3.02.2008

thought... processing

Over the last couple of days I've become very interested in minimalistic compositions with dense areas of detail or bright color. It's too tempting to use what little money I have at the moment on expensive books so google image search will have to do....

An artist that has peaked my interest that I've always looked at and known about but never really examined is Toulouse Latrec. There's no way I can compare to this guy, ever, but I feel there's a lot I can learn from the economy of line and shape employed in his pieces. Must buy book of prints. I love his compositions and how much he can say with a simple shape or a few select colors! His paintings are really where it's at for me though. It seems like the same ideology behind his prints is in his paintings yet he manages to keep the movement contained or barely contained within his figures. A still moment of his may as well be exploding with life. Yes, I'm really just that entranced.





Another artist is Hokusai, but I do own a book by him so finding images to study and dissect won't be so difficult. I enjoy the decorative and balanced compositions in Hokusai's work and I can literally spend hours just picking apart the lines he chose and the shapes of black he left in his work. I wish I could get my hands on a good Hiroshige and Yoshitoshi book so I could compare. I'd love to figure out what really worked for them, I'd like my work to be as memorable some day.... (wishful thinking ha)

Below are a few bad drawings and a terrible portrait of John Hendrix.






2 comments:

John Hendrix said...

Hey, sharp looking guy in those drawings.
Great sketchbook pages!

Ray Jones said...

! John Hendrix himself! Thank you sir, much appreciated!