Tag: #figurativeart

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Reuse Your Canvas And Achieve Good Results

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja (it is pronounced wu-a-koo-ha). I’m a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some good practical tips for your painting process.

LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING IMPORTANT REGARDING OUR ART MATERIAL.

Don’t throw away the paper or canvas on which the results we achieved were not what we expected. Keep them and use them for a better try…, but this new use must be a strategic one.

My recommendation for an additional work (made in the same material we have kept) is to leave some elements of this original work. This means, not cover with paint the whole original failed artwork, but to integrate it into the new one. This will improve the expression on our second try. To exemplify the above, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Woman 10
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 61 x 48.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

Woman 10 results from my second try on an unsatisfactory work.

Material.

An unsatisfactory work on paper or canvas.
Acrylics paintings.
3 brushes. The size of the paper or canvas determines the size of the brushes. When we paint on a small surface, the brushes must be small and vice versa. For this work, I used rectangular brushes less than an inch thick.
Water.

Visit my patron’s feed. You’ll find images that describe the process of Woman 10 using a failed painting on paper I made some time ago: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

A SECONDARY TOPIC. I’d like to talk about the relevant use of physical models in our artwork. If, on the contrary, we use a photograph as an initial resource, we’d be working on interpreting another artist, in this case, the photographer. If so, we’d be copying the gesture or other elements he already solved. And I add something relevant, we’d be working on a two dimensionality (height and width), not on a three dimensionality (height, width and depth). So, the recommendation is to use a physical model and to make our own interpretation out of it. Also, by doing the latter, we improve the coordination of our sight, brain activity and physical capacities (our hand skills). This training will help us achieve rhythm, dynamism, character and gesture in our work.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Besides taking care of the costs of our painting materials, second tries (even third ones or more) increase our capacities as painters.

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How About Turning Our Art Interests To Other Fields?

Hi there! I'm Veronica Huacuja, an artist and an online art teacher. I have some good practical tips for your art process.

WOULD IT BE INTERESTING TO APPROACH DIFFERENT TOPICS IN OUR ART? I carried out this new approach to my work, and what I discovered is intriguing, mysterious, absorbing. The artwork I'm presenting results from one of those cases where art and sickness (a medical condition) gather. This is its data sheet:

Title: The Deaf Man 7
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper and digital painting
Size: 10,000 x 10,000 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2021
Collection: Human Body

SICKNESS IN ART. As I've said in some other posts, I’m an artist interested in abnormality, deformity and its effects on human life. The persons that lose one of their five senses or were born missing one of them call my interest. I explore and investigate their lives. This initial information helps me to develop my work. I created this piece with deep respect and empathy for these people.

So, following these criteria, deafness is a fearsome sickness that isolates the people that suffer it because it affects their spoken language comprehension and communication with others. Hearing loss disables a person to understand speech, reality, which cause on them–in some countries and environments–, social isolation, loneliness and stigma. (1)

"In a medical context, deafness is defined as a degree of hearing difference such that a person is unable to understand speech, even in the presence of amplification.[...] In profound deafness, even the highest intensity sounds produced by an audiometer (an instrument used to measure hearing by producing pure tone sounds through a range of frequencies) may not be detected. In total deafness, no sounds at all, regardless of amplification or method of production, can be heard." (1)

The initial challenge in this work, as a figurative artist, was to express the latter. That is to embody in a character this drama.

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Definitely, blending information from different fields stimulates our imagination and creativity, which reflects in the original results we might accomplish.

IMAGES OF THE TECHNICAL PROCESS OF THE ARTWORK. I’m adding some images that describe the creative process using traditional and digital techniques. You'll find them at https://www.patreon.com/posts/47080432

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1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deafness

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Let’s Get Inspired By Great Artists For Free

Welcome to another Art Post! My name is Veronica Huacuja. I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good tips for your painting process.

As an artist or art practitioner, have you ever started your day not knowing what your next project might be? It occurs to most of us, and while this circumstance happens, we can turn to study the work of prominent artists, and practice with their work.

SOME PREVIOUS QUESTIONS.

Do you explore the work of other artists from different genres (photographers, sculptors, filmmakers, etc.)?
Do you find useful for your own work to do this research?
Do other artists’ artwork influence your own work?

I do these activities, and I recommend you to practice them. It enriches our work.

A PERSONAL ART EXPERIENCE. This time the oeuvre of the photographer John Coplans (1920-2003, United Kingdom) amazed me. I based the following artwork on his photograph, Self Portrait: Torso With Large Upper Arm II, 1985.

To exemplify the above, I add the following data from the piece I'm presenting:
Title: Body Study 62
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Media: Oil on paper
Size: 28 x 21.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2019
Collection: Human Body

ACTIVITIES.
- Let’s explore and learn from the eminent artists of all times, and permit their influence on our work.
- Self-practice the art procedures I accomplished in "Body Study 62", which I describe in a video (1:42 min.) you can find at https://www.patreon.com/posts/practicing-our-30744058

MATERIAL.
-An oil paper will do the job just fine. I recommend the brand Fabriano, an Italian paper of at least 300 g/m2, which is a thick paper prepared for oil painting, or else a canvas. Always use material of excellent quality for your work. The size I recommend is the same as I used in this artwork: 28 x 21.3 x 0.1 cm.
-Thin, circular and rectangular brushes (half an inch wide, at the most). The size of the brushes depends on the size of your paper or canvas: bigger brushes for bigger areas and vice versa.
-Turpentine
-Oil paints

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. Would searching and studying the prominent artists’ body of art be a worthwhile experience whenever the ephemeral “goddess of inspiration” is not around? Oh, yes, great masters can teach us so much!

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My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Other POSTS AND VIDEOS: https://patreon.com/veronicahuacuja

Hope you enjoyed the post. Thank you for dropping by.

3 Ways To Know A Great Painter While Drawing The Human Body

Hello, my name is Veronica Huacuja. I am a plastic artist and online art teacher. I've created this content for a group class and I hope you enjoy it.

PREVIOUS COMMENT. As artists or art practitioners, we must use all the resources we have at our disposal. Following these criteria, this time we explored the work of the painter Lucian Freud (1922-2011, Germany), one of the most important portraitists of the 20th century–and Sigmund Freud's grandson, the founder of psychoanalysis–. We focused on one of Lucien Freud's portraits of Leigh Bowery (1961-1994), an Australian artist.

THE EXERCISE. I developed a plasticine model based on one of Freud’s portraits of Bowery, “Nude with Leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”. In this way, we had endless poses of the model, to which I applied different lights. We worked with the ones we found the most interesting, and drew them with crayon on paper.

I'm adding some sketches that I made in the session, and an image of the plasticine model.

This is a sketch based on Lucien Freud's portrait “Nude with Leg Up (Leigh Bowery)”. — Sketch 10Sketch 11

Plasticine model I made for the session.

OUR ART GOALS.
- We had to achieve the gesture of the human figure, considering the volume delineated by the lights applied to the plasticine figure. Gesture, as we may know, is a “movement” of the body that expresses a feeling, a sensation.

- We experienced the powerful use of a black, thick crayon on paper.

- For those who didn’t know the painter’s work, got to know it, and also we got to know some facts about Freud’s biography, such as the relationship established with his model. When I introduce a new artist to my students, I always refer to the man (in a comprehensive sense, referring to men or women) and his work. I believe that’s the most complete way of approaching an artist and his work.

THE DYNAMIC OF THE SESSION. Everyone, including me as a teacher, made the exercise. As we did so, I gave guidance, according to the needs of the participants. And, meanwhile, we worked, I displayed and commented on my progress on the screen.

To know the plasticine model and some other sketches of the work, please visit https://www.patreon.com/posts/67831359

MATERIAL.
· A thick black crayon.

· Sketch paper. Size and type: 29.7 x 42 cm, 95 g / m2 (it’s a thin paper).

EXERCISE DURATION.
2 sessions of 60 mins.

LET’S MAKE A REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Getting to know the oeuvre and life of the artists of all times expands our artistic and personal experiences. So, the comprehensive study of these artists is something we must continually do.

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Some more info and images of the work: https://www.patreon.com/posts/67831359

1 https://artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/the-use-of-chiaroscuro/1AJCCI6Py2rgLA

My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Other POSTS AND VIDEOS: https://patreon.com/veronicahuacuja

Thank you for reading.

Using Chiaoscuro In A Painting

Let’s learn new techniques from the masters of painting and include them in our art flow.

Welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I'm a plastic artist, and an online art teacher for individuals and groups. I have some good tips for your painting process. Hope you find them useful.

SOME CONCEPTS TO START. Chiaroscuro is an Italian word that refers to the lighting and shadows in painting. Who used this interesting technique were the great painters of all times, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Velázquez, among others.

This technique emphasizes light and dark, making out stand the most important figures in an artwork. “It was originally used while drawing on colored paper though it is now used in paintings and even cinema. It is very commonly seen in religious art, especially with the light emanating from the holy figure being painted. This process is used because it naturally draws the eye toward the focus point which the artist intends in a very natural way.” (1)

CHIAROSCURO AND TENEBRISM. I’d like to approach an interesting difference between these both techniques. Tenebrism comes from the Italian word “tenebroso”, which means dark. In this technique, shadow undergoes to black, there’s no intermediation between light and shadow. One of the great exponents of tenebrism is the Italian painter, Caravaggio (1571-1603, Milan, Duchy of Milan, Spanish Empire). On the contrary, chiaroscuro uses light and shadow to create depth behind the figures.

SOME COMMENTS REGARDING THE WORK I'M PRESENTING. As an artist, I’m concerned with abnormality and its effects on human life. To create this work, I read and watched testimonials of persons that have had the experience of an epiphany, which as we may know, is “an experience of a sudden and striking realization” (2), that can be mystical, religious, philosophical, etc.

In the work, I tried to embody this strange human experience using the chiaroscuro technique to add drama and three dimensionality to the piece. The data sheet of the work is:

In the work, I tried to embody the strange human experience which is an epiphany. The last by using the chiaroscuro technique, which adds drama and three dimensionality to the piece. — Epiphany 5

Title: Epiphany 5
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Digital Art
Size: 9,448 x 8,740 px, 300 dpi
Year: 2020
Collection: Portraits

LET’S DEDUCE A SIGNIFICANT MEANING FROM THE ABOVE. We can study the body of art of the great masters of painting, learn their techniques and use them in our work, in whatever genre we manage. Also, we can keep in mind that our production, as artists, mostly come as if from dreams, where our experiences overlap in a delicate, ephemeral relationship.

2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphany_(feeling)

Reuse Your Canvas And Achieve Good Results

You’re welcome to another Art Blog. My name is Veronica Huacuja. I'm a plastic artist and an online art teacher for groups and individuals. I have some good practical tips for your art process. Hope you find them helpful.

A GOOD RECOMMENDATION REGARDING OUR ART MATERIAL. Don’t throw away the artwork you consider at the moment unsatisfactory. Don't throw away the paper or canvas on which the results were not what you expected. This is because there’s still a good use for it. Let’s keep these materials and use them for a better achievement…, but this new use must be a strategic one.

One interesting thing we can do in our next work is to leave some elements of the original painting. This means, not cover with paint the whole original failed artwork, but to integrate it into the new one. This will improve the expression on our second try.

To exemplify the above, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Woman 10
Artist: Veronica Huacuja
Medium: Acrylic on paper
Size: 61 x 48.3 x 0.1 cm
Year: 2022
Collection: Women

Visit any time my patron's feed where you'll find images that describe the process of "Woman 10" using a failed painting on paper I made some time ago: https://www.patreon.com/posts/61243765

A SECONDARY TOPIC. I’d like to talk about the relevant use of physical models in our artwork. If, on the contrary, we use a photograph as an initial resource, we’d be working on another artist's interpretation, in this case, the photographer (copying the gesture or other elements he already solved). And I add something relevant, we’d be working on a two dimensionality (height and width), not on a three dimensionality (height, width and depth). So, the recommendation is to use a physical model and to make our own interpretation out of it. Ask your friends or relatives to pose for you. It'll be worthwhile.

By doing the latter, we improve the coordination of our sight, brain activity and physical capacities (the hand skills). This training will help us achieve rhythm, dynamism, and gesture in our work.

MATERIAL
- An unsatisfactory work on paper or canvas.
- Acrylics paintings.
- 3 brushes. The size of the paper or canvas determines the size of the brushes we have to use on the work. When we paint on a small surface, the brushes must be small and vice versa. For this work, I used rectangular brushes less than an inch thick.
- Water.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. As with everything in life, our art materials are resources that are limited, so let's use them creatively... and by doing so experimenting and finding new expressions in our work.

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Email: art@veronica.mx

Thank you for visiting.

Should We Include Social Issues To Our Artwork?

You’re welcome to another Art Blog.

I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I have some good and practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

REGARDING THE TITLE OF THIS BLOG. Should we include into our art social problems we watch and read about in our everyday lives? I think it’d be a natural thing to do for some artists, but I’d like to add that this inclusion has to be subordinated to art itself, not to any other topic or field. If our work is a piece of art, it has to be free of any usage (e.g. political topics, trends, etc.).

So, that been said, I made up a collection I entitled The Relentless, where I picture historical characters that suffer social malfunctions and disorders that drive them to commit crime. The tragedy of their lives and their cross paths in the lives of others are elements that impulse me to create this collection.

In this series, I dedicate my work to the victims of the perpetrators I work on, and to the multidisciplinary law enforcement team that pursues these offenders.

This is the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:Title: Robert Stroud, The Birdman of Alcatraz

Artist: Veronica Huacuja

Medium: Digital Art

Size: 6,614 x 10,422 px, 300 dpi

Year: 2021

Collection: The Relentless

As we may know, Robert Franklin Stroud (1890-1963, U.S.) was a convicted criminal with significant contrasts in his lifetime. These contradictions prompted me to create his portrait, in which I tried to capture the tumultuous events of his tragic life.

A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. One more thing that triggered in me the creation of this work is that I’ve visited the public museum of Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary during my lifetime on several occasions. I’ve read about the everyday routines that the inmates had to perform, the established relationships among them (their hierarchies, their groups), the roles of the guards, etc. I’ve seen the small cells in which these dangerous men lived for years.

SOME OTHER THOUGHTS. Regarding the aforementioned, I’d like to talk about the differences that some European prisons have compared to other countries, where the inmates have better conditions for redemption. This last, if it’s the case. I believe, besides a matter of finances, overpopulation, etc. the concept of man is different in diverse countries, and in different historical periods. Some countries use their resources to reintegrate the offenders into society–when they’re sure these men won’t relapse–, and others to punish them. I believe Alcatraz was one of the latter prisons where most inmates were meant to be broken. This statement has to be seen as a historical phenomenon.

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. I believe the answer to the question of this blog’s title is, for some artists, a categorical yes. Do you agree?

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My BODY OF ART: https://veronica.mx

I offer an ONLINE PAINTING PROGRAM in traditional or digital techniques: https://veronica.mx/online_painting_course

Other POSTS AND VIDEOS: https://patreon.com/veronicahuacuja

Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed the post.

Let’s Mix Techniques In Our Painting Workflow

Let’s use in our art workflow a digital solution mixed with traditional techniques or the way around.

Welcome to another Art Post. I’m Veronica Huacuja, a plastic artist, and an online art teacher. I’ve some practical tips for your painting process. Hope you find them helpful.

A DIGITAL SOLUTION MIXED WITH TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES OR THE WAY AROUND. As I’ve mentioned in some other blogs, I discovered Blender–a free and open-source 3D computer graphic software–on the Internet. I learned its basics in many free tutorials hosted on YouTube. There’re plenty enough for any learning need you might have of this software.

One incredible thing is that because of this software’s popularity, there are lots of developers, 3D artists, etc. that free share their work and you can download it. That’s what happened in this work of mine: I used a rigged human figure made up on this software. “What a rig does is define the way the various parts of a model will move in relation to its other parts.” (1)

To exemplify the aforementioned, I add the data sheet of the work I’m presenting:

Title: Body Study 65

Artist: Veronica Huacuja

Media: Oil on paper

Size: 20.8 x 21 x 0.1 cm

Year: 2019

Collection: Human Body

THE PROCESS. One important thing to achieve in drawing or painting the human body (or an animal's body) is the dynamism that the figure must have, no matter if it is at rest or in movement.

SOME GOOD DETAILS TO KEEP IN MIND. To get acquainted with the latter, let’s have a look at the body of art of the great masters of dynamic photography, that are Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904, British and U.S.), and Étienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904, France). By the way, they both born in the same year and they died at the same age! And, they got to know each other and each other’s work, but they didn’t establish a close relationship. Let’s not forget the boat made the transcontinental geographical distances in those years. This is because Muybridge lived and work in U.S. and Marey in France.

MY EXPERIENCE DOING THE ARTWORK. Why I used a 3D model when I could buy a nude artistic photo from commercial stocks or use others freely as an initial resource? The reason is that it's hard to find natural and dynamic poses in these galleries. So, having that in mind, I downloaded a free 3D Blender rigged human shaped model. Because it was a rigged, I could pose it in any position. I also defined the sources of light (casting the shadows). When I was satisfied with the results, I made a snapshot out of it.

PAINTING AND RECORDING THE PROCESS. The next step was to use, as an initial source, the cited snapshot. So, I sketched the figure on paper using a black crayon and painted it with an oil painting. You can appreciate the process in an 8 min video at https://www.patreon.com/posts/70780632

LET’S MAKE A MEANINGFUL REFLECTION FROM THE ABOVE. Have you ever mixed these two techniques: digital and traditional? If so, your creative process and initial resources expand.

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