Wednesday, January 16, 2008

COLOR IN THE MID-DAY SUN

We had fun looking at the way Frederic Remington saw vivid colors in the dark of night.

Here, on the other hand, is a different illustrator who looked at a bright mid-day scene and painted a study in gray:









An artist who feels the call to explore color will not be deterred by a dark night or a lack of electricity, just as an artist with access to all sorts of light may choose to disregard its potential for color and narrow his or her focus to black and white. Great artists often work from wherever fate placed them, without waiting for the perfect lighting or the right conditions:
Look under foot....The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world.
--John Burroughs
By the way-- those elegant studies in gray are details from the often ignored center of one of the most famous Norman Rockwell paintings.





10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recognized those table settings immediately! I did a photoshop contest where I was adding things to the table, like beer bottles and glasses and studied how the light was refracted onto the tablecloth through the glass and liquid.

I felt like I was desecrating something sacred to mess with such a famous piece of art.

David Apatoff said...

That's a great project, anonymous. Were the results posted anywhere? I'd love to see how it turned out!

Rick Hanson said...

hi david,

thanks for your efforts to show great art. i had seen your name as i was looking for bernie fuchs information. i'm an illustrator in minneapolis and i had the great fortune to attend the illustrators workshop on the monterey peninsula back in about 81. bernie's work has always blown me away and getting to meet and talk with him at that workshop is still a great memory for me. i have pictures of him with al parker and all the artists that were there. i'd love to have him see those after all these years. do you know how i can contact bernie to say thank you and send him some old photos. thank you david for your consideration and i apologize that this message is not on topic.

Anonymous said...

http://bmimedical.blogspot.com/2007/02/kfc-your-secret-parenting-weapon.html

Here's the piece I did, David. Someone found it somewhere and posted it on their blog! Cool!

Anonymous said...

Well, do a google image search for "xyling" and you'll see it.

David Apatoff said...

rh, thanks for writing. If you contact me at David.Apatoff@gmail.com, I can probably put you in touch with Bernie.

David Apatoff said...

Bravo. xyling! That's very funny. But was it also part of the contest to add cleavage to that poor old sainted grandmother?

Anonymous said...

Hi David,

It was "Redneck Thanksgiving" so the sagging bosom seemed to be a tasteless addition to her cigarette ashes falling in the food!

I'm so ashamed.

Anonymous said...

Wow...I wish I could say I recognized that setting as well. But, I am almost glad I didn't. It was such a great isolation, to see those subtle tones of gray/blue...wow.

Anonymous said...

Rockwell is my favorite naturalist painter. Your illustrations are too an excepcional work.