Hi to all from Paul
 

Hi All,

I was kindly pointed to this forum a little while ago by an existing member, and have been deeply impressed with the quantity and depth of the information I've found here. I'm very happy to be joining up properly today.

I'm an ex-painter recently returned to the fold, and am currently working to improve my skills with a view to turning professional again when I can. Despite having had some art education in the UK some years ago, I have much to learn. It certainly looks like I've found the right place to learn it.

Most of my work at present is focused on training myself to see properly. I keep an online diary of my (lack of) progress at http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk, where I ramble on aimlessly when I should be drawing and painting.

Below is my most recent portrait drawing. I'm trying to stay away from producing finished portraits at present, at least until I think I might have picked up enough not to make a complete hash of it. I've already learned so much from browsing here, I hope I can contribute something too - if nothing else I can provide a good example of how not to do it.

Thanks,

Paul

Hi Paul,

Welcome, I'm glad you are joining us! Your portrait drawing is lovely, and rock solid, as are your cafe sketches on your blog. You're good. I look forward to your thoughts and contributions here.

Garth

Thanks very much for your kind comments, Garth.

You may have noticed I borrowed your photoshop hex code for the studio wall colour for the background for the images on my site. It works very well I think, so thanks for that too.

I'm convinced the cafe sketches are the most productive practice I'm doing at the moment. Trying to catch someone in a couple of minutes is quite a challenge, but what's surprised me the most is how much fun it is!

Welcome, Paul! I checked out your website, too. I'm particularly fond of the still life of squash and carrots, and I also like the drawings. Those continuing education exercises you are doing look like a great idea--I may try some, especially the upside-down drawings.

Hope you enjoy being on the Forum.

Alex

Welcome Paul,
We learn as much as we teach on the forum. It is a great place for artists to meet and help each other. Looking forward to your contributions.

Hi Paul,
I vistited your website and I liked your work too. I specially liked the way you treat your edges in your latest painting.

Welcome to the Forum.

Alexandra:

Thank you.

I do think the exercises are helping. I got the idea for the upside down drawings from 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' by Betty Edwards, which has some great exercises aimed at switching off the internal jabber and seeing shapes and tones, not things. Its a hard thing to quantify, but I'm pretty sure its helping me to see more accurately.

Richard:

Thanks for the welcome, I'm looking forward to participating in the discussion.

Thanks Claudemir, you've just reminded me that I should get my brushes out again soon!

Thank you for joining us Paul! I look forward to seeing more of your work. Welcome.

Welcome Paul,

I have been a member of this site just under two weeks...I think it is amazing! I visited your website and I can't tell you how much I enjoy your journal format. (I may steal that concept for my own site!) Going to the cafe to sketch from life is "the real deal" and a sure way to live a true artist's life.

I see that you are in the United Kingdom...
Where are you in relationship to Newark on Trent, Lincoln or Long Bennington? I spent the first half of December working in Long Bennington and Newark for "Teaching Art, Inc" are you familiar with them? They distribute books, publish "Paint" magazine, produce DVDs and sponsor the SAA (Society for All Artists). ..perhaps you are a member?

You see, I

Thanks for the welcome, Mary.

Joy, I can't take credit for the journal format of my site, the web is rife with 'paintingblogs' so feel free to steal it. It's a nice way of looking back and seeing not only the work you've done, but also how you felt about it at the time. Its interesting how perspectives can change.

I believe we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes, so a straight portfolio site wouldn't be right for me at the moment. Also I hope that by trying to be as honest as I can about my progress and what I'm getting wrong, I can connect with other artists in some way. Painting can be a lonely pursuit sometimes.

I had a poke around your site too, lovely work. The only disappointment for me was that there wasn't more of it.

I know the area you speak of quite well, (although I'm well south of there now,) I lived in Nottingham for about ten years. I used to do street art around there, I've covered most of the midlands towns. The countryside is beautiful around there, especially once you get into the peak district - around Matlock and Belper. It's a limestone area with very distinctive bleached outcroppings of rock. Did you get to see that area?

Unfortunately I haven't heard of Teaching Art Inc or the Society for all Artists - but I will be sure to look them up. Most certainly I'll grab a copy of your book when it comes out here, it sounds like its right up my street.

27 years! Congratulations!

I'm spoiled in that I'm only a half hour train ride from London, and am often to be found skulking around the National Portrait Gallery, usually in the room with the Sargent portraits. They have some fantastic work there, it makes so much difference to see great paintings in the flesh I think. There's a brilliant portrait of Henry James by Sargent there, up close you can really see his 'swordsman' brush strokes. Step back and they meld into a beautiful realisation of the sitter. Very inspiring.

With all these lovely welcoming posts I'm already feeling right at home. What a nice place you have here. I think I see a spot at the back there where I can make myself comfortable :)

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum.
The portrait of Henry James is one I remember from my one visit to The National Portrait Gallery in London. I think that he took this portrait farther along the road to modernism than most of his portraits.
I especially remember wondering about the shadow color of the head, it contained almost no information of shape or details and was a perfect contrast to the light that played the leading part.
The other one I remembers is Watt

limestone outcroppings
 

No, I did not know about it until just now! It sounds like a great place to paint en plein air. I tell you what, if we go back we'll have to look you up, pack a lunch and go painting there.

[QUOTE=Allan Rahbek]
I especially remember wondering about the shadow color of the head, it contained almost no information of shape or details and was a perfect contrast to the light that played the leading part.
The other one I remembers is Watt

Paul, somehow I get the feeling that I've known you long before you joining this forum. Maybe, I relate to your struggles and approaches. I quite enjoyed reeding your evaluations of self and procedures. Do continue, if you have the time, I am sure this will help you and many others that visit your page.

I too joined recently and can honestly say, a grate bunch!

I am truly happy to make your acquaintance. Welcome!

Welcome Paul, I've enjoyed browsing through your website also!

Jean

Mischa, you have just completely made my day.

I started the site mainly as a record for myself, and I do ramble on a bit too much sometimes, but when someone says something like that - well, thats all the reason I need to keep adding to it. The next time someone raises their eyebrows about one of my more personal posts, I can tell them it's all Mischa's fault for encouraging me.

I've just been to your site too, and I have to say your work has floored me. Absolutely stunning. There's too much there for me to go into here, but I love the drawing of Oma, I think it has great depth and feeling. Also your drawing of 'Opa' goes right through me. Its not often I get a reaction that strong to a piece of work.

I'm guessing here, but does 'Oma' mean grandmother and 'Opa' grandfather? Are they relations of yours? If so, perhaps that's where that feeling comes from. Either way, beautiful work. For me there's nothing better than when strong technique comes together with real depth of feeling.

I was very interested to see your cast drawings too. Inspired by this thread on profound drawing by William Whitaker, I have just bought (today in fact!) my first cast - a torso of adonis, to begin practicing on. I can't afford to go and study in Florence, but I can afford a cast or two. I pick up the cast on Monday, I can't wait to get started.

Where are you from originally Mischa? I couldn't see it mentioned on your site. I think we have more in common than you might think - I'm a country boy too, and a biker to boot.

Thanks for the welcome Jean. Sorry, we must have been posting at the same time.

I'm gad you enjoyed the site - do have anything online? Its so much quicker to get to know people through their work when there's a link to a site, and suddenly I have so many people to get to know.

I'm only just beginning to realise the real extent of the talent lurking in these forums. I'm terrible with remembering names, but show me a painting by someone and I'll never forget them!

Thanks in any case, I'm sure we'll get to know each other in time.

No problem, Paul. I don't have a website yet, but it's on my list of things to do. I've been a member for quite a while now, and learned everything I know about oil on this forum. When I started, i was painting with airbrush ink (also used for fabric painting) because that's all I had. Now I paint as much as I can, have more supplies than I need, and love what I'm doing with a passion. I can see that you do too.

Jean

Hi Paul & Welcome!
I really enjoyed looking around your website/blog. Nice! Very interesting format. Must be a lot of work just to maintain it!

Thank you for your enthusiasm. Oma and Opa are not relatives. Oma and Opa are special people. They each have a story to tell a life lived and moments cherished. Still each in their own way reminisce as they wait for the moment of rest.
Most each portrait that I have done thus far has a interesting story behind it. Like the gent with the baseball cap posted by me recently. He in his youth was a soccer ref and I met him at a bus station. I was so attracted by his simple manner that I could not resist but to speak with him. While we talked I learned a lot about his life. In the end I told him that I am a artist and that if he would not mind to let me take a photo of him.

I am sure you will enjoy working from the cast I know I did. One thing that really helped me was the standard set by the academy. Each student was pushed beyond their capabilities. So, try to set your standards beyond your capabilities and the results will come. It helped me learn to see.

I am from former Yugoslavia now known as Serbia and Montenegro. My last bike was a chomped 750 Triumph. Someone stole it some time ago. Even though many a times I thought about getting another I decided against it for many reasons. I think I'm better off without one to many non drivers on the road now days. No matter how careful you are there is always that one that will not be paying attention and cause the accident. If you know what I mean.

Can you get the book Head and hands by Andrew Loomis? I think this will help a lot with your speed and accuracy. If by chance you cannot find it I can e-mail the files to you. Let me know. I am not sure how to faster send large files?

Jean:

I did some digging and found a couple of the paintings you posted here, so now I have work to attach to the name I will remember you for sure. Can I just say I loved the painting of Noah, lovely and fresh and the light is beautifully caught. I know it's a bit old now, but I had to resort to the site search to find some of your work. I'd love to see what you're doing now. Is there a more recent posting you can point me to?

Terri:

Thank you very much! It is a lot of work to keep the site up to date, but I enjoy it so its not really work. Sometimes I think I should post less and draw more though.

Ah, and you have a site! Yet again I find myself humbled by the quality of members' work here. The stand out piece for me was the portrait of Angel from 2004. I love the way you have the sitter pose for a photo next to the painting. You have absolutely caught her - I always think a good test of likeness is if the portrait still catches something about the sitter even when the pose is different.

Mischa:

That's a nice story about the guy you met at the bus station. I found the painting you mention, it's very nicely done.

Very good advice which I intend to follow, thanks. Perhaps I'll post my first attempt at a sight size drawing with my new cast so everyone can have a good laugh.

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned bikes. Now I'm having to stop myself ramble on about them and get myself banned for going off topic before I even get started. Suffice to say that the various bones I've broken over the years know exactly what you mean.

I couldn't find the Loomis book on Amazon (.co.uk), I found one called 'Drawing the head', but I assume that's not the one. I'll have to try some of the bookshops in London. Thanks for the offer to email the files, but let me see if I can find it first - it will be nicer to have the actual book and I can add it to my rapidly growing collection of tutorial books.

Paul and Mischa you should purchase "The Language of Drawing" by Sherrie McGraw, Bright Light Publishing. It is expensive, but worth it...her draftsmanship is masterful...truly amazing.

Well Paul, I tried a search on me and not much came up. I can see why you couldn't find much! Look up "Rebecca and Tootsie" for my latest, and "Jux" for a fun one. I'm glad you like "Noah", he will always be a favorite of mine.

Jean

Thanks for that Joy, I looked it up at bright publishing, came accross this quote:
[QUOTE]
Learning to draw by memorizing information or working with methods robs the student of drawing

Paul, I've had to get over any fear of "painting in public". I'm unable to take workshops due to injuries so I rely on this forum and the generous artists here to be my school. I consider them my personal angels on my shoulders, they catch me if I start to fall to badly. Don't be afraid to take risks--my mantra is, "jeez, it's only paint"! Noah is one of my favorites, he was delightful to work with.

Jean

Fear becomes anticipation, anticipation becomes excitement!

Paul, hi from just a few km away.
I hope this forum will inspire you to produce more portrait work too
Ilaria

Hello, Paul! I just spotted this thread and I'm delighted to see you and your wonderful work here!

Geesh - it's like a friendly cocktail party or something on this thread.

Welcome Paul! I havent seen your blog yet, but I will. I just had to pop in and say welcome....I'll be ****ed if I will be left out of a party. :sunnysmil

Jean:
hehe, I like it. Serious point well made. When I go sketching down the local cafe its great to be able to think 'well its just a sketch' and not get too precious about it. Its surprising what can come out sometimes.

Hi Ilaria, nice to meet you.

So do I. Actually, its been inspiring me in all sorts of ways.

I've just spent some time on your website, and will be visiting again soon. I love the way you paint. What struck me first was the painterliness (is that a word?), the way the backgrounds are left so nice and loose then gradually the paintings seem to strengthen around the figure, and then more on the face and hands, it gives the portraits a real presence.

The next thing that struck me (I was on the 'open studio' page at the time,) was that despite having a really distinctive style (I think I could already pass one of your paintings and know it was by you), they are all so different. Am I right in saying that the open studio paintings are all from life? I think they're stunning. Does the colour scheme and the mood get suggested to you by the sitter?

I noticed you're descended from Cosimo Rosselli! I went off to find out some more about him, he has a fresco in the Sistine Chapel?

Whilst digging about, I noticed that the National Gallery have a painting by him, I'll visit it the next time I'm in town.

Now here's an interesting thing, because I ended up on the National gallery's website, I noticed that they have an exhibition starting TOMORROW called 'Americans in Paris, 1860 to 1900.' They're going to have some Whistlers, Cassats and Sargents there including Symphony in White, the Boit Daughters and Madame X. Wow! And wouldn't you know it I have to work this weekend! Its on till May though so I'll be going in early March - I might bump into you there :)

Now there's a nice example of how much more benefit forums are when you get involved instead of just reading, I can't wait to get down to that exhibition and might have missed it.


Hi Linda, nice to see you again. I owe you a very big thank you for pointing me here, its been fascinating and I've only been here a few days. Your work is still inspiring me.

Hi Kimberly, very nice to meet you. Its funny, I'm usually one of the quiet ones on forums but since turning up here I haven't been able to stop nattering!

I've just been to your web site too. Yet more beautiful work. I really don't have time to have a proper look right now because I really must get some work done! I will be back for a proper look very soon though.

Mines a Caipirinha :)

Paul, thanks for your comments.
In fact I think my paintings are too different from each other!
The open studio work is interesting in the sense that it is like playing a sheet of music someone else has written. You can't choose the setting, the place, the lighting, you try and do the best of what you can.
I go to Heatherley's school here in town, I like it a lot there, even if there is perhaps too little "teaching", you are left learning on your own, but the flexibility of their scheme works very well for me.
I am really looking forward to the NG exhibition, but am not sure when I will be going, maybe if we organize an art school outing you could come along.
Forums... since I recovered a lost parcel with all my kids' Christmas presents through tips on ebay forum, I am more active then ever, I owe something back!
I.

The open studio course looks interesting - ten two hour sessions whenever you want to fit them in sounds like a very useful way to to do it. The fee is not too bad either, I guess, for working from a live model at your convenience, that's a shame that there's not more teaching though. I'll have a think about that for later in the year, I need some more drawing practice first.

How do you find the sittings, the lighting etc? is there usually good lighting or do they just bung them uder the room's flourescent lights like they used to at my old art college? I think I'd be really tempted to sign up if the sittings are nicely set up.

Thanks, let me know if you do a trip with your school and I'll come along if I can.

Paul, we normally work in natural daylight. The tutor changes every three weeks pose, some of them actually "teach" more and some less. They would never take a brush and show you how it is done, I mean there is no proper 'academic' training.

Now I am in the portrait three course, but when I used to go to open studio, up to last year, I chose which teacher to work with.
There is also an interesting tutoring program, where you just go in twice a term with all of your work and get one hour of discussion, I had Minna Stevens, who is amazing, but I am not sure if you can sign up to this program as an outsider.
I.

Paul,

Welcome from the former English Colony of well, New England.

I really like the sensitivity of your self portrait. You explorations into color and paint on your blog are quite enlightening.

I don't know why your ruminations made me think of Martin Johnson Heade, who mainly did florals, still lifes and landscapes. I once saw a very small canvas of his (small and unpretentious like yours) of roses in a Boston Gallery. They carried across the room. I can't find that particular one, but it is now in the hand of some lucky chap with 1.4 million smackeroos. He demonstrates how much can be done with so little.

Here is an example.I hope you find it useful.

Good news Ilaria, just what I was hoping to hear. I've come accross Minna Stevens work before, I like it very much. Very loose but still with a strong sense of likeness.

Hi Sharon, thanks for the welcome. I'm glad you found the site interesting. The still lifes I've been keeping deliberately small so that I don't get caught up in trying to produce highly finished work before I've got the technical know-how to do so. I'm hoping that by producing a number of smaller pieces I'll progress more without my internal critic putting me down too much. I think it doesn't actually matter what you paint, the point for me at least is still the same - to study how light creates colour, and defines form. Much work still to be done there.

I must admit though, all I'm doing at the moment is drawing. I see it kind of like a musician practicing scales, learning the language of their instrument. Its interesting to me that painting appears to be one of the few crafts where its acceptable to be taken seriously without putting in any serious effort to learn the basic skills, in some circles at least.

Thanks for putting me on to Martin Johnson Heade, I'd never heard of him before, but he was a very individual artist from what I've seen this morning. HIs paintings have an almost dream-like quality to the light, very lovely. I'll be investigating his work more.

On the subject of small still lives and light, I've been following the daily paintings of Julian Merrow-Smith for a while now, an English artist working in Provence. He has a very individual approach to light, too, very evocative. He's also a very accomplished portraitist, and has exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

It is incredibly silly. It is like letting an untrained dancer on the stage of the Royal Ballet.

I work in natural daylight as well.

Indeed.

Sharon, I tried following the link in your signiature, but was taken to a 'directory listing denied' page. Should it have a filename as part of the link?

Paul,

I had that problem too. Go to The Strokes of Genius main site and find my name and click on it. It is on the bottom of the Forum page. My site does come up.

I have more recent stuff on the professional unveilings site. This is what I am doing now.

Thanks Sharon, I found my way to your paintings. I see that you are most definitely not one of those people we were talking about earlier, beautiful work.

By the way, if you change your signiature link to www.portraitartist.com/knettell/knettell.htm it should work.


I'd like to say what a nice introduction to the forum this has been. I can put work to a few names now and am feeling at home already. I think I now have some idea of the high standards being set here.

As far as I can make out, the first post on this forum was in July 2001. If you'll all excuse me for a moment, it looks like I have a little reading to do.