Depp, Burroughs and Holbein, A Full Week

.

ON THE EASEL:  JOHNNY DEPP

Why?  His finely chiseled features, which make this struggling painter's life so much easier. I decided to use the Line/Mass Start again.  I am still in the drawing/correction phase.  Posting his image is a way of stepping way back to see what still needs attention--his right eye.  His hair style also invites an interesting background of vigorous brushstrokes. Elsewhere in the studio: more charts. I'm taking a close look at whites and blacks and experimenting with how best to use my palette.  Reads silly, but
mixing up enough paint in the number of values that will be required for a particular painting is serious business.


TODD BURROUGH'S WHITE FOUNTAIN

Burrough's rendering of this glorious white, organza gown blew me away.
His painting rivaled Sargent's satins.  My photo copy is blurry because I snatched
a tiny copy from an advertisement for the Michigan Art Competition Exhibit
from the website. (The background looks just black here, but the brush strokes form a chevron design).

Physicians practice medicine. Attorneys practice the law. We painters practice painting. Each painting hones skills, increases knowledge and takes us a step closer to mastery.  Painting is an everyday thing, a discipline, an instrument of expression that must be played regularly to maintain and increase virtuosity. In that respect, each work is a "sketch," preparation for the masterpiece around the corner.  Our masterpieces, the art in our work, will be decided by others. Masterpieces are not our concern. Practice, practice, practice is how we get to The National Gallery. 

I rejoined the Art Association. I have laid the ground work for studying with Master Painter, Todd Burroughs. He won my respect and high esteem at The Michigan Artists Exhibition with his entry White Fountain. He insists upon color charts and Yellow Ochre is "The" yellow on his three color limited palette--and he uses black!  We hit it off immediately when A lovely artist/teacher/exhibit fellow exhibit reject introduced us at the exhibit. There is a rich life after Richard Schmid--and something to be learned on the wayfrom Holbein's skin tones and line drawings.

Hans Holbein, The Younger, painted his canvases to be
used for portraits, pink. You can see the pink in this
detail from his portrait of Simon George. I love the ear
and the use of line.

Copying Holbein's line studies has got me back
into contour drawing, but it was hard shaking off
the desire to shade in the masses. After doing
the top head, I added HB Berols to my pencil box,
which had had only 6Bs and graphite sticks.

Two infrared reflectogram details from two Holbein paintings.  Obviously he and/or his apprentices did full monochromatic
paintings before going into color.