On-the-Spot Surrealism

I have an article in the new issue of International Artist (#108 April/May) called "On-the-Spot Surrealism."

I share tips for putting an imaginative twist on your plein-air painting—not just fantasy and science fiction ideas, but also changing the lighting, pose, or background of what's in front of you. 

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More on this approach to outdoor painting in my tutorial Fantasy in the Wild

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Modeling Clay Maquettes

When all you need is a quick reference sculpt, you can use modeling clay. This oil-based clay never hardens and can be infinitely recycled.



This behind-the-scenes video snippet shows how I used modeling clay to visualize the lighting for a painting of a snake attacking the nest of baby sauropods. (Link to YouTube)



I based the stone figures of Ebulon (Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara) on a modeling clay maquette as well.

These maquettes take only minutes to make, but they provide a wealth of information. You can turn them to any angle or put them into any real lighting environment. Note for example how the warm light bounces around in the little shadows on the lit side. 

I recommend using clay with a light gray or cream tone, which photographs well while allowing you to see the qualities of light and shadow. 

After you're finished with a project, you can smoosh it together and use it again on the next job. It's cheaper than oven-hardening polymer clays like Sculpey. Modeling clay is non-toxic and safe for kids. 

It is is available from several manufacturers, using closely related trade names:

Plastilina (cream)

Plastalina(various neutral tones)

Modeling clay (light gray)

You can also get Air-Dry modeling clay, but it won't be reusable after it dries and hardens.

More about making maquettes on my video "How I Paint Dinosaurs"

Value Stepping for Depth

Das Geroldsauer Tal bei Baden-Baden
by Johann Wilhelm Schirmer (1807–1863) 

This painting by Johann Wilhelm Schirmer uses value stepping to achieve depth and atmosphere.

Detail of Schirmer

Here's a detail of the same painting. In the foreground there's a full range of values used to model the foliage. The leaves and branches are painted individually, with considerable variation of value.  

In the middle distance, all foliage is divided into masses of light and shadow, with the shadow rising to the mid-range. The warm greens in the light side are grayed down as the distance increases. Shadows get cooler as you go back, and detail in the shadow is greatly reduced. 

In the far distance the values step back even further. Light and dark values become very close. In the last range of hills, they merge into a single tone just a shade darker than the sky color.

When painting landscapes in oil, it helps to mix batches of each of these value steps on the palette and make sure they progress evenly.
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There's also a double gradation going on in the sky. More on Sky Gradations on a previous GurneyJourney post
and more of this kind of stuff in my book Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter

Meissonier's Portrait of the Sergeant

In his 1914 biography, Frederic Cooper describes Portrait of a Sergeant by Jean-Louis Meissonier (1815-1891). 

Meissonier, Portrait of a Sergeant, 1874, Kunsthalle Hamburg
Height: 73 cm (28.7 in). Width: 62 cm (24.4 in).

"What a magnificent collection of different degrees of attention: that of the portrait painter as he studies his model standing in front of him on the pavement, in his finest uniform and his finest pose,"

"that of the model intent only upon doing nothing to disturb his ultra-martial bearing, his gaze menacing, staring, fixed...



"...that of the spectators, some of them drawing near, fascinated, another who casts an amused glance at the picture as he passes by, with some sarcastic remark on his lips; another who no doubt has just been looking, and for the moment, with pipe between his teeth, is thinking of something else as he sits on a bench with his back to the wall and his legs extended in front of him."


"Meissonier rediscovered the decent folk of that period, which was not made up exclusively of mighty lords and fallen women, and of which we get, through Chardin, a glimpse on its honest, settled bourgeois side."

"Meissonier introduces us into modest interiors, with woodwork of sober gray, furniture without gilding, the homes of worthy folk, simple and substantial, who read and smoke and work, look over prints and etchings, or copy them, or chat sociably, with elbows on table, separated only by a bottle brought out from behind the faggots."
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Jean-Louis Meissonier, 1914, free online book by Frederic Cooper
Jean-Louis Meissonier on Wikipedia
Portrait of the Sergeant on Wikipedia Commons

Gryphon-Headed Handrail

I carved this gryphon-headed handrail for my studio stairs. It's made out of poplar and finished with stain and tung oil.



It appears in the opening shot of the video "Tyrannosaurs: Behind the Art."

Harold Speed on Velázquez

Today we'll continue Chapter 9: "Painting from the Life" from Harold Speed's 1924 art instruction book Oil Painting Techniques and Materials.

I'll present Speed's main points in boldface type either verbatim or paraphrased, followed by my comments. If you want to add a comment, please use the numbered points to refer to the relevant section of the chapter.

Today we'll cover pages 164-173 of the chapter on "Painting from the Life," where he talks about Velázquez.



1. Velázquez Man with a Ruff

Notes of Speed's main points: Early Velázquez-- Simple handling of tuft of beard. A lot of searching and labor over the edges of the ruff. 

V- "hasn't yet arrived at the largeness of perception." I think Speed means his tones are more choppy and modeled on a small scale rather then conceived as larger tonal unit.

2. Velázquez Portrait of young Philip IV

Speed's notes summarized: Head study. Added armor and costume later. Preoccupied with contours of tone masses, but larger effect accomplished. But still tight and "searched out."

3. Pope Innocent X

V. had been traveling in Italy studying painters there. Pope was a difficult subject; Italian painters hadn't succeeded. Painted a study first. Color richer than normal for V. Still interested in edges of tonal masses, but effect is subtler and richer and simpler. Preoccupation with overall visual impression. Very subtle touches to the corners of the eye. Many different brushes in evidence.

4. Court Buffoon (Don Juan de Austria)

Painted to please himself to experiment with new painting ideas. Simple modeling, but good knowledge of skull and structure. Keeps attention on all-embracing unity of impression. "Painted on the same scheme of working from carefully wrought middle tones up to the accents of the lights and the darks, which are the last touches put on."

Velázquez Philip IV of Spain (detail)

5. Velázquez Philip IV of Spain

Speed calls this painting the "despair of painters." V had painted the king many times before. Knew his subject. Head well planted in collar. Lack of hard definition throughout. Vertical edge of hair at left and shadow line of eyelid on right echoes vertical structure.

Speed tries to analyze the method V. used: First sitting: rubbed in the head with simple colors, thin paint, and simple tones. Next sitting scumbled with bone brown. Scumbling all over. 

6. Speed's allegation that the National Gallery overcleaned the painting.

Speed says that the conservators took away some key glazes and details, and shows comparative photos to demonstrate his charge.

JG again: Velázquez was the object of extreme interest among academic painters both in France and England at the time Speed wrote his book, and Velázquez was much admired when Sargent was studying with Carolus Duran. Much of the academic theory was based on his method. Check out the book The Art of Velázquez by R. A. Stevenson, also from the time of Speed's book. It's available free online at Archive.org. 

Next week— Reynolds and beyond.

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In its original edition, the book is called "The Science and Practice of Oil Painting." Unfortunately it's not available in a free edition, but there's an inexpensive print edition that Dover publishes under a different title "Oil Painting Techniques and Materials (with a Sargent cover)," and there's also a Kindle edition.

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Trailer for "Loving Vincent"

Here's trailer for an upcoming film called "Loving Vincent" (link to YouTube). The film is created with 12 frames per second, with each frame being a painting inspired by the work of Vincent Van Gogh.



According to the advance publicity, as many as 100 painters are contributing work to this feature film in production in Poland. Although the marketing images show artists working on individual oil paintings, the film clip itself suggests considerable computer manipulation of the original paintings, which seem to closely follow a rotoscoped live-action capture.

More at This is Colossal
Official website. (via Devour)

Last Day to Enter the Portrait Competition

Today is the last day to enter the 2016 International Portrait Competition. It costs $45 to enter, but there are a lot of award categories, and if your work is chosen, it's good recognition. You can find entry information at this link.

New Dean Cornwell Book

Most of the books about Golden Age illustrators have been produced by a very small number of ardent fans working out of their homes or understaffed offices, and creating quality books as labors of love. Dan Zimmer, of The Illustrated Press, is one of those people.

Zimmer has published an extraordinary book on The Art of Dean Cornwell. I'll tell you upfront that the book was produced as a limited edition and sold out before I received my copy, so unfortunately you can only get one on the secondary market.

Measuring 9x12 inches with 224 pages, the book resembles some of the other books in the Golden Age series published by the Illustrated Press. Although it has a complete biographical summary of Cornwell's life and working methods, the emphasis is on the art itself, with over 260 published full page and in full color, almost entirely from the original paintings and drawings.

Cornwell was born in Kentucky, the son of an engineer who tragically became deranged after being hit by a streetcar. Cornwell came to New York and studied under Harvey Dunn. His early paintings are notable for their drama and mysterious tonal organization. His skills in drawing and mural design, honed after an apprenticeship with Anglo-Welsh artist Frank Brangwyn, brought about a stylistic evolution that favored a more colorful and patterned work in his later career.


A few years ago, I produced a video showing some blurry but fascinating footage of Cornwell at work. (Link to YouTube)

The previous book on Cornwell from a few decades ago, called Dean Cornwell: Dean of Illustrators, has fewer images, and they're generally not as well reproduced as those in this book. Hopefully the success of this venture will encourage another publisher to do a book on Cornwell, or will embolden a museum to give him a much-needed solo museum exhibition.

If you're interested in future books from the Illustrated Press, be sure to get on their mailing list so that you can get notice in advance of publication. Also, check out The Illustrated Press quarterly magazine on illustration history.

The Art of Dean Cornwell from the Illustrated Press
My YouTube video about Cornwell's method
Dean Cornwell Wikipedia

New Blue Pigment Discovered

A new non-toxic, inorganic blue pigment has been discovered by accident by chemists in Oregon. They were experimenting with electronics materials that they mixed with manganese oxide and heated them to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, when a batch suddenly turned a brilliant blue. 

"The new pigment is formed by a unique crystal structure that allows the manganese ions to absorb red and green wavelengths of light, while only reflecting blue. The vibrant blue is so durable, and its compounds are so stable – even in oil and water – that the color does not fade. These characteristics make the new pigment versatile for a variety of commercial products."

EDIT: Howard Lyon wrote to The Shepherd Color Company asking about the availability of the pigment to artists and received this reply: 

"Shepherd Color is excited about partnering with Oregon State University chemist Mas Subramanian and his team to bring a new blue pigment to the market place. This new blue pigment, based on the rare-earth elements yttrium, indium along with manganese produces a brilliant blue color- but its beauty extends past the visible spectrum into the near infrared spectrum. The new blue allows darker shades to be formulated that stay cooler than standard blue. These dark blue colors specifically have been difficult to make for building products that have stringent building code and standards requirements. This high-value and differentiated pigment chemistry is completing its production scale-up. In anticipation of launching the product, we are building stock for launch of the product in April 2016."

Read the rest