A Different Kind of Show
In June 2018, the Southbury Public Library will host a different kind of art show. Artists 18+ years old are invited to check out one or two art instructional DVD's from the collection of 150 videos, and either paint along with the instructor, or be inspired to apply new knowledge gleaned from one of the DVD's to create new art of their own. Videos can be checked out for two weeks at a time.
In the spirit of supporting the show, I selected Brian Blood's video "Studio Secrets", by Lilliedahl Productions ©2015, produced and directed by Eric Rhoads. Brian takes a complicated California coastal scene full of large rocks surrounded by ground clutter, swaying cypress trees, pounding surf, distant rocky shores with trees, all touched by a warm sunny sky. His purpose was to teach the viewer how to paint a larger studio painting, using a small plein air (outdoor) sketch he created at Point Lobos, and a photo reference on an adjacent monitor.
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| Brian Blood's Photo Reference for Point Lobos Painting |
Why did I pick this DVD?
I had seen another Brian Blood plein air DVD in the collection and I liked the subject matter and palette. Also I am pushing myself to take my own plein air studies to the next level, and was intrigued by the title. He demonstrated on a 16” x 20” panel. This was my chance to study with Brian in a "private" session.
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| Brian Blood's Small Plein Air Study of Point Lobos |
How long is the video?
The actual video is 1hour and 53 minutes, but the DVD also contains an excellent interview with Brian Blood conducted by Eric Rhoads, the genius behind Streamline Publications, proponent of all things plein air, and a selection of Brian Blood’s other paintings. This is an average length video -- some in the collection are 10 minutes, some are 6 hours, divided into two DVD's. I checked out the video for two weeks, returned it, and rented it again for an additional two weeks, while painting and note taking.
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| Brian Blood's painting in progress (detail.) |
Best part of video?
You can see exactly what the artist is mixing with the help of a dedicated camera over the palette, and a camera on the canvas. I found this very helpful since I have “issues” with color mixtures and color relationships. To help cement the mixes in my artist brain, I created a rough simplified study of the layout of the painting, with space to write in the names of the pigments used. The camera work and editing by Cameron Schmucker was flawless. The quality of these videos cannot be beat!
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| Vasari grays on left hand side, primaries on right. |
Part of video less helpful?
I didn’t have Vasari “grays” on hand to add to mixtures, so I had to punt on that (approximate.) Looking online, while known for high quality pigments, and linseed oil, and no fillers the secret ("proprietary") mixtures, are not within my budget for the moment. Vasari makes these convenience mixtures with Cadmium Yellow + the other primaries + white. One looks like a buff color, one looks like a greenish-gray color, one a slate blue, etc. Nice to have, but had to skip for this exercise.
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| My 11" x 14" study painted with help of Brian Blood's video, and a paper showing color swatches with notes on pigments. |
What was the takeaway from this video?
Simplify the composition, especially the background, to set apart the foreground, keeping background lighter, to avoid competing with foreground elements.
Use separate harmonious “families” of paint mixtures.
I really enjoyed painting along with Brian, and hope to take a workshop one day with him. He managed to take a very complicated scene and simplify it in a beautiful way. Watching the video was a great way to see if I might like his teaching method enough to invest in a trip to California to study with him. https://brianblood.com/workshops In the meantime, it will be a good challenge to apply some of his methods to my own work and I can use the tuition/travel budget for more paint and canvas.
Take a look at the collection in the Southbury Public Library, and check out a video. Here is a PDF with the titles/artists you will encounter. http://bit.ly/ArtInstructionVideosUpdate
(Screenshots from the video used with express permission of Streamline Publishing.)
#BrianBlood
#artvideos
#southburypubliclibrary
#art
#oilpainting
#pleinair
#pointlobos
#california
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