They are Here!!!

I found my box of books waiting for me last night. So far I'm impressed with most of the lot. The Artist inspiration one I think is going back. It's not at all what I was looking for or wanted.

Painting like the masters, was exactly what I was looking for, with the first artist that is demonstrated was Durer. The artist and their materials also looks to be good too. and of course, the embroidery book looks good too, but something I will be tackling later.

I'll be reading a lot in the next few days

My master artist

One of the things that was recommended to me was to chose a master artist and learn his style. I should match his palette, his style and technique. Doing this means I'm not all over the place, trying to merge differing styles and techniques before I have the basics down.

My first thought was of Durer, as he is one of my all time favorite artists. The only drawback to that choice is that I was planning a series of portraits that would be later than his era, more 1570's than 1490/1500. I was looking at my inspiration piece, a painting by Nicholas Hilliard, also a favorite. I thought perhaps he would be a better choice.

The problem becomes that Nicholas Hilliard, is far more well known for his miniature work, and the little research I did last week indicates that only about two of his oil paintings are known. I have located some sources that will give me more information about the man and his work, but I suspect that it will be all about his miniatures, which is a different technique all together. I already have his treatise on the "art of liming" so I want to review that. Once of the things I though of interest about Hilliard is that he uses Durer as one of his inspirations, and recommends taking one of Durer's woodcuts, and reproducing it with pen or brush, as an exercise of learning hatching, for work in the miniatures.

I am also interested in the miniature work, but for this project I think I am better off sticking with Durer. I think once I have mastered his style or as nearly as I think I can, I will then move on to Hilliard.

It doesn't hurt that there's a lot of information out there on Durer, and I already have a fair number of books on his work.

Eagerly awating books to arrive!!!

I order some more books last week, that should be here any day now. Most are related to my painting though I slipped in the embroidery book. I have been wanting to do this style of embroidery for a while and this book looks like a good place to start. Having the embroidery as a secondary project gives me a project I can work on while the paint is drying. I know that I'm not a patient person for these things, so I'm trying to balance multiple projects at once.
I also visited Half price books this past weekend. I picked up a series on art appreciation, and another on portraits. All bring an interesting perspective to what the finish project should be and well worth reviewing I think.

“The Artist's Mentor: Inspiration from the World's Most Creative Minds" Ian Jackman

"The Painter's Methods and Materials"A. P. Laurie; Paperback

"How to Paint Like the Old Masters: Watson-Guptill 25th Anniversary Edition" Joseph Sheppard

"Drawings of Durer (Master Draughtsman)" Albrecht Durer

"Beginner's Guide to Silk Shading (Beginner's Guide to)"Clare Hanham

The beginning

For the better part of the last three years I have been studying 16th century dolls and how to make the dolls. I love to do the research, and I really love to apply the research so I was testing construction methods of the dolls. Well, being the butterfly of arts that I am, I was struggling as I was wrapping up the doll project. I was trying to stay on track but I needed some more variety. That's why I turned to how the dolls were recorded in art during the 16th century. That lead to trying my hand at woodcuts and oil painting.

I really enjoyed the oil painting, something I was a little surprised at, since I have always worked with acrylic and goauches. I'd heard that oil painting was so difficult so I only planned to try a painting or two, just to help me get over this hump. I loved it. It wasn't difficult to go back to after the paint had dried, something I feared since I prefer to finish as much of a project RIGHT NOW as I can. It was a joy. I wanted to do more and I wanted to do it right.

I displayed the painting along with my other stuff at an SCA event, called Steppes Artisan. There wasn't a lot of response to the painting. I also had the painting at another event, Laurel's prize a month later. I got about the same response, but I suspect that with everything else going on at those event I thought that it just got lost in the shuffle or there wasn't any one there that felt they had something to offer.

So I took it to another event a few weeks ago and entered it into another SCA competition.
I met another artisan, an art teacher in real life who gave a lot of good advice, check the portions, the lights and shadows, things like that. Things I could work with. The judging was not as helpful, there was a concern with the lights and shadows, and that was about it. I went ahead and brought it to our Kingdom Arts and Science event. I had hoped for more advice but it was heartbreaking. The advice I had gotten was that I should be mixing my own pigments and the painting was only half done, ready for detail work and I should withdraw it. Go take mundane painting lessons.
There was further advice from someone who wasn't a judge but did help. He talked more about portions and he recommended finding a master artist to follow. It made a lot of sense and something I want to do. While I had been aiming for later 16th century techniques, the first artist that popped into my mind was Durer. I especially admire his work because he didn't do just one thing, painting, but also his woodcuts and engravings... He's my kind of artist. I've ordered some books with his drawings and other artwork. I've also ordered some other books on this style of painting.

So what do I do now? Mundane art lessons are a little out of my league. Along with the cost, the time commitment is just too much. My plan at this point is to start with photos of elements, faces, jewelry, fabric that I want to include in a later painting. I'll do prints in black and white as well as color shots, and put them into a sketch book. I want to do practice sketches of these elements, first in pencil, then ink. In the meantime I'll be purchasing the material to make my own gesso. I'll also be picking up a sheet of birch plywood, to be cut into 6 or 8 inch squares. those will all be gessoed and later become a series of paintings of these elements that I've photographed. Will I be mixing my own pigments right away? No, I'll use the paints I've already purchased. I will eventually try the pigments, but I don't want to waste the paints I already have.

So I have my new sketchbook, pencils and easer in hand. I will be doing my photos tomorrow, or at least the first batch. I have some other books on drawing so I will be review thing as well.

that's what I am off to do tonight