February 2, 2010
For me, Social Media is a tremendous tool for artists. We live in a world that has so many things competing for people’s attention, and many artist are drawn to SM as another way to expose their art. I have a website (New West [pop] Art), a blog (obviously), a Facebook page, and I Tweet on Twitter, mostly with artists and photographers around the world. Doctors want to know what other doctors are researching – artists like to know what others are drawing/painting/sculpting/creating. Social Media can be excellent tools to communicate with varying segments of the public the artist might not ordinarily encounter. Those of you who know about me and my art, know I also do photography. I back away from the canvas a few times through the year and take my cameras out to seek images. I have picked up on something new, something exciting in photography that is making its way through the creative community – iPhoneography – photographs taken with an iPhone and “enhanced” or altered with special Apps. I am thinking this is akin to adding snowboarding to the Olympics. There are already exhibitions of iPhoneography popping up and the Twitterverse has several excellent photographers sharing their efforts daily. I am following their leads.
I have recently displayed some examples of my iPhoneography here and on Mscantling’s Photo-a-day …things I stop to see. I am eager to see where this new art form will go, and I am excited to be a part of it.
-Mark
My summer chair (December) 2009
December 23, 2009
Ice Angel, digital print, 2008 Mark Scantling
“And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying – Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, goodwill towards men.”
This image is a photo of an ice angel from the Gaylord Texan’s “Ice” exhibit in 2008. In photoshop, I created a halo, and placed the angel on an image from the Huble Space Telescope.
- Mark
Things to do in Fort Worth:
Grapevine, TX – Gaylord Texan – “Ice”
Arlington, TX – Feb 14, 2010 NBA Allstar Game at Cowboys Stadium
December 19, 2009
Dust of Snow – from “Photographs of the last day of the past century”
Dust of snow
The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
-Robert Frost
It’s December – cheery, festive and full of merriment. The radio stations are playing all the favorite holiday songs. Traffic was heavy last night, so people are either shopping or going to parties, (I presume.) December just isn’t my favorite month. I really don’t understand my feelings enough to explain it – and it drives my wife crazy. The day after Thanksgiving she wants the tree up, and house decorated – I want to wake up in January. I really don’t want to be a downer, so I will offer the Season’s greetings – and my wish that you find joy and peace. And, if you aren’t feeling particularly Ho Ho Ho – either, I’ll raise a toast of Nog to you!
-Mark
Things to do in Ft Worth:
The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Jan 15-Feb 7
Van Morrison Jan 24
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October 17, 2009
Step 4 – (Upper left) – Wednesday evening I started filling in the top and four lower hats. When I paint, I mix on the canvas – scumbling in one color into another. In this painting I am applying one color to each hat, then adding another darker color, then a lighter color and white.
Step 5 – (Upper right) – Saturdays I paint at Adobe Gallery and greet gallery visitors. Today we several international travelers – I met people from Britain, Germany, and an artist from Denmark, I believe. I added more color to the hats, then the black, and the upper right. Looking at the original photograph, you won’t see the upper right hat. It was added it to balance out the top of the composition. You can also see that I corrected the curve of it’s brim. There is now a small problem in that two hats of similar color are together. In the next session, I will darken the top hat with a darker blue gray that is truer to the color of the photograph. This will help to balance with the lowest dark hat. It might be a good time to remind folks that as a color blind artist – I chose to change up colors to my liking. I am not a realist painter, so exact color representation in not critical. As I paint, I load up my brush to get thick strokes of paint. For my brushed paintings, I feel texture is equally important as color in telling the story of the subject on the canvas. Today’s colors include Grumbacher Indian Red, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt and Raw Umber, and Naples Yellow, and Ivory Black.
Step 6 – With each of the hats blocked in, I painted the background white. The paint again is brushed on thickly, but loosely – blue beneath is allowed to show through. This will be the 2nd of (probably) 3 layers of color. I like to layer backgrounds with color allowing each layer to peek through here and there. It allows the color to blend optically. In the next session I will continue working with the hats.
[Back story] Neal – the owner of this collection of hats – is retired after 20 years from the United States Border Patrol. Neal has worked his share of hot days and cold nights doing a job that many wouldn’t do. His temper can get up, and he’ll “spit his bit”, but he is a solid guy – he’ll let you know where you stand in no uncertain terms. He recently returned home (Lubbock, TX) and fell deeply in love with his high school sweetheart Deb. Up there on the Caprock, under a sky full of stars, they are both living large as Texas.
- Mark
October 13, 2009
I recently was re-acquainted with a friend from high school on Facebook. Looking through his photos, I came across this picture of his hat rack. I thought the arrangement makes an interesting composition, and decided to paint from his picture. I probably should get his permission – but – somehow I don’t think he would mind. For this painting, I am using a 36 X 48 inch gallery wrapped canvas. I like working big and this composition is just the right proportion for this size canvas, making the hats just a little larger than lifesize.
Step 1 - Sometimes I grid my canvas and drawing to get as accurate placement possible, and other times I freehand which I have done here. I draw my image with large graphite sticks. Once I have my arrangement, I’ll outline with black gesso, and this gives the painting more of a sense of illustration.
Step 2 - I applied a wash of thinned Holbein’s Blue Grey oil paint on the background. Layers of color will be added as I continue.
Step 3 - Again, I applied a wash of Holbein’s Monochrome Tint to the hats. In the morning I’ll study this with my coffee, and may decide to add a second wash to both background and hats. After that – the real fun begins!
- Mark
