Tag: artistic

Back of Hand / City in Blue

Back of Hand / City in Blue

Royal Talens were nice enough to give me some supplies to try out (no strings attached). You can read my reviews at these two previous posts:

Brown Eyes/ Figs
Blue Eye/Tagliatelle & New Equipment

Now that I know the paints properties, I have added them into my permanent studio & travel palettes. They have seamlessly integrated in and so my next step is to try them with various types of paper.

When I Initially became serious about my painting, I was mainly using blocks of cotton watercolor paper. This is not ideal to travel with. I had found that it was also very sensitive to weather, one season in Paris it seemed to rain for almost a month and each layer of paint took forever to dry and it didn’t blend as well. These factors plus the increasing price of my preferred brand made me start to explore.

I ended up for a long stretch using a spiral bound pad of Canson watercolor paper. Easy to travel with, not cost prohibitive and of good quality.

In art, I am completely self-taught so I do not know how it may be for other artists, but I see the size a piece is meant to be in my head before ever touching brush to paper. I began to envision works both smaller and bigger than the Canson pad. While continuing to use it, I tried other pads too, preferring the pads over blocks as they are easier to travel with.

On the road my go to pad has been Talen Art Creations Multimedia Pocket Pad 4×4 inches. What I like about it is that I can use it for my Lyra water soluble graphite pieces, watercolors or just drawing. It eliminates my having to have multiple pads in my bag. I do still always have my trusty 3×5 pad in pocket regardless.

At home I mix it up size wise going all the way up to 11×17 size.

In my exploration of the added paints to my palette with various papers I decided to first try them with my old favorite the Canson pad.

Canson Montval Watercolor pad. Spiral bound 140 lb. cold pressed. 5.5×8.5 inch

In doing an extreme close up it presented an interesting challenge. To be able to show volume and mass without the help of showing the outline of the hand which would have served as a guide/clue to the viewer’s eye. The piece is almost abstract. Keep looking, you notice the volume and mass, keep looking you notice little things with each new viewing.

Back of Hand

I have done a lot of portraiture of late but have also always enjoyed doing cityscapes. I want a style but never mere mannerisms and a key to this is to always be challenging myself. I decided to do a cityscape, a nice challenge on a smaller sized paper, especially as it has been a while since I have done one.

City In Blue

by Wayne Wolfson

Times of Trouble

The news is bleak. One can take their pick as to why this is an apt description. It is during these times that artists in every medium have a duty, do your thing. You need not insert political message nor program of the zeitgeist into your work.

Creating something for others to experience via one of the senses serves as a reminder. It’s easy to forget that there are things worthwhile outside of the current strife, there are things bigger than ourselves which are more important, culture in all its forms. Culture seems almost to be an insult now in some quarters, it’s now wedded to elitism which is a different thing.

Things which seemingly are not one of life’s necessities, such as art, offer the chance to get out of our own heads. At a minimum, art & culture can be a brief respite from the grind of daily life. It’s always my hope to be able to offer this via my work.

“B” Watercolor & French Cotton Paper 5×7

I am always looking for interesting things to draw/paint, drop me a line if you think you might have something.

by Wayne Wolfson

Dear Diary II

I have started another painting. This one is on French cotton paper. Between rain and general dampness in the air, the weather has not been obliging me. I have had to takes days off.

In the interim, as usual I draw while working more on my next collection of stories & essays.

Here are a selection of quick sketches & musings done over past week.

“M” quick Lyra piece 5×7

Idea & quick sketch pencil & newsprint paper

Fish heads for the broth

3×5 pocket pad Miles

Christmas gift to myself in case I only get coal

by Wayne Wolfson

Cinefield® – Lotus

I just finished a new Cinefield®. It was labor intensive. A few things made this one different. I was on the road off and one again over the past few months. Normally I work on a Cini until I am done. This time I worked on it, hit the road, came back to it several times.

There was a definite apprehension about working on such a complex piece in this manner but it ended up stronger for it. The mini breaks allowed me to maintain level on concentration and intensity consistently.

The entire work is comprised from one photo which I personally took, reprinted over and over. I used my trusty scissors to hand cut each tiny piece using a brush to apply adhesive. The picture is 11×17 inches and there was no digital magic utilized.

It occurred to me only while working on this piece the nature of my Cini’s. I always have in my head beforehand the design and the effects/properties i.e this part will glow, here will be darker section etc etc. However, even as I am cutting out the tiny pieces, I do not know where they will ultimately go. It is only as I am laying a piece down that I know where I will put it. I look at each Cini as akin to a piece of music, so that makes the denser ones a sort of improvised symphony. Every Cini possesses the dichotomy of being super controlled while also improvised. It’s Charlie Parker & Schoenberg.

Lotus 11×17

A word about copyright & A.I:

A lot of my peers copyright a work only after a magazine/gallery, whatnot accepts the work. This is a big mistake, as soon as you post your work or submit it, first step in this process should be to copyright it. Generation instagram feels it a victimless crime to take what they want from the web for content beyond pics of them giving heart hands in some sunny local. There’s now plenty of examples too of artists having their works monetized by others . A copyright is not a forcefield, these things are still going to happen, but to have a copyright gives recourse should someone be using what you created without permission. It also makes having things taken down from sites/webpages far quicker too.

A.I is very misunderstood right now by many. It is not creating content so much as reconstituting things already on the web created by others. Whether it is literature or visual work and even music, it’s basically a super system which creates chimera based upon instructions. Most artists regardless of medium have some works online.

Copyright helps protect when your work goes into creating something without permission using this method.

by Wayne Wolfson

Summer

There’s been much talk lately of the negative effect on teens body images via social media. I do not disagree with this. However, the internet has always had a tenuous grasp on reality. People of every age add filters to their face/body when posting photos, all kinds of other tweaks. Then there is the side-stand duckbill face, the de rigueur for an entire generation of women when doing selfies. Eventually. this pose and look will be viewed with same amusement as footage from bygone eras where men’s hair is overly brill creamed to the point of looking plastic.

To me, the truth has always been beautiful. The truth is unavoidable too. One can apply as many filters as are available but at some point you are going to have to go out in the real world as you really are. These things, the importance of trends et al, only have the power of the importance which we give them.

The beauty of truth is why I largely prefer to use subjects (friends et al) that I know for my work. The trust placed in me means that they can relax, eschewing any overly academic or glam poses. Even after all this time, one of my greatest pleasures is to portray flesh via paint. Sometimes, I still feel like the musician marveling at the notes that they are making.

“Summer” 11×17 inches watercolor & tan paper

by Wayne Wolfson

Lyra Pieces

I currently have a few projects going, including a unique sized CINEFIELD® from paper I cut down myself. It’s taking slightly longer than expected as I am trying several new things. Even with all going on, I still draw & woodshed every night.

Lyra graphite sticks have become a favorite medium. It allows for painterly effects and a touch not dissimilar to that of watercolor. I am into all the mediums which I use, but my favorite two are drawing and painting. The Lyra pieces combine aspects of both of these mediums.

This was a small piece of multi medium paper. It’s close up of Jimi Hendrix. I enjoyed doing an unorthodox compositional balance in 3×5 inches

by Wayne Wolfson