After a bit of time, I’ve finally created a new art piece.  My goal is to have a new one each month, and I’m just squeaking this one in under the wire.

It’s an idea that I’ve had for awhile, though it’s really gone through several variations.  This one has far more color that the original did, and I was really liking the silhouette of the girl more than the full image of her.  I thought it added a little more creepiness to it, a little more mystery.

I threw in a couple of close ups as well below, since the web’s not all that great for detail sometimes.

I call this one, Eternity in the Old North Hall.

With my daily sketching, I’m looking for two things.  First, just that I get in a daily sort of practice so that I can get better at what I do.  Secondly, it’s to explore new techniques and new ideas.

I’ve never really drawn from pictures before, I’ve always pulled everything right out of my head. In some ways that’s great, I can reasonably generate most things that are asked for.  But I think it tends to give my art a look that’s slightly off of the norm.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it is what it is.  But I think sketching from real life or from photos will eventually help me learn how things work together, how they intertwine with one another, far better than what I can do on my own.

That said, it’s very frustrating when I look at the final effect.  When I build something from scratch, the rules in my head connect everything, and it looks ok.  Looking at a picture though, I’m having problems sticking with proportion, angles and how things really do work together.

I think that’s because I’m more interested in the parts that I’m sketching from a picture, and less the overall piece.  That’s the reverse of how I do art from scratch, when I’m so concerned constantly with how things are together.

It’s a learning process, one that you can see on my Flickr sketching project.  Many of them aren’t so good (a few of them are pretty decent though), but I’m trying to accept that it’s part of the process and continue forth.

Instead of wallowing in the idea that the last sketch is so-so at best, I did something about it.  I worked with it in Photoshop a bunch, and below is the result.  It actually came out far better than the original sketch, and it’s a reminder to me that I just need to work things out, and maybe I’ll get somewhere yet.

I call this piece, “Then rang the bells both loud and deep. God is not dead nor doth he sleep.”

I don’t do recaps too often, since, really, you could probably just scroll down and see it all anyway.  But there are a few things happening away from this site, so I thought I’d highlight them.

1. My Flickr “sketch every day” project, which is at least getting an OK start.  I don’t think my Teddy Roosevelt sketch came out too badly, and the giant lizard man and his friend were fun: www.flickr.com/photos/47005555@N07/
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2. I have a new online store at Etsy, with prints I’m making here at home of my artwork.  Check them out, and while you’re buying a few feel free to let me know if there are other pieces you’d like me to feature there: www.etsy.com/shop/RussellDickerson
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3. I added a new “ask me anything” Formspring… form. Swing on over, and ask me, well, anything: www.formspring.me/RDickerson
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4. I’ve added a few new art blogs below, including works by Thomas Cole, Norman Rockwell and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.  Check them out and as always let me know what you think.
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5. I was recently a guest artist for the very first time, at the fabulous VisionCon in January.  It was a great time, which I also have an entry about below.
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6. I have plenty of social networks you can follow me on, just look under “Contact Russ” over in the right column of the site here. Find me on those sites and talk me up.
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7. Last but not least, I have a new monthly blog for the Apex Book Company, where I talk of nothing but butterflies and tulips.  Though, I may be mistaken on that last part, since the titles of my first two were “WTF? Really? You can’t just tell me who the artist is?” and “My God, What a Stupid Looking Cover“. Follow them monthly at www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/

There are a handful of artists that I’ve seen over the years that never fail to excite me.  These are artists that inspire me to do better, even to see better. Every artist has an artist or two (or 12 in my case) that makes them want to be an artist, and at the top of my list is Thomas Cole.

Imagine then how absolutely amazing it was for me to walk into the Thomas Cole Room at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.  A whole room for my favorite artist, filled with canvases that I’ve only ever seen in books, and a few more I’ve never seen at all (despite having at least a few Hudson River books).

Above is Cole’s Mount Etna from Taormina (1843, Oil on Canvas, 48″ x 33″), and it’s the centerpiece of the Cole Room (still in awe on that). It’s a large painting, filling much of the wall it hangs on:

Note: I did edit out my friend in this picture, since I never asked her if I could post her image on the web.  She did make a nice scale though to see how big the picture really is.

One thing before we get too much further: I’m a sucker for classical architecture, and I always have been.  Years ago (probably when they were being built) I was an engineering student, and all I could think of was to build buildings like that. So paintings that have architecture like that almost always get an extra score. Even if there are only ruins in it.

I think that Cole captures the area as an idea of eternity. Mount Etna looms in the background, both seemingly at peace and ready for activity, but always there. The ruins in the foreground show the past, and the person walking, along with the farms and boats in the center, show the present.  Cole shows not just a scene of the moment, but is showing the constant movement of life, history, and even loss.

What’s great though, and something I’ve mentioned before, is that when you see a piece at a museum in person you get a better understanding of it.  From the image above and the one you’d see in a book, we could discuss Cole’s composition, his palette, and other general ideas.  But in person, we get to see much more, like the house in the center:

It becomes less just a landscape image and more of an idea of life near this volcano.  Where there are ruins, there are also crops, a home, and someone’s daily life in this extraordinary environment.

You can also see, not just in the house, but Cole’s techniques.  He laid these very brushstrokes on this canvas nearly one hundred and seventy years ago, but we can still walk up and look right at his technique for water, or a boat, or for highlights on the cliff:

To me, seeing how an artist works is fascinating.  Whether it’s watching the modern day artists do their work on the web, or seeing the brushstrokes from an old master, it’s just incredible to see the techniques.

I like Cole’s work here not just because of the strong image and composition, but because of the ideas that went into all of it.  He’s not just painting a volcano, or some old bricks.  He’s bringing a world to life, one that’s not just of the past or the present, but eternal.

Opinions?

I’ve made a conscious effort to sketch every day, even if it’s something small, in the last two weeks.  I now have 13 sketches up on my new Flickr page, and I find it interesting to look back and already see the diversity of what I’m sketching.

I decided when I started sketching this set that I just wanted to let the pencil run free, and not try to reign it in. I have other works of art and projects in motion that require specific things, but with these sketches I just wanted to let my imagination take me on the ride.

So far, it really has been a very diverse set of sketches.  From humor to horror, specific ideas to loose lines, it’s been fun to play.  I think as an artist that’s important, especially when you do have clients and projects.  It’s easy to forget why you are an artist, and that you need your own time and your own imagination to play with.

Go check out the Flickr page, and by all means let me know what you think.  Even on the disturbing ones.