Author: Tony O'Regan

Girl with a Pearl – Studying from the Masters

Ruskin said something like “You haven’t really seen a thing until you have drawn it”.  Very true. I sometimes do sketches from the masters. Here is my sketch from Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earing.  No originality here on my part, but doing an accurate sketch of this sort of subject brings one to learn and understand much more deeply than merely viewing the image. You notice a lot more, such as the overall structure, the skew in the lips, the eye covered partly by the nose, the graphic of the eyes, the modeling of the eye socket bone,  the subtlety of the eyebrows, the open spaces between the marks. I don’t mind saying it took quite a while to get it this far – but worth it as a learning exercise.

A Composition Technique

Composition is, of course, an important skill to develop. Many books have been written on the subject. DaVinci is reported to have recommended that young painters look at mold stains on the walls and try to see landscapes. This is sometimes referred to as ‘forced’ or re-purposed composition. Henry Rankin Poore wrote on it in the 1800’s and is worth looking up.

The example here begins with a random picture of flowers. This is analyzed by gestural sketch. Next, look at the gestural study until you imagine a completely different subject image based on the  original compositional layout. This seems a bit forced at the start, but it becomes easier and quite enjoyable as you do it more often.  In this case one can see ‘a race between two cyclists watched by spectators.‘

 

ERASER – ISM , or in this case SCRAPER – ISM, paintings by Dianne Longson

We have had a lot of fun doing paintings by scraping out. With Acrylics we use a white vinyl eraser ( preparing the surface by under-painting with titanium white). With Watercolors we use a cut up credit card) preparing the surface by under-painting with gum arabic before painting). Tony O’


Hi Tony, you may recall I painted a successful Aspen grove with watercolour and gum Arabic as taught by you.
I came across these grasses lit by the sun and thought this subject worked well too.
Do I need to do some more touch up painting on the grasses that I made with a credit card? It was such fun doing.
Happy St Paddy’s Day to you from one of your followers.
Best, Dianne Longson
On Sun, 18 Mar 2018 11:51:27 -0700, Dianne Longson wrote: Thanks so much for the feedback. Of course, you may post it on your website with my full name. I am on Instagram(paintings only) as: dblongsonartist. My photography website needs to be updated to include paintings so not relevant at the moment. FYI – www.diannelongsonphotography.com Your encouragement means a lot. Stay well, Dianne

Ocean Wave Watercolor Shadbolt TAS Painting Day 8 Final 1 Of 1-1 {Mar 7 2018}

This is a demo I did at the Shadbolt Center at “Tony’s Art School” today. I still have to do the finishing detail touches,

Magic Windows

I regard the Ten Ways of Seeing and Drawing that I often refer to as Magic Windows: Many of them can give a view of something that we don’t, or can’t, ordinarily see through our continually ageing, dusty ‘window pane’ eyes. Space Drawing and Blind Contour Drawing are especially ‘magic’.

Picasso is reported to have said: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Teaching and Demonstrating

Teaching and Demonstrating

August 5th, 2018
Opus, Granville Island

After graduating from art school (where no one demonstrated anything – no kidding!)  I took some drawing and painting classes with Canadian Painter (and War Artist) Sam Black. He was an awesome teacher.  In fact he won the Governor General’s Award for Teaching. At the center of his teaching method was the ‘demo’ . He had clear concepts – He could articulate and demonstrate them – he was fearless!

I decided THAT was worth doing and I have endeavored to emulate Sam for all my career. Here are some of my in-class demonstration pieces. The foundation for me is perspective drawing.

I will be giving a Demonstration on this subject at Opus Framing and Artist’s Materials on Granville Island in Vancouver, Sunday August 5 – this coming summer – 2018.

The focus will be travel-related images. Not so much about nostalgia for far away  places, but about the wonderful, often unfamiliar, forms you can encounter in places that grew over time and in different cultures – Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, and elsewhere.

Drawing – Winter 2018

The Shadbolt (Deer Lake, Burnaby ) likes to call this program: “Tony’s Art School”

Drawing

8 Wednesday Mornings
January 17th to March 7th, 2018
10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Drawing with dry media and with pen and ink. This course will concentrate on perspective, drawing line, form and space, gesture, composition, shade and shadow.

Learn to use perspective and other techniques to draw buildings, landscape, vegetation, still-life, people and boats. Totally new projects each time the course runs, so take or retake this course to begin or refresh your skills.

This course is perfect for people who want to supplement their painting skills with some technical abilities and for people who just want to draw. Basic through intermediate.

All levels welcome.

Painting  – 8 Wednesday Afternoons, January 17th to March 7th, 2018, 1:30 – 4:00

The course will use both watercolour and/or acrylics. Choose one or try both. Everything is demonstrated and taught step-by step:

Part One –  will focus on painting projects that emphasize colour , tonality and design. Those with painting experience may use any preferred water-based medium (watercolour or acrylics). Those with little or no experience may prefer acrylics to begin with.

Part Two – will focus a little more on watercolour projects, though, if people prefer, they can continue with acrylics.  We will work on paintings emphasizing form and space, through colour, light and shadow.

We will paint still-life, villages, landscapes, mountains, lakes and streams. Totally new projects are explored each time the course runs, so take or retake this course to begin or refresh your skills. All levels are welcome.

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