I’m getting back into oils after a long hiatus and your channel has been invaluable. There’s a lot of channels out there, but this is the standout. Many thanks again Paul, you deserve a million hits.
This method (Boston School) of looking at painting makes a heck of a lot more sense to me. I’ve been studying values via Dumond’s prismatic palette. It’s been hard to get my head around. This talk alone has given me a wonderful method for approaching my value work. Thank you so much for putting this out to us the beginning students (even though I’m 60 lol). I have a new excitement! So so precious…
I’m so glad that you created these videos... and so many of them! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge Paul. What wonderful insights into art history, technique, analysis and so much more. Some of your anecdotes are nothing short of thrilling! I wake up and jump out of bed to play another video before I start my day. Ps. You have great hair.
How long must one wait before painting over a dry layer in order to avoid cracking? I imagine it depends on the thickness of the underlying dry paint layer.
"If I could make you all musicians you would gain as painters. All is harmony in nature: a little too much, a little too little, strays the scale and makes a false note. One must succeed in singing with the pencil or the brush as well as with the voice. The justness (rightness) of forms is like the justness of sound." Ingres
Having a understructure, and a well plotted plan, seems to be a keystone, to an accurate, and beautiful image. Make an abbreviation of the skeleton, get the still-motion down as a sketch, then build off that, add muscle, skin, drapery, light & shadow, It is then possible to, experiment with sketches, and hammer out ideas
Thanks Paul for doing these lectures on the Boston school. I enjoy them a lot. I have a few questions that I’ve had for a while now. I bought your dvd drawing in the visual order recently and your approach seems to differ quite a bit from the sight size approach. What exactly is the sight size method as Gammel taught it and how does it compare to how most ateliers teach it today? Also how does it relate to your method of drawing or painting in the visual order? Should a student who wants to paint impressionistically even bother with sight size or just focus on the visual order from the beginning? Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this topic.
Hi Kevin. Gammell's approach was similar to what you will find, say, in the back of the Bargue book or other references by those who practice it. The implication of the entire operation is that by lining up your drawing to appear the same height as the cast you are drawing you can simply begin a process of transferring sizes from the cast to the paper and get accurate drawings. Some of those I worked with simply held up a level and tried to transfer locations of points from the cast to the paper. But read their materials. Gammell, in the Twilight of Painting correctly describes seeing as seeing relationships. The problem with sight size as a method is the elimination of relational observations as the basic discipline substituting instead a mechanical process. I can't speak about most 'ateliers' today but coming as they do from the Richard Lack training they would likely be sight size heavy. I teach relational drawing from the start and provide some mechanical checks to keep the student honest. Beauty, visual beauty likes in the relationships of things and the sooner you get to the main disciplines the better. Truth also lies in the relationships of things especially when as with color you must paint the sun with the yolk of an egg to quote Monet. Stay tuned and I will answer this more fully in.a forthcoming talk - or two!
Paul Ingbretson thanks for the reply. I think I understand it better now. I’ve tried sight size a couple of times but it always felt too mechanical to me. I always tend to go back to a comparative measurement approach eyeballing the proportional relationships and only measuring to double check if things aren’t looking right. Anyway thanks again for your input. I look forward to your future lectures.
Georges Jeanniott's memoirs is the source of the Degas comment below and although one Gammell thought reliable, he does not include the following incisive quote. “ 'There is a painter called Humbert who takes pupils. He tells them: You must get the color of the model. And he sets up the canvas right beside the model. To do a thing like that is so stupid that it isn't even worth thinking about.' He was silent for a while, and then he added, quickly, 'What I mean is that everything in a picture is the inter-relationships. We paint the sun with the yolk of an egg. Go put your canvas alongside the sun.' “
I've found a treasure, what a playlist!
I’m getting back into oils after a long hiatus and your channel has been invaluable. There’s a lot of channels out there, but this is the standout. Many thanks again Paul, you deserve a million hits.
very kind, Ross
This method (Boston School) of looking at painting makes a heck of a lot more sense to me. I’ve been studying values via Dumond’s prismatic palette. It’s been hard to get my head around. This talk alone has given me a wonderful method for approaching my value work. Thank you so much for putting this out to us the beginning students (even though I’m 60 lol). I have a new excitement! So so precious…
I can't thank you enough for these talks.
Bravo! Thank you so much, for doing this.
I’m so glad that you created these videos... and so many of them! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge Paul. What wonderful insights into art history, technique, analysis and so much more. Some of your anecdotes are nothing short of thrilling! I wake up and jump out of bed to play another video before I start my day. Ps. You have great hair.
You've got me smiling, Lisa!
How long must one wait before painting over a dry layer in order to avoid cracking? I imagine it depends on the thickness of the underlying dry paint layer.
Paul is a national treasure.
My highest compliments to you as well!
" The music of the eye" Love that!
"If I could make you all musicians you would gain as painters. All is harmony in nature: a little too much, a little too little, strays the scale and makes a false note. One must succeed in singing with the pencil or the brush as well as with the voice. The justness (rightness) of forms is like the justness of sound." Ingres
Having a understructure,
and a well plotted plan,
seems to be a keystone,
to an accurate,
and beautiful image.
Make an abbreviation of the skeleton,
get the still-motion down as a sketch,
then build off that,
add muscle, skin, drapery, light & shadow,
It is then possible to,
experiment with sketches,
and hammer out ideas
Thanks Paul for doing these lectures on the Boston school. I enjoy them a lot. I have a few questions that I’ve had for a while now. I bought your dvd drawing in the visual order recently and your approach seems to differ quite a bit from the sight size approach. What exactly is the sight size method as Gammel taught it and how does it compare to how most ateliers teach it today? Also how does it relate to your method of drawing or painting in the visual order? Should a student who wants to paint impressionistically even bother with sight size or just focus on the visual order from the beginning? Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this topic.
Hi Kevin. Gammell's approach was similar to what you will find, say, in the back of the Bargue book or other references by those who practice it. The implication of the entire operation is that by lining up your drawing to appear the same height as the cast you are drawing you can simply begin a process of transferring sizes from the cast to the paper and get accurate drawings. Some of those I worked with simply held up a level and tried to transfer locations of points from the cast to the paper. But read their materials.
Gammell, in the Twilight of Painting correctly describes seeing as seeing relationships. The problem with sight size as a method is the elimination of relational observations as the basic discipline substituting instead a mechanical process. I can't speak about most 'ateliers' today but coming as they do from the Richard Lack training they would likely be sight size heavy. I teach relational drawing from the start and provide some mechanical checks to keep the student honest. Beauty, visual beauty likes in the relationships of things and the sooner you get to the main disciplines the better. Truth also lies in the relationships of things especially when as with color you must paint the sun with the yolk of an egg to quote Monet. Stay tuned and I will answer this more fully in.a forthcoming talk - or two!
Paul Ingbretson thanks for the reply. I think I understand it better now. I’ve tried sight size a couple of times but it always felt too mechanical to me. I always tend to go back to a comparative measurement approach eyeballing the proportional relationships and only measuring to double check if things aren’t looking right. Anyway thanks again for your input. I look forward to your future lectures.
Georges Jeanniott's memoirs is the source of the Degas comment below and although one Gammell thought reliable, he does not include the following incisive quote.
“ 'There is a painter called Humbert who takes pupils. He tells them: You must get the color of the model. And he sets up the canvas right beside the model. To do a thing like that is so stupid that it isn't even worth thinking about.' He was silent for a while, and then he added, quickly, 'What I mean is that everything in a picture is the inter-relationships. We paint the sun with the yolk of an egg. Go put your canvas alongside the sun.' “