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Capturing atmosphere

Stuttgart has a green heart. It's a big, lovely square with two castles, two fountains with putti and a
Untitled
papercutting huge pillar with an angel on top. There are chestnut trees and many flowers. At sunset, people are sitting happily under a café's umbrella with big helpings of ice cream. People are lying in the grass or passing by and they all want to be seen, especially the young girls. It's fun to draw.

Memory trip

I have read with great interest your current letter of sketching versus using a camera. It all comes
In the Atrium
oil back to one of your letters a short time back regarding drawing. A photo is a snap shot. A sketch is a memory trip. You remember the small nuances, the fly on your face, the conversation over there, the hot weather and the movement or lack thereof of the people or thing being sketched. My travel diary consists of sketches with notations. It provides more memories since it was all about seeing and recording.

Lithograph drawings

I've discovered long ago - as a kid - that drawing is a natural extension of myself. Where can I find the
Paper master that fits
commercial offset presses lithographic paper you mentioned? I've Googled the term and cannot seem to locate it.

(RG note) Thanks, Lisa. And thanks to all who asked this question. The lithographic paper that I use produces an image about 13 x 19 inches. Most grease pencils will do the trick. The paper fits on a standard A. B. Dick, Multilith, or other lithographic press. Many commercial print shops still have one of these machines, outdated to some degree now, but nevertheless workable. I have been in the habit of taking in a few dozen different drawings at a time and running off about twenty copies of each. Some presses take thin aluminum sheets, and these work nicely too, though not as smooth as the paper ones.

Sketching to entertain

Going back a few years, my kids were into high school basketball. I was one of the driving moms and
Barkerville Girls
Graphite to pass the time I would sketch. It started as stick figures to just get the motion, then they became a little more detailed. After a while at doing this you got to know how the kids' bodies would move and as a result, the sketches became more automatic.

Dangerous shooting

When I was 15 years old (summer of 1966) and on a choir trip to Germany, we toured most of the large cities and eventually arrived in West Berlin. We were allowed to spend a half-day in East Berlin sightseeing - if it could be called that. Where the West was colorful and gay - the East was quiet, reserved in drab shades of gray and browns. One of my fellow singers took a photo, with his Kodak, of a building just as an Army truck went by. Immediately two AK-47 guards marched up to us, confiscated his camera, and stripped the film out of it to expose the emulsion. They handed back the camera, devoid of film, and left several terrified young Americans in their wake. Remember the Wall?

Model's identity

Why didn't I think to ask for a name and address? While on a vacation with friends in California, I
Beautiful young girl
photograph was testing my new camera and taking random pictures of everything. We stopped at Starbucks and this adorable little girl was sitting in a chair with her dog. I jumped out of the car and asked if I could take her picture. She agreed. When I got home and looked at that shot, I was truly taken by that picture. The light was perfect in the late afternoon, giving such a warm glow to her skin. I couldn't have improved on the pose and composition. She and her dog were adorable. I was wishing I could send her a copy, but had no idea who she was. I even debated sending a copy to my friend and having her post it at the Starbucks, in hopes she would see it. Hopefully, I will not have to be regretful again. I will be asking for names and addresses to send them a copy. And perhaps make a new friend in the process.

Summertime bozettoing

I've been so busy this summer I'd gotten behind on my Painter's Keys reading, so I printed out a batch
Rock, Tree Sand Beach Study(left),
Rock, Tree Sand Beach(right)
acrylic of them to read while sitting all day at an outdoor art show (my first as an exhibitor) in Camden, Maine.

I "bozetto" like crazy, then mat them up and sell them for $50 at the farmers markets in Blue Hill and Stonington, Maine. But here's the thing: how do I get the looseness, audacity, freedom and elan of the bozettos into my larger work? I'm trying bigger brushes, setting a timer (to make me stop every 20 minutes), working wetter (I work in acrylics), but I'm not there yet. Any suggestions?

Seeing or being

As you have recently also delighted me in writing of John Ruskin, it reminded me of de Botton's book
Zermatt
watercolour by John Ruskin The Art of Travel, one of my favorites, where he attempts to experience specific places through the eyes of artists who have immortalized those places through their works. He speaks of Ruskin's evangelic advocacy of drawing over photography, although admitting that both have their place. Alain de Botton writes, "...he began to note the devilish problem that photography created for the majority of its practitioners. Rather than employing it as a supplement to active, conscious seeing, they used the medium as a substitute, paying less attention to the world than they had done previously, taking it on faith that photography automatically assured them possession of it." Through drawing, the artist is compelled to see the way a leaf joins its branch, the branch joins its trunk, the trunk its roots, and so on. Drawing demands that the artist pauses to be. What greater gift is there than that? Live! See! Capture beauty!

Offensive photography

I am guilty of cruising around with my digital camera throughout France and Italy over the past 2
The Pose
pastel on paper years and so far the responses have been positive or ho-hum. However, my feedback was rather unexpected when I was shooting native 'models' in Oaxaca, Mexico. I was taken by the delightful scene I stumbled upon in a busy local market. An older woman in colorful dress was snoozing as she sat on the ground in the outdoor tent surrounded by her fruits and nuts... a truly artistic display of the local culture, I thought! I quickly snapped my photo as the nearby locals gasped in horror. Well Senora's eyes opened wider than my shutter and up she jumped throwing her colorful delicacies at me. I proceeded to run from her while being bombarded throughout the market. It was quite a scene. I learned later that it was considered an insult and perhaps against her religious leanings to be photographed at all! When I got home anxious to see the picture, I searched for the image, it was gone! All the other photos were there. I think she willed it away. Anyhow, I've learned to ask before "shooting" (well, only if I'm looking obvious, that is!).

Don't hold back

A few years ago, we had an unusually warm break in February. I headed for the beach with my sketch
Winter Break Sketch(above)
Winer Break(below)
watercolour pad and easel in tow. There were only a few people on the island, let alone on the beach. I did some pattern sketches with a brush and wash. Although it was warm, the winter wind was blowing and the sand was flying. I incorporated several of the figures that were present. Two men came over and talked to me. The sketches were extremely simple, even crude, but the couple seemed impressed. I told them I may do some paintings from the sketches. They said that if I did the one of them, they would be interested in seeing it. I took their contact information, did a painting, emailed it to them and sold it that week.

If any artist out there has the initiative and "balls" to plop themselves down and sketch in a populated resort or historic area, I'm sure that eventually it would lead to proficiency and profit. Of course, it would take some artists more time and fortitude than others depending on their artistic as well as people skills. I know, ever since that day, that even though we artists think our work is not so good at times, others may see it differently. So, I guess the message to artists out there is: Don't let that feeling of not being good enough hold you back and keep you from reaching your potential.

Welcome critics like John Ruskin

An excellent biography of John Ruskin by Tim Hilton, covers all periods of Ruskin's life. It's now in
Single Sea Lion
watercolour paperback rather than two volumes in hard cover. Knowing about Ruskin is essential to understanding the age in which he had so much influence. His ideas still permeate the art community. I always urge my drawing students to buy his treatise on drawing.

The American critic Clement Greenberg influenced art here in Australia. He was powerful and he skewed art his way. Influential critics can certainly impact on the art output of a country and may hinder some artists as well as give others a boost. Art generally suffers very little coverage in the press these days, and when written up it is often in a derisive way. I would welcome critics with the prodigious output of John Ruskin, and if they are clever enough, like Ruskin, to draw attention to the importance of art and artists to a society.

Give some thought to giving the gift of the twice weekly letter. Andrew has set up a special place for this. You can send the letters to one special person or to as many friends as you wish. We will send these new people a card to inform them of your personal gift--and your good wishes. "The best things in life are free."