Author: markharchar

Starting Anew – Petar Meseldzija Steel Bashaw 13

Posted on by markharchar

I have been gone for a long time. Other things have occupied my time, namely, creating paintings. One of the reasons for this art analysis blog was for me to idnetify things that I found appealing in works of art, analyze them and see how I might be able to incorporate them into my own work. Well, in order to do that you have to work on your own work. In doing so, I have identified a number of shortcomings in my technique, in my process and in my understanding of the principles of color, light, gesture, brushwork, etc.

This has prompted me to start this analysis project again with a more directed focus. I will be looking at drawings and paintings from an artist that really respect and admire, Petar Meseldzija for the next few posts (perhaps more than a few).

I have been looking at this painting all day. It is not the full painting, but the version is very good quality and enabled me to look at a number of things. The first thing that jumps out at me is the brushwork. This painting is just full of loosely placed strokes from the contouring cool raw umbery ones in the river bed to the short, unblended ones that wrap around the tree trunk. In each case as well as the majority of the remaining strokes, they are used to not only apply color to location on the picture plane, but they are used to define the form. WOuld the tree branches look round based on the color and lighting, even if the strokes weren’t there? I would suspect yes. However, the brush strokes make them “feel” round, as if you can imaging taking your finger and follow the contour of those branches.

The next thing that I have identified that I don’t exactly understand is the use of specific colors in the shadow areas. So the shadow area under the red cap is being warmed up by reflected light from the underside of the red fabric which warms up the shadow, even though the light is warm and yellow from the sun coming through the trees. The shadow on the underside fo the out stretched tree limb is a similar warm brown. I have read that warm sunlight will reflect off the ground and warm up a shadow, so that seems to make sense. However, the shadow on the same limb but closer to the base of the tree is significantly cooler. I can understand that the light is flooding in from all sides and not making the shadow as dark a value, but cooler? So warm light makes cool shadows unless reflected light warms them up, almost like having another warm light source. In this case, the limb has very few things to flect light into that shadow area. So it is cooler. Some light reflects up into the bottom of the shadow area fromt he ground which warms it relative to the cooler side shadow. Makes sense. But why is it that the limb further from the tree has such warm shadow when it is in the same situation? Maybe it isn’t in the same situation. That left side of the image is cooler when you squint at it. No sun light is coming through those trees, so the light is cool, so the shadows would be warm.

I think I have it.  In nature warm light yields cool shadows unless there is something to redirect the light back into the shadows, like the ground or a relatively warm object. Cool light from a blue sky for example makes the shadows warm unless there is a relatively cooler object near to reflect the light back into the shadow to cool it down. This is already making me thing about the lighting in my current painting on the easel. Two things I need to do, get those brush strokes to help define the form and straighten out my light source temperatures.

Henry Yan

Posted on by markharchar
Henry Yan is an instructor at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. While I was working on my life drawing skills, a friend of mine told me about Yan’s charcoal sketches. When I looked at his website, I was struck dumbfounded by how awesome the brushwork on his oil painting is. This image is one I have been staring at for a number of days and it just floors me. Yan utilizes big, heavy strokes which are masterfully applied in this piece. A few areas are of note. There is a blended brush stroke on the model’s right leg that meshes with the turquoise stroke of the furniture. This one strokes helps to define the 3 dimensional space by allowing the eye to focus on the harder edged strokes of the model’s stomach, knee and face which are closer to the viewer in 3D space. I large pinkish stroke on the couch which is even closer to the viewer in space is boldly placed, added to the dimensionality of the piece. Lastly, the are a number of varied color blended strokes on the wall area which again, pushes this area farther back into space but indicating less deinition. Those strokes are also less saturated than the foreground ones which helps by adding a spacial atmospheric affect. I can’t stop looking at the bright, hard edged torse stroke. MASTERFUL!

Jeff Jones

Posted on by markharchar
I have been extremely lax in my posting on this art analysis blog. I do apologize for this and will make a better attempt at finding compelling, interesting and notable art to display and analyze here.
Today’s image is from the artist Jeff Jones (or Jeffrey Catherine Jones) and is titled Sheherazad. I must admit that I was unaware of Jones’ work until it was introduced to me by Rebecca Guay. Jones has a very sensual feel to the works and employs a muted palette of colors while making the most of composition to offsite a relative lack of detail. If you look at the body of Jones’ work, you will see a definite arc which begins with a very Frazetta-esque design and color aesthetic and moving more toward a heavier application of the paint and in some cases, a more impressionistic handling of the subjects. This image is an earlier work and illustrates this earlier, thinner application of the paint. It appears that Jones began with a burnt umber underpainting that was applied to a canvas support. I would suspect that a wipeout technique was employed in order to achieve the variation in umber thickness. A thicker application of whites and ochres over areas of burnt sienna and umber create a transparent material effect as well as a more solid flesh rendering which pushes those areas forward in illusory 3 dimensional space of the picture plane. Jones then carves out sculpturally the form of the hair and body allowing the under umbers/siennas to create the hair and shadow areas of the arm and neck. Even though this is a relatively simple execution of these techniques, it is the masterful treatment which keeps me staring at it and returning for more.

Petar Meseldzija

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If you are into fantasy art, I have no doubt that you are familiar with PetarMeseldzija and his Steel Bashaw painting series. They have been feature in at least the last few Spectrum annuals. This is the 9th one in his series and has an awful lot of things to talk about contained in it. Petar seems to use a trompe l’oiel framework in a number of his paintings which to me adds a definite fairytale quality to the presentation of the image. As I sit here looking at this image, I think to myself “I really love his horses.” THis horse looks as if it is ready to jump right off the page onto my desk. Its mane and tail are flowing, head down, legs out stretched. The amount of movement captured here is uncanny. The angle of the horses body lines up with the angle of the ground below creating and arrow head that points to the left and back to the imminent threat which draws Steel’s gaze. The tree is amazingly organic, with branches that contain what appear to be eyes, snake heads and claws (at least in my imagination). Petar has an amazing ability to render fabric as well, the cape the dress flowing in the wind, bending, twisting, curving. His neutralized clouds push nicely into the background help his horse to push forward for that jumping off the page feeling I just mentioned. His colors are saturate, yet not so much as to be un-lifelike, or unreal. And if that wasn’t enough, we have a scare orc, ogre, morlock to threaten us from a different direction adding yet more complexity and interest to this piece. I highly recommend visiting Petar’s website as the rest of his work is just as striking.

Brom

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Brom. What a great name. I always wanted a name that didn’t distract you by having one before it or tagging along afterwards, like Brom…or Cher. Maybe not Cher. I had the pleasure of meeting Gerald Brom at Illuxcon 2009, and if you are familiar with his art, you might be surprised at the man behind the art. He is very meek, courteous and pleasant even though his work often takes on a dark, sinister, or grotesque form. In looking through Brom’s work trying to find a piece to review, one jumped out at me that superficially is slightly different than what you expect, that being men and women in bondage looking attire, people with eyeballs in their hands, or creepy looking dolls, mannequins, etc. This? It’s a tree. I think my friend and fellow artist Steve Anderson would love this tree with its gnarled branches, twisted trunk and dark canopy of leaves. This piece has a similar characteristic as Glen Orbik’s painting from the last post in that the background is basically totally in silhouette. There isn’t a lot of detail and the value contrast is much lower than the foreground. When you look at the background, you see a Ferris wheel, a happy go lucky Ferris wheel that any child would enjoy. But here is where Brom puts his take on things, because a Ferris wheel elicits images of a carnival and frankly, carnivals are creepy. Plus it is drenched in reds and yellows, the colors intense as fire. What is going on back at that carnival? We aren’t sure, but that redness throws up a caution flag to the viewer’s psyche. But let’s get back to tree itself. Sure it is knobby and gnarled, dark and twisty (much like Brom’s inner person or at least the part of him that he projects with his art), but that isn’t what draws my attention to this form. The thing that draws me in…is the cage hanging from the branch. Why? It reminds me of a quote from Richard Schmid. When he was painting a landscape with a barn, he asked “So what is that in the window of the barn?” And his answer? “I don’t know, but isn’t it lovely?” Take a look at that cage. What is in that cage? The answer? I don’t know but it’s it lovely? That little piece starts my mind to thinking, what IS in the cage? How did the cage get there? What relationship does it have to the carnival with its stark white color against that fiery red? Isn’t it lovely indeed…