Okay. Yes, my posts have been more than sparse for the last month or so, and with good reason. I am halfway finished with a large commission, which I cannot, for various reasons, comment on in detail until its completion. Still, I feel I have been neglecting my few regular visitors. I wrote a brief teaser some time ago suggesting that I might begin a new segment on the blog to discuss some of my favorite painters/paintings both past and present. Well, this seems like a good time to begin.

A few brief introductory comments: First: I haven’t settled on a title for this new segment, so for the time being it will be somewhat enigmatic. I will endeavor to address this issue as quickly as possible, specifically, once I have a feel for the direction the discussion is taking. Second: I am NOT an Art historian either by education or by way of casual reading beyond the occasional, incomplete skimming I may do concerning artists whose work I enjoy. All comments I may offer concerning the work of any other artist living or dead (as the lawyers in Hollywood are so fond of saying) is completely my own opinion and should not be considered as anything beyond that. Third, I reserve the right to occasionally and at my whim recant, reverse or reorder any comments, comparisons or rankings I may give, offer or impose on other artist’s work…though I promise that if I do so I will have a good reason. All of that said, I will proceed.

I will start with one of my first real heroes of realist painting…a Pre-Raphaelite/Victorian Romantic painter: John Everett Millais.

Millais first came to my attention through Damon Denys, a fellow Classical Realist painter (also an actual Art Historian) and very good friend who I met at Utah State University. I won’t delve into extreme detail at this point about Millais as quick Google search will fill in any historical blanks, but instead will offer two of my favorites of his paintings and briefly discuss why. Incidentally, half the point of this entire venture is to spark discussion…so please hit the comment link at the end of the post and add your two cents.

First, ‘The Order of Release’:

This is a small image, used without explicit permission. I HIGHLY recommend tracking down a good image or, if you have the means, viewing the original which, based on the two other Millais paintings, must be spectacular. What originally attracted me to Millais’ work was his skill with a brush, his attention to detail (particularly textures…do you even doubt for a second that the central figure’s jacket is wool?), and his use of posture and body language in his compositions. In this painting, a soldier’s wife has secured papers for his release from prison, possibly at very high cost to her own virtue. Regardless of the theme and your personal estimation of it, the technical skill of the rendering is absolutely beyond reproach (check out the dog’s fur), as is the body language of the figures. The soldier is broken, the woman steeled to all emotion and the guard interested only in the details of the letter containing his orders…impervious to the plight of the other three people in the painting. Millais, and several of his Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood contemporaries, used a technique involving painting into a coat of wet white oil color with pure pigments…a painstakingly tedious process…and were adamant about the importance of painting from life…especially where issues of lighting and color were concerned. Millais was so accurate in his detail that there are stories of his background foliage being used in botanical education. Compositionally, I like that the sense of what is happening is relatively independent of a knowledge of specific events. I also like the subtle way that the figures interact with each other to add to the narrative. For an even more well executed example of this compositional tool:

‘The Huguenot’ Also by Millais.

Again, small image…low res. Seek out a better one.

Here is a really complex yet subtle composition. Body language and posture is everything, though a little background information is required to really appreciate the situation. The young man is a Hugenaught…firm in his beliefs though they threaten his life. The white scarf his lover is attempting to tie around his arm would signify his acquiescence with the opposing ideology and spare his life. He simultaneously lovingly comforts her while physically preventing her from tying the scarf. An idea worth dying for even in the face of love. Complex indeed. And again, regardless of your appreciation of the subject or theme, the execution is beyond admirable. One pose accomplishes the whole thing. In a good image the attention to detail and technical skill would be so apparent as to require no comment.

Millais was something of a child prodigy. There are accounts of him sort of ridiculing accomplished older artists by sketching the same subjects as they with far superior skill while still quite young himself. He was supporting his entire family in some luxury at a very young age (though at a time when Artists were treated somewhat like movie stars are today) through his painting. while all of his work is for the most part technically spectacular, unfortunately only his early work is thematically interesting, while later works tend to be genre pieces, studies, portraits of various wealthy families or religious in nature.

So check out the works of John Everett Millais and his fellow Pre-Raphaelites and send in your thoughts, comments, and observations. Oh yes, and drawings for the September Guest Sketchbook which I will be posting Tuesday of next week (the 4th). In the mean time, I will be working to finish this commission, and considering which artist/artwork to highlight next.

In spite of the busy nature of summer, I have received some very fine submissions for this month’s GS.

First, four new drawings by Erik Widqvist, hands down my most prolific participant.

This is a self portrait in purple and gold pencil on red paper. It’s the classic look-in-the-mirror approach, highly popular with all artists over the past few centuries. The headphones, of course, date the piece as more recent than the 1807 ‘Portrait of the Artist in Earmuffs’ in which there are no cords.

Another nice portrait. This one and the self-portrait above were done in 30 minutes.

A 45 minute drawing. I think the strong linear quality of Erik’s quick work is really interesting. This sketch in particular shows how he progresses through different levels of detail.

Finally, a 15 minute study of ‘Anna’ checking a light meter. I think this may be the same model as in Erik’s second sketch.

Next is a very quickly done drawing by David Celestino.

There were several others simmilar to this one on the page that I couldn’t get onto my scanner.

These next few drawings were sent in by an old friend of mine from high school, Justin Kunz. I believe he is currently working as a Background Artist for the ‘World of Warcraft’ computer game development team.

The above drawing has a really nice, classical rendering feel to it.

If I understand correctly, all three of these sketches were drawn from memory.  I have no idea how long these things take Justin to whip out, but as he is a working professional artist, he doesn’t qualify for my bribery scheme anyway.  I really appreciate him sending them in, however, and hopefully I can get a few more for future GS editions.  You can see more of Justin’s work at www.justinkunz.com.

One last sketch. This one is not technically a ‘Guest’ entry, but between moving and the commission, it has been so long since I posted to the Sketchbook that it almost qualifies.

This is a drawing I did of my cousin and his finance for her birthday. They were married Saturday.

Thanks to all of this month’s contributors and as Bob Ross would have said, Happy Sketching.

This months Guest Sketchbook will be posted on Monday…so send in your sketches.