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Sunday, January 25, 2015

The Day After Patton

My Father In-Law, The Commander
After lunch yesterday, I sat down in front of the TV  for just a minute to finish my coffee and Patton  with George C. Scott was just starting.  I was immediately transfixed by George Scott's controversial general standing in front of that colossal American Flag in full dress uniform telling the troops what he expected of them. Scott was mesmerizing.  Before I knew it, the movie ended; it was five o'clock.  The day had slipped away--but the movie  made an impression. I chose my father in-law, a Navy Commander in the Medical Corp during WWII, The Pacific Theater to draw this morning. He wasn't a soldier's soldier. His battlefield was the surgical table. His 'kills' were successfully restored limbs for a productive life after the war.

General Patton didn't make it past the war.  His .blunt and gruff persona got him relieved of duties, but never retired.  After insulting remarks he was relieved of his command in post war Bavaria and put in charge of the fifteenth Army-but he only served two months.  Ironically, this great soldier who marched in the front line into battle after battle was killed in an automobile accident December 21st, 1945.  He was sixty years old. 

 My drawings yesterday and today were on the wild side--fast, loose and impatient.  In the studio, my brushstrokes are getting less thoughtful, more intuitively responsive.  Something is going on? 'Painterly' may be making a come back?  When I'm drawing I'm looking at values, edges/albeit lines--the presence of them and the absence.  I'm using a pencil, but I'm thinking painterly.  I tend to overdo, then correct.  Subtraction has been a favorite method with me since the get-go.


Background,  hair  and edges are my main concern--out of that palette skin tones
are evolving.  I'm warming up and so is she. She may be described as painterly yet?

 
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10 comments:

  1. juliefordoliver.blogspot.comJanuary 25, 2015 at 3:36 PM

    Great sketch of your father-in-law. He must of had amazing memories of the time. The Greatest Generation!

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    1. Linda RothJanuary 26, 2015 at 7:50 AM

      I don't know how amazing, maybe gruesome? Seeing what war does to our beautiful young men would tear my heart out. it was the greatest generation though. Country first was the right idea. We could use that strength of mind and spirit now.

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  2. art by Michael PerchardJanuary 25, 2015 at 3:37 PM

    "Take A Walk On The Wild Side!" Love this side Linda! Great energy, skill, colors, movement,emotion and so much more! Love the portrait! Also so very much love the background! Love the little story about George Patton! Loved the movie with George C. Scott! I very much love the sketch of your father-in-law! We certainly owe a huge amount of respect and thanks to our servicewomen and servicemen! Bravo "Dad-In-Law!"
    I finally tried ArtRage on my i pad. Posted one image on my blog. Need to practice using the tools. It is so much fun! Take care my dear art friend! Michael

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    1. Linda RothJanuary 26, 2015 at 7:55 AM

      Nothing wild going on here Michael, just painting and trying to figure out how to blend an old method with a not so old method to get a more contemporary look. That will happen in the next paint, my best ever! I'm off to see your iPad art. It is great fun. Some work I've seen is quite painting like. Excellent. Not in my life. I'm still figuring out what I want from oils.

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  3. UnknownJanuary 26, 2015 at 8:52 AM

    More great work Linda, love the sketch and the paint application.

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    1. Linda RothJanuary 26, 2015 at 10:56 AM

      It's interesting how the paint goes on over the monochrome Mick. It goes on like a glaze. The colors need pumping up--like the red-orange beach towel--but I could have left it thin (and dull) because the under painted values showed through the orange veil. I liked the way the background came out. The underpainting had a lot to do with that. I am getting a lot looser with her hair--and will be doing the same with her facial skin tones. Today, her hair line--there can be no edge there.

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  4. hmuxoJanuary 26, 2015 at 1:26 PM

    A beautiful post, Linda. The sketch of your father-in-law is wonderful... a lot of emotion in his face. When my Dad came home from WWII he came home broken seeing so many of his friends die...but he eventually came through...still nervous for a long time..
    AND I love the skin tones on your second piece! Beautiful work and painterly!!!!

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    1. Linda RothJanuary 26, 2015 at 5:42 PM

      Thanks Hilda. I didn't get him quite right, but I got close. I've drawn him before full figure, but I still haven't found a reference that's worthy of a full blown portrait. Sorry your dad suffered. The country owes veterans as much help as they need upon their return. Ellis is in the process of retiring. He plans to do volunteer work for the Veterans administration. He was in the Army Reserves during the Berlin Wall and Vietnam Nam. Now there's a bunch of guys who didn't get enough respect.

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  5. Studio at the FarmJanuary 27, 2015 at 10:05 AM

    You are growing [ ... again ... still?] Your sketches are so strong - you know exactly where you are taking them. And Erin is exquisitely seductive. BEAUTIFUL, LINDA!!!

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    1. Linda RothJanuary 27, 2015 at 10:13 AM

      She's slow going--I think as I slow down so is my desire to rush the painting process--but I am curious as to how to combine this very old method of starting a painting with a more contemporary finish. Finished monos really do facilitate getting the right .color value. The color layer iis a lot easier than the mono layer. It's amazing how dark shadows really are and how light--but not white-- the highlights are. This info is noted in the mono stage and eliminated having to keep darkening those shadows and half tone to make the lighter areas as light as they actually are. Quite an eye opener.

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