A Walk in the (Cretaceous) Woods

Sometimes, ya jes' gotta paint DINOSAURS!!

A Walk in the Mist -- Deinonychus   10" x 8" / 25cm x 20cm

Here we have a group of Deinonychus ("die-NO-nee-kus"), a raptor species that was about 6'-7'/2m tall (and was what the "velociraptors" really were in the Jurassic Park movies). It's likely that, like modern-day lions, they finished gorging themselves on a kill and are now looking for a safe place to sleep it off -- safe from critters that might eat them!

Deinonychus lived in the late Cretaceous -- a hot, muggy, carbon dioxide-heavy time. Thus, I wanted the air to appear very foggy but still lit up by the blazing afternoon sun.

Although these dinos are long extinct, most of the plants I've depicted are still around -- "living relics" or "living fossils." The tall trees are Wollemia nobilis or Wollemi pine -- I believe they're limited today in the wild to SE Australia but can be found in landscaping for homes or businesses -- they're attractive trees! To the left is a cycad or sago palm, and further back are some taller Macaw palms, Acrocomia aculeata. And, of course, tree ferns and other species of low-growing ferns and mosses.

(Ya know -- finding resources to visualize dinosaurs isn't hard, but information about how extinct plants looked takes more effort!)

I'm not a dinosaur expert -- my area was microbiology -- but I do have a childlike fascination with these animals. They give me an opportunity to paint something a little different while applying what I've learned about Old Masters techniques and composition in art. I wanted to get away from the edge-to-edge sharpness that I see so often in paleoart and illustration; thus, the only spots in this painting that are detailed are the dinos and the treefern to their upper right. (Treeferns, by the way, are my favorite plants, especially the species that grow on Kauai'i (Cibotium chamissoi), even more than organ pipe cactus and Joshua trees.

I'm curious to see what kind of reaction I get from potential collectors. I have no idea what the market is for artwork like this -- I suspect it's limited -- but if works like these sell, I may have to work bigger in the future!

Rawr!!

Continuing the Continuation (Some More)

I'm in the habit of scouring Google Images looking for artwork .. sometimes paintings made in the past, and occasionally art being made today.

In fact, I stumble across works from the 19th century onward that are stunning in their beauty. I wish I could reproduce some of the modern-day masterpieces, but I don't want to violate anyone's copyright and get myself in a legal bind. Check out the piece entitled "Buttermere," the first painting that appears on this page. I LOVE this painting!! And it's quite inspiring to me and shows a direction I want to work toward.

Suffice to say, I've seen landscape paintings with breathtaking lighting and shadow effects that seem to give the land a spiritual sense and make it come alive. That's what I want in my own landscapes. Little by little, I'm getting there.

Funny -- sometimes I mean to create works with those qualities, and somehow it doesn't always happen. I keep returning to what I've done before ... the tried and true ... the comfortable and familiar. But I have slowly been breaking out of that mold, and I think I'm finally ready to portray the sheer drama of nature and what she has to show us ... and dish out to us, sometimes!

"Pretty" landscapes are still fun and, well, they're pretty. But drama can be pretty, too, and sometimes dramatic scenes can move us in ways mere prettiness can't.

Continuing the continuation. Here I come!

Thoughts on Some Gallery Artists' Receptions

Last night I attended three art gallery receptions in Palm Springs, CA. One of those was for an artist I actually know; the other two I stumbled upon but decided to check 'em out.

The artist is Carrie Graber (www.CarrieGraber.com). She paints architectural details and interiors, often with a female in the scene who looks an awful lot like her. ☺

This is one of Carrie's paintings. It's realistic, yet she somehow achieved a look that would allow the piece to fit into contemporary homes or offices (unlike MY paintings, which are modeled after 19th century -- or older -- artwork). Most of her paintings seem very light and airy, even this nighttime scene. Her work is detailed but uncluttered which I believe is partly what gives her paintings that open look. They're quite pleasing to look at and would fit anywhere.

I noticed Carrie framed her paintings in a simple, natural-wood (pine? maple? ??) tone -- not a wide molding at all. I also noticed artwork in the other galleries I visited were framed the same way. And ANOTHER artist I know and like, Mary-Austin Klein (www.maryaustinklein.com), uses similar frames for HER pieces!

Clouds Over East Mojave             Mary-Austin Klein

(I love the zen-like feeling of Mary-Austin's art -- realistic, almost photographic; yet, uncluttered, lots of open space as with Carrie's work).

You can see the kind of molding I'm talking about here on Mary-Austin's paintings:

Again -- very simple, minimal blonde-colored wood molding. The grain is visible when you see it up-close.

All this made me think (OMG -- he's thinking!): is this a trend in framing contemporary art? Is this something I need to consider doing? And -- do I need to think about simplifying my painting and go for "zen realism"?

Don't know, don't know. I still love the works of the 19th century American Hudson River School painters and the drama they often portrayed. But I like Carrie's and Mary-Austin's look, too. And I'll bet they sell better in today's art-buying taste!

Some things I have to think about. (I should attend more gallery openings, too!)

Influences on My Art: Claude Lorrain

I sometimes mention Claude Lorrain as one of the artists who impacted my own painting in a big way. So who the heck IS this guy?

Claude was born Claude Gellée and was (in my opinion) a fantastic landscape painter from 17th century France. If you're interested in the details of his life, I'll let you read his bio which appears on the J. Paul Getty Museum's website rather than go into all that here. But I will tell you he made landscapes that seem to offer perfect harmony and composition -- places where people work and live in Arcadian beauty. Claude was known for his golden yellow or orange skies, making beautiful scenes even warmer and more inviting.

 Sunset or Landscape with Argus Guarding Io

Pastoral Landscape (1638)

I'm somewhat limited in my ability to emulate what Claude did in his landscapes. Here in the desert, except for cottonwood trees, I don't have the advantage of being able to place nice, big, full, lush trees against the sky. What we have are short Joshua trees, saguaro cactus, palo verde and ironwood "trees" (the latter two are more like big shrubs than trees). And cottonwoods are found only where water is near or on the surface.

Oh, well. I'll make the best of it. Claude's spirit compels me to do so.

Not All Fun & Games

Making art isn't always the cakewalk some-to-many nonartists think it is.

When an artist dude (say, for example, me) is a representational painter, one might think all we should have to do is paint what's there. Some realist painters do that -- every leaf, every blade of grass, every feather, every hair...whatever.

Problem is -- that slows down the process a lot, which means the painting takes longer to do, and a higher price tag has to hang from the finished piece.

Perhaps more importantly, a painting where every square inch/square centimeter is sharp and detailed can be hard to look at. If you look at the Old Masters, you may notice most of the edges are softened and blended EXCEPT for a spot the artist considered most important--that spot will be sharp and often contains the area of highest contrast -- the darkest dark and the lightest light -- within the work. The sharpness and contrast tends to draw (no pun intended!) attention to itself. In essense, the artist makes you want to look at the important feature in the work.

The attached image is "The Adoration of the Shepherds" by Guido Reni from the National Gallery, London. The painting is detailed throughout but also features softened lines and relatively dark colors throughout -- except for the infant Jesus. He is the lightest, brightest area in the piece, and I suspect (not having seen the original) probably has the sharpest detailing of the entire painting. How can you NOT look at the cute little guy?

There you have it -- your art lesson for today. A good painting is more planned than you may have thought. And doesn't it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy to know that you've been manipulated by the artist to look at what s/he wanted you to look at?