The Sketch

Fellow art lovers,
 

Bill Sawczuk here. I want to talk to you about a subject that is not as dear to many artist's hearts as it should be... sketching. Sketching is one of the most important tools that an artist has in the pursuit of good work, and yet it seems to be the most under appreciated and unused skill that any artist should have. Why? Speaking with artists tells me that there are, of course, reasons for this.
 

"I don't need a sketch to paint." 

"Sketching is too time consuming."

"I don't like pencil work."

And the real reason,

"I don't wish to spend the time practicing to sketch." 

I'd like to try and answer some of these concerns about sketching. I think that the definition of sketching is unclear to many.

The dictionary describes sketching as a "hasty or un-detailed drawing or painting made as a preliminary study." This is true, but a sketch can be much more than that definition. A sketch can be a stand alone piece of work that will illustrate the artist's feelings about what he is trying to say. A sketch may be so descriptive that nothing more need be done. A sketch can also be a beautiful piece of art that often takes many hours to complete. A sketch may be done in any artistic medium: pencil, charcoal, crayon, pen and ink, ink wash, watercolor, oil, clay, etc. If an artist is comfortable in any or all of these mediums, they can be used for sketching. 

I have included here some very quick sketches in pencil, Conte crayon, and ink wash of an old, falling down log building here in Jackson, Wyoming. I have also included a finished oil painting of that same building. All of these renderings of the subject tell the same story.

I think that the resistance to pencil work stems from the fact that many artists tend to take a pencil sketch too far. They labor at technique and finish. The feeling of spontaneity and freshness is gone, and an overworked sketch is the result. Look at the sketches that Sorolla did of people sitting in restaurants in New York and Chicago. These were very quickly done, but capture the attitude and character of the people. Many artists that you are familiar with did very descriptive yet simple renderings of buildings world wide in pencil. A pencil is a handy tool, easily obtained, easily carried, and quick to use (if you practice!). Carry a nice soft pencil and sketch pad with you... no eraser! Using an eraser might cause you to correct too much, thus negating the time saving benefits of the quick sketch. Your subject can be anything, but the purpose should be learning. If you are fortunate to have the opportunity to draw from a model, take advantage of your chance to quick sketch. You will be surprised at how quickly your sketching will improve.  

  

I enjoy using soft vine charcoal and Conte crayon for sketching because I can use the side of either of these to get broad value strokes. Conte and charcoal also lend themselves to very nice finished sketches that stand alone in their artistic quality. Since I am predominantly a pleine air oil painter, I often use oil as my sketching medium to do a quick study on 8-weight museum quality paper board. The major pleine air advantage of this material is its ability to soak in the oil paint which allows you to keep painting on a relatively dry surface. This oil sketch was completed in one hour and it could have been quicker if I hadn't dipped my brush in my coffee. (I like to keep a cup of coffee around me when I'm working but I have been cured of keeping it on the palette!).   

There is very much more to be said about sketching, and all of you will have something to add to this discussion. I have given you some of my thoughts based on my experiences in the field and in the studio.  We should all agree on the idea that sketching WILL make a better artist of you, and it will enable you to better express the joy you feel in representing in your work our beautiful, blessed world.

Thanks for listening,

Bill

Bill Sawczuk

"The Sketch"

Behind the Brushes

 

Our New Year's Wish for You - Dare to Make Mistakes!

Visitors pushing the boundaries of their comfort zones at Trio's Drawn Together workshop, December 2016.  Photo © Tammy Christel.

By Jennifer L. Hoffman

New Year's Eve is always an opportunity for reflection and anticipation.  As 2016 draws to its official close, I wanted to share something wonderful I recently stumbled across.  Below is an excerpt from writer Neil Gaiman's blog - his New Year's Eve musing from 5 years ago (mistakes intended!) - and it is just what we wish for you:

I hope that in this yearto come, you make mistakes.
Because if you are makingmistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things,learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing yourworld. You're doing things you've never done before, and moreimportantly, you're Doing Something.
So that's my wish for you,and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Makeglorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worrythat it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art,or love, or work or family or life.
Whatever it is you'rescared of doing, Do it.
Make your mistakes, nextyear and forever.

-Neil Gaiman, 12/31/2011

When I was in elementary school, I took piano lessons for a number of years with a nearby musician.  I would go to her house each week and play the piece I was supposed to have learned the week before.  Because I was a timid and self-conscious child, I would play very quietly, especially the sections that I hadn't practiced enough or didn't know well.  One day, as I was bashfully plunking out notes, my teacher stopped me and said, "If you're going to make a mistake, make it a big one!"  While I never became a great pianist, I did learn an important life lesson that's stuck with me to this day.  You can't learn if you're afraid of mistakes!  Or, put another way, the only real mistake in life is not making any mistakes. 

As artists, we know intimately the difficulty and rewards of pushing our boundaries, trying something new, failing, and trying again!  So, on the eve of another New Year, we wish for you the gifts of imperfection, of bravery, of getting out of your comfort zone.  We wish for you laughter, and love, and connection, and beauty.  And most of all, we wish for you whatever little things bring you joy.

And thank you for all your encouraging support through our own mistakes and triumphs!

Happy 2017~

Jen, Bill, and Kathryn

The Trio: Jen, Bill, & Kathryn, wishing you all the best in 2017! Photo ©Kelsey Herbert.

The Role of Travel in the Lives of American Artists

"Monterrey Harbor" 11 x 16 oil on linen by Kathryn Mapes Turner

Kathryn paints her view while in Tuscany

I will confess - I love Jackson Hole so much, I find that I am reluctant to ever leave it!  And yet after a recent trip to Paris, I certainly didn’t complain. Only a fool would do that - Paris is fabulous! 

This October, I spent six glorious days visiting museums and churches, cruising the river and strolling the streets and avenues in search of the perfect crepes. It was the ideal vacation after a busy Jackson summer.  

While in Paris, I couldn’t help but think of the other American artists throughout history who, likewise, couldn’t resist a visit to the city known for its art. Elizabeth Jane Gardner, Mary Cassatt, Robert Henri, and Langston Hughes were among the many American artists who traveled across the pond to study and work in the City of Lights.  Not surprising, many became expatriates. 

"Enlightened" 24 x 18 oil & cold wax on mounted linen by

Jennifer Hoffman.

Artists are certainly not unique in a love for adventure, but it does have a profound influence on the creative process.  When we encounter the exotic, we are jarred loose from the mundane and see the world anew.  When German artist, Carl Rungius traveled from the Old World to the New, he was forever captivated by the western mountains he rendered. “I painted from the collected material and later in the spring of 1896, I went back to Germany... My decision to cut all ties with the Old World and to live in America for good, was due in no small part to this first Wyoming trip. For my heart was in the West.”

Travelers encounter new sights, sounds, and flavors, and as artists, this stimulation of the senses is important for creativity.  Despite jet-lag, my first day in Paris drew me out of the hotel and onto the streets where Parisians were making the most of a sunny Sunday afternoon. The music from the street performers, the smell of roasting chestnuts and the sight of lovers beside the river all stay with me like a living postcard memory. 

Bill Sawczuk & RMPAP founding artists Greg McHuron
at the first Rimrock Ranch Artists Retreat

When Jennifer Hoffman recently visited Hawaii, she was so inspired by the full moon shining on the ocean waves, she asked her husband to stop the car so she could study the light effects on the surface of the water long enough to commit the scene to memory.  She made this sketch of it as soon as she returned to Jackson Hole.

 Exposure to different cultures opens new pathways of relating to the world. When I studied the masterpieces in the Louvre and Muse D’Orsay, expectations for my own work were up-leveled. 

Travel affords artists the opportunity to meet new people and have  experiences that shift our understanding.  We encounter a more global perspective and our place in the context of the world.

"Sienna" 10 x 8 oil by Kathryn Mapes Turner

Another advantage of travel is the opportunity to shed the daily distractions of home.  When Georgia O’Keefe traveled to New Mexico, she was also delighted to be free of her social obligations in the East and to have the quiet solitude to focus on art. Bill Sawczuk has the same experience during his annual art retreat at the Rim Rock Ranch outside of Cody, Wyoming.
 
Travel is not without its limitations for artists. Travel can be exhausting… especially when you are lugging around art equipment.  The logistics of travel can be a distraction in and of itself. There can be a lack of depth of understanding of a foreign subject matter.  Not all artists benefit from the disruption of stylistic continuity. Non-artist travel companions are not always willing to understand why, at a museum,  we can stand in front of a single painting for 20 minutes or spend two hours sketching a gargoyle.  

My trip to Paris was a perfect one- wonderful weather, no crowds, fabulous itinerary!  And still, I was happy to return home… with a full heart and renewed inspiration… to my beloved Wyoming.

Kathryn meeting the "locals" in Paris!

Kathryn Mapes Turner

"The Role of Travel in the Lives of American Artists"

Behind the Brushes 

Art and Motherhood

Professional Artist Mom - Is it a Myth or Can It Be Done?

My daughter, stuck in the car while I paint a nocturne.

Laura Alma-Tadema.  Rosa Bonheur.  Georgia O’Keeffe.  Frida Kahlo.  Mary Cassatt.  Cecelia Beaux.  Anna Hyatt Huntington.  Joan Mitchell.  

More than likely, you have heard many of those names.  What do they all have in common?  They are all female artists of the last 150 years who reached the highest echelons of artistic acclaim.  And none of them had children.

There is a commonly-held belief within the art community that to be a serious artist, one must devote oneself entirely to that pursuit.  Art can be an all-consuming profession – more of a calling than a job.  It can be difficult to maintain a relationship or a marriage when one is absorbed by the artistic impulse, not to mention raising children.  It is not an accident that there are many more men at the top levels of artistic success than there are women, and it has nothing to do with talent or commitment.  Many women put aside art (or other careers) to raise their children.  In the process, they lose ground and visibility in the art world (of course, there are men who fall into this category as well).  And while family roles have converged quite a bit in the 21^st Century, women still tend to be the primary caregivers in a home (See this graphic from the Pew Research Center which summarizes this trend: http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/201/06/FT_16.06.14_fathersDay_time_use.png). 

If that’s true, then am I being a dreamer to try to meet the demands of a professional art career while raising a daughter?  I don’t think I am.

Pursuing any career while raising children is a challenging undertaking.  Children require a lot of attention, love, guidance, and patience.  They get sick and share their germs.  They get hurt, grumpy, uncooperative.  They have temper tantrums and make big messes.  They need their noses blown, their diapers changed, their knees bandaged, their dinners made.  They need rides to and from their after-school activities, help with homework, fears reassured.  Whenever my schedule is the most tight, the least flexible, it is inevitable that there will be a missed bus, a sudden fever, or a sleepless night.  When things are running smoothly, there are still so many moving parts to our schedules that often, there is no chance I can get in the studio.  When I do get in the studio, it is often only for a few hours, and all the stopping and starting can make a painting take extra time to finish.  Oh yeah – and kids are EXPENSIVE.

But the flip side is this:

Inspecting a big Glover's silkmoth in the back yard.

Things we take for granted as adults are astonishing for children.  Spending time with my daughter is a chance to see the world anew.  Taking the same walk day after day can result in a continuous source of discovery and delight.  We get down on the ground and look under bushes and beneath rocks at a bug’s eye view.  We climb up cliffs and imagine we can fly.  We go dragon hunting and pet caterpillars, skip stones and sing to each other.

Children are inspiring in their level of curiosity and their capacity for creative thinking.  We as adults can get stuck in "the box," but kids don't even know there is a box.  Anything is possible in their minds when they are small.  Later, the magical thinking fades a bit, but the creativity comes out in lots of  other ways.  I have found it remarkable and surprising to watch how my daughter's uniqueness matures and changes as she grows.  

As the child of an artist, she is growing up immersed in the arts.  She’s been in galleries and museums since she was born.  She started coming to Galleries West with me when she was 8 weeks old (thanks to my beloved friends Bill & Debbie Bunch and Scott Nickell, who owned the gallery and who became like a second family for my daughter).  At the age of three, she was noticing the paintings on the walls of houses in television ads!  Here she is in Galleries West in front of one of my old still life paintings – she used to kiss the flowers through the glass:

How do babies' legs bend like that??

I get to share my passion for art in such a personal way.  Not all artists’ children are enthusiastic about making art themselves, but my daughter has relished drawing (and more recently, painting) since she was a tiny person.  We talk constantly about light, value, shadow, edges, color.  I love to hear her aesthetic observations, and it’s a special delight to watch her develop her own passions. Painting in plein air with her is extra fun.

I am inspired by my daughter in the visual sense, as well.  She has found herself the subject of drawings and paintings over the years, and I am certain there will be many more.

There are other ways I benefit directly.  I have a built in sidekick for art events, a great helper in the gallery and studio, and she has a fantastic eye for critiques.  She even likes to help carry gear when we paint outside!

L to R: A tiny sherpa, the 'red carpet' at the NMWA Western Visions show last year, mopping up at Trio.

A couple words of advice for any other young artists thinking about taking this path.  If you decide to be a career artist and a parent, accept that your productivity may be sporadic, but your inspiration will increase!  Accept that you will need help - from a spouse, a friend, family, or babysitters.  I know I couldn't meet many of my deadlines without my husband being able to take over the childcare on some weekends or picking up our daughter after swim practice when I'm finishing up a commission.  Accept that some deadlines will just not be achievable - but remember there will always be more!  And embrace the distractions.  It's only a brief time that I get to be this involved in my daughter's life, and it is such a wonderful experience.  I choose to look at this time of my life not as a sacrifice but as a choice (and I remind myself of that choice when things get really hectic).  Getting to be a mom and an artist is a great adventure, and I would never choose another path.

-Jennifer L. Hoffman
  Behind the Brushes, October 2016
  www.triofineart.com