7/29/2017 My 2nd Joseph Zbukvic Workshop- pt.

4 Seamless Expression

My 2nd Joseph Zbukvic Workshop- pt. 4

June 30, 2017

Park Street Demo-

I wanted to start this post by sharing this demo we did on Park Street in Alameda. It features a lot of the
elements I've been talking about over the last few posts. There are

clear Compositional Signposts Joseph follows

there are some major edits and additions he does (trees, people, cars)
he clearly zooms in to help facilitate a lot of those decisions, and
the way he painted the subject was aided by his compositional choices.

Here you can see the photo I took of the location-

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I wanted to work on zooming in, so I actually moved farther away than Joseph was, but even he was just
past the intersection, in that group of people on the right. The goal is to see big shapes and how they
stack against each other and interlock, not tiny details. Backing away just a little bit helps that overlaying
process.

Although the foreground is busy, Joseph opens it up a bit to let the eye approach the main subject (the
interesting corner building, in my mind). So there are far fewer cars and people there than in real life-
although still enough to provide a sense of activity. He also edits out the trees, which clog up the
foreground and stop you from getting to the "actors" as well, and gently dampens the background,
making it paler so it recedes a bit.

Much like in the previous post, as I see it, some of Joseph's wet-into-wet technical work was guided in
part by his earlier compositional decisions. He did his broad initial wash (top to bottom), and then set
about working on the background shape (the red overlay in the mockup below) after it was dry, working
from one side to the other, painting the distant hills and merging in the distant trees, cutting around the
buildings and the tops of cars, until he got to the focal point building. Here in the color-coded mock up
below, you can see that first stage, as well as the following 3 steps.

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The lit edge of the building is the "1st break point"- a dry area from the first wash, that he used to
separate the wet-into-wet shape of the background from the primary wet-into-wet shape of the
midground (the green overlay). Just as he had painted the background, this new shape was painted in
one go, adjusted and noodled with while it was still wet. Again, there is another lit area on the building to
the left. This was his 2nd breaking point. He moved then to the 3rd area (the blue shape), but only once
he was done with the focal point work- because, of course, once it was dry he couldnt work on it wet-
into-wet anymore. Finally, he did the darker foreground shape on the right (the purple area), laying down
the general shape, and (again) adjusting it while it was wet. Much as I noted in the previous post, once
you grasp it and assess where your stopping points will be (where you will cut your dry edges), the
process is relatively straight forward, because youve already made some of your technical decisions
when you made your earlier compositional ones.

My Take On the Subject-

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I had done a similar painting a month or so before I did the workshop, and afterwards I had wished I'd
focused more on my real subject- the corner building I'd been painting at the time. So this time I did a
vertical and zoomed in. On that note, I was happy afterwards. I think it was the right decision, because I
edited out information that wasn't pertinent to the story I wanted to tell. Still, there are a variety of things
I'd change- some wobbly laziness with perspective lines, how I need more practice working on my car-
shapes, etc. But the thing that stands out most to me, when I compare it to Joseph's, is his strong use of
mid-tones. Take a look at this again, to see what I mean-

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There's often a lot of talk about "vegimite" and getting your darks dark enough, and "juicy darks", all of
which is true, but Joseph is actually rather selective about where it goes. It's his light mid-values that do
a lot of the heavy lifting, building the big important shapes against the palest values of the painting while
still expressing light themselves, expressing interlocking patterns of hues because they're not too dark,
and allowing the bits of very dark darks to pop against them. Many students who are new to watercolors
never get dark enough, everything is too pale, but the opposite can occur too, where the shift between
lighter values and the darkest darks is too abrupt, and the light gets swallowed up in your desire to add
some "drama".

Selective Vision-
I wanted to end with an overriding idea that JZ shared early on in the workshop. This was the idea, as
he said, that What makes an artist an artist is how he sees. I came back again and again to this as the
workshop went along. Of course, I've heard this sort of thought before, and always assumed it had to do
with choosing your subject, or finding magic in the mundane or some such thing. And I suppose it does.
But training ourselves to clearly pay attention to the vast sea of details in front of us is (while hard)
actually the easy part, because "seeing" (once applied) also plays in to the way we build compositions
and bond shapes together. It plays into the idea I called mind-seeing and understanding our minds
well enough to know we're doing it. It plays into knowing the story we want to share, and choosing
some certain transient details to include, while excluding others. Namely, it has to do with prioritizing
and "selective vision".

During one of the last days of the workshop, Joseph mentioned the idea that Every time you put
something on the paper, you also take something away. If you fill it all in, its finished before you even
start. It was actually about the problem with over-painting an area, and filling every little white speckle
in, but it really spoke to so much more. There's a real power in not including everything, in "selective
vision". It makes what you choose to include more important, and lets your viewer fill in the "missing"
details with their own memories and intuitions. Instead of delivering everything, it almost requires a
viewer to complete it, however temporarily.

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During the workshop, Joseph recommended a book he's read many times- Robert Henri's "The Art
Spirit." I picked it up, and have been reading it these last few weeks. It is full of quotes that echo and
illuminate many of his thoughts. I wanted to end on a few of these, as I felt they so clearly express some
of what's been bouncing around in my head-

(While discussing painting the figure) "Realize that your sitter has a state of being, that this state of
being manifests itself to you through form, color, and gesture, that your appreciation of him has
depended on your perception of these things in their significance, that they are there of your
selection (others will see differently), that your work will be the statement of what have been your
emotions, and you will use these specialized forms, colors, and gestures to make your statement.
Plainly you are to develop as a seer (my emphasis), as an appreciator as well as a craftsman. You
are to give the craftsman in you a motive, else he cannot develop."

(Again while discussing painting the figure) "The artist sees only that in the model which may help
him to build up the look he would record. With the model before him he works from memory. He
refers to the model, but he does not follow the new relations which differing moods establish. He
chooses only from the appearance before him that which relates to his true subject- the look which
first inspired him to work. The look has passed and it may not return. All good work is done from
memory whether the model is still present or not."

"The development of the power of seeing and the power to retain in the memory that which is
essential and to make record and thus test out how true the seeing and the memory have been is
the way to happiness."

"If we only knew what we saw, we could paint it."

Happy seeing, folks. :)

Stephen Berry 9 Comments 15 Likes Share

MY UPCOMING EVENTS AND CLASSES IN ... MY 2ND JOSEPH ZBUKVIC WORKSHOP, PT. ...

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Preview POST COMMENT

ulises Daniel Rivera 3 weeks ago

Excelente ! muy bien explicado , gracias !

Christopher Bellew 3 weeks ago

Hi Stephen thank you for the brilliant write up of your 2nd workshop with Joseph Zbukvic I found
it totally absorbing from pt1 to pt4 .My 1st experience at a workshop with JZ will be this
September in Girona. Thanks once again Chris Bellew

Sof Georgiou 3 weeks ago

Thanks Stephen for sharing. Your way to analyse and discuss ideas is superb. Your painting is
getting there. And Z seems that is giving everything. Happy seeing :)

P.A.Cruz 3 weeks ago

thank you for share, JZ is a Master Artist )

tc 3 weeks ago

Your own pieces are beautiful.

Thanks for sharing your valuable insights. Much appreciated.
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Barbara Tapp 3 weeks ago

More food for thought. This is making me question so much about myself as an artist Thanks

Lorraine 4 weeks ago

Well said. Well done. Our biggest task as artists is to hone our skill sets so as to allow our brains
to express the within. Thanks for your generosity in sharing your learning experience.

Jose 4 weeks ago

It sems to me that i've been attending the workshop myself, even better, I guess I wouldn't read
all what you read from Joshep's lessons
Many Thanks for sharing

Doug Elliot 4 weeks ago

A wonderful insight into JZ workshops.

I find the fine font difficult to read, a heavier font would be easier.

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