A few New Figures

Cassandra 11 x 17 oil
Reclining Nude 12 x 22 oil

New Portrait in Progress

Here's a portrait I've been working on. It's obviously not finished, but I thought a photo that showed the progress might be interesting.

Exhibition at the Covey Center for the Arts

Everyone is invited to attend the opening reception Friday, November 6, 2009 from 6-9 p.m at the Covey Center for the Arts. This exhibition will run from November 6-30, 2009. My new large work "Kaaterskill Clove, New York" will be on display. This painting is 54 x 112 inches and was just on display as part of the 'Hudson River Revival' Exhibition at the Springville Museum of Art. I'd love to see everyone there!
Observations From Life
Work by Ryan S. Brown
November 6-30, 2009
Gallery hours: Monday - Friday
10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Opening reception: Friday,
November 6, 6 - 9 p.m.
Free
Covey Center for the Arts
425 West Center Street
Provo, Utah 84601

New Drawing

This is a portrait I'm working on. This is the transfer drawing for the final painting which will be 42x48 inches. This drawing is about 19x21 inches.

New books and a New Painting

After spending 6 months on a large painting, I just wanted to feel productive again. I did this little invented landscape in about an hour and it felt so good to do something quick and pretty. Simple, pretty, quick and fulfilling. Every once in a while it's fun to just make stuff up and see if I can make it work.




I just bought 6 of these books: "Great Works of Art and What Makes Them Great" by Fredrick Ruckstull. It's awesome. They republished it in 2003, but the first edition copies are actually a lot cheaper. I bought six and didn't spend more than $6 on any one of them. The reprinted copies are like $20. Everyone should get this book. I also am loving the book "Pictorial Composition" by Henry Poore.

Hudson River Revival Show at the Springville Museum

Here's a bunch of pictures of the Exhibition. I have more detailed photos I'll post soon.

Catch Phrases Used as Excuses

For a while now I have been dealing with a lot of misconceptions and concerns coming from students, prospective students, teachers and professional artists about modern academic art education. Many of these people are very sincere in their search for correct principles in art and methods of teaching that will help them understand those principles. This post is to try, in a simple way, to answer some of these concerns. I'm sure that I won't fully address every angle of the concerns, but hopefully this will act as a springboard for some discussion that will allow me to provide answers more fully. First - There are many people out there who are getting caught up in the negativity of sight-size drawing. For the most part this negativity is coming from people who know very little or nothing about it, but are more than happy to pass on the negativity based on hearsay. It's more than ridiculous that so many young and otherwise sincere students are being swayed by this uneducated and biased jargon. So here is my answer. Most of you who are negative towards sight-size should really ask yourself why. Is it because you have heard bad things, read bad things, or assumed bad things about it? Or is it because you have tried it with proper teaching and didn't like it? It seems like the only way you could really make a conscious decision on whether you like it or not is if you had personal experience with it. Sight-size drawing has become a catch phrase for those who want to undermine Academic study. Sight-size does not in any way define Academic study. The majority of real academies out there do not use sight-size drawing, but they do teach the same drawing principles as those academies that do use sight-size. It's not about sight-size, it's about the knowledge you gain from teaching based on proper principles. Sight-size does not provide artists with all the answers. It is not a mechanical method of drawing. It still requires that the student uses his vision to judge the subject and compare it's parts to refine the whole. The results are obvious. Take a good student from the Florence Academy of Art and one from the Grand Central Academy. The one from the FAA is being taught drawing principles using sight-size, the student from the GCA is learning the same drawing principles without sight-size. Compare the results. They are both coming out with high levels of accuracy and great sensitivities for life. On the other hand, look at the results of those students who study drawing outside of the top academies. I'm hard pressed to find any school that has good student drawings. This is due to the lack of principles being taught. Sight-size is not the problem. The lack of principled teaching is. There is more to this discussion on sight-size. There is also more to the discussion beyond sight-size. I'll leave it just this for now, and address more later. Please let me know what you all think and maybe we can spark a discussion.
I grabbed some images of student work off the GCA and FAA websites. The top left image was done by Cornelia Hernes from the FAA, top right was done by Michael DeVore from the FAA, the one below those was done by Emilie Lee from the GCA and the last one was done by Angela Cunningham of the GCA.