revivingKensArt (3 Viewers)

solitaryVSong · Jul 13, 2009

Thanks Colleen and Woody,

I've actually written about how much you gain from working from life for years. I said this based on my many years of figure drawing from long ago. But I just haven't forced myself to sketch birds, always opting for photos instead. Now, thanks to this forum and especially Nick Derry and JoMo, I have! I agree with you both about the excitement. I remembered it from figure drawing, and I guess also from street sketches I used to do. It's nice for it now to be fresh and not a distant memory!

Ken

solitaryVSong · Jul 13, 2009

ed keeble said:
Just catching up with the recent burst of activity on the forum- I really like the richness of colour in the Snowy Egret, background and all.

Thanks so much Ed!

For many, many years I was strictly an abstract artist. Then about three years ago I turned to naturalistic art, specifically birds. So I've spent all that time trying to get them down with some accuracy, all the while sort of chomping at the bit to return to some of the coloristic and compositional freedom of my old abstract work. Finally I think I'm starting to do that with my paintings and drawings of birds. That's my goal anyway! So I'm very happy to find you like the color in the Snowy Egret. I hope I'll continue to find a way to get some rich color into my work.

Ken

solitaryVSong · Jul 17, 2009

I've spent the morning before work for the last two days working on this small 7x10 watercolor. When I began working in watercolor three years ago I used photos of birds that I've taken as subject matter, knowing all the time how misleading photos can be. Since then I've made some effort to work from life but I'm still at the beginning stages of that.

I'll continue to do so but in the meantime I'd like to paint! So this watercolor is based on a photo of an Eastern Willet that I saw at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, NJ in spring of 2009. I'm afraid to do any more work on it for fear of killing it, so most likely it is done.

solitaryVSong · Jul 19, 2009

Well the last 24 hours have been a struggle and a half. I took some photos of very cooperative Piping Plovers last spring. Yesterday I tried my second small watercolor. Though the plovers completely disappear in the sand when seen from a distance in these closeup photos they stood out as bright white spots against a sand of contrasting orange and blue casts.

So I thought I'd try to capture the color of the sand as well as the birds. I hoped for a bright fresh watercolor. Well you can see the results. It turned out to be more a dark, muddy watercolor that no longer gives much indication of sand. But in trying to rescue the overall painting I changed the background in such a way that it looks more like hills. Still you learn from your mistakes so I hope this will be a learning experience.

I may head out later today for some fieldsketching. I do want to continue it. Unfortunately the birds around my urban home are not too plentiful. So all work from life, outside of the flighty hummingbird, requires a drive somewhere.

nickderry · Jul 20, 2009

I feel your pain, I don't know how many of my pictures start in watercolour and end up getting very muddy, most of them perhaps! - I'm sure that's where my 'style' of mixed media comes from - just glue some white paper back over it, and start again.

It's a shame that you didn't stop after the first photo was taken - that's very nice - but it's hard to stop when you're having fun. I love the composition and strong shapes. Onwards and upwards.

solitaryVSong · Jul 21, 2009

Hi Nick,

Onwards and upwards is right! I knew I was risking ruining this but I went ahead anyway. But that's the fun of it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I do have an older watercolor of the same plovers in a different pose that I did a few months ago. It's much lighter and brighter. But it still wasn't what I wanted so I decided to do this 'improved' version. Oh well...... I'm thinking maybe I'll try a version in pastel and charcoal one of these days. I still want to try to get the brightness of the sand.

I have to say that I spent about a week looking through all the posts and photos on your thread and at one point I thought: what a brilliant idea! He's using collage to get back the white!!

But from what I can see most of your watercolors start bright and end bright so I'm sure that there aren't that many that have to deal with the muddiness.

Ken

nickderry · Jul 21, 2009

ah, the reason my watercolours look like they start and end bright is because I only let them be watercolours if they end bright - I've just spent all night destroying another watercolour I started - it's now an acrylic.

It's such a headache to be able to see the version you want to do in your head, and then it never manages to be put onto paper - sometime I wish it were possible to take photos of what I'm thinking!

Woody · Jul 21, 2009

nickderry said:
It's such a headache to be able to see the version you want to do in your head, and then it never manages to be put onto paper - sometime I wish it were possible to take photos of what I'm thinking!

Amen to that Nick!

Mike

timwootton · Jul 21, 2009

Thank goodness for white gouache.

solitaryVSong · Jul 21, 2009

nickderry said:
It's such a headache to be able to see the version you want to do in your head, and then it never manages to be put onto paper - sometime I wish it were possible to take photos of what I'm thinking!

On a computer this is called using the DWIM button: Do What I Mean. I guess we all need DWIM brushes..........

colleenc · Jul 21, 2009

ah yes our reach exceeds our grasp, and so we keep making art ;-)

solitaryVSong · Jul 23, 2009

I think I'm finished with this new pastel and charcoal version of the Piping Plovers that I did in watercolor a week ago. It's very overcast today and the light is bad so I've had a hard time actually 'seeing' the results. A brighter light may convince me to go back into this.

I wanted to get both the brilliant light of the sand and the strong color contrast of blue and ochre that was in the sand, depending on whether the sand was in shadow. Eventually I had to take some artistic license and make the top area darker and richer in color than it really was. Otherwise the drawing just seemed a bit washed out and dull.

Though I've done a lot of heavily worked charcoal drawings I haven't done that many that combine pastel and charcoal. So this is still a learning experience. But I'm still pretty happy with the results.

timwootton · Jul 23, 2009

And so you should be Ken - this is a terrific result; vibrant and zingy - in fact, possibly all that your previous watercolour was, prior to a touch of the overwork-demon getting a hold of it. So, in many ways, the previous piece laid the cornerstone for this one.

solitaryVSong · Jul 23, 2009

Thanks so much Tim! I'd so much prefer to do work that is vibrant than muddy! Hopefully I can continue in that direction, especially in my great nemesis watercolor.

colleenc · Jul 23, 2009

lovely expressionistic work, Franz Marc would have loved this...

solitaryVSong · Jul 23, 2009

colleenc said:
lovely expressionistic work, Franz Marc would have loved this...

Das Blaue Reiter? It's funny you should mention him. Way back when I was in high school probably and just learning about 'modern' art I loved Franz Marc! I haven't looked at him in years, but will have to do so now.

deborah4 · Jul 25, 2009

That's a real painterly piece of work on the plovers Ken - colours and composition have come together very well indeed.

solitaryVSong · Jul 26, 2009

Thanks Deborah,

Through all the various styles my work has had over many years, including hard edge abstraction, I think that painterliness is the one that always seems most natural to me.

Ken

Woody · Jul 26, 2009

Bold and vibrant result Ken, particularly keen on the repeated shapes which give the feel of waves of movement.

MIke

Beach Birder 561 · Jul 26, 2009

Fabulous art , Ken...
I grew up in Chester County and spent much of my youth
canoeing and bicycling the Brandywine area and the River
Museum. Its very nice to see Philadelphia area artist on these
forums !! I will be diving into your sites and Blog as soon as
the birds are fed and the coffee is made ! :t:
Thanks for posting your fabulous work.

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