Pics from the Show

These are some pics from the show, courtesy of my sis/photographer extraordinaire, Mika-Celine Shiozawa:

Aug 10, 2009 | Painting | Leave A Comment »

Painting Exhibition: July 24 - August 10

Jun 29, 2009 | Greece, Painting | Leave A Comment »

Development of a Painting: Hera and Zeus

I just finished a new painting, Hera and Zeus.  It is another in my series of myth paintings, which I will be exhibiting at the end of July this year.  Zeus, king of the gods on Mt. Olympus and Hera, the most powerful goddess were also brother and sister, children of the titan Kronos. Zeus lusted over his sister Hera, and like in so many of his conquests tried a bit of trickery to have her.  Zeus created a rain storm and then took the form of a cuckoo.  He flew to Hera and stood before her stiff and cold in the rain.  Hera, taking pity on the bird, picked it up and held it to her warm breast.  It was then that Zeus turned back in to his true form.  Hera resisted Zeus at first until Zeus promised that he would marry her. The two were formally married after the victory of the Olympians in the war against the titans.

I wanted to depict the point in the story when the unsuspecting Hera has the small shivering bird within her robe.  Here is a quick sketch I did of this scene:

In the painting I wanted to show a very heavy rain, the kind that Zeus would create in an attempt to trick Hera.  I also wanted the figure of Hera to be almost lost in the mist of the rain, without any sharp delineation in her features.  The look shared between Hera and the cuckoo is very important as well — at any moment the cuckoo would transform in to Zeus. I also wanted to keep the color palette quite simple. I had an idea of silvers and grays with just a slight accent of gold to portray the god Zeus.

Here is the finished painting of Hera and Zeus:

Here is a detail of the painting:

May 17, 2009 | Painting | Leave A Comment »

How (it’s painted) vs. What (is it about)?

Often there is a debate in art about technique vs. concept.  Essentially, too academic of too conventional are phrases to imply that an artwork is just a technical piece, while an artwork that is concerned more with a certain idea or meaning is seen as a conceptual piece.

The irony is that in many art schools today, the study of coming up with new concepts and ideas in art has take center stage.  The emphasis has shifted from the technical attributes of an artwork to the idea and the idea only.  As a result, the conceptual piece has become academic and conventional.

Just as ironic is the notion that many older artworks seen today that may represent older conventions were, at the time of their creation, considered anything but traditional pieces.  Take works by Velazquez, Brueghel, Titian, and Cezanne to name a few.

In this conversation on technique vs. concept, let’s say we were to call the concept the what as “what’s it about” and technique the how as in “how it came about” or “how is it painted”.

Until recently, in almost all the finest works of at, there is a balance of both the what and the how.  A Bellini altarpiece, for example, needed, a great deal of concept and planning before the execution of the piece.  Any religious piece for that matter, emphasizing the power and beauty of the baby Jesus or the mother Mary first begins as a conceptual piece–what is the most effective way to show holiness, to show divine power?  Once the what is established, the how, as in the execution of the piece, comes in to play.  The final effect and power of the piece is then determined by the concept of the image, (what it is) and the integrity of the execution of that image in communicating the concept, (how it was painted).

It should be mentioned that in many works of art, from the religious altarpiece, to the Dutch interior scene, to the Impressionist piece, there is already a pre-determined schema at play.  The positioning and arranging of the image to be painted is often determined not by the individual artist by by what that particular type of artwork should look like.  For example, a religious altarpiece should portray the Holy Mother and Baby Jesus together, dominant in the center above the viewer’s eye line, with saints flanking the two, lower in the piece to be more at eye level with the viewer.  A Dutch interior scene tends to be painted on an  umber or ochre ground, featuring an upper class Dutch home with its residents, a feeling of space, light from some apparent light source and many details and symbols suggesting the wealth of these inhabitants.  An impressionist painting should be painted using a prismatic palette (red, blue, yellow and white, no black, and painted from life (or at least sketches from life).

Having these schemas firmly determined even before the first brushstroke is laid upon the canvas, what is left for the artist is just to paint it. In other words, how well the artist can portray the what as it has already been developed will determine the outcome of the piece.  This is why Titian, Vermeer and Monet are so celebrated — using their vast know how, they painted the schema set before them to its ultimate level of execution.

Of course, many artists, especially from the early 20th century on, prefer not to adhere from a pre-determined schema. Take Pollack, Picasso,  Rothko and Warhol for example, painters who all created their own schema, their own manner to paint, forging new ways to consider both the what and the how.  Largely due to the fame and attention brought to these artists and others like them, the what painters could paint became completely wide open, as did how the painters could paint.   In a way, how well one could paint became less an issue as how “uniquely” one could paint.  Often painting according to any pre-determined schema or tradition is completely rejected in this scenario.  Ultimately however, many found that there is only so many ways to paint in their own unique voice, so the emphasis shifted on what as opposed to the how.

We can find many contemporary paintings now where the piece is primarily interested in the message of the piece, what it’s about, and how it’s made is simply to get that point across.
All too often however, in attempting to show the what  of the piece, he artist doesn’t have the means, the know how,  to put the the image on to the canvas and the overall outcome is diminished.  A great idea alone is not sufficient for a great piece of art.

Painting is a visual medium.  If one wishes to show an idea, no matter how simple, an apple on a table, no matter how abstract (the coming of Christ), an artist must have the basic means to see and execute the image  or ultimately it will not  be effective.  On the other hand,  if the painting is painted well enough, it won’t matter what the subject is.  In short, knowing what to paint is just one aspect of the the painting — more importantly, one has to know how to paint to actually do it effectively.

Mar 18, 2009 | Painting | Leave A Comment »

A Short One on Teaching, Painting and Not Painting

As an art teacher, one is constantly looking at other people’s art of course. In order to be as effective and helpful a teacher I can be I have to think critically about what my students should do about their works. When I’m trying to critique a student’s painting, the only way I’m able to be direct and candid with my criticism is to consider what I would do if the student’s piece was in fact my own piece. Otherwise I start to worry about the student’s feelings and how nice I should be. This used to happen a lot. Instead of getting concise, succinct feedback that they could chew on and run with the students would receive a vague, tepid, circulatory recounting of what I felt worked and looked nice…but, what could just quite possibly, maybe, just, I don’t know…not be working as well. Maybe. Mainly because I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. But I’ve learned (and truthfully, am definitely still learning) that it’s mostly about being clear and straightforward, as hard as the criticism might be, the students are better off for it.
So…after running through studio after studio looking at an assortment of works in progress, processing, deconstructing and assessing them, by the end of the day I’m usually kaput. The last thing I want to do is to think analytically about paintings, any painting. Especially my own paintings in development in my apartment/studio where I return to after class. There, they are all propped up on the easel and against the wall facing me and waiting for attention. At this point in the day, I can’t stand to look at my paintings, they all look goofy to me. All I want to do is sit on the sofa, eat something delicious, maybe have a cold one or a glass of wine, open the laptop and watch some silly scuba diving cat videos on Youtube. And that’s what I tend to do, my own paintings be damned.

Mar 11, 2009 | Life, Painting | Leave A Comment »

Development of a Painting: Heracles and the Mares of Diomedes

I have been working on a new painting: Heracles and the Mares of Diomedes.  It is another in a series of paintings based on the twelve labors of Heracles (Hercules) and I’ve already written about two labors I’ve painted already, Heracles and the Nemean Lion and Heracles and the Boar of Erymanthos.  The Mares of Diomedes were four man eating mares. Heracles had to steal them for King Eurystheus, to whom he had to perform the twelve tasks for.  The Mares belonged to the giant Diomedes, king of Thrace, and they feasted on men’s flesh.  In order to round up the mares,  Heracles killed their master, fed them to the mares, and in their calmed state Heracles could manage to bring them to Eurystheus.

To begin, I did a number of sketches of horses.  The book ANIMALS: 1419 Copyright-Free Illustrations of Mammals, Birds, Fish Insects, etc. A Pictorial Archive from Nineteenth-Century Sources by Jim Harter has been very helpful as it has many well rendered, expressive illustrations of animals.

Here are some of the sketches I did:

I then got the idea of seeing Heracles as a some kind of cowboy, wrangling up the mares as if he was in a rodeo.  I turned to Youtube.com which is a huge resource for finding just about any kind of visual, and found some videos of bucking horses and bronco riding.  From these videos I did some more sketches:

I was now ready to start the painting and I first started with the mares.  When I initially started the painting, I read an account where there were only three mares.  At first, I laid out the painting with just three mares.

Having laid out the compostion with the three horses I know had to establish where Heracles would be.  I had originally planned that Heracles would be riding one of the horses, almost as if he was riding them like a cowboy.  However, I found that I didn’t know exactly where to place the Heracles figure.  I decided to try different versions so I went to Photoshop and played with moving Heracles around in the painting:

Even though it was a bit of a departure from the idea of Heracles riding the mares like a cowboy, I liked the last image the best as it conveyed a crouching Heracles as part man, part animal (as he is wearing the pelt of the Nemean Lion who he slayed in his first labor), ready to strike at the oncoming mares.  I decided to go with that image.

I wanted to keep the initial looseness of the painting so I didn’t add too much to the horses.  I also wanted Heracles to be brighter and have more contrast tonally.  Here is the result:

Is was at this point where I realized that the myth of the Mares of Diomedes consisted of four mares and not three.  I was a little set back by this realisation because I thought it might affect the overall composition.  However after playing around with some different ways to place the fourth mare I realized I could place the last mare in where it would coodinate with the overall painting well.

Here is the final piece:

Mar 07, 2009 | Painting | Leave A Comment »

Development of a Painting: Herakles and the Boar of Erymanthos

I am currently working on a series of paintings based on the twelve labors of Herakles (Hercules).  I already wrote about painting Herakles first labor.  The fourth labor of Herakles is to capture a vicious boar who is terrorizing the region of Mt. Erymanthos. Heracles chases after the boar and is finally able to seize it when the boar is caught in the snowy slopes of the mountain. Heracles brings the boar back to King Eurystheus (for whom Herakles must perform his labors) who jumps in a vase in fright at the sight of the boar.

I was excited to do this painting because I really like painting snow and snowstorms. Perhaps its because of my ties to Minnesota, USA, but some of my favorite paintings have been where there are figures caught in some type of snowfall/blizzard. Here are a couple:

I think what I like about painting snowy scenes is how the snow itself can dissolve the figure and merge it nicely with its surrounding environment. Also, I tend to like the look of a desaturated color image ( think old color photographs, ukiyo-e prints or paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec ) as the tones feel more unified. With the range of whites, grays and blues in a blustery winter scene the image can become something quite subtle and minimal, which I like.

With this in mind I set off to arrange my piece.  Here’s a quick thumbnail sketch I did:

I wanted to show the boar as a tough customer, but at the same time convey that it was indeed the victim. Here are some quick studies I did for the boar.

They all looked pretty static thought (and some looked too damn cute), so I checked out the opening sequence to Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece “Ran” where the cast of characters are on a boar hunt.

Finally I felt I would go with something like this sketch:

But a little more stylized and more graphic.

When it came to the figure of Heracles, I wanted to show him as the menacing predator who manages to outrun and trap the luckless boar. I also wanted to show him pursuing the figures in a calm and determined manner in his pursuit of his victim. Here are some sketches:

Perhaps I feel sympathetic for the boar but he is the prey after all. I also wanted to accentuate Herakles’ lion pelt which he got from defeating the Nemean Lion in an earlier labor as a way to portray Herakles as half man, half beast.

For the actual painting process, I painted the composition in acrylic with a range of grays that I made from mixing white, blue and brown. Once everything was set in, I did another layer this time in oil paint to draw out the contrast and some detail in the figures and the mountains. Finally, I painted in the snow falling which I made through painting it on directly with brushes, sponges, rollers and sticks, and splattering it on as well. I made sure to mask the main figures a bit while doing the splatter technique.
Here is the final result of the piece:

Here is a detail of Herakles:

and a detail of the boar:

Feb 24, 2009 | Painting | Leave A Comment »

Working on Some Things in the B+W Studio

And so…

I’m back in Paros, Greece and now painting in the nicest studio I’ve ever painted in.  That would be the Aegean Center’s black and white studio (see the tiles) and it’s muy bien — large, climate controlled, well lit and the sounds of lovely birds and Greek radio just outside the door.  Also, there’s wifi which is fantastic but a huge distraction of course.  I’ll get carried away watching the latest movie trailers and checking Twitter tweets and such…again…and again…

I have to keep busy because I’m preparing an exhibition to be held in mid July.  The expo will be themed around Greek mythology appropriately enough, and it’s been very fun putting these paintings together.  The stories are so visual and dynamic anyway, I don’t feel that’s there’s much work I have to do coming up with ideas.  Any Greek myth evokes countless images — it’s just a matter of putting it down on the canvas.  It’s also really interesting looking back at the countless interpretations of Greek myths there have been throughout history, from Greek vase paintings to the Italian Renaissance masters to contemporary realists like Paul Reid.  I also have fellow Aegean Center professor (and my former teacher) Jane Pack working on her own interpretation of The Iliad.  That has been very cool and inspiring to see.

I have a lot of work to do and I’m trying to get much of it done before the new crop of Aegean Center students arrive in March.  Then I’ll be teaching most of the time and the wonderful black and white studio will be turned over to a couple of lucky students.  Until then, I’ll be busy working away in the B+W studio.  Or Facebooking.  Or reading about random junk like how some horrible comic from the ’90s is being developed into a movie…ugh…

I got to get back to work.

Feb 13, 2009 | Life, Painting | Leave A Comment »