I was thinking about creating a quick index of all of the art pieces I’ve featured since my site/blog came into existence, and after talking with a few artists at the local First Friday gallery walk I decided to do it.

It turns out, it wasn’t a quick thing to do.  Somehow, I’ve featured 44 pieces of art in my art blog.

Still, this was a good chance to go back through the works I’ve featured, and admire them all again.  Some of them have become my very favorite pieces of art, and if anything this long term project has given me the inspiration to be a better artist.

Without further ado, here’s the list.  At the bottom is a thumbnail of each image, numbered left to right and then down.  Thanks in advance for any comments on any of the pieces.

1. Louis Jacques Daguerre
The Effect of Fog and Snow Seen through a Ruined Gothic Colonnade
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=702

2. Thomas Cole
Mount Etna from Taormina
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=621

3. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
The Dream of Ossian
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=591

4. Norman Rockwell
The Young Lady With the Shiner
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=576

5. Vasily Vereshchagin
The Apotheosis of War
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=557

6. Vasily Perov
Found Drowned
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=501

7. Sir Hubert von Herkomer
The Last Muster -Sunday at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=484

8. Howard Pyle
A Wolf Had Not Been Seen in Salem for Thirty Years
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=461

9. Jules Elie Delaunay
The Plague in Rome
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=444

10. J.M.W. Turner
Death on a Pale Horse
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=420

11. Ivan Aivazovsky and Ilya Repin
Pushkin’s Farewell to the Sea
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=403

12. Andreas Achenbach
A Fishing Boat Caught In A Squall Off A Jetty
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=343

13. Elihu Vedder
The Questioner of the Sphinx
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=338

14. Albert Bierstadt
Wind River Country
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=334

15. Frantisek Kupka
Resistance, or The Black Idol
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=321

16. Lord Frederick Leighton
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=317

17. N.C. Wyeth
Gunfight
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=300

18. Frederic Edwin Church
The Icebergs
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=227

19. Edd Cartier
cover for Unknown Fantasy Fiction, December 1939
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=155

20. Ivan Shishkin
Rain in the Oak Grove
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=76

21. Eanger Irving Couse
The Captive
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=71

22. Jean Leon Gerome
Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down)
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=43

23. John Everett Millais
The Blind Girl
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=41

24. Franklin Booth
War on the Tiger
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=38

25. Frank E. Schoonover
Assault on Belleau Wood
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=35

26. Franz Von Stuck
Sin
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=33

27. Ilya Repin
Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan on November 16, 1581
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=32

28. Rene Magritte
The Lovers
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=29

29. Antoine Wiertz
The Premature Burial
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=27

30. Jean-Léon Gérôme
The Duel After the Masquerade
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=26

31. Gustave Dore
Rising of the Bones
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=25

32. Gilbert Rogers
The Dead Stretcher Bearer
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=23

33. Caspar David Friedrich
A Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=22

34. George Bellows
Club Night
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=21

35. Thomas Cole
Expulsion – Moon and Firelight
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=19

36. Frederic Remington
Moonlight, Wolf
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=16

37. Edward Poynter
Faithful unto death
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=15

38. Rob Gonsalves
Still Waters
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=14

39. James Ensor
Skeletons Warming Themselves
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=13

40. Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Medieval Town by Water
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=11

41. H.J. Ward
cover, Spicy Mystery Stories Magazine
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=10

42. Jacek Malczewski
Death
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=9

43. Arnold Bocklin
Self-portrait with Death Playing the Fiddle
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=7

44. John Atkinson Grimshaw
A Moonlit Evening
http://www.darkstormcreative.com/?p=6

Occasionally, and I’ve mentioned this before, I go looking for one image and come up with one that’s completely different. In this case, I had seen Louis Jacques Daguerre’s The Ruins of Holyrood Chapel, and fell in love with it.  But it hasn’t been the easiest to find in a larger size, and while looking for it tonight I came up with this one instead.  I may even like it more.

This is Daguerre’s The Effect of Fog and Snow Seen through a Ruined Gothic Colonnade (1826, Oil on Canvas, 40″ x 60 1/2″), and as soon as I saw it I fell in love with it.  It combines textures, architectures and seemingly a whole new world, and it caught my eye immediately.

First, I really like where your eye is drawn to the image.  Normally, the artist might draw attention to the people in the image, but in this case it really seems like Daguerre wants you looking out into the world. The angles of the architecture all come to the central left of the image, right into the mountains in the distance.  The brightness of the clouds and the mountains themselves are practically illuminated next to the dark, ruined halls.

Those ruined halls also grabbed my eye, and, despite the opposite idea, bring a life to the piece that it may not otherwise have.  This is a forgotten, lost place, but seemingly set within the beauty of nature. It’s as if no matter what has happened here, no matter who has forgotten this place, no one can forget the scene around them.

The textures that Daguerre used throughout the painting are fantastic, and really set everything apart. The mountains have a majestic feel to them, and the harsh, cracked and broken ruins highlight that even more.  There are gaps in the stones on the floor, heavy damage in the columns, and debris everywhere. Daguerre shows the smallest details, from the snow blown in on the floor to the branches that have invaded over time.

I love works of art that bring a new idea, a new world to light. To combine the desolate, forgotten ruins with the majestic natural beauty they lie within is no small feat, and something that Daguerre pulls off wonderfully.

Opinions?

It’s not often that I have more than one image a week, but it really has been a terrible day.  So, I decided to put all that anger and frustration into my artwork, and see if I can’t work out some issues.

I think it worked, my mood has lightened a bit.  It doesn’t change any plans now in motion, but now I can at least smile when I look at the computer.

This piece came completely from my head while I was sitting here, it’s not one I actually planned. But it did come out like I saw it in my head, which may be good and bad. It also wasn’t originally named what it is, but when an American Head Charge song came on I knew it was the perfect title.

It’s called, A Violent Reaction.

It’s been a long few weeks, even months really. It could be that artists are a more sensitive type, or maybe I’m just crazy in the head.  But it’s been a long time since I’ve felt hope at all.

Except, for some reason, and for once, my brain isn’t ready to give up and be depressed. While I sit here listening to the beautiful music of Hans Zimmer, something has changed.

I get a vision of the next bit of time in my head, whether that’s weeks, months, or even years, I’m not sure. It’s not the typical dark, depressing image that would usually flow through my brain right now. This time it’s different.

Luckily for me, it’s one of my favorites pieces of art, Caspar David Friedrich’s A Wanderer Above a Sea of Mist.

There are lots of reasons why I love that painting, most of which I cover in a previous blog post (right… about… HERE). It’s relevant now because, as has happened in the past a few times, I’ve reached a crossroads.  Usually that means I have to pick between the monster on one path, or the dark, bloody trail on the other.

But something’s different now.  I can’t put my finger on it, but it doesn’t feel like the same old darkness.

It feels like hope.

I don’t know why, and I’m sure the depression is still strong. But I seem to feel that a new path is there ahead of me now.  One that I may even win on, with a bit of struggle. I look at my art, and I’m starting to see truth in it.  I’m starting to accept what I do inside, torpedoes be damned I’m going ahead with it.

I think a lot of that is just the idea that in life I haven’t been handed much in the way of support. Yes, I know that sentence doesn’t fit with the rant so far, just bear with me. In my daily life I have very (VERY) few supporters. I’ve had plenty of day positions where all I hear about is the bad, never the good.  That certainly drags on a person, makes them feel worthless, makes them depressed and, well, gray.

But, to steal a title of a movie even before my time, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. I picked up this little thing called a pencil, and started drawing.  Then I picked up a paintbrush, and started painting.  Then, actually, I put the paintbrush down since I had a tiny apartment and the fumes were trying to kill me.

After opening a window, I picked up a less-poisoning ink pen, scratchboard tool, digital tablet, and all the things that I use now. All the things that I use to create my own worlds, my own visions, my own life.

Somewhere along the line, and this isn’t to sound vain as I really am not, but I started getting ok at art.  Even published here and there. I even have two whole fans, people who like what I do and want me to do more.

I realized after that, and after seeing the horrible, unsupportive people in my local life (we won’t talk about the web, where I have FAR more supportive folks), that I’m looking at the wrong end of this life of mine.  I need to turn my back on those people who only want to depress me, to scar what little self confidence I have, and don’t look back.

To listen to those supporters out there, to listen to those who can give me suggestions on how to be better at my work. Not to ignore the world, but to embrace those who are there to help and be constructive, not those who would battle for no other reason than to see me fall.

I’ve decided to walk in the shoes of Friedrich’s wanderer, to find out what lies in the unknown. It won’t be easy, it may even be the most difficult thing I’ve ever attempted.  But I think it’s time to put aside this dark life, and strive to become what I so desperately want to be.

I read a quote by Theodore Roosevelt recently that’s really stuck with me, so I’ll end with that. The time to choose a path has come.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

After a bit of time, I’ve finally created a new art piece.  My goal is to have a new one each month, and I’m just squeaking this one in under the wire.

It’s an idea that I’ve had for awhile, though it’s really gone through several variations.  This one has far more color that the original did, and I was really liking the silhouette of the girl more than the full image of her.  I thought it added a little more creepiness to it, a little more mystery.

I threw in a couple of close ups as well below, since the web’s not all that great for detail sometimes.

I call this one, Eternity in the Old North Hall.

With my daily sketching, I’m looking for two things.  First, just that I get in a daily sort of practice so that I can get better at what I do.  Secondly, it’s to explore new techniques and new ideas.

I’ve never really drawn from pictures before, I’ve always pulled everything right out of my head. In some ways that’s great, I can reasonably generate most things that are asked for.  But I think it tends to give my art a look that’s slightly off of the norm.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it is what it is.  But I think sketching from real life or from photos will eventually help me learn how things work together, how they intertwine with one another, far better than what I can do on my own.

That said, it’s very frustrating when I look at the final effect.  When I build something from scratch, the rules in my head connect everything, and it looks ok.  Looking at a picture though, I’m having problems sticking with proportion, angles and how things really do work together.

I think that’s because I’m more interested in the parts that I’m sketching from a picture, and less the overall piece.  That’s the reverse of how I do art from scratch, when I’m so concerned constantly with how things are together.

It’s a learning process, one that you can see on my Flickr sketching project.  Many of them aren’t so good (a few of them are pretty decent though), but I’m trying to accept that it’s part of the process and continue forth.

Instead of wallowing in the idea that the last sketch is so-so at best, I did something about it.  I worked with it in Photoshop a bunch, and below is the result.  It actually came out far better than the original sketch, and it’s a reminder to me that I just need to work things out, and maybe I’ll get somewhere yet.

I call this piece, “Then rang the bells both loud and deep. God is not dead nor doth he sleep.”

I don’t do recaps too often, since, really, you could probably just scroll down and see it all anyway.  But there are a few things happening away from this site, so I thought I’d highlight them.

1. My Flickr “sketch every day” project, which is at least getting an OK start.  I don’t think my Teddy Roosevelt sketch came out too badly, and the giant lizard man and his friend were fun: www.flickr.com/photos/47005555@N07/
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2. I have a new online store at Etsy, with prints I’m making here at home of my artwork.  Check them out, and while you’re buying a few feel free to let me know if there are other pieces you’d like me to feature there: www.etsy.com/shop/RussellDickerson
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3. I added a new “ask me anything” Formspring… form. Swing on over, and ask me, well, anything: www.formspring.me/RDickerson
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4. I’ve added a few new art blogs below, including works by Thomas Cole, Norman Rockwell and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.  Check them out and as always let me know what you think.
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5. I was recently a guest artist for the very first time, at the fabulous VisionCon in January.  It was a great time, which I also have an entry about below.
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6. I have plenty of social networks you can follow me on, just look under “Contact Russ” over in the right column of the site here. Find me on those sites and talk me up.
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7. Last but not least, I have a new monthly blog for the Apex Book Company, where I talk of nothing but butterflies and tulips.  Though, I may be mistaken on that last part, since the titles of my first two were “WTF? Really? You can’t just tell me who the artist is?” and “My God, What a Stupid Looking Cover“. Follow them monthly at www.apexbookcompany.com/blog/

There are a handful of artists that I’ve seen over the years that never fail to excite me.  These are artists that inspire me to do better, even to see better. Every artist has an artist or two (or 12 in my case) that makes them want to be an artist, and at the top of my list is Thomas Cole.

Imagine then how absolutely amazing it was for me to walk into the Thomas Cole Room at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut.  A whole room for my favorite artist, filled with canvases that I’ve only ever seen in books, and a few more I’ve never seen at all (despite having at least a few Hudson River books).

Above is Cole’s Mount Etna from Taormina (1843, Oil on Canvas, 48″ x 33″), and it’s the centerpiece of the Cole Room (still in awe on that). It’s a large painting, filling much of the wall it hangs on:

Note: I did edit out my friend in this picture, since I never asked her if I could post her image on the web.  She did make a nice scale though to see how big the picture really is.

One thing before we get too much further: I’m a sucker for classical architecture, and I always have been.  Years ago (probably when they were being built) I was an engineering student, and all I could think of was to build buildings like that. So paintings that have architecture like that almost always get an extra score. Even if there are only ruins in it.

I think that Cole captures the area as an idea of eternity. Mount Etna looms in the background, both seemingly at peace and ready for activity, but always there. The ruins in the foreground show the past, and the person walking, along with the farms and boats in the center, show the present.  Cole shows not just a scene of the moment, but is showing the constant movement of life, history, and even loss.

What’s great though, and something I’ve mentioned before, is that when you see a piece at a museum in person you get a better understanding of it.  From the image above and the one you’d see in a book, we could discuss Cole’s composition, his palette, and other general ideas.  But in person, we get to see much more, like the house in the center:

It becomes less just a landscape image and more of an idea of life near this volcano.  Where there are ruins, there are also crops, a home, and someone’s daily life in this extraordinary environment.

You can also see, not just in the house, but Cole’s techniques.  He laid these very brushstrokes on this canvas nearly one hundred and seventy years ago, but we can still walk up and look right at his technique for water, or a boat, or for highlights on the cliff:

To me, seeing how an artist works is fascinating.  Whether it’s watching the modern day artists do their work on the web, or seeing the brushstrokes from an old master, it’s just incredible to see the techniques.

I like Cole’s work here not just because of the strong image and composition, but because of the ideas that went into all of it.  He’s not just painting a volcano, or some old bricks.  He’s bringing a world to life, one that’s not just of the past or the present, but eternal.

Opinions?

I’ve made a conscious effort to sketch every day, even if it’s something small, in the last two weeks.  I now have 13 sketches up on my new Flickr page, and I find it interesting to look back and already see the diversity of what I’m sketching.

I decided when I started sketching this set that I just wanted to let the pencil run free, and not try to reign it in. I have other works of art and projects in motion that require specific things, but with these sketches I just wanted to let my imagination take me on the ride.

So far, it really has been a very diverse set of sketches.  From humor to horror, specific ideas to loose lines, it’s been fun to play.  I think as an artist that’s important, especially when you do have clients and projects.  It’s easy to forget why you are an artist, and that you need your own time and your own imagination to play with.

Go check out the Flickr page, and by all means let me know what you think.  Even on the disturbing ones.

I have an odd brain (you don’t say…), and the way it works with art has always been interesting.  One of those oddities is in working with grayscale vs. color.

I know plenty of artists who start with a grayscale piece and then go and color everything to make it a full color image.  For some reason though, my brain just doesn’t do that.  When I start a grayscale piece, I expect it to stay gray.  When I start a color piece, I start every part of it in color, and go from there.

But I do have have fun sometimes returning to the old gray pieces and adding duotones or other overall colors to them.  I use layer blending modes and multiple layers in Photoshop to give different overall effects.  I’m not going back and coloring individual areas, but rather I’m adding colors to the overall layer and then toying with the effects.

I’m putting a couple of examples below, of pieces that started out gray and have since joined the color world.  The octopus is actually a new sketch from my “2010 sketch every day” idea, you can see the original on my Flickr page here.

As always, let me know what you think, either here, Twitter or Facebook. Actually, that octopus rather unintentionally came out like a Templesmith work.