1. Who were your teachers or influences?
For technique I’m primarily self-invented, since the art school I attended (Cornish College of the Arts) focused more on the conceptual than the technical. As a result, my process is based on experimentation. My painting technique involves many steps developed over years of experimenting with combining different media, and I would consider myself an “image maker” rather than a traditional “painter”. I also incorporate lots of other creative outlets into my work like reference photography, prop-building, and fashion styling on the way to each final piece. My early stylistic influences were cartoons & anime, Art Nouveau and Rococo, Fashion Magazines & Designers (especially Alexander McQueen), Glam Rock, Tibetan Thangka Painting, and a deep obsession with science and natural history. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to make art? Embrace the mediums that feel most natural to you! Watercolor was the first medium I ever learned and feels very intuitive to me, but I struggled with oil and acrylic painting on their own before finding a way to integrate watercolor into my process. Sealing a watercolor piece with an acrylic varnish & then finishing it in oils, or doing the same with a print transfer, helped me get the most out of each medium. https://vimeo.com/90705649 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? 1. Care about what you are making with every inch of your being 2. Think about the “why” as well as the “how” 3. Don’t be afraid to try new things, and even fail 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? Relying too heavily on cliche or aesthetic formulas. We all stumble across elements that “work” in the sense that they are easily accessible and popular, but if you stick too tightly to these devices, the art ends up feeling predictable. Try things that scare you, try things that make you uncomfortable or that you don’t know how to resolve. That’s where the work gets exciting! 5. Can you break your artistic process down into 10 steps (or less) for us? 1. The Concept: A vague idea and a super rough thumbnail. Often I’ll also make a digital color swatch that captures the “mood” or emotion of the idea. 2. Preparation: I usually start by building props & accessories for the reference photoshoot. Sometimes this is simple, like constructing a small wreath or mask out of flowers. Sometimes its complex, like filling an acrylic mannequin with flowers or constructing an elaborate costume. 3. Reference Photoshoot: Previously these have been in a studio setting where I can control the lighting and props, but recently shoots have been outdoors too. I love playing with warm/cool accent lights that give directional colors to the piece. Often during the shoot the model also contributes something unexpected that that enriches the idea, but sometimes the images turn out just like my initial concept. 4. Layout & Underdrawing: I finalize the composition in photoshop & sketch an underdrawing. Usually this is a quick outline-tracing from the photo to ground the lines & proportions. Sometimes the drawing is printed lightly onto watercolor paper to avoid the need for a messy transfer or projection. 5. Watercolor Underpainting: The “underpainting” or “study” of the piece. This creates the bones of the final painting, and establishes basic color, form, mood, etc. The watercolor is often smaller in scale than the final piece, and may not be fully rendered in detail, its just a stepping- stone for the oils and takes the place a base-layer would in a traditional painting process. 6. Scan the watercolor, make any small tweaks it needs digitally (removing minor blemishes, changing a particular color slightly, extending textures on edges to fill laser cut frame). Design the unique lasercut frame to match the particular image. 7. Print the watercolor underpainting on a thin archival rice paper & mount it to gessoed panel, sealing it with acrylic coatings (like GAC 800 and matte medium). I’ve used both thin masonite wood and clear and colored acrylic panels. 8. Lasercut the Panel: I work with a variety of Makerspaces, and generally use 100-120 Watt CO2 Laser Cutters. 9. Oils: I build up and finish the painting in oil paint layers and glazes. This is the most time consuming part of my process. While the bones of the painting are firmly in place before I begin in oils, this stage is like the muscle and skin of the final piece. Most of the depth, nuance and detail happens here. Lately I’ve been playing with heavier knife textures in the backgrounds, and multiple glazes on skin and fabric, which makes a huge difference for the final piece. 10. Varnish: Usually with a high-gloss varnish to tie everything together and make the dark areas and details pop. 6. What colors are currently on your palette? All of themmmmmm! Watercolor - Dr. Ph. Martin’s Radiant Concentrated Watercolor, Yarka St. Petersburg Palettes Oil - Daniel Smith Primatek, Gamblin, Williamsburg 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? For watercolor, Arches 300lb Hot Press Paper. You can get decent results with almost any brand of watercolor paint, but a good paper makes life so much easier. For oils, Liquin Fine Detail and the Gamblin Radiant Pastel colors. They’re the most beautiful pastel tones, and bright in a way that’s near impossible to mix from other pigments.
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1. Who were your teachers or influences?
In photography it was a man that taught photography at the University of Michigan who first introduced me to a camera and darkroom, his name was Colin. I went to a private alternative high school and he tutored there. It completely changed me, it gave me a new way to show others how I see the world so for the first time in my life I could finally express what I how I see the world. I did really well and took to photography like a fish to water. My great grandfather was very impressed so he bought me my first camera but eventually I had to sell it since we grew up very poor. It took me some years to start taking pictures again and I didn't do it regularly until my husband started to encourage me but after I picked up a camera I haven't stopped taking pictures since. Although I love taking pictures I have had no real formal training other than that. There are so many things that influence me, more than people per say, my influences are very dark, romantic, and melancholic. I am heavily inspired by old world living for example the contrast between very dark and and light, the occult, silent films, folklore (especially folklore), old photographs, and the 19th century. I can however speak of those who inspire me to keep going and they are Zdzisław Beksiński not just because his works are amazing but because he also had no formal training and he also started his art journey in photography same as me and for the same reasons as myself which was because photographs could no longer help with expressing what was locked away in his mind so he started drawing which eventually led to painting which is my ultimate goal so if there is any artist that makes me feel as if I can succeed it is him. Secondly I would say that Nicola Samorì is an big influence because of the darkness in his beautiful works and how he breaks the conventional rules of fine art by disrupting them when they are in their glory what he does is something very special in such a way only he can execute and lastly I am very inspired of Miroslav Tichy who is a Czech man who builds cameras out of garbage, spare parts thrown out and his photography although of a controversial manor is absolutely brilliant. He reminds me that I do not have to have all the fancy equipment ot a nice studio to make good art, that I can still make art without being wealthy because I am far from it, I live very meek and humbly. As far as my drawings as with my photography, I have had no formal training and am pretty much a new comer with little knowledge but I draw regardless and when I do it is absolutely transcending for me, it is as if nothing else exists outside of what I am I am working on. As I breathe life into my piece it is almost as if I finally can share my imagination with others, limitless, without boundaries and that is something I never could do before. As far as my influences for drawing, well since I am new to it there really isn't any yet but I am inspired by artists who tend to draw or paint outside what is currently popular and by that I mean it seems that it is more common for people to draw what is most popular and safe like for example a beautiful woman who is usually naked or posed in a provocative manner, now I am not saying there is anything wrong with it I am however saying that it is very common, beautiful women are what I see the most being drawn or painted so for me I really enjoy when people draw less beautiful subjects like my dear friend Bill Crisafi who draws old crones with mounds and mounds of hair or Albrecht Dürer because of his ability to make imperfection into perfection. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to make art? This is a difficult question for me because I create art in such lawless and unconventional ways. Since I have never been to school for art or photography, the conventional rules and techniques are beside me, these common laws of art are foreign to me, my art is truly lawless or free style, a raw glimpse into my minds eye and that's what makes it mine and what helps me stand out in my own way. Be it an abomination to the art world or not, it is originally part of me but with that said I still will keep learning, I know I must keep growing as an artist to be able to improve although with that said not knowing all the rules has helped me to explore new techniques that are far from conventional for example one person just recently said to me that I "use charcoal not as someone would normally use charcoal but more how a painter uses paint to draw light in darkness", in other words I am painting with charcoal which is where thinking outside the box comes in handy. Some techniques I do stick to with photography are for example if you are going to take landscape pictures wait for the right time of day, do not just take photographs in regular daylight and then try to adjust them in photoshop or with phone filters because it is never going to have that truly authentic and originally mysterious feeling so wait until sunrise or sunset, wait for stormy skies or foggy days also the saturation and lack of can be easily adjusted through the camera. I am not saying that one should not touch up their images in programs like photoshop or lightroom but there is a difference between photo manipulation and actual photography in my humble opinion and it is that blended distortion between digital fantasy and real life photography which is making it harder for photographers to live up to a certain standard while still keeping it real. Often people state that I am so lucky to live in Scandinavia, that I am so lucky to live in such a beautiful place but the reality is the world is full of interesting things to photograph and everything, everywhere has the potential to be interesting it just truly depends on how the artist perceives it, it is always up to the artist to look at the subject from a different perspective and then just about anything is possible. It is very important that you experiment with different unconventional angles. I also am also very strict with the amount of light I let in when I am taking pictures which can be quite tricky because unless you have a very good low light camera you are going to have excess noise, blur, and often bleed. I like to use those things to my advantage, if executed properly they can become part of the story you are telling. Which brings me to this, I do not consider myself a photographer even if I am mostly known for my photographs. I do not feel that I am the right person to come to when someone wants to learn how to take proper photographs, I use the camera to tell a story, I use it as a tool to share what I am seeing, I consider myself a visual storyteller above all and the camera is just a doorway into my minds eye. Contrast in photography, the key is this for me. Since I am autistic and have something called sensory processing disorder which means I see things in very vivid colors or very muted tones and I try to express that when taking the pictures, I have learned how to achieve this without a tun of photo manipulation (which is ever so popular today) so I can share what I am seeing with the rest of the world. If you turn down the contrast on a sunset for example the colors will become more vivid and the light will not wash out the the image, this is key when taking a darker more melancholy landscape images like the ones I often take. I am quite sure many will not agree with me on this but I truly feel suffocated by technicalities, when art becomes too technical and too structured for me it becomes like a cage locking me in, making me unable to create freely without constraints so I give the advice that while learning how to work with a camera is important do not put too much stock in buying the fanciest equipment and following the rules to the very T. Movement is very important, especially when taking pictures of people in my opinion often I see a photograph that is very beautiful but lacks in feeling because the image is stiff and the model seems frozen, this can often even happen in images in which a scene portrays movement but yet the model is still to posed and stiff, this happens often for example in fashion magazines or in photographs where a scene was set up. Letting your subject move naturally is what creates a very natural good feeling, something that feels more authentic and powerful this is why I love to photograph my children being themselves. Point of view is also very important, It is one of the hardest things to create depth in a photograph, especially in landscape portraits and to understand point of view is the key to mastering depth, point of view is a focus point one many have noticed without realizing, it is when the camera focuses on a point of view to create depth. Tips with drawing are a bit more tricky for me since I am pretty new and still learning myself. When I first started drawing I used so many reference images and copied them identically so that I could learn the form and how to control the values and now that I have grown I am more confident to create my own works from that practice. But using reference images can also be tricky because if you are in fact duplicating an image so it is important to keep in mind that you should never copy someone another persons work and that the image you are using may be recognized easily. It's better to use photographs of friends and family to start. At this point in my life I am really just working with charcoal and graphite, I feel such a strong connection when working with charcoal that I can't see myself working with anything else for quite some time although I do eventually want to work up to oil painting. For me what I have learned and what I hear from many people is that charcoal is very hard to work with, messy and out of control but I don't feel that way at all, I have learned to not rush it, to go gently and slowly with charcoal, working with tiny sections at a time, this is key to keeping charcoal under control. I also use a q-tip to slowly rub the values into the paper in tiny circular motions, this keeps the mess under control and the charcoal really unites with the paper. I also try my best to never ever touch the paper, whereas many others working with charcoal use their fingers for blending, fingers for me leave unwanted fingerprints which can disrupt the flow. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? 1. Stop comparing yourself and works to others, this is the key to success! You will never ever be satisfied with your own works if you compare yourself to others. It is one thing to take inspiration from other artists works and another to pit yourself in a competition with them. Be happy to be yourself, to have your own uniqueness even if it means embracing your flaws and disadvantages. We all have our own creative struggles. 2. Slow down, add details and layers. Too many people want to rush work but this can be absolutely catastrophic to what could be a potentially brilliant piece. Go slowly and steadily, not forgetting to add details and not being afraid to strengthen the piece with layers. 3. Original thought. I see so many people try to use the argument that everything has been done already and that humans are incapable of original thought but I call bull on that, if that was the case then we would never advance technically, medically, internally etc... We absolutely are very capable of original thought. Also many people use this theory as an excuse to plagiarize others works, saying that everything has already been done so what does it matter or that imitation is the highest form of flattery. My advice is although you can draw inspiration from others you should never ever copy someones work. Even taking somebody's idea and recreating it in your own way is not okay. Go ahead and be inspired but create new exciting things with your own original thought. I myself have been copied quite a bit and it is a really terrible feeling. 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? First thing and the biggest of them all is do not give up keep going no matter how awful you feel you are because I see so many people including myself give up too easily because they just couldn't create like they wanted to in their fantasy but art skill is hard work and it takes a lot of devotion and time to get good. It is like that with anything in life really from playing the violin to learning how to cook or drive a car. You must not give up, you must practice every day. Instead of addressing art techniques like many other may I think instead I should address this aspect of just starting out in the art world which is something my friend and fellow artist Christine Wu talked about a little ago which is pretty important when trying to get your foot in the art world is do not push yourself on galleries at the wrong times for example do not approach a Curator at an exhibit or outside the gallery, use the proper channels to submit your work and only inquire through those channels. Do not post links to your own artwork or website in places like the comments of other artists or galleries, again use the proper channels. Do not beg artists to share or like your page or works, If you want to get more recognized for your work you can find different mediums for example try to reach out to do collaborations with other artists by emailing them. When I was first starting out I was lucky to have some amazing people help me get where I am today but it took a lot of hard work and perseverance to get to that point. I am grateful to people like Jess from Blood Milk who was the first person to ever share and blog about my works and to Heather Gabel who I did my first ever collaboration with, these opportunities came to me later in life, they were not something that just fell into my lap, they were a result of hard work and dedication and it opened doors to work with other artists. I believe so many new artists come on too strong in the beginning, they immediately want a huge fan-base and when that doesn't happen they become very discouraged sometimes even giving up. It is extremely rare and pretty much impossible to become an over night sensation so just stand your ground and work hard. 5. Can you break your artistic process down into 10 steps (or less) for us? Since I'm talking about both photography and drawing here I will split the steps into 5 each. Photography: 1. Always make sure your camera battery is charged and camera emptied so that they are ready to go, a moment does not wait for you. 2. Depending on the subject you may want to scout a site for a shoot plan on where and what atmosphere you want to have. 3. Preparation, you need to have everything you'll be using prepared ahead of time so that when the time is right you are ready to go for example if you want to shoot someone in the fog and you are waiting for a foggy day you make sure your stuff is ready for that moment and the person you are shooting will also be available. Since weather is unpredictable it is imperative to be prepared. 4. Settings, often modern digital cameras can have a few different custom settings saved you can set a few different ones while your shooting and move in between them but if you are using an older manual camera you will most likely not be able to do this. Just remember to adjust all settings prior to shooting including what format you are going to shoot in otherwise it could be a disaster. 5. Touch up's, rather you are developing your film in a darkroom or using a computer It is very important to work with the contrast for me contrast is everything. Drawing: 1. I tend to look through books or old archives or watch a silent film to get inspiration because I often draw subjects that have an old world essence so I use images from the era to help myself imagine a piece. 2. Here I am most likely not following the rules but I do not create a sample sketch before I start my original but I think this is because I have yet to work on really big pieces so far so there is room for mistakes. Now when I work on bigger pieces or start painting I know I will change my mind. So my next step is to sketch out my piece. 3. Shading, Now I work with shading rather it is a portrait or a room the layers of shading are what brings your piece to life. 4 Highlights, adding the highlights where needed will add depth to your piece. 5. Once I am very sure my piece is finished I add an spray fixative because I use so much charcoal, but I wait some time before I do it so that I can make some changes if needed. 6. What art materials do you currently use? Cameras: I am using an older model of the cannon 30D with a Tamron xr di ii 17-50mm 1.2.8 lens, a canon sx50 HS, and an old Minolta manual (analog) camera. Art: Faber-Castell and Derwent graphite and charcoal pencils but any good quality will do and that goes for any supplies, Koh-I-Noor Charcoal Blocks, a Tom-Bow mono zero eraser, a kneaded eraser or putty eraser, a mechanical pencil, blending stumps, paper towel, 300 gram and up smooth heavyweight paper even though I have used lightweight and textured paper as well at times. 7. Do you have an art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? Proper natural window lighting and good music, these two things are imperative to help me along with my piece. 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
When I was young it was mostly record covers. Some of my favorites that really captured my imagination were: Atom Heart Mother by Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden's self-titled album, Van Halen 1984, and Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill. I remember watching Xanadu and wanting to be the character that painted the giant album billboards. MAD magazine was also a big influence. Later in high school, as I learned about art, I was influenced by Egon Schiele, Picasso, and Max Beckman. All three of them still stay with me, but it's Picasso that still strongly resonates with me. I love that he was always experimenting, warping perception of space, and often used the most grotesque and garish color combinations. Towards the end it seemed he didn't give a fuck anymore, and ended up painting some of my favorite work. There's wild freedom in most everything he has done. Some painters that I'm always looking at: Otto Dix, Ed Paschke, Phillip Guston, Lucien Freud, Balthus, Cezanne, Alice Neel, Jim Nutt, and Hans Belmer. I also look to a lot of Medieval, Renaissance, and Rococo painting. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? Learning to work with limitations. Before moving to oil, I painted in acrylic for years; the medium has a lot of limitations, but I managed to make them work for me. It's small things like flow of paint, drying time, the sheen of the surface. They're all just very odd with acrylic, and it took a lot of trial and error to develop a way to make them look good. With that being said, I'm not a technical painter. I don't have a set plan. Sometimes when I feel I have things figured out, I usually don't. This is another limitation with which to work and exploit. The only "trick" I can offer to people is to constantly experiment, and to get intimate with your medium. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? Experimentation: What draws me most to art is being able to see that the artist was challenged. This isn't necessarily just with the craft of image-making, but also with the conceptual side. Love of form: there are some painters that are fairly common in their approach and image-making, but they will hit on one little element that makes me swoon- anything from how they render fabric, flesh, hair- to how they pay attention to subtle curves of a calf. I think you can always tell artists' obsessions and kinks through their work. I think it's important to identify and cultivate your obsessions. Love of the medium: be it painting, video, performance, printmaking- I want art that interacts with the medium, and it not just be a way to transfer images over to another stage. 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? I assume this question is directed towards young artists that are trying to find their way. I always tell them to not be afraid of making mistakes. If you fuck up, try again or use the failure to your advantage. A lot of my paintings came about through failures. Don't get too precious with your ideas. Editing and throwing stuff out is essential, as well as just letting stuff flow without caring what "it means." Meaning, or whatever, is going to slowly emerge as your work develops. Don't try to shoehorn a narrative, or some ham-handed symbolism. 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? In the past I would pretty much just jump right into a painting and let the paint dictate what sort of image would emerge. For my current crop of work I have been working from a detailed underpainting. It's new for me! I essentially work from dark to light, tone down with glazing, and then bring it back up, slowly adding saturation through more glazing. I'm always trying to push it further- from colors, detail, atmosphere. I have been taking regular photos of my progress, because sometimes it seems maybe I took a wrong turn. When I go back and look at earlier incarnations, I realize the current state of the painting is in a good place, and that I made some good decisions. Painting is improvisational for me, which is not to say I'm winging it or just working from an intuitive place. Every painting presents a new challenge- I'm constantly making new decisions, and interacting with the work. A final piece looks much different than the original conception. For me to go forth with a step by step process, I think I might kill myself. Painting would feel like an office job. 6. What colors are currently on your palette? titanium white transparent white cadmium red bright red W&N Winsor red deep W&N Winsor yellow transparent yellow yellow ochre burnt umber ultramarine blue cobalt blue cobalt light turquoise cobalt light violet permanent green permanent green light sap green oxide of chromium perylene black 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? Cobalt light turquoise, Liquin fine detail medium, good brushes 1. Who were your teachers or influences? I have been very lucky to have a number of amazing teachers as well as friends who continue to help and influence my work, such as Nathan Ota, Bob Dob, David Simon, Glen Eisner, Brian Booth-Craig and many others. I was incredibly fortunate to go to school with a number of super talented people, which was very inspiring. Also my mom, Marcia Dalva, is a sculptor and has always been a big influence in my work, both with technical processes and helping me flesh out ideas. I usually fall back on listing major influences like Degas, Mucha, Schiele, Klimt, Bernini, etc, but I find that I'm often inspired by a wide variety of subjects. Fashion design is very influential, whether it's an antique piece of flowy silky simplicity by Madeleine Vionnet or the dramatic mantles of Paul Poiret, or the more modern work of houses like Balmain, Valentino, McQueen, and there's this one couture collection, Fall 2009 I think, by Galliano that has been in regular use as makeup inspiration for my figures. This list is getting long, but also I can't forget more contemporary artists like Elizabeth McGrath (who's work was one of the reasons I started sculpting in the first place), Virginie Ropars, Andrew Hem, Allison Sommers, and countless others who I'm constantly blown away by. Also just old things, animals moving certain ways, movies, quiet woods and peeling paint. Those are important too. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? Well, I'll plug my little tutorial here! http://www.instructables.com/id/Finishing-and-Detailing-a-Sculpey-Polymer-Clay-Scu/ I think gestural drawing is incredibly important, and just studying and practicing creating the anatomy of your subject. I try to do as much drawing from life as possible, I took my first life painting class in high school and will forever know I'm just scratching the surface of the subject. Drawing lightly at first. Not being too precious with your work. Knowing when to stop. Knowing when to just throw something out and start over rather than endlessly fiddling with it. Also the vital and basic practice of working out your work as a small, rough thumbnail image first before diving in. This helps avoid major issues later on, and sometimes brings you to a different and better conclusion than your original intention. And, as my mother always says, "Tools are your friends." So, finding the right tool for what you need to accomplish. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion?
4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? Sometimes people don't seem to do their homework. This is something I did when I first started out, I used what I thought was a super unique reference image (from the internet, first mistake!) and then later found out it was a photo of a famous actress from silent films, which is still embarrassing years later. Now, if I'm using a photo for direct reference I make sure either I took it myself, or, if im in need of something I can't reasonably photograph myself (I don't have a lot of access to snarling tigers but sometimes you just need that photo) I make sure to alter it or mix together a few images so it's not just regurgitating someone else's work. I think this is a common issue for many artists, since it's so easy to access images. *this is not to discredit the huge benefits one can get from doing master copies, though. Also I think a lot of people want shortcuts, and give up on their work when it's not immediately as amazing as they think it should be. I think the practice and obsession required to be good at any kind of art is usually simplified. You have to power through making a lot of bad drawings, ugly paintings and stupid sculptures. It's constantly walking that fine line of knowing that you're pretty good at something so you should keep doing it, but knowing also that you're kind of terrible and need to work a lot harder, all the time. 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? (This is a general idea of the process for a sculpted figure in a shadow box, but sometimes I'll use a glass dome or have a figure freestanding)
6. What colors are currently on your palette? Usually I put out these colors but don't necessarily use them on every piece, they're all Liquitex brand heavy body acrylic: Unbleached titanium Titanium white Parchment Ivory black Raw umber Burnt sienna Alizarin crimson Turner's yellow Prussian blue Perylene maroon (this one is new- Windsor & Newton) Red oxide Yellow oxide Cad red medium 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? Xacto knife. Super useful while sculpting, to scrape things, carve cured Sculpey, scratch details into clay, and, you know, sharpen pencils. About the Artist: Jessica Dalva dabbles in painting, sculpting, sewing tiny and regular sized costumes, set design, puppetry, and welcomes new tasks daily. A northern California transplant, Dalva lives and works in Los Angeles, and hopes someday to know how to make everything and/or anything.
1. Who were your teachers or influences?
My most influential teachers were Mark Tennant, John Wentz and Steve Hampton. I had many teachers that i learned from, but these artists are the ones who pop into my head when I'm reviewing or critiquing my own work. My favorite painters are Velazquez and Lucian Freud. I admire their sense of design in all aspects. I love their use of color, very simple and limited at times. Their designs are very bold and simple, but there is so much effort and attention evoked that it can seem complex. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? I think for me the best thing was painting every day. But in order to progress at an efficient level, I needed to make little goals for myself in terms of design and function. There would be days i would focus on making an object look 3 dimensional. Then after it felt 3D i would focus on making that look "pretty" which is completely subjective. Lucian Freud's form is a lot rougher than Velazquez. Both represent form and both represent beauty to me. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? Tough question. For me it's about honesty. When I look at art, it's like listening to music... you might hear 10 songs on the radio that pass you by and then the next one catches your attention. There are many factors that go into what it is about the band, and it's not always how well they play their instruments. Most of my favorite bands are terrible musicians, but they make great artists. They have all the ingredients needed to fulfill the purpose of the statement. A lot has to do with the mood, the direction, the confidence or tone. Certain colors attract certain people. Just stay true to what you believe art is. 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? It's hard to define a mistake. I know what a mistake would be in an academic setting, for example, line quality or placing incorrect values on form. I think the biggest mistake is giving up too soon maybe? And, also, perhaps not enjoying the process. The process is a huge part of art, and the final result is a reflection of that process, or a result. Enjoy the process, and if you dont... adjust! 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? My process has changed over the years. At the moment I spend a lot of my time conceptualizing my work in my head. The brainstorm process can take minutes or weeks! I would then jot some of these ideas down in my sketchbook. These sketches or notes are nothing pretty at all. Recently I have been using the computer to design a reference photo, similar to a collage. This part has become really exciting, because I'm creating something out of nothing. I then paint from the reference photo, sometimes copy it and other times I chose to reinterpret. If the painting is feeling dull, I'll paint loosely over it, take a photo of the progress and do some more collaging on the computer. I repeat the process until I'm satisfied or depending on a deadline. 6. What colors are currently on your palette? The colors I use are Titanium White, Ochre, Cad Red, Ivory Black. Ill occasionally use ultramarine blue, but rarely. I keep it limited and this allows me to experiment with color, while keeping the image cohesive. 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? I love having a spotlight to take proper reference photos of my models. also, good music to paint to as well as a nice space that will make you want to paint. nothing worse than having a fancy studio that you never want to show up to. Find a place that will make painting exciting and approachable. 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
I had many teachers at Otis but the one's I learned the most valuable skills from were Jim Auckland, Barry Jackson, Robert Kalafut and Nathan Ota. My influences as far as artists go were John Pound (Garbage Pail Kids), Roberto Parada, Edward Hopper, and Oink comic creator John Muir. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? The most useful technique is to have a strong drawing, especially if your painting has a lot of detail. You don't wanna spend time trying to figure details out in the painting stage. If you have a spontaneous style then try and have an idea of the scale and composition of your subject matter in a rough sketch. That and patience, because your painting will look like crap for 70% of the journey but then starts to come together suddenly. It's different for every painting though. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? 1. Concept: Your art should always communicate a message. The viewer should feel some kind of emotion when viewing your work. 2. Craft: A well crafted work of art can elevate your concept to another level. 3. Scale: The size is very important whether its small or large. Many times I've been to an art opening and seen a work and thought that would have been better smaller or larger. 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? People copying other contemporary artists. Some artists flat out lift the technique and subject matter. Social media is partly to blame because they reward such artists. I always recommend being influenced by artists and art movements from the past. Don't be inspired by artists currently working. I still love to look at Edward Hopper and a lot of illustrators from the Golden Age of Illustration (1900-1940's). 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? 1. Concepts and rough sketches in sketch book or any piece of paper. Sometimes a post-it I did a sketch on ends up being a good starting point. 2. I'll keep drawing the composition over and over with tracing paper til something works. 3. Do a Tight Drawing of one of the rough sketches that works usually on vellum or tracing paper. 4. Scan in and import into photoshop. I'll move things around and scale up or down certain objects or people . 5. Gesso primed polyester canvas thats been stretched over deerskin panel. I don't like the canvas to be flimsy when I paint, so the deerskin panel gives it nice firm feel. 6.Borrow Greg Simkins projector and project drawing onto canvas. 7. Tone the canvas with with transparent sienna glaze (transparent paint with Gamblin Galkyd medium) 8. Working background to foreground, I'll block in paint going dark-to-light. 9. Once everything is blocked in, I'll start glazing in details oil it's done. 10. Once it's dry I'll varnish or glaze Indian yellow over it. 6. What colors are currently on your palette? Titanium White Ochre Yellow Cad yellow Mars Orange Cad Red Light Cad Red Medium Alizarin Crimson Prussian Blue Caribbean blue Sap green Burnt sienna Burnt umber Van dyke brown Chromatic Black 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? The medium I use is 50% Gamblin Galkyd 50% gamsol 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
I am primarily self taught. Most of what I learned came from books and experimentation. I also learned a lot by observing my stepfather, Painter James Zar. His studio was in the den of our house so there was always art and art in progress around to look at. My influences were Frazetta, Beksinski, Giger, MC Escher, Dali. Bosch, EC horror comics, horror films, monster toys and much more. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? I think under painting (sketching the painting in using one color of paint- raw umber, for myself- to get the composition and values correct. This then gets painted over) was a big one for me. My background was rooted in drawing before I started painting so I always felt more comfortable in the under painting stage since it is so similar to drawing. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? 1. A solid concept or feeling you want to communicate. 2. Good composition. I think this is really important. A painting should feel comfortable to look at (unless you are intentionally trying to make the viewer feel uncomfortable). A viewer should know exactly where to look and the painting should guide the eye along comfortably. 3. Proper values (lights, darks and mid tones). I think there are a lot more than three, actually! 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? Buying into 'starving artist myth' and not embracing the business side of art. No artist wants to deal with business but if you want to make a living with your art, it is a necessity. I didn't want to do it but I was forced to learn. Now I actually kind of enjoy it because it allows me to be more self reliant and more in control of my career. 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? 1. I do a rough sketch or series of sketches just to get the idea down and figure out the composition and basic values. 2. Next I do a small, quick oil study (usually 5x7") to figure out the color and lay out the groundwork for the big painting. 3. At this point I will do an under painting in raw umber oil paint thinned with OMS (Gamsol is what I prefer for OMS). I basically lay the painting out with emphasis on getting the proper values. 4. Sometimes I paint straight into the wet under painting but I prefer to wait for it to dry first. Either way, at this stage I start blocking in the colors making a concerted effort to focus the large shapes and forms and stay away from any detail. I usually get as far into the painting that I can in one sitting. I use Liquin as my painting medium. This helps increase the flow of the paint and also speeds drying time. Then I let it dry overnight. 5. I evaluate the painting and decide what it needs at this point (I spend a lot of time looking at the painting during the process). Then I start my next sitting, which can include glazing- the painting of transparent colors to 'tint' areas- if I need to push some color one way or another. 6. At this point, I try to focus on detailing and glazing primarily. These are the final touches. 7. When the painting is finished and dry, I coat it with a removable painting varnish. I like to use Gamvar gloss varnish. 6. What colors are currently on your palette? Titanium White, Ivory Black, Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Scarlet, Alizarin Crimson, Prussian Blue are my main colors. 7. Do you have a paint color or medium or other art-related implement that is indispensable? If so, what is so useful about it? Liquin! I love Liquin because it dries the painting overnight, which is kind of important for the way I paint. 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
Fortunately I’ve had many great teachers throughout my years of study who continue to influence and inspire today. While studying at the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art I had the pleasure of learning from Sergio Sanchez, Ramon Hurtado, Rey Bustos and Sean Cheetham. I continued taking workshops with Sean for a little over a year. After which I spent a period of time studying with Jeremy Lipking. He has probably been the most influential teacher I’ve had. I continue to admire his work and appreciate how generous he is with his knowledge. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? The early years of painting were certainly not easy. I remember I was essentially taking stabs in the dark until I realized how critical the foundations of representational art are. Drawing being the most important. It is also the most challenging aspect in my opinion. It’s a lot like lifting weights…when you don’t consistently do it it you become weak and can never really pick up where you left off. There’s always a period of “getting back in shape.” Drawing everyday, keeping that skill sharp, is crucial. For probably the first year I was painting (seriously) I worked in a limited palette. Primarily the “Zorn Palette” which consists of red, yellow, black and white. Slowly I added other colors to develop the palette I now use. This gradual process was really helpful in learning color and not becoming overwhelmed with mixing. It’s important to learn the properties of each color, how to mix accurately and precisely before jumping into full paintings. Doing color charts is a very efficient way of learning that as well. Although I haven’t done them, if I were to go back I absolutely would. It would have saved me a lot of time instead of the trial and error approach. Drawing and understanding color are key components as well as understanding form, value, and so forth. The more elusive technique that’s equally as important is composition. Spending time developing this from the beginning will play a big role in creating solid works. Charcoal drawing tutorial - http://e-volvedmagazine.com/project/step-step-charcoal-drawing-tutorial-derek-harrison/ Youtube video covering a range of topics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF1VBxNzmmE 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? 1. Good Technique 2. Content coming from yourself, personal expressions that are genuine 3. Professional presentation - one can’t appreciate a beautifully crafted piece if it’s presented in an amateurish fashion 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? Becoming a good artist, creating meaningful and technically proficient work takes time. Often times you see students or aspiring artists wanting to jump right to being “successful.” Studying, learning the basics and practicing these disciplines takes years. To be a professional in almost all fields requires years of study, a degree and so on. To be a professional artist requires just as much if not more. You have to learn how to “walk before you run.” It’s not easy and takes ones full commitment and numerous sacrifices. You see a lot of young artists wanting or assuming they can bypass that. The fundamentals are key! 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? 1. What works for me personally is beginning with an idea. Something I want to express for example. 2. Culminating that idea by doing small sketches, shooting photos, researching aspects of the idea. 3. Figuring out the best way to compose the scene. 4. Hiring models or whatever is necessary for the “scene.” 5. Doing more sketches, small color studies, etc. 6. Shooting reference photos. 7. Doing a “digital composition” to work out what’s going to be painted. 8. Stretching the canvas and then the fun begins! 9. At this point the preliminary work has been done so it comes to down to doing a good painting. Which would include accurate drawing, interesting physical texture, color harmonies, etc. 10. Painting! 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
Although I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be an artist, after spending less than a semester at both the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the School of Visual Arts, I decided that formal training wasn't for me. Hence, I can't credit any teachers, in the strictly academic sense of the word. As a teen I read a lot of books on art (and still do), and that, along with trial and error, is how I first learned to oil paint. Additionally, I've been very fortunate in my career to have been around and learned from many truly great artists, especially Ron English, for whom I worked as a painting assistant. My taste is actually pretty varied, and I have favorites from nearly every art movement. This may be surprising to some, but I also feel equally visually inspired by filmmakers as much as painters – Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, and Dario Argento are a few influences, and the numerous fantasy films I obsessed over in my childhood have certainly had an impact on me as well. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? Employing grisaille technique when first learning to paint can be very beneficial because it simplifies the process by breaking down values first, apart from colors. 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? For a work of art to be of merit, in my opinion, it has to have at least one of the following elements (and I'm listing these in order of what I feel is the least to most difficult to attain as an artist): 1. Strong visual impact (whether it be pleasing or distressing) 2. Something to communicate to the viewer 3. Innovation in aesthetic or technique 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? I make plenty of mistakes of my own, so I'm probably not in a position to judge, but I will give my sincere thoughts on the matter. I have two opposing sides when answering this question – one comes from my experience as a gallerist, and the other as an artist, so I'll do this in two parts. As a gallerist: Setting unrealistic prices, especially when just starting out, and aggravating curators by missing deadlines and being otherwise unreliable. You really don't want to make a curator's already difficult job harder than need be; keep in mind that your goal should be to have your galleries as enthusiastic as possible about selling your work and showing you again. As an artist: Not remaining true to yourself, following trends, and basically creating the same piece over and over again. If your work isn't an ongoing investigation into your experiences, thoughts, or even your craft, then you're essentially just making home decor... and if what you're aiming to do is to simply to pump out a commodity, there are probably a lot more practical, and profitable, things you could devote your talents to than fine art. 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? 1. First comes developing the concept for the artwork. For me, this frequently materializes through reflecting on my own experiences, interpersonal relationships, and social dynamics in which I'm immersed, and from there begins to emerge a visual metaphor of sorts. Some of my inspiration also results from both examining the work of others throughout art history, and reflecting on my own art, and figuring out how I can expand upon previously touched on ideas. I usually will write down my thoughts immediately so that I don't forget anything (and at this point I've amassed a list of painting ideas so long that I'll never get around to actually executing all of them!). 2. Once I have a vision of the piece I want to create, and decide to move forward with it, I begin to make concept sketches and lay out the composition. Following that, I'll organize props and models, and will shoot reference photos. Often times I will either manipulate and collage these images digitally, or draw/paint directly on top of of the print-outs for further preliminary development of my concept. 3. I cut and prime my panel, after which I apply the drawing – first in pencil, then outlining it in acrylic, and laying a ground color over the entire surface. 4. How I proceed with my initial oil layer depends on piece. I will either apply my colors directly with an alla prima approach, or create a monochromatic underpainting (lately I've been using umbers for this layer, but much of my older work was done in a blue or green underpainting). If the latter is the method I'm using, then numerous thin color glazes are applied with linseed oil. For the majority of the painting process, I try to keep the work mid-level as far as values, then at very end apply my brightest highlights and darkest tones to give everything a final pop. Once my oil painting has dried, I apply a varnish. 5. The final step in my process is an inevitable plague of self doubt and critique of the artwork, which results in a dread of sending images to the gallery, and not wanting to show the painting at all... then trying to figure out ways in which I can make the next one better. And though it can be vexing, I think that never being satisfied with your own work is a key element in pushing yourself to evolve. 1. Who were your teachers or influences?
I can separate my influences into two very rough (and partially overlapping) categories: hand and mind. For the former, I can say, a huge influence on my draftsmanship as a young teenager was Mucha: I, like a lot of folks, was absolutely gobsmacked with his line quality, not only in his finished commercial work, but also in his illustrative work and sketches. I never even particularly liked drawing ladies, but I spent hours trying to master his effortlessness around bottom lips and nose points and slitted bedroom eyes. Trying to master him started me on the path to learning just how much work and repetition it takes to move draftsmanship forward. As for the mind, I’ve been really excited about mid-century movements in the past few years, and their approach to the concept of what makes an artwork. Fluxus, Actionism, conceptual art, and whatnot. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me to process what it means for my own work, which is rather obviously still mired in old-fashioned notions of the artwork and hand-work. But I’m trying to stretch my oeuvre, at least, with more assemblage and film pieces, when the opportunity presents itself. I recently did a large installation in conjunction with my solo show at Thinkspace entitled “I’ve Made My Bed, Now’, which was a great opportunity to do an installation in a public setting. 2. What techniques or tricks did you find most useful when learning to paint? Gouache is one hell of a teacher. It taught me that I’m not the boss. It’s so finicky and particular about the way that it wants to be handled, and I learned that I would have to be the flexible material, not it, if I wanted to master it. I learned to embrace more spontaneity and experimentation, less rigidity in my technique, to see a mistake as a part of process to be included and cherished in a painting. For instance, you can’t have rigid expectations of palette with gouache, because it dries different colors than when it’s wet, and different still from when it’s straight out of the tube. I learned to enjoy whatever accidental artifacts bloomed up whilst layering. I learned that “painting well” is rather an arbitrary notion, and that “screwing up” can easily be reframed as “painterliness.” 3. What are 3 key principles of making good art, in your opinion? I don’t particularly like the classification of “good art”, since the terms of judgment are arbitrary at best (and fascist at worst), and “bad art” can be just as useful and instructive as “good art”, if we’re naming one or the other. For me, I think best practices can be boiled down to 1. Make art, 2. As much as you can, 3. From the gut. (Wherein “the gut” is both a full, digesting belly of inspiration and thinking, and the inner, automatic impulses of your own mind.) 4. What are the most common mistakes that you see other artists make? Hey, anyone’s entitled to the work that they make, I suppose I’m no better judge than anyone else. For me, personally, I like to see art where the process of, and joy taken in, the making of a piece is apparent. I think the meat of a painting (, drawing, sculpture, thought bubble) is the human-time and human-hand and human-mind encoded therein, not just the final product, and I like to see how much fun the artist had in making it. I think you see a lot of work that looks churned-out and coldly composed, and it’s absolutely boring to me. Think and play your work. Squelch and touch and poke your work. Mess it, ruin it, violence it. It’s not a quiet, sacred ossification of image— it’s a place of mind-play, expression, material-squeezing, mark-making. 5. Can you break your painting process down into 10 steps, or less, for us? 1. Idea/concepting stage: I work constantly, obsessively, in a sketchbook, hours every day. If I need to make a few paintings, I'll pore over the last month or two of work and pull out ideas. Sometimes, if I'm making a series or a show, I'll keep a side thumbnail page of possible paintings. 2. Narrowing: once I have an idea of what I'd like to use for a piece, I'll try to spend some time exploring it in sketches, considering different angles, inclusions, overlays, compositions. If there are a lot of moving parts in the piece, or if the composition could have a few different outcomes, I might make copier paper cutouts of the parts and move them around until I'm happy, and re-draw that. 3. Transferring to painting surface: it varies how closely I follow the sketches. Sometimes I'll take the general idea of what I've been working on in the sketchbook, and re-draw it on the larger paper. Sometimes, if I've spent a lot of time really hammering into the composition, especially for larger paintings, I'll transfer it with an old overhead projector I have. I'll either use a hard graphite pencil or a light red pencil for this bit. I'll have prepped the surface with at least one wash of color before drawing, just to have something down. 4. Starting painting: Typically, I'll get a wash or two of the background in so that I have have a mental base for the other values in the painting. Afterwards, I'll lay in the general values of the painting subjects, just roughly set where the darks are (and the lights, by omission). 5. The boring meat: After laying in values, I'll fill in with opaque layers, bit by bit, in no particular order than my whim at the time (or, sometimes, in a manner that helps balance tones from one side to the other). I usually blend on the piece, so I spend a lot of time moving between sections, blending them into each other. 6. The fun meat: In between layers, or when I feel like it, I write, draw, and collage in the piece. Sometimes I keep track of hours in the piece, sometimes they're shopping or to-do lists, sometimes it's things I've heard on the radio. 7. Loosening: Once larger areas of the piece are complete and blended, it tends to look a little tight, so I'll go through and mess it up with texture brushstrokes. Hatching and whatnot to undo some of the rendering. |
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