Artists of the Month: Nielsen & Bauer

Well. I finally enough time to work a bit more on this (this, for the uninitiated, is my bi-monthly study of the artists Kay Nielsen & John Bauer -- search for their names on my blog searcher to find previous posts on them). I spent part of the afternoon working on putting color into the Bauer sketch I had done last time. I was pretty pleased with the sketch and so I was relatively amazed to find that I made an utter dog's breakfast of colorizing it. Seriously, it looks like a three-year old drew it -- and I have one on hand to prove it (a three year old, not a dog's breakfast). And no, I'm not being modest, it really is awful.

Part of the problem was that I did the sketch on drafting film, which is amazing and greasy and buttery feeling for drawing outlines on -- and very tricky for subtle color.

Well.

Moving on. I decided that, rather than agonize over that sketch, I'm going to try an entirely new one on either pastelbord or paper. Phooeey on drafting film this time around. I also decided that instead of going with something subtle, I was going to try something completely wild and in the style of Nielsen & Bauer. I've had a composition in mind for awhile now and I think this project is the right one to try it on.

So this week, I paid particular attention to Bauer and Nielsen's use of pattern. I also wanted to focus on the elongated forms and the Hiroshige wave that Nielsen makes such effective use of. See the nice wave Nielsen used on his queen's and dancer's butts? (Nielsen's work on left) And look at the patterns of the two dresses that Bauer uses on his queen and his pining swan-woman. I also liked the way that the dresses weren't just a part of the composition -- they were the composition.

I wanted to try something like that. In my head, I had this idea of a stylized queen looking over her shoulder with a dress that looked as if it was stained glass. I desperately wanted to put one of two profoundly beautiful crowns into a piece of 2D art (links to discussions on them here and here, for those of you who are into history); both of them are from the medieval era and both made me catch my breath when I saw them (this from a non-jewelry person)(yes, I am a medieval geek). Sounds like me, right?

So I stared at the Bauer and Nielsen women and tried to determine what made them unique. For one thing, they all had these lovely, Gwyneth Paltrowesque long necks. Man, while I'm going hog-wild with the photos, I might as well show you Gwyneth's neck. See, there she is with her mom. It's obviously genetic.

And fabulous hair! Check it out -- long locks, or major up-dos -- the hair is important. Important, but simplified. Note to Maggie, who likes highlights: simplify. Flatten. SIMPLIFY.

And the faces are delicate, understated, careful. Hmm, I thought, unwisely. I can do this. Of course, by the time I had done all of this work, I had completely used up my study time . . . so it's going to have to wait until next time for the sketches. But I think there's some exciting source material here, and it's something I've wanted to do for awhile . . . so maybe I'll actually finish an entire project next Sunday.

Is anyone else doing this project, or am I by my lonesome?

Artist(s) of the Month(s): John Bauer

"Still Wolf" - outline for work in progress.
colored pencil on drafting film.

Okay, first of all, I apologize for being behind on blog comments and posting. Phew. It's been a crazy week. Second of all, I did find the time to study one of the artists of the month, John Bauer.

Last Sunday I looked at Kay Nielsen and did some wolf sketches in his style -- this week I decided I'd tackle the same subject after studying Bauer and work the finished piece from whichever sketch I preferred.

John Bauer (nice collection of his work here), a nineteenth-century Swedish
artist, fascinated me because of his whimsical, idealized drawing, his limited palette, and his beautiful use of darks. You guys should know by now that this is the real way to get me excited. Add to Bauer's work a tragic life story (he drowned with wife and child at a young age) and he becomes a poster child for drawing well and succeeding early before you kick the bucket. Take that, procrastinators! Anyway, his work complements fellow Swede (funny sounding word, that) Kay Nielsen's nicely.

The main problem with Bauer is that he died young and left behind little written evidence of his existence. Especially in English. So the only tools I have to really study this artist who showed such promise are a very limited biography and the relatively small collection of works available online.

Still, am I dissuaded by this? Nah! So, here is what I learned from my study of Bauer today.

• His palette is extraordinarily limited, possibly a function of where his art was going to be used, reproduced in books
• He often used the darkness to emphasize a single, light subject
• Though his work was finely drawn illustration work, he wasn't afraid to omit details to simplify and stylize
• He loved drawing hair
• Hair is very cool (note to self)
• His subjects are very simple. Each image immediately and efficiently tells a story.
  
• One of the biographies I read said that he took a month-long hike through the mountains with a sketchbook and that he used these impressions for the rest of his artistic career, simplifying the forests and stripping everything nonessential away
• His female subjects were frequently shown in profile

At right you can see my first wolf sketch (and you can see which Bauer piece I based it on). I think this is the sketch I'll end up doing my finished piece from -- or at least the first piece I do based on these artists this month. I also would like to take a page from Bauer's notebook and do some simplified sketches of the woods around my house. I've mentioned before that trees are a weak point of mine.

Debbie was kind enough to send me a list of links for John Bauer (thank you so much, Debbie). So please peruse them and in the next few days I'll be doing a follow-up post on complementary colors, with all the great links you guys have sent me.

http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/bauer.htm

http://bauer.artpassions.net/

http://www.artsycraftsy.com/bauer_prints.html

http://www.johnbauersmuseum.nu/diverse/english.html

http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/11/illustration-john-bauers-bland-tomtar.html

http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/07/meta-top-ten-reasons-to-contribute-to.html#illustration

http://www.dogpile.com/dogpile/ws/results/Web/John%20Bauer/1/417/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/index.

January/ February Artists for Study

"The Twelve Dancing Princesses" - Kay Nielsen.

Long-time readers of this blog will remember that I began 2007 by studying John Singer Sargent for the month. In 2007 I also studied Van Gogh, Maxfield Parrish, J. W. Waterhouse, and Whistler, but none of them influenced me quite as much as John Singer Sargent. For a month, I immersed myself in his work and finally produced an image based on what I learned from him. His use of darks and lights completely changed the way I looked at my art and sent me miles ahead on my journey.



I'd love to do that again this year, and I think I may have some time in the next two months to devote to studying. So my goal again is to immerse myself in an artist's* work for the time alloted, produce a piece of work based upon what I've learned, and put links to any other artists reading this blog who are also participating in the project. *A safely dead artist.



I have an unhealthy fascination with illustration and fantasy, so for January and February, I'll be looking at two Nordic illustrators from the beginning of the 20th century: Kay Nielsen and John Bauer. You might be looking at their work and saying holy cow, batman, that looks nothing like maggie, and you would be right. But my goal is not to look like them -- it's to take what I like of their work and incorporate it into my own.



So what do I like? I like that the pieces are dark, which makes the light more meaningful. I like that they are simple, but say a lot. I love the high, tall compositions of Kay Nielsen. I like the limited palette and the clever use of both 2D and 3D effects to draw the eye. I like the fanciful compositions that are entirely from the artist's head. I think I could learn from them. Nay, I know I could learn from them.


So what I'm going to do is work on my studying every Sunday. That makes it manageable for me and gives me a goal to shoot for (there I am again, on about these goal-things). Anyone who wants to join in can feel free to comment on this blog and leave the link for their blog-post on the subject. It's a great way to share the blog-traffic around, make new friends, and learn more about what we love: art. And little girls kissing bears.


So who's with me?! Raaah!!