Interview with Bobby Chiu

Bobby Chiu, concept artist and founder of the online art education site Schoolism, spoke with me this week by phone (since my internet link is too weak for Skype).  (Link to YouTube video)

Some of the topics we covered:

• How did I learn art before the internet?
• The importance of working from memory
• How to paint moving subjects
• How many hours per day should a young artist draw?
• Do you think about brushstrokes when you're painting?
• What's the most valuable kind of critique?
• How Ray Harryhausen inspired me.
• Is computer technology good for artists?
• What are the benefits of gouache?
• What advice would you give your 20-year-old self?

Houston, Texas

The images coming out of Houston have been so powerful and unnerving. My heart goes out to everyone there who has been affected.

(Link to video) Hurricane Harvey has been an unprecedented disaster, but the stories of courage and compassion arising in response have been an inspiration to us all.

Have the floods in Texas affected you, either directly or indirectly? Please share your story in the comments.
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Music by Kevin MacLeod

Imaginative Illustration Exhibit will open in Connecticut in September

A museum exhibit on imaginative illustration is coming up next month in Connecticut. I'm planning to attend the reception on September 22 (scroll through to the bottom). Here's more info from their press release.

The Stamford Museum & Nature Center’s Fall Exhibition, Illustrations of Imaginative Literature: The Korshak Collection, will be on display in the Stamford Museum Galleries from September 23 through October 29, 2017 

Long before the era of the Syfy channel, Xbox video games, and other high-tech graphic media, fans of science fiction and fantasy stories read novels and magazines illustrated by world renowned artists. In the Korshak Collection, those alien landscapes, mystical creatures, and fantastical characters come alive. Featuring works by both American and European artists that span more than a century, the vivid and detailed illustrations animate totally imagined worlds, creatures, and adventures.

The illustrations are from the private collection of Stephen and Alma Korshak. Stephen’s father, Erle Korshak, was the publisher of a pioneering science fiction book company, Shasta Publishers (now Shasta-Phoenix). 

The Korshak Collection is an exploration of illustrative art. It is also a glimpse into the history of images produced for the science fiction, fantasy, horror, and adventure genres of literature. The illustrations originally appeared on the covers and interior pages of timeless novels such as Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs and classic pulp magazines from the 1930s to the 1960s, such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales. Featuring original artworks by the most celebrated fantasy and fiction illustrators – including Virgil Finlay, Frank Frazetta, and the Brothers Hildebrandt – the Collection is recognized as a compilation of some of the greatest fantasy masterpieces ever produced.

Illustrations of Imaginative Literature: The Korshak Collection opens on Friday, September 22, with a Community Reception, 6:30–8 pm. Free of charge to the public, the Reception will feature an informal gallery talk and tour by famed illustrator Michael Whelan, whose work will be on display. Space is limited, so RSVP here.

Speed-Painting People in Gouache

Here's a new video about painting people at a busy crossroads of the Dutchess County fairgrounds. (Link to video)

Gouache is ideal for this because you can place layer over layer and fix anything.

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Live Interview Tomorrow

I'm excited to be doing a livestream podcast / interview tomorrow with Bobby Chiu, concept artist and founder of Schoolism.

The interview is set for Tuesday, 3pm EST, 12:00 noon PDT, and if you catch the Twitch stream, you can ask questions. If you miss the live stream, you can probably access the interview on YouTube later.

James Gurney on Twitch TV

Painting Live Sheep at the Fair

At the Dutchess County Fair this weekend, I find a Southdown ewe lamb that could make a good model. She's wearing a coat to keep her clean after being slick shorn and washed. (Link to video on YouTube)

The limited palette of gouache includes white, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, purple, and red. I skip the drawing stage and dive right in with the brush, working out the big shapes immediately. 

The great thing about gouache is that if I find a mistake in my reckoning, I can easily fix it as I go.

The painting takes a little over an hour, compressed into about a minute of time in the time lapse sequence above. 

I'm using a new camera, the mirrorless Canon EOS M6, which has a built-in time lapse function.

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Friendship through Marionettes

Ricky Syers, a puppeteer in his 50s and Doris Diether, a community activist in her 80s, became friends. Ricky made puppet alter egos of each of them, and they perform together in New York parks. Link to video on YouTube 

Another video shows more behind the scenes views of making of his marionettes:

Link to Vimeo video

Prize Rooster

I sketched a prize rooster from the Dutchess County Fair, and shot a little video to give you a glimpse behind the scenes.

(Link to video)

Arkhipov's Washer-Women

Abram Arkhipov (Russian, 1862-1930) did two versions of his famous paintings of washer-women. 

His first version of 1899 came after a tireless search through different wash houses, where he observed the characteristic movements and the quality of light streaming through the window.

Then, at a wash-house in the Smolensk market in Moscow, he noticed an old woman sitting off to the side, her head resting in her hand, and her right arm resting on her knee. 

The second picture brings the figures closer and lights them more prominently. He was moved by the spirit of hopelessness and exhaustion, which gave the painting a social message as well as an aesthetic one. 

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Victoria's Andy

The exhibition "Andrew Wyeth at 100: A Family Remembrance" at the Fenimore Art Museum in New York blows away the misconception that Andrew Wyeth was a melancholy, dour loner. 

"Fuzzy Wooly Andy," ca. 2000 Photo by Victoria Browning Wyeth

The impression that comes across from his granddaughter Victoria's viewpoint is of the "Andy" she knew, who giggled, tickled, hugged, and laughed. 

MASTER BEDROOM, 1965 watercolor. Collection of Victoria Browning Wyeth
© 2017 Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Victoria curated the show, writing the captions, and included many works from her own collection. 

It's a small show, but there are watercolors, egg temperas, early self portraits, quick portraits of family members, photographs (many by Vic herself), illustrated letters, items of clothing, and even paintbrushes (He used, among others, Laurut brand kolinsky round mops with quill ferrules).

Outpost, 1968 tempera. Andrew and Betsy Wyeth Collection
© 2017 Andrew Wyeth / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

The show is full of insights into Wyeth's thinking and working methods. According to Victoria, Andy NEVER used photographs for his paintings. Here's a grab bag of quotes:

"It is not a portrait unless the person is looking at you." (A. Wyeth)

"He always talked about the sounds in his paintings."

"He was wonderful because he would talk with you — converse with you when you posed. He would always talk about something he knew you were interested in— any kind of subject."

"He always mixed his own black. 'You need to build the excitement of the black, with blues, greens reds, etc.'"

"Art has no rules." (A. Wyeth)

The Revenant, 1949 tempera. New Britain Museum,
Harriet Russell Stanley Fund, © 2017 Andrew Wyeth
Art Rights Society (ARS), NY

I love the curating because it cuts through all the bull you usually read in museum captions. It is personal, informal, and genuine, and offers a new way to look at this somewhat elusive artist. As Victoria said, "I feel it's time the world saw the Andy in Andrew Wyeth."
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Andrew Wyeth at 100: A Family Remembrance is on view at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York through September 4.
Book: Andrew Wyeth | Victoria Wyeth: My Andy (Andrew Wyeth)
The larger Andrew Wyeth exhibition is at the Brandywine Museum in Pennsylvania: Andrew Wyeth in Retrospect, through September 17, with a book: Andrew Wyeth: In Retrospect