Another library find - this one based on lecture and seminar notes a student kept from several years’ worth of study with David Leffel. The version I have is older than dirt (published in the 1980s, I think) and many reproductions are in B&W (blech).
HOWEVER…his handling of light is intriguing - clearly influenced by Rembrandt - and so far the element of the text that is sticking with me is his repeated discussion of “concept”. His theme here is that the subject is not the painting - the concept is. Is your painting concept about a certain direction of light? a particular thrust of action you want to emphasize? Too often, as animal artists, we can end up being slaves to our reference material. Leffel’s point is that our paintings are NOT about our reference material - they’re about our unique concept.
An example: my piece “Painted Night”. I had a rather blah noonday photo of a wild stallion with striking pinto markings, and wanted to use it in some way. One night when I was lying awake noodling on art ideas (does anyone else do this besides me??) I was thinking about that handsome boy, and this bolt from the blue - this concept - came to me … and the painting you see here is the result. I assembled all the reference material I could - none of which was nocturnal - spent time outside at night during a full moon studying colors and values, and then went to work.
There’s much in which I disagree with Leffel (particularly his handling of color - natch!), and others do as well (check out the Amazon reviews of his books)…but I thought this takeaway worth sharing with you.
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