Study for Papaya with Bowl of Walnuts graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper 11 x 15″
Do you make studies before you start a painting? Seems like most painting students don’t. We want to paint, not prepare to paint. Making a study prior to painting isn’t required for good artwork, but we learn about a subject every time we draw or paint it, so the act of sketching sure can help to clarify the conversation before we get knee deep in the sloppy stuff.
If drawing before painting causes you have fits of impatience because you want to paint and you want to paint right now, then let ‘er rip!
Here’s the test: take a look at the painting after you’ve made it. (“After” is wide open on the time scale. This be minutes, hours, or months.) Disregarding efficiency, did you get what you wanted out of both the painting session and the finished work? If yes, then continue with your sketch-as-you-go process. If no, then consider shifting how you think about your creative time. It might just be a matter of renaming your “painting” session to a “creative observation” session, or something that includes sketches. That way drawing and studies are seen as part of painting, not something in the way of painting.
Take a look at these drawings below. Notice the attention to individual objects, the spaces, proportions, and the interactions of shapes. Notice the compositional changes that were made after the drawing. She still had plenty of puzzles to figure out in the painting phase, but the conversation behas been clarified.
Blueberries in a White Cup
Study for Blueberries in a White Cup graphite/colored pencil on hand-toned paper 11 x 14 3/8″
Grapefruit with Black Ribbons
Study for Grapefruit with Black Ribbons graphite/charcoal/colored pencil/egg tempera on hand-toned paper 10 1/2 x 13 1/2″
Blueberries in A Bowl with Bean Pod, Cork, and Knife
Study for Blueberries in A Bowl with Bean Pod, Cork, and Knife graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper 11 x 13 1/2″
Elle
Study for Elle graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper 11 1/2 x 12 3/4″
Papaya with Bowl of Walnuts
Study for Papaya with Bowl of Walnuts graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper 11 x 15″
People posted hundreds of drawings for our 30 day January challenge, in which artists are invited to respond to a daily prompt posted on our V. Notes blog. Unlike other drawing challenges, these prompts are wildly varied, open to non-typical materials around us, and are designed to feed a broad spectrum of creative skills at …
Richard Diebenkorn Diebenkorn was an American painter. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His later work were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim. Wikipedia Born: April 22, 1922, Portland, OR Died: March 30, 1993, Berkeley, CA Artwork: Cityscape I, Ocean Park #54, …
I was a week late getting the news. Jen Graves resigns her position as Art Critic at the Stranger on February 8th. From ArtNews: “I spent months resisting the reality that The Stranger is not currently a viable place for me to do the work I’ve always cared about,” she said, announcing her departure on …
This post is an example of it’s own point about how art is changed by frequency, constant inflow, and connectivity. I’m putting this blog post out before the ink dries, without fact checking, thoughts still unresolved. I’ve that itch that says I didn’t finish getting the gunk out of the wrinkles in my own ideas. But I’m publishing …
Studies by Susan Jane Walp
graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper
11 x 15″
Do you make studies before you start a painting? Seems like most painting students don’t. We want to paint, not prepare to paint. Making a study prior to painting isn’t required for good artwork, but we learn about a subject every time we draw or paint it, so the act of sketching sure can help to clarify the conversation before we get knee deep in the sloppy stuff.
If drawing before painting causes you have fits of impatience because you want to paint and you want to paint right now, then let ‘er rip!
Here’s the test: take a look at the painting after you’ve made it. (“After” is wide open on the time scale. This be minutes, hours, or months.) Disregarding efficiency, did you get what you wanted out of both the painting session and the finished work? If yes, then continue with your sketch-as-you-go process. If no, then consider shifting how you think about your creative time. It might just be a matter of renaming your “painting” session to a “creative observation” session, or something that includes sketches. That way drawing and studies are seen as part of painting, not something in the way of painting.
Take a look at these drawings below. Notice the attention to individual objects, the spaces, proportions, and the interactions of shapes. Notice the compositional changes that were made after the drawing. She still had plenty of puzzles to figure out in the painting phase, but the conversation behas been clarified.
Blueberries in a White Cup
graphite/colored pencil on hand-toned paper
11 x 14 3/8″
Grapefruit with Black Ribbons
graphite/charcoal/colored pencil/egg tempera on hand-toned paper
10 1/2 x 13 1/2″
Blueberries in A Bowl with Bean Pod, Cork, and Knife
graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper
11 x 13 1/2″
Elle
graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper
11 1/2 x 12 3/4″
Papaya with Bowl of Walnuts
graphite/colored pencil/gouache on hand-toned paper
11 x 15″
See more on her website: https://www.susanjanewalp.com/
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People posted hundreds of drawings for our 30 day January challenge, in which artists are invited to respond to a daily prompt posted on our V. Notes blog. Unlike other drawing challenges, these prompts are wildly varied, open to non-typical materials around us, and are designed to feed a broad spectrum of creative skills at …
My Personal Thoughts on Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn Diebenkorn was an American painter. His early work is associated with abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His later work were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim. Wikipedia Born: April 22, 1922, Portland, OR Died: March 30, 1993, Berkeley, CA Artwork: Cityscape I, Ocean Park #54, …
Jen Graves
I was a week late getting the news. Jen Graves resigns her position as Art Critic at the Stranger on February 8th. From ArtNews: “I spent months resisting the reality that The Stranger is not currently a viable place for me to do the work I’ve always cared about,” she said, announcing her departure on …
Dawn Endean
This post is an example of it’s own point about how art is changed by frequency, constant inflow, and connectivity. I’m putting this blog post out before the ink dries, without fact checking, thoughts still unresolved. I’ve that itch that says I didn’t finish getting the gunk out of the wrinkles in my own ideas. But I’m publishing …