DRAWING and PAINTING, etc. Group: Messages by smitty01

A good while back, I had to make a decision about a prospective member who was quite young by our standards. After investigating as much as I could, I decided to allow her in and keep an eye on her. Well, I made a good decision. Despite being a "teeny-bopper", a novice, a blonde (lol) and in need of a spell checker, she has been a delight.

What she lacks in expertise, she makes up for with enthusiasm, humor, and an all round great attitude. She participates all the time and keeps everybody on their toes replying to her queries, observances, and suggestions.

So, since this is Halloween, and the time is going backward, I can't think of a better time to honor this month's Artist of the Month, alternately referred to as "Speedo", "Dishwasher" and "Kiddo" (by me), I give you DSHIZER an artist in the making and a credit to this group.

My old powerful computer is up and running although I'm still trying to recover all of my records. AND I have a smaller but adequate machine as a back-up. So, I have a lot to be thankful for. I hope you all do and have a great holiday!

I've been prevailed upon to put my comment on "Posin' Pretty" about the "color" white into a message. I guess for those of you who don't read comments. So, anyway here it is:

While I was working on this picture, it dawned on me that white is a difficult color. Actually, NOT a color. In light, it is a combination of ALL colors and in life, NOTHING is white to the eye...just perceived that way. To a painter, it is a pigment, but to us pencil, pen and pastel workers, it is the ABSENCE of pigment. (when working on white paper).

All this is going through my mind and I remembered a gripe years ago, that we didn't do enough "teaching" in this group. And, recently, I was asked if I taught. Well, I am not a teacher, per se, but everyone who has knowledge likes to share it.

So, I am going to borrow a chapter from Robert's (artistinmaine) book and do a little pontificating here. You may accept it or reject it, but it has helped me in my art.

Using white on a white background, one must remember that white is reflective of ALL light and shadows. Nothing is really "white". It is reflections! Our brains, remarkable organs that they are, interpret what we see as white. But the discerning eye, (such as an artist's should be) can make out the reflections, eg. yellow, blue, gray, green and reds. These should be depicted in the work, so that it really LOOKS white.

This should be obvious when you realize that ALL color is a result of reflections of light. Stand in front of a painting and then turn the lights out in the room. What happened to the color? Without light to reflect it, it is no more.

So, for you beginning artists, remember that color is reflections of light and white is not white, but various hues in order to get dimension. In drawing white should be used as sparingly as black. (which can be a subject for another time)

You know, I realized I'm an anachronism. Here I am, walking down the street, an old gray bearded man with a pipe hanging out of his mouth. A little boy stares at me and asks," What's that in your mouth?" Taken aback, I hesitate, and then say, "It's a pipe." "What's it for?" comes the reply. "Well," I say," do you know the story The Night Before Christmas?" "Yeah" "Do you remember when the story teller talks about the the little elf with a stub of a pipe in his mouth and the "Smoke encircled his head like a wreath"? "Yeah". "Well, that was me." He stared at me, wide eyed, and then his eyes narrowed and he said. "Go on, you're not Santa." I replied, "Do you see anyone else smoking a pipe?"

And that's the way it is. Not many pipe smokers around nowadays. (Except for us old Santa's, that is.)

I just finished and posted a pen and ink drawing taken from a Depression era photo. When I came across this, I was mesmerized. I thought of it's application now, and I had to do a drawing of it. The way things are going, this may be an example of a lot of pictures.
You may have to use the "Control-Minus" keys to reduce the size or just click on the view this photo button. I seem to be downloading giant pictures nowadays.

My profile page is covered with notices to a "zedric001" from Photobucket saying that the account is inactive. Needless to say, this is incorrect and I've sent a message to Eons, but in the meantime, my profile is mostly incognito! Thanks to Beachbunnie for the heads-up.

This is for you in Arkansas or Mississippi (or anywhere else where you think of yourselves as "rednecks").

view link

While everyone was busy plotting my demise (oops, I mean wedding), I was working on the picture I just posted in the gallery.
Many, many years ago, when I first started drawing, and was stuck with teaching myself (which I've done with just about everything in my life, I decided that the way to learn was the "old-fashioned" way: Copy the Masters. So that's what I did, everybody from Michelangelo, Klimt, Rubens, and Durer. I copied their color works in No. 2 pencil and did it so accurately, that when my mother showed them to an artist, he said, "Send that boy some equipment". She sent me some pastels and the rest is history...LOL.

Anyway, in keeping with the mood I've been in of portraying famous people, I decided to do this one of Durer (no umlaut) and, although I've done the hands before (who hasn't?) I've never done it in conjunction with a portrait of the artist. The hands, by the way, were a PRELIMINARY sketch for a later painting, and now they are one of his most famous works.

Enough with the history, The work is here for your perusal and comments.

I just added a portrait of Ansel Adams, I completed. I did this as a tribute to the great black and white photographer whose work has been an inspiration and model for me. I included the picture I worked from with no graph, no lightbox, no pantograph. I had to work from a photo because I haven't figured out a way to do a portrait of someone you have no idea about how they look. Anyway, this gave me an idea for a contest, the details of which I will place in another message.