Comments for Julie T. Chapman - ArtBlog http://julietchapman.com/blog Musings on the Nature of Art from An Artist in Nature Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:58:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 Comment on The Agony of … by Susan Fox http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14528 Susan Fox Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:57:34 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14528 Taking a photo is a good idea. I'll try that next time I need a new look at what I'm working on. What I do have is a venerable full-length mirror propped on my old easel and I use it constantly to check the drawing and well, just about every element. Plus making sure when I designed the studio that I could get at least 15 feet back from the painting. There was a story that a sitter told about having her portrait done by Sargent. He would stand waaay back from the canvas and look back and forth between it and his subject. Then he would quickly stride forward, lay down a couple of strokes, turn and walk away again. Over and over and over and over and...... Wiping out hurts. Especially when it's the part you think you really nailed. It's like you have to kill the thing you love. Taking a photo is a good idea. I’ll try that next time I need a new look at what I’m working on.

What I do have is a venerable full-length mirror propped on my old easel and I use it constantly to check the drawing and well, just about every element. Plus making sure when I designed the studio that I could get at least 15 feet back from the painting.

There was a story that a sitter told about having her portrait done by Sargent. He would stand waaay back from the canvas and look back and forth between it and his subject. Then he would quickly stride forward, lay down a couple of strokes, turn and walk away again. Over and over and over and over and……

Wiping out hurts. Especially when it’s the part you think you really nailed. It’s like you have to kill the thing you love.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Julie Chapman http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14523 Julie Chapman Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:57:34 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14523 Mary - LOL!!! sure do for me. Susan: absolutely - scale really changes the difficulty and challenge of a piece. Sometimes a smaller work (less than, say, 14x18) allows me to get away with more suggestion (via loose brushwork, or color) than a larger piece. And while this painting is only 24x18, the elk in it is obviously more like 18" high than 8". It requires a lot of walking away from the piece to get it all in. That...or take photos of it - somehow scaling a piece down to the LCD on the back of my camera makes flaws really jump out at me. Wiping out finished areas still hurts. Or maybe I'm just a wimp. Mary - LOL!!! sure do for me.

Susan: absolutely - scale really changes the difficulty and challenge of a piece. Sometimes a smaller work (less than, say, 14×18) allows me to get away with more suggestion (via loose brushwork, or color) than a larger piece. And while this painting is only 24×18, the elk in it is obviously more like 18″ high than 8″. It requires a lot of walking away from the piece to get it all in. That…or take photos of it - somehow scaling a piece down to the LCD on the back of my camera makes flaws really jump out at me.

Wiping out finished areas still hurts. Or maybe I’m just a wimp.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Shrode http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14516 Shrode Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:33:49 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14516 Does the position of de feet make mai butt look big? Does the position of de feet make mai butt look big?

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Susan Fox http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14513 Susan Fox Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:47:15 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14513 One of the things that I'm finding as I start to work bigger is that scale itself can change whether or not something works. What seemed fine on a sheet of 19x24" tracing paper can look very different once it's transferred to a, say, 36x48" canvas panel. It stalled me out on an argali painting for a few months until I did a couple of other larger ones and could see what had happened. Now I'm ready to tackle it again. I think it's span of vision. It's easy to see "all" of an animal that is 8" long, but takes an adjustment, or has for me at least, to see all of one that is 18" long. Have you found that to be true, Julie? Anyone else? You've also demonstrated how necessary it is to be willing to make corrections at any point in a painting, even when one thinks it's done. It's so easy to make mental excuses and try to pretend that it's all really ok. I used to do that and had to get over it to really move my work forward. Wiping out finished areas ended up not be an painful as I thought it would be. Mostly. One of the things that I’m finding as I start to work bigger is that scale itself can change whether or not something works. What seemed fine on a sheet of 19×24″ tracing paper can look very different once it’s transferred to a, say, 36×48″ canvas panel. It stalled me out on an argali painting for a few months until I did a couple of other larger ones and could see what had happened. Now I’m ready to tackle it again.

I think it’s span of vision. It’s easy to see “all” of an animal that is 8″ long, but takes an adjustment, or has for me at least, to see all of one that is 18″ long. Have you found that to be true, Julie? Anyone else?

You’ve also demonstrated how necessary it is to be willing to make corrections at any point in a painting, even when one thinks it’s done. It’s so easy to make mental excuses and try to pretend that it’s all really ok. I used to do that and had to get over it to really move my work forward. Wiping out finished areas ended up not be an painful as I thought it would be. Mostly.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Julie Chapman http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14509 Julie Chapman Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:22:12 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14509 Angeline - good for you on working on all of that. Miles of canvas = a better painter. Doug, thanks for the kind note. Actually, moving the one hind leg forward meant a number of minor corrections to BOTH hind legs in order to make the musculoskeletal structure 'correct' for that position. It really would have been enormously helpful to have a photo of an elk in that exact pose and viewing angle...but I didn't. As Bob Kuhn said, there's no such thing as too much reference material. I had 3-4 different elk photos and several different landscape photos to put this painting together. A freakin lotta WORK. Angeline - good for you on working on all of that. Miles of canvas = a better painter.

Doug, thanks for the kind note. Actually, moving the one hind leg forward meant a number of minor corrections to BOTH hind legs in order to make the musculoskeletal structure ‘correct’ for that position. It really would have been enormously helpful to have a photo of an elk in that exact pose and viewing angle…but I didn’t. As Bob Kuhn said, there’s no such thing as too much reference material. I had 3-4 different elk photos and several different landscape photos to put this painting together. A freakin lotta WORK.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Doug http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14497 Doug Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:45:56 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14497 Julie- Great Job! Having that knowledge of anatomy really helps(as I have mentioned before) you see where things are off and to make the necessary corrections. Again great job!! Julie-

Great Job! Having that knowledge of anatomy really helps(as I have mentioned
before) you see where things are off and to make the necessary corrections.
Again great job!!

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Angeline-Marie http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14492 Angeline-Marie Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:38:20 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14492 Thank you for your thought process! I am reminded of the 2008 Summer Workshop! What a great time! You said to eliminate as needed, adjust as needed, and paint, paint, paint. Still doing it, and trying to push values, too! Thank you for your thought process!
I am reminded of the 2008 Summer Workshop! What a great time! You said to eliminate as needed, adjust as needed, and paint, paint, paint.

Still doing it, and trying to push values, too!

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Julie Chapman http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14490 Julie Chapman Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:34:48 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14490 Susan, awesome that you figured it out before you got all the way to final. I thought I was done, but just was NOT happy with the piece. Interestingly, my preparatory sketch had the two hind legs as in the final piece, but I changed it in the transfer to the canvas because I didn't like it in the sketch. DOH, sigh! Barbara, thank you for the kind note. Bull elk really do have a certain arrogance about them that's fun to try to capture. Susan, awesome that you figured it out before you got all the way to final. I thought I was done, but just was NOT happy with the piece. Interestingly, my preparatory sketch had the two hind legs as in the final piece, but I changed it in the transfer to the canvas because I didn’t like it in the sketch. DOH, sigh!

Barbara, thank you for the kind note. Bull elk really do have a certain arrogance about them that’s fun to try to capture.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Barbara Ivey http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14489 Barbara Ivey Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:12:46 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14489 Enjoyed reading how you thought the problem thru and the results. Living in the high country of CO , these animals are so beautiful and you did a wonderful job of showing HIS strength. Enjoyed reading how you thought the problem thru and the results. Living in the high country of CO , these animals are so beautiful and you did a wonderful job of showing HIS strength.

]]> Comment on The Agony of … by Susan Fox http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14468 Susan Fox Mon, 08 Mar 2010 03:42:38 +0000 http://julietchapman.com/blog/2010/03/07/the-agony-of/#comment-14468 I'm doing a multi-horse takhi painting right now, 24x48" and have been going through the same thing. Did the preliminary drawing, which was fine. Did the graphite transfer, which was fine. Did the re-drawing with a brush and the first color lay in, then, on further review, not fine. Half the battle is figuring out exactly where the problem is and it's often not the first thing you think it is. I thought two horses were too close together, but the real problem was that the heads were at the same angle. Boring. That was on Friday afternoon. I'll see what I think tomorrow morning. Good of you to show how one simple change of one leg makes such a difference. I think it was Kevin Macpherson who wrote that a painting is really a series of corrections. When there's nothing left to correct, you're done! And yeah, ya gotta listen to that twinge. I’m doing a multi-horse takhi painting right now, 24×48″ and have been going through the same thing. Did the preliminary drawing, which was fine. Did the graphite transfer, which was fine. Did the re-drawing with a brush and the first color lay in, then, on further review, not fine. Half the battle is figuring out exactly where the problem is and it’s often not the first thing you think it is. I thought two horses were too close together, but the real problem was that the heads were at the same angle. Boring.

That was on Friday afternoon. I’ll see what I think tomorrow morning.

Good of you to show how one simple change of one leg makes such a difference. I think it was Kevin Macpherson who wrote that a painting is really a series of corrections. When there’s nothing left to correct, you’re done!

And yeah, ya gotta listen to that twinge.

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