Taking a Leap

“Quitting my day job and starting my life as a writer was a tremendous risk. It was a fool’s leap, a shot in the dark. But anything of any value in our lives, whether that be a career, work of art, a relationship, will always start with such a leap. And in order to be able to make it you have to put aside the fear of failing and the desire of succeeding. You have to do these things completely purely, without fear, without desire. Because things that we do without lust or result are the purest actions we shall ever take” - Alan Moore

Drawing of Alan Moore by Frank Quitely

Alan Moore was the writer of some of the best comic book fiction ever and he has an interesting life story. Check out this video for more.

Scott McCloud and Understanding Comics in Lethbridge

This past Thursday, Friday and Saturday I was in Alberta's windy city, Lethbridge, taking a workshop with comic artist and theorist, Scott McCloud. His 2005 Tedtalk is one of the best:

 "Understanding Comics"  

As you can see from his talk, he is a fine orator. His teaching skills are equally excellent. The workshop was a combination of exercises and lectures.

During the first day lecture, Scott defined comics as a series of choices:
1. Choice of moment
2. Choice of frame
3. Choice of image
4. Choice of word
5. Choice of flow

There were two in-class exercises structured around how these choices could create clarity and/or intensity. Students were given various non-sensical situations that had to be translated into images. Mine, for example, involved an astronaut walking into a petting zoo, picking up a goat and throwing it at the moon. After the goat bounces off the moon enter Einstein on a camel who proceeds to shake the hand of the astronaut.
The larger project for that day was a 16 panel comic describing our life:

The morning of day two was spent looking at and critiquing the "Life" comics. 

Scott introduced us to the Grimace Project followed by a lecture on facial expressions and gestures. He then assigned us the task of translating various emotions and gestures into drawings. The last project of the day involved us picking a hawaiian word from a hat and translating that into a story. I chose Muumuu. I came up with an elaborate story involving Yoda, Zippy the Clown and Homer Simpson. Needless to say, I never finished.

Overall a fantastic workshop. Always nice to stretch the artistic muscles in a new direction. 

I will leave you with a snap of the Alberta prairies from my drive back to Calgary.

Listening 1 - Dr. Dallas Willard

Sometimes I paint in silence. Most of the time I look for podcasts to listen to. Most recently I have been listening to many podcasts off of The Veritas Forum. One speaker in particular is rather powerful in his knowledge and presentation: Dallas Willard. Nietzsche vs. Jesus Christ: Who holds the true path? is an interesting review of how the the West transitioned to a secular society. Highly recommended.

Whats up...

It's been a busy 5 months: since leaving Calgary in June I 've gone from  Portugal to Florence, spent 2 days on  boat sailing to Elba, took a one week workshop in Madrid, visited Dehli, Udaipur, Jaipur and the Taj Mahal in India where I was so  overwhelmed I spent the following weekend in Milan recovering. I have been working on a number of portrait commissions and experimenting with new approaches (to painting) and new subject matter (landscapes) all in a new format (small). Here is some of what I have been up to:

Ritratto di Stephana

Rachel (piambura study)

Pomodoro e Aglio

Moinho da Apulia

Ami

This is the study for the project I am finishing up:

Mary

I can't let you see the final version until the client does!!

Vancouver Demo

On Friday May 4th at 2pm I will be giving a demo on the process I use to paint a portrait from a photo.
If you or anyone you know is in the Vancouer area, come by and say hi.
http://opusartsupplies.com/how/demos/painting-portrait-photograph

  

Resurrection of a Painting - Part Three

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

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: