Go Figure...seeing the universal in the specific...

Fragile Patterns   Charcoal/Mixed   19 x 12.5

Figurative and portrait paintings seem to be a hard sell...at least for me.  Buyers and collectors seem to be reluctant to hang an unrecognizable visage in their living space.  I have also heard many folks who seem to be too modest to hang a picture of themselves as if it were boastful.  I have a very difficult time with this notion as I see all of mankind in a gesture, a scenario or even the placement of hands.  I relate to something in each model...something that echos a bit of my self and my longings.  I guess that I wish to relate to a bit of what the model is feeling or revealing through body language.  That is the reason why I continue to paint people and why I continue to learn about myself through them.

For me, the experience is tender.  It is pure.

Go figure.

Just what is expressive drawing?...my own definition...Fragile Patterns

Fragile Patterns   Charcoal/Mixed   19 x 12.5

In the time I have been writing this blog, there have been more hits on my expressive drawing posts than any others.  Unfortunately, until now, I have only described the steps we took in workshops without explaining exactly what I mean.  Expressive drawing is my own moniker, albeit general, that signifies a drawing where other considerations trump the exactness of the subject.  And, hopefully, it leads to expressive painting as well.

I use the design approach to drawing and painting.  Design  elements are the artist's tools.  They include:
1.  Shape (pattern, form, mass, object, subject matter)
2.  Value  (light and dark, tone, tint)
3.  Space (the illusion of 3-dimensional depth and 2-dimensional flatness)
4.  Edges (blurred and sharp, lost and found)
5.  Color Temperature (warm and cool)
6.  Texture (surface variation)
7.   Line (drawing versus mass painting)
8.  Color Hue (spectrum clossifications: red, yellow, blue, etc; local and arbitrary hues)
9.  Color Intensity (brightness, neutral versus pure)


The design principles ore the organizing aesthetic ideas that guide your use of elements in a painting. They are:
1 , Dominance (emphasis, focal point)
2,  Movement (rhythm,, directions, gesture, transition)
3,  Variety (contrast, conflict, tension)
4,  Unity (harmony, balance or not with intention)

These elements are shared by artists of all kinds from illustrative to culinary.  Each artist has his/her personal sense of aesthetic "correctness" that is a personal mix of the elements and principles dependent upon his/her preferences.  My own mix is just that...my own.  In expressive drawing, these principles are in play right along with the subject, the reality.

Drawing expressively relies on a good foundation in drawing; the desire for a bit of risk-taking; enjoying happy accidents and occasional chaos;  a skill in gross motor drawing from the shoulder (as opposed to fine motor with the wrist); and the ability to trust your own problem- solving and decision-making ability.

My own preferences for an expressive drawing or painting include:

* moving from 3-dimensional correctness and detail in the focal area to 2-dimensional flatness    in the far corners of the work

* calligraphic line (especially the S-curve) that mimic nature

* lines that extend too far

* broken line

* echo lines (or power lines) in important areas for strength

* combining like-valued shapes for simplicity

* unexpected shapes wherever

* warms played against cools

* line played against mass

* amazing neutrals played against a few pures

* as many lost edges as possible....leading to a bit of beautiful (hopefully) nothingness

* and rhythm, rhythm, rhythm using edges to create movement

Fragile Patterns...

Fragile Patterns   Charcoal/Mixed   19 x 12.5

tickle my fancy.  This portrait of Elizabeth was done from life at a session a week or so ago.  Elizabeth is a long and lithe and terrific model....very beautiful.  She was wearing a necklace comprised of hundreds of beads, a red vest and a black sequined bra.  I used vine charcoal to render the portrait.  At home, I thought about the pattern of the beads and chose a Moroccan design for the background.  Red watercolor washes overall.  The beads were intensified by dipping a pencil eraser into printing ink and pressing them onto the surface.  Patterns and jewelry are a woman's armor, weaponry if you will... peaceful decorations that celebrate beauty and love.

Pattern recognition and musical patterning are functions of the right brain.  

Fragile patterns celebrates this notion.