Sketch, Design, Paint

If DaVinci sketched before painting in 1500 and, if 500 years earlier Fan Kuan of  China’s Song Dynasty sketched before painting and, if Van Gogh sketched in 1888 before painting then, let’s conclude that sketching must be a valuable even essential part of painting.  we often think of paintings as born out of the immediate imagination of the artist with no need for preliminary sketching and designing.  But, Sketching is visual thinking. Thinking visually is an evolutionary process of simplification and distillation as tested ideas are refined, distilled, and unified.

Consider Rafael, a renaissance master, whose finest works begin with loose sketches. Examples one and two present one of his early sketches followed by his eventual masterpiece.  Notice how Rafael reconfigures  torsos, drapery, legs, and arms to achieve a dynamic unity. Notice his elegant process of simplification in the development of the image.

Example 1.  A Rafael sketch for the Alba Madonna,

Example 2. Rafael completed image,

Van Gogh’s famous painting of his Arles bedroom began as a sketch in a letter to Gauguin in 1888. We see Van Gogh working through ideas in his sketch. We can see how his brushwork grows out of his drawing techniques (example 3).

Example 3.  Van Gogh’s sketch for his “Artist’s Bedroom”,

Plein air landscape studies also began with sketches. Constable, Turner and Monet all sketched.  As sketches were refined they were often reworked and served as a map for the overlaying painting. Example 4 by Gilles Closson in 1825 demonstrates how an artist might begin his painting by starting his oil painting at the top of his sketch and work down to the bottom of the image, to the ground plane.

Example 4. Gilles Closson, oil over graphite on paper.

By the mid 19^th century artists were using photography to help with their designs and compositions as a form of sketching. The painting would later be further developed and distilled.  As I was touring part of New York’s Dutchess County I stopped to shoot some images. Example 5 demonstrates a photograph as I composed in my camera. Examples 6 and 7 show how I played with the image in Photoshop (Photo Elements). I tested various design with the image. I worked on a variety of designs each addressing different problems and priorities. Example 8 presents three panels illustrating how I composed my counterpoint and counterbalancing diagonals. None of the primary lines are parallel to the ground plane to invest the image with more movement. The lines drive to two ascending distant vertices and one proximate descending vortex.  Between the two distant ascending points, one is primary, the other secondary.  The forward vortex directs your visual scan down and then up in contrast to the other two. See the three orange circles to identify the vertices.

Example 5. The photo as snapped in the camera.

Example 6.  Altered photo, 1st version,

Example 7. Altered photo variation, 2nd version,

Example 8. Design diagrams for the image,

Examples 9 and 10 present the original lay-in of paint and the image in its current state. I intend future overlays of glaze and texture.

Example 9. The initial lay-in of color and shapes.

Example 10. The Painting in its present state, oil on raw aluminum, 36×36.

I applied a similar rising funnel structure to the architectural image you see in example 11.

Example 11. Roof tops, oil on laminated aluminum.

Like my example 10 the modernist artist, Raymond Johnson painted an image using similar opposing vertices which you see in example 12.

Example 12. Raymond Johnson, Variations on a Rhythm V, 1933,

Finally, I have another image using a forward vertex in counterpoint to a distant one on a high horizon. (example 13.)

Example 13, Salt Marsh, oil on aluminum, 36×36, early stage,

I invite you to join me at The Silvermine Art Center on Sunday evening October 29^th at 4:30 PM for my lecture: The Science of Expression: How We Make and Express Emotion in Art and Ourselves.  Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, Ct. call 203 966 6668 ext 2.

Join me this November at Art of the Carolinas November 12.  Contact Jerry’s Artarama.

November 12 workshop is: Fast City Life. Explore new methods, tools and perspectives to evoke cityscapes. Use registration code SU1709.

Visit Jerrysartarama.com then, enter art of the Carolinas in their search box to register for the workshops or, go directly to artofthecarolinas.com or, call 800 827 8478 ext 156.

If you find yourself near Sharon or Lakeville Connecticut then please visit the White Gallery in Lakeville, Connecticut, 342 Main Street. The exhibition is titled “David Dunlop’s Electric Cities”. Friday through Sunday Noon-4pm, 860 1029, thewhitegalleryart.com  this exhibit  now runs through November 19th.