Notes and thoughts on drawing by Craig Harris.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Picasso's Confession
Picasso's Confession
"When I was young, like all the young, art, great art, was my religion; but with the years, I came to see that art, as it was understood until 1800; was henceforth finished, on its last legs, doomed, and that so called artistic activity with all its abundance is only the many formed manifestation of its agony. Men are detached from and more and more disinterested in painting, sculpture and poetry; appearances to the contrary, men today have put their hearts into everything else; the machine, scientific discoveries, wealth, the domination of natural forces and immense territories. We no longer feel art as a vital need, as a spiritual necessity, as was the case in centuries past.
Many of us continue to be artists and to be occupied with art for reasons which have little in common with true art, but rather through a spirit of imitation, through nostalgia for tradition, through mere inertia, through love of ostentation, of prodigality, of intellectual curiosity, through fashion or through calculation. They live still through force of habit and snobbery in a recent past, but the great majority in all places no longer have any sincere passion for art, which they consider at most as a diversion, a hobby and a decoration. Little by little, new generations with a predilection for mechanics and sports, more sincere, more cynical and brutal, will leave art to the museums and libraries as an incomprehensible and useless relic of the past.
From the moment that art is no longer the sustenance that nourishes the best, the artist may exteriorize his talent in all sorts of experiments with new formulas, in endless caprices and fancy, in all the expedients of intellectual charlatanism. In the arts, people no longer seek consolation, nor exaltation. But the refined, the rich, the indolent, distillers of quintessence seek the new, the unusual, the original, the extravagant, the shocking. And I, since cubism and beyond, I have satisfied these gentlemen and these critics with all the various whims which have entered my head, and the less they understood them, the more they admired. By amusing myself at these games, at all these tomfooleries, at all these brain-busters, riddles and arabesques, I became famous quite rapidly. And celebrity means for a painter: sales increment, money, wealth.
Today, as you know, I am famous and very rich. But when completely alone with myself, I haven't the nerve to consider myself an artist in the great and ancient sense of the word. There have been great painters like Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt and Goya. I am only a public entertainer who has understood his time. This is a bitter confession, mine, more painful indeed than it may seem, but it has the merit of being sincere."
PABLO PICASSO
"When I was young, like all the young, art, great art, was my religion; but with the years, I came to see that art, as it was understood until 1800; was henceforth finished, on its last legs, doomed, and that so called artistic activity with all its abundance is only the many formed manifestation of its agony. Men are detached from and more and more disinterested in painting, sculpture and poetry; appearances to the contrary, men today have put their hearts into everything else; the machine, scientific discoveries, wealth, the domination of natural forces and immense territories. We no longer feel art as a vital need, as a spiritual necessity, as was the case in centuries past.
Many of us continue to be artists and to be occupied with art for reasons which have little in common with true art, but rather through a spirit of imitation, through nostalgia for tradition, through mere inertia, through love of ostentation, of prodigality, of intellectual curiosity, through fashion or through calculation. They live still through force of habit and snobbery in a recent past, but the great majority in all places no longer have any sincere passion for art, which they consider at most as a diversion, a hobby and a decoration. Little by little, new generations with a predilection for mechanics and sports, more sincere, more cynical and brutal, will leave art to the museums and libraries as an incomprehensible and useless relic of the past.
From the moment that art is no longer the sustenance that nourishes the best, the artist may exteriorize his talent in all sorts of experiments with new formulas, in endless caprices and fancy, in all the expedients of intellectual charlatanism. In the arts, people no longer seek consolation, nor exaltation. But the refined, the rich, the indolent, distillers of quintessence seek the new, the unusual, the original, the extravagant, the shocking. And I, since cubism and beyond, I have satisfied these gentlemen and these critics with all the various whims which have entered my head, and the less they understood them, the more they admired. By amusing myself at these games, at all these tomfooleries, at all these brain-busters, riddles and arabesques, I became famous quite rapidly. And celebrity means for a painter: sales increment, money, wealth.
Today, as you know, I am famous and very rich. But when completely alone with myself, I haven't the nerve to consider myself an artist in the great and ancient sense of the word. There have been great painters like Giotto, Titian, Rembrandt and Goya. I am only a public entertainer who has understood his time. This is a bitter confession, mine, more painful indeed than it may seem, but it has the merit of being sincere."
PABLO PICASSO
Monday, December 12, 2011
Mermaid Christmas
Hard at work on some Christmas presents and upon checking out this awesome artist's site,Zar Galstyan, I figured I would steal her idea and do up some Christmas presents. Just started burning last night and got super hooked. It's not very complicated and after adding all the stains and what not it looks really cool.
This is the drawing I am using for my guide and whatnot. The practice piece turned out as close as possible. Real deal goes down tonight...wooHOOO!!!
Aloha!!
-Craig
Monday, November 28, 2011
Recent Figure Drawings
These are some more recent figure drawings. I was being a bit meticulous with these. Will be swapping out the next few weeks to hit the speed sessions again to loosen up.
Good times!!
-Craig
Ryan Wurmser Class Part 1
These are mostly from my class with Ryan. I finally got around to taking photos. Some are done after. In particular these are from the four weeks we spent on various exercises focusing on tone. A great deal of them were started from blind contours and then we would make them work into a final composition. It really helped tap into the creative aspect of it all. I learned a lot about my weaknesses and strenghts through the blind contours, but I will save that for another post.
Aloha!!
-Craig
Friday, November 25, 2011
Rubens Mastercopy
This was a quick "Diagramatic Line" study of one of Rubens drawings. A bit rushed as I did this at lunch during work. Proportion of the upper arm is long but I was more after the interior forms and pulling the volume with sheer angles and pitches.
Those master guys had some super sharp eyes!!
-Craig
Monday, November 21, 2011
Pasadena Tonal Studies
Went painting with my buddy Alex up at Art Center and forgot my brushes. Luckily I had a watercolor kit and a jar for water. Bit thanks to Alex for lending me a brush. Perhaps it was divine intervention. I've been wanting to do more of these tonal pieces to help me make big decisions quicker. Super simple four toned arrangements keeping them graphic and not worrying about the edges. More focus on the composition and keeping it true to what was happening with the light. Lots of clouds in the sky that day with sunlight piercing through here and there. Had a great time!!
-Craig
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Poster Studies
So this first one was done at midnight on the UCLA campus. I was standing under a super dim yellow light. The values turned out pretty decent but when I got home I overcompensated on the color saturation. Great lesson there!!!
The other one is done on a cold foggy morning painting under the 10 freeway with my buddy Joe...good times!!
-Craig
-Craig
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Curve Notes 1
I will have a bunch of pages in succession on this stuff...each page will lead to the next idea. It works out best if it's explained bit by bit, and makes sense the most when viewed as a whole.
-Craig
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Color Study 25
Playing with some rock colors and what not. Saturated and desaturated sort of thing.
-Craig
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Watercolor Wind Down
I needed to wear myself down a bit to actually sleep. This sort of came out.
Buenas Noches!!
-Craig
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Things on the Couch
Starting to build a habit of doing these.
Hope everyone is having a great week!!
-Craig
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Color Studies
More from Ryan's class.
The purpose of these studies was to focus purely on getting the color right and not worry about the drawing so much. Starting to do these on a regular basis to sharpen my aging eyes.
Good times!!
-Craig
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