Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama

Born Too Late (or why don’t we make this stuff anymore?)
Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama

Discovered this gem a few weeks ago at the Gettysburg Battlefield National Park Visitor Center. The canvas depicts Pickette’s Charge, the crucial final offensive by the Confederate Army.

Paul Dominique Philippoteaux and his team of 2o artists worked for nearly a year to complete the epic battle. What a job, right? Apparently, one artist would go along and paint the sky; another would do uniforms; another, horses, and another, faces. Each had his or her specialty. 

The grand scope of this work is amazing. Large canvases were stitched together to form a 360 degree canvas housed in a circular (cyclorama) house where the viewer could stand in the middle of the building and simply by turning could enjoy the view as if he was really on location. About 50 ft. high and 400 ft. in circumference; the canvas would be strung up from rafters and weighed down and primed. Sketches were transferred via grid system. The artists worked on tiered scaffolding.

The narration done by the Gettysburg Battlefield National Park is superb too. Much care was taken to hide edge of canvas with earthen works, props, plants etc. The image literally being in three dimensions at the viewer’s feet and then stretches out into an amazing panorama of the battlefield. 
Does anyone know of any other cycloramas still in use?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Philippoteaux
http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/tag/paul-dominique-philippoteaux/
http://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/13/see-the-cyclorama-and-film

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Don't Give Up So Fast! Sketchbook Woes.

The Subject Matter: Great Horned Owl (Bird Acre Sanctuary Maine)

We all have a collection. Those horrid, horrid sketchbook disasters. Oh we started out with good intentions, but then, we lost focus, or stiffened up because someone was looking over our shoulder or the subject matter was just too darn complicated. I would challenge any artist out there to show me a *perfect* sketch book from cover to cover. Oh. Ok. I do have a few...if you don't look too closely you wont notice the remnants of pages that have been torn out.

The offending attempt at sketching him

Well there is no perfect solution. A noted, professional, fantastically good artist instructor shared this bit of wisdom: When we go out with our camera and take pictures, only a few out of the dozen snapped are noteworthy. The more we snap the more we learn about taking pictures and slowly, but surely, more and more pictures are keepers. The same goes for sketch books. And hold onto those bad ones too, because even if what you did didn't work or turn out as you desired, you still learned something.

And sometimes not all hope is lost...

Recently I had an opportunity to sketch some Birds of Prey at the Stanbrooke /Bird Acre Sanctuary in Maine.

As you can see, not all my drawings were masterpieces!

It wasn't until a few weeks later that I was able to sit back down and spend some time on my disaster. I was working with my traveling watercolor kit so there were some limitations with what I could do, but I just took the leap and started working unconventionally. Using watercolor like acrylics or gouache to help cover up my mistakes.

As you can see, he's not something for the museum, and even now needs more work on those eyes, but a great improvement from the first attempt. All because I didn't give up on him!

Selecting good materials for a sketchbook can be a great passive assist on projects such as this, when you need your substrate/paper and medium to go beyond its intended use and still hold up.

Pentalic puts out a series of "Nature Sketch"  books that I adore. They come in a variety of sizes to scale to your comfort. The cream colored paper is thick and holds up to repeated washes and still drys pretty flat. It can take pencil, watercolor, pastels, oil pastels, pen and ink....the works...

My brushes, I admit are a little mixed. A few high quality ones for details so they hold there point, but I also have some medium grade ones that I am rather abusive with pushing color around and mushing paint into the surface.

For water colors, I do like the Holbein series or M Graham series. The tubes don't seem to be as messy as the thinner tubes.


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Resources Tips for Drawing the Human Form....The Human Bean

I've been absent for a little bit, but had spare time today, on my Birthday (!) to sit down and share some recently learned tips and tricks for drawing the human form. Humans often seem to be a tricky subject for artists, myself included. I am consciously looking for sketching tips and resources to improve my work.

The "Human Bean" is a fantastic technique for capturing the action, movement and shape of the torso. Everything hangs off the torso, so getting the core right is critical in our work with the human form. I'm not going to explain the technique here, but will send you over to Proko.com .They do a much better job of explaining and giving examples than I possibly could. Once you are there you will notice an extensive library of other tutorials. Enjoy!

Once I did a little practice with this sketching technique I popped in one of my favorite action movie and paused the DVD occasionally to draw some "human beans" Within one sitting, I already felt my humans had improved by leaps and bounds.

At first I focused on just "the bean" but it was natural after the first couple pages to start adding on the limbs and head etc....

This works very well for the human form and I'm thinking that it might be applicable in some fashion to the animal form as well. The bean would be more stretched out of course, but the concept is valid. I'll give it a try and post my results in the near future.


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Working with Oil Pastels

Hello all-

I started working with oil pastels about a year ago with hit or miss results. There are a variety of ways to work with this medium, but I think the main issue to overcome is that oil pastels never really "dry out" I tend to frame mine with at least a single matte to keep the work from touching the glass. There are also several fixatives available. I have used the Sennelier brand with good results.

My first experiments with oil pastels was on paper. I just grabbed what I had lying around, which happened to be watercolor paper. This is the same scene done twice (something I rarely do) on watercolor paper with different finishes.

The paper with the smoother finish is very different that the same scene done on cold press paper. I used a scratch tool to draw in the branches on the shrubs. A big tip for working with oil pastel on paper: For archival purposes, you should apply a light coat of gesso to paper. Not everyone does this, but if you don't you run the risk of the oils seeping into the paper and discoloring it over time. Oil pastels can be loose or blended.

There are a variety of brands of pastels out there. They are all very different in texture and softness....additionally, they work very differently with each other as well. I find I can usually blend with Sennelier and Van gogh brands, but not cras pas.

For beginners, this is a nice resource for information.

This is a light smooth oil paint on gessoed illustration board.  I don't use any thinner when working with oils.  

Just blocking in basic shapes and color.

At one point, I realized that applying oil pastels over a loose smooth oil paint surface was a great way to work....I like the process a lot. Here is step by step process of hammerhead sharks:

Bit by bit, I work in the details with the oil pastels until I have the final piece:


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Ducks for Dad

Right now I'm busy working on duck paintings for my Dad. You think it'd be easier working for family, but I know my Dad has a very keen eye and, being an avid duck hunter, will be able to tell the slight error.

I'm lucky enough to live by several streams and lakes, so finding mallards to sketch and study was easy. I also recently had a chance to photograph some other duck species up at Presque Isle earlier this spring too. 

Through a series of quick email conversations, we settled on a size and species (pintail) and then it's up to me to work out the details.

Ducks as it turns out can be very elegant and graceful. They can also be awkward and amusing and downright funny too. I wasn't a big duck lover at the start of this project, but by the end, I think I'm going to find these creatures charming and a permanent entry on the "like" list.

A book that has also been of great assistance is Ducks of North America. Beautiful Illustrations!


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Sharks for Fun

Been working on some shark sketches in my free time. Really, really incredible animals, I'm pleased more and more public awareness is being paid to these creatures. I know we have so much going on in the world today, famine, violence, war: Important issues that need our attention. But hopefully we don't over look the other creatures that share the planet with us.

If you want to be involved here are some websites:
http://www.projectaware.org/

http://gifts.worldwildlife.org/gift-center/gifts/Species-Adoptions/Great-White-Shark.aspx?q=SharkAdoption&sc=AWY1200WCGO1&searchen=google&gclid=CLuqj56n6bYCFcJo4Aody1UAZQ&mpch=ads

These guys have been around since the dinosaurs. What a shame if the go extinct because we have no self control.

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Advice to a young artist

As artists, we are constantly striving to improve our skills. We might take classes, find a mentor, or spend arduous hours practicing. What I've discovered over the years, is that my mental blocks hold me back regardless of how much time and effort I commit to improvement.

We all have the voice of self doubt that whispers in our ear. They are our constant companions. Every interaction with other human beings provides these voices with an opportunity to  derail us from the present here and now. 'What did that person mean by that? Are they angry with me? I wonder if I have broccoli stuck between my teeth?

It's ok to listen to this voice moderately. Sometimes we do get carried away and this voice can moderate us. 'Am I talking too much?' 'Is it time to listen?' ' Maybe I've hurt this persons feelings, I should touch base again and clarify what I mean...'

But often this voice is destructive: 'There's no way you are going to get this job.' 'You aren’t very good, you know.' 'Why am I so dull? and ugly? and stupid?'

These voices need to be excised. Not repressed, mind you. You need to sit down with them and give them a very stern talking to and then find a way to come to terms with them. Another option, one that I find works well, is to journal and write. If you are really struggling with the voices, this is a great way to send them packing. Find a quiet place, sit down and write. Write down whatever pops into your head. Write it down. Doesn’t even have to be legable. Once it's written down, you can burn it up, tear it apart, drown it down or let the winds take it away. It's not going to solve any problems miraculously, but it does clarify and allow your mind to be clear.

These negative voices get in the way of your creativity. It's almost as if your brain is so occupied with the worry, it can't spare anything to relax, open up and allow the creativity to flow out.

Julie Cameron's book Artists Way is a fantastic tool for those of us struggling with those ultra-self destructive voices. Check out her website as well:

http://juliacameronlive.com/basic-tools/creative-clusters/

Journaling in some way is like meditation. It's another way to quiet the mind and bring your focus into the here and now. Mediation is simply bringing the mind to the present moment and each time it wanders off, bring it back again. There are specific breathing techniques for meditation and posture. I don't recommend meditation without initally finding instruction. There are a few websites that can offer guidelines, but I find meditation with a group is more constructive for beginners. 

http://www.shambhala.org/meditation/
http://www.vipassanadhura.com/howto.htm

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