11/15/2010 6:04:31 PM A Stab In The Dark Cooper / 1 Comment Greetings, Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa. This afternoon I think we should discuss a stab in the dark. Or at least a stab in the dark regarding painting. Bear with me here; there is a relationship in this line of thinking. I was at EmptyEasel.com this morning watching a cool video clip. Artist Jan Kunz demonstrated her method for correctly painting sun and shade on a boy's face, and it worked pretty slick. She had her grey scale-value scale right next to the painting, and demonstrated how she kept checking to make sure the paint was matching the scale at the intervals she intended. I began to feel guilt creeping over me. When was the last time I held my little value scale chart up next to a painting? In fact, I wondered where my little value scale chart WAS. Hadn't seen it for a day or two. Or three. And then I paid closer attention to the painting Jan Kunz was working on. It was drawn out with very precise pencil lines. They bore no resemblance at all to the wet, purple colored brush marks that the people who live on my canvases usually start out with. Yes, I suppose we must call those wet, purple colored brush marks something akin to taking a stab in the dark. A bit of the guilt ebbs away as I console myself that some of these differences have to do with painting style decisions, rather than just the fact that I will never be able to paint like Jan Kunz. I tell myself that while precision is definitely Kunz's friend, un-precision (yeah, made that one up) might be mine. I am very glad I took the time to watch the video clip. ALWAYS the student and I did learn. And I WILL go hunt down my value scale chart and repost it by the easel. Am I going to dwell on exact matches? Probably not. But having the good tool nearby makes the stab in the dark a little more likely to be successful. About those nicely refined pencil lines, those probably aren't for me. I really do like drippy-wet purple paint (actually it’s Maimeri Brera violet) And after all, that is the only one true certainty about artists, isn't it? That no two of us are alike? Ha, kind of like snowflakes.Later, Cooper Read More
11/9/2010 8:48:34 AM Thinking About Sky Cooper / Comment on this Greetings, Welcome to the Cooper studio, on a beautiful November 9th, in Jefferson, Iowa. Surely much can be accomplished on a day like this?! But before the easel grabs me, I want to give you some sky thoughts. Whew, sounds like large thinking, right? Let me explain. My husband and I just returned from a marvelous trip to Colorado. (Yes, the kids are all doing great, and the grandbaby charmed us completely!) But I regress---we are talking sky here, aren't we? We spent much of our time outside, and you certainly can't blame us. Wow, what a place to live outdoors. In Longmont, Colorado, the vista is talllllll. Long's Peak is 14,259 feet up there, one of the big ones, and when we stand on the upper deck of our kid's house, there it is. After you look at the mountains for a while, you can't help but notice the sky around them. Blue. Very blue. Very, very blue. We've been to Colorado quite a few times, and I've always written the color thing off to heightened senses. This time the trees were holding their fall color, and the contrast between that gold and the blueblue of the sky was stunning. No, I didn't try to paint it, I was too busy playing :) But, I somehow managed to mentally imprint that blue color. As we crossed the border back into Nebraska and headed for Ogallala, yesterday morning, I suddenly was able to mentally contrast the blue of Ogallala with the blue of Longmont. NOT the same. In fact, let's think in terms of a value scale. (value scale: a simple tool that helps you see, and replicate lights and darks using comparison) If we turned this scale into blue, the Ogallala sky would be about a 2, and the Longmont sky would have to be up around a 5, possibly even a 6. I am sure scientific types have lots of reasons for me as to why one sky could be a two and the other a five, even though it's all the same sky. Have I mentioned before that I am not a details person? In fact, I'm pretty sure honest labeling requires me to say I'm a color person. I prefer to believe that two colors were put in the same sky for us to enjoy. And I do. Thanks for stopping by.Later, Cooper Read More
