I'm doing what I always do--cover the canvas with the abstract structure by massing in the largest shapes and values. And of course, completely out of the "Cool Box" from the Color System. Not much concern with anatomy at this phase, nor with faces or calligraphic lines. I've found that the big masses draw in the viewer, and then they'll spend a pleasurable amount of time wandering through the variances and nuances of the lines and subtle value and hue changes, once entranced by the big structure. That's no mystery--the great illustrators of the last century made a point of doing this, too. Look into the work of Howard Pyle--and his students N. C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, Violet Oakley, and Elisabeth Shippen Green, among others--to see how powerful the establishment of the big masses is to the overall impact of a painting.Now that I've sent you on a joy-urney into American Illusatration, I'll just add that my demonstration in Hemet is scheduled for February 10 at 1:30 at the Simpson Center. And the workshops in Georgia are almost full--both weeks! There are still spaces in Florida (pdf file download, application info) at the Carriage Museum grounds (first week in May), and Mt. Desert Island in Maine at the end of August (plein air and Color System week!).
And the weather here has finally turned to rain and wet, yet the mountains are green as an Irish morning. The wildflower show at Two Trees will be spectacular in mid April! Here's a photo of Two Trees taken in June, mostly after the wildflowers, but still showing some of the green of winter rains. It is an idyllic place for an arteest...You can see my entire blog HERE.
My workshop schedule for 2010 is HERE.
Color System information can be found HERE.
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