About Painting

desember 26, 2017

About Painting

What Henri Matisse told his students, his words have been passed to my ears via a paint instructor calle Harald Peterssen, and they were.

Matisse : The most important thing about the image, is its boundries . end quote .

Meaning its Format. Is it a square format or a rectangle ? This format is the basis for the composition . the format itslef, relates to the narrative of the image .

Leonardo da vinci Adoration of the Magi

I use only 3 colours + White . crimson Red, cobalt blue (due to excessive pricing, I dropped Cobalt blue and replaced it with Ultramarine. cobalt is 4X the price of other colours), Signal Yellow. titan or sink White. Harald Pettersen threw my colors, sap green and violet , and said, you do not need these colors, and laughed, for he knew a guy who sold colors and he asked, why do you produce colors called "sahara yellow", and the salesman replied, but dont you know we have to sell something .

Harald Pettersen then introduced us to GRAY colours . he said, dip your brush in RED, and make a dab on your canvas . then pick up Yellow and Blue and mix green in another dab onto your canvas, then mix these two dabs into gray, add some white . He did this with all the complimetary colors . Red Green, Yellow violet, blue orange . these makes perfect grays . He told me another thing and that was, you always paint with a flat brush TRANSVERSE of the form, so painting a light pole, you do not paint it with one long line, along the form, but several short strokes transverse of the shape .

The disease of the painter is solovent damage. Use NO turpentine, NO fancy glazes or anything other than Cooked Line seed oil. Van Gogh is said to have sucked on the brushes to get a sharp tip. Working in turpentine fumes, will, result in brain damage . You dont want to be brain damaged . And the fumes of toxic paint, has made the entire myth of the "crazy artist" . It is quite amazing that no OSHA has intervened in that area . Look at the labels, its certain death . Look out for your own health.

Brush treatment. Wash the brushes in ordinary hand soap. No turpentine . Then confine the brushes in a layer of handsoap, so it dries orderly for the evening. In the morning, rinse off soap with tap water.
Adding the Line seed, Cooked Line seed dries faster, 1-3 days. Coldpressed Line seed, longer drying time. Olive oil does never dries, 3-5 months. Spreading the pigments with transparent oil .

NO TURPENTINE and NO VARNISHES and NO WHITE SPIRIT . The fumes are very dangerous, and gives headaches .

1. Draft and drawing
2. Composition and Format

3. Transfere drawing from paper to canvas
4. First grounding layer . Eggshell or Signal yellow
5. Sepia ink line trace image on canvas
6. Define shades with Red oil paint . Red, Blue
7. White highlights and planes. Ghost layer . Bloom over the edges
8. Apply colours . 3 colours mix . Red, Blue, Yellow, White
9. Two colour mix + white
10. 1 colour + white

There is overdriven correlation between drawing and painting, for they are two separate tecniques . Drawing is Lines . Painting is Area . A brush stroke, has width . And must be planned, what stroke is under the other . You can only paint one place at a time . Spending good time on each subject is rewarding. Colors and contrast is always most dramatic in the foreground, and turns gray and fades dim into the horison .Yellow diminish first, into the background, mountains and hills turns more blue and white into the horison, but the sky is brighter . The sky can have some yellow in it, but there is usually a white band in the sky separating blue sky from yellow sky . Mixing red into the blue sky makes it heavy and rainy, rather red into the clouds for a gray violet . The sky is like a lamp, and always more brigntess than the earth, horison . Into the horizon, the valleys are light in color, collecting morning mist and the siluette of the trees, is dark . The strip of air just above the horison, is brighter than the sky dome above, no matter where the sun is in the sky, the air gradient is always lighter near the horison . Windows is usually the reflecting the same colour as the sky . Windows are added after the wall is painted . Find the optical pop of the complimentary colors . A yellow sun, gives violet shadows . It is the light source who determine the color of the shadow, not the object itself . Green light cast, is red shadow thrown. Have one brush with Orange, and another with Green . Both contain yellow . At some stage, use only colors, and no white . Preparing the perfect mix of pigment and oil onto the brush is a science. Also two colors can be loaded onto the brush, red on one side of the flat tip, and blue on the other. Or brown in the dense of the brush, then white on the tip . The strokes starts white, but the more you paint the darker the color becomes .

You can do all steps, while the paint still is wet, if you are expert. However I dont mind it drying, and picking it up later . Use wet paint to cover the planes, then a dry brush to smooth and soak up exess paint, create gradients with a clean brush. The more into the foreground, the more sharp are the contrast between light and shadow . Red is the preferred closest color to the observer . Blue is always behind red , but it doesnt look blue, it looks black. If the painting looks lifeless and tame, its too little Orange . Or lacking one color from the spectrum . Its possible to make small oil paintings on white paper, for smaller studies, but paper is useless for oil paint, it sucks up the oil . A painting captures a mood . When too many rules and tricks and tips, hinder your progress, throw those theories out the window. It takes great amount of time to proceed beyond amateur painting.

the canvas texture has dips and valleys, and can produce a two tone.

Here it is visible that he grounded the image in Yellow, and use Reds for the shadows .

A square format .

1. Draft and drawing . Will Eisner

Drawing with light and shadow .

Will Eisner : New York

Sy Barry : the Phantom

The Phantom is top of the line exercises, there you learn anatomy, hands, faces, european faces, african faces, men, woman, motorcycles, horses, wolves, exotic vegetation and architechture .

Learn from the masters, then learn to draw from nature . It will always be your own .

Human emotions resopond to issues concerning Love and Death . Eros and Thanatos .

For a theoretical painter, it would be noted the clock of day, and the month of the season. To give an indication of where the sun is on the sky, told to me by Tommi Kalervo Mäkelä, at art school in Finland . But usually its enough to define where the light source is. Where are the shadows, and where are the drop shadows . Like Edward Hopper .

3 point perspective 2b
Sacred Geometry in Dropshadow from an Area light . Camera, 1 eye Depth Focus .

The image itself is a source of light, particularely primed with Yellow colour . When the light is Yellow, a shadow cast on snow, will be Purple. If the Light is Red, the dropshadow of the object is Green, no matter the color of the solid object itself, The shadow on the object itself will also be complimentary to the source color . That is how it appears to the eye . The complimentary colour to Blue is Orange . This is also important in photo rigging. A lamp illuminating the actor or model in Orange light, can have an effective Blue "shadow light" 180 degrees the other side, to make it dramatic .

There are only 3 colours and white, Red, Blue and Yellow. The shadow will be very delicate when painted with Red and Blue, and if used proper it appears darker than black. Black paint is not used .

Philippe Tome Warnant : Soda

Philippe Tome Warnant : Soda

The master of color and form Syd Mead has expressed. At first, block in the large black areas, that create dense weight first. and when painting a car, its like painting a mirror . Syd Mead also include persons in his paintings, users; to emphasise the scale of the structures .

Syd Mead : Bladerunner

Paul Chaudisson : Bladerunner 2047

Here the black and whites are clearly defined in large blocks . The light and shadow is balanced in an advanced way, over the surface .

Paul Chaudisson : Bladerunner 2047

Composition and Format.

Sizes of Format lenghts .

Square, Horizontal or Vertical format .

Geomtric relationship. A line between the 2 lenghts . A triangle between 3 points .

Are the Diagonals of any importance to the illustration or image content ?

Is the eye guided along lines in the image ?

I have found it useful to obtain harmonic relationships with this formula. A format, has a lenght and a height, lets say 40 * 50 cm. I then settle for one of them like 40 cm, then this is my baseline and I ignore the other measure (50 cm) . I then use SQUARE root of 2 and divide and multiply every compositional lenght with 40 / square root of 2 as many times I need to get approximately where my scetch material is . This makes the image relate to itself as a complete unit .

40 cm * SQRT2 = 56 cm / 2

20 cm * SQRT2 = 28,28 cm / 2

10 cm * SQRT2 = 14,14 cm / 2

5 cm * SQRT2 = 7,07 cm / 2

2,5 cm* SQRT2 = 3,53 cm / 2

I then use these lenghts freely inside the composition .

I dont use the golden ratio, but the Square root of 2 . As you see you get perfect half and 1/8s, as well as 2-4-8-16 enlargements. this system is also the A4 system . I had a series of dreams, in my youth and I wanted a system. that could put dream images or dream geometry in a solid confinement, of lenghts and widths that still had the same "memory" or feeling to it . and I was so tired of thinking, shall the shape be alittle longer, or taller, maybe shorter. This system has never let me down . Only it can be too detailed and the system becomes more important than the image. then throw the system on the garbage heap, and proceede with the painting . Paint and drawing provides a meditation for the mind .

Iso metric drawing is handy for 3D representations of a technical drawing, drawn on paper with a ruler. and can use the same diameters of shafts, into the perspective, without accounting for the vanishing point .

ISO drawing from CAD .

When perspecitve is omitted, the image is removed from its soul, and is artistically dead .

Perspective Drawing .

The 3 point perspective is the most advanced and dramatic, and also realistic. every object, has its own 3D axis lines, so its nice in a larger structure, like a city. The structured geometry lines up pretty good.

3 point perspective 1

3point perspective3

MC Escher

MC Escher 1

MC Escher 2

MC Escher 3

MC Escher 4

Negative form, is the shape of the background, shaped between the framework and the object in eye . As you see, from MC Escher, a master of positive and negative shapes. The Shapes drawn in the shadow, represent another level of symbolism .

MC Escher 5

MC Escher 6

Renditions of high order is Reflection, Refraction or bending of objects thru different air and water mediums. This along with wave displacement on the surface a difficult task . To paint or draw a Wet object in contrast to a dry object is also very difficult. Like a fresh bread damping hot, wrapped in a cotton cloth on a red metal brick . with a glass of water . And a candle light . in a silver candle holder .

MC Escher 7

Blacksad

Blacksad 1 . Sunset Cafe :

Learning to draw from Comics is a great way to train . When in search for inspiration comics a natural source . When you draw or paint from a comic with your own hand, it is not called a copy, it is called a Hommage or Paraphrase . And painting Donald Duck or Uncle Scrooge is NOT a copy infringement of trademark as long as you yourself has held the pen and not traced the image . Neither sold it under false name . No matter how hard you try to copy it will never be the same image, your personality SHOULD shine thru as an interpretation of the times you live in and your style. And that is a great way to create your own style, for your STYLE is the FAILURE of making a completely true copy ! that is from nature too. the less it looks like the real thing, the MORE it is your OWN. and that is your personality and your motoric .

If you paint a green sun, it is not the way everybody sees the sun, but it is your way of interpreting, or presenting the sun . then everybody will think; what is he trying to express with a green sun ? what could it possibly mean .

Its absurd, said the man in orange .

Standing up with a great big hat on his head, perfumes swirling in the light filled dust, settling in the room . why paint a green sun, if the atmosphere is the same as ours. Its methane ! His painting a chemical process. Admit it, said the man in red, its the capture of resources. the planet is .

To be worshipped as a god . Factorize . Catalysor of God. To arrange a process, so that chemicals act faster on certain areas , priorities . The cosmos is a god .

The man in yellow joined the conversation, he strode forward, and arranged his white hat , then removing the gloves . his hands open . It is simply put , a 4dimensional transform of time, to paint a chemical process.

However, can the 3 axis we know XYZ, he arranged his finger as to point in 3 directions, represent the molecular axis and truely be called 4th dimensional .

I dont know what you mean . ?

See that the electrical bonds between the electron shells on the atomic surface, have a say for predicting the Axial arrangement ?

I suppose so, he replied. but . would you suggest

the micro electrical molecular bonding

is a fundamental dimensional axis

in addition to the 3 known axis .

So a chemical process depicted on a 2 dimensional frame, paint on canvas, is in fact 5 dimensional. Certainly, if not 6 dimensional .

Because there is also gravity, and the electrical field . Would you just mind .

He went over for a drink .

You see its true, because how else, can hydrogene act with gravity as a first attractor to assemble itself, then create a pressure, then compress and fuse, and become solar bodies, stars . in stellar nurserys .

in deep space . After birth tossed into the open galaxy in hope of doing something .

There are axis inside the atom core too you know . These would be even more fundamental . To know that you need the geometry of the nucleus . How the Quarks are arranged. to determine the axis .

the lady at the bar gave him a look. shure you want aonther .

Its many things in 1 time . what creates the boundrys of a gravity cell, or nucleus, E-field, B-field, EM local electrical, and as field . Field in Static or Dynamic LFO, High frequency . To determine the nucleus geometry, firstly know the arrangement of Up and Down quarks . Later the arrangement of Protons and Netrons . After that determine the electron cloud, and the conductivity and bonding, also its tempratures of interaction . chemical electricity . His eyes widened as looking at a ghost in the middle of the floor . It is the interaction of worlds !

I see said the man in blue suit .

the quarks inside each proton and neutron make up the magnetic and electric axis inside the atom, determining the motion of freedom onto the electron cloud, as in a hydrostatic pattern . I see it infront of me as a cannonball with clouds of electrons, painting a landscape before my minds eye .

If the Proton exert a positive static field pattern outside the atoms surface, Because its unthinkable that the quarks nor protons move position inside the atom, once established . either its hard as a rock in crystal, or more likely like a soft crystal I imagine . The man in green lit a smoke. Yeah, puffed a few glows, and inhaled. thru his nose . Like what, he said . A soft crystal, of quarks .

He looked for words . An egg . You can shake it, but still its molecules are in place . It would be natural that the negative electron monopoles are attracted to the positive field nodes . Both his hands gesticulating up into the air .

And so it went into the night . The planets flew by, the moon and thousand of stars greeted good night . The stillness of the entire content of universes galaxys shine light on what is done . In its own light it illuminates itself . the cosmos. Is our god. its of the highest praise . Let the universe be my witness . What are all these things but noise, if it was not for our saviour Jesus Christ . Turn to him .

Matt. 11.28

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

How often shall I think of Him and take up his time . All your time . for he can do all things, Jesus can paint, he can make humans, he can make planets and galaxies . He knows our Father, Jesus is the shepard of the universe .

Blacksad3

Blacksad4

Blacksad5

Simon Stålenhag

Simon Stålenhag 2

Simon Stålenhag 3

Theory

Lenght Radius / Square Root 2 = 1 / 1.41 = 0.707 . several times on a row, the basis of the A4 system. In so doing producing the value of 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 . When geometrically drawn on paper. it is seen that the diagonals of each square unit, becomes a Radius . When the circle is drawn, a new square is drawn around the circle. The same results can be applied from the Pythagoras rightsided triangle formula Hypotenus (diagonal) = SQRT ( vertical kathet^2 + horizontal kathet^2 ) .
Some prefere the golden ratio
(1 + Square root of 5) / 2 = 1.618 . A Nautilus spiral shape .

I then produce a row of numbers that are divisions of 50, and 50/ SQRT 2 . And use these lenghts throughout the composition .

If the format is 50 cm tall .
50 * sqrt2 = 70.7 cm
25           = 35.35
12.5       = 17.67
6.25        = 8.83
3.125      = 4.41
1.56 cm    = 2.2 cm

These lengts can be used and relates to the unit 50 cm.
If I got a 50*60cm format . I approach the 60 by adding .
50cm - 60 = 10 cm is what I am looking for.
I got 8.83 from the table. The new format lenght is 50 + 8.83 = 58.83 cm * 50 cm .
This way the picture relates to its own structure, and becomes geometrically self contained.

3.

the artists, like scientists learns the different tecniques to master as many as possible. From drawing, to computer graphics, Oil painting, Guash paint, Acryl , Charcoal, Colour crayons . Aquarell , ink and brush .

Guash and Watercolour : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHWKr9l_Mrw&ab_channel=makoccino

Oil Paint : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIerMULTIxg&ab_channel=AlpayEfe

Rembrandt : Man with golden helmet

rembrandt2

When you dont know how to procced with the painting. and your stuck somehow. turn the painting upside down. Maybe even paint it sideways, at some point .

Corners and tight angles. the brush is your resolution fine ness. the brush can be used as a tool itself, see the Japan and Chinese masters of calligraphy. To study Gothic writing is also very useful with brush and ink . If you consider yourself an Historic painter, that is the greatesst level among painters, and the highest status . You should also study Hieroglyphs from Egypt, so they match the meaning of the words . Or look the same if you use a real pillar or stelae as reference .

In tight corners. It is at smaller and smaller division of a shape, at somepoint the last color in the area. If angles tanget eachother so close that you cant tell one from the other, or the brush is too big . You have to choose one area of the two . Also try to avoid having sharp corners that tangent exacly the frame border, and corners that angle exacly on another line, make good space for each corner . So its easy for the eye to see if the shape is inside or outside . On the other hand, in precition geometry and sacred geometry, along with composition its crucial that the lines match up in corners and exact measures, for that is their purpose .

Repeating forms is another effective method. A staircase is such an example. or roof tiles. however you dont draw every roof tile . Just a few . Like Leaves on a tree, Rembrandt just draws in a few leaves, and the tree shape appears in full vigour and blossom .

Hands and feet, are usually drawn or painted larger than normal, due to their complexity. And to make the figure standing more firmly, or holding a stick with a steady hand, more powerful .

Organic forms are ALWAYS a strong form . The muscles of the human and animals have strong forms, also trees and plants. A weak form is in drooping puddles, viscous liquid, slime . A strong form has curves that arces positively, or expands from the center. But a weak form implodes so to say. There is also "non form" or something "formless" . The curve of the line says if the form is strong or weak . When studying you hand, all of the siluette lines bulge outward, on a microscale .

It is said that a primitive culture will have realistic representations of objects, depictions. But a Mega society (like Egypt) have very formal style, straight lines and repetitions of patterns, monolithic . Ancient Egypt has it all, they also have realistic oil portrait paintings on wood panels . And some sculptures, more lifelike than any other . A personal thought on futuristic designs, I would first think that futuristic is something more modern or fancy than yesterdays product. But I changed my opinion, to me a futuristic design, is something that, lasts into the future. If a design just is different from yesterday, its just fashion .

Mummy painting

Babe lookin pretty good. These painting are often omitted in Art History, because they were made "before our civilisation" or before the Greeks . And superceed the medieval paintings by a longshot . the Medieval paintings made 1000 years later is stiff and drearily religious, and the perspective is all wrong . The Egyptian Mummy painting is very lifelike in my opinion, Id say she looks like an Ethiopian .

Mummy paintings

rembrandt3 Gnosis

rembrandt4

rembrandt5

rembrandt6

Charles de Coloumb

With his electrostatic apparatus. Defining the electrical field of electric charges into forces .

1 Coloumb .

Painted by : Louis Hierle

Luigi Galvani

With the frogs nerve that twitch, when 2 different metals toutch each ends of a nerve strand . He was preparing dinner for his lady . and the story has it that the lady said, Galvani ! This frog is alive ! She must have had 1 fork and 1 knife of two different metals . If not the plates were made from copper .

1737 - 1798

Alessandro Volta

Here displaying his Electrical Battery to Napoleon himself in Italia . After an expedition in Egypt the year before . The Volta Pile, the electrical unit that started the electrical revolution . It is expected that Volta wrote exactly what he found . I suspect he found the so called "bagdad battery" in function from the ancient times, Egypt .

1799

Alessandro Volta

1745 - 1827

From his own notes :

1796 - Lettera I E II (Lettera III) Al Sig. Ab. Anton. Maria Vassalli Sull'Elettricità Animale
Four insulated individuals form a human chain, the first placing his finger on the tip of the second's tongue, the second likewise touching the uncovered eyeball of the third, and the third and fourth holding between them in their wet hands a freshly skinned and gutted frog.

The first individual holds in his wet hand a sheet of zinc, the last a sheet of silver. When the metal sheets make contact, the electrical circuit is completed; the second individual immediately detects an acid taste on the tip of his tongue, a flash of light appears in the eye of the third individual and the leg of the frog convulses violently. In the words of Volta, "ecco dunque il fluido elettrico"!

http://www.sparkmuseum.com/BOOK_VOLTA.HTM

Helmholtz

Helmholtz a gaint contributer to science .

1821 - 1894

Sir William Crookes

Here with the glass bottles in his hand, that is the "Crookes tube" that later was used in TV, and the origin of the term "watch the Tube" . The Tube would also be used by Roentgen to make the famous X-Ray machine (Nobel price) . The tube is a sealed glass vessle with inert gas or near vacuum. With High Voltage appled to both ends of the Tube, or rather one end and the middle, this produced an electron Beam. Later they used capacitor plates to divert the electron beam, leading (to Nobel Prize) J.J.Thompson (Rutherfords teacher) to discover that electrons was a negative charged monopole . And with this they made the Oscilloscope and the earliest computer monitors EDSAC, and later the color TV (film is a much older technology and completely different) . Now replaced by LEDs that is very low voltage appliance . The LED was invented or discovered by Russian Oleg Losev in about 1924, being a noble man in the Tsar regime, he didnt recieve much appreciation since communism came to power in October 1917 . Back in those days, science was "Natural Science", and the scientists mastered many fields, as opposed today, where they specialize into a narrow niche, unnable to synthesize knowledge.

If you think this is old technology think again. INTEL 4004 s architecture X86 is still dominant and developed in 1970, still in use. NVIDIA purchased ARM-Acorn from Softbank just a few weeks ago, and is the Architecture used in you newest mobile phone, was designed, in the 1980s ! Thats 40 years ago . the architecture cant be changed, due to backward compatability, so theyre stuck in making things only smaller and faster . No matter how many gigabytes of RAM you have, a 3D program will crush every drop of juice in your computer anyways, just run everything in 8K, youll see .

1832 - 1919

8. Apply colours .
Iridiscent breast feathers on pigeons.

along with iridiscent beetles.

My Paintings

Sunset Boulevard Bislett Oslo, 2010

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

Sunset Boulevard Bislett Oslo, detail

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

My painting

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

The Lady in the Sky, 2009

Oil on wood panel

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

The Lady in the Sky, detail

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

Sultans Fashion, 2008

Oil on wood panel

Kenneth Henrik Olsen

first draft, 2007 . Parafrase : Titian Danae / Perseus / Danae

With Leonardo da Vincis Leda swan representing Zeus .

Peresus in the background slicing a sword, infront of a picture of Danaes Father, accidentally murdering him . Poseidon is arising from the waters pointing to the sky, toward a Perseus starsign Zodiac, with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy . At the far side the galaxial band of the Milkyway tangets the Andromeda Galaxy . In the valley, a prince is mirroring the head of Medusa, killing her with the image of a 1000 snakes .

Annual update 2021

Annual update

Titzian : Danae

Im not happy about my paintings at all, I think they look naive. I am a more compentent drawer. But even in art school, Paint is not a subject. Classical painting is NOT TOUGHT. You have to learn it in your freetime . Because there are no masters alive, theyr all dead .

Leonardo da Vinci : Leeda

To suceede as a painter . You have to have PRIVATE buyers . Not the offical goverment institusion buys . Then you will become a application writer, a specialist in penning letters to get funding . and you have to make TREND paintings that satisfies a political correct comitty . Find other buyers, and the private market is the solution, contact the person with the money, who can make a decition on his own . Once you take comission jobs, the challenges are enormous . I have drawn portraits of DOGS ! Someone wants a landscape of something . Paintings that are nearly garanteed sells, is CAR images, find an old car and paint it . Politicians, paint a famous politician, for they have money and love to be recognized . Paint the King ! How you want . Football players . Sports people . Workers of our society, my favourite : Man standing by Copy Machine . Price is 1000$ per square meter .

As of now December 2020 . Im trying to pick up the skills from 10 years ago . And Im working on understanding, when to enter 3 colours. and white . and the layering optic . Colours of 3 units Blue, 1 unit Red and 1 unit Yellow and 4 units White . As a fraction on 4 colours . and position the colours in depth space, so as the colour appears on plane . when replicating a colour , is it brown ? is it red brown, or yellow brown, or blue brown . Orange, is it Red orange or Yellow Orange.

It also apperas that in the foreground more colour is used, and less white. And as the shapes go distant you can add white . In a fracion of a colour you can miss 100 kilometers in depth.

Fools will tell you that painting is dead, and has nothing new to offer, but not understanding there are plenty of customers who want their portraits . Why do you need to invent the wheel every day . Its like saying money is dead, because you know where it comes from . And if Rembrandt or Leonardo da Vinci has populated museum, dictates that you are not allowed to paint ? They didnt say that . They would turn over in their graves for the profession is left for dead, by institutional and goverment buyers . Modern art is in many aspects a discgrace to the craft . for it has no craft, its only motive is to provoke . Usually in childish grotesq and tasteless manners. Only worthy of children, and belongs in kindergardens . You can say, well modern art it sells, so therefore its ok. well, so does cocain and prostitutes . And if you are provoked, then its all good .

Seurat 1

Seurat

Seurat 2

Seurat 3

Complimentary colours and gray .
Explained and demonstrated at a local paint course , by artist Harald Peterssen .

Primary colours : Red, Blue, Yellow.
Secondary Colours : Green, Violet, Orange .
Red + Green = gray + white
Blue + Orange = gray
Yellow + Violet = gray
Blue + Red = black

What I experience is that the colour is not covering completely, it is transparent to some degree. Painting in transparent layers is the good way to proceed. A flat one layer painting will appear very flat and lifeless. When mixing the red and blue, this can be a very delicate black colour, so deep it can burn a hole in the canvas. Another benfit, is that you can tune the shadow, into a red dark shadow, and a blue shadow. Other benefits of painting in layers, is that if you paint a session that is no good. you can take a cloth and wipe it off or "undo", and the previous layer is still dry . And last , when painting in layers you dont have to paint so much on every object, only correct the shape if its not defined in the draft or tint the area with a colour . this approach also enables you to build up different areas in different layering stages . Another tecnique is to remove wet paint with a dry brush .

There are in my opinion 2 types of brush strokes. One that is all smooth and you cant see the brush stroke. The other is when you can see the brush stroke, the brush is used as a tool . A third kind would be action paint, as in throwing a bucket of paint onto a canvas, the velocity and agression portrayed is all natural . A toothbrush is useful for spraying grit .

Optically this is important, because when the colour of the shadow, depend on the colour of the light source , lamp or celestial body . Most clearly seen in the winter landscape, when the sun is Orange, the dropshadow on the snow, is blue . when the Sun is yellow, the shadow is on the ground, appears violet . The light source is measured in temprature in Kelvin, compared to material Blackbody radiation, freezedown at and at -273 Celcius, 0 degree kelvin .

Considering the atmosphere as a lense, and the observer is just below the refraction point , where light bends and changes to a lower frequency . My teacher Asle Raaen, (Grass movement 1971) . once told me. Notice that the sky is never Green . But the Sun is Yellow and the sky is blue . The sky is never green . So I see the sun is Yellow . then there is a White band between the Yellow and Blue . I think that the Orange and Red colours in the sky is light onto the clouds .

The sunset gradient, is from the Horizon upwards , Red, then Orange, then Yellow, but unlike the rainbow, there is White and no Green, before Blue Azur, then deep Blue, into Violet, into the Night sky . Its kinda tricky to paint, because if you mix Yellow and Blue, you get Green . And the sky is not Green !

My most influencial teacher is Geir Kleppan. He likes to paint motorcycles among other things. Geir, that told me. From an Anthropology study in USA native indians . The white man is very "doing". the white man is not "being", only doing. Why do you have to be "productive" all the time . why not just exist for a while . Kleppan also discussed the complexity of painting window reflections. Should you paint what is inside the window, or the reflection in the window glass .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJhgZBn-LHg

Goethes colour circle .

Johannes Itten s colour circle .
I have seen a droplet on a grass straw, from the early morning dew, or sudden sunlight after a rain . The droplet reflected direct sun rays, in the colours of the spectral colours . If I move the head, or my eye in a circle. all colours appear one at a time, like this circle . And I noticed it because it was a violet ray of light, shining from the green grass on the ground !

Vera Rockline : View of roofs in paris

Odd Nerdrum : Man with cloud and landscape

Odd Nerdrum

Odd nerdrum

Fun Fact
Did you know that H.R. Giger completed all the paintings he started on. He didnt leave any pictures around half finished . H.R.Giger .

Albretch Durer , Ilya Chashnik , Francis Picabia , Arnoldo Pomodoro , Theodor Kittelsen , Akseli Gallen-Kallela ,

Edward Hopper : Chop Suey

Edward Hopper : Nighthawks

ed hopper

Assignments

To Paint is to Record Spaces . distances, memory of colours that evoke a mood. a feeling of somesort . To roll on the train of thought . into material .

Ilya Chashnik . 1902 - 1929

Supermatism

the artists in the Supermatism and Constructivism had close realtionship with the European community, particularely France . These artists, were not favoured by the goverment in Russia and rather scorned for their efforts .

The differances between supermatism and Constructivism is that the latter, Constructivism, is somewhat functional, artchitecture . But Supermatism is a pure geometrical abstraction of objects and spaces. Ilya Chashnik is considered the orginator of Supermatism and has a unique Astronautical feeling to it . Pure geometry give ideas of planets and spacehips in orbits, at a grand scale .

Ilya Chashnik . 1902 - 1929

Political Situation Russia : 1700 Ruled by Tzar, later Popes and Cardinals, Alexander and Nicholas, replaced by Lenins Communism, Bolshevik in 1917 .

Supermatism

Ilya Chashnik . 1902 - 1929

Supermatism

Tatlin

Tatlins Tower

Chernikhov

Chernikhov1

Chernikhov2

Chernikhov3

Chernikhov4

Chernikhov5

Digression
In a 0-90-360 angled XYZ system, you can store the length of the Hypothenus and the cosinus phi, to have the full polygon values . in 2 bytes . additioal byte for suffix lenghts in meter, X Y or Z. seconds for each dimensional unit .

Western Paperback

SanJulian

Western Paperback

William Turner

Other inspiration sources :
Brian Bolland : Judge Dredd , Batman the killing joke .
Bill Watterson : Calvin and Hobbes .
El Lizzitsky : Supermatism, avant garde .
Yakov Chernikov : Konstruktivism .
Kurt Schwitters : MERTZ , dada .
Utagwa Hiroshige : graphic art .
Carl Barks : Uncle Scrooge

Last note 1 : I write this because it has been a long way for me to actually do painting. I have mostly done drawings and never really mastered painting. but several times attempted to "really get it going". but usually stopped up because I didnt know how to proceed . Classical painting is not tought, you have to find it out yourself, by looking at how other do it . The most common obstacle for me is something I call "the Horror". this is a feeling that comes when I am more afraid of destroying the picture as it is, altho its not finished or complete. to overcome "the horror" of destroying a nice base painting is more difficult than to paint ! what can be said if somebody asks what the picture is about, and there is no answer. I usually say. Im in the middle of a process.

Last note 2 : That Henri Matisse said what I claimed in the entrance, that the format is the most important aspect of the painting. can be affirmed by Thomas Klevjer Jørgensen, whom participated on the same painting course with Harald Peterssen in the early 90s.