Van Gogh: Illuminating and Shocking
I saw this today in the Guardian – “You don’t need much to draw – though to begin with, when Van Gogh was struggling to teach himself the mysteries of perspective drawing, he even set up a small rectangular frame strung with wires to look through. He was also much concerned and delighted by different types of pencils, English handmade papers of various weights and finishes, inks and nibs. He could even rhapsodise about a lump of black chalk.” (Adriane Searle, Van Gogh at the Royal Academy: Illuminating and Shocking, guardian.co.uk) Read the entire article.
Also be sure to bookmark this site on Van Gogh’s letters and drawings. 
Chuck Close Close Up
Bring to class: two identical 4×6″ prints of your self-portrait photo shoot. It must be an original photo shot for this assignment. Any camera will do as long as you can get a photo quality printout from it. You will need two identical 4×6″ prints (one will be cut up). Shoot only your face. Do not use a flash- instead set up a single source light situation (window, spotlight, late afternoon outside). One side of face should be lit, the other should be dark. Must have prints in class 10/27.
This show just opened at the SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART: Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration. Oct 6-Jan10
Images related to soft rendering (glazing)
Click on the titles below to see images by two artists who use a glazing technique in drawing:
- Vija Clemins: Hiroshima 1968
- Vija Clemins: Untitled (Ocean)
- William Bailey: Various prints
Georges Seurat: Pointillism
See slideshow of Seurat’s drawings with lecture by Roberta Smith, New York Times art critic.
Also see scene with La Grande Jatte from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat (The Art Institute of Chicago)
Henri Matisse and line
To explore the Matisse collection at MOMA click the painting.
Henri Matisse, Self-Portrait in a Striped T-shirt (1906)
Gesture Drawing Demonstration (portrait)
Welcome to the Fall semester. We will begin the course with some gesture drawing in order to loosen up before moving on to line, tone etc. The key to gesture drawing is speed. Work fast and trust your instincts.
Be sure to explore the previous video about Frank Gehry and don’t forget to view his drawings. They are all about gesture on the way to architecture.
Frank Gehry and drawing
“The key to Frank O. Gehry’s architecture is in his drawings. A Gehry building begins with a sketch, and Gehry’s sketches are distinctive. They’re characterized by a sense of off-hand improvisation, of intuitive spontaneity. The fine line is invariably fluid, impulsive. The drawings convey no architectural mass or weight, only loose directions and shifting spatial relationships…” READ ON
