Investing In Landscape Materials

I realized there's a park in my area worth painting at and maybe it's a good idea to buy an outdoor easel. 

There's only so many choices though and I'm trying to narrow them down. At first my number one choice was a French Easel (full-box, preferably by Jullian). For those who don't know, FEs are wooden easels that can fold up into a box so you can carry it around. They come in a few variations, two of them being a full-box and a half-box. The half-box is slimmer but has much of the same functionality. There's also completely different options available and one them is a Stanrite aluminum easel. It's lightweight (3lbs compared to the FE, which is 14lbs) and much cheaper. The price is also tempting at $80CAN compared to the FE which is about $100CAN more. I don't know why these things are so expensive here in Canada. I guess I'll have to shop online.

Anyway, I really want to get out there and paint because I'm tired of still-lifes and reproductions every summer. I don't have access to a model right now so landscapes seem to be a great alternative. 

OAA 40th Annual Juried Show

I'm pleased to say that my efforts to get myself "out there" this year are paying off. Two of my drawings got into a juried show. One of them won 2nd Best in Show (Best in Show is a painting no doubt), which is great news since it's my first major juried show. I'll get 'em next time though! I'll post pictures of the show this week. And if all goes as planned I'll have another show in July...

Egg Study

I just did this in about an hour. It's my first painting on mylar. It wasn't bad--I definitely need more practice. I thought I'd start really simply by painting an egg in black and white just to feel things out. It's nice to be able to take a brush, dip it in mineral spirits and use it to clean up edges. I don't see myself doing full paintings on mylar, but I'll explore it some more. 

Rembrandt Reproduction on Mylar (Nearly Done)

Almost done! It won't look much different than this. I want to keep it pretty dark because that's how I like it. Just a few minor things to do, and it'll be done. 

Rembrandt Reproduction on Mylar (Update)

Here's another progress shot. I've gotten more done since then but the battery in my camera just died, so I'll post more tomorrow. 

Photos vs. Life

I just checked the comment on my Rembrandt copy and thought I need to talk about this. I think there will always be this debate about using photo references vs. working from life. I'm not going to try to tell people what's right or wrong about all of this, I going to tell you my view on it. 

Let me start by how I learned how to draw. Of course like most kids, I was always drawing something on my spare time either from life or my imagination, but in high school I learned how to create more realistic images by using photos and the grid method. But that's not all there was, we also did still-lifes and portraits from life because I was lucky enough to have a teacher that believed in that. I became very good at doing photo-based stuff, and it was easier than drawing from life, but only because at the time, I had done that more than stuff from life. That was until 2004 when I started (and I'm sorry if this is repetitive) going to an atelier and learning a strong method of drawing from life, like the masters. At that point I immediately became more interested in drawing from life simply because it became easier for me, and it was always more inspiring. So the majority of my work since then is from life and to be honest it's hard to go back to photos. Mind you, photos are sometimes necessary when you need to capture something not possible from life. But other than that, I often get bored from using photo references these days--I'm too restless for that now. 

Back to the atelier, we do start by doing Bargue drawing copies, which are from a book. So you can learn from 2D sources but those were designed to teach you how to see when drawing from life. Once you've learned how to draw from life in the classical way, you can draw from photos without a grid and make it look like it's from life if you want. But you also learn that most photos are not a great representation of life in terms of light and shadow and you can take that into account. The bottom line for me is I love drawing/painting from life and that's what I'd rather do, but for the odd time I really need a photo, I know how to use one properly. Thanks for the comment Panos!

Rembrandt Reproduction on Mylar

In my quest to become more proficient on mylar, I'm tackling a Rembrandt. He's the perfect choice because well...it's Rembrandt! And the impasto and painterly qualities lend themselves to mylar very well. I started out by putting down a layer of conté and then gradually erasing out of it. Above is the progress shot, I'll post updates as I go. 

The Resurgence of Classical Realism

For years there has been talk about classical art making a comeback. When modernism was the big thing in the 1950's/60's, it was the norm to destroy classical busts in schools and reduce teaching of figurative art. Although those actions would be a bit extreme today, it is still difficult for artists seeking a traditional art foundation to find what they're looking for, but it is starting to get better. 

Back in 2004 I was loosing my mind because of the lack of traditional drawing skills being taught in my foundation year at university and I thought it would never get better. Every time I'd take out a knitting needle to measure proportions it was either, "You need to loosen up." or, "What the hell is that?" I even had one instructor tell me that I was going to poke someone's eye out with it! Anyway, things did get better as I was able to choose classes that were figure based as opposed to more existential, post-modernism based classes. I'm starting to realize that there's more hope for students like me. 

Today the traditional art scene is getting bigger and bigger. Artists like Jacob Collins, Juliette Aristides, Jeremy Lipking, Anthony Ryder and Sean Cheetham (to name a few) are very popular in the contemporary art world.  I believe part of the reason is because a lot of these artists have instructional books out, which is great because there's no shortage of students looking for traditional "how-to" books. And another reason is (even though their technique is traditional) their subject matter and compositions are more contemporary. They're not just doing the commissioned portraits for doctors and lawyers, they're really taking on more relevant subjects. 

As the number of successful classical realists increases, there seems to be more ateliers opening up (at least in North America), and schools like the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art and the New York Academy of Art are getting more popular. The atelier model is more sought after. For those who don't know, an atelier (French for "artists' studio) is where you would go to learn classical realism by first doing master copies, then life drawing, cast drawing, cast painting, still-life, and figure painting--all under the watchful eyes of the head instructor and assistant instructors. One of the big problems though is most ateliers are private businesses and therefore not eligible for student loan programs. That makes it difficult for a lot of students but hopefully as more of these schools open up, there will be more grants and loans available. 

Looks like making classical realist art isn't as far off an idea as it used to be.  

Getting Antsy

Ever since the school year finished I've been feeling really anxious to get working again. You get used to drawing/painting the figure every week and then it just stops. 

It's a good thing there's alumni figure drawing sessions. I plan on taking advantage of those sessions to get more work done, especially for New York. It's funny because I was drawing for 8 months during the school year yet I would probably only show 4-5 drawings out of that whole time. That's because a lot of the time, we'd be doing gesture drawings (2 mins to 10 mins each) and I'm not really good at that yet. So I'm hoping this summer I'll get some good gestures in my portfolio as well as a couple of sustained poses. 

Henry Yan

Thanks to a fellow artist on Artpapa.com, I found out about Henry Yan, and thank goodness I did. You can check out his website here. 

I've been trying to find ways to loosen up lately and Yan's method is one I definitely need to try. So far my attempts at drawing on mylar have helped but Yan's method will take me farther. I've always loved a more painterly style of drawing and painting (J.S. Sargent has a big influence on me). I plan on stepping up my figure work this year because I really feel like I've been holding back. 

Good thing Yan put a book together for those of us not lucky enough to take a class with him. It won't be the same but at least it's something. It's available on Amazon for about 30 bucks, not bad. I tried to find it locally (to see if I could do a quick flip through) but no luck yet. I'll let you know when I get it!

Where There's A Will, There's A Loan

Well folks, looks like my path to New York isn't so uncertain afterall. Previously I thought that since the National Student Loan Program didn't fund Canadian students studying abroad, that I couldn't get a loan to help me. I was wrong!

Last night, I was determined to find something to help me and I did. It's called the Canadian Student Loan (formerly CanHELP) and it's for Canadian students who wish to study in the U.S. Perfect! It's credit-based, and you need a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to co-sign... not so perfect. Other than that its basically like a normal student loan that you re-pay six months after graduation. I want to jump up and down! Just one problem though: I already owe about $20,000 in student loans (about $5, 000 a year) so far and New York Academy is currently $22, 700 a year! There's no way I'm borrowing THAT much a year, so I need other sources of funding. 

Which brings me to grants. A couple of months ago, one of my instructors thought my work would be good enough to receive the Elizabeth Greenshields grant ($12,500). I actually heard about it years before from a friend but I didn't think I had the work for it then. So I got a hold of the application and hung onto it for a while because I was planning which 6 pieces to enter. Because here's the kicker: If you don't get the grant the first time, you're not allowed to try again for another 2 years! So, of course, I was really doubting myself, because that made me very anxious. I'm still really nervous about it but I'm much more optimistic and I'm going for it. I've got the six pieces, and I feel like it's now or never. I really hate applying for stuff! But I'm sending it off this week. Wish me luck (I'm gonna need it). 

After the BFA

What's the big question on an art student's mind? For me at least its, "What the heck am I gonna do after all this?" Right now things are very uncertain...all I know is I need to get to New York to do my MFA.

It was pretty much a given that I'd need an MFA on top of a BFA since high school. The only question was where, when and how. While I was studying at an atelier, I heard of the New York Academy of Art, which is a figurative art school. So I looked it up on the net and saw all this amazing work coming out of their MFA programme. Actually a lot of great figurative artists, established and emerging, come out of that school.  Naturally I feel that is the only school I'd want to spend large sums of money on to earn my MFA. Check out their website, you'll see what I mean. So that's figured out, when is this all going to happen? 

Well, I don't know! I'm working on it though. The thing is, I don't live in New York, and I don't have anywhere near the kind of money I'd need to stay there and pay tuition. There are scholarships but none really add up to full tuition (as far as I know). So I need funding from many different sources, and preferably not the bank for God sakes! Anyway, then there's the portfolio, which although I feel my work is good, I'm not sure it's good enough to get a scholarship. Then again, I am my worst critic! So I need to work on that portfolio a bit more...

There may be some good news in this though. I do have family in New York, not in Manhattan where the school is, but hey. Hopefully I can work something out with them for the 2 years I'd be there. Naturally, I'd want to pay them rent or whatever they'd accept but man I really don't think I'd be able to have a job while I'm there. From what I know of the course load there, and strict standards of work, I don't see how even a part time job would fit in. There's so much to think about!

You know what, if you're reading this as a NYAA student...please comment! I could really use some guidance in this area. 

A Lot To Learn and Some Art News

Since my last post I made myself learn XHTML and CSS. XHTML was easy since I already knew html, but CSS is a bit more challenging for me. It's really the reason I haven't been able to do everything I want to do in my website. That plus Javascript perhaps. Anyway, I changed the title to a simple thing I made in Photoshop, but it wasn't the code I learned, it's just an option I wasn't aware of in the Blogger Dashboard. I've been trying out what I learned so far in Notepad which is pretty minimal right now, it's gonna take practice. Eventually I plan on doing my own template, as soon as I learn everything I need to know. 

By the way, I found it pretty hard to find good, clear information on how to make your own template. I also see people cashing in on the need for original templates...not mad at you, just saying. There needs to be more good, clear, AND FREE information on the web. I just wish I could speed up the process of learning all this stuff, I've got tons to do with it!

Ok, so a bit of art stuff...I mentioned plans of some sort, well, this week is an important week and I won't say much more than that except my life drawing in my first post has something to do with it and you will know more in about a month's time.  

Also, I recently heard the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York is closing due to rising costs in Manhattan. For those of you who do not know, the Dahesh specializes in 19th century art and I believe it's the only place you can buy the Charles Bargue Drawing Course book. The Bargue book has all of Bargue's lithographs aimed at teaching classical drawing; really a valuable source and I can attest to that. Anyway, the museum is closing and sadly I haven't even visited yet. BUT, I think they will be re-opening again soon so that's good news. I'll keep you posted! 

Visit the Dahesh Museum Website for more info.

Making Improvements

Yesterday I decided that I'm going to put a lot more effort into building my career as an artist. One of the things I've struggled with is my website. It all started back in grade 10 when I learned HTML in class, which as you can imagine was very simplistic. Later on I started to build my own websites to show my work, but they were never exactly what I wanted. Then I learned how to use Photoshop to build sites but it was too complicated graphically, took too long to load, and was very hard to add onto spontaneously. So then I learned Dreamweaver and that was a big improvement, but still I had trouble keeping my pages consistent and reading the more complex Dreamweaver code so I couldn't go in and change/add-on things I wanted when I wanted. That's where I am right now. I know basic HTML, but I really need to know XHTML and CSS and possibly other stuff beyond that to get what I want. Ideally I'd be able to pay someone to do all of this for me but I'm not rich yet and I actually don't mind learning. At least I'll be able to do what I want afterwards.

If you take a look at my current website , first of all, it's Geocities which was ok for a couple of years ago, but now I really need a domain. Second, I like that it's simple because my website in the past have been loaded with graphics, but I feel like it's too simple for my taste. I know great artist sites have a very simple streamlined look to really show off the work, but I can't help but want to embellish more...I guess that's just me. I need to find a balance. Thirdly, the gallery section failed for me because what I really wanted was a flash gallery that looked really cool and I could add on to it easily. The rest is fine but, I have something much better in mind. I've been working on a concept but it's purely Photoshop right now. It looks great but, I need it to be much more flexible and for that I need to learn CSS. It's a lot of work to learn though, let me tell ya! But I'll let you know how it goes when I try it all out...

Done, But Not Done

Ok so a few months ago, I was pretty excited to be done my four years as an undergrad, but because the courses I need are not available for the summer I need to go back in the fall for one more semester. I can't say I'm happy about that, I really was looking forward to future plans but that doesn't mean I can't do those things right? Actually I'm in the process of making my future plans work right now. I don't want to say too much but...Anyway, my final critiques overall were good, especially given the obstacles I had to overcome financially. Not being able to buy supplies readily isn't the most ideal situation. But I'm glad that's behind me and I've got a couple of commissions to get done and I'm also working on my Youtube channel. So far I've got four videos, and you can see them here. Here's the most popular of my videos right now:

I will be making more as soon as I figure out what I want to show next. Actually, I might do a video on pencil sharpening for artists and no, it doesn't involve a pencil sharpener ;) . 

What to do, what to do...

I've been visiting galleries more frequently lately and I'm seeing lots of encouraging work out there...and some not so much. I guess I hate the idea of trying to make my work commercial in some way. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just annoying.  The thing I'm really struggling with is having a body of work with a theme to it that every exhibition has. Every time I have an idea, I become uninterested after one or two paintings so I don't know what I'm going to do... Actually I do sort of have an idea but I don't want to jinx it by saying anything so I'll just leave it at that. 

Current Work, Thoughts

Welcome to my new blog. I love blogging but I haven't done it in a while. I guess I should start with introducing myself: I'm Crystal Brown (sometimes I write Crystal C. Brown for my art) from Toronto, Canada. I'm currently finishing off my BFA, just few more months to go. After that I plan on doing my MFA in New York but it could be awhile before that happens... Ultimately I want to be a full-time painter, and I think I knew that since grade 10. I was certainly interested in art all my life but that's when it became serious. My work is figurative and I think I can credit that to my personality and the great traditional skills I picked up in high school. I don't think that's going to change too much but you never know. 

Right now I'm really frustrated because I can draw pretty well but I can't paint nearly as well. It's tough to deal with. I expect a lot of myself and when a painting doesn't go right I get very impatient. I just hate mediocrity in my work, especially when I need to get my work out there. I've got some figure drawings going right now, which I love. Life drawing comes with ease for me, and I feel very comfortable with it. It's funny, I always wanted to be a portrait painter but now I'm better at drawing/painting faces within the context of the figure instead of on it's own. What I'm really trying to do is make my figure drawings more meaningful that just "a figure on a page", but I don't know how yet. 

Anyway here's what I'm working on right now: At the top right there's a drawing in progress. It's 18"x24", charcoal and carbon on newsprint. I'm enjoying it, but there's a lot more to go and I really hope it'll be one of my best. And last but not least, I've got a youtube video up, check it out here. That's it for now, be back soon.