The Art of Crystal C. Brown

@crystalbrownart

2012-01-18T23:05:00.002-05:00

I'm finally on Twitter as of today, which feels strange but hopefully it's a good thing. I'll be updating the goings-on in my artistic life on there, please follow me @crystalbrownart! Happy Tweeting :)

Foray Into Digital

2012-01-18T22:55:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! I'm going to try to make this a happy one at least. I've started doing digital painting recently and it's got my creativity going again, especially since I'm not relying on reality that much, it's mostly imaginative (for now). That kind of puts me in the mood to tackle traditional painting again. Here's what I've been up to:

"Green and Blue Day", 2012

"Sunset", 2012

Still-Life With a Tea Pot (June 30, 2011)

2011-06-30T13:20:00.004-04:00

"Separated" (In progress, detail), Oil on Canvas, 2011

I've finally settled on a title for this painting. The concept was in place from the beginning but I was searching for a title that would be the most explanatory without being too obvious. Don't mind the lighting, the tea pot is not painted as light in person. Things are moving along and I'm about halfway finished. The hardest parts are the metal container and just turning those edges on the tea pot, which I haven't done yet. The only object that's basically done is the metal lid, everything else needs more layers and revision. So far so good though...

OAA Annual Juried Art Show (Thursday, June 16th, 2011)

2011-06-19T16:35:00.010-04:00

"Laura Horseman" (2011) and "Ruins" (2011, Honourable Mention)

I've participated in this annual juried show for a few years and it's gotten better and better. The work was truly exceptional and I was lucky to be apart of it. I really wouldn't want to judge that collection of work! My recent still life drawing received an Honourable Mention, which is always nice. There are still a couple of competitions I want to enter this year so I better get cracking!

I just became a member of the Portrait Society of Canada, and I'm planning a portrait painting to enter into their annual competition later this year.

Still-Life With a Tea Pot

2011-05-27T21:01:00.003-04:00

Here's the first layer of paint for my latest still-life (detail). You can see the dead colour layer as well. I feel myself making a lot of progress with technique, and that's really making this much more enjoyable than previous paintings.

"Ruins" (Final Photo)

2011-04-15T19:04:00.002-04:00

Ruins

Charcoal, Graphite and White Chalk on Tinted Paper

11"x7" (2011)

Still-Life Drawing: Finished! (April 14, 2011)

2011-04-14T00:10:00.004-04:00

(click to enlarge for better quality)

It's done! I am getting this photographed tomorrow so hopefully that goes well. I prefer taking photos in daylight so maybe tomorrow morning I'll post a better picture. As you can see I'm preparing my board for travel and there better not be any smudges when I take the board out tomorrow, lol, or I'm going to cry!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 2 (April 6, 2011)

2011-04-06T18:27:00.005-04:00

I'm racing to get this done by the end of the month and being new to using white chalk so extensively in a drawing, I'm a little worried. But I'm actually having lots of fun! There's nothing like creating light with white chalk on tinted paper. It's feeling very intuitive right now, which is great. No wonder so many artists love this process!

Still-Life Drawing: Stage 1 (April 2, 2011)

2011-04-02T23:42:00.006-04:00

I just started this today but I've been planning it for awhile. I broke a beautiful container a couple years ago that I was previously thinking about using in a painting. The funny thing is I was more inspired to use it after I accidentally broke it. It looked much more intriguing and I had a great opportunity to do something conceptual with it.

Once I set up the broken pieces, they reminded me of ancient ruins and they have a beauty that didn't exist when the container was intact. So that's what I'll call this drawing; "Ruins".

It will be on tinted paper but I want to incorporate white chalk, which is why I didn't start straight on the "good paper". I'll be using white chalk a little more than I'm used to and I don't know how it'll turn out. That's why its good for me to have a cartoon or blueprint (if you will) so if anything goes terribly wrong, I don't have to start from scratch.

I'm still a little unsure about the composition. I'll take another look at it tomorrow but I might just end up moving one of those little broken pieces around...

Drawing In Progress: Finished!

2011-03-29T14:30:00.004-04:00

Laura Horseman, Graphite on Tinted Paper, 9.5"x12", 2011

She's finally finished and I'm so glad! I've also decided to add my new signature, which is the monogram I already use for my stationery. I think it's much better than my old signature, it's much more polished. Thanks for following and sorry about the graphite glare.

Inspiring Imagery from the Entertainment Industry

2011-01-06T21:56:00.007-05:00

Just last year I was enjoying the music one of my favourite bands, Sade, when I noticed how incredibly beautiful their album cover was. The album is Soldier Of Love (2010) and on the cover is the lead singer Helen Folasade Adu and I could have swore this was a painting. I was immediately trying to think of who could have painted it and thinking I wish I did it myself! To me it’s clearly influenced by painting but it turns out it’s a photograph/Photoshop as usual. I think it’s interesting that it’s not the usual photograph with the band’s name on it and there is an attempt to evoke a very sophisticated painterly quality. There are numerous other artistic album covers but this one grabbed me because it looks to me like a contemporary realist painting.

Then yesterday I came across this movie poster for The Other Woman (2010) starring Natalie Portman and there she is but, again, not in the usual way. Are illustrators making a comeback in the movie poster business? It could have been the usual photo collage with the title on it but this appears to be a hybrid of a hand drawing with digital elements with the intent to appear mostly as a drawing. I think it’s really well done and it got me thinking that these types of images in entertainment could be helping contemporary realism right now. Granted it’s not painting but it’s a shift from just photos and text back to art. And again, there were always the occasional artsy posters but this one is clearly influenced by contemporary realist art.

I'm not sure this is a trend but I hope it is.

"Intensity" vs. "Chroma" and Understanding Munsell

2010-11-30T14:46:00.005-05:00

Ever since I found Rational Painting a couple years ago, I've been puzzled by Munsell. There's a colour wheel and that's about all I could recognize about it. As you know, most kids in art classes are given the colour theory of the Impressionists and that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think about my early colour theory education—Monet, Seurat...If you could use colour theory to create works like them then you fully grasped colour. That's what I learned and that was fine because there wasn't anything else, at least not what my teachers knew about.

Looking back to my early attempts at mixing “intensity scales” and monochromatic scales...all sorts of scales, I realize they didn't really help, not when it came to painting what was in front of me because the standard mixtures were not sufficient, they were too arbitrary. I quickly realized that not all pigments fit into these pigeon holes and the colour wheel stopped working and became this mysterious thing I felt I needed magical powers to make work for me.

Painting became something I could do one day and not the next. I could never mix the same colour on the fly one day and get again the next day and I accepted that as part of what painting is. That's why drawing was always better for me; value is value, there's no confusion there. I thought “Why can't paint do that?” When I found this site and saw these strange Munsell notations, it went straight over my head. I heard the term “chroma” before and it sounded familiar to me, then I saw people using it synonymously with “intensity” and I relaxed again because I know about Hue, Value and Intensity. Then I found that actually didn't help me understand chroma at all.

Intensity seemed to block my understanding of chroma. I read some people saying it's the same as chroma, some people saying they are completely different. I figured artists disagree frequently and that's all that is, but after attempting a self-portrait and trying to mix my skin tone day after day, I had to get to the bottom of this issue. I knew Munsell had to solve this problem but I couldn't grasp it if I couldn't grasp chroma. Intensity and Chroma could not exist together in my mind and reading this excerpt from A Colour Notation by A.H. Munsell, I finally understood why.

“Intensity is a misleading term, if chroma be intended, for it depends on the relative light of spectral hues. It is a degree rather than a quantity, as appears in the expressions, “intense heat, light, sound”--intensity of stimulus and reaction...The word becomes especially unfit when used to describe two very different phases of a colour—as its intense illumination, where the chroma is greatly weakened, and the strongest chroma which is found in a much lower value.”

That's like fresh air rushing to my lungs. How did I survive without this hundred-year-old information for so long? It really is unbelievable. Now I can actually start learning and using Munsell.

Ahh, that's better.

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 7

2010-11-29T13:44:00.003-05:00

Here's a truer representation of the drawing. Compare that to last week's iPhone photo...this one is so much better! I worked on the hair shapes a bit more. I forgot how time consuming dark areas are to shade in and even-out. The teeth are better (I really hate dental work in drawings, it's very challenging). The eyes are still ambiguous, I still need more information to fill them in more. Overall I feel much better about it than I did last week but I think this may be my last drawing in graphite...

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 6

2010-11-22T13:33:00.002-05:00

So this paper is a huge problem (I knew it would be). It's not so much an issue in person but getting a good photo of it is a nightmare. The graphite glare on the raised areas of the paper are really distracting. It just gets worse in the darker areas, the light areas are fine.

Anyway, I've done a bit more but I'll have to figure out whether or not I can selvage this drawing based on the paper. It's something to do anyway, keeps my mind off the pain I'm in sometimes which is great for not having to take pain killers.

My Website Is Down

2010-11-09T13:20:00.003-05:00

I was just informed that my website (crystalcbrown.com) isn't working so I'm in the process of either fixing it or dropping it all together. Right now my host is asking that I pay extra to fix whatever happened and I'm not happy about that, it doesn't make sense. So if this doesn't get resolved I'll be looking for a new host. Sorry for the inconvenience if you've tried to check out my website lately.

Update*: I'm back in business! Everything should be up and running now. PHEEWW!

General Update

2010-11-04T23:35:00.002-04:00

It really has been a while since my last post. I am still working on that drawing of my friend but it's slow going. That happens often with me, when I get to a certain point sometimes I lose momentum. I just have to push through while I start some new projects.

It's been hard lately with some recent (not too serious) health issues, to think about "work" but I'll work through it eventually. I would say that drawing is about 60% done. I'm going to hope for the best and try to get back into a routine soon. Thanks for checking out my blog!

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 5

2010-07-07T17:40:00.002-04:00

Here's update, finally. I've started working in some half-tones and softening edges. Just that little bit made a huge difference, she's starting to look real. There will be more soon. Comments are welcome and thank you for following :)

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 4

2010-06-23T16:38:00.004-04:00

Still putting in those darks. This is helping me see the overall value range. I had to make sure I put the dark part of the hair in so that I could judge the values in the face better. She's looking like a brunette right now but she's actually blonde. What I'm doing is laying in a base to erase out of, which is the easiest way I know of to create realistic hair. There's a lot of edges to blend and I still don't know how I'll finish the bottom. Maybe I'll fade the bottom out...I don't know.

Thanks for checking it out!

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 3

2010-06-19T18:26:00.009-04:00

*Note: Blogger seems to dull the contrast a bit on these photos.

My trusty 2B pencil (by Koh-I-Noor, my fav brand) snapped last night and I was forced to stop. Since there's no art store nearby I settled for Staples which carries some basic drawing supplies, but not Koh-I-Noor, Staedler. Of course, Staedler's great too but I have sentimental attachments to Koh-I-Noor because theirs were the first serious pencil set my mom bought me in high school. I must say they served me well.

In any case I got pretty far last night. I'm starting to remember some of the pitfalls of graphite such as shine of course which makes me have to tilt my paper to get my tones even at every angle. Also, I have to manage the graininess while not pressing too hard on the paper. Sometimes I get concentrated spots of shine that way...not good.

As you can see in the pics, I'm working strictly in the shadows for now so it looks a bit strange as it's only 50% of what makes something look 3D. My drawings never really look spot on until much later anyway, lol. I'm keeping things pretty basic for now, no details yet until I establish convincing form. I'm also not going to round off all my shapes yet, that will come with softening edges. After I'm done with laying in my tones, I'll go back over everything to get a smooth finish.

Thanks for following, and comments are welcome :)

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 2

2010-06-15T19:35:00.002-04:00

There was a little scare earlier because I couldn't find my camera but I found it, YAY! So I get to post this update afterall. If you enlarge the picture above, you'll see how I'm using a bristle brush to push and spread the graphite into the paper. I'm doing this because the paper has too much tooth for me to get a smooth finish with just the pencil alone. If I were using a hot pressed paper like Stonehenge, I would skip this step. Once that's done I start placing some general dark areas within the shadow shape to start to gradually break things up. I'll show that step in the next post.

That brings me to the issue of "smudging": I don't like smudging, that's why I will have to go over this whole drawing with just my sharp pencil and refine my tones. Basically, this is the only time in the drawing I'll be using my brush or anything else in that manner. It'll be my pencils and my kneadable eraser from now on. That being said, holy crap, this drawing is gonna take forever! There's a reason why I don't love graphite, this is why. But graphite does have that subtle shine that can give a drawing that special quality, unlike any other medium.

I'm showing a little picture of my pencil as well to show you how it looks. I really can't use a pencil that's not sharp on this paper because every stroke needs to be clean, I can't have any graininess. But I'll explain more about how I'm shading with it next time. Thanks for following so far!

Drawing In Progress: My Friend Part 1

2010-06-08T18:44:00.004-04:00

I finally started this drawing on Sunday and this is about a day's worth of work so far. As you can see, I'm concentrating on getting the shadow shapes right because that is the key to capturing the likeness and once that's done, I'll probably get into the eyes since that's always a good place to start. The paper is off some pastel drawing pad I had from about 4 years ago. It's a muted blue but I originally wanted a flesh tone...I just wanted to get started and I couldn't bother to go on another hike to the nearest art supply store, so I thought "This will have to do."

I'm using graphite for the entire drawing for the first time in years. It'll be a challenge on this paper because it's not smooth, it has a bit of tooth but I'll have to just use my bristle brush to work the graphite into the paper more. That's it for now, check back for more!

The Next Painting

2010-05-27T15:34:00.002-04:00

I've been busy entering shows/competitions lately so I haven't had anything to blog about for a while but there should be another portrait in the works soon...In the next 2 weeks if I stay on top of things. I've been planning a full length portrait of my brother which will be fairly large. That's a scary thing for me because I haven't done anything like that in years--I work much smaller these days. But I think a larger scale portrait is necessary for me right now just to take things up a notch. The other thing I'm worried about is buying more brushes since I only have sizes for smaller scale paintings. I'll need a few large brushes and if you're a painter you know that can get very expensive indeed. It's all for a worthy cause though and I can't wait to start!

New Self-Portrait: It's Finished!

2010-05-02T20:32:00.003-04:00

Blogger really doesn't show these pictures well at all but here it is. It's all done and now I have to find something else to start. I've been wanting to do a life size portrait from head to toe for a long time so I think I'll do that next but I'd like to do some drawing in between. Thanks to everyone who checked out my work here and stay tuned!

New Self-Portrait Painting (In Progress) Part 4

2010-03-17T17:50:00.002-04:00

Since my last post, I've done my hair, the dishes in the cabinet, the background, the chair, and a bit of my left earring. You can see there's a lot of glare from the sun. I'm hoping I can get this done by Sunday because it needs to dry and get a retouch varnish.

New Self-Portrait Painting (In Progress) Part 3

2010-03-12T23:10:00.003-05:00

A lot has progressed since the last update and I think I'm halfway there. I need to do more on the face and other parts but I thought I'd oil out some areas first using linseed oil so I could see the correct values again. Right now my favourite part is the top I'm wearing because I really got that satin texture right, YAY! I'll post detail shots later on. Also as a result of oiling out, some mistakes popped up. That "mustache" looking part, for example, only showed itself after oiling out so I have to fix it. Could you imagine me doing the final varnish and mistakes like that one popping up? And no time to fix it??? So glad I'm avoiding that!

New Self-Portrait Painting (In Progress) Part 2

2010-03-02T23:16:00.004-05:00

This is actually my 2nd attempt at the face, I won't bother showing you the first. It was really tight and stiff before. I hated it so much I tried to sand it down but I just painted over it. I have renewed faith in this painting and my skills in general, lol. For anyone who's curious, these are the colours I used for my skin:

Base: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Ocher Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Ultra Marine Blue Deep (Old Holland).

Shadow: Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue Deep.

Lights: Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna

That's the head so far and tomorrow I'll be working on it some more plus a bit of the background if I really push myself.

New Self-Portrait Painting (In Progress)

2010-02-23T21:53:00.004-05:00

I started this painting on the 17th, and this is how it looked yesterday. Now the real work begins. I need to straighten lines, get my skin tone going and a lot of other things...

Figure Practice

2010-02-12T23:09:00.002-05:00

I haven't been able to be in front of a live model in forever but I heard about posespace.com and I used a pose from there to do this study. It's not the same experience as it could be from life but it'll do for now. This one is in charcoal. I learned a lot from this one just by using compressed charcoal; I found out I don't like it. I prefer carbon pencils much more.

Self-Portrait ("Listen", Carbon Pencil on Paper, 2010)

2010-02-09T14:30:00.003-05:00

This was about a month of work. I learned a lot about my features and used this piece as an opportunity to introduce a conceptual element. I'm never without my music and I thought I should include it somehow. Some may pick up the earphones and some may be confused but either one is fine by me. The biggest problem I had apart from the drawing is getting a good photo of it so I ended up scanning it. It's still not the same as the original but it'll do for now.

4-Hour Portrait Sketch

2010-02-07T23:31:00.005-05:00

This is a painting I had to get out of my system today. I made my brother sit for me, that wasn't easy. But here it is, it's about life-size, oil on canvas. I may tweak some things but I'm glad I finally did a portrait of a family member!

5 Hour Still-Life

2010-01-25T13:03:00.004-05:00

I challenged myself last night with one of the most difficult objects I've ever painted. I bought it at Value Village, and I'm not sure what it was used for but it was a great find. I only gave myself 5 hours to paint it so I didn't get to every detail but I'm liking the results. The only thing is the background colour is too dark so I'll have to change it. Here it is so far:

First Foray into Landscape

2010-01-23T00:22:00.004-05:00

For those who have been reading my posts, you know I really wanted to try landscapes. Well I'm in the middle of one and...I don't know, maybe it's too soon to say. I'm not sure I love it. I love when other people do it, it's mesmerizing. This painting is photo-based as I don't have a portable easel right now but it's winter so I'm faced with a lot of bare branches and dull colours. I am not big on colour in general but I like there to be enough colour in front of me to manipulate as I please (tone them down if I need to). Also I'm not sure I love the act of painting grass or foliage. I mean art is tedious by nature but this kind of tedium makes me want to stab my canvas. Mind you, it's not necessary to paint every detail for realism, but shortcuts often degrade landscapes.

That all sounds really pessimistic but I still have hope for this genre, the only thing is I think I'd rather make landscapes up--just construct them from imagination because I'd feel less constricted. I'd still do studies from life (in more appealing weather) but I really like the idea of just creating my own world. I know many artists do this and I think it's a great idea and I'd love to be able to do that in a naturalistic way or, in other words, a non-artificial way.

As for my current landscape, I'm not sure I'll finish it. I know I should just to finish, you know? Because it's no good having unfinished work lying around, it's very demoralizing. I also know I'm very hard on myself and even though this is my first real attempt at landscape, I expect only good or great results in my eyes. Others may love it, I don't know but I won't be including it in my portfolio, LOL.

New Projects Started & Other News

2010-01-19T15:35:00.003-05:00

I just finished a commission this past weekend which you can view on my website. I've also started a couple of exciting things which I can't wait to show everyone but it's not time yet. One of them is a drawing that is nearly done and the other is a painting that is a new direction for me. When they are at least 80% done, I'll give you a sneak peek.

Me? On Camera?!?

2010-01-07T18:28:00.005-05:00

Yup, I finally decided once and for all that if I'm going to have a Youtube channel, I actually would like to be on it. I don't like cameras, they are not my friend but I tried to get passed it to get across some information about my favourite drawing tools. It's really weird seeing yourself on camera as you're speaking and trying to imagine someone behind the lens that you can try to have a conversation with. Meanwhile, you're talking to yourself out-loud, it's freaky! Well hopefully I'll get used to it. I was tired coming home from work, didn't bother too much with appearances because I didn't want to get distracted but I do sound tired. Next time I'll definitely get a tiny bit more makeup on, haha.

What else is going on...Still awaiting the day I get to order that stationery, and there's other things in the works but I won't go there now. Why? Because I'm making a change this year. I think that (for me) telling everyone about my plans inevitably ruins them, and a lot of times they don't even get started. Don't fear though because I'm almost ready to show my new painting, which is a couple of days away from completion. Look out for it in February, that's when it's being delivered. I can't show you now because it's a gift for someone. But anyway here's my new video and if I'm not too traumatized there will be more.

New Website Is Up! www.crystalcbrown.com

2010-01-03T23:11:00.004-05:00

I'm so excited my official website is finally up. It took awhile but it was worth it. This year I'm really trying to do everything I can to increase my presence online so as many people as possible know about my work. I also designed some stationery so I'll be ordering that soon. It sounds like it's not such a big deal but it is when you don't have those things. Like business cards for example, not as many people have them today but artists still really need them because of the nature of what we do. We need to do everything we can to make sure people can contact us for work. The stationery thing is a bit of an extra, but not really because it all contributes to your image. For those of you who don't know, stationery can consist of things like letterheads, envelopes, cards, etc. and will have your logo and contact info and it looks really professional. I've always wanted that and now I have a legitimate reason to get it, lol.

All this stuff (the website, business cards, and stationery) isn't cheap at all but it's one of those "spend money to make money" things. If you're going to be in correspondence with potential clients or galleries, some beautiful customized stationery could be that extra thing that gets you in the door. So we'll see what happens...

Update

2009-08-19T22:35:00.002-04:00

Right, so I was sorta on a roll there for awhile but now nothing's happening. Why is there nothing happening? Well, I'm really bored and the landscape thing didn't work out. There's still time but I really don't think it'll happen. I wanted so badly to get out there and paint but it just didn't happen. What I do see happening is I'm still going to get a portable easel so I can take it with me to open studios or anywhere I want to paint someone. Still waiting for 6 hour figure painting sessions to start up again in September. There are others around town but I don't think their studios are as good.

And I do still want a David Leffel DVD, because I'm not fortunate enough to get to his workshops (yet). But who knows when I'll really put my money down for that, it ain't cheap that's for sure! That's all for now...

Great Art Instruction DVD's

2009-06-17T19:05:00.003-04:00

Still waiting for paint to dry so I thought I'd talk about some awesome art DVD's floating around on the net. I have not seen any in their full duration but I do plan on getting a couple of them. How do I know about them? Youtube! I'm sure you all know this but there are a lot of artist demos on Youtube, some are full demos but most of them with instruction are just clips. I'm going to focus on ones with instruction for this post because they're the most useful.

First up is "The Portrait Sketch" by Jeremy Lipking. Lipking is one of the top realist painters today and when you look at his work, it's a lot like Sargent's work in terms of his brush stroke. His DVD shows him doing a portrait sketch of his wife and for someone like me who would like to be able to do a relatively quick and accurate portrait it's looks very promising. Here's the clip:

The DVD is available through Lipking's website for $75 USD.

Next is David A. Leffel's "Reclining Nude". Leffel has been called a "modern Rembrandt", and it's pretty clear why. What's even more impressive though is his story. He was hospitalized for much of his childhood but he kept drawing and painting and though it. I won't go on and on but the point is he's an inspiration. Anyway, this DVD shows a figure painting sketch and what was really great to see was the colours he uses for skin tones, which is pretty much half the battle. Here's the clip:

It's available through Liliedahl Video Productions for $150 USD. Very pricey but must be worth it. That's it for now, I'll get some more up later and hopefully I'll get a copy of one of these soon and review it. Happy learning!

Staved off the Dry Spell

2009-06-17T01:51:00.004-04:00

Same cup only now it has a green friend. The plan was to go into a large scale still-life with this cup but I wasn't loving the set up I had for it. It was too small and I think I want a more well thought out and aesthetically pleasing composition. But I needed to paint something in the meantime and I haven't painted a lime before plus it's an opportunity to get the cup looking more accurate than before. It's looking pretty dark now but I like to leave my lights for last and this layer has to dry so I can glaze and scumble in those lights. So give it a couple days and there should be some highlights on the lime at least.

In other news, I'm going to buy my French box easel very soon, and weather permitting, I should be doing landscapes sometime next week and I can't wait!

Dragging My Feet

2009-06-14T00:45:00.002-04:00

I'm feeling a dry spell coming on. I haven't painted in days. I've mentioned the new still life I'm painting which I've done studies and sketches for it and I think one little thing is missing , something I really want to try and that's a bit of tromp l'oeil. It seems to be popping up in more standard still-lifes now with, for example, a photo tacked on the background with a push-pin. Could be a newspaper clipping or an old black and white photograph. It's a trendy thing but why not? Just need a picture to use...And to try to get painting again, I'm going to do a quick one tomorrow of a lime or something.

Teacup in Graphite plus New Still Life Update

2009-06-12T00:22:00.008-04:00

I didn't feel like starting a painting last night so I sketched instead. I loved this angle a lot it gives the cup more of a regal felling because you're looking up at it. It took about an hour or so, I'm not sure. Artists know that time sort of disappears when you're in the zone. I think the rim it too blent but I loved doing the handle, that's the best part of the cup for me.

I'll be starting a new still-life featuring the teacup with cookies and pieces of orange. It won't be huge because I plan on doing gradually larger paintings as I progress.

6 Hour Pose, June 9th Day 2

2009-06-11T14:09:00.000-04:00

Ugh, that face! I need to redo it somehow but otherwise I'm pretty happy with it. The gesture is great, and although the face is too small, it's ok. The skin tone could have been cooler but it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'm happy with the values and the overall feel of it. The model is really great, really friendly and she was helpful with giving me some feedback. The pose ended yesterday but the model kindly offered to allow me to take photos and that's really going to help me fix and complete somethings like the leg on the left and redoing the head.

You know what I keep thinking I've sort of got that "Lucian Freud palette" going on which I've never liked. When I was going to university, the few figure paintings that were displayed had that same palette of colours with that greyish background. Then I realized that a lot of that is due to the studio set up. They've got white walls and there's usually never any other background and so you end up with a lot of mid-tones. That's also due to the fact that there's never dramatic lighting.

For my first figure painting in about 3 years (yeah...) I'm proud of it and I'm going to take what I've learned and make the next one even better. But when this one is complete, it will be in my portfolio because it definitely has potential.

6 Hour Pose, June 9th Day 1

2009-06-09T19:46:00.000-04:00

Day 1 went much better than I was anticipating. I expected to have to finish the colour and whatever else I wanted to do today but when I got there I found out the same pose is tomorrow. That was a relief because I was able to really take my time. Started out with the imprimatura last night, which was a gamble because I really didn't know what the colours would be but looks like it's working well.

I was measuring quite a bit so the drawing took longer than I wanted but it seems to have paid off. I used raw umber plus flake white for this stage and that worked well because flake white is nice and warm, also translucent so it looks very subtle. The hand was a nice suprise. I was putting it off but when I got around to it, it looked really good. The face turned out fine in the end, but I don't think I'll be getting into the eyes, just some colour maybe and highlights.

Provided everything dries tomorrow, I will be glazing in some colour and scumbling as well. I don't know how far I'll be able to take the colour but I would like to build up the paint more in certain areas. But right now it's got this quality I like about it, sort of a Flemish thing and I think I want to keep that as much as I can (keeping in mind that it is a sketch at the end of the day). That's it for now, and hopefully my painting hasn't been stolen from the studio...

Study of a Tea Cup, Oil on Canvas (Part 2)

2009-06-07T16:10:00.000-04:00

Ahh yes, highlights! It's nearly done, just need to glaze that reflection down, get it a bit warmer. I have to say, that tea cup has been a joy to paint, I really love it as a subject. I'm still searching for supporting objects to paint with it and make a larger composition. Perhaps a peeled orange, which I've always wanted to do well. I could add the small tea plate in there...maybe a whole tea set. That might be a bit cliche though so I'll have to work out something more interesting. But I think I will play around with background objects a bit more to add depth and I think that will make things more interesting by giving the eye a lead-in to the painting. Hmmm...Anyway, the design on the cup was a lot less difficult than I thought it would be and it looks great. I'm happy with the sense of form I was able to get and I actually did end up glazing in some subtle colour! I was a bit apprehensive about the colour working out but I gave it a try and I love it. I haven't really glazed colour in years so this is encouraging. Looks like I'll be using a grisaille to start every still-life from now on.

Study of a Tea Cup, Oil on Canvas (Part 1)

2009-06-06T17:37:00.001-04:00

I was always eying this tea cup as a subject so I decided to do a study of it to see how I liked it. I'm letting it dry now, and tomorrow I will be adding more details. I did this one last night in a few hours and I'm starting to really like the grisaille technique again. I really like the imprimatura I used too, I'm probably going to use it for figure painting on Tuesday. Can't wait to add the highlights! I should say the inspiration to do a grisaille again came from the artist Dan Thompson who has a demo on the American Artist site. He used a grey toned canvas and raw umber plus flake white for his block-in. It looked awesome so I thought I should give it a try and I'm so glad I did. He also mentioned the "calligraphy of the brush", which hit the nail on the head for me. Using the brush not just to fill things in but as a way to create interest in itself (if that makes any sense). So I'm trying to incorporate that into my unfinished pieces to add interest. Stay tuned!

First Painting of the Year

2009-06-03T18:22:00.000-04:00

So I've finally gotten down to painting this year. I was sort of anxious about it but I did a quick still-life with roses and it's not too bad. I hated it at first but it's growing on me. Not sure why I thought I was all of a sudden going to be great at painting roses of all things, they're so difficult! Maybe because so many others make it look easy. I am rusty for sure but I'm proud of myself for not giving up on this one and just finishing it even though it's not my best. I think it's important just to finish things no matter what or you never really finish anything. I'll post a picture of it when it's varnished.

Finally Getting Started

2009-05-08T13:52:00.001-04:00

So I've been away for months...well away from this blog anyway. Yeah, not good. I have been working on things on and off, mainly life drawing when I get the chance (and the money). On the left is a drawing I did back in I guess February or March. It was a 6 hour pose and it didn't get finished unfortunately so next time I'm going to take a different approach. I really wish I had more control over the lighting so I could really get those strong shadows, which would speed things up. But...whatever, I need to get back to it.

Next month, I will be back doing drop-in life drawing/painting sessions. Actually I'm getting really excited about it as I type! Wow. And then I'll be doing landscapes as well, hopefully in 2 weeks. I'd do it now except I'm not going to have enough dough for an easel and the new brushes and all the other things I need until I get paid. You won't hear complaining out of me right now though, I'm lucky I have a job. In the meantime, I'm thinking I'll just go sketch some trees or something just to get familiar with outdoor scenery. I'm really not an outdoorsy person, plus I'll need allergy meds. It is exciting though, I can't wait! This will get me on track and I will definitely be posting progress here. Looks like June 2009 is going to be a good month...

Investing In Landscape Materials

2008-06-29T22:53:00.000-04:00

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

2008-06-16T12:57:00.000-04:00

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

2008-06-05T15:06:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-06-01T14:12:00.000-04:00

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)

2008-05-31T19:37:00.001-04:00

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

2008-05-31T12:57:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-30T21:09:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-29T14:52:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-29T14:29:00.000-04:00

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

2008-05-14T17:03:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-30T12:48:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-28T17:42:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-25T14:08:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-24T16:42:00.000-04:00

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...

2008-03-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

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

2008-02-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

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.