Joe Winkler - oil painter and designer

Composition in Art - Suggested Read

2012-02-20T15:18:00.004-05:00

There are loads of books out there on composition in painting (and photography too). All of them contain the same information, but present that information in different ways.

Of all the books I own that contain artistic composition chapters, the one called “Classical Painting Atelier” by Juliette Aristides, is one of my favorites.

Everyone knows what the “rule of thirds” is in pictorial composition, but in Ms. Aristides book, the idea is covered in much greater, and more interesting detail. She Explains and illustrates the “armature of the rectangle”, which is essentially a way to divide the picture plane and place subject matter in a way that will give you an effective, and pleasing composition.

Reading the book, you learn where this harmonic division of space originated, and you see various examples of how great artists have been using this armature for centuries to create their masterpieces (it goes all the way back to music and early Greek civilization folks). The Greeks rocked at artistic composition!

Division of a 10x14 picture plane with armature lines visible.
Circles indicate division of horizontal and vertical thirds.

The book also goes into detail on how that armature has been adapted to picture planes that are not typical rectangles - like altarpieces in a church, or decorative shields (works in tondo) for instance.

The cool thing is, you can take any of your favorite paintings from history, and apply the same divisional lines to them, and learn a bit of the compositional thought process and design decisions made by the artist. This is stuff that makes the viewing experience that much richer!

Ms. Aristides is a super oil painter, and her book is beautiful and informative!

When not working from life, I work from my own photographic source material. The composition chapter in “Classical Painting Atelier” struck me so hard that, shortly after reading it, I catalogued all of the various sizes of canvas and supports I own, then went into Photoshop and created the armature for each size, which I use during the planning stages of my painting process.

The armature of the rectangle applied to a 9x12 still life.

Now when I review reference photos I shoot, I can design and crop them properly, not only putting the center of interest where it should be, but manipulating the secondary parts as well, in a fun effort to come up with the best composition I can.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Say “Wine and Cheese”!

2012-02-13T16:39:00.002-05:00

While my latest hood ornament oil painting patiently awaits me to finish it off, I have begun the block in stage on a new oil painting. It is a little 14x10 inch still life, that will be titled “Wine and Cheese”.

After tweaking the composition on the computer, and transferring the drawing down accurately, I then spray the pencil lines with Krylon fix so they won’t smudge. Next I coat the surface with acrylic matte medium, which goes on milky-white, but dries clear which allows me to do the block in stage seen below.

Tell you a secret though, I didn’t use oil paint at this stage. I used raw umber and black acrylic. That’s the only time I ever use acrylics, as quick under paintings. Sometimes I’ll do a color block in at this stage, but I envision a very muted and limited color scheme as the finish state of this piece.

This composition originated from many reference photos I shot at an office party a couple years ago.
WHAT?! You’re not allowed wine at your office gatherings? How unfortunate for you!

JoeWinklerArt.com

New Oil Painting, Nearly Finished

2012-02-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

Here’s what the new oil painting looks like right now:

A few of the middle values in parts of the hood ornament reflect the warmth of the sunset, while other planes reflect the coolness of the higher part of the sky, away from the horizon, (the apex you might even say).

Either way, the complementary combination of blues and oranges seem to be popping fairly well.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Two Quick Artistic Items

2012-02-07T09:34:00.003-05:00

Item number 1:

In case you missed the story last week, the oldest known copy of da Vinci's Mona Lisa, was discovered at the Prado museum in Spain.

Done perhaps by a pupil of da Vinci, they think that the colors represent what da Vinci’s, looked like when it was freshly done during the Renaissance. Read the entire story by clicking here.

Item number 2:

As I continue to work on my new oil paintings for 2012, I wanted to just give a quick comment about one new art supply I purchased in the past year. It is the artist palette seal from a company called Masterson and it is GREAT.

This thing works fantastically well in keeping my oil paints from drying out. If you’re like me and your schedule does not allow you to oil paint everyday, I highly recommend you buy one of these.

I’m getting more and more into the habit of premixing values and colors. A couple weeks ago I mixed a new palette of colors on a Friday night. Painted with that same palette, the next day, the following Wednesday, the following Saturday and the following Sunday. Each time placing my palette back in the palette seal at the end of the session.

JoeWinklerArt.com

New Oil Painting, Next Steps - Values and Other Decisions

2012-02-02T11:41:00.000-05:00

After working up the background a bit more, I have now begun to further develop the hood ornament itself.

I shot several source photos of this hood ornament at a car show two years ago, all of which I am able to use, despite the fact that each of them are under different lighting conditions. When I shot the reference photos for this, I kept wondering around to different cars, but kept returning to this same car as the sun was going deeper and deeper into the horizon. So my reference shots are a range of cool, overcast light, to sun breaking through the clouds, to full scale silhouetted subject at dusk.

I could have made this simply a silhouette composition with all the emphasis on a dramatic sky, but I didn’t go that way because I wanted to play up the interesting interior shapes of the hood ornament itself.

So the most important things to decide on for next time are the value to use for the darkest shadows, and, the color that will be reflected in the middle tones. There are little to no highlights, but the one or two that are there, will be placed last.

Basically I could, at the next stage, go with a variation of cool colors in the middle tones and make this thing look really metallic (which it is), but that would be totally unrealistic for such a back-lit subject with such a warm sky. I noticed that in one of my last reference shots for this, there’s an awful lot of warmth in the middle tones, so I think I’ll go that direction and see if it works.

Let you know next time!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Step-by-Step Oil Painting Continued

2012-01-30T12:22:00.000-05:00

Here are the next steps in the creation of my new oil painting.

My apologies for the crummy digital shots. Totally my fault. When I’m in the painting groove, it’s tough to stop and set up a proper digital shot. The light was changing fast and I was rushing and hand holding the camera, which is why the colors are a bit different.

This hood ornament is back lit, so you can bet that the subject will be much darker in the following steps. At this point the biggest challenge will be to get that light to flood around the edges of the subject making those edges softer than the rest.

By the way, the answer to the question of, ‘what car does this hood ornament sit atop’, is a Rolls-Royce. The hood ornament from the previous post (below) comes from an old Ford Roadster.

I like to paint hood ornaments.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Another Start of Another Oil Painting

2012-01-25T09:58:00.001-05:00

Perhaps you’ve figured out what vehicle's hood ornament was the subject of my new oil painting in my previous post. Perhaps not.

Either way, along those same lines, here is step one of another new oil painting I’ve got going on:

Come now, you must know what vehicle this beauty sits atop!

Answers to both will come next post.

JoeWinklerArt.com

New Oil Painting Started

2012-01-19T10:48:00.004-05:00

Last spring my oil painting “Packard” won the top honors in a juried group exhibit of about thirty paintings. Pretty sweet.

“Packard” 16x20 inches, oil on canvas

Since I greatly enjoyed doing that painting, not to mention enjoying shooting so much reference for it at various local classic car shows, (see post below) I’ve decided to add similar paintings to my body of work.

Here is the first stage of an oil painting which I began over the holidays:

step one!

Yes, it is another hood ornament. Can you guess what vehicle this one comes from?

JoeWinklerArt.com

Art Photography and Flickr

2012-01-12T10:21:00.002-05:00

I’m an oil painter not a photographer. However, I do enjoy creating images through digital photography (who doesn’t these days) and since I use Photoshop almost every day, own three cameras, and have a large back log of images, I took the opportunity in 2011 to start my own Flickr page.

Here’s a few of my images from the past year, that now live on my Flicker site for all to see (and comment on):

Grand Canyon - found in the “Las Vegas and Arizona 2011” Gallery.

Tennis Player - found in the “Tennis” Gallery.

Nature shot - found in the “Land and Sea” Gallery.

Flickr, in my opinion, is the best photo site to use, even if you’re not on the pro level, because it’s where you get the widest exposure (photo pun intended). Within hours of posting my first few galleries I had page views and comments from people in other countries.

I can only imagine what would happen if I were to let Flickr suck every ounce of spare time out of my life. I”d have no time to oil paint that’s what would happen!

So forget it!!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Rembrandt - Suggested Reading and Viewing

2012-01-07T18:36:00.001-05:00

In the last few months I’ve been on a Rembrandt high. In order to become more educated about his life and art I began reading “Rembrandt’s Eyes” by noted author, professor, and historian Simon Schama.

The book is loaded with detail not only about Rembrandt van Rijn, but about his contemporary, Peter Paul Rubens. I never realized how big of an influence Rubens was on Rembrandt until reading this book. I also never realized that the painting “The Company of Frans Banning Cocq” (commonly known as “The Night Watch”) was cut down in size centuries ago changing its composition for the worse. Sad isn't it?

I’ll be finishing my first read of the book in the weeks ahead. Most of the book has been enjoyable and very informative, but there were sections that I found tough to get through, partly because of my not knowing how to pronounce many Dutch names and locations and partly because Professor Schama goes into so much academic speak-filled detail about various others lives I didn’t much care about.

The other place I’ve turned to for my Rembrandt fix is the DVD, “The Power of Art” from the same Professor Simon Schama. I’ll do a separate post on this box set of DVDs soon, but for now all I can say is, you need to buy this DVD and its accompanying book.

The DVD episodes are beautifully done and the book is fantastic!

JoeWinklerArt.com

2011 The Year That Was

2012-01-05T12:32:00.001-05:00

2011 Was a rather memorable year for me. I enjoyed a good amount of quality time alone in my studio in front of my easel, met some great folks at a few opening receptions I attended (not to mention through Facebook), and even picked up a couple of awards along the way too. The best of those awards was the first place award I earned in an annual juried exhibit of area artists which had around thirty paintings on display.

Me with my award-winning original oil painting "Packard" - May 2011

Even better than the awards however, is the fact that seven of my original oil paintings were sold in 2011. That's more than any previous year, and to me, an encouraging sign which has me fired up big time to keep painting as much as possible in 2012!

"Later That Day" 5x7 oil on canvas collection Ms. Carrie Hutsko.
The first of seven original oil paintings that sold in 2011.

Another great thing that took place in 2011 was the feature article I received from a local newspaper. That article dovetailed perfectly with the opening of my solo exhibit of about thirty oil paintings in July. What a great experience to have a writer come to my home and interview and photograph little old me! An additional bonus was having two of my oil paintings shown in that article as well.

Feature article from June 29, 2011 showing the two original oils “Morning, Drayton Hall” and “Lilly Mesmerized”.

Here is the full “Lilly Mesmerized” painting:

12x24 inch oil on canvas of our cat, Lilly.

I did this painting on short notice over the summer after hearing about an August exhibit which had cats as the theme. There were over 35 paintings in that exhibit, and my painting won the People’s Choice Award, and was chosen by the organizers of the show to be featured on promotional posters advertising the exhibit.

That solo exhibit in July was the best however. It was through that exhibit that I sold six of my original oil paintings. One of which was purchased by HBO star and Pittsburgh native, Joe Manganiello! Joe loves the Steelers, and so do I folks, ...so do I.

2011 - A memorable year indeed!

JoeWinklerArt.com

The Steelers, Pittsburgh, and a Hollywood Connection

2011-12-26T13:58:00.011-05:00

In the previous post I shared a holiday painting that is currently hanging in the Fein Art Gallery in Pittsburgh which has its Holiday exhibit going on now through early January. Here is the second painting that is part of that same exhibit:

"Steelers Ornament" 5x7 oil on canvas

This past summer I exhibited "Steelers Ornament" in my solo show of about thirty originals, which included the rest of my holiday oil paintings up to that time. The venu was the Mt. Lebanon Public Library which is a few miles from where I grew up. Mt. Lebanon is a nice suburb of Pittsburgh, and the library there has a clean and spacious gallery entrance. The exhibit got good feedback and I sold two paintings, but the “Steelers Ornament” was not one of them. A few months later however that was to change.

Of all the good words I received about the painting, none was better than the comments I received, via a phone conversation, from Pittsburgh native, and Steeler Fan Joe Manganiello.

I am clueless about the current "A list" of Hollywood stars who are from my own hometown. It was through a friend I found out that Mr. Manganiello, aside from being a Pittsburgh native and rabid Steeler fan, is (and has been for a long while) a very well known talent in the entertainment world.

Joe Manganiello, Steeler Fan, and all around good Joe.

Suffice it to say that I am now happier than ever that my oil painting "Steelers Ornament" did not sell last summer, because it will soon be added to the private collection of award-winning actor, and Pittsburgh native, Mr. Joe Manganiello!

Happy Holidays everybody!!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Another New Holiday Painting

2011-12-15T14:01:00.000-05:00

Well I’m finally coming up for air after a few very long days at the computer with my graphic design hat on. The fruits of those long days will be seen early in 2012 (if you live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) in the form of ads, billboards, bus shelters, mall duratrans, along with a 16 page quarterly newsletter for a local hospital.

Other than that I've been preparing for the holidays by selling more holiday-themed paintings. Since the previous post, my holiday painting “Happy Holidays” was sold. That's four holiday paintings sold this year! Speaking of holiday paintings here is another new one that is now in the Fein Art gallery in Pittsburgh's North Side.

"Holiday Kiss" 5x7 oil on canvas

Click here to go to the homepage of the Fein Art Gallery which has its Holiday Exhibit going on now through early January.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Exclusive Preview!

2011-12-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

Since the Holiday season is right around the corner I have decided to start giving already! Today I give you a painting which is so new that it hasn't even made its way on to JoeWinklerArt.com yet.

"Happy Holidays" 5x7 inch oil on canvas.

As new as this piece is however, it is already all but sold! I presented it to the person who purchased my "Cutouts" and "Jolly Old Elf" paintings, (seen below) and he told me he will be getting this one as well.

"Jolly Old Elf" 5x7 inch oil on canvas

"Cutouts" 5x7 inch oil on canvas

Joe WinklerArt.com

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

2011-11-22T10:38:00.000-05:00

I am writing this post on the 48th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination. Being interested in history I am sometimes inspired by it enough to get an idea for a painting. Here is a painting I did, as a student, after hearing about some historical parallels between the Lincoln and Kennedy administrations.

“Lincoln and Kennedy” 10x15 inches, oil on board

Truth really is stranger, (and I think much more interesting) than fiction - even the fiction of crazy conspiracy theorists where the Kennedy assassination is concerned.

There is a super piece on the New York Times web site about just that. CLICK HERE and watch the video of scholar and writer Josiah Thompson explain the real story of a figure seen on the Zapruder film, who "wing nut" conspiracy theorists have pointed to for years as being one of the shooters that day - The Umbrella Man.

It’s a great comment on how we as Americans view this historical event on a very different level than other events - And how truth really is stranger than fiction!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Shooting New Cookies

2011-11-16T12:31:00.001-05:00

I’ve been busier than I’d like with graphic design work lately and can only take a moment to share one of the new Holiday paintings I’ve recently done. Here is the re-worked cookie painting that a patron has been clamoring for.

Cutouts, 5x7 oil on canvas

Scroll down to the previous post to see the first version of this little painting. A few differences here and there, but basically the same composition, which is what my buyer wanted. Frankly I’m tired of looking at it, but it will be used on the JoeWinklerArt.com holiday card for this year. Sorry to spoil the surprise if you’re on my mailing list, but such is life in the information saturation age that we live in.

I photographed this painting last weekend along with a few others and the resulting electronic files I get are always pleasing.

I almost always shoot my paintings prior to varnishing them because there is less glare that way. I always shoot my work the same way which is with my Canon G-10, out of doors, in open shade, using a tripod, and placing the painting on an easel.

Next, I always set the white balance to cloudy, and use the lowest ISO I can, and the fastest shutter speed I can. Then I’ll put the camera in self-timer mode so the picture is taken without me touching the camera, and freeing up my hands to position any reflectors and things.

And last but not least, I always make sure to shoot a RAW file as opposed to a JPG, which gives me a nice huge, information-packed file to process up really right, big, and good on my computer.

Oh yeah! - Getting back to the graphic design work I mentioned, click here for the electronic version of the latest newsletter I designed for a local hospital client!

Now on to the next crisis...

JoeWinklerArt.com

Random Note and a Photography Sidebar

2011-11-08T13:02:00.002-05:00

Here is one of my holiday paintings that was just purchased by a family member.

"Cutouts", 5x7 oil on canvas

I just finished an updated version of this for another buyer who really wanted an original of this composition. I don’t have a picture of that one yet, but I will soon. I refined the brushwork a bit and “fixed” a couple things. I don’t plan to make a habit of recreating existing paintings though. I like to come up with new compositions.

Photography Sidebar:

Many folks have a digital camera but don’t know how to use it. Some people have a digital camera and know how use it, but cannot create visually pleasing compositions. Perhaps you are one of the former or the latter.

Being a graphic artist and oil painter, how could I not own several cameras, and shoot a bunch of imagery? Like many other folks I had tons of images sitting on my hard drives and archive disks. So what I did recently was begin processing and uploading all my best images to my new Flickr Photo stream.

Every once in a while I plan to feature one of my photos here, talk about my work flow, and about what makes a good composition and why. So please click here to check out my photos on my Flicker Page and let me know what you think!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Postcards From an Opening Reception

2011-10-31T12:44:00.001-04:00

Had a real nice time at the opening reception of the Pittsburgh Society of Artists Annual Exhibit the other night. I went stag but did have my camera with me to shoot these views for you. The venu was the Fein Arts Gallery on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Postcard One: View upon entering the gallery space.

To make the night even better, my painting, “Salt and Pepper” was sold within an hour and a half of the start of the reception!

Postcard Two: A patron ponders my piece.

I was a bit surprised at the amount of photography in the show. It was great however, to see the jurors top prize going to a really well-done (and realistic) oil landscape.

Overall the reception was well attended and enjoyable.

Postcard Three: Mixing and mingling.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Kinstler at the Portrait Gallery - Part 2

2011-10-25T16:33:00.001-04:00

Everett Raymond Kinstler did a couple really cool portraits of author Tom Wolf, one of which I saw, and shot, in the National Portrait Gallery in D.C.

"Tom Wolfe" by Everett Raymond Kinstler

There’s something about a subject on an all white background I have always liked. Can’t put my finger on why, perhaps it’s the way the subject just naturally pops off the canvas.

The greatest portrait artists of today can capture the “likeness”, as well as the real essence of their sitters, without over-working the paint. By that I mean placing a stroke and leaving it alone, then placing another stroke and leaving it alone, and so on, and so on, with a minimum of mixing, blending, pushing, pulling, scraping, or smoothing.

Kinstler does that beautifully because, (again) he is so good at nailing the values which enables him to confidently place stroke next to stroke next to stroke, almost sculpting the paint to the shape of the subject, until finished. Takes years most artists to become that confident and skilled.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Portrait Gallery Highlights - Kinstler

2011-10-21T11:27:00.004-04:00

J.C. Leyendecker is my favorite commercial illustrator of all time. John Singer Sargent is my favorite fine art oil painter ever. Both of them belong to history now, even though their work lives on as a testament to their greatness.

Of the many living masters of the present day whose work I love to look at is the acclaimed portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler.

One of many portraits by Everett Raymond Kinstler in the National Portrait Gallery.

Kinstler is the John Singer Sargent of today's world. He started out in illustration, but for the past 40 years or so, has been painting outstanding portraits of everyone from American Presidents, to film icons, to authors, to corporate CEOs.

The National Portrait Gallery in Washington has a good many of his portraits, some of which I shot while there, and wanted to show you.

One of Everett Raymond Kinstler's paintings of Ronald Reagan.

Kinstler's painting of Katharine Hepburn.

Most of his paintings are more "sketchy" than John Singer Sargent's which I don't mind at all. I'm in awe of both artists.

Detail of Kinstler's painting of Katharine Hepburn.

To me this is further proof of a lesson I learned a few years ago - value is more important than color, Kinstler, like Sargent and every other great painter, nails the values of each nuance of every plane of the subject. This face could be painted in all blues and still look fantastic because the values are so perfect.

JoeWinklerArt.com

John Singer Sargent Painting at National Portrait Gallery in Washington

2011-10-17T16:37:00.000-04:00

Of all the paintings I saw in the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, John Singer Sargent's portrait of the Victorian beauty, Elizabeth Winthrop Chandler, was my favorite.

"Elizabeth Winthrop Chandler", by John Singer Sargent, 1893

The painting measures roughly 49x40 inches, and is situated in such a way that as you walk through the doorway of the room it resides in, it is the first piece to grab your attention - and grab mine it did.

I’ve seen this work many times in books, but seeing this, in person really gave me a new appreciation for the high degree of "finish" Sargent's work has. The entire paint surface, from the supple skin of her face to the loosely painted areas of the background, are so confidently executed it's amazing. The paint is luscious and buttery in all the right spots, while other areas are thinly painted leaving bits of the canvas ground color showing through.

Like every great traditional painter, Sargent lays in the middle and dark values first, before moving on to the lighter values. Sargent, draws very confidently with the brush, probably using that umber color on the left side of her neck. That area seems to me, to be left untouched right through finish. Why? Because Sargent is such a master of values that no more reworking of the darks is needed. They dovetail beautifully with the rest of the values and colors of the painting from beginning to end.

Edges are hugely important in paintings. They can draw the viewers eye to an area by being more sharp, or they can make areas less noticeable by being more blurred or fuzzy. I love looking at edges in Sargent’s paintings. The sharpest edge in this painting is the right side of her lovely face.

Look at the soft edges of her eyes (below). They are soft-edged but that’s fine because in most portraits a viewer’s eyes will lock right in on the sitters eyes. In the few portraits I’ve ever done, the eyes were always too hard-edged.

Just look at the loose way her hands (along with the rest of the painting) is executed, in comparison to the face. While viewing the entire work and focusing in on her beautiful eyes, the viewers eyes reads those hands as if they were painted as detailed as the face, yet when we isolate them, we can see that Sargent was such a virtuoso that he can render the hands and jewels with quick but delicate strokes of both thick and thin paint and they look just right.

This is why I can easily spend up to 40 minutes or more at a museum in front of a painting I love. First I like to take in the whole work and consider the placement of elements compositionally, while thinking about what part of the piece my eye was drawn to first and why it was drawn there. Next I look close and study every detail of the paint surface that I’m drawn to, edges, colors and all. Then I’ll step back again. Finally I’ll shake my head and slowly walk away.

JoeWinklerArt.com

The National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.

2011-10-11T10:12:00.004-04:00

The other gallery I spent an entire day enjoying on my D.C. trip was the National Portrait Gallery, which is connected to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. As the visitor's guide states, "Two Great Museums, One Incredible Place". This was my first time back there since the recent renovation and had I known how much there was to see I would have planned to spend a second day there.

Here are some views I shot of the interior:

The building is Greek revival in style and dates from the 1800s. In fact, it was the site of President Lincoln's second inaugural ball.

Structurally, it is similar to an Italian villa, where there is a central open courtyard, which is surrounded by the actual building. Picture left and right bracket keys on a keyboard joined together.

By far the coolest new feature is the contemporary yet elegant, undulating glass and steel dome that was built over that courtyard, which lets natural light flood the place during daylight hours.

What an enjoyable place to eat and relax, after seeing some amazing paintings! I’ll show you some of my favorites of those paintings next post.

Lunchtime!

JoeWinklerArt.com

More John Singer Sargent at the National Gallery of Art

2011-10-06T10:12:00.002-04:00

Here is another great oil painting by John Singer Sargent that hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

John Singer Sargent, “Repose”

This was his niece, Rose-Marie Ormond. This is a less of a “finished” painting than the one in the previous post, and it is smaller (only 25 inches without the frame). However it is no less amazing to study. Just look at the wonderful brushwork of that gown!

Loosely executed, but confidently calculated!

The blue light bouncing off certain areas just makes it sing doesn’t it? The dominant color in this piece is on the blue/cool side of the color wheel. The color that sets off the blue areas are the warm yellow/gold notes of the huge gilded frame and Victorian side table next to her. As far as color goes, using a dominant color overall, with select areas of the color that is opposite it on the color wheel is a tried and true method for creating a successful composition.

Oh you just Love Sargent!

JoeWinklerArt.com

John Singer Sargent at the National Gallery of Art

2011-10-03T10:53:00.004-04:00

There are many great, paintings by American artists in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Eakins, Homer, Chase, and Whistler are all in the NGA's collection.

Winslow Homer “Home, Sweet Home”

My favorite American painter – indeed my favorite painter of all time – is in fact the least "American" of all the American artists in the National Galleries' collection. He is John Singer Sargent.

John Singer Sargent later in life.

He lived from 1856 to 1925 and was born in Europe to parents who had roots near Philadelphia but had lived in Europe for years before his birth. Sargent was gifted from childhood and living in the seat of cultural Europe and having a family with the means to remain there only helped his talent grow. He was a most masterful artist, and a virtuoso at manipulating oil paint to convey any subject he chose.

John Singer Sargent “Mrs. Adrian Iselin” 71 1/2 x 48 1/8 x 4 in.

Every time I'm at the National Gallery and I see the painting above, I end up studying those hands. Particularly her right one, with the pinky extended. Just look at a close-up of that brushwork!

As with all masters of any discipline, he makes it look easy. Trust me, it's not! Look at those small strokes that are mere touches of the brush - They render form so convincingly and yet are so casually done! Of course the colors and values are spot on as well, which is a huge part (and only one part mind you) of the challenge of doing this type of oil painting.

Among all of Sargent’s awesome artistic talents was his ability to pose his subjects just so, and positioning a subjects hands is a huge part of that challenge.

Most of these types of portraits are huge because they were meant to hang in the huge victorian mansions of the subjects. Look at the angle I had to take in order to get as close as I could to the face.

Sargent has been dismissed by some modern day critics as being a mere "high society" portrait painter. To me his painting skills are above and beyond any painter of any era. Any classically-trained oil painter would love to have his skills and gain the notoriety he achieved during his lifetime because of those skills. He could paint any subject under the sun, and paint it beautifully. No surprise then, (and not a knock against him in my book) that he chose to paint subjects that could pay large sums of money for his work.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Selling an Elf

2011-09-27T13:15:00.004-04:00

Most folks like Christmas or "the holidays". Many folks like elves, and everybody enjoys vintage ornaments. So it only follows that lots of folks like vintage elf ornaments at Christmas and the holidays! And what better way to bring to a crescendo the warm and fuzzy merging of folks love of elves, ornaments, Christmas, and the holidays than in a painting? A painting of a vintage holiday elf ornament!

"Jolly Old Elf" 5x7 inches, oil on canvas

I received a lot of positive feedback when this painting was displayed in my solo exhibit back in July, but nobody bought it at that time. That's why it's always good, in a solo show, (if the venue will allow it) to include plenty of sample sheets with contact information for viewers to take.

In addition to holidays, ornaments, and elves, people love free stuff. Sample sheets, even more so than business cards, are kept in prominent places by interested viewers who at some point may want to make a purchase. I’ve had people email me to say they have my sample sheet tacked up on their cubical walls at work. It’s encouraging when someone contacts me about buying a piece months after an exhibit closes.

That's what happened recently when I received a call from a local gentleman who purchased “Jolly Old Elf” to give to a sibling this holiday season. I've got a couple more small holiday pieces I'm now working up that he wants to potentially purchase for other family members as well. What a great feeling it was after we met, to watch him page through my website galleries on his smartphone and get his reaction to my work first hand. This is the second holiday painting I've sold in the past month.

Yes, it's the holidays all year long!

JoeWinklerArt.com

National Gallery of Art Inspiration - Baroque and Dutch

2011-09-23T11:11:00.002-04:00

Generally speaking, one of my favorite periods of art history is the 1600s (otherwise known as the 17th century). This is the Baroque period. A period in which some of the greatest oil painters lived and brought to full bloom the art of classic, traditional oil painting.

Peter Paul Rubens, "Daniel in the Lion's Den"

The followers of Caravaggio mentioned in the last post and, Caravaggio himself, are sometimes included in this period. Their work certainly had the drama-filled light and action, that the period is known for, yet I've seen books that place them in the High Renaissance. There are rarely clean breaks in general history. It’s mostly just gradual change that becomes apparent and “defined” when looking back, and the history of art is no different.

Masterworks

Either way, the rooms at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. hold many treasures from this period, including among them masterworks from the Dutch school which include Rembrandt van Rijn and Frans Hals.

Here are shots I took of some Dutch paintings from the swingin’ 1600s:

Frans Hals, “Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard” (detail)

Jan de Bray, “Portrait of the Artist's Parents, Salomon de Bray and Anna Westerbaen” (detail)

One of Rembrandt’s self portraits in detail.

Of course another great Dutch master of that time is Johannes Vermeer. Two paintings of his not to be missed on a visit to NGA is “Girl with the Red Hat” and “Woman Holding a Balance”. They hang in little gallery 50c, which is part of the “cabinet galleries” display. Here is a shot of my wife looking at “Girl with the Red Hat". I was surprised and encouraged, at how small a well known masterpiece can actually be!

Click here for a quick NGA video that will help you to appreciate this little gem!

JoeWinklerArt.com

National Gallery of Art Inspiration - High Renaisance

2011-09-18T21:14:00.001-04:00

After the Titian paintings in my previous post, the next group of paintings I was in awe of at the National Gallery, were those of the Late Renaissance and Baroque period.

Not having any Caravaggios in their collection, the two that were the most Caravaggio-like were the ones below, by Gentileschi and Ribera, and they were fantastic to see in person. Unfortunately my hand was not steady enough to get a clear enough close-up shot to share here.

Gentileschi was one of a group of painters who carried on the techniques of the master Caravaggio. This subject was a popular one in early 1600s Italy. This particular piece has a little still-life incorporated into it too.

Orazio Gentileschi “The Lute Player”

Both images use light in a way not seen in earlier Renaissance works. I love the dark, neutral backgrounds that really help push the subject to the front

Jusepe De Ribera “The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew”

The High Renaissance is well represented in the rooms at the National Gallery of Art, but so is one of my favorite periods, 1600s Baroque. We’ll look at those next post.

JoeWinklerArt.com

National Gallery of Art Inspiration - Titian

2011-09-16T11:24:00.002-04:00

The next paintings that really captured my attention were a few portraits by the Venetian master, Titian.

Among the many reasons these portraits are great is their vivid color, and the illusion of texture he achieved in the sitters clothes. The thin application of paint, right next to areas of more solid impasto paint, especially in the clothing, are what make the subject really tangible. As with the Raphael from the previous post, the delicate way in which the faces are executed, and the softness at key edges are something to be appreciated in person.

Titian, "Cardinal Pietro Bembo" (detail)

The sense that I was seeing actual personalties from over 500 years ago, as opposed to idealized religious subjects was very cool. Just standing so close to these paintings and knowing that this is as close as one can get to being in the presence of the master in his own world, (so very different from our own time) was quite a rush!

Titian, "Ranuccio Farnese" (detail)

Main technical difference to note between these paintings and earlier Renaissance paintings in the National Gallery, is the paint texture getting thicker in highlight areas which makes the brush work more apparent. Titian, sometimes referred to as the first “modern” painter, was one of the earliest painters to begin to move away from the soft, smokey edge techniques and oils on wood panels, to more direct methods of oil painting on canvas.

We'll move on to some Late Renaissance pieces next time.

JoeWinklerArt.com

National Gallery of Art Inspiration - High Renaissance

2011-09-14T09:52:00.001-04:00

Pillars-National Gallery of Art Entrance

One of the best days of my recent Washington D.C. holiday was spent at the National Gallery of Art. I was there from open to close one day exploring the West buildings' galleries which is where the classic paintings of Europe and North America are hung.

To start off there is a large selection of works from various periods of the Renaissance, which includes the only Leonardo in America. But my favorite high Renaissance painting was Raphael's "Alba Madonna".

Seeing a work like that in person really gives one an appreciation for the quality of the paint surface and the glaze technique (called "sfumato") that no reproduction can capture. Certain areas are so thinly applied in glazes that it's a wonder the illusion of three dimensional form can be achieved so beautifully. Not to mention the amazing color. And there's scarcely a brush stroke to be found anywhere.

By the way, the cast shadows on these images is from that ornate frame, which was just honkin' huge and awesome in itself. I didn't use flash in my photography (scroll down to see my last post concerning that), but paid the price because I didn't bring a mono-pod and could not hold the camera steady enough in the low light of these rooms to get a really sharp image.

In general I think I like Raphael's paintings better than most of the High Renaissance work I see in books and museums. It's a pity he had to die so soon (at only 27). Raphael's figures are a bit more natural than Michelangelo's, and the colors of this particular Madonna more vivid than any Leonardo painting I've seen.

Speaking of vivid color, there were some fantastic Titian's on view in the next few rooms.

We'll look at those a little closer next time.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Back From a D.C. Holiday

2011-09-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

Just returned from an art inspiring few days in Washington D.C. Had a couple super gallery visits to the National Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Gallery. In the next few posts I will be sharing my photos of my favorite paintings (yes photography is allowed in the galleries) and discussing why they are my favorites.

But for today, just going to show some photos I took in the midst of some real bad weather. It rained hard all but one day I was there so my outdoor photo options were limited to say the least. I felt my typical shots of the Lincoln Memorial needed some interest so here’s what I came up with:

I really wanted to walk around the tidal basin at sundown and shoot the Jefferson Memorial and other things, but I never got there, mostly because of the weather, and partially because I expended all my energy milling about the art museums from open until close.

In a totally UNretouched image, here is an example of just how much it rained and how heavy the cloud cover was:

That cast shadow on the clouds from the spotlight tells the tail. If you’ve never been there, believe me the capital building is huge but it isn’t real tall. Heavy cloud coverage.

Bats fly around the top of the dome too, which you can see better if you click the image.

One last photo note - I always chuckle to myself when I see folks using flash photography in the art museums. Using flash just destroys the image that is recorded more often than not, by putting a huge white glare right over a portion of the image. And if the painting being shot is behind glass, forget about seeing any image at all. Either bring a monopod or just turn up the ISO and hold the camera extra steady when shooting. I think people in general over estimate the amount of light needed in digital photography.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Inspirational Holiday

2011-09-05T14:46:00.001-04:00

Well, September came quick this year and it’s time for the blog to take a holiday. It’s going to be an inspirational one because I will be visiting Washington D.C. and going to the National Gallery of Art as well as the National Portrait Gallery.

National Gallery of Art interior

National Portrait Gallery interior

One of the great things about living where I live is that D.C. and the National Gallery of Art, is only a few hours drive away. One of the bad things about living where I live is that we only get a certain amount of good weather every year, so I admittedly am more prolific in my art during the Fall and Winter seasons than I am in the Spring or Summer. So this trip comes at a good time since it should stoke my painting fires really right for the months ahead.

Below are some of the great paintings in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

"Girl with a Red Hat" by Johannes Vermeer

"Street in Venice" by John Singer Sargent

"The Biglin Brothers Racing" by Thomas Eakins

“Ginevera de Benci” by Leonardo da Vinci

If you’ve ever been to the National Gallery of Art or the National Portrait Gallery, e-mail me and let me know which paintings were your favorites and why.

Finally, click here for a great YouTube video about Vermeer’s “Girl with a Red Hat”.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Salt and Pepper

2011-08-29T17:05:00.000-04:00

The newest still life I've completed this year continues the "perishable goods" theme that I seem to be on the last few years. Totally unintentional that mind you. It's just that I tend to paint what is always close at hand. And I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables!

"Salt and Pepper"

Totally going for the alternate meaning/play on words, and a bit of whimsey in this piece that will bring a chuckle (if not a full blown snort) out of the viewer. I like the fact that my realistic and drama-lit way of painting it contrasts with, and twists that humor.

To me what really makes this composition work is the little girls gaze.

In any painting with a figure, the viewer's eye is going to follow the path that the main figure is looking. Then the viewer's eye sees what the subject sees and automatically flows right back to that main figure, thereby holding the viewers attention for more than a mere second or two. And really, isn't that the aim of every good painting?
Well certainly!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Another Award!

2011-08-19T12:39:00.004-04:00

THANK YOU to everyone out there who voted for my painting in the “Hello Kitty” fine art exhibit in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. With your help my painting has won the People’s Choice Award!

“Lilly Mesmerized” 12x24 inches, oil on canvas

In a non-juried exhibit such as this, that is a huge honor - there are many super paintings in the show, so I appreciate it! The exhibit runs until the end of August.

What a year so far! This is the second award I’ve received in four months. Read my April 18th post for information about the previous award-winning piece.

A thousand Thank Yous my rich American friends!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Selling "Urn with Fruit"

2011-08-16T09:26:00.001-04:00

This is one of the original oil still lifes which sold in my solo exhibit last month.

"Urn with Fruit" 9x12 inches

This painting is a good example of where much of my art is headed - fun and elegant still lives where I can control the entire setup, lights and all. They're not all going to be fruit of course!

I paint because I enjoy painting and I like to enjoy the fruits of my labor beyond monetary gain. Selling this piece was bitter-sweet for me because I became emotionally attached to it.

The fact it sold because someone appreciates it as much as I do meant a lot. I had a great deal of fun executing it, then got to enjoy looking at it myself for a couple of years on my wall before selling it. That is the exact scenario I'd like to have for every piece I create!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Fruit

2011-08-12T09:35:00.000-04:00

In keeping with the theme of fun still lifes, here is another oil I had acres of fun executing. This one is a bit larger than 5x7.

"Fruit" 8x10 inches

Just looking to create a classic fruit still life on this one. I work from my own photo reference when I do use reference photography, and with perishable subjects such as this, you pretty much have to work from photos unless you're doing a quick sketch.

Rarely if ever will I paint entirely verbatim from my photos. In this case the major adjustments (some call it creative license) came in the look of the tabletop and the cloth napkin (which was a white paper napkin in reality).

JoeWinklerArt.com

Small Still Lifes - Part 2 and Batman in Pittsburgh

2011-08-10T10:15:00.002-04:00

The main reason I decided to get into painting more still lifes is the amount of control I could have over my subjects during the concept stage.

"Oranges, Lemons, Pear" 5x7 oil on canvas - collection of Ms. Cherina Pelissier.

I almost have as much fun setting up a still life and lighting it as I do executing the actual painting.

The added bonus of course is that using perishable subjects means I work a lot from photos, and that gives me a chance to use and remember the full functionality of a couple of nice digital cameras I own.

Speaking of digital photos, here are a few quick shots I took in the city of Pittsburgh this morning, which doubles as Hollywood - I mean "Gotham" city - these days for the filming of the movie “Batman-The Dark Night Returns” or rises, or whatever it’s called.:

In these shots, Oliver Avenue from the corner of Wood Street has been turned into a winter wonderland in August through the magic of Hollywood (and a huge snow machine).

JoeWinklerArt.com

Small Still Lifes - Part 1

2011-08-08T10:40:00.000-04:00

I made a decision about five years ago to do two things; paint more "classic" still lifes, and work on a smaller scale. The paintings featured in today's post are the first fruits of that turning point in my art.

"Still Life with Statue"

There were a few factors which made me decide to go in this direction, not the least of which was the fact that my landscapes began to look the same to me after awhile. Seemed as though I was in a bit of a rut.

"Still Life with Watering Can"

These are little 5x7 inch paintings which is a nice scale to work at, when you want to do something different, and complete a painting in a day or a weekend.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Light in august

2011-08-04T09:47:00.000-04:00

Today's featured painting is a little 5x7 landscape called "Light in August". This painting was purchased earlier this year by a lady who wanted it to go with another small still life she bought from me two years ago.

As the title states, the subject is the sunlight streaking through the trees and lighting that patch of grass in the middle ground of the picture plane. The brook helps to give some depth and interest to the scene.

One other element that helps add interest to the scene and lets the viewer's eye "escape" is the faint patch of sky at top right. It may seem trivial, but if you take that away and just have a dense wall of trees there, the scene becomes much more oppressive.

To a viewer, this scene could be pretty much anywhere, which I'm fine with because the goal was to render sunlight and exude a feeling of serenity. Truth be known, it's a park called "Mingo Creek" not far from my studio.

I borrowed the title from a William Faulkner novel - hey, it fits right?

JoeWinklerArt.com

Book Suggestion of the Week

2011-08-02T09:49:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I finished reading “The Greater Journey, American’s in Paris” by Pittsburgh’s own David McCullough. It was a fun and somewhat entertaining read about how experiences in the seat of cultural Europe - the city of Paris - influenced and shaped some of the greatest American minds of the 1800s which in turn shaped the development of America. At the time of this writing it is number five on the New York Times best seller list.

I enjoyed the book mainly because I want badly to get to Paris someday, and I liked reading Mr. McCullough’s descriptions of some great American artists, some of which I knew very little about. It was not as great as his other books I’ve read however, and I didn’t quite understand why until I read the “Books of the Times” review by Janet Maslin. The premise of the book is a bit flimsy. The period covered is from late 1820s to 1900 and many Americans from various backgrounds went to Paris and different parts of Europe which became a life changing experience for them.

But I agree (sadly) with Ms. Maslin when she writes: “...Mr. McCullough is hard-pressed to sustain the idea of a unified “them” (meaning various Americans in Paris) at the heart of his book. So he is forced to make awkward juxtapositions and segues among people who did not cross the Atlantic at the same time..., did not live a shared narrative and did not share all that much common ground. He ends up delivering the kinds of space-filling observations that might not even pass muster in a high-school history paper. This is not the side of Mr. McCullough that has made him a national treasure.” Ouch!

The vignettes of the peoples lives (especially the artists) were very entertaining though, and the time period covered gives some very interesting glimpses of how European’s viewed historical American turning points of the 1800s such as the civil war.

Bottom line, I like David McCullough, so I say buy the book. When you’re done, if you don’t want it, take it to your local Half-Price Books and trade it in for “John Adams” or “1776” by the same author, or perhaps a biography of John Singer Sargent. Had I not received a signed copy I’d probably do the same with this one.

You read it and let me know what you think.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Christmas In July - Part 2

2011-07-28T16:30:00.000-04:00

Here is another little 5x7 oil painting which I used as a holiday card. This piece is also a part of my solo exhibit at the Mt. Lebanon Library in the sunny South Hills of Pittsburgh.

It’s fun zooming in on tree ornaments and trying to render their light effects.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Christmas... In July?

2011-07-26T10:15:00.001-04:00

Well not exactly.

As part of my current solo exhibit of twenty-seven paintings going on in the South Hills of Pittsburgh this month, there are three still lifes that have garnered some very positive public feedback. In fact, one has just recently been purchased.

All three paintings are little, five by seven inch, oils that have a Christmas theme. I’ve been doing a new painting for the holiday season every year for the past few years. This becomes my holiday card I send out to friends, collectors, and art galleries.

The subject of this particular still life is an arrangement of holiday cookies my mother made. The title is “Cutouts”. There were infinite compositions for this subject (almost as infinite as the number of cookies she makes) and I’ll probably execute some of them in the future, but I settled on this arrangement for now. If I keep the scale the same, but ad more cookies it could become almost an abstract composition, which could be cool if done right.

Next time we’ll look at another holiday-themed oil painting!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-07-20T10:25:00.001-04:00

Since the better part of the country is currently under a huge dome of heat and humidity that makes it feel like a greenhouse out of doors, just thought I’d share this rose sketch today. We have roses in our front garden and they thrive in this type of weather (as long as we keep them watered that is).

I did this for my Sketchbook Project 2011 book. Doing a loose, graduated background like this helps to give interest to a single, simple subject.

JoeWinklerArt.com

"Hello Kitty!" Exhibit Reception

2011-07-14T12:04:00.000-04:00

My latest oil painting of our hairy, but lovable, half-a-lump cat is now being displayed in a new exhibit in the Sewickley area of Pittsburgh. Here is the little E-vite I designed for the reception and sent out to folks.

Consider yourself invited!

Here is a link to more specifics about the oil painting itself!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Photography Sidebar - Part 2

2011-07-12T15:39:00.002-04:00

The cool thing about photography is that in order to turn an average snapshot into a really good artistic shot, the same design and composition rules apply as in painting. The one rather challenging difference in sports (in this case tennis) photography however, is that the subject is moving really fast so you can’t control the subject. You have to just know where the action is going to take place, set yourself up, and hang on for the ride!

Here are some shots I took at this years PNC Bank “Futures of Pittsburgh” event in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. Lebanon that I mentioned last post. It just ended last Sunday.

One fun thing to do, is zoom in on players faces after the points. Sometimes these type of shots can really tell a story.

One, non-tennis photography, note for today - Christie’s is auctioning a bunch of never seen photos of the first American tour of your favorite band and mine, The Beatles. Click here to bid on these beautiful signed gelatin silver prints. Click here to read the Ecatalogue.

joewinklerart.com

Photography Sidebar - Part 1

2011-07-07T23:05:00.000-04:00

In past posts I’ve mentioned my affinity for drawing tennis players in action. Mainly I draw from photos I shoot. Sometimes though, I’ll work from old photos as well.

There’s a few reasons I enjoy tennis sketching. First, I love the game of tennis. Love to watch it, love to play it. Second, it gives me practice in drawing the human figure in poses that no live model could hold for very long. Lastly, drawing from tennis action shots gives me practice in indicating clothing (drapery and folds) on a figure.

Aside from sketching however, I like digital photography and the challenges that shooting the game of tennis brings. I have shot a huge bank of tennis photos over the years. Even though I don’t make it a point to travel to the tennis ATP tour events, I am still able to get some sweet artistic photos at local pro events. One of those events is happening this week called the “Futures of Pittsburgh” (now sponsored by PNC Bank), which is a low-level USTA event.

Here are a few shots I’ve taken at that event in years past that are decent enough to stand alone as artistic photographic compositions as opposed to just simple sketch reference shots.

As every digital photography enthusiast (which I am one) will attest, only one out of about every fifty or so shots ends up being good enough to process into a nice artistic photo composition. That’s the great thing about digital photography though - no wasted shots, since it’s so easy to delete them. And I used the term “process” because if you’re like me and shoot RAW as opposed to JPG, then there’s a bit more work to be done after pressing the shutter button and downloading to your hard drive.

More photography stuff next time!

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketchs and Exhibit Postcards

2011-07-03T15:38:00.001-04:00

Today’s featured pencils come from my sketchbook which is part of the Sketchbook Tour 2011.

The next stop for the tour is the Hyde Park Art Center at 5020 South Cornell Avenue, in Chicago IL. It will be displayed there from July 14-17. It’s like a concert tour but with sketchbooks.

This is basically the preliminary sketch for what became my painting “Lilly Mesmerized”, which currently hangs in an exhibit at a public library in one of Pittsburgh’s lovely suburbs.

This was done in about an hour from a photo I shot (and boy do I have a lot of photos of her). That's the tough part about composing a picture of pets, they just move so darn fast and the lighting being less than good inside, and me being not a big fan of using flash - it just adds up to a pile of not real good reference. But this one was good. Too good to pass on doing a painting of.

I do of course sketch her from life sometimes. Most of those time are when she’s sleeping, curled up in the shape of a big hairy apostrophe. Here are some of those sketches:

One final note - my solo exhibit is now up in the Public Library of Mt. Lebanon which is in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. The exhibit will last through the entire month of July. Here are some shots of that show just after set up.

Click here to read local press coverage of the exhibit!

joewinklerart.com

Light Manipulation and a Good Book

2011-06-29T14:36:00.003-04:00

Here is another landscape where I used the technique discussed previously, which is the technique of placing the immediate foreground into shadow to pull the viewers eyes into a picture more effectively.

It’s done to a lesser degree here than in the painting from last post. If I were to do this one over again, I would really darken that foreground grass more and darken the water more too. It’s all about contrast, and the illusion that something from outside the picture plane is affecting the light within it. That’s what automatically gives a sense of depth to the viewer.

I was mistaken in my last post - I have used that little trick in still life subjects. Here's one now:

There really is no foreground or background here, but the idea is the same - something outside the picture plane is casting a shadow across the center of interest. In this case the object is on the left, outside the picture, and its shadow creeps up the left side and over the subject. I really darkened down all the other edges on this one as well, to really pump up the drama of the subject.

Bit of art news of note today - The huge oil painting “Gallery of the Louvre” painted by Samuel F. B. Morse (yes, the inventor of the Morse Code) is now being exhibited in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. near the East Garden Court of the West Building. Here is the painting:

I love the timing of this at the National Gallery because in his new book called “The Greater Journey, Americans in Paris” author and Pittsburgh native David McCullough tells the entire story of how this painting was executed. Morse was a man who many folks didn’t realize was a painter prior to being an inventor and his story is very interesting. All goes well, I’ll be in D.C. this summer to see it.

I went to the book release for this book, heard Mr. McCullough speak, and got a signed copy which I’m in the middle of now. The book is currently number one on the New York Times best seller list. Get your own self a copy by clicking here and it’ll be delivered to you by Bastille Day!

joewinklerart.com

Summer

2011-06-23T10:58:00.000-04:00

Since we just celebrated the summer solstice a couple days ago, thought I'd feature my painting called "Summer" for today's post:

She's 18 inches wide by 14 inches deep, oil on canvas.

In this piece I did something compositionally that many painters do, I threw the immediate foreground into shadow to bring the viewers eyes into the painting. I think there's an actual name for that technique, but I just call it "throwing the immediate foreground into shadow to bring the viewers eyes into the painting".

A lot of times this trick is used when the immediate foreground has nothing of interest in it. I've only employed that technique in landscape subjects so far, but this can work just as well with still life subjects too.

Another thing about this painting I thought worked well - I used a color base of warm yellow and then let some of that show through in the final painting layer. Mostly in the sky is where that happened. Here is a detail:

Anyway, Happy SUMMER!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Really Big Show (Prep)

2011-06-20T09:52:00.000-04:00

Quick post today - Since the painting of our cat has been finished and accepted into the “Hello Kitty” exhibit in the sunny and fashionable Sewickley area of Pittsburgh, I’ve been busy getting ready for another exhibit - the best kind of exhibit an artist can have - a solo exhibit! This exhibit is in a nice gallery space in a local public library called the Mt. Lebanon Public Library. As I mentioned in the last post, the nicer neighborhoods in my city and surrounding areas at least, tend to have really sweet libraries with good display areas, as well as patrons who enjoy and appreciate nice art.

Toward that end, here is the e-card I am sending out to everyone:

Consider yourself invited!

joewinklerart.com

Our Cat and the Importance of Painting Backgrounds

2011-06-10T10:53:00.003-04:00

A few posts back I mentioned a new painting I was working on for submission into a juried, cat-themed exhibit. I finished that painting prior to going on holiday last month, and just last night received a call from one of the jurors that my painting "Lilly Mesmerized" has been accepted into the exhibit. Here is the painting.

She’s 24 inches long by 12 inches high (the painting not the cat) oil on canvas. The exhibit she’ll be in is called “Hello Kitty”, and it will take place at a local library called the Sewickley Public Library. The exhibit runs from July 9th through August 31st.

That venu may not sound real impressive, but I know from prior experiences that the old and nice neighborhoods in my neck of the woods tend to have really sweet libraries with good display areas, along with substantial foot traffic who enjoy and appreciate nice art. Among the best places I've had one man shows in the past, is the public library in an area near where I live called Mt. Lebanon. And when I say “best” I’m talking in terms of both sales as well as publicity.

In any case the subject of this painting to me is not really the cat or the toy, but the tension that exists between the two. However I wanted the cat to stand out more than the brilliant red of the toy and be the focal point of the painting. As a result, the biggest challenge for me in executing this piece (and so many other pieces) was how to treat the background. The photo reference I shot and worked from, had our blurred stairwell as a background. I actually liked that because the horizontal lines tied her and the toy together. But I decided to go with a more loose and abstract background. I attempted to use gradated intense color and a bit of texture to visually tie the two together.

Backgrounds in any paintings - particularly still-lifes, and portraits, may seem simple, and to some viewers insignificant. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. A background can easily make or break a painting. It’s one of those challenges that you actually have to be involved with in order to appreciate how tough it is.

The background is the most important element of this particular painting. Had I decided to go with a smooth, dark, and cool colored background, the focus on the cat would be totally gone and the toy would become the subject. Using the blurred stairwell from the photo may have worked, but with this tight of a crop would have become too complicated. So a carefully executed, warm, intense, and abstract background with loose brushes of complementary blue near the cat, was the definitely the way to go.

As I mature as an artist, I’m realizing that the tough, “down and dirty” planning stages of the painting process are just as, if not more important than, the actual execution stage!

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and Some Photography News

2011-06-08T09:02:00.000-04:00

The Roland Garros mens final is behind us and I’m still in a bit of a mild depression from Roger’s loss. So I thought I’d look forward to the Championships Wimbledon (where strawberries and cream are the main delight) and share with you a quick painting sketch I did for the Sketchbook Project 2011, (which visits the Form/Space Ateller in Seattle, WA on June 10th throught the 12th by the way).

This will potentially turn into a full blown painting at some point. Repetition is an under-used design element by me, so thought I’d try it in this piece. The background color was an experiment. Maybe I’ll go even higher key in the final version of the painting.

___

I was just made aware (by a fellow Beatles freak) of one item of interest in the photography world today; there is a new exhibit of the late Linda McCartney’s photographs on view in London. “Linda McCartney - Life In Photographs” is at London gallery Phillips De Pury until June 16th. If your summer holiday is taking you to the Championships this year head up the road a bit early and visit the gallery. All the prints are for sale.

Speaking of photography, I remain hard at work processing my digital negatives from my Nevada holiday, and setting up my Flickr galleries. Let you know when they are ready to view.

joewinklerart.com

Postcard From the Edge

2011-06-01T17:06:00.001-04:00

Just returned from holiday in Las Vegas and I'm experiencing the down side of the digital photography age - namely the ability to shoot so damn many images which then I must process up really right before showing anyone. I have a load of canyon shots alone.

I've come to the realization that if the photos can't be all that I want them to be, then at least I have a nice bank of good reference photos for future paintings. And after all isn't a good painting more interesting than a photo?

No matter how you answered that one, paintings are a lot more time consuming for me to execute I'll tell you that!

Anyway here is the first photo I'll make public:

In any case, I have decided to start using Flickr to show all my photography. When I get enough images uploaded I'll share that link with you. There just isn't enough time to do everything I'd like anymore!

DAMN' YOU SCOTT KELBY!!

joewinklerart.com

Random Stuff

2011-05-19T16:36:00.001-04:00

FEATURED SKETCHES:
Since this blog is gong on holiday for a few days and by the time it gets back the French Open will be in full swing (pun intended), I wanted to feature a couple tennis sketches from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook.

These were done in one session from photos I shot. I prefer the top one because there’s something nice about finishing only one portion of the sketch, while leaving the rest a mere suggestion. Vive la France!

ITEM OF INTEREST:
One of the more interesting art news items I came across in recent days is that The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky will be showing Caravaggio’s pivotal work, The Fortune Teller starting this May. This is only the second time the work has ever been on view in the U.S.

There are precious few Caravaggio’s that even live in this country so if you’re in the area you should stop on by. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Capitoline Museums and the Italian Government for this!

BLOG ON HOLIDAY:
As mentioned above, this blog is going on holiday so I will leave you with a poster I designed a while back for an annual event.

joewinklerart.com

Photos of The Beatles

2011-05-16T11:59:00.000-04:00

Once again I’m turning from painting to photography for a few posts this week. And again, today’s is about photos of The Beatles. I Just came across the headline “Photos from the Beatles Last Group Publicity Shoot Now Available for Public Purchase”. Not certain how accurate that headline is because I’ve seen shots from later photo sessions of the Beatles, but it got my attention in any case.

The rare photos are from a shoot that has become known as “The Mad Day: Summer of ‘68” and they were shot by photographer Tom Murray in London. Before he even knew what his subject was, he was told “Bring along your camera. You might get some nice snaps.” That's how impromptu the shoot was for Tom, who was one of two shooting the band that day.

Beatles fans have seen some of these iconic photos before in magazines, but now all the shots are being made available for public purchase on the Rock Paper Photo Fine Art Photography site. These signed and limited edition prints come in a 20 x 24 inch size and/or a 30 x 40 inch size.

All the photos have been hailed as being a great representation of the group during that time, as well as showing the individual personalities of each member of the group. These were the transitional days after the group stopped touring and just after the “trip” to India and Brian Epstein’s death, but just before the group began cracking apart with the help of the Apple Corp disaster and Yoko.

One image from the photo shoot I’ve seen before is this next photo. Interestingly, it was going to be used by Time magazine as a cover photo in 1980 after John Lennon was murdered, but they deemed it too spooky. I’d say so - Ya Think!?

As for myself I can never decide on a favorite phase of the band, but the phase they were in during this shoot is one of the greatest. Their music was more mature and ground-breaking, their popularity was still at a peak yet not suffocating, and John had not yet gone totally political and “avant garde” on everyone. Basically they were still four guys making their music and enjoying their fame as the most legendary group of the 20th century.

Talking about this phase of the Beatles career, click here for one GREAT youtube video I came across recently. It’s an interview from 68’ John and Paul gave in America about the creation of Apple among other things. Like the photos, this clip shows the effect of their fame to that point. They were very much speaking their own language and living in their own little worlds, but you can see that even though the youthful innocence is almost gone, the Beatle humor still shines through!

Interviewer: “Did you enjoy the trip over to India?”
John: “The journey was terrible, but the trip was alright.”

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketches

2011-05-09T16:34:00.000-04:00

Today’s sketches are from various pages from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook.

I enjoy sketching from life but times are few that I have the opportunity to do this variety of head studies from life. This page was completed in a few minutes and the biggest challenge to overcome was the fact that everyone was essentially back lit. Aren’t company meetings great!

Another done from life, this time of the wife (she’s the one on the left and below!). Did these up real quick while she was reviewing wedding shots on my computer from our shylock photographer. The sketch of a large half-a-lump at the top of the page was an afterthought. It is our cat Lilly, who was assuming her usual position in the shape of an apostrophe out in the hall.

joewinklerart.com

The Start of something Small

2011-05-06T11:01:00.001-04:00

Today I want to show you the first few steps of a little 6x8 painting I began recently. The first step is the initial tone of the canvas board and the transfer of the line drawing. Sometimes I’ll work out the values in pencil at this stage, but in this case I didn’t because the dappled light falling on the subject was too darn alluring to spend more time doing what I refer to as ‘prep work’.

Lately I’ve discovered the joys of using Acrylic mat medium after this stage. I spray the drawing lightly with Krylon workable fix (outside so as not to get in trouble with the wife and cat) and then I’ll apply the mat medium. It goes on milky white then gets completely clear as it drys and creates a real nice surface to paint on.

Next I worked up the background darks trying to stay away from too much detail.

Then I began painting into the fowl itself. Working wet-into-wet (as in wet paint in background against wet paint in foreground) which lets me refine edges as I go.

Finally I developed the background further and started defining light and darks on the bird itself.

This will be taken to finish next time, but as I mentioned a couple posts ago, I had to put a work stoppage on all small pieces in order to paint a 24 inch by 12 inch canvas of our cat to enter into an upcoming exhibit called “Hello Kitty”. As of this writing that piece is almost finished and I’ll share it with you in the days ahead.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and a Painting

2011-05-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

Following up on all my recent posts featuring the work of the great American illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, thought I’d share two pieces I’ve done that were based on his style - Well, one is based on his style, the other is a pencil drawing using one of his paintings as reference.

Here is the drawing:

I did this for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. Copying a favorite master artist is good practice for any artist, and I had loads of fun working this up. I always love the chiseled angles of his work.

And here is the painting:

I made sure to incorporate two of my favorite Leyendecker design elements in this oil painting, a nice sharp scroll, and an architectural base (taken from an Arrow collar ad I believe).

Back in 2003 I submitted this painting to a printing company in New Jersey who was soliciting art for use on their fine arts calendar for 2004. They chose this painting to feature on their calendar for the month of September, presumably because that is when the men’s finals of the U.S. Open are played. Someone there must have been a tennis fan just like myself! The painting was also incorporated into the cover design of the same calendar.

No worries lawyers, I made no money from that usage, and paintings that I sell are created only from MY own reference photos or from life.

JoeWinklerArt.com

Famous Frames

2011-04-26T12:32:00.002-04:00

Today’s post is about frames. No - not picture frames, photography frames. More specifically, frame numbers one through six taken by Scottish photographer Iain MacMillan’s camera on Friday, August 8th,1969. That is the day that he captured the iconic image of the Beatles for the cover of their Abbey Road LP.

Snap Galleries in London has just opened an exhibition called "Beatles and Bystanders: the unknowns at Abbey Road". For probably the first time ever, all the photos taken of the Beatles during the Abby Road album cover shoot are being displayed side-by-side in a gallery. Thats a total of only six photos folks. Can you imagine only six exposures being taken during a shoot for a CD cover these days? Don’t think so!

Frame number 5 of those six was the chosen shot which we all know and love today.

The exposure not only captured John, Paul, George, and Ringo, it also immortalized a few lucky bystanders in the background that day too.

And yes, there were other people. It’s interesting to think that had another shot been chosen by the band, a different cast of characters would be populating the street and would have been immortalized on one of the best albums of the greatest band ever.

These photos are sought after by many collectors and they might never be displayed in this way again. During the shoot the street was not closed, and there was limited time to get the cover shot. It’s very interesting to read about all the activity that was going on just a short distance from the band and the making of an iconic image. There were delivery trucks coming and going, and various characters milling about in the background (at least a dozen of which show up in the unused frames).

The folks at the gallery have inspected all of the shots closely and have identified all the people and their stories in the cover photo, and almost all the people in the other five shots as well.

The Abbey Road cover has been inspected closely by Beatle fans all over the world primarily for the “Paul is dead” clues that it contains, but it has never been looked at in the context of one shot in a group of six, as it is in this exhibit. The gallery has every page of the small catalogue viewable on-line as well.

Lastly, to me, the contrast of how that photo shoot was done compared to how it would be today is staggering. Today for a band who even attempts to approach the stratosphere of the Beatles, entire streets would be closed down and all the “extras” in the shot would be as carefully choreographed as the band members themselves. Hundreds of shots might be taken and placed on a bands website. Then perhaps the record company would tweet all about it in order to generate excitement and sales.

Not so in 1969. But that’s what so great about the Beatles and their time - little hype was necessary since their raw musical talent, their contagious aura as a band and as individuals, as well as their positive message of love is what shined through then.

And still does today!

JoeWinklerArt.com

Just a Beginning

2011-04-21T16:21:00.001-04:00

Besides working on additional large oil compositions of classic car parts, along the lines of my Packard piece, I have recently started some small oils. Small being 8x10 inches and down. Wanted to share the first three steps of one those today. This one is 5x7 inches. No title as of yet.

Small paintings are fun for many reasons not least of which is the fact that they can be completed in one session. I’m looking forward to taking this one to finish because the toughest part is already complete. That being the illusion of depth created through the blurring of the small bud, as well as the use of an abstract but gradated background.

Just one other item of interest for you today, this on the international art front - this week it was decided by the Polish Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski, that the masterpiece “Lady with an Ermine” by Leonardo da Vinci will be allowed to travel to museums outside of Poland for the first time in well over 100 years.

Personally I wouldn’t want to be responsible for making that decision, but I would LOVE to have the job that these art conservators have of cataloging and packing all the priceless works of art that come and go from a museum. To see all the masterpieces up close and actually handle them would be amazing!

JoeWinklerArt.com

My Prized Packard!

2011-04-18T15:46:00.002-04:00

Last Friday was the reception for an annual exhibit I participate in with the artists of Upper St. Clair, (which is a large suburb of Pittsburgh). It is a juried show and we hang approximately twenty-five to thirty-five pieces.

This year I submitted my oil painting “Packard” and it won first place!

The juror this year was artist, Steve Leonardi. I was told by more than one member of the group who were at the judging that my painting was well above others in his subjective criteria of things like, composition, technique, color etc... Really made me feel proud to hear that.

I enjoy looking at old cars and whenever there is a classic car show in the area I shoot as much photo reference as I can. In this piece I cropped in close on the very lucid and becoming hood ornament of an old Packard car. I intentionally wanted a lower point of view to pump up the aura of the subject and make it seem even larger than it is in reality, so as to give it more impact.

Also when painting it, I removed all background distractions which helps to focus the viewers attention on the reflections. Overall I believe it is a successful piece because of two things: the contrast between the sharp edged subject against a very soft background, and the fact that a large single image, that has various details within it, is more powerful than a composition filled with details all over the place.

While putting my time in working on-site at the exhibit, which is in a fashionable Galleria mall in the area, folks would come up to me and ask “How do you paint metal so well?” I never have a graceful answer in person, but the answer is, I wasn’t painting “metal”, I was just painting “shapes”. As in every other subject under the sun,a subject should be thought of as nothing more than a bunch of shapes. Ever read the book, "Drawing On The Right Side of the Brain"? Well all right then.

It’s the job of the artist to take those shapes and arrange them in a way that conveys a subject convincingly through the manipulation of values, colors, size relationships, paint texture and all the rest of it.

Next up for this painting (if it doesn’t sell in the current exhibit) is a fun event called ART ALL NIGHT.

JoeWinklerArt.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 6 (of 6)

2011-04-15T11:53:00.003-04:00

In the last post I mentioned that some, critical of Leyendecker’s work, say that his characters (especially his women) look a bit distant or perhaps mechanical. I can see that, but I’m not bothered by it in the least.

Here are more samples of Saturday Evening Post covers that tell another tale about J.C. Leyendecker.

These might come across as oddly effeminate images to some. To others they might have homosexual overtones. This is not surprising since Leyendecker was, in fact, gay (if you didn’t already know that). I was always willing to overlook that fact however, because he was such a fantastic technical talent, and I was always more interested in his painting technique than in his weird and sad personal life. It needed to be mentioned here however because that fact is interesting in looking at some of his best images.

Being a gay man during the time he lived was a huge taboo so he remained in the closet his entire life. Yet one of his main clients was the "Saturday Evening Post". I think it’s funny to look back at his work and see so many seemingly homosexual images on the cover of a very mainstream, conservative, and hugely popular magazine. The millions of folks who got the magazine probably didn’t catch what he was subtly (or not so subtly) throwing at them. Perhaps the publishes were gay as well.

Whether you look at his Post covers or his advertising art, you see an awful lot of muscular men exchanging longing looks or come hither stares. In the ad image below, one man watches another as he fondles his, um... shaft.

And when there is a woman present, many times she seems either oddly detached or ignored completely, as in the Arrow ad below.

In the next image there seems to be a sneaky three way connection between the three service “men”. The woman is again ignored. Leyendecker was aware of the “gays in the military” issue before any one else!

In this next ad, instead of gazing into each others eyes, one model stairs at the others genitals. Funny how the fedora is placed just so.

In an earlier post I talked about Leyendecker’s ability to render flesh in such a way that it resembled porcelain. One of the reasons for that, aside from the medium he used, was the reference he set up, right in front of him. He would bring these beefcake models into his studio, oil those boys up and down, and light them just so. All that was left to do (after toweling off presumably), was to apply those amazing rendering and painting talents of his.

After successfully placing so many of these kinds of ad images in front of mainstream America, by the time he was doing cover art for America’s most popular magazine, Leyendecker must have thought “What can’t I get away with?”.

There are a precious few books out there on J.C. Leyendecker. The fist which came out in the 1970s is out of print, totally ignored the homosexual issue, and had bad reproductions of his work.

The second is a poster book of some of his best work with biographical information in the front.

The third book, which just came out just a couple years ago, has by far the most numerous and best reproductions of his work. Most images were shot from the original paintings, as opposed to old scans of already printed magazine ads and covers, so you can really see the paint texture. It’s not very well written however, but it is comprehensive.

JoeWinklerArt.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 5

2011-04-11T11:53:00.001-04:00

Another thing I love about the art of J.C. Leyendecker are those graphic and architectural design elements he incorporates into his paintings, particularly his Post covers. Just look at the wonderful rendering of this fleur-de-lis flourish from an Easter Post cover...

...or this chiseled scroll...

...you could crack an egg on those things! Leyendecker used many scrolls in his covers and no artist at the time could come close to designing and rendering one like him.

Aside from his “Arrow Collar Man”, Leyendecker was the first artist to use a baby as a symbol for a new year and an old man as the symbol for an old year. An iconic standard still with us today.

Which brings me to the one knock that some folks put on Leyendecker's art. Some say that his figures are a little too stiff or iconographic, and not human enough.

I somewhat agree, but that has always been overshadowed for me by his fantastic rendering skills.

One final post about J.C. Leyendecker to come next time!

JoeWinklerArt.com

joe@joewinklerart.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 4

2011-04-08T10:24:00.000-04:00

At the height of his fame J.C. Leyendecker was busy painting "Saturday Evening Post" covers. Three-hundred twenty-two of them in fact. Yet many people who aren’t into illustration art will easily confuse Leyendecker Post covers with Norman Rockwell’s.

When one gets to know Leyendecker’s work, then looks at early Rockwell Post covers, the Leyendecker influence becomes apparent. Subject matter-wise many of the whimsical and provincial themes and subjects people attribute to Rockwell were actually done years before by Leyendecker.

Considering his entire body of work however there are a few reasons why I love looking at any of Leyendeckers paintings. The first endearing quality are those slashing diagonal, confident brush strokes of his. It’s amazing how loose and free they seem, yet they render forms and textures so convincingly.

Look at how tangible surfaces and textures are, and yet they are still not executed in what I’d call a photo-realistic way. No areas are overworked at all, that's the beauty of his technique. Looks easy to do. But it's NOT. The only time I’ve ever seen a similar technique is from professional story-board artists using markers.

Which brings me to Leyendeckers formula for mixing oil medium. He used a special blend of turpentine, stand oil, and linseed oil, mixed fresh everyday in specific proportions. This mixture gave his paint a thin, slippery consistency, which showed no sign of texture on the canvas.

When not using the slash stroke technique, Leyendecker was able to work areas of the subject to such a smooth finish that it reads almost like porcelain. In the paintings and detail below, he uses both techniques. Staples of the classic Leyendecker look!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 3

2011-04-05T14:36:00.002-04:00

Without getting into too many extraneous details, dates, and biographical information about Leyendecker, it is somewhat important to mention that his fame happened before photography really began to influence the working methods of illustrators. So he didn’t have the luxury, as did Rockwell and so many others, of using decent and quickly produced photo reference in order to tweek compositions, explore models facial expressions, and experiment with costumes. There’s nothing wrong with using photos, but the fact that Leyendecker very probably didn’t, makes his skills all the more impressive. Just look at these wonderful preparatory oil studies for final paintings.

The entire challenge for any realistic artist as I see it, is to distill the details of their subject down to the bare essential few pieces of visual information needed to nail the description of the thing. “Less is more” as they say. Leaving something for the viewer to fill in is always a good thing.

That’s more of a “fine art” rather than commercial illustration philosophy. Being an illustrator trying to depict a product and belt out work on a deadline had a lot more to do with the development of these studies than any artistic philosophy did. But looking at these studies one gets the feeling that Leyendecker could execute the less is more approach as well as any “fine artist” ever could. I guss being an artist with your feet held to the fire to produce work on time for a publisher isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Here’s a couple close-ups to appreciate the confidence with which he sketches with the brush. Look particularly at the fabric portions. Think his previous experience illustrating such products as Interwoven Socks and Arrow Shirts paid off? I’d say so!

The only pencil I can see is the grid lines he used to get proportions right. That’s the great thing about working in oils, they can be thinned down to a watercolor consistency, but, unlike watercolor, the oils can be easily “erased” with paint thinner even hours after placing a stroke.

Among the things we’ll be looking at next time is Leyendeckers “secret” formula for mixing paint medium, something which was essential in allowing him to produce the “Leyendecker Look”.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 2

2011-04-03T00:03:00.001-04:00

J.C. Leyendecker was a classically trained artist who earned a living as an illustrator, but his talent could easily match that of any fine artist in the history of art. The guys fluid and accurate drawing skills were just phenomenal, and that’s really the foundation of any good illustration or painting you know.

His artistic training took him and his brother (who became a lesser known illustrator) to Paris, where he witnessed first hand the art nouveau style and the imagery of Alphonse Mucha and Toulouse-Lautrec. His early work reflects these influences, but it wasn’t until years later that he perfected his own style which became famous as the “Leyendecker look” characterized by those chiselled and confident, yet free-flowing painterly brush strokes which I just love.

Leyendecker gave early American magazine covers and advertisements a distinctive look which dove-tailed with, and in many ways became representational of, the roaring twenties and the “Gatsby era”.

Among his many advertising clients early on were the House of Kuppenheimer, the U.S. Armed forces, Chesterfield cigarettes, and Kelloggs cereal. My favorite illustrations however are the classic ones he did for Arrow shirts and collars. Leyendecker created the “Arrow Collar Man” which was used by the Arrow company for many years.

Because these ad images were not shot directly from Leyendecker's original oil paintings, it might be difficult to appreciate the skill with which these figures were rendered. The image of the female head at the top of the post gives a better idea of the total and complete mastery of brushwork that Leyendecker possessed.

Next time we'll look closer at his working methods and wallow in some of his fantastic paintings!

JoeWinklerArt.com

joe@joewinklerart.com

J.C. Leyendecker - Part 1

2011-03-30T11:29:00.001-04:00

Do you like classic American advertising illustration art? Me too! The period from the late 1800s to the middle part of the 1900s is known as the “golden age of illustration”. It included Norman Rockwell who is a household name, but there were many other illustrators whose work had a huge impact on the American consciousness - illustrators such as Howard Chandler Christy, James Montgomery Flagg, and Charles Dana Gibson.

During that "golden age", some illustrators were as well known to the general public as movie stars are today. Why? Because advertising and the media hadn’t yet developed into the saturating monsters that they’ve become in this lovely 21st century world we live in. As a result, some of the characters these artists created for the print media became American icons, being seen on magazine covers, ads, posters, and newspapers.

Ever hear of the "Gibson girl" or the “Arrow Collar Man”? Well all right then. When these icons were created, it wasn’t art directors who dreamed them up, it was illustrators. The public was sometimes as familiar with the illustrators as much as they were with the iconic characters they created.

I’m a huge fan of Norman Rockwell’s work, and I love the illustrations of many artists of that classic era. However, my favorite illustrations to study and simply marvel at, are the ones done by Joseph Christian Leyendecker.

J.C. Leyendecker lived from 1874 to 1951 and had a style and technique all his own. During his career he was an illustration god to a young Norman Rockwell, and in fact, Rockwell stopped doing "Saturday Evening Post" covers after he did his 321st, stopping just shy of Leyendecker's total of 322, in homage to his hero.

Here are but a few Post covers that the casual art observer might think were painted by Norman Rockwell, but you and I know differently now don't we!

In the next few posts we’ll be taking a closer look at some of J.C. Leyendecker's great illustration work!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-03-28T16:43:00.000-04:00

Today we have a sketch out of my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. A basic quick rendering of a figure from my photo archives of tennis players I enjoy shooting. It’s always fun to try and catch the player in mid air, especially on a sunny day, in order to see the funky shadows that are created on the court.

As mentioned in the previous post my sketchbook, along with the Sketchbook Tour 2011, finds itself at the SPACE gallery until early April!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Sold! - Group Show Opens Today

2011-03-26T12:29:00.000-04:00

The Upper St. Clair League for the Arts group show at the Lois Guinn Gallery in McMurray PA opens today. The wife and myself will be heading there soon for the reception.

The bad news is that only two of my three submitted pieces will be hanging in the show.

The good news is that the owner of the gallery purchased the one that will not be hanging! The landscape "Light in August" is now in her private collection. That's two paintings sold in the past three months. Here is "Light in August".

It is a 5x7 oil on canvas.

As mentioned in my other posts, I think I'll stick with smaller sizes for the next few painting I do. It just makes sense with everything else going on.

One other note for today, my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project travels to Portland Maine to be displayed in the SPACE Gallery from March 30th to April 2nd.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today's Featured Sketch

2011-03-23T09:08:00.001-04:00

This oil sketch is from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. I could see myself doing this up really right as a finished oil painting someday.

It was done on a piece of canvas that actually comes in the form of a sketch pad. You just tear off the sheets and away you go. Those kind of pads are nice because when I really screw up and have to chuck the thing, I don't feel as if I'm being too wasteful. However I'm thinking of going exclusively to artist panels in order to do away with the texture of the canvas all together. Sometimes I work too thinly in my oils to get the brushwork to show, which is what I'm always after in a finished painting.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Random Cool Things

2011-03-22T15:15:00.000-04:00

Just dropped off my three paintings this morning for the Upper St. Clair Art League exhibit at the Lois Guinn framing and gallery. Come to the reception this Saturday! (Yes you’ll get free food and drinks).

As if that’s not cool enough, I just came across a story about a really cool sounding art exhibit. It’s cool because it has tennis as the theme. I love tennis. Read the story here.

Do you love the paintings of Diego Velazquez? Me too! Well click here for a really cool YouTube video that reviews the exhibit of his work at the National Gallery of London a couple years ago. I enjoy watching this from time-to-time. And I KNOW you will too! So tangible!

And finally, turning to graphic design for a moment, thought I’d share a website that is a must for any self-respecting graphic artist. Or anyone looking to get a clean logo art as opposed to a messy jpg. Brands of the World dot com enables you to download vector, yes VECTOR art, of millions of company logos. (If you don’t know the difference between vector art and a rasterized piece of art, you probably won’t find this site so cool.)

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured “Sketches”

2011-03-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

I stated a few posts ago that the goal this year was to work smaller and looser in my oil paintings. Well here are two beginnings of small works that sit atop a stack of new beginnings in my studio right now.

The goal on these is to separate values mostly. If you’re thinking they look a bit too “tight” for someone trying to loosen up his style, you might be right. But there is a reason for starting in this way. I continue to be inspired from a working method I learned in a day-long painting class I attended two years ago at the World West Gallery in Washington, PA.

The instructor that day was Dan Marsula, a fantastic local oil painter, who has a day job for steady income as a graphic artist (as do I). Among the many photos I shot durning that class were first stages, done in pencil, of some of Dan’s paintings. It was really inspiring seeing some beginning pencil sketches (done like the images above) sitting right next to the finished versions of oil paintings.

To me that helped reinforce something I knew, but in my haste to get to the “fun” part of painting, didn’t always put into good practice - the fact that a solid beginning and planning of values is not only necessary for the painting stage, but can be fun to execute in itself. The loosness I continue to seek is a loosness of brushwork, but a foundation that is planned out and accurate is essential for a good painting in a representational piece of art.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

New Painting - Steps 2 to Finish

2011-03-17T10:53:00.000-04:00

Well... I was going to carry on my step-by-step of the new oil painting “Salt and Pepper” this week with one step per post. But then I realized how inconsistent I am at shooting progress shots as I work on paintings! What happens is, I have a painting session, then afterwards, I wallow in the enjoyment and satisfaction that the act of creation gives me. Then I get engrossed in planning what the next step will be and forget all about shooting what I’ve done.

As a result, the three images shown below, which were shot early in the process, are a fairly good representation of how the painting progressed during the first session.

Then the wallowing and engrossing (as described above) began, and the progress shots quickly got forgotten. So as you can see in the final image below, the main thing that I changed was the rendering of fabric and values in the background.

I never tire of dramatic lighting effects - one of my favorite painters is Caravaggio after all - so I decided to really darken down the background, and just hint at the fact that there might be a piece of fabric back there.

The type on the can was the biggest challenge. I met that in two sessions - one for the painting of the type, the other for the surrounding areas of color after the type dried.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

P.S. The next stop for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook is the SPACE Gallery at 538 Congress Street in Portland, Maine.

New Painting - Step One

2011-03-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

As promised (sort of) here is the first post in a series of posts that will show a step-by-step of the creation of my latest painting, “Salt and Pepper”.

The idea for this painting took shape last year while spending a day photographing various still life set ups using perishable items found around the house. Soon I realized that using the little girl’s gaze might be fun and interesting. After considering several objects to pair her with, I went with the one object that would put a bit of a twist on a very common household item.

I wanted a dark background, so I placed a piece of dark blue cloth behind there. As you’ll see in later steps, the way it was positioned and lit became almost irrelevant.

The first step is not always set in stone for me, but on this piece I began with a fairly detailed outline in pencil and no other shading. Sometimes it's good to do a full blown pencil value breakdown, but in my rush to get to the "fun" parts of the process I didn't do that this time. Plus the fact that I had photographed this subject various ways and under various light angles, then proceeded to manipulate it in Photoshop - so I knew what luminous effect I wanted from the subject and I knew how to create that special glow in oil paint without further prep work.

Working from back to front, I started by brushing in the background, but also did the immediate foreground of the table to establish the surface. At this stage I was still figuring on depicting the background as a readable piece of cloth draped behind everything, so I tried creating a middle value and light value.

Many times in working on a painting, the painting itself dictates to me how long a painting session lasts. Since there was some detailed type and label work to come, my time on this step saw me finishing up the first stage of background and that was it.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

New Group Exhibit in the South Hills of Pittsburgh

2011-03-09T11:05:00.002-05:00

One of the more local artist groups I enjoy membership in, here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, is a group called the Upper St. Clair league for the Arts. Every spring for about the last four years or so, that group has been given the opportunity by the Lois Guinn Gallery to have a nice group exhibit. In past years I’ve sold work in this exhibit so I try not to miss the show.

The gallery (which is technically in McMurray) sits about three miles or so past South Hills Village mall. Click here for directions. The owner, Ms. Carrie Hutsko, is very cooperative and helpful in putting on this exhibit and the members appreciate it too.

This year the show will run from Saturday, March 26th to Sunday April 10th. The opening reception will be held at the gallery on Saturday, March 26th, from noon to 4:00 PM. Many if not all of the artists will share refreshments and talk with the visitors to the show. Below are the three pieces I’m submitting this year, although the two small ones may not make it in because of space limitations.

As a ramp up for the show I always like to (if time permits) design, and send out a few post cards. This years post card had my new oil painting “Salt and Pepper” on the front, and the back looked like this:

I mentioned last post that I would share a brief step-by-step of this painting. Didn’t happen did it? Well I’ll try and do it next post.

By the way, my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project Tour, travels to Austin, Texas on Saturday. It will be on display at the Austin Museum of Art. Who knows, maybe Andy Roddick will see it!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch - Tennis Anyone?

2011-03-04T11:17:00.001-05:00

Today’s sketch is from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. It ia a colored pencil drawing on a piece of blue/gray canson paper.

With Spring right around the corner here in the northeast, and the ATP Tour ready to begin its hardcourt season out west at Indian Wells, thought I'd share a tennis player portrait with you.

I did this up from a reference photo I shot a few years back at a USTA mens futures event that a local tennis club hosts every summer. My zoom lens came in handy for this shot! Actually I think I was on the other side of a chain-link fence at the time. The intense concentration as he's ready to accept serve is what the subject really is here. I like cropping in nice and tight for compositions.

In any case, warm skin tones always pop nicely off of a cool background. Orange and blue are complements after all. I am learning to enjoy colored pencil work more and more but cannot ever see them replacing my love for the oil paints. This took me maybe an hour and a half.

Tune in next time for a first step of the next new painting I'll be releasing for 2011!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Book Suggestion of the Week

2011-03-02T10:03:00.001-05:00

Usually I wait until I read a book all the way to the finish before blogging about it, but I'm in the middle of one now that I'm just loving. It's called "The Story of Art"

Many books have that title, but this one is by Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich and it’s been flying off the bookshelves since it came out in 1950. it’s been called “a treasured standard” and “a classic narrative study of art history” both of which are true.

I actually got this book as a gift during Christmas 2009. This latest version of the book is the sixteenth edition and it’s a beautiful one published by Phaidon which is the publisher of many beautiful editions of art, photography, and design books.

The thing I like about this book is that even though Gombrich was an old-school European university professor, his tone is conversational and not “high browed” in any way. The book is in chronological order and easy and fun to read. It’s not so easy to hold on the subway however because it weighs a ton!

Before I’m finished, I’ll probably have many pages of the book dog-eared, highlighted, and tabbed for future reference - it’s that useful in my view. Too many books simplify the breaks and turning points between various movements in the history of art, but rarely is history that clean cut and tidy. This book lets you begin to have a better understanding of those various eras and movements, and how each one evolved in different locations and why.

The other cool thing about this book is that, unlike so many other art history books I look at, this one keeps the images together with the text that references them. I know that sounds like a simple thing, but you’d be surprised how many art books don’t do that. It isn’t real easy or fun to have to keep flipping back and forth from one part of a book to another, especially when it’s as thick as this one. Heck, some books don’t even include visuals of the art they talk about at all.

Guess there’s a reason why the sticker on the cover touts “Over 6,000,000 Sold”. There’s about as many reasons you should buy this book today!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

P.S. My Sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project is still on display in the Big Apple. Click here for tour dates!

Today's Random Cool Thing

2011-02-24T16:34:00.001-05:00

Well, Google has done it again! The Google Art Project is by far the coolest thing I’ve come across so far this year.

By way of the same technology that Google uses to create its 360 degree street view navigation on Google Earth, we are now able to browse the rooms of some of the worlds greatest art galleries! Below is the screen that shows up when we choose the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for instance.

The large background image is a close up sample of one of the museum’s featured works - in this case Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” from 1486. The navigation on the left enables us to either enter the gallery, explore the featured painting further, or choose another museum all together. Below is the view you will see in one of the rooms of the Uffizi.

Now that’s pretty sweet, but to me the best feature by far is that we can “walk” up to a work of art and zoom right in on it. Depending on your internet connection speed, it may take a few seconds for the full resolution version to render on your monitor, but when the thing is done it’s glorious hi-resolution detail is amazing! “The Birth of Venus” measures 67.9 inches by 109.6 inches so the thing is pretty big. Here is the entire painting.

Now look at the detail of the painting in the Google image below.

This is not even at full zoom either. Not only can we see the actual surface texture and how thinly the paint was applied, but, because Google gives us the opportunity to zoom in so close with such good quality, we can see that Botticelli probably made some revisions to his painting as it developed. He may have either moved the male face (of the west wind blowing Zepher) to the left, or decided to give him less hair as he was composing this portion of the painting.

We guess this because we notice the ghostly shadow along the temple of the female face (the nymph Chloris) which was probably the first pass the artist made at positioning the male head. This darkness is there because when a painting is this old it begins to lose its opacity a bit, especially if it was executed with thin paint to begin with. I hope your monitor allows you to see this in the image above.

Here is another extreme close-up of another part of the painting. We can see what is called the “craquelure”, or pattern of cracks in Venus’ calf.

So this thing that Google has given us is scary good in my opinion. They will be adding more museums in the coming months as well, so we can spend even more time marveling in front of our computers. Click the learn More link and watch the short videos on this great Google Art Project. AMAZING.

joe@joewinklerart.com | JoeWinklerArt.com

P.S. My sketchbook remains on display this week at the Brooklyn Art Library in NYC!

Today’s Featured Sketch and Fruity Inspiration

2011-02-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

The subject of today’s sketch is natural light from above illuminating a pealed orange. It is from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook and it was done from reference I shot. It’s also one of the very few times I opted for a colored pencil drawing over an oil painting.

In an attempt to eat healthy, especially during the work day, I always have what amounts to a classic still life setup on the counter directly behind me. (Today’s is pictured below). This classic still life usually consists of a few bananas, some apples, grapes, and oranges. Sometimes it takes every ounce of restraint I can muster to keep from turning my back on more pressing issues and start sketching or at least photographing the lovely forms of these succulent delights before I consume them.

One very sunny summer morning last year I just couldn’t help myself, and before pealing the cover off this beauty, I whipped out my camera and began composing some shots. I placed a white napkin on a stool, positioned it in the shaft of brilliant sunlight streaming in through a nearby skylight, partially pealed the orange, placed it on the napkin and shot away.

I think a partially pealed orange is visually alluring because of the interesting organic shapes and the play of light and shadow that the skin creates when it’s in bright light. Additionally there were some great cast shadows too.

Next I pealed the orange all the way and took a few shots. Not so interesting that. Although the cast shadow thing began to intrigue me more and more.

Then I started slowly cracking her open while continuing to shoot. I decided to pull one section out further than the rest and - Viola! An interestingly shaped subject which had plenty of highlight, mid-tones, shadows and reflected light, and even a compelling cast shadow. The fact that it somewhat subliminally looks like a hand or claw with an outflung appendage makes it all the more pleasing.

Finally, after processing the digital picture up really right to use as reference, I decided to do it up in colored pencil. Perhaps a mistake that. I can convey luminous light way better in oils than I can in pencil. I’ll probably put this in the “to do” category in my head for a future oil painting.

I had a tough time deciding on a crop. I probably should’ve cropped more of the top off and made the focus on just the cast shadow. Or done the opposite and focused on the orange itself. Ah well, another issue to solve in the oil painting version someday.

Well, That’s lunch!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today's Random Cool Things

2011-02-20T10:53:00.000-05:00

Cool thing number 1:

As I mentioned in my last post, the Sketchbook Tour opened yesterday at the Brooklyn Art Library in New York. The reception ran from noon to 10:00pm. I’m pretty amped too, because after just a few hours I got an e-mail from the Art House Co-Op that my book had already been viewed by some people. That’s pretty amazing considering there are literally thousands of sketchbooks on display!

There’s a barcode on the back of each artists sketchbook that is scanned whenever someone looks at the book and each artist has a profile set up on the Art House Co-Op site, so everyone can pretty much see what’s happening with their sketchbook as it travels across the country.

Here's a link to an article about the exhibit in New York. I’m anxious to see how many e-mails I get by the end of July when the tour wraps up in Winter Park, Florida. Maybe no more at all, maybe hundreds. Who knows...

Cool thing number 2:

In the middle of last year I bought an iPod touch. A few months later while browsing the app store on it, I found one of the coolest FREE apps ever - and it’s not even art related, (well mostly). It’s the app of the website How Stuff Works (www.howstuffworks.com).

The site itself is kind of confusing, but what you have to do is either download the app or, (if you don’t have a device but have iTunes), go into the iTunes store from your computer and type “how stuff works” into the search field. You can then have access to these really cool and interesting little audio and video podcasts that they do on all kinds of subjects. If you don’t have a device or iTunes, then you can check out their blogs.

I love history so one of my favorites is the one called “Stuff You Missed in History Class”. That’s an audio one.

Another really good one, if you’re into technical stuff, is one called “Brain Stuff”. Another audio one.

And there is also one called “The Coolest Stuff on the Planet”. That one has video with it.

The reason I love the How Stuff Works family of podcasts is that there is a wide range of subjects, the shows not only deal with historical stuff but with current daily news, and, none of the shows seem to have a political bent like many websites do anymore.

In the “Brain Stuff” one, the guy who does it (Marshall Brain) talks every Friday about tech news that happened during the past week. I find this one particularly cool because it’s relevant and current information that you won’t hear on any nightly news broadcast.

So this is just really cool, entertaining, and at times even useful stuff. Like anything else, it can become a time suck only if you let it. I just like the fact that when I can’t sleep, or when I’m on the subway into work I can listen to How Stuff Works and be entertained. And so can you!!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

The Sketchbook Tour Begins This Weekend!

2011-02-18T11:08:00.000-05:00

For these past many months and weeks I have been sharing some sketches and talking about the Sketchbook Project 2011 sponsored by the Art House Co-Op in New York city. Well the project itself is wrapped up, but the entire point of the project is the nationwide tour which begins this weekend!

My sketchbook starts its journey being displayed this weekend at the Brooklyn Art Library, in Brooklyn, NY. This kick-off of the tour goes from February 19th through the 27th and then travels to various museums, galleries, and ateliers across the nation. Click here for a list of cities and dates where my sketchbook will appear.

The Brooklyn New York Reception is Saturday, February 19th Noon-10:00pm (refreshments starting at 7:00pm) so if you’re in the area stop on by!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Color Choices

2011-02-16T10:20:00.000-05:00

A while back I took a one day course with a fantastic local painter called Dan Marsula. Dan is a super nice guy who works as an illustrator and graphic designer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper and sells a lot of beautiful paintings on the side. One of which hangs in my home.

Beside his view of art, I have tried to adopt his working method and his palette as well. He uses Viridan, Sap Green, Phthalo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Ivory Black, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Alizrin Crimson and Titanium White. The colors are placed in this order.

It didn’t take me long to start loving this palette of colors. I had never really used Viridan much but really could see many uses for it once I began.

Here is my first painting using Dan’s color palette.

I asked Dan how long he’s been using that selection of colors and his answer was “Forever.”

To me, learning about art and different artists’ methods is always enjoyable. Learning should never stop. As for myself, as far as color goes, I have decided to keep on file the color palletes of John Stobart, David Leffel, as well as Marsula and augment those as I see fit depending on what I’m painting.

joe@joewinklerart.com

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Today’s Featured Sketch and a Short Story

2011-02-13T14:19:00.000-05:00

Following on down the path of sketching from old photographs, today’s drawing is another from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. I didn’t spend the time to get the eyes really, really right, but you may still recognize her. She was at the center of a famous love triangle a long time ago.

Let’s go back in time to the late 1800s and into the early 1900s which is the era in which this beautiful woman lived her youth. Her name was, Evelyn Nesbit. Don’t know how big a fan you are of vinage American advertising illustration art, but she was the model for the “Gibson Girl” created by the famous illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. But that story is for another post.

More interestingly she was a Pittsburgh native, (alright Tarentum), who made it big as a chorus girl on Broadway during the early 1900s. She caught the attention of many rich and influential men in New York city, two of which were Harry K. Thaw, who was also from Pittsburgh, and the other was a famous architect called Stanford White of the famous architectural firm McKim, Mead & White.

To cut a long post short, the three got messily involved and in 1906, on the roof of Madison Square Garden of all places, Harry shot and killed Stanford. A scandal like that got a lot of media attention even in those days. The trial that followed became known as “the trial of the century”. Harry pleaded temporary insanity and was acquitted.

There’s a show on PBS called “The American Experience” that once featured the story of this love triangle, but I cannot find a link to that episode on their website. To read more about it click here and here.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-02-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

Here is another page out of my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. Again another couple of drawings from old photos. Actually three different photos.

Did the woman in profile first, then put the two fellows down below her to sort of follow her gaze. Don't you just LUV those stashes?!

joe@joewinklerart.com

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Today’s Featured Sketch, Reference Photos, and a Quiz

2011-02-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

I mentioned last week that I like looking at old images and sketching them. Here’s an example of that from my Sketchbook Project sketchbook.

Part of what makes using old photos as reference material enjoyable is the fact that old cameras couldn’t pick up detail like the cameras of today do. As a result the images they captured were (depending on the light situation) sometimes very contrasty or flat. That may make for a less than good photo, but on the flip side, it makes for a great photo reference by which to do a sketch from.

Why? Because one of the main challenges for many artists is to look at a subject (whether it be a landscape, a portrait, or a still life) and simplify it down to its bare basics - to really capture the essence of the subject using the minimum amount of detail. This challenge becomes much more daunting when working from photographs because it’s very easy to stare at the subject for long periods and get waaay too far into rendering the details of it. Well, old photos (especially portraits) totally solve that job for the artist automatically!

Now in this sketch, I wanted to get done quick, so I really didn’t do any measuring or fussing over technique. But had I wanted to augment this image in some way or just simply play with pencil strokes, it would’ve been very easy to do because of the way the old camera had already distilled the image to its bare essentials.

If you think you’ve seen this sketch somewhere before you’re right. It was used in the intro of a popular sitcom. My question to you is: What was the name of that show?

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-01-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Last fall I posted a few "quick and dirty" sketches done from life for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. The subject of those quickies was my wife's cat, Lilly.

Well, she's back today. Only this time you might actually be able to tell from the drawing that she's more than just a hairy half-a-lump on the sofa. That's because this one was done from one of my photographs.

Yes, I wised up and now have the old Cannon SLR locked and loaded for any good photo ops that present themselves.

I'm proud that I was even able to get such a clear reference image from this little play session, since she moves so fast and the light was less than good.

I have a feeling I'll have lots of cat reference before long.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and Some Facts of Interest

2011-01-25T16:46:00.000-05:00

Did this colored pencil drawing for my Sketchbook Project sketchbook. It’s from an old photo - Fred Perry I think. He was the last British man to win the gentleman’s singles title at Wimbledon. That was in 1936. Sux to be a British tennis fan I guess.

Anyway, I like looking at old images and reading about history, so it only follows that those things would find their way into my art right? Right.

On the painting exhibit front, it’s almost spring which means there are a few new exhibits coming up for me. One is a group show at a gallery in McMurray PA, and another is the 14th annual Art All Night event in the Lawrenceville section of the city. I’ve only done that show once before, but it’s a really cool and fun time. More on these and other upcoming shows in future posts.

The Pittsburgh Society of Artists annual exhibit is going on right now at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s gallery on the Blvd. of the Allies in downtown. Thats a really nice show (and not just because I’m in it). However you only have a few days to see it because it ends this Friday (January 28th).

Lastly, since our Stillers’ are goin’ to the Super Bowl, wanted to share a link I found on the origins of the teams names, so you’ll know just who your watching come Sunday, February 6.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Digital Sidebar - New Toy

2011-01-20T16:39:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it’s AFC championship week, and I’m excited about that. However it’s also the first week of the 2011 Australian Open tennis championships and I’m kind of excited about that too (although much less so). Put this all together with the fact that earlier this week I just cracked open my new Intuous4 Wacom tablet, and this becomes one pretty cool week, (for being the most depressing time of the year that is).

To celebrate the start of the 2011 ATP season, here is an image I shot and manipulated.

Now about that Wacom tablet... Pressure sensitive drawing tablets have been around for a long time, but I’ve never really used one until now. I’ve seen the work people do with these things and I think the results are amazing. I just started to scratch the surface with my tablet and set up the preferences for it. I can already see myself gushing about the thing in future posts.

Mine (pictured below) is the smallest in the new line of Intuous tablets that Wacom makes. It connects to the computer via USB, and the cord is nice and long. Also, Wacom designed it for lefties and righties by putting ports on both sides and putting two different cords in the box. Ambidextrous you might say.

I can program the buttons and scroll wheel on the left side to do different tasks in different programs, though I’ll use it mostly for Photoshop.

The active area of the pad is automatically mapped to the dimensions of the computer monitor it’s hooked up to. This can be a bit tough to get used to because it’s totally different than using a mouse, but it’s a preference that can be changed. Haven’t decided yet weather I’ll do that or not. The holder that the pen sits in opens up to reveal a bunch of different nibs that can be used too.

So all in all, a real nice addition to the digital tool box.

Did you ever get the feeling that they’re aren’t enough hours in the day to work on cool stuff?

joe@joewinklerart.com

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and Some Composition Concerns

2011-01-17T12:57:00.000-05:00

Because I’m still fired up about the Steelers win in the AFC divisional playoff on Saturday I wanted to feature another drawing of what might become a Steeler-themed oil painting. Unlike many recent sketches I’ve posted, this one is not from my “Sketchbook Project” sketchbook.

This was one of the last drawings I did from life in my old studio before getting married. Like the drawing in the previous post, I drew it from life, then shot the still life in various lighting set ups to use as reference for development into an oil painting.

Two things about this drawing:

One - I took great care to get the lettering on the towel correct. As I stated two posts ago concerning tracing reference images, I’ve done that as a time-saver, but since I was under no deadline on this piece I enjoyed working totally from life and nailing the thing really right. Always good to work from life at least some of the time.

Two - I havent taken this piece any further because I couldn’t come to grips with the cheesy hand-held Steeler “fan” thingy I used in the still life. I may just remove that totally if I do this up in oils.

I initially considered sticking a football in that spot and just throwing it (pun intended) into shadow. But then I was concerned about visual size issues. The helmet is a miniature replica and if I put a regulation-sized football next to it, the helmet may look really out of whack. By the same token, if I put a small football next to the helmet, the size relationship may be true, but may still make the overall piece look really strange. Right now I think that removing the fan, and cropping real tight on the helmet and towel (as shown below) may be the way to go.

If you've any better ideas please e-mail me.

In any case, I’m way too nervous about the AFC championship game next Sunday to do anything about this composition now, so this piece will sit in the “to do” vault in my head along with a bunch of other subject ideas for a while.

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-01-14T10:22:00.004-05:00

Thought this was an appropriate drawing to share with you during the AFC divisional playoffs.

I Did this drawing from life for the Sketchbook Project and had great fun doing it too. This is one of those miniature 75th anniversary helmets. I just positioned it right next to the little 19 inch flat screen the wife got me for my studio, sat in my recliner, and using one of those laptop supports, sketched away!

So while I was doing this up really right, at the same time I was able to watch the Jets beat the Peyton Mannings last Sunday evening in the AFC wildcard playoff game. I put some finishing touches to it the next day which is why it’s dated Monday 1/10.

What a great way to spend an evening - Art and football. I was so happy with the finished drawing that I took a bunch of reference photos of the helmet lit dramatically so I’ll be able to execute a nice painting from my sketch.

Speaking of the Sketchbook Project, I mailed mine in the other day. Here is a shot of the book for posterity, (since I’ll probably never see it again).

Like the Beatles White Album style cover?

I knew you would.

joe@joewinklerart.com

joewinklerart.com

Today’s Featured Sketch and a Rant

2011-01-12T10:27:00.003-05:00

This drawing from my Sketchbook Project 2011 sketchbook, is of my sister's dog. A rather snobbish but cute bitch maltese named Chelsea.

To me this drawing brings to mind the age old issue of whether it’s okay to trace an image as opposed to drawing it freehand, as a means of starting a final piece (weather the final piece be in pencil or oils or whatever medium).

My view on this issue has always been this: Tracing light guidelines down weather it be with a projector or a lightbox has no bearing at all on the success of the finished piece because a piece of realistic art such as this, is made up of VALUE MASSES not lines. There are no lines in reality, only edges of objects.

Starting a painting or drawing with line placement only, does not mean that one will be successful in rendering light and shadow masses correctly or convincingly.

I have actually used both methods with success in my career. On this piece, because of time constraints, I used a lightbox to place light guidelines down for position of the dog only. Here is a detail of the final rendering where dog meets two areas of background mass.

These edges are soft to convey the illusion of fur. That kind of thing can’t be rendered with a single line only, even if the piece is started out in that way. The only lines that are present are there to show hair texture. Again, you can’t trace shadow mass.

If you are a realistic, representational artist who feels like using a projector or lightbox is a bad thing I want you to do two things:

One: Remember that Vameer, Rembrandt, Norman Rockwell and thousands of other major artists throughout history, that you love, have used a projector (or the equivalent thereof for their times).

Two: Do what I do and keep drawing freehand to keep your observational skills sharp and just use the projector and/or lightbox as a time saver in order to get to the really fun part of the process - slopping paint around.

Look at the charcoal sketch of a womans head I posted two posts ago. That was from a bust I have in my studio that I placed before me and did totally freehand from life.

It was acres of fun!!

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

Today’s Featured Sketch

2011-01-07T16:21:00.000-05:00

This page, which is out of my Sketchbook Project 2011 sketchbook, is an updated version of a sketch that I did back in 2003 from an old photo out of a tennis history book. This sketch is done with a Burnt Umber Prismacolor colored pencil.

My original sketch was a simple outline done in pencil. My usual method for an accurate and detailed drawing of a full figure from a reference photo is always the same.

I do the head first, taking care to get proportions correct. Then I place a grid on my paper using the height of the head for a distance between lines. Next I place a grid over the photo using the height of the actual head in the photo. Going forward in this way gives me the same proportioned grid over the photo as on my drawing, allowing me to sketch in the rest of the figure very accurately.

My main goal on this sketch was to get a bit of variation of line weights on different parts of the figure. Many times it is not good to have a totally uniform outline all over the drawing.

The only other thing I wanted to do was indicate a bit of motion, as well as ad some interest, with the horizonal background lines in a few select places. These lines also help to push the subject forward.

If you think these horizonal background lines look familiar you’re right - think renaissance-era drawings (although mine are a bit too heavy-handed I think).

joe@joewinklerart.com

JoeWinklerArt.com

The Sketchbook Project

2011-01-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Well here it is January 2011 already and the Sketchbook Project Tour is quickly approaching. For those of you not familiar with it, it's like a concert tour only with sketchbooks!

For the next few weeks I'll be featuring a page out of my book, and hopefully some pages of one or two other artists.

Artists' sketchbooks have to be postmarked by January 15th in order to be included in the tour which starts in February and now includes nine different cities all across the U.S.

An overview of the project can be found here. Specific dates and cities right here.

Joe@joewinklerart.com

Pictures of the Year - Part 2

2011-01-04T09:34:00.000-05:00

A few more photos I was able to shoot from the year that was 2010...

joe@joewinklerart.com

Pictures of the Year - Part 1

2011-01-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to you and yours!

As much as I love oil painting, I thought I'd kick off the year with a different subject - photography.

I love to shoot reference for my paintings but sometimes it's nice to just process the raw files up really right as a fine art photographic print.

Here is a selection of photography which I consider among my best shots of the past year.

Holiday Wishes

2010-12-24T07:02:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas to all!

Here's some holiday still lifes put you in the spirit!

Book Suggestion of the Week

2010-12-20T11:34:00.001-05:00

Since the holidays are right around the corner you’re probably going to need to really brush up on the workings of that digital SLR that aunt Maude gave you months ago and that you never got the chance to use.

Well once you do that, I suggest you pick up the book “The Digital Photography Book” by Scott Kelby.

Scott Kelby pretty much wrote the book on writing photography books that cut right to the chase of what you need to know to turn those cheesy snap shots into really good shots. In this particular book you will learn much more than the complex workings of your SLR. You will learn how to compose shots, which settings to use for every type of subject, and why you should love an overcast day. And yes, he will show you how to use that bar graph-looking thing called a histogram.

You will learn all this with the minimum of effort because (as in all of his books) Scott Kelby does what he is known for, which is writing like he’s there next to you, instructing you and giving you ONLY the information you want and need to know to improve the shot. No technical speak, no talking down to you, no pie-in-the-sky goals you'll never reach. You'll get just what you need to know to get better shots.

The book is a mere pocket book so every page is filled with information you will use sooner or later. Additionally, he tells you where to buy the camera add-ons you might want and gives the price for each. Even if you use a simple point-n-shoot and not an SLR, this book will help you take better shots.

This book was so successful that he wrote second and third volumes of it. I don’t mean an updated reprint of this book, I mean two new books with new and more in-depth information should you care to go there.

But since the holidays are so close and you’ve yet to do any shopping I suggest you start with this basic, necessary, and enjoyable book. Once the holiday is over and you’ve gotten all the shots really right, you’ll be so into photography that you’ll pick up the second and third versions sometime in January.

If you're on Facebook, check out my photography galleries for results I've gotten with the help of Scott's books!

Society of Artists Reception

2010-12-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

Here are a few quick and random shots I took last evening at the reception for the 2010 Pittsburgh Society of Artists member show. The exhibit is going on now through January 18th, 2011 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh’s gallery on the Blvd. of the Allies in downtown Pittsburgh. My 16x20 oil painting “Packard” is in the show.

All the art looked fantastic. I can’t wait to go back and really take my time and study all the good work.

That gallery space is really nice mostly because of the huge windows on the street side. I was a bit disappointed to learn that we (member artists) were not allowed to put any promotional materials on the table in the center of the gallery. I was told that the show was too large to accommodate all the cards and sample sheets artists would want to put there. I’ve been in exhibits that were just as large if not larger than this, (with the Pittsburgh Society of Illustrators) and we’ve always had full use of that table. I think a different person is managing the gallery these days though.

Lastly, here is an image I shot a few hours ago from the sidewalk looking into the gallery. Told you those windows are great. My painting can be seen by all passers by!

Color Palette - Portraits

2010-12-15T16:57:00.000-05:00

Portraits aren’t something I do too often, but every artist on any level should have at least an understanding of how to mix the effects of various light sources hitting flesh. There really is no “flesh” color right out of the tube of course. What type of light and how much light hits the subject affects on the color of skin most of all.

Sometimes it’s just good to start very basically, with a tiny amount of red, a bit more yellow, and a pile of white for a caucasian skin color and go from there.

After taking a portrait painting class years back, I adopted a variation of the instructors palette and added colors from a few other portrait artists I admire to come up with the palette(s) below. Among the colors used are Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna, Yellow Ochre, Cad Yellow Medium, Cad Red Light, Ultramarine Blue.

Here is the portrait I painted from the live model in that class:

As I stated before, depending on how light hits the subject, any number of colors could be used. For the darker-skinned races, more of the umbers are used, but again, light has a lot to do with color choices.

Color Palette - Still Life

2010-12-14T09:22:00.000-05:00

I still enjoy painting landscapes but, doing them became tougher because I couldn’t control my subjects as much as I’d liked. When I tried to make up lighting that didn’t exist things wouldnt turn out right. So I found myself becoming more and more interested in still lifes. The rich, moody, classic kind that remind one of Baroque-era Europe. Also the kind I could set up myself and control the dramatic lighting of.

I am still very into those type of paintings, and what better master painter to study for that kind of painting than everybodys favorite painter, David Leffel. He uses these colors: Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow Deep, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red Light, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Umber, Ivory Black, and Titanium White. His palette is set up as shown in this next image.

Here's two still lifes I did using that Leffel palette.

I really enjoyed using that particular palette and will continue to use it on occasion.

Book Suggestion of the Week

2010-12-12T14:04:00.001-05:00

Planning for that dream trip to Italy in 2011?

Going to the Vatican?.

Can’t wait to see the Sistine?

Then prior to your trip, I suggest you read the book Michelangelo and the Popes Ceiling by Ross King. You will learn the true story (no, Michelangelo did not lock himself in the chapel and refuse to leave until he was finished) surrounding one of the greatest masterworks of Renaissance art. Know those famous pointing fingers that almost touch? That portion of Michelangelo’s work fell away ages ago. Some other unnamed artist did what’s up there now.

Among other things, this book will explain how frescos are done, how Michelangelo had problems with it early on in the process, just what are the origins of those sibyls, and how his treatment of the human figure had an impact on one of his biggest rivals.

The author also describes the seemingly outrageous Pontificate of the day. Can you picture a pope leading troops into battle? Well Pope Julius II who commissioned the Sistine ceiling did just that on more than one occasion. Pope Julius II along with his uncle, Pope Sixtus IV, who commissioned the building of the chapel, have been described by one art critic as “papal tsunamis”. Couple that with the genius of someone like Michelangelo, and you have a fantastic story.

As is mandatory for a book on this subject, each scene of each bay and vault of the ceiling are explained so that when you go there next year, you’ll know the real story of just what your looking up at.