[PenultimateManStanding]

I spent months on copying a beautiful Dutch painting of flowers. The colors and intelligence are all there. My copy is worthy of any museum. It's the pride of my household. It was done with oils and resins and the detail is exquisite. I'm thinking, how much did we lose with mechanization? There was a lot more soul in the pre-industrial era. Somebody give me a time machine.

[jdumars]

I am so there with you. I do hand engraving without any electric/pneumatic tools. In fact, if you search Wikipedia for engraving, there's a picture of my tools there. This is virtually a lost art.

Back in the 20s, musical instruments were beautifully engraved with scenes, floral and even mythological characters. Manufacturers now (most of which are in China/Japan) do a very rough approximation of engraving. It bears no resemblence to what was. It's yet another way in which the imitation or artifice of craft becomes the new reality.

Here's my most recent work...



Do you have photos of your painting?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jdumars', '
')Do you have photos of your painting?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', ' ')
PMS, do you know the artist and title of what you copied so we can find the original online, perhaps?

[Ludi]

Sadly, art education of our time was weak on technique.


I don't know how it is now in art school.....

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'S')adly, art education of our time was weak on technique.


I don't know how it is now in art school.....

[Ludi]

It was still the same in the 80s....I learned little technique, and have felt hampered many times because of it. I learned more on my own, as it turned out, on the job as it were (I'm a professional artist).

[PenultimateManStanding]

Any sort of craft is all about technique. We can bring soul into the pictures, but the technique must be there. I recall reading that Peter Paul Rubens spent years developing a secret blend of oils and resins to get that famous look of his paintings. And there were a lot of other carefully guarded artist's guilds methods. The best artists nowadays are making movies. That's where all of the technical skills have coalesced. Ludi, could you tell me who your employers are? Do you sell paintings in galleries or is your work more commerce oriented? Btw, my mother did not want me to go to UCSC. She wanted to send me to a commercial Art college in Los Angeles. I wonder how my life would have turned out if I had gone there. But my interests were cultural. She was thinking about how I was going to make a living and I wanted to be the next Rembrandt.

[Ludi]

I'm my own employer. I make realistic animal models and costumes for the entertainment industry (mostly film).

I also sculpt and paint as an amateur for my own enjoyment, off and on.

My schooling was in Fine Art with a concentration in sculpture.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'I')'m my own employer. I make realistic animal models and costumes for the entertainment industry (mostly film).

[Ludi]

At least artists have a venue in our era. Remember it was pretty damn tough to make a living as an artist in the past. You had to be able to get rich patrons (Raphael and Vermeer) or be supported by your relatives (Van Gogh).


Without the movies, I would be in the "starving artist" category, without any relatives willing to support me!

[threadbear]

PMS, William Morris was fantastic and famously bi-polar. He drove himself at a furious pace and when he died, those close to him claimed cause of death was "being William Morris". Do you have a way of posting your copy of painting, PMS?

JdMars. Beautiful, beautiful work. I'd give anything to have this kind of talent.

Ludi--Links to your work?

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'P')MS, William Morris was fantastic and famously bi-polar.

[threadbear]

deleted due to misinterpretation.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '
')What starts as an attraction to William Morris's tendrils and erotic stamens and petals always ends in the steam baths, PMS. Be careful.

[threadbear]

I didn't see that

A...hem.. That would be my copy of Georgia O'Keefe you're referring to?