Sculptured figure

Back in college, I created my one and only sculpture, and inspired by seeing the Rodin exhibit, I decided to post it here. The female figure is less remarkable then the process to make it.

1. Carved the figure out of stiff Styrofoam.
2. Buried the Styrofoam form in a bed of mud and motor oil with the mud firmly packed around it.
3. Let it dry and harden with a long metal tube meeting it in the mud, and the other end sticking out.
4. Poured melted aluminum down the tube to the Styrofoam form, melting the Styrofoam. The aluminum filled the space where the Styrofoam once was.
5. Let the aluminum cool a couple of days and then dig out the sculpture.

Can you tell I was a fan of Henry Moore?

Rodin Exhibit

Went downtown Saturday with some friends on the train, with plans that included seeing the Burnham commemorative sculptures and visiting the Loyola Museum of Art for a visiting show of Rodin's sculpture.

I was very dismayed to visit the Burnham White sculpture at Millennium Park, because I was so enthralled with it during my first visit. It looked in terrible condition and there were signs everywhere saying "Please do not climb on sculpture" Apparently some miscreants had been climbing on the various soft curves, eroding the materials and chipping away the skin of the sculpture. The neighboring sculpture was surrounded by construction fence and all sorts of building materials and looked equally a mess while workers continued installation. Not the right day to show your friends what you thought would wow them.

Instead, we grabbed a cab and took off for LUMA at 820 N. Michigan Avenue, which turned out to be next to the historic Water Tower that survived the Chicago Fire. There's a pretty little green park and modest fountain there and parking for horse and buggy rides which were constantly pulling up on the small divided avenue. The Loyola Administration building, with a beautiful facade, lies just west of this peaceful space, and next store, oddly out of place, is a crowded Hershey's Chocolate store. We climbed the dozen steps inside to find a very modern space and the entrance to the museum along with a modest gift shop. The entry fee is only $6 (a bargain compared to The Art Institute) and the price suits the modest size of the museum.

The exhibit consisted of roughly 25 pieces. Several sculptures were heads or "masks" as Rodin refers to them, and there were two alarmingly large full figures - both holding palettes (see picture I managed to shoot with my cell phone before I was told no photos allowed), and a pair of hands (one of an adult, one infant sized.) The most striking to me were the many male figures in various poses. The really intriguing bonus of this show, which is called "In his own words" is that each sculpture was accompanied with a paragraph by Rodin explaining his motives, feelings, public reaction to his work, and his aesthetic.

Rodin wrote about how he purposely pumped up and slightly exaggerated each muscle and hyper stretched and extended every limb to exude life and energy within. He was thoughtful about where light would hit each fractured surface on his sculpture. This really added to the feeling of power and movement. His work revealed a very different portrait as you walked around it. I was especially entranced with how beautifully he could portray the arched bottom of a foot - it expressed so much about the figure. There was a replica of "The Thinker" there, but my favorite was "I am Beautiful", a strong figure of a male lifting a female high and close so her legs are curled under her - it's an unusual and beautiful pose.

In the rooms beyond was an interesting photography exhibit with photos of both Parisian and Chicago architecture. I must say Chicago holds it's own! Upstairs, in lovely deep jewel colored rooms are a very nice collection of Renaissance art - definitely worth the trip to the second floor.

Three Ladies

Working on a new landscape I am calling Three Ladies. Somehow these trees strike me as rather feminine and they seem to have befriended one another in the way their branches cross and intertwine.

This is an 18" x 24" linen canvas. I am using a limited palette of Zine White, Lemon Yellow Light, Alizarin Crimson and French Ultramarine Blue. I am sticking with fairly large brushes with the exception of a small round for the branches. It all feels very modern to me and I want to limit the detail and stick with color as the main interest.

Studio Envy!

Just got back from a weekend away in South Haven, MI and enjoyed walking in and out of many art studios in the area. The picture here is of an artists' studio down a country road, off into the forest. It's everything an artists studio should be ~ outside; lots of color and flowers and surrounded by lovely woods; inside paintings scatter shot everywhere and inspirational images pinned to the walls. Lots of big windows with views of the woods and plenty of room to have several canvases going at once. Oh, how I envied this wonderful creativity-inducing space. Maybe someday!

Also picked up a nice wood gold gilt frame at an antique shop for $20, in good condition, sized for an 8" x 10" canvas. Currently it holds a cheesy dated print, which I will probably discard.



Played around with my Sakura watercolor set both at the beach and at breakfast on the wrap-around porch of the old Victorian where we stayed. Here is an amateur attempt at a shed across the drive, covered in grape-vine. The water chamber brush takes some getting use to when it comes to controlling the moisture. Need more pratice, but it's a practical portable toy for travel, when the spirit calls for some creativity!

Took lots of nature photos this trip which will hopefully yield some good reference photos down the road for paintings.

Young Son Done

Finished portrait of my son. This was a tough challenge and I really struggled. The flesh tones were not as difficult as the features were. I struggled with the eyes and I think that's partly because my photo was of poor quality. In the end I decided I needed to put a conventional eye on his right side instead of the shadowy one in the photo in order for it to read better as a portrait. I may work his lips a little more and am debating whether his upper eye lids need to be closed more. I am satisfied that this portrait bares a strong resemblance to my son. I am setting him aside for now and moving on to a landscape.

Am trying a linen canvas for the first time and am anxious to see if I notice a difference. The reference is a photo I shot at a nature center of three leafless (dead?) trees standing side by side. I call them "the three ladies" because they have an elegance in their bare silhouette that I look forward to capturing and the colors are kind of surreal as the photo was snapped just before dusk. Looking forward to a looser style after the tightness and intense concentration a portrait requires.

Adding close-up of eyes after a glint was added!

A Day at the Art Expo

Attended the Art Expo in Lisle, Illinois yesterday with two wonderful artist buddies. It was a beautiful day and a lovely drive to the Hickory Ridge Marriott. Check-in was a breeze (with pre-registration) and we were given an extra-large "green" goodie Blick bag for all the purchases and freebies we amassed during the day.

The first room we drifted into was the Candy Store, and by that I mean the vendor room where all the art supply vendors were selling their wares at discounted prices. As we three all use different medium, we drifted apart as different "candy" caught our eye. Many booths really dazzled including a new pastel product I hadn't seen before. Instead of the usual pastel sticks, these pastels come in little round pans. The colors just blew me away. They looked like little pots of gorgeous make-up and I wanted to play. The tools to paint with them equally look like cosmetic applicants and were wonderful to work with. In an outdoor tent they had a "play" area where I could test them out and really had a great time. The gals had to drag me away! A girl could get seriously hooked on these and they are pretty affordable and last a long time. The nice thing about the sponge-tips tools is they save the skin on your fingers when blending. To check them out, visit PanPastel.com. They are available at Dick Blick and run about $4 per pot and are long lasting with minimal dust factor.

All art books were on sale half price, and always being a sucker for books, I bought two - Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color by Kevin MacPherson and The Painterly Approach by Bob Rohm. Read the first one last night, (well, flipped through it mostly) and really enjoyed it - lots of good tips and color ideas. Particularly liked the "mixing sensitive Grays" section - doesn't that sound marvelous?! Also took advantage of the low prices to try a linen canvas for the first time and splurged on some attractively priced boar bristle brushes hoping the hair won't be falling out of the shank anytime soon (because the prices seemed too good to be true (did I say that out loud?). The man who sold them to me said if they did, just to bring them back next year and he would replace them for free - guarenteed! We'll see. Also bought (partly because it has high cuteness factor) the Koi Water Colors Pocket Field Sketch Box with 24 colors and water brush. So handy for travel.

Having skipped breakfast, we went in search of a cheap option for lunch and found one in a hotdog/hamburger stand inside the outdoor vendor tent. After grabbing food, we joined a nice gentleman at a table (due to a seating shortage) and he turned out to be the nicest guy who is a watercolor artist/cartoonist from Michigan City, Indiana. He creates gamers comic books including "Knights of the Dinner Table"! Always join a half full table because you are bound to meet interesting people.

Prying ourselves away from the vendor booths, we rushed to our one workshop we had signed up for ~ "Creating Portraits" with Len Gason. Turns out Len was a no-nonsense guy (oh dear) who "hushed" us repeatedly - which frankly was a bit of a turn-off - aren't we there to learn and have fun? His handouts were a bit lame, but he did give some useful tips on composition and values. A bit of an absent-minded, disorganized professor, as he continually had to hunt for items when trying to make his point ("Where did I put that darn Mona Lisa?!!!?"). Using Gouche (my first time) we did a color value study of John Sargent's (as he called him ~ I personally always include the Singer) James Joyce portrait. To varying degrees our portraits turned out looking like anything from Dr. Phil, to Uncle Ben (he of the rice box) to The Mummy. Still it contained some valuable lessons, though I am not sure the workshop was worth the $75 pricetag.

To end our day, we headed back to the vendor tents (like moths to the flame) to collect our purchases and play a little more with the materials. I also watch (a nerve-wrecking) 5 minute portrait contest between 3 artists on stage with a model, working with just three stick pastels in the most hidious neon colors. First prize was a $50 gift certificate to Dick Blick and the winner, while sparse in detail versus the other two contestants, definately best captured the subject. She also had some pretty rowdy friends in the audience cheering her on.

At the end of the day, we collapsed in a heap in the cushy lobby to compare our loot. I was a little green-eyed over a landscape sketchbook that was beautifully proportioned for panaramic scenes. We all concurred it was a good day and we were ready for a McDonald's drive-thru for some much needed caffine for the drive home.

The expo was lots of fun and the lessons learned for next year are these; 1) save your money for the trip, 2) get more info about a class and instructor before you register and 3) don't buy art supplies for months leading up to the show and make a laundry list of what paint colors you need refills on- because you are not going to remember once at the show! Overall ~ worth the trip!

Young Son's portrait - Day 3

Here is my posted progress on my son's portrait. There are many challenges still to solve. I need to move his eyes lower, work out the background and shoulders, develop the (viewers left) side of his face and many other challenges, but I am happy with the way he is coming along. Areas I am happy with include his hair, lips, the right side of his face, and flesh color choices. He is becoming very dimensional to me as I look at him on canvas.