umber thinned with turps.

In the next post I will describe the stages of painting.

Forgotten Master - Henrique Medina 1901 – 1988

2010-08-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Henrique Medina was born in the small Portuguese fishing village of Esposende, part of the same town that my father came from. I learned about him through family friends, who had a copy of his catalogue raisonne. I later found and visited the studio he built in Esposende where he spent the last years of his life.

Medina began his studies at age 13 at the Oporto School of Fine Arts, an institution that continued to teach the lessons of its 19th century academic origins. Having completed his studies by the age of 18, Medina moved on to Paris, studying under Carmon and Bernard. By 1929 he had painted the portraits of the Portuguese president Almirante Canto, Cardinal Manual Cerejeira and a number of society portraits in Lisbon and Porto. Later he worked in London and in Italy, where he painted Mussolini’s portrait in 1931. Medina spent World War II in the Americas: first Brazil, then Argentina and finally the US. He has left to the museums and collections of these countries a number of works. While in the US he befriended Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney and Mary Pickford among others. It was at this time he painted the portraits of Dorian Grey for the film of the same name and one of Greer Garson for the film “Mrs. Parkington”. Returning to Portugal in 1946, he continued his portrait career for dignitaries throughout Europe including a portrait of Pope John Paul II in 1982. With his personal work Medina was a painter of individuals, particularly characters from the Minho and Douro the country north of Oporto.

If you ever get a chance to visit northern Portugal, be sure to visit the Medina Museum next to the city hall in the city of Braga and his studio in the town of Esposende. You can also find his work in the Palacio da Bolsa in Oporto and in the Museu do Chiado in Lisbon. Click here for a YouTube video of his paintings of women.

The Perfect Painting Method

2010-07-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

The terminology I use in describing the painting stages comes from Thomas Bardwell’s 1756 book “Anecdote of Painters”. This is the first book published in Britain giving a detailed and comprehensive set of instructions for a method of oil painting. Bardwell stated that he discovered his method by studying the art of the past.

Bardwell’s “perfect painting method” involves the following stages:

Dead Colouring
- a flat colouring applied over a preparatory drawing.
- a broad and simple manner using large brushes.
- omit details and blur edges.
- thick in lights and thin in darks.
- aim for the general effect of colour and chiaroscuro.

First Painting
- the first step is the creation of the illusion of form called “big form modeling”.
- next begin the description of the planes and details upon them.
- attention is paid to refining shapes, shades and variety of tints.
- paint is laid on without blending so the final affect is like a mosaic.
- “fat over lean” - this layer contains more oil in the medium than previous.
- lights thick, shadows thin.

Second Painting
- the finishing stage, again fat over lean.
- a thin couch of paint is used to cover the thicker first painting and each area is repainted with an attention to subtle blending
and modeling.

Glazing and Toning
- In this final stage very light layers of transparent or semi – transparent paint are applied over an area which needs to
adjusted, either darked or softened slightly.
- Titian, when asked how he completed his paintings, replied “Velatura, trenta o quaranta” (Glazes, thirty or forty).

Click twice on the painting of Simona above for a close up look at all the stages. Her left cheek is the only part second painted. The right eye is still in the drawing stage while the right check is described simply with front and side planes. The rest of the head is first painted. The campitura is the coloured ground that I started upon. Here it was Old Holland burnt umber and lead white.

Building a Mural- Part 3

2010-07-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

In this last post on the painting of a mural, I am going to share some pictures of the work in progress. This project was a tremendous learning process, particularly with regards to working within a budget, on a large scale and in a set time frame. During the painting stage I had 6 assistants working with me at various times.

Once the sketch was finalized, it was gridded and transfered to the panel. The panels used were plastic, reinforced with a metal frame and coated with an etching primer which provided an excellent surface to paint on.

Next is the big colour lay-in:

Since we were using acrylics and latex paint blending colours was difficult. In order to model the forms and add smaller details, we crosshatched both lighter and darker colours on top of the lay-in. Notice the addition of the head on the upper left side that was not in the original sketch. The client asked that I include my self portrait as I had done in a previous mural I had painted for them.

The panels before and during installation:

The mural, "An Allegory of Peace in Our Time", is situated along International Avenue (4015 17 Ave. S.E.) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Annigoni and the Cadaver

2010-07-06T09:19:00.001-07:00

Inspired by the blog entry "Cadaver on the Cross" over at Gurney Journey, I thought I would relay the story of Pietro Annigoni's use of a dead body for a crucified Christ figure in two of his works. As told by Micheal John Angel, in 1939 Annigoni was painting a number of frescoes in the Monastery of San Marco when he heard about the death of a 30 year old Sicilian in a motorino accident outside Florence. Needing a model for Christ, he asked the authorities for the body on the condition that the monks at San Marco would take care of the burial. He strung the body up in his studio where rigor mortis started to set in while he sketched away. These sketches were worked up into a cartoon that he used for this fresco:

Thirty years later, Annigoni used the same cartoon for his fresco of the Deposition and Resurrection at the church in Ponte Buggianese, a small town just outside Florence:

Building a Mural Part 2

2010-06-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

In the first entry of this series I went through the steps I took to come up with an image of world peace. Once the sketch was approved I began photographing models.

With photos of all the models and various reference I refined the sketch into a more interesting drawing.

This sketch was scanned into the computer and using photoshop a number of colour studies were tried:

Double complimentary (orange with blue and red with green) colour scheme:

Triad (red, yellow, blue) with light background:

Triad (red, yellow, blue) with a near complimentary counterpoint (green-orange) and dark background:

This last version is the one that we choose to use. In the next entry I will show the painting and installation of the mural.

Beauty Part 1

2010-06-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

The great artists of the past were aware that human life was full of chaos and suffering, but they had a remedy for this and the name of that remedy was Beauty. - Roger Scruton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65YpzZrwKI

Building a Mural - Part 1

2010-06-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

The last couple of entries have been about drawing figures without a model and then putting those figures into a convincing space. I would like to share know how an artist (me) uses that knowledge to develop a picture from idea to concept sketch and on to finished painting.

Last year I was commissioned by a community in Calgary to paint a mural on the theme of world peace. My idea was to place the traditional figure of Peace - a winged woman with a palm branch- into a modern setting. Here are the steps I went through to get an approved sketch.

The first step is to just draw small quick sketches. Things start off slow but soon the pencil flows a little easier.

From the initial sketches I picked a couple and developed them into a slightly more finished sketch.

The client liked the idea of the peace figure coming down to meet the people. I developed the composition and added a range of ethnicities:

This is the final step in the development of the image. In the next entry I will show how I moved from this sketch to final colour study and readiness to paint.

Figures in Space 2

2010-06-02T03:36:00.001-07:00

After one has spent a considerable amount of time practicing drawing the figure without a model (the old saying goes we all have 10 000 bad drawings in us which we have to get out), the next step is to place those figures in a convincing space.
The following images are taken from Andrew Loomis' book "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth" (http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1or www.alexhays.com/loomis/). They are an excellent demonstration on how to put the figure into a drawn perspective space.

Leonardo da Vinci using one point perspective:

Examples of other artists placing figures in perspective:

Andrea Del Sarto

Alma-Tadema

Gerome

Byrne

Gurney

Repin

Figures in Space (Drawing from Me Head part 2)

2010-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Figurative artists, in order to be successful, must learn two basic skills. The first, taught by a number of academies all over the world, is visual training. Learning to draw is first and foremost learning how to see. In order to master this skill one must spend countless hours copying drawings by old masters and drawing the figure from life all under the critical eye of a qualified instructor. The second skill is the constructive approach to drawing. Here the student learns the basic forms and anatomy of the human figure with the aim to draw the figure from imagination. Below are some hints, leads and images to get you started mastering this skill.

Instructors
Far and away the best instructor in the field of constructive figure drawing is Glenn Vilppu. Check out his website for copies of his wonderful videos: www.vilppustore.com. If you can, buy them all.
This web address contains a number of online articles by him: www.awn.com/category/columns/vilppu

Comic book artist David Finch recently released an excellent drawing dvd:
www.thegnomonworkshop.com/news/2010/02/new-dynamic-figure-drawing-series-with-david-finch

Websites
www.posemaniacs.com/blog/pose
http://figure-drawings.blogspot.com
www.alienthink.com

Books available on the web:
Andrew Loomis was an illustrator and suberb draughtsman in the golden age of illustration. He wrote several books on drawing which are very helpful, particularly "Figure Drawing for All it’s Worth" and "Drawing the Head and Hands".
They are available online here:
http://fineart.sk/index.php?cat=1
or here:
www.alexhays.com/loomis/

Other Books:
"How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" by Stan Lee
"Drawing The Head And Figure" by Jack Hamm

The Process:
1. Beginning Form: Start by drawing this simple form of a sphere and cube covered by some material. Do not move forward until you become very good at drawing these.

2. Transitional Form and the Simple Mannequin: The beginning form acts as the rib cage and pelvis. Now add the columns of the legs and arms to make a simple mannequin.

John Buscema's mannequin:

Glen Vilppu:

One can also use a mannequin based upon the cube form:

3. Complex Mannequin: Now add simple anatomy. The shoulders and pectorals are grouped together. The external obliques, abs and underwear shape of the pelvis are the other forms.

In the image below notice simple proportions to help you with your mannequin:
Pit of neck to bottom of sternum equals sternum to tenth rib equals rib to pelvic points.

These are the basics, now you only need to draw, draw, draw.

UPDATE: The following images show how to combine superior knowledge of anatomy and the constructive method of drawing:

Alex Raymond:

Simone Bianchi:

2010-04-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

A Tale of Two Churches

The Cathedral of Monreal and Saint Eldrado are two churches from the same era, on opposite ends of the Italian peninsula, that share much in common and have some important differences.
Monreal, Sicily is located 15 km outside of Palermo and it’s cathedral is one of the most beautiful Christian churches in existence. Commissioned by William II (1154-89), the Norman ruler of Sicily, in 1174 the church is 102m long, 40m wide, 35m high. Its simple exterior hides the rich interior, covered with golden Byzantine mosaics illustrating bible stories. Over 2000 kilos of pure gold were used as the ground for these mosaics. Over looking the entire interior is the beautiful image of Christ Pantocrator (above).

Saint Eldrado is located in the Susa valley, one hour outside of Torino, a part of the Novalesa Abbey. Built on the ruins of an older church, Saint Eldrado was begun in the early 11th century and frescoed at the end of the century. As such, it's frescoes bear a resemblance to the images in Monreale, most notable the image of Christ Pantocrator(above). The fresco cycles themselves, which illustrate scenes from the lives of Saint Eldrado and Saint Nicola, are in beautiful condition. The Normans too, used this church, most likely before they sent out to cross the Appenines, as the abbey lies at the mouth of the passage. It is a tiny church no more than 4 meters wide by 20 long and continues to be used by the monks to this day.

Thanks to Annigoni

2010-04-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have four paintings in an upcoming show, Annigoni's Legacy, at the Villa Bardini in Florence in May. The occasion is the centenary of the birth of the painter Pietro Annigoni.

Annigoni kept alive the classic tradition in the dark days of 20th century painting. The painter I studied with, Micheal John Angel, studied with Annigoni in the 1960's.

Below is Annigoni's Manifesto of “Modern Painters of Reality”:

(Pittori moderni della realtà) Milan, Italy, November 1947

We, “The Modern Painters of Reality” are gathered in a brotherly group to show our works to the public.

The favor and understanding with which the public has accompanied and supported our efforts over the last few years, our certainty to be in the right and that the others are wrong, have convinced us of the advisability and necessity of this exhibition.

We stand united with our strength, our faith, our ideals and our absolute mutual esteem. As opposed to the Ecole de Paris, born in France, but representative of a universal tendency of decadence, our art born in Italy represents an event of hope and salvation for art and this exhibition is meant to be a first effective contribution to the fight that is about to blaze.

We are neither interested nor moved by the so-called “abstract” or “pure” painting, procreated by a decaying society, which is empty of any human contents and has retreated into itself, in the vain hope of finding a substance in itself.

We disavow all contemporary painting from post-impressionism till today, regarding it as the expression of an age of false progress and a reflection of the dangerous threat that looms over mankind. On the contrary we reaffirm those spiritual and moral values without which painting would become the most fruitless exercise.

We want painting to be moral in its most intimate essence, in its style itself, a painting that in one of the dimmest moments of human history should be filled with the same faith in man and his destiny, that had made the greatness of art in times past.

We recreate the art of illusion of reality, the eternal and primeval seed of figurative arts.

We do not lend ourselves to any comeback, we simply keep on with our mission of true painting, which is the image of a universal feeling, which we want to be understood by many, not just by few “sophisticated ones”.

Long before gathering, each one of us had deeply felt the need to research in nature the leading thread that would allow us to find our true nature in the labyrinth of schools that have multiplied over the last half a century.

Each one of us has spontaneously addressed himself to reality, the first and eternal source of painting, confident to find his own expression in it.

In the face of a new academism or conventionalism, made up of the remnants of cubist formulas and of a standardised impressionistic sensuality, we have exhibited a way of painting that, mindless of fashions or aesthetic theories, is striving to express our feelings through the language that each one of us, according to one’s temperament, has found by looking directly at reality.

The Ecstasy of Truth

2008-11-16T05:37:00.000-08:00

The German filmmaker Werner Herzog, in recent interview, talked about the role of factual reality in filmmaking. He had this to say about the liberties he takes with facts in some of his documentaries:

"If we are paying attention about facts, we end up as accountants. If you find out that yes, here or there, a fact has been modified or been imagined, it will be a triumph of accountants to tell me so. But we are into illumination for the sake of a deeper truth, for an ecstasy of truth, for something we can experience once in a while in great literature and great cinema."

This statement applies equally to art. A still life is not simply an even rendering of a group of objects any more than a shopping list is a piece of literature. Take for example the difference between these two "realist" paintings:

The top still life by Stephen Gjertson is an impressive piece, definitely what we would call realist art. There is no denying the artist's ability to reproduce what he sees onto a flat surface. Everything is clearly represented and experienced to the same degree, which, quite frankly, is a little boring and not representative of we we experience the world around us. In the long run this painting leaves me a little cold.
The second painting by David Leffel is a much more powerful work. It is accurate and abstract at the same time. There are artistic decisions which have been made. He has modified and interpreted reality into a work of art that speaks about how we see and experience reality. This is a painting to be dreamed into and lived with.

We painters need to find our special way to an ecstasy of truth.

Cool Landscapes

2008-09-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

Fellow artist and illustrator Mike Sass and I decided to spend the weekend in the Canadian Rockies painting. Saturday was beautiful, warm and sunny.

We were both looking forward to continuing Sunday. Unfortunately the gods had other plans. We woke up to 0 degrees and 10 cm of snow.

Yes, it can and does snow every month in Canada.

Workshops Part Two

2008-09-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

I spent a good part of my summer giving workshops in Florence and my hometown, Calgary. The range of student personalities makes these workshops great fun. Students such as: Hank, a retired Pan Am pilot, Kesnia, the Russian animation student, an Italian brain surgeon named Palma, Marvel Comics artist Cary and Aaron, a high school student who is already saving to study with us in Florence

I design the workshops to be fun and informative. That said, they are not easy. As one student said, "I can't wait to get back to work so I can relax."

The paintings you see here are student works completed in a two week course.

Villa People

2008-06-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

Surrounding Florence are scores of masterpieces tucked away in country churches and small public museums. Some of the most interesting are to found in the Medici Villas which dot the Tuscan landscape. These include: Villa “La Petraia”, Villa of Castello, Villa of Careggi and Villa of Cerrrto, Certainly all of these are worth a visit, but perhaps the most interesting is the Villa of Poggio a Caiano. Designed by Giuliana da Sangallo for Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1480, this villa contains a beautiful garden and the Museum of Still Lives. This museum boasts rooms of paintings from the Medici collections, well presented and rarely visited. The villa itself is a slice of Medici life, including games room, theater, dining rooms and bedrooms. Of particular note is the Salone di Leone X (which takes its name from the famous pope, son of Lorenzo). This room is a showcase of important 16th Cetury frescoes illustrating episodes from Roman history by Andrea del Sarto, Allesandro Allori and Francabigio. The finest work, however, is the lunette by Pontomoro. A mannerist masterpiece, it depicts the divinities Vertumnus, god of harvests and Pomona, goddess of fruit tress.

The villa is a 50 minute trip from Florence. For 2 euros one catches the COPIT bus next to the MacDonald’s on via Nazionale. Phone the museum ahead for a reservation (see number below), pack a lunch to eat in the garden and enjoy a day out of the city.

After the villa, and seeing as how you are in the neighborhood, it is a short bus ride to Carminiagno, where a second Pontoromo masterpiece, “The Visitation”, resides in the church. You can buy a bus ticket (95cents one way) at the bar across the street from the villa and catch the bus directly in front of the villa. Ask for directions to the church when you arrive. Not much else to see there, but be sure to try some of the local sweets and indulge in a bottle of wine from one Italy’s finest regions.

Villa Poggio a Caiano 8:15 – 12:30 2:00 -18:30.. Closed the 2nd and 3rd Monday of the month.
Still Life Museum 055 877012
Both are free to visit.

Trying to be a Florentine

2008-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

It is sometimes a strange thing living in Florence. In fact the word for foreigner in Italian is straniero, which literally means stranger. And a stranger is exactly how foreigners are treated here. Florentines have a reputation for staying distinctly separate from the 7 million strangers who come to their beautiful city every year. Sometimes though, we foreigners do not make enough of an effort to break through that wall. I joke that not much has changed here in 500 years, yet I often choose to watch the news in English on the internet instead of the local Italian version. I still struggle to express myself in the Italian language. I teach in English, there is a large number of English speaking expat artists here and even the Italians want to speak English with you. It makes it very easy to be comfortable not speaking Italian. I was on my way to becoming like my Italian grandmother who lived in Canada for 50 years and never learned more than a few words of English.
But I had an excuse. Really. I had been preparing to leave Florence for South America and so I felt no need to study Italian. Instead I was focusing my attention on Spanish. When that move fell through I decided I to get the most out of my life in Florence.

What I did was join the "Bandierai degli Uffizi". These are "The Flagwavers of the Uffizi". This is the official flagwaving group of the city of Florence. The "Bandierai degli Uffizi" are integrally connected to the history of Florence. The group carries the flags which represented the pricipal Magistracies and legal offices of the powerful 16th century Florentine Republic. We perform at major events in Florence and throughout Italy, the E.U.and the world.(Check out the website:http://www.bandieraidegliuffizi.it)

I have been practicing for almost a year and am finally good enough to perform in the events. One of the most important is the Easter celebration and that was where I made my debut a couple of weeks ago (That's me in the photo above). You can watch it on You Tube.
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_jJ_HDgiTIU
Kudos if you can see me.

I feel quite proud to be able to represent Florence in an official way. These flagwavers are a really great group of guys among which I have made some genuine friends. Although my accent is constantly made fun of I have managed to immerse myself in Italian. Not really though because these fellas speak the Florentine dialect, and with their soft 'c' and slang even my dictionary is of no help. None-the-less after 7 years I am starting to know a new part of this city. And it just makes it more beautiful.

Drawing from me head!

2008-03-21T15:15:00.001-07:00

I have been working on a a program that would develop in students the ability to create and draw the figure from imagination. This an area that is overlooked in the drawing programs of many currents art schools where students are taught to copy and render the model without analyzing it in a way which allows them to create figures without a model. The ability to compose wothout a model is a necessary skill not only for fine artists but more so for students wishing to work as illustrators and concept artists with the film and gaming industries. ( Both of which offer many opportunities). I am consolidating ideas from a number of sources including: The Angel figure drawing program, Andrew Loomis' books, Glen Vilppu's drawing manual, Leonardo's notebooks, the sketchbooks of Adam Hughes, Bridgman's Drawing manuals and Strength Training Anatomy by F. Delavier. The first student of this program is me. Below are some of my sketchbook pages:

Portrait of a Woman

2008-03-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ingres once asked 'Is there anything more difficult than painting the portrait of a woman?'. Indeed it was Ingres who I took as my model when completing a recent portrait.
The subject was a lovely Florentine lady, so I decided to try and interpret her in the Florentine 'sweet' style so familiar in the works of artists such as Perugino, Leonardo, Botticelli, Raphael and finding it's ultimate expression in Ingres. The basis of this style focuses upon the conceptualization of the subject. Big basic forms are clearly expressed with smaller details subdued. Smooth, luminous modelling and architecturalization of features (modelled on prototypes of classical sculpture) are evident. One can see this clearly in Ingres, who was emulating Raphael. It is also seen in the work of Bouguereau.

Here is my result :

When the subject came to see the portrait she asked "Pero, non e' finito, vero?" (It is not finished, is it?). She explained that she was flattered, but she wanted to look older. And so my experiment came to an end. Time for a repaint.
Since the painting as it was had been painted with an emphasis on the big simplified forms and smooth modelling adding age was relatively straight - forward. When she is happy with the result I will share the final result, and that of the companion portrait.

Workshops

2008-03-05T07:06:00.001-08:00

For this first time ever I will be giving a workshop in my hometown Calgary, in addition to my yearly ones in Florence. Professor Gregory Scheckler from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts recently reviewed my workshops on his blog:

Calling all serious art students and art professionals: you can learn as much in a two-week intensive workshop as you can learn in most college art courses. Why? Your time and attention is focused on just one main goal, which you’ll work on carefully with expert feedback for about 60-80 hours in a row. As a student you aren’t distracted from painting by taking three or four other classes at the same time, plus you have the camaraderie of other students in the workshop who are as committed and interested in fine art as you are. A good workshop is the fine art painter’s heaven; a real chance to extend and improve one’s skills.

My colleague Martinho Correia notes that he is again offering workshops this summer in Florence, Italy and also in Calgary, Canada. Martinho’s an exceptional teacher with a great eye – an accomplished figurative painter and one of the lead instructors at the Angel Academy of Art. I can attest from my own experience taking Martinho’s workshops that they are extremely helpful, concrete, and well-planned.

Interested? For Calgary check here: www.martinhoart.com/workshop.
Florence: www.angelartschool.com/workshop.htm
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Yikes and other small suggestions!

2008-03-05T04:56:00.000-08:00

Comic book great John Byrne had some advice for me when I asked him how to achieve success as an artist:

"Treat it like a job. Start at the same time, break for lunch at the same time, end at the same time. And remember, time working is time working, not time listening to DVDs, or watching TV, or any other timewasters/distractions.
Focus!"

And then he added this little rhyme:

Busy doing nothing,
Nothing the whole day thru.
Trying to find
Lots of things not to do.

Busy going nowhere,
Isn't it just a crime?
I'd like to be
Unhappy, but,
I never do have the time.

There really are a million excuses not to work. I like to think of myself as a craftsman rather than an "artiste". My father was a carpenter and my grandfather a shoe maker. Working in this tradition is much easier than waiting for my muse to show up. I have to get out of bed, drink some coffee and get to work.
Somewhere around the time of Leonardo and Michelangelo, artists went from being craftsman to being divine. Of course the ultimate conclusion to this way of thinking has lead to anyone who decides to call themselves an artist is an artist. And look what we we end up with: conceptual art and websites full of bad painting. I have a student who is a brain surgeon and wants to be a painter when he retires. It is a strange coincidence because when I retire from painting I was thinking about taking up brain surgery.

Press and More Press

2008-01-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

It's been a good month for recognition of my work. First, I came in third in International Artists' Dec-Jan issue figure painting competition. Won a $1000 for that! Next, my painting “Vanitas of the Angels” recieved an honorable mention in the 2007 Art Renewal Center's Salon.(http://artrenewal.org/)
And finally I got an email from a pal back in Calgary. A slick local magazine called "Avenue" featured me as one of Calgary's best artists in their "Best of Calgary" issue.

Ok enough boasting, on with Art!

The Blue Boy

2007-11-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

This is a painting of my best friend's 3 year old son, Pinter. I worked in tandom with his mom selecting an appropriate colour scheme and image (done from a photo) to portray Pinter in a painting that looks of it's time. I began with a blue-grey wash drawing on a blue-grey ground. In the second stage of painting (the dead colouring) I painted Pinter's portrait with oranges and browns, leaving the blue wash drawing in the background and showing through in parts of the dead colouring. Artistically the end result was a blue painting (the background and clothes) with a complimentary anomoly (orange flesh). When looking at the painting the anomoly catches your eye and thus focuses your attention on the face of Pinter.

The day to Day

2007-11-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

Off the Coast of Utopia is about the work of a Canadian painter living in Florence, Italy. Here you can read my insights and comments about both my old and new work and see works in progress, sketches, and ideas.