Sketchbook_Confidential
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I sketch on a 5" × 8" (13cm × 20cm) ring-bound pad that slips into a leather cover. It is a replica of one that Maynard Dixon was fond of using and was a gift from the Thunderbird Foundation at the Maynard Dixon Country Art Show. For outdoor sketches I draw with a black Sharpie Twin Tip pen.
My sketchbook is a compositional tool that allows me to make sense of the visual stimulus around me.
When I am painting outside, I often find myself starting with the basic question,“What was it that stopped me here?” It is usually one element that must be emphasized in the composition to convey the concept of the painting. If it is the scale of one dominant feature in the landscape or a strong shadow, it can be easy to sketch it out quickly, but it is more likely to be a subtlety of value or color. This requires me to remain conscious of this theme, so I sometimes write a note to remind myself and refer to it later in the painting process.
I always make a composition sketch before I start to paint, and while this started as a discipline to eliminate false starts in painting, I have found that it is a way of focusing my mind to the painting process. By sketching, I calm down and ready myself to concentrate; in a short while I can feel myself click into a different mental state.
One of my cherished activities is a weekly figure drawing session organized by a local artist, and very little will conspire to make me skip. It is a luxury to devote three hours to drawing, and with the human form so exacting, the concentration and discipline benefits my landscape painting. I also teach a beginning drawing class in my small town, and
clearly articulating the basics of drawing every week has sharpened my understanding of two-dimensional representation and how the human mind perceives space and form.
As a landscape painter, I take liberties with the placement of objects in space, and the sketchbook is the place where I can experiment and play.
Jump Up Point
Oil on linen (finished painting) 18" × 24" (46cm × 61cm)
I always make a composition sketch before I star t to paint, and while this started as a discipline to eliminate false starts in painting, I have found that it is a way of focusing my mind to the painting process.
Aleksander Titovets
Born in Siberia, Titovets earned his M.F.A. from Saint-Petersburg State University before coming to the U.S. in 1992. Now living in El Paso, Texas, the artist finds inspiration for his landscape and figurative paintings in memories of his Russian homeland and in the works of Old Masters Titian and Diego Velázquez. International Among his greatest honors are winning Best of Show in the Fine Art Competition four years in a row among competitors in his region and being chosen by former First Lady Laura Bush to paint her portrait, which was unveiled in Washington, D.C. in 2008. His collectors include actress Sophia Loren and the King of Spain, His Majesty Juan Carlos.
The sketch is just a preparation work, the same as drafts and preparations for a writer. Sometimes, a sketch becomes an independent, complete piece of art. It is similar to impressionism: it is a spontaneous, fresh and emotional impression of reality.
The sketch gives the artist a chance to think with brush in hand, because it is necessary to find a visual image on the two-dimensional surface. This type of work could be described as thoughts on canvas or development of thoughts.
If you have a theme that you'd love to develop into a painting and you have ten different ways to describe this theme, it means you do not have a really clear vision of how to interpret your idea on canvas. A sketch in that case gives you the chance to clarify and define the idea and find only one possible decision.
A sketch transfers emotions onto a two-dimensional surface. A sketch is just an instrument, but it is a small, definite step into creating a grand and finished idea — a painting. A very good sketch is impossible to re-create into a finished work; it's like a streak of genius.
A sketch transfers emotions onto a two-dimensional surface.
I'm working on sketches when I am developing a new theme or when I just need to
“stretch my fingers,” as Jean-Antoine Watteau said. I use any material that is available at the moment, although I prefer oil on canvas, board or paper.
A sketch is like practicing a scale for a piano player. It is an exercise for the mind and hands; it is a chance to clarify and solve the problem that you have out in front of you. It gives an opportunity to understand the ability of the material you are using and the possibility of it, to realize where the border between reality and art is (when oil painting in particular).
If you make enough research (in sketches), you have a chance to complete a good painting. The painting dictates you in which direction to develop your work. Follow the sketch and well-found fundamentals, and you can find the way to create the complete painting without complicating the process or forcing it, which will eventually ruin the painting. Sketching “clears” the eyes, so you can see the whole plan and development of the big picture.
Lyuba Titovets
Titovets began her formal art training with private lessons at age 5, ultimately earning her M.F.A., from Saint-Petersburg State University where she worked in stage and costume design. She taught art and art history before moving to the U.S. in 1992. She's had fourteen solo exhibitions and many more together with her husband, Aleksander. She has illustrated several books and created posters and other artwork for various cultural events and organizations. Her art has appeared at Westminster Abbey in London, and she has been featured as a guest artist in the “Great American Artists” exhibit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her name is included in the archives of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.