constantly missing the sight

^ [A Building Is A Ship (work in progress). watercolor on paper. 12x16". September 2011.]

"We are constantly supposing that we see what experience only has shown us, or can show us, to have existence, constantly missing the sight of what we do not know beforehand to be visible : and painters, to the last hours of their lives, are apt to fall in some degree into the error of painting what exists, rather than what they can see."
- John Ruskin, Modern Painters, Vol. I, Ch. II: Truth Not Easily Discerned (1894, 3rd ed.)

An occasional but continuing error of mine in watercolor is a heavy, opaque handling of the paint, which is counter to the transparent nature of the medium in particular and to the subtle, delicate effects atmosphere has on color in particular. I end up painting what I know to be true rather than what I see. A red wall of a building seen at a mile's distance is unlikely to appear as a true saturated red because atmosphere, even on a clear day, is likely to influence the perception of color and shape, softening them if only a little. Adjustments to color, tone (where it falls in relation to light and dark), and shape --- more specifically, the edges of the shape --- are necessary to properly render optical distortions caused by distance and atmosphere.

This watercolor is an attempt to paint larger than I often do. It is of a building visible from the apartment window facing approximately south-west, a subject I keep returning to. I'm always looking at it, this big awkward building that looks very solid and fortress-like, the exterior weathered and stained and ugly. But while I still cannot paint trees, and my depiction of buildings is sometimes clumsy, my continuing efforts to render atmosphere and its effects on distant objects are with some success. Since this painting is now overworked, I'll leave off it and start another of the same subject. It's not a complete loss, though, and is worth posting here, despite it's being incomplete.

Bullock Online takes off the month of August. See you in September.

all things as they recede

[color study: marshes and industrial landscape, North Jersey, May 2009. watercolor on paper. 4x6"]


"We have said before that all things as they recede from us into the atmosphere become (generally) lighter and cooler. This truth is very easily observed in this flat plane, and is of more importance in this plane than any other. You might find (to your satisfaction) that some distant patch of flowers or a grain field would look very warm or very red. Paint it very warm or very red, by all means; but since you are trying to paint a receding piece of ground in a landscape, rather than the still-life of the patch of flowers in the distance (or the individual field), be sure to make it stay back where it belongs, even if you have to resort to stratagem."
- John F. Carlson, Elementary Principles of Landscape Painting, Ch. IV: Ariel Perspective (1929)

I found this color study from 2009 of an area in North Jersey, possibly around Secaucus. This is one where I had some success in reducing the view before me into a coherent relationship while remaining truthful to visual facts. The painter's responsibility is to edit the overwhelming amount of visual information in front of him to reveal what would otherwise be lost amid the confusion. Some subjects make this an easier task than others. Physical distance alters perception and simplifies forms while introducing atmospheric influences. The painter simplifies these changes further in order to show them. And when things don't follow the normal rules of optics, for instance when visual distance does not immediately result in a fading and cooling of color and form, then some interesting challenges result.

WordPress Premier of Bullock Online

“What’s gonna happen?”
“Something wonderful.”
- Space Odyssey 2010

Just a quick note to start off the month of June, letting everyone know that I will now also be blogging on WordPress, a site I have been visiting a lot lately and really admiring, so as to come in contact with many more people and also to take advantage of the great services and design that WordPress has to offer. I emphasize the word "also" --- I want to point out that I will continue to blog here on Blogspot. The two blogs will contain almost identical content. The Bullock Online website may be relocated to WordPress soon, after I look a bit more at their software. My current site host has not been satisfactory.

In the next few months some exciting things will be happening. I’ve lost employment and housing, but not opportunities or shelter or love, and so much is up in the air right now — for a lot of people things are pretty rough. But, running headlong into the darkling veil I asked of my future what was going to happen, and it replied “something wonderful”. Selah.

truth

[Pinecone. charcoal on paper, 2007. 5x10"]

"The great artists of all periods, though they have the highest regard for truth, have never regarded truth as identical with deceptive imitation."
- C.J. Holmes, Notes On the Science of Picture Making, Ch. XVII: The Painter's Aims and Ideals (1909)

While packing and moving, I had the chance to go through boxes of sketch books, drawings, and color studies. This charcoal drawing I did four years ago caught my attention. I remember doing it. It's an enjoyable way to pass an hour --- find an object, pick up a pencil or whatever, and draw. Working directly from the object sharpens perception, stimulates the imagination, and should encourage a process of paring down a subject to its essentials. This is, in essence, a form of abstraction, based on observation and knowledge. A realistic abstraction, as such, because all great painting or drawing represents Truth, which need not be expressed (in the words of one critic) in "slavish rendering of surface detail".

the subtlest pleasures of sight

[Seed Pods (Ordinary Objects series). water color on paper. 5 x 7".]

"There is no china painting, no glass painting, no tempera, no oil, wax, varnish, or twenty-chimney-power-extract-of-everything painting which can compare with the quiet and tender virtue of water colour in its proper use and place. There is nothing that obeys the artist's hand so exquisitely; nothing that records the subtlest pleasures of sight so perfectly. All the splendours of the prism and the jewel are vulgar and few compared to the subdued blending of infinite opalescence in finely-inlaid water colour; and the repose of light obtainable by its transparent tints, and absolutely right forms to be rendered by practiced use of its opaque ones, are beyond rivalship, even by the most skillful methods in other media."
- John Ruskin, Letter to the Times, April 14, 1886, reprinted in A Descriptive Handbook of Modern Water Colour Pigments, Winsor & Newton, 1887)

I am enjoying working on my little water color paintings these past few weeks, even the failures. Applying myself to a few specific concepts and staying within fairly limited means is yielding some positive results. Water color on a small scale with a minimal palette, of specific subject matter --- either basic still lifes for my Ordinary Objects series (see last month's posting for more on that) or the ever present landscape. Unavoidable circumstances I first saw as restrictions are providing limitations that I needed to come up against so I could get my bearings. Within these circumscribed boundaries is a freedom I was missing in all the endless choices that are otherwise available.


[Landscape: Brooklyn & New Jersey. water color on paper. 7 x 5".]

the form of the idea

[Mason Jar with Plant Cuttings (Ordinary Objects series) 2011. watercolor on paper. 5x7"]


"If we start from the principle that painting cannot be the exact reproduction of nature and that art is essentially a choice, it is evident that the non-essential must be sacrificed to the essential, the form of the idea."
- J.Martin-Barbaz, The Holiday Painter

The other day I was sitting on the sofa and kept glancing at this mason jar in which I've rooted cuttings from one of my plants. It was there on the windowsill and looking quite ordinary. I gave myself about an hour to paint it, and for a while it was not coming together. Several contrasting aspects made it both interesting and a bit difficult to render --- the clear glass mason jar with its highlights, varying thicknesses, and impressed patterns, holding a twisted network of fecund roots, and stems and leaves of rather delicate shapes and colors --- a composition of opposites. The small dimensions and short time frame provided limitations I enjoy working within, and forced me to put down on paper only those elements that were essential to what I saw.