Jona8than Green Art and Other Things

I have recently gotten some instructional videos for a variety of subjects. Mostly for woodworking like cutting dovetails, planing wood, furniture making, etc. Also one on Painting by Daniel Greene.

Daniel Greene is a pastel and oil painter in America. I have known about his work for a while from some art magazines. Very realistic academic painting, mostly portraiture. I like the work for what it is, and definitely think he is a proficient painter.

Funny enough I used to scorn these videos years ago. Thought they are overcharging and just aren't that useful to the beginner. Most beginners will get one expecting to watch the videos and get instant results. They are fairly expensive as well. They can be quite helpful in some cases and I feel one can use them to good effect. Especially if one has had some art training and can process the information the way they want to.

So why did I get this video?

I want to get back in to painting. I did a fair bit of painting in art school but have yet to do any painting since leaving school. Not a big deal as I have been doing my drawings and printmaking, achieving some success with it. There are some things I am unable to achieve with intaglio, I could possibly do it with lithography-but I don't like to suffer.

I learned a lot about painting in Grenfell, good instructors. The type of painting was classified as modern, perhaps under the term of alla prima. I would of liked to learn some more traditional types, more academic painting. It just didn't happen.

Not that I want to be creating highly realistic or academic paintings, but rather I want to use some of these techniques. I really enjoy the paintings of Ian Francis. British artist, very interesting paintings. Interplay between abstraction and figurative work. I feel my work is realistic and flirts with semi abstract elements in my work. I want to push this but I need to hone both – figurative and abstract.

Thus the video. Then of course, the practice.

I have always been caught between dualities. I like very minimal architeture and design but also very cluttered vernacular Newfoundland architecture, sleek fashion but then also plaid. I want an old wooden desk and only my Mac on it. Instead of fighting these dualities I figure I should stride both of them.

Going to try this painting video out. I'll post whatever results I create here later on.

The woodworking videos I have watched already, just waiting on getting a new saw and as well as a space to start attempting some dovetails.

Jonathan Green was born two weeks late and seeing out of only one eye. A unique start to the world and this essay; such beginnings set the mood, setting, context, etc. of the essay. Or sometimes it is just an interesting detail.

Jonathan’s art consists of drawing, paintings, and printmaking. If asked that to describe my materials in one word, the word would be "simple". The materials are chosen for their simplicity, and the small sensuality that I enjoy in them.

My drawings are a variety of media on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite or Prismacolour markers for they are a high quality marker that allow me to work tonally. Charcoal is never forgotten though, the mat black is used sparingly. I usually stick to black or grey tones, rarely any colour used in my drawing.

The support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but I do go through a range. I prefer smooth paper; I find it works best with my drawing methods in graphite and marker, and usually whites, sometimes BFK cream or grey if feeling especially jolly.

The Skull drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil; whereas my Rocket [Rocket just for state of reference] drawings are marker, pen, and graphite on paper and the sizes of these vary.

The paintings are on stretched canvas usually, and sometimes wood. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. Oil paint is what I use, with other media sometimes used like pencil, oil stick, and spray paint. I would not call myself a mixed media painter though, does not seem a need to make that distinction. The palette range is very different than my drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. I am unsure of the distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range as of yet.

The painting start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid does not hold any appeal to me. I would consider that I paint very directly, very confidently

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to me, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ to me too much from my drawings.

My research methods are very intuitive and wide arcing, covering a lot of ground. The library and the internet are my prime sources, for imagery and the information on the subject matter. I research a lot of different artists and different periods of art history, trying to get an understanding of the artist through biography, critical essays, and of course, their work. From there I will research other artists of the genre, tracing their influences, contemporary thought of the day, etc. Contemporary culture plays a role in my art as well, so magazines and the internet are sources for information.

It is hard to narrow down the number of artists that have influenced me over the years, and that currently influence me; it is kind of like the Paris run way. Who is good for this season? There are always the ones that stay from year to year, the classics perhaps, the ones that have had the greatest impact on my upbringing. So my short list would be:

Alberto Giacometti
Francisco Goya
Raymond Pettibon
Ed Pein
Royal Art Lodge/ Marcel Dzama
Wayne Thiebaud
Wim Delvoyle

So it follows from here to literate how these artists influence my art making, and in particular, this semester’s body of work.

The week has been an interesting one, busy and distractions galore.

I have been painting, drawing, reading, and obviously not writing...

Thursday I was sitting in Brewed Awakening with Jordan, just after he got off work and I spent money on unnecessary things. Enjoying a hot chocolate [ best hot chocolate in Newfoundland is found there] and perusing a Taschen "Art Now" book. In it the artist Peter Doig is featured; a Scottish/Canadian/Trindad artist, who is known for this interesting landscapes. I am not a huge fan of his work, they don't do it for me, or at least the reproductions don't.

He did say this "I don't think of my paintings as being at all realistic. I think of them as being derived more from within the head than from what's out there in front of you."

It is not one of those wonderful epigrams that can be debated endlessly, but struck a chord with me, for obviously my paintings have a sense of reality to them, but they are definitely more from my head. I will say they are not surrealist, but rather constructed to fit certain subject matter and formal considerations.

I think at times, or rather, in honesty the majority of the time, terribly conscious of the subject matter. In that I think about what I am painting, what is is suppose to be, suppose to look like, I never get to the surface, to just the surface. Lucien Freud said "Mustn't be indulged to the subject matter. I'm so conscious that that is a recipe for bad art"

I think from that I understand why my drawings are seen as more confident, more stronger than my other work. In my drawings, the imagery matters to me, but doesn't control the drawings. The drawings is just done, to be a good drawing. I use the line more easily, tones, everything is just done.

Painting seems different for some reason. Despite my experience with painting, I can not get the same execution of my drawings in it. There is some block there. I have been changing my painting process more, to mixing up large quantities of paint, working more wet on wet, using paint stick, etc. Something just isn't clicking yet. Maybe I have to bust out a lot more paintings. Smaller perhaps, and lots of them?

It is an interesting question to ask what are your influences in art, it is a question asked I suppose to find out more about your art through comparison of your influences. Of course, your influences change over time, as your range of other artists and their works expand. When writing about ones influences, one always mentions the artists that have had a positive influence on your art. Do not the art that you hate also make an influence on you? As in "I hope to never make something like that". I wonder if that does not have the biggest effect on me, for there is a lot of crap out there I don't want to replicate.

I have been painting over the past few days, trying to tune up the current painting. Just trying to up the torque and horsepower out of it, along with some custom details. It has a low rumble now, and I would put it in a mid range category, if I can continue this metaphor/simile. Its not a cruiser or racer, still working on ideas for those. A nice Lamborghini or Aston Martin level of painting would be nice.

I have been reading, the new GQ: Gentleman's Quarterly, and browsing a few art books. Suppose to be reading Hegel and Kant...

Gessoed some cardboard tubes tonight, in prep for a possible sculpture attempt. Debating the current merits of that; as in whether it is relevant or worth the time, will I be ate alive for them, etc.

Also hope to start my big drawing I had planned soon as well. The big sheet of paper isn't as intimidating as one thinks. Have had many people come and ask me where I got it, so I wonder if there will be some other big drawings soon at the college. Trendsetter perhaps?

Only another four weeks left...doesn't seem enough time really.

To describe my materials in one word, the word would be "simple". The materials are chosen for their simplicity, and the small sensuality that I enjoy in them.

My drawings are graphite or charcoal on paper; usually graphite for the smoothness of the line, and the shine of the graphite. Charcoal is never forgotten though, the mat black is used sparingly. I always stick to black or grey tones, there is no colour in my media choice. The support has so far always been paper, a few in particular, but I do go through a range. I prefer smooth paper, I find it works best with my adding and subtracting, and usually whites, sometimes BFK cream or grey if feeling especially jolly. That is the extent though, I like the purity of black marks on white. The starkness perhaps.
The drawings are usually large, least a full sheet of paper, sometimes multiple sheets connected, or a large sheet; the expanse of space is enjoyed. I work in an additive/subtractive method, of using the eraser as a drawing tool as much as the pencil.

The paintings are on stretched canvas, though wood is not ruled out. Gessoed, sanded, and toned. Oil paint is what I use, with other media sometimes used like pencil, oil stick, spray paint. I would not call myself a mixed media painter though, does not seem a need to make that distinction. The palette range is very different than my drawings, the palette seems endless, pastel to neon to earths and darks. I am unsure of the distinction between the drawings and painting in terms of colour range as of yet.
The painting do start off usually as a sketch, drawn and redrawn till it feels right compositionally. Then it is drawn on the canvas, freehand, the grid doe not hold any appeal to me. Then light washes, undercoats and darks are applied, sometimes glazed, usually alla prima; due to time constraints.I have been introducing other mark making ways in to my painting, but still always feels like an oil painting to me.

The intaglio etchings are of an average size to myself, though some may consider them large. They are similar to the drawing in that there is an absence of colour, and the support is white, again that starkness. Created either on zinc or copper plate, not a big difference to me except in some technical factors.
They are created using the full range of intaglio techniques, and while printmaking is definitely more process based, they do not differ to me too much from my drawings. They seem of the same sort.

The subject matter, sources and influence, need some more time to digest.
Write some more later.