Glitter Path

A glitter path is a vertical reflection of a very bright light source on water, extending from the horizon straight down to the water near the viewer.

Glitter path, photo by Harald Edens

Typically the source is the sun or moon, so sometimes it's called a "moon-path." The glitter path widens where the water is disturbed, and it narrows in the areas where the water is calmer.

Study by Peder Krøyer

Wavelets present many small reflecting surfaces at a variety of angles. Wherever those surfaces are just the right angle to reflect the sun, a spot or dash of light appears.

The effect fascinated Danish artist Peder Krøyer (1851-1901), who did many studies of it, and included it in some of his most famous paintings.

In Howard Pyle's magical story, The Garden Behind the Moon, the "moon-path" appears one night and a young boy discovers that he can walk out on the water:

"There was the moon-path, and there was the wave, and there was this bar of moonlight right a-top the wave. I stepped out again, and this time I wasn't afraid. This time, would you believe it, I didn't fall into the water at all. All the same I had to jump off that wave on to another, for the moonlight was sliding under my feet. It was as slippery as glass."

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Books: How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea by Tristan Gooley
The Garden Behind the Moon by Howard Pyle
Online: Glitter Path, explained in Backyard Optics 

Joseph Ducreux's self portraits

Joseph Ducreux (1735 –1802) was a French painter best known for his unusual self-portraits.

He was interested in the study of physiognomy, and wanted to explore expressions that went  beyond the standard ones used in portraiture. 

Some also involve gestures, such as Le Discret (ca. 1790), which shows himself asking for silence.

He studied with Maurice Quentin de La Tour, who was known for his expressive pastel portraits. When Ducreux focused more on oil, his technique was influenced by Jean-Baptiste Greuze.

Portrait de l'artiste sous les traits d'un moqueur, 1793
(Portrait of the Artist in the Guise of Mocking)

When the French Revolution broke out, circumstances were more dangerous for Ducreux. He drew the last portrait of Louis XVI before the king's execution. Ducreux was forced to travel to London.

His self portrait with the mocking expression has inspired a huge number of memes.

We're not used to seeing old paintings or photos of people with facial expressions. See the Previous Posts below for some exceptions to that rule.

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Previous Posts: 

Smiling Presidents  

Happy Old-Time Photos

Maurice Quentin de la Tour

Wikipedia: Joseph Ducreux

Sketching Irish Musicians

(Link to video) It's good for a sketchbook to have a little Guinness spilled on it.

This article comes out in the next (April 2019) issue of International Artist Magazine. Blog readers have voted them the best art magazine, and I am pleased to have been writing a column in every issue since 2007.

Victor Perard's analysis of the figure

Victor Semon Pérard (1870-1957) was a Golden-Age American illustrator who trained at the École des Beaux Arts with Jean Léon Gérôme, and later at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League.

He also wrote many art-instruction books in the early 20th century. Pérard's book Anatomy and Drawing presents a sequence of steps for drawing a figure.

"1. Find the center of the paper by drawing lines from corner to corner. This is done to help center the study.

2. Measure with the eye or pencil to find the center of the subject and make a line at that point as related to the center of the paper. Draw a line at the head and another at the feet. With free lines, search for the rhythm of the pose, to help visualize the figure and to place it on the paper the size intended. Draw lightly so that the mental impression of the figure is not obliterated by a heavy drawing, and corrections can easily be made.

3. Decide where the pit of the neck should be placed, and draw a perpendicular line from the seventh cervical vertebra to the feet. Find the line of the shoulders, giving the angle of their positions. If a standing figure, first draw the leg on which there is most weight, to obtain the proper balance of the figure."

"4. Give the line showing the angle of the position of the pelvis. Indicate a line through the kneecaps. Draw the torso, indicating its bulk, marking the width of the shoulders, hops, neck, and head. Block with straight lines going beyond the intersections to obtain a better idea of the direction of the line and to avoid a cramped feeling.

5. Sketch within the lines a simplified skeleton, to check up on position of joints and bulk of chest. See that the pit of the neck, the pubic bone, the navel, the pelvis, the kneecaps, and the inner ankles are in proper relation to each other. Compare relative sizes of head to bulk of torso, hands to face, feet to hands, arms to legs, and thickness of the neck to that of the head, leg, and arm.

6. Go over the outline, perfecting it, searching for character and for grace of line."

"7. Indicate the outline of the planes and of the principal shadows.

8. Fill in the planes in large surfaces, and connect the shadows as much as possible.

9. Without losing their mass, model the planes keeping well in mind the direction of light. In drawing the head, decide on the bulk and draw in the planes of the face, then the eyes, the mouth and the nose last. It is easier to fit a head on a figure, than to fit a figure to a head."

Pérard's book analyzes the figure in many different ways, including drawings that show the expressive contours of action poses.

Books by Victor Pérard
Anatomy and Drawing
How to Draw Nearly Everything

Pérard is profiled in Walt Reed's book The Illustrator in America

Gouache as a Rehearsal Medium

Here's a new teaser for the upcoming article about T. rex coming up in the April issue of Ranger Rick. (Link to YouTube)


I do two quick sketches in gouache before launching into the final oil painting. I paint them over a scan of the line drawing, greatly reduced in size, printed out on my copier, and sealed with acrylic matte medium.

These gouache sketches serve two purposes. First, they help me imagine what the final result might look like. And second, they serve as a trial run, allowing me to rehearse the painting sequence.

I'll be releasing a full length tutorial download in a couple of weeks called "Unconventional Painting Techniques in Oil," intended for all sorts of painters, not just dino-artists. The focus will be on unusual ways of applying the paint to achieve naturalistic effects.

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Ranger Rick Magazine website

Painting the backgrounds of Akira

The 1988 animated film Akira (1988) included a lot of detailed city scenes, each of which was a handmade painting, created with brush, airbrush, and poster color.



(Link to video)  Most of the paintings are very small, approximately 9 x 12 inches. To achieve the straight lines, the artists used bridges (straightedges suspended above the painted surface). To make window dots in a consistent row, they used glass rods with ball tips that look like stirring sticks, held in the painting hand next to the brush.


(Link to video) If you're not familiar with Akira, here's an appreciation (thanks, Martinho).
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Paint: Knicker Poster Color (Japan Import)
Video: Akira (English Dubbed)
Book: OTOMO: A Global Tribute to the Mind Behind Akira
Previous Post: Demo by Kazuo Oga
Guide for Painting Perfect Lines (thanks, Daroo)

Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow

Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, R. A. (1850 - 1919)

Sir E. A. Waterlow was an English painter who studied at the Royal Academy schools and became a R.A. member.

Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, R. A. (1850 - 1919)

He painted both in oil (above) and watercolor (below), capturing the changing moods of weather and the appeal of the old-fashioned life in the countryside. 

Waterlow, The mill pool, Hemingford Grey, 1902-1904

A 1906 edition of The Art Journal described his work as: "graceful, charming and harmonious, of singular freshness of execution, appealing to the senses by its elevated style and dignity of beauty, and by its mastery of accomplishment, to the intellect."

"But to the passions it makes no call, because the stern or awful moods of Nature pass over his head and leave him, not unmoved, but unconcerned."
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Sir Ernest Waterlow on Wikipedia
Bio on Art Gallery of NSW website

Breathing before a brushstroke

Do you take a deep breath before you make a stroke of your brush or pen? Many of the old lettering and painting manuals advise the artist to breathe in before beginning a difficult mark. 

There may be a reason, according to a recent scientific paper. Your brain function alters with every inhalation and exhalation. It's a holdover from our sense of smell, one of our most primal senses.

It turns out our breathing in and breathing out is synchronized in lock-step with our cognitive activity. This is true not only for olfactory processing, but also for visual and spatial processing.

From the abstract: "We measured nasal airflow and electroencephalography during various non-olfactory cognitive tasks. We observed that participants spontaneously inhale at non-olfactory cognitive task onset and that such inhalations shift brain functional network architecture. Concentrating on visuospatial perception, we observed that nasal inhalation drove increased task-related brain activity in specific task-related brain regions and resulted in improved performance accuracy in the visuospatial task." 

This makes sense to me. Breathing skills are fundamental to so many art disciplines. After all, the word "inspiration" literally means breathing in. I wonder if the connection between inhalation and brain activity is more than just a link to an ancestral olfactory system, but also an unconscious desire to oxygenate the brain at the onset of increased cognitive load?

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Nature Magazine: Human non-olfactory cognition phase-locked with inhalation

Painting from a Parked Car

When the temperature dips below the 32 degree Fahrenheit mark, watercolors or gouache freeze up and my fingers quit working. 

And when it's windy and rainy, painting in gouache can be miserable. In those circumstances I like to paint from the comfort a parked car. 

Lake Katrine, gouache, 5 x 8 inches 

I'm fascinated by this little house that is wedged between a busy highway and a vertical wall of rock, which is taller than the roof.

(Link to video) I'm painting in gouache over a casein underpainting: Rowney blue, Magenta,  Cadmium yellow, and Titanium white. The painting takes about two hours. 

    

Here's a photo the basic build of the steering wheel easel, before sanding and finishing. The cap piece is made from the wood base of a mouse trap. The whole thing fits right over the steering wheel.
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Supplies
Gouache
Pentalic watercolor sketchbook

Travel brush set (Richeson)

Water cup

Homemade easel 

Tripod

Tutorials
Gouache in the Wild (Download on Gumroad)

How to Make a Sketch Easel (DVD on Amazon)

Sorolla's Method

 Joaquín Sorolla, Afternoon Sun

How did Joaquín Sorolla produce paintings of such dynamically challenging subjects: kids, boats, oxen, wind, and waves?

Sorolla Washerwomen (sketch), about 7.5 x 10 inches

A 1911 article on Joaquín Sorolla describes his method.

"Sorolla's habit is to observe nature very carefully, to see all that is going on at the beach, sketch attitudes and movements, sometimes very strange ones, then select his models and make careful drawings. This careful drawing never seems to disappear."

Photo of Sorolla painting. Note the rope stabilizing the top of the
canvas and the heavy weight hanging from the easel

"He takes his paraphernalia to the beach, poses his models as nearly like his sketch as possible, but never allowing the stiffness of the model to interfere with the elastic drawing he has made, and then paints the sea and the sky, the sliding water and the beautiful shadows as he there sees them."

Juaquín Sorolla, Before Bathing

"The work is a commingling of careful thought and study with lightning-like impressions. Thus we see beautiful attitudes, beautifully drawn and the most brilliant vagaries united."

The article describes a painting of boys swimming, and says: "The artist took down six boys to the water. Three of these he set to swimming, and when they were tired they wrapped themselves in blankets while the other three went at work, and so on alternating throughout the day. Although he paints with extraordinary swiftness, the picture of life size boys requires time."

"It is no easy matter to work on the sea beach, especially when the size of the canvas is four or five feet. Of course the wind always blows and a canvas is a kite. Not alone could it be easily carried off by the wind, but the linen itself is liable to tremble and flap because of the windy gusts."

"Fortunately for him Sorolla is rich enough to secure every contrivance, and to take with him a sufficient number of attendants, to manage all the details, to anchor down his easel and to fly to his assistance in case of need. He frequently stretches his canvas on a big drawing board, and, it is not uncommon to find places in the pictures where he has planted thumb tacks through the canvas to keep it perfectly still."
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Read More
• Online article on JSTOR: Sorolla the Spanish Painter, His Art, by James William Pattison, Fine Arts Journal, 1911.
• Previously blog posts on GurneyJourney: Sorolla Painting on the Beach and Photos of Sorolla Painting
• Upcoming exhibition: "Joaquín Sorolla: Spanish Master of Light" opens 10 August 2019 at the National Gallery of Ireland.
• Book: Sorolla: The Masterworks