Pop Goes the Artist!

Some of the art-related blogs I read:
Your Daily Art: Features an (almost) daily painting with a little bit of background on the artist, painting, or time period.  They show a pretty nice range of work: today’s painting is by Giotto di Bondone, an Italian Renaissance artist, yesterday was James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Monday was Picasso.

The Art News Blog: Pretty much exactly what the title implies–a frequently updated blog of news, both quirky and mainstream, from the wild and wonderful world of art.

Danny Gregory: Vibrant watercolor and pen drawings, plus the coolest masthead ever.  Just started reading this one a few weeks ago.

Laurelines: Almost daily colored pencil and watercolor sketches.  Every month she picks a different theme–animals, outdoor scenes, food, etc.  This month, she’s living and sketching in Paris–lucky!

m.Lee Fine Art: I found this blog through WetCanvas.  She does really unique monotype woodcuts–layering multiple colors and multiple blocks to produce some really lovely images.  I particularly like some of her older work involving tree images.

A Painting A Day: The artist whose blog this is has actually scaled back a little bit and is instead posting a painting every few days, but the blog is still worthwhile.  He does beautiful postcard-sized oil paintings, mostly still lifes.  Inspiring and also a little humbling–I can’t even manage to sketch every day and he does finished paintings.

Enjoy–and if you have any favorite art blogs, mention them in the comments so I can check them out!

“A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.”  –Edmond de Goncourt

and

“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”  –G.K. Chesterton

(both from The Quotations Page)

I’m really making an effort to sketch more, as well as post more on this blog, so lately I’ve been combining the two, and posting my sketches here. I’m not going to make this entirely a sketch blog, but until I have more finished artwork I can post, I’d like to keep some of my own work on the front page of this blog. I did this sketch today in ballpoint pen, sitting on my bed and looking at my desk. I enjoy working smallish sometimes–this is about 5×5 inches. (You can click on the photo to make it bigger.)

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“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” (Pablo Picasso)

Two nicely related quotations about design and composition:

“A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

and

“Beauty is the purgation of superfluities.” (Michelangelo)

If we’re to judge the quotations by their own standards, then I’d say the Michelangelo one wins, by virtue of being more concise, but they’re both excellent advice.  The more I look at art, the more I find myself drawn uncluttered compositions, strong lines, and clean colors.  That’s perhaps one of the reasons I’m so fond of Vermeer.

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In other news, I’ve tentatively started on a new drawing project, the details of which I can’t reveal until sometime after it’s finished, as it’s a surprise for someone.

First, a cute little art timewaster from one of the non-art blogs I read, WardWideWeb: now everyone can be Jackson Pollack!  It’s a fun way to spend a few minutes, although I can say from experience that it’s a lot more fun with real paint.  (We spent a fun day in art class junior year recklessly squirting cheap craft acrylics all over cardstock and declaring ourselves geniuses.)

And now a vent: I’m working on a small portrait of my boyfriend (similar in size and style to the one I did of Lisa awhile back) and it is giving me fits.  First, I had a terrible time pinning down his likeness in the sketch (although I had almost no trouble in his Christmas portrait).  I can’t shake the feeling that the sketch makes him look like Bill Clinton, which is not quite what I’m going for.  I’m still not convinced I have it down, but perhaps it’ll turn out better in paint, with more modeling.  If not, well, canvas board is cheap.  But it’s extremely frustrating.  Now that I’m actually painting it, it seems to be an uphill battle to get my mixes right.  I’m using the same colors I always use, the same combinations, so I have no idea why I can’t seem to get the values right at all.  The skin tones, the hair, even the stupid shirt, are all taking multiple tries, multiple coats, and far more frustration than is usual for me.  It’s like I’ve lost all ability to judge values.

I thought I do this because it’s fun?