I chose these sketches specifically to look at how vine charcoal can be used in a drawing to talk about change, movement and time.
Vine charcoal is a lovely medium. It’s just a simple burnt branch, and it allows the artist to make a line, smudge it out, and make another. The dark lyrical lines and soft smokey areas of grey are surprisingly elegant on paper. As the model moves, or as the drawing is adjusted, the series of smudges and lines can add both depth and creation narrative – the recorded story of how the drawing was made.
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
[image_with_animation image_url=”10799″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Denis Sarazhin is a Ukranian-born painter whose textured works seem to be carved out of rough flecks of color. The angular joints, and compositional habit of using a body’s limbs to divide the background remind me of Egon Schiele. Notice how his style is to start with a dark …
…Unless it’s very pretty that way. Here’s some snow for the Seattle Snowpocalypse survivors. This woodcut is made with black ink on long fiber board paper. Herschel Logan printed this in 1930. According to Logan, the image was taken from an early photograph. You may have noticed, you astute reader you, that the composition is …
[image_with_animation image_url=”10166″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Max Ernst “Painting is not for me either decorative amusement, or the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.” – Max Ernst Max Ernst used texture rubbings to overcome his fear of the white canvas, igniting his imagination. He often put paper to the worn …
Matisse Sketches
I chose these sketches specifically to look at how vine charcoal can be used in a drawing to talk about change, movement and time.
Vine charcoal is a lovely medium. It’s just a simple burnt branch, and it allows the artist to make a line, smudge it out, and make another. The dark lyrical lines and soft smokey areas of grey are surprisingly elegant on paper. As the model moves, or as the drawing is adjusted, the series of smudges and lines can add both depth and creation narrative – the recorded story of how the drawing was made.
Enjoy!
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How to Wash a Brush
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
Sarazhin’s Hands
[image_with_animation image_url=”10799″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Denis Sarazhin is a Ukranian-born painter whose textured works seem to be carved out of rough flecks of color. The angular joints, and compositional habit of using a body’s limbs to divide the background remind me of Egon Schiele. Notice how his style is to start with a dark …
Composition Rule: Never divide the picture plane in half
…Unless it’s very pretty that way. Here’s some snow for the Seattle Snowpocalypse survivors. This woodcut is made with black ink on long fiber board paper. Herschel Logan printed this in 1930. According to Logan, the image was taken from an early photograph. You may have noticed, you astute reader you, that the composition is …
SAL Challenge: Frottage
[image_with_animation image_url=”10166″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Max Ernst “Painting is not for me either decorative amusement, or the plastic invention of felt reality; it must be every time: invention, discovery, revelation.” – Max Ernst Max Ernst used texture rubbings to overcome his fear of the white canvas, igniting his imagination. He often put paper to the worn …