I’m back home after my Wyoming trip with no big juried show deadlines to paint for, so it’s my time of year to work on my painting process, in which I review the work I did over the last year thinking about what worked and what didn’t, what I might want to do in the coming year and how. I’m also going back to basics in a couple of areas to improve my skill set. One of those areas is contour drawing. I shared some of the those from the SKB workshop in last week’s post. Another is value studies or, as David Rankin, the nationally-known watercolorist who I studied with at the workshop, calls them, Gray Studies. You can find a number of his excellent tutorials on his Facebook page here and on his website here. (Go to “Watercolor Training Files” on the left hand side and then “Grey Studies Training Files”.
I spent quite a bit of time one afternoon at the workshop simply figuring out, with his help, how to put down a correct single tone watercolor wash (the *secret* is plenty of water) using a 1″ flat brush (I usually use rounds). The really important exercise was learning his four value “recipe” for doing gray studies by painting along with him as he did one.
Once back home in the studio I wanted to build on what I’d learned. I’ve done value studies as a preliminary step for my paintings for years and it was something I’d learned in art school. I’d done them as graphite drawings or very small oils and it always felt a bit time consuming, however necessary. But this way of doing them in watercolor was an eye-opener. So easy, really. Paint around the whites, covering everything else. Then add layers of middle values. Save the darkest dark, if there is one, for last. But it took some new thinking and seeing to be able to do it and know what I was doing.
So I’ve spent most of the week painting gray studies from my photo reference. It was fun to revisit some of my Kenya wildlife images. These are all in Payne’s Gray (which has a very nice blueish tone) on an Arches 140lb cold press watercolor block, using sometimes a flat and sometimes a round. None took more than an hour or so. The stork above was the second one. In order:
At this point I felt that I understood the process enough to paint some that might become finished oils.
I did the quick preliminary drawings with a 9B Cretacolor Monolith pencil. It’s important not to labor over them, just indicate the basic shapes, plus where the white of the paper will be. So there you have it…a quick and inexpensive way to try out art ideas and value patterns.
Mt. Moran; pen and ink, grey felt tip brush on paper
I got back home at midnight last Saturday from two days in Grand Tetons National Park and five days at the 15th Annual Susan K. Black Foundation workshop. Both were a resounding success. You can read about my time in the park here. This post is about the workshop, which I’ve attended four times in the past and plan to go to next year.
All the previous instructors had been invited and almost all of them where there, including nationally known artists like James Gurney, John and Suzie Seerey-Lester, Greg Beecham, Mort Solberg, David Rankin, Jeanne Mackenzie, Andrew Denman, Guy Combes, Ann Trusty Hulsey and John Hulsey, all of whom I know personally or have studied with or both.
One of the main events is the Quick Draw, a traditional name but almost every artist at this workshop did paintings. Here’s some photos of the event in action. It’s followed by sketches and watercolors that I did in the Grand Tetons and EA Ranch.
James Gurney, known best for his “Dinotopia” books, painted a portrait of this pronghorn antelope in casein, gouache and colored pencilDavid Rankin, who I worked with most during the week (more on that in a future post) painted an ospreyGuy Combes did a lovely painting of a cheetahAndrew Denman created a graphite on paper drawing of a barn owlAlthough he’s better known for his sculpture, John Phelps painted a portrait the old-fashioned way…from a study drawingJohn Seerey-Lester chose to paint a moose, one of the very popular animals to see in the Grand TetonsJohn Hulsey who, with his wife Ann Trusty Hulsey, publish the online art website and newsletter The Artist’s Road, went for a late light landscape in watercolorGreg Beecham chose to paint a polar bear, bringing in the whites over a toned canvas
The weather was partly cloudy while I drove around Grand Tetons NP, which meant interesting light that could change very quickly. The aspens and cottonwoods were turning to their fall colors, too. All in all a perfect time to be there.
Both of the first ones were painted over the course of a couple of hours along the Moose Wilson Road.
Aspens- watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper 8×8″Aspens with storm clouds- watercolor on Saunders Waterford paper 8×8″Clouds and lightScenery at EA Ranch, near Dubois- watercolor on Arches cold press paper 8″x4″Pen and ink sketches- Sakura Micron .01 pen in a Beta Series Stillman and Birn sketchbookPen and ink sketches- same media as aboveContour sketches at SKB- same media as aboveContour sketches, SKB and the Denver airport- same media as above
I’m back home after my three plus week trip back east and pretty much caught up. I had a great time at the Explorers Club Annual Dinner and down south visiting a number of wildlife refuges. The frosting on the cake was the opening reception on March 31 and also weekend activities for “Wildlife Art: Field to Studio” at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut. Five of the seven participating artists were able to attend. From left to right in the photo above: David Rankin, Alison Nicholls, Susan Fox, Sean Murtha and Karryl. All our hard work has paid off. It’s a fantastic exhibition that I’m so proud to be part of!
Here’s a album of photos from the events…
Susan Fox poses with her takhi paintingsSean Murtha with some of his workKarryl chats about her sculpture with a guestAlison Nicholls with the UN Ambassador from Botswana and his wifeDavid Rankin in front of his work and. on the left, KarrylLooks like I had a young admirer. We each had one of the framed “fieldwork boxes” on the wall with our work to carry out the main theme of the exhibition, which is that we all do fieldwork, including sketches, paintings and sculpture, which inspires and informs our art.Carel Brest van Kempen’s work. And the snake which was one of the models for a Saturday morning event.Sean Murtha checking out Kelly Singleton’s fieldwork boxDavid Rankin created a video featuring all of us in the field and examples of our work. It’s playing on a loop at the gallery.I was honored to have guests from the Mongolia Permanent Mission to the UN and some of their friendsExhibition curator Lillian Tung Lum and guestCurator Claudia SchipperCurator Alice Sherwood (right) and Alison Nicholls
On Saturday morning the gallery hosted a special event for children, bringing in live animals from Animal Embassy for them to draw.
Chris Evers of Animal Embassy and the emerald tree boaAfrican bull frog; A young one, less than half the size of an adult. They are the second largest species of frog in the world. He was the model for my groups.Explaining how to see larger shapes firstScorpion, one of three who “modeled” for the kidsAll the kids did a great job! David Rankin on the left showing how to draw a scorpionWe had five tables of young artists going. In the background you can see Sean Murtha and his model, a small parrotA final group shot. As animal artists, of course we couldn’t resist the opportunity to pose with the emerald tree boa
“Wildlife Art: Field to Studio” will be open until May 4 at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut. You can find out hours and more at the Flinn Gallery website.
I’m getting ready to begin my Fall Painting Season and decided to start by tweaking my working process. Every successful representational painting has two things: solid composition and a strong, well-thought out value pattern. Of course drawing, color and edges are important also, but one can make the case that the design and values are critical. So I’ve spent the last few days doing small value studies of reference photos that I’m thinking about painting. I’m working on the drawing part at the same time, too. None of them took more than an hour or so.
They are all done on various types of watercolor paper I already have on hand, experimenting to see which one serves my purpose best, and with one color…Winsor Newton Payne’s Gray. The brush is a Round No. 10 Prolene by ProArts. The study sizes run from 6×6″ to 7×10″, so not very big.
I got the idea to use watercolor for preliminary value studies (instead of, for instance, pencils or oils) from my friend and colleague, nationally-known watercolorist David Rankin. You can read his information about what he calls “Gray Studies” here.
I like it because it’s fast, effective, fun and let’s me practice with the media I use on location when I’m in Mongolia.
So, if your paintings are looking kind of flat or you’re finding that using color is confusing your values, I highly recommend that you get the simple set of materials listed below and try this. It may be a bit of a struggle at first to truly grasp the difference between color and value (the relative light and dark of something separate from its color) and to move away from your reference in order to get the right amount of contrast in the right places (a viewer’s eye is going to go first to the area of highest contrast, so you need to make a conscious decision about where your focal point is), but hang in there, just keep adjusting and experimenting and you’ll be rewarded by a visible improvement in your work.
Materials list:
1 tube Winsor Newton Payne’s Gray transparent watercolor
1 small dish or whatever you think will work for a palette.
Watercolor paper (I’m using “stock on hand”….small blocks of Art Lana Lanaquarelle hot press, Arches cold press and Saunders Waterford cold press; or you can get sheets of 300 lb, which doesn’t have to be stretched). If you buy sheets then you will need something to mount them to. I use a rectangular scrap of foamcore taped around the edges with clear packing tape and then use 1/2″ drafting tape to hold the corners of the paper to the board.
1 brush- Use at least a no. 10 round or 1/2” flat; your choice of brand (I like the Robert Simmons Sapphire synthetics, but also have a couple of the Prolene and Dick Blick rounds)
Reference photos with strong light and shadow patterns.
Here’s some more of what I’ve been doing:
Horses; I deliberately chose to put the darker wash along the contour of the left horse’s head, mane and back to make the white, lightest area pop out. Notice that it stops at the eye where the shadow area begins, so that part of the background was left lighter.Short-tailed weasel or stoat; I learned from this one that my reference photo doesn’t have as much value contrast as it seemed when I picked it, so for this study I pushed the contrast between the weasel and the background. Still not happy with the shadow areas around the animal, so I’ll probably do another quick study just using shapes to get the values where I want them.Mongolian yakA more finished study of two Siberian ibex
The annual exercise in cat-herding….the official SKB group photo. I’m somewhere towards the back on the right. (Photo by Anthony Cannata)
The main reason for my road trip to Wyoming at the beginning of last month was to attend the Susan K. Black Foundation Workshop for the first time in too many years. My travels to Mongolia have often gone into September and the workshop is always the second week so that it will be right after the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival. But this year I was home by the end of July.
In every good way, nothing had really changed and the welcome I got was touchingly warm. What sets this workshop apart is that there are always a number of instructors and one can bounce around between them as one wishes. You can learn from painters in oil, acrylic and watercolor. Plus, this year, sculptors. Even better, anyone who has been an instructor is permanently invited to come back every year and many do, so it’s equal parts workshop, a reunion of artist friends and colleagues and a gathering of the animal art and landscape clans. All in an informal environment with great food and terrific scenery at the Headwaters Arts and Conference Center in Dubois, Wyoming, which is about 90 minutes from Jackson.
There’s always a Special Guest Instructor and this year it was none other than James Gurney of Dinotopia fame. He also presides over one of the most popular art blogs in the internet, Gurney Journey, and has written what has become a standard book on the subject “Color and Light”. His endlessly inventive ways to work on location have been a real inspiration for me personally. So I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to watch him in action.
The first day James explained his basic location painting set-up.We got to see it in action right at the conference center.He was painting a scene from the kitchen as the staff prepared our meals.Saddle study by James Gurney
There were plenty of opportunities to work on location, including a couple of local ranches.
I found a nice spot down by the creek at CM Ranch. (Photo by Anthony Cannata. Thanks!)Picnic lunch at the Finley ranch.Lee Kromschroeder getting ready to paint.Some of the great scenery with the cottonwoods coming into their fall colors…James Gurney and his wife, Jeanette, painting on location at the Finley ranch.In-progress casein painting of old traps hanging on the wall of the log cabin.Bob Bahr and Heiner Hertling getting serious with the scenery.Our host, John Finley. His ranch has been in his family for over 100 years.
One of the best parts of the workshop is the good times with artist friends and colleagues, often in the evening at the local saloon, the Rustic Pine Tavern.
Guy Combes discovered a flyer for the workshop in a local newsletter so of course there had to be a photo. And since we’re all animal artists I had to take one of him and his partner Andrew Denman under this imposing moose head.
Besides working out on location, attendees could also do studio painting.
I spent a day in Greg Beecham’s class, getting useful tips and advice on wildlife painting. I’m in the back on the right. (Photo by, I think, Anthony Cannata)
One of the highlights of the week is the “Quick Draw”, which is actually a “Pretty Quick Paint”. It’s a great chance to watch a lot of very accomplished artists in action at once, creating auction and raffle-worthy work in front of a large crowd, including fellow artists.
John Seerey-Lester bows before Mort Solberg, just to make Mort crack up while he’s trying to paint. It worked.Andrew Denman working on a graphite drawing of an egret.David Rankin getting ready to paint.Matthew Hillier hard at work. This was his first Quick Draw.But he obviously wasn’t fazed.Christine Knapp worked on a fairly large sculpture.John Phelps created a small wolf.Lee Cable painted a portrait of a horse.Guy Combes did a lion.Greg Beecham harassed David Rankin.
The final evening was an entertainment-packed extravaganza, starting with two suspiciously familiar faces who introduced themselves as Sir Charles Willoughby, who somehow had to keep order (good luck with that), and Chip Chippington (all the sleazy game show hosts you’ve ever seen rolled into one hilarious package).
Sir Charles Willoughby (aka Guy Combes)Chip Chippington (aka Andrew Denman) and his lovely assistant, Suzie Sparkle.
The fun started with a quiz to identify which instructor various species of dinosaurs were named after…
And I’m sorry to say that by this time I was laughing too much to get any pics of the rest of the show.
The night was capped by open mic performances, including one by the awesome kitchen staff.
A certain instructor (who painted the horse’s portrait for the Quick Draw) came in for some ribbing.As did a certain well-known tv artist who painted “happy trees”.
There was a point during the early part of the evening when a slide show was shown of various attendees and instructors sporting a really impressive variety of hats. Getting into the spirit after the lights came up, James Gurney popped one of his Dept. of Art traffic cones (used to create space around where he is working on location in urban areas) on his head…
My artist friend and colleague, nationally known watercoloristDavid Rankin, has gotten into iPad drawing in a big way. His app of choice is Paper 53 and he really knows how to get the most out of it. He’s now teaching workshops about iPad drawing in and around his home city of Cleveland, Ohio.
I sent him this photo I took of the first bloom of the year on my herbaceous peony “Sarah Bernhardt”, saying that I’d love to see how he’d draw it on his iPad.
The very next day he sent me this great little step-by-step. Here’s what he has to say about it: “The image shows 3 stages in the production of this Peony image… using Paper by 53 on an iPad 2 with a Pogo Sketch Pro Stylus. Presently I’m doing a Bird a Day throughout 2013, but I’m considering next year to do a “Flower a Day”. The first stage…the Drawing Stage…is most important…and actually a rather hard stage as you have to pay close attention as I work my way around the entire structure of the flower. I’ve sketched flowers like this for years. But now…with this app…I can add full color and much more comprehensive lighting.”
Of course the same procedure could be used with “real” watercolors. David likes using his iPad for fast studies like this before he does the finish in watercolor, too.
SAA members and guests at the opening weekend of the 49th Art and the Animal; Rolling Hills Wildlife Experience
This post was originally written for the Society’s Facebook public page and blog, but I wanted to share it here since I think what I have to say relates not just to what my thoughts are about applying to join the SAA, but also lays out in general some of my beliefs about what makes good animal art. It’s illustrated with images of various members of the Society, who I am proud to call my colleagues and friends.
The deadline for the next round of consideration is coming up in mid-April. I thought that, having participated in three membership juries now as a member of the Executive Board of the Society, I would offer some observations and tips that might be helpful to those of you who aspire to membership in the SAA.
A couple of notes before we start- First, I’m a painter and that’s what I know best. What I’m going to say applies to most other media, but creating a successful painting will be my main focus. Second, this article represents my personal views and is not an official statement by the SAA, any of its officers or the other board members. If you have any comments or questions, please direct them to me.
Now, to begin: I recommend that you do this exercise. Go to the Society’s website, visit the virtual museum and the individual websites of any member’s work that catches your eye. Then get out at least eight or ten of your own pieces. Line them up. Look at them objectively. This is not easy. We tend to be either too hard or too easy on ourselves. Do your best to be honest since that is when opportunities for growth happen.
The late Simon Combes giving a demonstration; Lewa Downs Wildlife Conservancy, 2004
Representational painting in general, and animal art in particular, have well-established criteria for what constitutes a “good” painting. These principles have evolved over a number of centuries. They are not “subjective”.
You are not in competition for a limited number of spots as would be true with a juried show. We usually have between two and three dozen applications to consider. We can accept all of them. Or none of them. Each applicant’s work is judged on its own merits.
Greg Beecham at the Quick Draw; Susan K. Black Foundation art conference, 2005 (Suzie Seerey-Lester to left)
Pick one piece that you honestly believe is at or is close to the level of the work of the artists who are already members.
You now need four more at or near that level, because one of the things that will sink an application fast is one or two good pieces followed by the jury seeing the next three or four go off the cliff. You will be judged by your weakest pieces. Consistency is very important.
Kent Ullberg gets inspired at the SAA 50th Anniversary event; San Diego Safari Park, 2010
Consistent in what? Glad you asked…
1. DRAWING: Animals have a physiological and behavioral reality that a competent animal artist has to understand and demonstrate to the jury. In other words, you need to be able to draw them with accuracy and understanding if you are a traditional representational artist and clear understanding if you are going to handle them in a more personally expressive way. You are hoping to join the ranks of animal artists who have been doing this, in some cases, for decades. They know if the drawing is correct or not. Which way a leg can bend, how a wing moves in flight or what the pattern of spots are on a leopard are not really subject to debate, however open they are to informed interpretation.
Karryl sculpts on location at the 50th Anniversary event; Rolling Hills Wildlife Experience, 2010
2. CRAFT: We want to see a solid understanding of your chosen media, whatever it is. If you decide to submit work in more than one media, then all of them need to be at an equal level of competence. Don’t submit a little of this and a little of that, hoping that something will stick, like spaghetti on a wall.
David Rankin on location, ready for anything at Torrey Lake: Susan K. Black Foundation art conference, 2005
3. DESIGN AND COMPOSITION: Do you have a solid grasp of design and composition? Have you made a conscious decision about every element of your piece? For instance, are the subjects in the majority of your submissions plopped automatically into the middle of the canvas or thoughtfully placed to carry out your central idea?
Andrew Denman gets worked over by an affectionate bobcat; he, Guy Combes and I visited the Sierra Endangered Big Cat Haven last year
4. PERSONAL VISION: Are you creating art based on a personal vision or simply copying photographs? (It is well-known that photographic images flatten and distort three-dimensional subjects like animals, so the artist must learn how to compensate for that if their goal is a realistic representation.) What do YOU have to say about lions and elk, butterflies and buzzards? Let your opinion, point of view and passion come through. HAVE an opinion, point of view and passion about your subjects.
John Seerey-Lester paints a mountain lion; Susan K. Black Foundation art conference, 2005
5. KNOWLEDGE: Do you understand basic animal anatomy? Do you understand the habitat of the species you are representing? Have you learned about their behavior as an inspiration for your work? Or is everyone just standing around? If you put an animal in a realistic setting, you are now a landscape painter too. Are both your animals and any habitat shown depicted at the same level? Or does one lag behind the other?
Yours truly hard at work in the Gobi, Mongolia 2010
Animals are specialized subject matter that require study and the accumulation of knowledge over time to represent successfully. There are no shortcuts.
We are looking for artists who have mastered their art and craft at a consistent level and who present us with a body of five works which all reflect that level.
A few months ago I blogged about a terrific book by nationally-known artist David Rankin called “Fast Sketching Techniques – Capture the Fundamental Essence of Elusive Subjects”. You can read about it here.
While I was at the Society of Animal Artists 50th Anniversary Exhibition, the pre-show opening activities included full days at both the San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park (since re-named the San Diego Zoo Safari Park) and the San Diego Zoo. I had already planned to do more sketching than photographing, so had what I needed. What I hadn’t planned on was getting to spend part of one day and almost all of the next sketching with…David Rankin! What a difference it made to watch how he does his fast sketching. And once I got the hang of it, I was hooked. I did around three times the sketches that I would have done before. And they were better, too.
Another point that David made that really, really helped me was his observation that every media or drawing tool can be compared to a musical instrument. Each one has to be learned and mastered on its own. As he said, a piano is different than a violin.Watercolor is different than gouache. Charcoal pencils are different than Conte crayons.
I have always assumed that drawing is drawing and that I should be able to pick up any pen or pencil and get a good result because the fundamentals of good drawing exist separately from what one draws with. Not so, it turns out. Not only do I now have an explanation for why I’ve had trouble with results when I change media or tools, but it got me off a hook I didn’t even know I was on and gave me a real confidence boost.
There was one other minor benefit….my perception of my subjects, both live and in photographs, was fundamentally altered. I find that I am seeing the simple shapes better and more quickly. I’ve always felt a little lost doing 3/4 views of heads and have struggled trying to understand the structure of an argali’s horn curl. I’m seeing both of those much better now.
All that said, here’s the art. None of these took more than a couple of minutes at most:
Pre-fast sketching; not bad, but....Preliminary try-out from photos get the basic hang of itFirst attempts from live animals; still too much fussing at the top; the flamingos are much betterStarting to get in the groove, simplify shapes and speed upThe hammerkop (bird in middle left) is exactly what I'm going forI'm really having fun nowAdding back in some details and shading
And here are three argali drawings done in the studio from reference I shot at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve in August. Drawn with a 6B Wolff’s Carbon pencil on Strathmore Vellum Bristol.
As I am about two months out from my Mongolia trip, I’ve decided to consolidate my blog posts to Monday and then do quick updates as needed on other days of the week. For the next few months, most posts are going to have Mongolia content as I share my preparations and, with luck, the trip itself.
MONGOLIA MONDAY
I have my plane tickets and will be leaving on July 5, staying overnight in Seoul, Korea and arriving in Ulaanbaatar on the afternoon of the 7th. I’ll be taking the local United Express flight to San Francisco, Asiana to Seoul and MIAT to UB, and doing it in reverse without the overnight for my return on July 30. My current plan is to attend the National Naadam celebration in UB and then, in some order still to be determined, spend a day or two at Hustai seeing the takhi, travel to the Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve and the Baga Gazariin area to explore the argali habitat in those places, with hopes that I will be able to see and photograph them.
The one “appointment” that I have is to be at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu the week of the 20th for three days of meetings with the herder women to discuss their ideas for a crafts cooperative, which I plan to support. For this purpose, and for other projects that might come up in the future, I have established a non-profit association, Art Partnerships for Mongolian Conservation (APMC). Our mission will be to use the arts to promote conservation in Mongolia. My 501(c)3 sponsor is the Denver Zoological Foundation, which has set up an account for me so that donations made to APMC are tax-deductible. For more information, email me at sfox@foxstudio.biz.
SKETCHING VS. DRAWING
Last week I said that I would do a book review of an excellent “drawing” book. I got it out recently to use as a guide for honing my field sketching techniques for the upcoming Mongolia trip (see how it’s all dovetailing?). It’s called “Fast Sketching Techniques” by David Rankin, who, as it happens, won an AFC Flag Expedition Grant a couple of years ago to travel to the source of the Ganges River in India, one of his most favorite countries. He, dare I say it, draws a very useful distinction between drawing and sketching and does it in a way that I think encourages people to pick up a pencil and paper and give it a go.
Here’s where you can find it on Amazon, but it looks like it has gone out print, so you might end up with a good used copy. I highly recommend it. Here are a few pages to give you an idea of David’s approach. He is a signature member of the Society of Animal Artists, has been in every major wildlife art show multiple times and is an excellent teacher and “critiquer”. In short, he knows his stuff.
Book coverThe difference between drawing and sketchingQuick, simple sketches that catch the essence of the subject without getting bogged down in detailAn example of how he interprets a scene quicklyUsing pause on a tv recorder to do quick sketchesInstruction on how to work at zoos sketching animals
Next week, I’ll have post some of the sketch work I’ve been doing in order to get up to speed for the real thing.
Susan Fox, American Artist 