NOTEWORTHY

In a world that is caught up with a full technicolor, multimedia, action packed, joystick, fast food mentality… I am amazed at the impact of Black & White art on people.

Black & White creates drama… in the dramatic movie scenes of “Citizen Kane” or “Maltese Falcon”, an Ansel Adams or Alfred Stieglitz photograph, a single white stage light on a melodramatic monologue, a stark Alvin Ailey Dance, or even a rare Black & White Television Commercial. In today’s clutter of color, people still continue to find Black & White refreshing and dynamic.

I use Graphite and Charcoal to explore the value study as a preparation to my color art pieces. There are some of my figure studies, that stand strong on their own stature, without having to carry them on further to a color rendering.

I use a combination of reference photos, graphite sketches and/or quick watercolor renderings to capture as much information; to bring back to the studio.

Quite often, what first attracted me to a human subject, changes when I want to express a mood to communicate to the viewer.  I often rely on my friends and family to be my model inspiration.

This enPlein-air sketch of this wonderful woman for “Cedar Street” did show the “streets smarts” which I was looking for in the final studio drawing; but my preliminary-sketch was too soft and feminine.  I needed to “harden” her features in the final graphite drawing, to strengthen the “feel” and the viewer response. (Compare this Preliminary-Sketch to the final finished artwork shown in “Works”)

 

My enPlein-air studies or studio models usually provide me with the stimulus to explore the human condition, circumstance or emotion.  Although some of my portraits may look back at the viewer, my character studies tend to be unaware of your presence… as if you had just turned a corner to discover a quiet moment in their life… sharing something private and personal.

I don’t attempt to setup a specific composition, some subjects lend themselves to a formal treatment… like using the classic Divine Proportion of the Golden Rectangle (a natural universal ratio inherent in the physical world… also know as the Golden Mean, the 1:1.618 Magic Ratio and the Fibonacci Series).

Even though I am aware of traditional composition guidelines and traditions, I concentrate on the subject matter or life figure, and let my intuitive observation dictate the balance, rhythm, movement and unity.  I have to “feel” my artwork.