Even in Front of Nature One Must Compose.

Nearly all of my work begins with some type of preliminary sketch, either a thumbnail drawing in a sketchbook or oil study in my Pochade Box. Lately I have been spending a great deal of time sketching, gathering information outdoors and drawing from my imagination. Creating small rough abstract sketches to work out composition and design elements. 

Mainly I am using pen and ink with watercolor. I like the ink because you don’t fiddle with it as much as say a pencil sketch, you just have to lay it down with some speed and confidence. It is very permanent mark making and you simply/humbly live with what you put down and move along. Over that I wash in some color, do some crosshatching and try to capture the value and mass pattern. I call them my scribbles; and that is what they are, quick notations of design ideas based on nature.

They are exercises in capturing what I see in front of me from direct observation (the Art of Seeing) but also it is about the simple pleasure of drawing.

I look for a strong arrangement of dark and light patterns, the Japanese use the word Notan which means the "dark-light" harmony.  But a notan is also as much about shape/form, positive/negative, figure/ground relationships. It is why it is such a strong abstract design tool. I like to think of it as being the ying-yang of composition. Ever walk into a gallery full of art and be instantly attracted to a particular piece, drawn to it from across the room? Our eyes are drawn to the strong arrangements of shapes and patterns. As you learn to use this design tool you will recognize it in paintings and drawings of master artists.

Slow down mentally and take a long look at your subject, carefully choose the center of interest or theme of the piece, what it is about, what has drawn you to this motif and design outwards from that point. Simplify and edit down the elements by making them subordinate to that central idea. That is the key to good composition.

It is fun working out compositions and concepts, playing with the elements and ideas based on the anatomy of the landscape. Let them evolve and "brainstorm" many studies, before you know it you will have sketchbooks full of Composition Thumbnails which are a library of knowledge and imagination to work from.

“Even in front of nature one must compose.” ~ Edgar Degas

Color Studies:

Last Light, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett

Over the Horizon, oil on panel, 8 x 10 in, Jim Serrett

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Links:

Notan is a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark as they are placed next to the other in art and imagery.

Ying and Yang

More Travel Sketches

One of the things I like most about a pocket sketchbook is that, it's such a convenient way to explore the world through drawing. To use our observational skills and record ideas.

In this small format I like to make quick sketches and simplify, virtually creating thumbnail drawings where I filter what I need to leave out and leave in to convey the subject.

Watercolors are a different way of thinking for me then oils, they are much more spontaneous and erratic. I see painting with watercolor as a type of controlled disaster, often you just have to let it do what it wants, but then that is part of the fun.

I like to think of it as a drawing adventure and not get too overcritical about them. Rather, to look at it as developing your vision and sit back and enjoy the process. In the end, everything you put in a sketchbook is important because there are no mistakes, only lessons.

When you create a quick gesture sketch that has nice expressive and loose strokes which convey a sense of place, well that’s the big picture and what really matters.

“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” - Linus Pauling

Sketches are in a Moleskine Watercolor Notebook (3.5 x 5.5 inch)

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Palapa Party !

I’ve got to tell you, there is no better way to boycott winter than to find a little patch of sand along the Caribbean Sea to occupy and just park it. Watch the sunrise, watch the sunset, cold cerveza and do it all again. Palapa party!

Punta Nizuc Reef Cancun Mexico - I could sit there (or lounge) all day and fill my Moleskine journals with sketches and never run out of things to draw or paint. I have said this a thousand times, so it does seem redundant, but the sea along the Caribbean in Cancun is one of the most beautiful in the world, just amazing. I could paint it forever, exploring and studying the colors, all the deep violets and endless cerulean blues.

There is no better way to recharge than fresh air and fresh scenery. For me to just scribble and doodle in a sketchbook in such a serene place, that is the best of all worlds. I carried a couple of sketchbooks, a 3.5x5.5-inch pocket Moleskine, a 5.5x8.5-inch Strathmore Watercolor Journal and a small watercolor pad. I had my old Winsor & Newton Field Box Set but used mostly a Lukas 1862 Artists Watercolors set, it had a color palette that seemed perfect for the sea and sky. I used a Rotring art pen loaded with Noddlers ink, both of which I really enjoyed drawing with. And of course a couple of Pitt Pens and a clutch pencil.

Of course we had to find Mayan ruins to explore and we snorkeled until my lips cracked. I think my wife is really a mermaid and swims like a fish. What I really appreciate is her patience with me when I am sketching on location, especially in El Rey where she had to combat the giant iguanas.

Just another beautiful sunrise in paradise. 

Royal Resort - Royal Islander, Cancun Mexico

El Rey Ruins (Zona Arqueologica El Rey)

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Nature speaks in color, sometimes it is a whisper, sometimes a shout.

Nature speaks in color, sometimes it is a whisper, sometimes a shout. From the hints of earth tones in early autumn to the dramatic sky of a winter sunset she provides endless designs to study. The elements of earth, sky, water are in a constant state of flux but nature always keeps them in harmony.

Early Autumn on the Lake oil 5 x 7 inch Pochade

Early Winter on the Lake oil 5 x 7 inch Pochade

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim 

Website - jimserrett.com 
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com 
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings

Why We Should Draw More (and Photograph Less) or On the Importance of Drawing

Sketching is about thinking visually. I have always believe it to be the path to a higher conscience of the world and should be part of any education. All creative endeavors requires the ability to think visually, whatever the occupation or field of interest one has, drawing/sketching can help understand complex concepts simply. 

From conceptualizing designs and ideas to just doodling, there is great freedom in sketching. A piece of paper, a pencil and you, can be a transformational experience. It is a connection with life that forms an immediate and intimate dialogue with the subject. And yet sketching does not have be anything more than engaging our minds in play and fantasy, where we can enjoy the sheer pleasure drawing brings to our psyche.

A while back my wife and I visited Alaska, a great adventure with old friends now a much cherished memory. One of the highlights was the trip to Denali National Park. After an amazing journey through the park we stopped at the Eielson Visitor Center Denali that has a more than spectacular view of the mountain. It was pointed out to us by people from the area (sourdoughs) that this was an unusually clear day for viewing Mt. Denali. One gentleman telling me he has lived there for twenty years and never saw the Mountain so clearly. So as my compadres hiked around the area I settled down in an isolated corner of the centers patio and began sketching this amazing vista before me.

As I sat there in my little sketch spot one person after another stepped up to the ledge of the patio and shot a picture with a cell phone or camera. I sat there for about twenty minutes and not one person that walked up and snap a pic stood there for more than a minute. I did get a lot of sideway glazes as if to see what I was doing or if I had fallen down or something worse. I wondered then if any of these people actually saw this magical scene. Quickly snapping away, it was kind of as if that they had proof they were there but really they were not. Funny how the sightseers out snapping pics inspires me to paint outside more. Technology is good at giving us fast information but not at telling us what important and significant.

 With the sketch I feel an immediate dialogue with the subject and a personal interaction. I feel that with every drawing I learn something about the thing in front of me. I have to think about not just how I am going to draw this thing but how it fits together. There is so much to contemplate and consider. Drawing enables us to see more of the world around us and preserving those experiences this way makes them so much richer.

The video above from The School of life caught my eye and does a nice job of illustrating the points I am attempting to make. Have a look.

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim

Website - jimserrett.com
Studio Blog - jimserrettstudio.com
Landscape Blog - Pochade Box Paintings


Links:

The Eielson Visitor Center 

The School of Life

Sunsets and Training the Visual Memory

The dynamic horizon at sunrise or sunset is the hardest to capture, you have either to chase the light with the brush or prepare yourself for the event. My approach has been both, to do pencil sketches and color studies on location, to use them, and my memory of the experience to create/finish pieces in the studio. The library of information I gather from observation helps me understand what I am seeing and hopefully interpret it in a meaningful way.  As I remember and conceptualize the landscape I attempt to make informed decisions, based on my observed details and the nuances of nature. However I try to be as truthful to the experience as possible, to keep in my mind’s eye that which inspired me in the first place. 

Waxing philosophical, I believe our brains are conscious of almost every experience in our life and every encounter we have, and that stored among those billions of neurons in the brain are endless images and impressions. That it is not only possible to train ones visual memory but a necessity for the artist to do so. Up until maybe the later part of the nineteenth century memory exercises of some type were part of most academic art educations. If it be as simple as practicing blind contour drawing or copying prints of sculptures as in the Beaux-Arts tradition. They recognized the importance of a highly trained visual memory as a skill an artist used in companionship with the direct study of nature. 

There are some fascinating books floating around on the subject. TheTraining of the Memory in Art and the Education of the Artist by HoraceLecoq de Boisbaudran is an interesting read and more current Memory Training for Painters by Richard Lack is well worth downloading. Also a book I have mention several times on my blogs, and on my highly recommended reading list, Harold Speed "The Practice and Science of Drawing" 1913. This is a link to his chapter The Visual Memory.  “Let us assume that you have found a subject that moves you and that, being too fleeting to draw on the spot, you wish to commit to memory. Drink a full enjoyment of it, let it soak in, for the recollection of this will be of the utmost use to you afterwards in guiding your memory-drawing.”  Page 262 Harold Speed

I see memory training as another tool in my tool box helping me interpret what I see in front of me.

Technically I've been able to slowly build glazes of color to explore those atmospheric effects I am after and was the initial inspiration.

I love this quote by Edgar Degas on the subject, “If I were to open an academy I would have a five story building. The model would pose on the ground floor with the first year students. The most advanced students would work on the fifth floor." I can imagine the advanced students dashing up and down flights of stair as they study the model and dart back to their easels to make their marks.

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim

Images:

Jim Serrett, Lake Murphysboro Sunset, oil on panel 5 x 7 in

Jim Serrett, Perseids Sunset, oil on panel, 5 x 7 in

Graphite Sketch on toned paper. 

Sketchbook page

Links:

Memory Training For Painters by Richard Lack from the Classical Realism Quarterly 1990

Download pdf Here

The Training of the Memory in Art and the Education of the Artist

Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran – Author

Find it here on Internet Archive. Org

"The Practice and Science of Drawing" by Harold Speed

Available ebook here at Project Gutenberg

Information about:

Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran (1802-1897)

Harold Speed (1872-1957)

Richard F. Lack (1928-2009)

Beaux-Arts - École des Beaux-Arts

Lake Murphysboro State Park

Sketches Cedar Lake

Have been enjoying all of this mild weather but there is never a bad day for kayaking and painting on location. This sketch was done at Cedar lake, Illinois one of my favorite painting and paddling spots.

Cedar Lake, oil on panel, 8x10 in, © Jim Serrett

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Watercolor Color Palette - Sketchbook

Whenever I use color in a sketchbook I like to make a small color wheel and color chart to see just how the watercolor reacts and lays down on the paper. It is also a good review about basic color mixing that we tend to take for granted.  A color palette is the actual range of pigments used by an artist, learning how they behave when they are mixed together is essential. Studying color is a fundamental aspect of painting and to that end artist create color charts and color wheels.

Materials Links:

Moleskine Sketch Books   

Cotman Field Box

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim

Cancun Sketches

Cancun Souvenirs

Sketching on the beach in eighty degree sunshine, well; just pure heaven. Coming back to the states, one cold reality after another, one Arctic blast after another, Polar Vortex is the new word of the day. Lucky I have my Cancun memories and souvenirs to keep me warm.

It's easy to spend all day on the beach watching the waves. I spent much time just sketching and observing the dynamics of their action. There is a complexity to the energy in waves, add the play of light across them and they become one mesmerizing subject. Throw in a few cerveza, a nice lounger next to a palapa and stay all day…… Oh yea and sketch too…

Any meaningful work of art comes from observation and interpretation, which is ability to slow down and truly digest the beauty of nature around you and to express it visually in a personal way. Collecting memories, images and impressions with a sketchbook and watercolors can become inspiration and source material for later studio work. But if nothing else you end up with the best souvenirs.

Cancun Sunrise

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The Royal Resorts Cancun Mexico

The Official Royal Resorts Facebook

"...in Wildness is the preservation of the world." - Henry David Thoreau

Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Sketch of Mt. Denali from Eielson visitor center  

This month friends of ours in Alaska invited Linda and I up for a grand Alaska adventure. This was a truly unprecedented opportunity to see the real Alaska with good friends from a unique perspective, they had won the Denali Road Lottery. Each September the Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska hosts a four-day event called the "Road Lottery." During these four days, winners of the lottery drawing are given a rare day-long permit, allowing winners to drive personal vehicles the length of the 92-mile Denali Park Road. Routine travel in the park with private autos is prohibited and with exception of the Road Lottery visitors must use buses operated by a concessionaire to travel the park.

We started our grand Alaska adventure by visiting and hiking the Matanuska Glacier and jumping on the Denali Highway for a 135 mile journey along some of the most pristine and wild country anyone could image. Denali Highway is lightly traveled, mostly gravel road with a posted speed limit of 30 mph and is just a spectacular drive. Traveling this you get a real feel for the wildness and immensity of Alaska, and ending at Denali National Park you're treated to “the Great One” Mount Denali.

A place to remind you of the vastness and grandeur in nature and take you on a transcendent journey into the sublime.

Mount Denali photographed at Reflection Pond in the Wonder Lake

area within Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska (9/15/13). 

 "...in Wildness is the preservation of the world."

                                                                                                  --- Henry David Thoreau

Explore - Question - Learn - - Enjoy, Jim