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Showing posts from July, 2023

Making drawing videos for Youtube

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I've been producing short videos about drawing lately and I enjoy the format. It's a chance to show off my working process without having to write a script or try to create a lesson out of it. And I'm getting a lot of good practice drawing people, which I need for my next major painting.  Right now it has about a dozen figures and will definitely have more. I'll post more about that soon. If you like these videos I'd love it if you'd like and subscribe!  

Carolus Duran, John Singer Sargent and the "Indispensable" in Art

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  Carolus Duran taught that, “In art, all that is not indispensable is unnecessary." Carolus Duran,  Mademoiselle de Lancey I agree with Carolus, but the word "indispensable" is hard to define in art, and basically amounts to: that which is important to the artist . As such, it is difficult to tell how strictly Carolus adhered to his own principle. Especially in portrait art, an artist is inundated with the particulars of his sitter's personality, and does not necessarily have free reign to paint only that which he cherishes. Nevertheless, Carolus Duran proved canvas after canvas that he was devoted to producing clear, essentialized images. Duran,  Spanish Woman His student, John Singer Sargent was equally devoted to this idea, particularly in regard to the depiction of tones, which was Duran’s special insight and concern in teaching. Duran taught that: “Objects in nature relieve one against each other by the relative values of light and shade which accompany and are