Letters From Readers: Getting Unstuck
9/17/2024 | Plus gouache and casein tips, and remembering James Earl Jones.
It’s been a few weeks since the last “Letters From Readers”—where you send your reactions to posts, or whatever creative thing sparks a personal interest—and I respond! Patrick, Bob, Warren, Martha, Cindy, and Danielle wrote!
Bob Blowsky, a new paid subscriber, wrote:
I find both your art and the way you explain it quite impressive, thus I'm looking forward to more. And you have already been of help to me through your reply to my comment on [James Gurney’s Substack] Paint Here. Thanks!
Thank you, Bob! I expanded on my reply to your comment, in a whole article about how an artist can “make a deal with themselves”—different methods of getting creatively un-stuck. ZK
Warren Knox commented on Gouache Cheat Sheet.
Great background information on gouache. Your bullet points on the media cover all the areas I've had to learn the hard way. I requested and received a 30-page, color document from Lena Rivo in thirty seconds. A great review for the novice, and it includes an order list for equipment from Amazon. Any readers of the blog interested in gouache should have no problem following your thumbnails and reaping significant aid from the references you've provided. Thanks.
Thank you, Warren—I’m glad my article and diagram was helpful to you! And the included link from Lena Rivo is super useful isn’t it? She has several new guides since I last checked, which I look forward to downloading and exploring. ZK
Martha Ressler commented on Ten Tips for Using Milk-Based Paint.
Very excellent, but no comparison to seeing this gem [painting of historic rail station] in person. I loved you pointing out the highly saturated yellow of the train station. I could see it, but your conscious decision-making process clarified it. My mother was an artist and used casein a lot. I thought acrylic had almost completely taken its place. I guess it is making a comeback.
Thank you Martha! I think I originally heard about casein from James Gurney, who has a helpful video guide on Gumroad about it. I find that it handles somewhat like gouache, maybe a bit more “fatty” feeling on the brush, and it dries up much faster. ZK
Warren Knox commented on Ten Tips for Using Milk-Based Paint.
Very enjoyable. I tend to be a detail freak and appreciate the care you took on the lighting. The care you took to portray the slight sun angle is a lovely detail. I've never tried casein. I'll save your quick instructions for the if- and when- I get the courage to try it.
Go for it, Warren! You’ve used gouache, so that gives a bit of a head start on how casein will behave. One big difference is that the window of workability is shorter with casein, and then eventually, it closes. ZK
Warren Knox commented on James Earl Jones Narrating “Kapiti Plain”.
A wonderful memory from long ago… Thank you!
You are welcome! He’s so known for Vader and Lion King—I’m glad someone else remembers Kapiti Plain. ZK
Martha Ressler commented on James Earl Jones Narrating “Kapiti Plain”.
Oh that's beautiful. It’s a wonderful remembrance of James Earl Jones and his deep, resonant voice. The poem is repetitive with its hypnotic rhythm until near the end after the arrow is shot, and then the pattern changes. And the rain falls.
It is beautiful. Amazing that I heard it in the mid-80s, and then that phrase, “the big, black, cloud, all heavy with rain…” stuck with me forever. What a voice! ZK
Patrick McGinley commented on Stuck Artists—Make a Deal With Yourself!
This is a great post! I feel like it's not an oft-spoken-about topic, outside of advice like "try a new medium" or something (which is valid advice for sure, but I feel it's sometimes used as a throwaway). Nice one, Zoungy!
Thanks, P, I appreciate the enthusiastic response. It was fun thinking back on the many techniques I’ve tried for “making an art deal” with myself, ones that actually seem to work. ZK
Cindy commented on Stuck Artists—Make a Deal With Yourself!
I would say there’s another one: give yourself permission to fail. Maybe the deal you make is that whatever you do, you’re going to toss it, anyway. If you start making marks and don’t like it, then forget it, and move on to something different. Who knows where you might end up?
I love that, Cindy, and what a great point. I hint at this in the “thumbnailing” section, but I think you are right in that it needs to be stated explicitly. Not everything is precious, and some of the best learning happens when we’re willing to let go of the need to control the outcome. Etegami, which
introduced us to, is another one I could have listed. So is giving away art to an unknown recipient. ZKPatrick McGinley commented on Planning Out a Painting in Miniature.
Nice timing! I was starting into a larger drawing with Indian ink and brushes today, but once I got the pencil done I realised I didn’t really know what marks would suit the fur [on the] baby bison, so I picked up a smaller piece of paper and just did a quick rundown to experiment with lines and stuff. Very useful to help visualise ideas.
I love the crispness and tidiness of the sketch you sent in. It feels like just the right amount of information, with each stroke laid down with efficiency. ZK
Bob Blowsky commented on Planning Out a Painting in Miniature.
A fine follow-up to your previous post, offering more substance to the thumbnail method. At what point in the process do you switch [from digital to paper]? Aside from an occasional pencil sketch, my hobby "art" (in quotes as this buys me creative freedom) is digital. In this environment, the file I begin with is most often my final piece. Placing every element in its own layer, I retouch, stretch etc. each one until it looks right. Upon describing my method in a comment on Gurney Journey, James asked me, "What do you lose?" Evidently, I lose the discipline and training to become a professional artist. Yet as a retired, old engineer, this is not of great importance to me. I'm content producing my silly dino cartoons for fun. How can the thumbnail process be adapted digitally?
Hi Bob, thank you! As I responded over on the original post (but I’ll re-state here for new readers), it doesn’t matter much to me whether my sketch process starts digitally (D) and ends analog (A) or the other way around. I just use the tools I have in the way that is convenient or interesting to me. In this case, I wanted some quick thumbnails to use without having to scan paper. If I think some of those ideas are interesting and worth developing as acrylic paintings, or gouache, or digital, who knows, I might! ZK
Danielle, my recent student in the clay studio, wrote:
I found my pinch pot creature's purpose in life! 😜😆
Danielle, perfect! It seems it was meant to be. Great seeing you and C. again, as always. ZK
If I comment on a Letters from Readers post, does it create a letters loop? hmm