Painting Fantasy on Location

What struck me about the exterior of the Jules Verne Museum was the way the historic building sits on the brow of a steep cliff, with a statue of St. Anne atop a long flight of stairs.

So I painted this 7 x 9-inch sketch on location, trying to imagine it separated from gravity on its own journey to another world.

I worked on a separate piece of hot press watercolor paper, using fairly traditional watercolor. After laying in the broad masses of the sky, rock, and architecture, I further defined the details and textures using water-soluble colored pencils. This is a fairly fast way to sketch; the whole painting was finished on location in two and a half hours, but it would have taken me far longer to do the same thing in the studio.

Artistic License

I was practicing art without a license—until I got this.

This Artistic License was made by Rick Allen of Duluth, a master wood engraver and hand printer. Each license has a unique number and makes three passes through the press, one for each color.

Spinosaurus Restorations, Step by Step

In this YouTube video, I demonstrate step-by-step process of painting two restorations of the dinosaur Spinosaurus under the direction of Dr. Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago.

Dr. Sereno's scientific paper, called "Spinosaurus is Not an Aquatic Dinosaur," set out to refute claims by other researchers that Spinosaurus was a fast attack hunter underwater. Sereno's team developed a CT-based skeletal restoration of Spinosaurus and examined its hydrodynamic properties. They found that the digital model of Spinosaurus performed very poorly in water, supporting the alternative "semi-aquatic hypothesis." In an interview, Sereno said, "I don't think it was a good swimmer nor capable of full submergence behavior."

Coauthors include Donald M. Henderson, Daniel Vidal, Frank E. Fish, Stephanie L. Baumgart, Tyler M. Keillor, Kiersten K. Formoso, Nathan Myrhvold, and Lauren L. Conroy. 

READ MORE: 

'Spinosaurus Not Aquatic'

'Spinosaurus Is Not an Aquatic Dinosaur'

Weeds or Wildflowers?

Studying the exquisite geometry of wildflowers (mullein, milkweed, and goldenrod) brings to mind the 1911 poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

THE WEED

A weed is but an unloved flower!
Go dig, and prune, and guide, and wait,
Until it learns its high estate,
And glorifies some bower.
A weed is but an unloved flower!

All sin is virtue unevolved,
Release the angel from the clod--
Go love thy brother up to God.
Behold each problem solved.
All sin is virtue unevolved.
 

Fidelia's Backgrounds

 Fidelia Bridges (1834-1923) started her career using oil paint, but then switched over to watercolor and gouache. Her chromolithograph prints made her the most popular woman artist of her era.

What I've been looking at is how she set up her backgrounds to allow the viewer to focus on the foreground botanical detail. Here there's a very simple but subtle gradient that gets lighter and warmer toward the bottom.

Although she loved painting botanical studies, she rarely painted her subjects against a white background. Generally she used either toned paper or paper that had been pre-toned by her with a watercolor wash.

A simple blue-to-amber gradient suggests sky-to-high-grass.

Sometimes she gives a little more information in those backgrounds, suggesting here the arching forms of wheat stalks. 

According to Katherine Manthorne, author of an excellent new biography on Bridges, "She telescopes the space, painting the background in soft focus so that it appears an indeterminate distance away, while the plant forms in the foreground seem to jump off the page."

She may have gotten the idea from the influential English critic John Ruskin, who wrote: "If we look at any foreground object so as to receive a distinct impression of it, the distance and middle distance becomes all disorder and mystery. And therefore, if in any painting our foreground is anything, our distance must be nothing and vice versa."

---

Read more:

Ruskin quote from Modern Painters, quoted in The New Path
Wikipedia on Fidelia Bridges

Monograph Fidelia Bridges: Nature into Art by Katherine Manthorne

Colossal Character Challenge

What: An art event where artists drawing or painting on location imagine a giant character visiting Pasadena. The character can come from animation, movies, video games, or comics. The interaction between the character and Pasadena can be anything from playful to apocalyptic.


When: October 27, 10:00-noon.



Who: Twelve invited professional concept artists wearing orange caps will lead the event. These mentors who are here because of Lightbox Expo will either demo or help other artists or both. Any additional artist can join the fun and sketch their concept. Participating artists don't have to be part of Lightbox Expo. They can be any age or any level of skill or experience. Kids are welcome and encouraged. Each participant receives an official sticker or button. Members of the general public can just come to see art being made.



Where: All around downtown Pasadena, but centered around the City Hall.


Why: To celebrate imagination mixed with observation and to see Pasadena in a new, fun way.


Online: Other artists participating online will be sketching colossal characters in their town or city. Their work will appear in a Facebook group page called "Colossal Characters Challenge." Deadline for that group is November 1.

There will be another Facebook group for artists working digitally, in CGI, animation, or A.I.

ESP Show

I did this sketch from life of a street performer named Glenn Gazin. He did a mind-reading act in Central Park in New York City, back around 1980.

He perfected his act and used it in the nightclub he owned called "The Dive" on West 29th Street. The Dive hosted comedy acts, techno-pop, one-act plays, and horror movies.

Call It Mixed Media?

Some call this mixed media because it combines watercolor, gouache, colored pencils and fountain pens. 

I don't think of it that way. To me it's all about one thing: putting pigment on paper.

At  each stage of the sketch, the pigment goes down whichever way is most efficient. Some touches are wet, broad, and blurry, and some are dry, sharp and dry. 

Call it drawing and painting if you want, but to me it's just laying down pigment. 

What I was focused on was the sunlight setting just to the left of the alley. 

'Draw What You See...'

When I was in junior high school, my older brother Dan gave me a piece of advice that hit me like a thunderbolt: “Draw what you see, not what you think you see.”

I had been drawing the symbols for the eyes and nose and not really paying attention to the way they actually appeared. This began a sort of obsession for me. I wanted to draw things as accurately as I could, trying to make my eyes work like a camera.

When I was 13 years old, I set up this arrangement——a rocking chair, a broken umbrella, and a couple of boots——and drew it all with a Rapidograph pen from observation. I wanted to enter it in a student art show along with some other drawings for $10 each, which seemed like a lot of money to me. But my bro convinced me to hold off selling it because I might want to have it someday as a milestone of my progress. Thanks, Dan.

Inside Ebulon

What happens inside the mysterious stone monuments of Ebulon? 

They're hollowed out inside, with a library, kitchen, and privy. 

It's the headquarters of the skybax riders who practice air jousting, an ancient sport where challengers try to knock each other out of their pterosaur saddle. Loser parachutes to the ground.

Of course to paint such a thing, I had to imagine it first, which means a bit of ham-acting.

It's all part of Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara. The Dover edition contains a 30 page afterword that digs into the sketches, maquettes, and reference photos. Signed copies at the link in bio.