Art Center Information

It Was Not Edward Hopper’s Painting, Gas, That Inspired Me

It was not Edward Hopper’s painting, Gas, that inspired my painting, The Old Woodie, but it was much of Edward Hopper’s works together that did.

Edward Hopper was an artist in the Realist tradition, painting passionately his interpretation of the American scene.

Because I painted The Old Woodie depicting man at a service station (we called them filling stations in those days), many have noted that it reminds them of an Edward Hopper. However, I don’t think it is the service station that reminds them of an Edward Hopper painting as it is the solitary figure in the painting, or the deserted landscape. These were prevalent in many of Hopper’s works. I am just pleased that anyone would think my painting reminds them of an Edward Hopper painting.

The images that Hopper painted often evoked uncertainty, which was somewhat mystifying. A sense of loneliness tended to prevail while he depicted deserted small towns, desolate images of urban and suburban areas, railroad tracks leading in or out of an industrial area. If the scene was not totally deserted there was a solitary figure or couple in a cafe, empty office, or hotel room. I have Hopper’s famous painting, Nighthawks, as my computer screen savor.

As much as I like the works of Edward Hopper, he was not what inspired my painting, The Old Woodie. It was actually inspired by a small black and white photograph taken back in 1949 or 50. The man filling up the automobile was my father. He was at my uncle’s filling station which was surrounded by southeast New Mexico desert. However, being an enthusiastic follower of Edward Hopper, I immediately saw something in the composition that made me want to paint it.

I’m proud to announce after about four months of trial and error and off and on that I have finished the painting. I will sit on it before varnishing it for a couple of weeks to make sure, but I say finished. Here is the first glance at the finished product. I am not so egotistical that I in any way other than being inspired by Hopper that the painting has anything to do with him.

R. D. Burton: "The Old Woodie" (Acrylic on Board~2012)

Posted in Edward Hopper, Gas, Old Woodie, painting, R. D. Burton | Tagged art information, Edward Hopper, Gas, Old Woodie, painting, R. D. Burton | Comments Off

Olivia’s Drawings to Add to the Family Gallery

My granddaughter, Olivia, sent me some of her colored pencil and graphite pencil drawings. I’m proud of her talent and proud to present them here on the blog. Olivia will graduate from high school next month and definitely has art on her mind for a further education.

One of her works was presented in the blog posted 4/28/2012 entitled, Some Favorite Paintings From the Family Gallery and I happened to mention that it was the only picture she created that I had. Suddenly, I had an e-mail with more of her drawings. They were taken with her telephone, so here they are. At this point, none are titled.

This is a fabulous drawing. Regrettably, a reflection is showing from the glass covering the picture, but the excellent detail is still obvious.

And last, but not least is the drawing of the face. There should be some music that goes with this. This is the one I posted on my blog that I mentioned above. Again, the talent is apparent.

Olivia: Kingly Beast (Graphite on Paper)

Latest addition

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Sometimes Your Painting Becomes Boss

I painted the picture, Serenity in the Keys, with a very limited palette because I wanted harmony. I used seven hues, the warm and cool hues of the basic colors (red, yellow, and blue) and Titanium white.

I began by making a detailed full size color pencil depiction of the painting and was pleased with what I saw. Although the drawing had details in it in ways the full painting did not, such as footprints in the sand as well as small pebbles and a few rocks. There were also fallen dead palm leaves around the base of some of the palms.

The painting decided to become boss when I tried placing the more detailed work into it. The feeling, the serenity of the painting seemed to demand an unspoiled, smooth and pristine look about it. So, I realized that the painting had taken over. I decided to paint it the way it demanded.

It drives you crazy, but sometimes your artwork is the boss, and you come out ahead if you listen to it.

Painting: Serinity in the Keys — R. D. Burton: "Serenity in the Keys" (acrylic on canvas)

Posted in painting, R. D. Burton, Serenity in the Keys | Tagged art, harmony in painting, R. D. Burton, Serenity in the Keys | Comments Off

Use a Logical Sequence for Layering Your Painting

Transparent watercolor tends to be for single layering with an order from light to dark. Most artist using this method generally think in terms of single layering. They either paint around or mask the light or white areas first to preserve the white of the paper. After this, they address the dark area and use the light value of the surface to provide the lightest value of the painting.

I started to use this technique for the painting, Winter Kindling. However, before the paining was finished, there were some areas that I layered over. It turned out to be an experiment with a multiple layering of transparent watercolors mostly in the shaded area while holding true to a single layer in the lighter value areas.

The lightest values are the white of the paper. The mid values are mixed colors and the shaded area is transparent layering–or glazing.

Sometimes your painting does not turn out the way you originally intend. Sometimes it is better and sometimes it is not. Sometimes the problem in not having a good layering plan. It is all in the sequence. You have to have a logical order to establish the work you wish to proceed. Planning that sequence in which areas of paint are to be applied is important.

Work in a logical order and prevent the frustration of not knowing whether to “fix” a problem (as I did in the Winter Kindling) or throw the whole thing away and start over. Let the order of your sequence be logical. It’s as simple as painting the sky before you paint trees and grass.

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Art Center Information Reflects on the Works of Charles Burchfield

Artist, Charles Burchfield, painted in a very subjected way but was expressive and poetic. Many adjectives have been used to describe his work, but he saw himself as a Romantic landscape painter.

Charles Burchfield: Lightning and Thunder at Night

He painted with a water color technique that made it possible for him to do so quickly with the same brilliance and color as with oil. He always tried to improve his watercolors by retouching them.

The artist’s favorite mode in his landscapes was the change of seasons, particularly from winter to spring.

However, he not only painted landscapes but more realistic urban scenes that are comparable to the silent introspection of the works of Edward Hopper. Burchfield lived in rural towns and he depicted them in his paintings.

Posted in art information, Artist, Charles Burchfield | Tagged art information, artist, Charles Burchfield, February Thaw, Lightning and Thunder at Night | Comments Off

Some Favorite Paintings From the Family Gallery

The blog of the day is re-posting some of my family’s favorite pics. One of my personal favorite painting of mine is “The Winter Farm.” A watercolor that I painted some time ago.

I think the reason I prefer this painting to many of my other pieces is because it makes me feel serene looking at it.

I was trying something different here…trying to get a loose feeling in my art since I am so critical of myself being more realistic and less abstract.

Since the only painting I have of my father’s work is “Signal Peak”, then it has to be my favorite work of his. However, the reason I even have the painting is because I told him it was my favorite. It was and it is.

Again, I can’t say enough about this painting. Since I now no longer live in the dry climate of Southeast part of New Mexico, I have nostalgic feelings about the picture. There is a beautiful waterfall in the mountain known as Sitting Bull Falls. It was one of my favorite places to visit and relax as a young person.

To the left is a picture by my grand-daughter, Olivia.

This is the only work of hers that I have, so it has to be my favorite. I do not know if she has named it yet, but I’m proud of her talent. Her other grandfather has tremendous art talent as well, so I’m afraid she had no choice. She must be an artist. I have no pictures of her grand-father’s work or I would present it.

Then, of course, if you follow my blog posts, you know I’m extremely proud of my brother’s art. Lynn has been painting, exhibiting and selling his work for years. He’s always studying and trying new styles and techniques. I believe he is like me, he likes all good art and wants to give everything a try.

Although his painting, “Adam and Eve” is his latest, I’m considering it one of my favorites because the composition is such a change from many of his works. However, the choice is hard when I study the painting, “The Parrots”. Maybe it is the use of the opposing colors–green and red–that I like.

Posted in Arlen Burton, Burton, Lynn Burton | Tagged Arlen Burton, Favorite Paintings, Lynn Burton, R. D. Burton | Comments Off

Using Different Palette Approaches to Create Emotion

Wassily Kandinsky: "Composition Vii" (1913)

In visual perception a color is almost never seen as it really is–as it physically is…if one says red and there are fifty people listening, it can be expected that there will be fifty reds in their minds~Joseph Albers

Colors and the light that affects them creates such a wonderful but complex world. An artist must select how he/she will use them in relationship to the painting they are attempting.

How should you put the colors together to create the emotion you wish to accomplish? Should you mostly use an open palette drawing from a full range of colors such as Kandinsky’s, Composition Vll, or the selected range of opposite colors used by Lynn Burton in his painting, Parrots? They both use brilliant hues with high chroma to create their attraction.

Artist change in their style, technique and use of color as often as they are inspired to do so. They usually are always trying to create an emotion or mood. Sometimes they fall back on the one true purpose of a painting in the first place and that is to entertain.

Some artist use an open palette with a full range of colors, while others use a very limited palette. Some will make whatever they prefer a habit and stick with it, while others will experiment around and use whatever they feel comfortable with allowing the painting itself to dictate the palette chosen.

Of course, if their goal is harmony, a very limited palette should be used as in the painting of Pablo Picasso’s, A Woman in White, pictured below. Picasso used hues of blues and reds in values so light that they approached white.

There are different emotional impacts created with the use of the different palette approaches. A more open palette tends to be busy and exciting, especially when the colors are at or near saturation. A more limited palette creates a more subdued and tranquil emotion.

Posted in Artist, color, Paintings | Tagged art information, artist, Lynn Burton, Pablo Picasso, painting, palette, Wassily Kandinsky | Comments Off

Graphite Pencil Drawing is Much Easier Than Silverpoint

Forget the luxuries of today as versus those of the past, but when it comes to art, we all have to feel blessed by whoever decided to take a soft form of carbon and mix it with clay, bake it in a kiln, encase it in wood or some other holder and call it a pencil. Although, it is commonplace now, it was not widely used in drawing until the end of the eighteenth century, when the technique for varying the hardness of graphite were developed.

Jean Baptiste Camille Corot: Civita Castellano (1826) Graphite pencil on beige paper

An artist can use many grades of graphite for their drawing to create a range of values. In the drawing, Civit`a Castellana, Carot used softer grades of graphite for the darker values, and relied on parallel lines of hatching for the lighter colors.

The drawing is in the Louvre in Paris. Don’t forget, for the time being, I’m giving away, in free drawing, the book, The Louvre–All The Paintings. When you enter the free drawing, you can sign up to receive my newsletter.

Before the graphite pencil was used, of course, charcoal was used for drawing. But another favorite of many artists was

Silverpoint. These were drawings made with hard, finely pointed rods of silver in a holder and were popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Roger van der Weyden, Head of the Virgin (1455) Silverpoint

The process to draw with Silverpoint is interesting and at times I think I might want to try it…but, no.

The paper was usually coated with an opaque white pigment or rabbit skin glue and bone dust to create an abrasive surface enough to scrape off minute grains of silver. Although the lines are first silver, they oxidize to a dark and dull hue. Shadows and textures were built up using parallel lines.

At the right is a photograph of Roger Van der Weyden’s, Head of the Virgin which is on display in the Louvre, Paris.

Again, thank goodness for all the technology mankind has discovered to make something as simple as the graphite pencil.

I use them almost exclusively for my full-size sketches for my paintings. Below is a detail portion of my sketch of the painting I am working on at the moment. If you have been following my blogs you will know…yes…the “Old Woodie.”

Detail pencil sketch of the "Old Woodie"

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Properly Portrayed Shadows Define Value and Form

The contrast of dark values against light ones creates the illusion of three-dimensionality. This is needed to portray believable forms.

Often, nature will present the artist with conflicting light sources that can destroy the illusion of form. Random spots of light and shade can break up shapes and make them difficult to perceive. When this occurs, use the artistic license giving to all of us with pen, pencil, or brush in hand and choose only one distinct light source.

When artist work in nature’s natural light rather than controlled light they often make changes in the hues and values in an effort to portray their painting more convincing and understandable to the viewer.

The painting above presented these problems to me when and I painted it and I had to take artistic license to make it believable. Although the waning sun had not yet set and there was plenty of light shining at an angle on the left side of the painting, for some reason a bright light was shining on the porch from the right side and affected the shadows and did not make them appear realistic. In other words there was a controlled light source coming where it would be hard to explain unless I chose to paint the source of the controlled light, which I elected not to because of the composition.

The shadows that appear on and around a form is important to the rendering and portraying of that form. In the detail to the right of the hubcap and tire is an example of what I mean. Shadows identify what type of form you are looking at.

The shadow angled to the left and below the hubcap as it works its way in and out of the inset wheel rim lets you know their is natural sunlight shining down at around one o’clock in the afternoon. It also lets you know the hubcap sticks out.

Posted in Light and Shadow, Value and Form | Tagged art information, artist, Old Woodie, painting, Shadow and Light, Value and Form | Comments Off

Working in Details and Shadows on the Old Woodie

For those that have been following my blogs, you know I have spent the past three months working on a painting I call the “Old Woodie.” Before beginning to paint, I did several thumbnail sketches and then drew the painting full scale 24″X36″.

It all began with an old black and white photograph taken back in 1949 or 50 of my father pumping gasoline into our family woodpanel framed 1946 Ford.

Segment of the "Old Woodie" painting by R.D.Burton

The good news is that the painting will soon be finished. Of course, I have not painted on it except sporadically while doing other things, but it is reaching the stage of almost getting there.

My challenge this weekend was getting the tire, hubcap and shadows (especially beneath the car) as realistic as possible. I had no reference to colors since the photograph and all my drawings were in black and white.

The picture was taken in Southeast New Mexico where the ground was sand and the scenery was sand and flat. I elected an opposite color to the sand for the shadow beneath the panel truck because the photo showed it to be very dark.

Segment of pencil sketch of the "Old Woodie"Segment of the "Old Woodie" by R.D.Burton

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