An Essential Handbook for the Classical Painter

Lessons in Classical Painting by Juliette Aristides is a beautifully designed book targeted for an audience interested in upping their color use and application in mainly the oil medium.  The content definitely is applicable to other mediums but here the topics strictly focuses on oil paint.  

I feel the strongpoint of the book is the beautiful overall design of the book.  Holding the book and reading through it are wonderful quotes by artists and exceptional full page reproductions of artworks to illustrate concepts Aristides demonstrates in the book. As for content, there are four main chapters broken into value pattern, form painting, temperature, and color.  She builds on the idea of understanding value first and then adding dimension through form.  Her chapter on temperature was complete and thought provoking.  I will have to go back through that chapter again and study and practice her lessons she lays out to advance your knowledge of the topic.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the art of classical painting to view this book for an insightful and well articulated look at color and its application and for the beautifully designed book which is a delight to have in my art library.

Change in the Weather

  

I am spending the week traveling north to Bemidji,MN where I am going to meet up with my two sisters. Today I am at Cross Lake, MN enjoying a beautiful cool day. The weather got to the low 40s last night and I had to break out a sweater and socks. Did a little watercolor of some foliage from a photo I took at Gull Lake yesterday. There are so many lakes in this area of the world.  I included a photo of my portable watercolor/drawing kit I take along to support my creative habit. 

Traveling Shoes

Chinese Cat from San Diego Museum of Art Asian Art collection

I have been traveling here and there the last few weeks and have not produced much in the way of completed artwork.  However, I have been busy on the creative front.  I would file it under incubation and maybe research and development.  I had the opportunity to go to San Diego for a week and experience beach life along the Pacific Ocean.  Everyday is a perfect day.  I got to visit Balboa Park and the San Diego Museum of Art, which is the region's oldest and largest art museum, hense, cat sculpture.

Next week I will be traveling to Minnesota in the lush of pine trees and lakes, starting in St. Paul and ending up in Bemidji where I will be quilting for the weekend.  Where everyday is the same perfect weather in San Diego, every day will be a mystery of atmosphere and color as I head north.  Autumn is the magic time.  

I signed up for an online sketchbook class from Dionne Swift.  She is a UK fiber artist/teacher.  I have included an interview with textileartist.org, a great website for fiber artists and creative inspiration in general.   http://www.textileartist.org/dionne-swift/  I am looking forward to starting this sketchbook class on the 19th of September and will include some of my processes as I work the problems out in visual form.