Ain't No Sunshine

I painted this small oil painting of a live model who was posing for a sketch group that meets once a week in Dunedin, Florida. We joined the group a few months ago. There is no instructor and each artists brings whatever materials they want to use. I have done several drawings there using a variety of media, but decided to bring oils and a canvas for this portrait. I try to capture the mood as well as a a realistic painting of the model when I am there.  This  model, Gerrell, seemed weary both physically and emotionally. . .as if it had been a long hard life already. 

Ain't No Sunshine. Oils on canvas painting of a live model. 11 x 14 inches. 2017.

Draped Woman. Pan Pastels on Tinted Strathmore paper drawing from life. 2017.

Reclining Woman. Pan pastel drawing from life on Tinted Strathmore paper. 2017.

Reclining Female. Pan Pastel drawing from live model. 2017

Seated Nude. Pan Pastel drawing of live model. 2017

For centuries, artists learned to draw and paint the figure and portraits realistically carefully following the traditional methods developed by the artists before them. Around 1800 a man named Thomas Wedgwood tried to capture images using a camera obscura. Thus began an exciting new method of making realistic images of people and scenery. Traditional painters found the world had moved on and was no longer interested in conventional realistic paintings.  After all, if you want a representational image, just use a camera!

So artists began experimenting with different approaches and methods of portraying their subjects.  Paint was applied in little dashes and dots, colors were no longer blended as in Impressionism and Pointillism.  Focus on shapes (cubism) and wild colors became popular (fauvism and expressionism, surrealism).  Eventually abstract art, dadaism and a complete move away from any sort of representational art occurred.. Realism was all but abandoned by most artists during the 1900's.  Only a handful of artists continued to value the teachings of the old masters.

As time has gone on,however, the public has grown bored with abstract, non-representational art. At the turn of the 21st century we are finding an interest in realistic paintings, landscapes, city and seascapes, figurative paintings and drawings in a variety of media is growing. A rebirth of realism is happening. . . that is based on the skills and methods developed over the centuries but with a new twist. . .contemporary realism is beginning to take hold.

Artists are once again painting and drawing from live models, going out in the fields to paint plein air and there is a renewed interest in painting still lifes in an uber-realistic manner.  Artists are beginning to study with the Masters. 

That is what I trying to do with my art. 

Can You Break the Ties That Bind?

Pan Pastels, Charcoal and Graphite drawing of live model. 11 x 17 inches. 2017

The ties that are binding this man may be interpreted in many different ways. For me, these ties are symbolic of  bad memories that keep us imprisoned and unable to move forward with our lives. . . the pain over unfair losses, mistreatment, resentments and sorrows, bitterness and inability to forgive as well as things we ourselves did and failed to do that harmed others.  The list of things that torture us can seem endless.  

These ties blind us and make us unable to speak. They trap us and seem impossible to break. And yet, in truth, they are flimsy and easily broken and removed once we become aware of the truth of our condition and ask for help from a Power greater than ourselves.

For me, that One is God.   

In the Stillness of Remembering

". . . listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat.. drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering what you had
And what you lost...
And what you had...
And what you lost

 Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing . . ."

In the Stillness of Remembering. Drawing by Ruth Mabee Rouleau 
Pan pastel, Prisma and Graphite on Tinted Strathmore Drawing Paper. 18 x 24 inches. 2017.

Lyrics from Dreams by Fleetwood Mac.

No One Ever Said We'd Have It Easy

". . . Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh, take me back to the start
I was just guessing
At numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science
Science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart . . ."

Lryics from "The Scientist: by Corinne Bailey

No One Ever Said We'd Have It  Easy. Pan Pastel and Graphite on Tinted Strathmore Paper. 16 x 16 inches. 2017.

"We have art in order to not die from the Truth." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

"When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks at you." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

It's all in how you see things

I've Seen Lonely Times

Maybe it's me, maybe it's the pose of this model or the look in his eyes, but I found myself thinking about the words to James Taylor's song, Fire and Rain as I drew this drawing recently.

". . . I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought that I'd see you again."

I think all people experience and struggle with loneliness at times in their lives, a sense of isolation and emptiness . . . a feeling of wanting to be with others, but finding ourselves disconnected, perhaps even alienated or abandoned. 

Some thinkers say this is just part of being human. "We come into the world alone, travel through life as a separate person and ultimately die alone." Others believe we are not meant to be alone -- that we are complete only when we find another person to share our life with.  And still other say we can only fill the hole in our heart when we have a close relationship with God.      

 I've Seen Lonely Times. Mixed media on tinted Strathmore paper. 14 x 18 inches. 2017. 

Drawing of a live model.

Never Look Back

I can't live
If living is without you
I can't live
I can't give anymore
I can't live
If living is without you
I can't give
I can't give anymore
 ~ from lyrics to "Without You" 
as sung by Mariah Carey

 I always knew looking back on my tears would bring me laughter,
but I never knew looking back on my laughter would make me cry.
~ Cat Stevens

Pan Pastel and Graphite on Toned Paper. 9 x 12 inches. 2017.

June 2017 ~~ 
I am continuing to be interested in drawing and painting figures from life in a variety of poses. . . focusing on movement using graceful line and light and dark to express a mood or feeling. 

Can you hear the music? Female figure life drawing. Mixed media (graphite and pan pastel) on Strathmore toned tan drawing paper. 9 x 12 inches. June 2017.

So Far Away

So far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place any more?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
It doesn't help to know you're just time away
Long ago I reached for you and there you stood
Holding you again could only do me good
Oh how I wish I could but you're so far away

One more song about moving along the highway
Can't say much of anything that's new
If I could only work this life out my way
I'd rather spend it being close to you

But you're so far away
Doesn't anybody stay in one place any more?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door
It doesn't help to know you're so far away
Yeah yeah so far away

Traveling around sure gets me down and lonely
Nothing else to do but close my mind
I sure hope the road don't come to own me
There's so many dreams I've yet to find

~ Lyrics to So Far Away sung by Carole King

So Far Away. Pan Pastel and Pastel Pencils on Strathmore Drawing Paper. 16 x 22 inches. 2017.

 

 

Pensive. 

Pan Pastel and Colored Pencil on Strathmore Tinted Paper. 18 x 24 inches. 2017.

Sleeping Nude

Pan Pastel on Drawing Paper. 2017.

Survivor

Pan Pastel on Tinted Drawing Paper. 18 x 24 inches. 2017.

Approaching Storm

How do birds survive storms? 
We have the luxury of being able to run into our homes and get out of the wind and rain, while birds are seemingly at the mercy of the elements. Actually birds are quite resourcefully equipped to handle being out in the weather.  They have a sort of sixth sense that is sensitive to barometric pressure, so they know when bad weather is approaching. Then they immediately begin to prepare by foraging for food. They fill their bellies since they don't know how long the storm will last. Then they find someplace that provides some shelter and hunker down until the brunt of the wind and rain passes.  Birds are also equipped with feathers that repel water and that can be fluffed up or flattened down to keep them warm and dry. 

Much can be learned from birds about what to do when storms or difficulties of any kind beset us in our lives. Like the birds, we can be aware of the storms on our horizon   and take care of our basic needs until the storm passes. 
Approaching Storm. Oils on canvas. 16 x 20 inches. 2017.

Back In The Day

I began drawing as a child sitting on the floor in front of my father's television set as he watched the Saturday night fights. I tried to draw the boxers and wrestlers as they squared off in the ring. There were no art instructors in our small rural town and all I had was typing paper and a 2B pencil. Drawing kept me quiet and out of the way so my parents were happy, and I was happy too as I tried to draw the men in their stances.   

Despite my lack of training and exposure to art, I eventually found myself entering the university in the sixties and studying art as a major. Many of the students were from cities, some had even studied at the Art Institute in Chicago, so I was a green horn, a hick from the sticks who had a lot to learn.  A little intimidated at first, once I began to draw in the Life Drawing classes, I relaxed and felt at home. I went on to study a variety of different media, art theory and history. I loved it all.  The four years I spent there were splendid, perhaps the most wondrous years of my life - an experience for which I will forever be grateful. 

Back In The Day. Mixed Media on Tinted Paper. 9 x 12. 2017. Drawn from a photo of Jeff Barsky taken back in the day.

Figurative Study.

Meditation

I have been learning to find peace and stillness by practicing mindfulness and quieting the mind. Let go of all thoughts racing through the  mind and rest and relax into the present moment.  Breathing in peace and love gently. Breathing out all anxiety and all disturbance as it comes into the mind. Breathe in peace, quieting and refreshing the mind. . .
Meditation. Mixed media drawing. 16 x 20 inches. 2017.

Ennui

Many frequently fall into a state of ennui, boredom and weariness of the world, quietly struggling with the meaninglessness of life despite an incredibly fast paced life of constant stimulation. One escapes into daydreams and time goes by until we awaken from our reverie.

Been walking my mind to an easy time, my back turned towards the sun.
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around.
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come.
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
but I always thought that I'd see you baby, one more time again, now.

Thought I'd see you one more time again.
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now.
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you, fire and rain, now. ~ James Taylor