Chasing a Glitter Path

New YouTube video covers:

1. Pathways of light reflected on water, 

2. Hotspot priming 

3. Contre-jour lighting.

4. The poetic traditions of glitter paths and moonpaths.

Two Art Podcasts

I enjoyed my conversations with Michael Clawson, host of the American Art Collective Podcast...

and B. Eric Rhoads, founder of Plein Air Magazine and host of the Plein-Air Podcast.

A Brain Circuit that Detects Faces

 

A brain circuit in primates that rapidly detects faces has been discovered.

This circuit, involving the superior colliculus, explains how we quickly spot and focus on faces, which could be relevant for portrait artists, character designers, or anyone who draws or paints people. 

According to a news release from the NIH, "The newly discovered circuit first engages an evolutionarily ancient part of the brain called the superior colliculus, which can then trigger the eyes and head to turn for a better look. This better view enables different brain areas in the temporal cortex to engage in more complex facial recognition."

The superior colliculus has also been found to play a crucial role in distinguishing objects from their backgrounds. PsyPost says:

"Researchers demonstrated that when the superior colliculus was deactivated, the mice had difficulty identifying objects against various backgrounds. This indicates that the superior colliculus is involved in a parallel pathway for visual processing, highlighting its significance in the brain’s overall visual system."

It's all a reminder to us artists that the viewer's attention is primed for seeing faces in whatever image we create. The ability to recognize, orient to, and identify people by their faces is built into our brain structures. 

So if you put a little more time into getting that face exactly right, your time is well spent.  

Matěják's Three Favorite Art Books

Thanks to YouTuber Jan Matěják for featuring my book Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter in your shortlisted recommendations.

He says: "This one is hands-down the most valuable in my entire collection."

You can get signed copies of Color and Light at our online store. It’s also our bestseller.

Problem Solving for Oil Painters by Gregg Kreutz

The Art of Still Life by Todd Casey

Tiny Triads

 Here are two gouache plein air sketches painted with tiny triads. 

Left: titanium white, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and Prussian blue. 

Right: white, cadmium yellow deep, raw sienna, and brilliant purple.

Free Stickers

 

For the rest of the year, EVERY order shipped from my online bookstore comes with 4 FREE stickers.

Kudos to this Bookseller

 

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A post shared by James Gurney (@jamesgurneyart)

Book Signing This Thursday in Rhinebeck

I’ll be doing a book signing this Thursday, Nov. 7 at 6:00 at Oblong Books in Rhinebeck, New York.

I expect to be signing: DINOTOPIA• COLOR AND LIGHT • IMAGINATIVE REALISM • LIFE LESSONS FROM DINOSAURS, plus we’ve got a preview copy that you can see of THE ARTIST’S GUIDE TO SKETCHING.

I’ll bring along a couple original paintings and do a brief talk and Q&A. Hope to see you there!

Lines and the Brain

Coles Phillips was a Golden Age illustrator who created illusory shapes as a compositional device, making our brains see what isn’t there. He became known for the “Fadeaway Girl,” who disappears into the background.

More at my Substack article "Lines and the Brain," part 1 and Part 2.

Lightbox Schedule

Here are my events for Lightbox Expo in Pasadena a week from now. The rest of the time I'll be wandering around. I look forward to meeting you there.

Colossal Characters in Two Weeks

 

We'll be sketching Colossal Characters two weeks from today in Pasadena. Bring a sketchbook and join us, and let’s dream with our eyes open.

This year’s list of Mentors is off the charts (links to Instagram)
Thomas Fluharty @thomasfluharty
Jess Karpishin @jess.karp
Karla Ortiz @kortizart
John Burton @johnburtonart
Kiptoe @kiptoe1
Angela Sung @angothemango
Sean Bodley @seanbodley
Jeff Hong @chromacorg
Amanda Grose @myworldinillustration
Qianjian Ma @q_sketches
Kate Rado @katerado
James Gurney @jamesgurneyart

(Pictured from last year: Kymba Plushner (LeCrone) and Gabriel Gonzalez, lead artists at Blizzard.) 

 eyes open!

Painting a Film-Noir Streetscape

Welcome Visitors and New Subscribers. 

Link to YouTube short video. This Lincoln Town Car looks mysterious to me, like it’s waiting to pick someone up for some weird errand.

I want to paint it faithfully, but change the lighting to make it look like a moody and mysterious street scene that evokes the mood of film noir. More about this strategy at my Substack.

Penovác's Cats

Endre Penovác (Serbia, b. 1956) paints cats using a unique wet-into-wet technique.

 

He uses a wet-in-wet technique, which involves applying wet paint to a pre-wetted surface. This approach allows the pigments to blend and spread organically, creating soft, ethereal effects.

More about how he paints these cats on my Substack post

Which Sticker Idea Is Best?

We're thinking of making stickers to go with the February 25th, 2025 release of The Artist’s Guide to Sketching. Here are five ideas. Which do you like best? 

 

Deeply Ingrained Concepts

Some concepts are so fundamental & deeply ingrained in Western culture that it's hard to see them—including Cartesian dualism, free will, individualism, and linear time. But new science and other cultures offer other ways to think about these things.

For example, here are some concepts:

1. That thinking takes place in the brain.

But scientists are helping us to understand embodied cognition, which suggests that thinking is distributed throughout the body and shaped by our sensory experiences.

2. That consciousness only happens with complex nervous systems

But modern botanical science and studies of colonial insects suggests that emergent behaviors and structures appear beyond our current understanding of information processing.

3. That the mind and the body are separate.

But this Cartesian dualism has been challenged by various philosophical and scientific perspectives, including monism, which posits that the mind and body are intertwined and inseparable.

4. That we act on the basis of free will.

But many philosophers argue that free will is an illusion, and that our choices are influenced by factors like genetics, environment, past experiences, and even gut bacteria which shape our brain activity and behavior.

5. That we perceive the totality of the world around us.

But we’re only aware of a thin slice of the electromagnetic spectrum, and many animals and plants can sense things we’re blind to, such as ultraviolet light, magnetic fields, or vibrations in the air.

6. That time is linear and absolute.

But modern physics has shown that time is relative, flexible, and dependent on the observer's frame of reference. Some cultures also perceive time as cyclical or fluid.

Read the rest for free on Substack  Art: "A Poet" by Ernest Meissonier