Archery Target

Someone must have set up this target for archery practice. It's in a lonely place way down below a high bridge.

Rendering Realistic Fur in Gouache

 Carl Brenders (b. 1937) is a wildlife artist from Belgium known for his richly detailed gouache and watercolor paintings of mammals and birds in their environments.

How does he do it? There’s not much information about his technique available online, but I did some digging.

He begins by taking a lot of photographs of the animal and its habitat.

According to his 1994 book Wildlife: The Nature Paintings of Carl Benders:

“Even after spending weeks of research and photography in the field, the artist devotes more time to develop the concept of the painting.

“With this planned, he first makes a complete pencil drawing of the entire subject, including the background.

“Over his pencil work he then paints with sepia watercolor much like pen-and-ink drawing. On top of the sepia he airbrushes areas in watercolor, and then paints over all this with gouache.

“He finds the combination of gouache and watercolor perfectly suited to his detailed work; it achieves an effect he finds impossible with acrylic or oil paint.

“Only the Flemish masters, says Brenders, could achieve such detail in oils.”

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Quotes by Dana Cooper from the book Wildlife: The Nature Paintings of Carl Benders

Degas' Experimental Foregrounds

What's going on with the two cows in this pastel drawing by Degas? The one on the right appears to be grazing, but we don't see its head or its feet.

Degas loved to experiment with cropping elements off the bottom of his compositions, most likely influenced by photography. Here he seems to be having fun, just seeing what he could get away with.

 More about breaking the foreground line on my Substack post. 

The Lights Go On at Lightbox

Tickets go on sale today for Lightbox Expo in Pasadena, California this October. 

It's an inspiring gathering of concept artists, animators, plein air painters, and illustrators. Everyone is super friendly, sketching all the time. 

You can meet and hang out with artists like Angela Sung, Craig Mullins, Kiptoe, Jess Karp, Marco Bucci, Aaron Blaise, and artists who work for Blizzard, DreamWorks, Disney, and Pixar (I’ll be there too, with a new book). Find out more at the Lightbox Expo website.

Meissonier's Portrait Fail

The Meissonier/Mackay affair: the story of a commission that went horribly wrong. 

Inside Dog, Outside Dog

Hand-painted T shirt design.

I'm always amazed how Smooth changes when he steps outside the house: ears unfurl, fangs come out, and tail goes up. It's a Jekyll & Hyde transformation.

Parrish Describes Pyle

In his reply to a young art student, Maxfield Parrish said: "I do wish you could study under Howard Pyle: indeed you would enjoy it. I did myself for two years. He is so full enthusiasm there is plenty to spare and you get a lot that is left over. He does everything the same way: he goes in bathing, walks, plays games as if he were saving his household goods from a fire."

Thanks, Steve!

Chinese Academic Drawing

A Chinese academic drawing in four stages. More information and commentary on my free Substack forum.

Painting Trash and Weeds

"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will [document it]; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual." —Edward Weston

I paint some trash tossed into the weeds alongside a stretch of parking lot.
More about painting "non-motifs" at my post on Substack.

Link to Video on YouTube

Beginning and Ending a Painting

 A reader asked: “How is your thought process different at the beginning of a plein-air painting compared to the end?”

At the beginning of a painting, I think about the concept or feeling that I want to convey. That intention guides the choice of framing and the colors I may choose. The thought process always comes before the painting, and if it’s a studio illustration, I work it out in sketches.

If I were to start drawing or painting without a clear idea, it’s likely to be a dud.

My first goal is to make a foundation in simple lines drawn with a brush, graphite pencil or watercolor pencil. If my goal is to capture the subject fairly literally or accurately, I might do some measuring and checking. Other times I may just use the elements in front of me to build an idea that’s half formed in my head.

Either way, my goal at the outset is to place the big elements.

For example, when I painted this Irish graveyard, I was inspired to express something deep emotionally. It’s hard to put into words, but I suppose it’s about life and light transcending the bounds of earth and stone. That feeling comes partly from the early morning light touching the tops of the stones. I had to move the gravestones around like chess pieces and make one of them central.

There may be moments of struggle, especially in the early stages when trying to align the actual painting with the original vision in my head. To overcome this, I often focus on finishing one area and building from there.

As I progress towards the later stages of the painting, my focus shifts into the scene. I think about the details. If the painting is going well, my attention shifts from the mechanics of brushes, surfaces, and strokes to the virtual space I’m trying to evoke.

If I get too caught up in such superficial concerns late in the game, I’ve probably lost hold of the idea. Jotting down the initial idea in a quick sketch or even a couple of words can be a big help.

The most difficult part is the thinking stage, which is why I say: Painting is easy, thinking is hard.

Thinking Humans

Image: Rodin's Thinker

How do thinking humans survive in a world of intelligent machines? That's the question I pose in my latest deep dive on Substack, called: "10 Thinking Strategies."

Bottom line: If we nurture the thinking strategies that are unique to the human experience, we can live our best lives in a world that’s more and more populated by intelligent machines.