07.04.08
Enjoy the Freedom
Happy Independence Day everyone! In blog posts to come, I thought I might share more of my photography and not just my art. I hope you enjoy this one I took at an air show a few years ago.
06.06.08
Normandy Then and Now
One of the better photo montage videos I found on YouTube commemorating D-Day, June 6 1944. The soundtrack is from the John Williams score for Saving Private Ryan.
05.26.08
Happy Memorial Day
In this media saturated age, its hard to imagine posters such as these having much affect on the populace at all let alone raising any sentiment or money for a war effort. But apparently they did. War posters proved their effectiveness in WWI so much that in 1942 Roosevelt created The Department of War Information specifically for the task of mobilizing the home front in support of WWII. Not the least of which was the creation of several posters. These are two of my favorites. The first by Norman Rockwell is apparently the only combat picture he ever painted. Aside from his incredible technique, I love 3 things in particular about it. First, the faceless soldier, symbolizing our military might rather than any individual. Secondly, the ammo belt that seems almost spent, expressing urgency. And thirdly, the torn fatigues and battle worn condition of a soldier thats obviously been in a hard fight. The second poster is just a great concept by Bernhard Perlin; WWII soldiers marching in review for Revolutionary troops, our nation’s original freedom fighters.
Enjoy these gems of days gone by and remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
04.18.08
Primitive Subject Meets Digital Medium
A tribute to the primitive backwoodsmen of the Carolinas and Georgia that often made up contingents of colonial militia in the southern revolutionary campaigns. A favorite artistic subject of mine.
I am training myself to use Corel Painter IX, this being a trial run on a full illustration. I did this mostly with digital watercolor brushes, adding highlights on a separate layer with digital oil pastels. I haven’t used Painter since version 5 years ago. At that time it seemed slow and clumsy. It is much improved and a more honest artist’s tool now with smoother more manageable brushes that accurately mimic natural media and paper grain. Closer integration with Photoshop style layers and the ability to save those layer in .psd format is huge.
04.05.08
Illustration Friday: Save
I’m guessing all the ethanol produced from corn these days has saved many a farmer. I have a flex fuel vehicle and love using E85, mostly because I save around .15 a gallon, its high octane, and my car runs well on it. Will alternative fuels such as ethanol save the world from global warming? Doubtful. There are too many scientists now suggesting that global warming is a natural earth cycle and not man made (you won’t hear that in the media by the way). But, this is not a political blog so I won’t get into it any further. What I am looking forward to is saving lots of this year’s local crop in the freezer. The Silver Queen variety in this region is absolutely delicious. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the illustration. Which, incidentally, was done many years ago on colored pastel paper with colored pencil and a bit of pastel.
03.20.08
The Studies of a Master
For an artistic anatomy teacher, you can do a lot worse than Michelangelo. He was himself an avid student of anatomy. Duh, right? But its interesting to see where some of his anatomical training came from. As a young teenager and a member of the court of Lorenzo de Medici, he frequently attended dissections held by physicians of court and at 18 was even performing his own dissections. His studies and influences also included drawing studies from sculptures such as the Belvedere Torso and The Laocoön and His Sons. He even aspired to produce his own artistic anatomy book. Doing my own drawing study from Michelangelo’s sculpture repeats a process that was familiar and beneficial to him as well.
This is an arm study I did from Michelangelo’s David, rendered in pastel pencil on colored paper.
02.17.08
Artistic Comprehension
Nobel author Henri Bergson once said, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” I agree. And although this probably isn’t exactly what Bergson had in mind, these eye drawings from my sketchbook represent exercises in artistic comprehension. When I feel that elements of my drawing need more character, I, like many artists, draw them and try to understand those elements a little better; a little more intimately. For me, sketches like these represent one of the great joys of drawing and artistic expression; not merely recording visual information, but comprehending a subject on a new and deeper level.
02.09.08
Collection: Classic Illustrators by Name
Listen my children and I’ll tell you of an age when there were no computers. It was a happy, simpler time when talented illustrators existed and thrived using such archaic tools as brushes and charcoal sticks. I have found evidence these magical creatures, these pre-digital forms of human artists actually existed.
If you would like to study the work of this age gone by, you’ll have more than you can shake a mouse at in this flickr collection assembled by illustrator Leif Peng. I was astounded at the sheer volume of sets he’s collected. Lots of great retro inspiration to be had there for both illustrators and designers alike. Be prepared to spend some time there.
02.07.08
100 Photoshop Tutorials for Creating Beautiful Art
Just ran across this Photoshop Tutorial site today and added it to my site list. A lot of useful info for digital artists particularly if you’re interested in painting in Photoshop
02.05.08
Cowpens ‘08
Following up on my last post, I thought those of you who frequent this blog might enjoy a few pictures from this years anniversary event at Cowpens. Below are 4 of my favorites. It was cold (for South Carolina). You can see the horse’s breath in the cavalry shots.
01.17.08
Battle of Cowpens – 227 Years Old
One of my favorite Revolutionary War reenactment events takes place only about 40 miles from me. The actual battle took place on January 17, 1781. Fast forward 227 years later and the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens will be held this weekend near Gaffney, SC. at The Cowpens National Battlefield. The Park is set in a nondescript, out of the way, rural landscape that most people wouldn’t look at twice or normally think about even once. But great things happened here that helped change the course of the war.
The reenactors that participate make for curious photographs and even more interesting art subjects. This drawing is intended to be the start of, what I hope will be, a fun and rewarding watercolor painting. Mountain and backwoods militiamen, such as this drawing portrays, played a key part in this colonial victory. The planned painting is based on one of my photographs. Another of my paintings is featured in my previous post on this event. Also below are a few pics from past events. I’m looking forward to getting a few more good pics this year.
12.31.07
The Post Modernist’s New Clothes
I wrote this essay several years ago after overhearing a conversation between two co-workers at a bookstore describing their spiritual beliefs. I was struck by how cavalier their attitudes were in defining truth as whatever seemed best to them. I wrote this essay in the fictitious voice of someone seeking spiritual truth himself and considering how best to find it. Read More
12.07.07
Look and Remember
66 years ago today, I had yet to be born. Pearl Harbor doesn’t quite seem real to people like me, that is until I look at pictures like this. Those survivors who were there are nearly gone. The rest of us must now remember in their place: December 7, 1941.
12.05.07
Amazing Grace
Last night I decided to watch the William Wilberforce story as told in the recent film Amazing Grace. All in all a very well made and acted film that seems to support the historical facts. I especially like the weaving together of 2 related stories surrounding slavery: that of John Newton, the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace, and of course the British abolition battle waged by Wilberforce himself. Although John Newton was a side story and only touched on, I was pleased that the film did not resort to the old yarn about Newton having an instantaneous, storm-induced conversion but rather seemed to fit with the more historical interpretation that Newton’s conversion was a gradual one after some years in the slave trade and his later regret for that vocation during his years as a minister.
A watercolor study done from one of my many reenactment photos. This doesn’t really have anything to do with the film other than I was inspired by the relative time period, which is always a favorite of mine. This quick study is sort of a warm up for another Revolutionary War portrait piece I am working on to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens coming up next month.
11.26.07
The Storyteller of History
A friend of mine recently reminded me of the art work of Andy Thomas. What an incredible painter he is! Not having looked at his paintings in a while, I’ve just reacquainted myself with his work and updated my links to include his gallery site.
Known by many as “the storyteller”, Andy’s sweeping narratives really capture my historical imagination. I can easily see many of Andy’s artistic influences reflected in his work, Frederick Remington in particular. I am not really a painter of large, scenic, multi-figure epics. So painters like Andy Thomas and the enormously popular Don Troiani absolutely blow me away; not only their painting mastery but all the prep and research that must go into every work they produce. Incredible stuff!
