Time Consumed

Category: Process

  • Millet, Van Gogh and What I’m Learning About Repetition

    Millet, Van Gogh and What I’m Learning About Repetition

    I’m writing this I take a break from ruining a painting I’d just started.

    I’d drawn the image in 6b pencil onto heavy paper and completely forgot to gesso it first. The thinned paint soaked straight in and drowned the drawing before I’d got anywhere with it. So I stopped, gessoed five more sheets to make sure I’ve always got primed paper ready, and sat down to write instead.

    My Old Dog

    So the image I was drawing – my old dog.  At the ripe age of 13 he has suddenly gone deaf and it made me realise how old he actually is as he still looks and acts like a pup.  So whilst he is still around I thought I would set about painting him. 

    I am currently re-reading a book about the repetitions Van Gogh made throughout his painting life.  It’s a really great book as it details the how’s and the possible ‘why’s’ Van Gogh painted what he did.  A technique that was discovered was that Gogh liked to make repetitions and drawings from life using a grid.  So I had taken a lovely picture of my dog and drew him on the ‘unprimed’ paper, drowning him in thinner and a touch a raw umber.

    I may have ruined this image but what I noticed was how intently I copied him and how I noticed things I hadn’t noticed before.  How big his black nose is, how his eyes slightly drop into the friendliest dog eyes.  His character is of unbound energy and curiosity without a harmful bone in his body.

    The next day I drew him again, on primed paper this time with a successful undercoat of yellow ochre and Liquin.  Inspired by Van Gogh I may make 2.  One which is realistic, the first sitting.  Then I will paint from this painting a second version, a repetition with techniques and colours similar to what I think Van Gogh would use.

    A new drawing with a undercoat made of yellow ochre and Liquin at about 50:50 ratio.

    I’m almost finished reading Van Gogh Repetitions, (I’ll add a link at the end if you are interested in acquiring a copy). I also have learnt that Van Gogh was deeply inspired by Jean-Francois Millet, a French artist who specialised and was deeply attached to country life in France. Van Gogh did a few paintings after Millet such as The Sower.  It wasn’t a direct replication, however close, and completed in Van Gogh’s style.  Before reading this it didn’t occur to me that the greats copied one another. Doing a bit of research it seemed copying one another’s images, either to learn or as appreciation was quite frequent among many. Dali also took inspiration from Millet, as did many impressionists following.

    Introduction to Jean-Francois Millet

    Millet was inspired by Japanese Wood prints, as Van Gogh was towards the latter end of his painting. In fact there were quite a few references Van Gogh had taken from Millet.  Millet was known as The ‘Fauve’ (great beast) of modern art. I started reading ‘Millet and Modern Art’ on Internet Archive (I nearly bought the book but am trying to lessen my consumption of buying!) and the connection between how inspired artists were by other artists is a lot closer than I thought.  Millet in return was inspired by Nicolas Poussin. It goes back to the saying ‘Nothing is Original’ by Jim Jarmusch. This is the part that fascinates me. Studying both the visual connection between artists’ way of working but also the meaning behind their work. The hows and the whys.

    My Art Progress – Butterfly No.1

    I have also finished Butterfly No.1 which is on my homepage.  I was undecided whether it was finished and thought about going into it more and working into it further but I think I will leave it for now. I may come back to it later.

    Links to further reading and Watching


    Millet and Modern Art.
    https://www.biblio.com/book/van-gogh-repetitions-rathbone-eliza-robinson/d/1746147408?srsltid=AfmBOooScd7cU20eHLUbRrXHxm8P8T14XVvdrC1pF3yWlaDcxsmQIV5bMFo

    Below is a link to a YouTube video from The National Gallery talking about Nicholas Poussin as ‘The painters painter.
    https://www.google.com/search?q=Nicholas+Poussin&rlz=1C5OZZY_enGB1170GB1172&oq=Nicholas+Poussin&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTILCAEQLhgKGAsYgAQyCwgCEAAYChgLGIAEMgsIAxAAGAoYCxiABDILCAQQABgKGAsYgAQyCwgFEAAYChgLGIAEMgsIBhAAGAoYCxiABDILCAcQABgKGAsYgAQyCwgIEAAYChgLGIAE0gEINDIzMWowajeoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&source=chrome.ob&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c8608e78,vid:3ckw3GAD130,st:0

    As I was writing this I received an email from ‘Paint Coach’, a wonderful painter who offers free courses on painting tutorials. This week was about dog paintings so will be worth a watch.

    Good bye for now.

  • Progress of The Butterfly

    Progress of The Butterfly

    Values are about correct with what has been painted so far. Next step will be adding in the honeysuckle and detail in the winds. This will be titled Butterfly No.1.

    One week since my last post I have been adding to the butterfly picture every day. I now understand the reason why oil painters have so many pictures on the go at the same time. Oil painting is a process of addition and sometimes subtraction, but all in all it is the process of building up a picture. Those layers take time to dry. Rush it and it turns to mud, but that’s where the beauty lies. It’s a slow and contemplative process, of looking and painting, looking again and repainting, looking and reflecting.

    I decided the background had become too dark so I added layers of grey to get the values correct. I have moved onto the wings and the bright greens and yellow that form the highs.

    Fat over lean Understood!

    I’m particularly enjoying the blending of the dark areas, and especially the way the lightened areas of the dark look. It was a mistake making those areas so dark in the first place but the quality, the kind of multi-faceted dark, is quite reflective of the original. I’ve eased off the turps a bit now because it was starting to look a bit flat and matte, so the fat over lean principle is definitely in place and I understand the technique.

    There’s a sense of movement already to the image, both of the wings of the butterfly and the areas around. This has a lot to do with my brushstroke I think. Not applying the paint in large strokes, but small, almost elliptical marks. It reminds me of the artist Y.Z. Kami that I mentioned in my previous post. It can be read here https://timeconsumed.com/the-ebay-purchased-painting-and-its-copy/

    The Ebay purchased painting and it’s copy.

    His Domes series has a sense of movement, very delicate and ethereal. This is his Domes series on the link here;

    https://gagosian.com/exhibitions/2025/yz-kami-the-domes

    Painting as meditation

    The quite strange thing I have noticed so far when I have my daily moments of painting is that everything else goes quiet. My head, the noise outside. It is quite meditative and the sense of doing a little bit every day of something I love is quite humbling.

    I would say about fifty percent there with Butterfly No.1. I say number one as I think this could become a series, or a body of work. Many people look at butterflies for their beauty. I do too, but I like the idea of a butterfly more. The fleeting moment that I keep coming back to. The delicacy and mysteriousness of them. I know Damien Hirst did a series of butterfly art, but it wasn’t for me. To me it looked like trophy hunting. A wall of butterflies, almost like a wall of stag heads. I wonder if there is a meaning behind his series?

    This feels like the start of a body of work rather than a single painting. Butterfly no.1, with no.2 already waiting behind it.