Sargent

SOME painters or paintings just make you eager to paint. I'm down with Sargent. Ever since I became more acquainted with Sargent about 5 or 6 yrs ago, I've always liked this depiction of soldiers leaving the battle front in WWI entitled "Gassed". I wonder if the director and producers of the film Atonement referenced this piece when they were creating the set they used visualizing the same subject. Sargent really blows our minds. He had to observe all of this from life and correctly recreate that sun-set beach lighting. Not to mention the several figures composed in this piece. Nearly a hundred yrs later the majority of the work being produced today is completely inferior to this. Sometimes knowing that makes me think I should just be an accountant, or a service mechanic on the rides at Lagoon.

Head Drawing Class

This is a drawing I did in my head-drawing class at the Bridge Academy. My favorite part are the marks made for the back of the hair, and how vague and lost the edges get for her right eye. I like how this one turned out.

LINCOLN

I did this just because. Because I love Lincoln.
This painting was inspired by two books that I've listened
to a few times. One is The Day Lincoln Was Shot by Jim Bishop.
The other is Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns. Check'em out.

Adam Ford

Adam Ford, one of my good friends, and my first real life-drawing instructor, the man who hooked me on drawing the figure and taught me everything about light, shadow, edges, line, and form, will be teaching the figure class at the Bridge Academy beginning June 4th. The class is every Thursday evening from 6 to 9. Contact me justin@justintaylorart.com for enrollment.

wise words

Ok, I'm going to make a goal to blog every Friday. Friday blogger dogger day. Because time is no joke. It wont slow down for anyone. So instead of sharing whats on the easel right now, I'm going to just share an inspirational thought I heard while painting this week. Nothing new. Just a good reminder.

I love film. I really like listening to directors commentaries. The creative process in film-making fascinates me. Bringing together several artistic elements to create a "motion picture". I see a lot of parallels in the language of a film maker and a painter. I could go on and on about that. Anyways, I listen to directors commentaries while I paint. This week I saw the THE RAINMAKER on the 5$ dvd shelf at WallyMart. Typically I probably wouldn't have taken much interest in this film, but the back cover said it had commentary by Francis Ford Coppola. For the sheltered people out there who haven't lived on this planet for the last twenty or thirty years, Coppola directed iconic American films like The Godfather part I, II, and III, Apocolypse Now, American Graffiti, The Outsiders, and many more. He directed most of America's most accomplished actors early in their careers. He's legend.

So, I like this quote from Copolla in his commentary about The Rainmaker, and I think it definitely applies to painting and picture making.

"Being an artist, ultimately what you really have to work with is yourself, and your memories, and things that have some emotional charge to them for you. Other people when they see it, instinctively they can tell what's authentic, what's an authentic thing they are being shown, or what is just some thing maybe for effect. There is a difference between what you share with an audience that comes out of your real life, whether you're a poet, or playwrite, or an actor, or film maker, (or painter). So the artist has to learn how to be available to their own instincts, and their own feelings, and be able to incorporate them in to the story."

flux

Has it really been more than 2 months since I've posted anything? I'm LAGGIN!!! Well, it's probably not the best idea to be the most open-book artist on the planet. Everyone can see my process, and my many insecurities along the way. BUT, I love the process. I love the drawing. So here is the evolution of one of my most recent pieces. I wanted to go back and explore the idea I worked on with "clarity at the end of things", but hopefully a little better executed. I really like repetition and contrast (or the lack of contrast) in the desaturated figures. This piece is not even completely finished. I'll post it. yah. Thanks to everyone for generous comments. I like those

Mikell in Real LIfe