A Little Backstory on Inktober

Okay, yes, it's December, and Inktober is in October, but I'll be honest: I'm still working on it. And there's never not a good time to create or talk about art, so let's do that.

By the way, in case you don't know what Inktober is, it is a month-long challenge to create a different piece of art with ink every single day (I'm not going to say a drawing, although most of them are, because you could also do a painting in ink wash). It was invented in 2009 by Jake Parker, who runs the Inktober website at www.inktober.com. Every year when Inktober rolls around, Jake publishes prompts for each day, in case you have a little difficulty coming up with ideas, or if you like the challenge of how to conceptualize the prompts. You don't have to follow the prompts, though; the point is just to make yourself create on a regular basis. Keep those art muscles limber!

Now, as you may know, I am terribly lazy, and "challenges" are even more challenge-y because of that. My first year participating in Inktober was in 2017, and I didn't know about the prompts, so I just drew whatever. Ink is actually one of my go-to media, as anyone who has been hanging out on my Facebook page or on this blog probably knows (the title pic is from a calendar I did back in college that had all ink drawings), so this should be a breeze, right?

Well, the laziness, remember.

Anyway, that first year saw me produce about four drawings, all in ballpoint pen, most on Post-It notes, because I did all of them at work. Here's one:

I hadn't started on October 1st, and I probably didn't even do those four drawings on consecutive days. But, I did do them, and without Inktober, I probably wouldn't have done them, so there.

Last year, I actually did start on October 1st. I think I did know that there were prompts, but I said pffft and still drew what I felt like drawing. Again, I did all of my drawings at work, but at least I did them on actual paper and not colored Post-It notes:

And yes, again, I only produced a few drawings. I was going to do a stylized alphabet, because what could be easier? And it would get me through 26 days without having to even come up with any original ideas. Well, I got allllll the way to...B. Yes, I managed to do even less last year than the first year. A, B, and one other drawing - some floral doodle thingy. But hey, again, I drew something. I had tangible results of my minimal efforts.

This year, I started Inktober late, and I had a very good excuse: I had a portrait commission to fill. Once that was done, though, it was still October, so I though, "what the heck"? and visited the Inktober site for the prompts. The prompts for Inktober 2019, just in case you want to toy with it, are:
1. ring                 
2. mindless         
3. bait                 
4. freeze             
5. build
6. husky
7. enchanted
8. frail
9. swing
10. pattern
11. snow
12. dragon
13. ash
14. overgrown
15. legend
16. wild
17. ornament
18. misfit
19. sling
20. tread
21. treasure
22. ghost
23. ancient
24. dizzy
25. tasty
26. dark
27. coat
28. ride
29. injured
30. catch
31. ripe

I'm sure you are wondering how things went this year, aren't you? Actually, not too badly. As I said, I started extremely late, but this past year, I became active in two local art groups, and having companions who were hitting Inktober pretty hard, as well as chances to join them for drawing sessions, was very helpful. Eschewing the scrap paper I'd been festooning with my scrawls, I bought a small sketchbook that was actually dedicated for the purpose. This made a difference in the quality of my drawings, as well. I did pencil sketches first, instead of working alla prima (this is not against the rules--you get to do ink your way, and that means any way).

In the interest of not making this post overly long, though, I will do a follow-up concerning this year's effort, since it can be another whole post unto itself, maybe even two or three. Stay tuned!

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Film-making 101:How Sergei Eisenstein Employs D. W. Griffith's Editing Techniques in the Film Battleship Potemkin

D.W. Griffith's 1916 film Intolerance was a major influence on the Russian development of montage. Russian filmmakers closely studied how Griffith used his cuts to drive the narrative, to integrate diverse material, to intensify emotions with its rhythms, and to mirror internal thoughts and sensations. The following essay will show how Sergei Eisenstein used Griffith's techniques to achieve those four results in his 1925 film Battleship Potemkin.

One of the best examples of Eisenstein's use of cutting to drive the narrative is the mutiny sequence, where we are first shown, one by one, the various affronts and abuses that are the reasons for the men's anger, then given the final straw that starts the mutiny: the attempted execution. In the uproar that follows, cutting is rapid, showing the men running about, grabbing weapons, and the fate of each officer after the chase. Eisenstein intersperses takes of the men chasing and dispatching the officers with dramatic shots of the Potemkin's flag flying high, as if urging them on.

Directly before the mutiny sequence, Eisenstein used his editing in a slightly different way. To build up the tension before the mutiny and to amass evidence for the benefit of the audience, Eisenstein enumerates the cruelties wreaked upon the harried crew, the foremost among these being the rotten food. The unsympathetic doctor, the vicious First Mate, the crazed priest, and the difficult working conditions are also highlighted. Eisenstein juxtaposes the men going about their daily routine with shots of the stew containing the rotted meat; shots of their exhausted sleep with the belligerent night-snooping of the boatswain, and takes of the men buying food with those of the uneaten stew to show that they've refused it. Later in the film, Eisenstein again links up diverse material through the narrative by playing shots of the freedom-loving Odessans against the oppressive, freedom-shattering Imperial Guard.

Eisenstein's rhythmic cutting plays on the emotions, building suspense, terror, or anger almost to a fever pitch. His quick switches from the terrified Odessans fleeing down the steps in screaming disorder and the calm, unfeeling onward march of the soldiers creates an irregular rhythm that is quite disquieting. His cuts from the sailors of the Potemkin waking and preparing to face the oncoming fleet to those of the ships as they approach builds suspense—this sequence seems to go on forever, until the tension is released by the information that the fleet has joined the revolutionary cause.

Although this film depicts large numbers of people as its “main character”, Eisenstein still manages to show individual emotion: the anger on the face of the dishwasher as he breaks the plate; the clenching of the fists of the funeral observers; the expression on the face of the mother who sees her boy prone and trampled on the steps; the tearful embrace of the sailors who believe they are going to their deaths. All these and many others give the audience a sense of pathos, stirring emotions enough to generate genuine interest in the story and heartfelt sympathy for its characters and their cause.

Potemkin is one of the greatest examples of Soviet montage because of the way Eisenstein's editing has shown all of these things, creating drama and intensity in an artistic way while still maintaining a clear narrative.

To read more, including a plot summary, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleship_Potemkin

The film can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Qfuzn25sI

Image of Battleship Potemkin from Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

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Magazine Collage Project - Step-By-Step

Howdy all! I have made a resolution to finish 20 art projects by 2020 and also to write 20 blog posts by 2020 (among this blog and my others), so here I am, making a blog post about the first art project I have completed. How's that for double-dipping?

This is actually a project that is an outgrowth of a previous project, that of decluttering. I wrote an article , "How to Get Rid of Magazine Clutter" on my other blog, Big Ol' Bucket of Useful. It's a fun read, but if you don't have time, it basically boils down to: Don't save the whole magazine just for a few tips, pictures, or articles. Tear the pages out and put them in a folder and chuck the rest into the recycling bin. I found doing that helps so much with the volume of stuff I have to deal with.

However, quite a few of those pages only had one small item on each that I really wanted, so I resolved to cut down the clutter even more, while making something cute and creative to save the parts I really wanted. So, my first project was to make a collage of beauty tips I'd saved.

**Click on any pic to enlarge**

Step One: Gather Your Supplies

In this picture, I have gotten my beauty tips clipped out of the magazine pages, decided on colors (pink on an orange background) and used paper punches to cut heart and star shapes out of paper and pink foil. These are all things I already had kicking around the studio, so in effect, this is also a good de-cluttering project for art supplies, as well! I used a glue stick to adhere the beauty tips to the pink paper and then scrapbooking shears to cut the pink paper around the tips, creating a decorative backing. I also cut the eye out as a nice decorative element that also plays up the beauty theme.


Step Two: Decide on a Basic Layout

Once I had all my tips glued down and cut out, it was time to decide on a good composition. This layout, pictured, includes a good number of tips, but also leaves room for decorative elements. I have a couple of tips off to the side that didn't fit, but they will find a home eventually. Once you are satisfied with how everything fits on the page, go ahead and glue them all down. 

Step Three: Start Adding Decorative Touches, by Size and Color

I started by adding all of the pink foil elements first, as the heart and the heart "frame" were the largest elements and would likely be overlapped by smaller shapes. I went ahead and added the smaller foil elements so that I could make sure to distribute them evenly through the collage, creating a "trail" that would draw the eye around the piece.


Step Four: Finish the Basic Embellishments

After gluing down all the foil accents, I followed up with the pink ones. Whereas I created some depth by overlapping some of the bright frames with the pink foil elements, I couldn't do that with the small pink elements, as they'd simply blend in and get lost. So I used some to layer over the pink foil and some to fill in some of the remaining areas. As with the darker pink foil, I spread the bright pink cutouts around to create balance and movement around the piece.


Step Five: Add Creative Details!

To further connect the elements of the picture, fill in more spaces, and create a finished look, I used a Pilot G2 gel pen to add little swirly embellishments that further tie the piece together. Below is a detail. Note that sometimes I drew the swirls behind the picture elements, but sometimes I continued the line right on top of them. Feel free to play and experiment!

I hope this inspired you to try some of your own collages. I used beauty tips, here, but you can use any theme, like travel or food. Happy collaging!

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"Bayou Scene" by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith

One of my articles, "How to Create an Interesting Still Life", produced a question from a reader who mentioned how people waver between whether they like abstract art or representational art (such as a still life). I think the wavering is understandable, as both styles have much to offer. They are also very much intertwined, as both use pictoral elements like composition, form, contrast, and especially color to create a mood or a message. Paintings like "Bayou Scene" by Alice Ravenel Huger Smith further show the blurring of lines between the two styles.

Alice Ravenel Huger Smith was an American painter from Charleston, South Carolina, active in the early 20th century. She worked in a variety of painting and printmaking media, but eventually settled on watercolor as her preferred medium.

Smith's watercolor work seems to be evenly divided into work that is more representational and work that is almost completely abstract, with some slight representational aspects. "Bayou Scene", painted in 1920, is clearly in the latter category. It looks like she was probably doing some wet-on-wet painting with different colors, starting with an abstraction based on color alone and letting the merging shapes inspire her as to subject matter. We can see that she indicated some wading birds and reeds at the shoreline of a bayou, hidden away in a thick, dark wood.

Owing to its transparency, watercolor has a singular ability to produce an incredibly luminous effect. Smith was known as a master of color, and I suspect she chose watercolor for this property. In the painting, the ethereal glow of the water could be interpreted as reflecting the chance glow of a sunset. It frames the two shore birds and serves as a striking focal point against the dark clusters of cypress trees. The ripples on the water are a mesmerizing pattern, and the abstract shadows in the forest make it look even more mysterious. The blurry, nebulous quality of this piece makes it look at once like a frozen snapshot in time that will quickly change, and also like a mystical vision or apparition that might not even be there at all, possibly a glimpse into some magical fairy realm.

All this from just playing with light and shadow, shape and color! It's a mysterious, playful piece; very lovely and fun to look at. It's also an ode to creativity, and a marriage of abstract and representational art that explains and expands upon the appeal of both.


Image is in the Public Domain.
Source: Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bayou_Scene_Alice_Ravenel_Huger_Smith_1920.jpeg

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