Thomas Worthington Whittredge

by Armand Cabrera

Thomas Worthington Whittredge was born in 1820 on his family’s farm near Springfield, Ohio. His father was a retired sea captain. The family had moved from Massachusetts in 1817 and settled on the little Miami River. Whittredge’s education was extremely limited; most of his time was spent working the farm as a child and trapping animals for their pelts. Whittredge asked his father to leave home at 17 and with his father’s blessing he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to serve as an apprentice house and sign painter to his sister’s husband.

As a sign painter he learned to draw and letter and was soon creating pictures for all types of signs and banners. He later tried his hand running a daguerreotype studio in Indianapolis, Indiana, to disastrous results that left him broke and sick and was taken in by Henry Ward Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin. For helping him recover, Whittredge painted portraits of the Beecher family members.

In 1843 Whittredge decided to pursue landscape painting, and secured lines of credit against the paintings he would make abroad. In 1849 he traveled to Düsseldorf, Germany, to further his training at the Düsseldorf Academy. He received informal training from landscape painter Andreas Achenbach and became friends with Carl Friedrich Lessing. Whittredge travelled through Europe and sketched with Albert Bierstadt staying for 4 years in Rome where they were joined by Sanford Robinson Gifford and William Stanley Haseltine.

In 1859 Whittredge returned to America to live in New York City. He rented a space in the now famous Tenth Street Studio Building. Whittredge sought a unique approach for his American landscapes. He turned to nature and he began painting the Catskills and along the Hudson River with his friends Sanford Gifford and Gervis McEntee. Other painters were also pursuing an American aesthetic they were John Frederick Kensett, Richard Hubbard, George Inness, Alexander Wyant John Casilear, James Hart, William Hart and of course Frederick Church Asher Durand and Albert Bierstadt. These artists came to be known as the Hudson River School.

Just before the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860 Whittredge was elected to the National Academy of Design and becoming a full member in 1862. Whittredge tried to inlist in the war but was turned away. During the war he worked to help raise money and make clothes for the troops. He became President of the National Academy of Design from 1874 to 1877.

In 1865 Whittredge accompanied General Pope on a tour of the Missouri Territory, the Eastern Rockies and New Mexico. Worthington married in 1868. In 1880 bought some land and built a house for his family in Summit, New Jersey. In the 1890’s Whittredge began writing his autobiography which he completed in 1905. Thomas Worthington Whittredge died three months before his ninetieth birthday in 1910.

Bibliography



The Autobiography of Worthington Whittredge 1820-1910
Edited by John I. H. Baur
1969 Arno Press



Techniques of the Artists of the American West
Peggy Samuels
1990 Wellfleet Press

Quote

A landscape painter is only at home when he is out of doors. It matters not whether he is an Impressionist or one of the older schools who dwelt with more rigors on form and outline.~ Thomas Worthington Whittredge

Quotes from Harvey Dunn part 5

This will be my last post on the Harvey Dunn quotes. The blog is a labor of love for me and one of its perks is getting to correspond with other likeminded artists. Some of these people I have not met in person but still I am glad for their contact with me.

Kev Ferrara is one such person. I would like to thank Kev Ferrara for sending me some more Dunn images to post with the quotes. Between fighting the good fight on just about every art blog and forum I read and also offering his insight and knowledge about the art process to people, I don’t know how he finds the time to draw and paint. Thanks Kev! I hope we get a chance to meet some day.





To visualize the simple values, think of how things appear in the shadow when your eyes are accustomed to the bright light and of how things appear in the bright light when your eyes are accustomed to the shadow. How many values can you distinguish on coming from indoors into the brilliant sunlight and vice versa?

Lick touches of light into the shadow field to give zip to the points of interest in the quiet tones and to tie the light field and the shadow filed together, similarly put a few flicks of dark in to the light field.

Only the greatest contrasts are at first perceivable. The value range will be light, halftone, shadow. The subtler values will be lost. This is the effect to aim at when expressing strong light. To see simply is to see pictorially. In strong light there will be no color in the shadow. By using absolute shadow or black, to draw in the shadow forms, all the values can be painted in local color.



Balance: Opposition of lines, values, colors forms, textures etc. in unequal but related proportions.

Maintain the integrity of the local value of every form. Paint the black, black and the white, white as it appears. The light will unify the values. One fleck of light on the dark will serve to bring the whole form into light.



Ideas are intelligent active things which present themselves to your consciousness for expression. You can only be receptive and express them as they will be expressed. It is not possible for a man to sit down and cold-bloodedly think up ideas- ideas can only come to you when you have an open mind to receive them.



If your life is full you will paint full pictures If it is empty your pictures will be empty too.



Any picture that needs a caption is a weak picture.



Get it down and get it said, to hell with everything else.

Quotes from Harvey Dunn Part 4

Quotes from Harvey Dunn Part 4

The lightest light and the darkest dark is in the eye.


Do not be so afraid that your picture will not be seen. Who tells you to make everything hard the art editors? Why if they knew how to do it themselves, they would not be art editors, they could not afford to.



Commence your picture by first establishing the three main values of your focal center, as hair face and background; and work on that until you have it right. Then paint the rest of the picture in that tonal range and do not under any circumstances depart from it. With your main tones decided you have the key to all the remaining tones. Use all the tones you want within the established values.



A background can be painted in the same range of values as the foreground by reversing the light effect; painting the lights cool and the shadows warm in the shadow plane and warm lights and cool shadows in the sunlight plane.



Use separate brushes for warm tones cool tones and mixtures.



Use shadow tones of white for highlights on the dark.



You establish the key for the picture when you put down your first strokes for the flesh in shadow.



The center of the shadow tone in a large light area may be lightened to throw more light in the shadow, as the edge will carry the mass.

Paint related masses together as one. It will simplify the composition and give greater carrying power to the masses.



Where a few details will serve to convey the idea, don’t use many.



In a decoration do not go into factual detail or anything else that does not contribute to the decorative effect.



In design darks may be used anywhere, but in representing natural phenomena they must follow visual laws.



In decoration contrasts must be softened in receding planes.



The light pattern and shadow pattern of a design must be kept apart.



If the light source is cool the shadows must be warm.



If the shadow tone of white is high in value eliminate as much as possible from the background.



In design tie the sides of the shape together with a pattern of shadow. Then draw in the form with deep shadow (dark) leaving the light area to the last. The whole picture will thus fall into a simple scheme of light, halftone and dark.

A man of but mediocre talent who is furiously driven by deep desire will get somewhere. He who doesn’t desire deeply isn’t hurt much by failure.

Wedding Portraits

Last month i worked on a couple of portraits for two weddings. It feels entirely special to be able to create work for a magical event in someones life. The first is a bride and groom portrait set to hang up at the wedding reception, commissioned by Angelica Salinas-Jones, - and the second was a gift for a Norwegian couple named Janne and Oystein.

getting to know you

hey dudes. This is me - today - without a pet and wishing for a cat - freshly 22 - brain crazy/boy crazy/cat crazy - killed by the pre raphaelites - wishing to be cleopatra - psyched up on pear juice. woo. Just wanted to say hello.

No Words

Brain is going crazy.

Prim collar and diamond

A painting done primarily with sweeps of colour and only a rare amount of lead pencil.
Trying out some new techniques.

this week: re-learning how to be a human being.

Quotes from Harvey Dunn Part 3

These quotes are compiled from students notes. They were passed down to me from some of my teachers who studied with Dunn Students like Harold Von Schmidt and Kenneth Riley. Some of these quotes appear in a slightly different form in 'An Evening in the classroom'  I have two more pages of these to publish, about 1300 words in all. I have published two other posts of Dunn Quotes here
These have been a great source of inspiration to me over the years and I hope you find them helpful.

Try planning a picture in ivory black and raw sienna.

When we start a picture we begin with a shape. Our first problem is to introduce into the shape a form. It may be only a line that will tie the sides together.

If the distance is dark the values will grow lighter towards the foreground.

One authentic detail will make the whole picture.

You cannot paint a picture from the model.

Keep repeating your main values it will give your picture unity.

An arm is all one; paint it so with one stroke of the brush

Play up to one color note

Light and dark, warm and cool colors, in equal proportions produce static neutrality, balancing each other right out of the picture.

To simplify your scene, paint as many things as possible in the same value. Then vary the texture and edges. Let modeled form come against flat surfaces, detail against simplicity, hard against soft etc.

When the center of interest is established in its tonal relations, that becomes the key to the picture and you have to stick to it whether you like it or not.

Eliminate everything that is not relevant to the main purpose.

When two values nearly alike come together, paint them as one value.

Dark in light must be at least as the shadow tone of white. If the light is soft paint it soft.

Form is expressed in the light tones by dark accents, in the dark tones by light accents.

Pictorial art is relating tones to create beauty- like chords of music- not the faithful copying of the model.

In the model there is a confusion of tones that have no meaning in art.

Do not have an important dark and important light in the same picture they will destroy each other.

If you see a thing dark make it darker; large paint it larger; small paint it smaller, then your work will be positive.

One dark accent will give accent to a high key picture.

Make your picture either a figure with a background secondary or a landscape with a figure secondary.

One dark note in a passage of light will heighten the effect of light.

To make light more brilliant, raise the value of the shadow. The light in your picture must be kept separate from the shadow. If you bear in mind that the light on dark must be at least as light as the shadow tone of white, your values will take care of themselves.

Begin a picture by first laying in the values, and then clearly define the edges.

Paint the large areas as indefinitely as you like, but paint the details with integrity.

Armand Cabrera featured at a new Fine Art Gallery!

I am now showing my work in Middleburg Virginia in a new gallery and wine tasting room.

I have sixty paintings on permanent display for sale. The owners are Brian and Sharon Roeder of Barrel Oak Winery. The tasting room serves Barrel Oak and other local fine wines from Virginia. As an extension of the Barrel Oak community, the gallery is dog friendly.

The new venue is called the Barrel Oak Fine Art Gallery and Wine Tasting Room it is located in downtown Middleburg right on highway 50; the address is 8 East Washington Street ( Highway50).

 If you are in Northern Virginia and want to have a glass of wine while viewing art this is the place to come.

The space has two floors; the  downstairs has my paintings of Virginia and the tasting room with tables and chairs and the upstairs has another tasting bar and work from my painting trips of the last few years. This was a huge commitment for me, coming up with so many framed paintings but I think all the hard work has paid off.

I will be in the gallery painting on July 28th from 5pm to 8pm. If you are in the area stop by and have a glass of wine while watching a painting demonstration. I will finish a painting from a blank canvas and answer questions about my process, artistic influences, and philosophy.

The gallery and tasting room hours are Thursday and Sunday and holiday Mondays 11am to 7 pm and Friday and Saturday 11am to 8pm.

Barrel Oak Fine Art Gallery & Wine Tasting Room

8 East Washington Street

Middleburg VA

Gallery Phone 540. 687. 6111

View Paintings at Barrel Oak

Black Box

And now you have entered the abyss.

Harold Von Schmidt

By
Armand Cabrera


Harold Von Schmidt was born in 1893 in Alameda California. One of five children, he was second to the youngest. Von Schmidt’s father was a sea captain and his mother was a ballet dancer. Both his parents were killed in an accident when Von Schmidt was only five. His sister who was the oldest child was sent to live with an aunt. The boys were sent to an orphanage in San Mateo where they were split up again because of their ages. Von Schmidt stayed with his younger brother Roland. Von Schmidt immediately had to learn to fight to protect himself and his brother. The fights continued when he entered elementary school where he was singled out for being from an orphanage.

Eventually Von Schmidt and his brothers went to live with their grandfather who was in his eighties. His grandfather had been an engineer and a surveyor in the Sierras. The stories his grandfather would tell about eastern California delighted the young Von Schmidt. He spent his time drawing cowboys and horses. His Grandfather gave him a set of watercolors and would encourage him to paint things. He studied at the California School of arts and Crafts for a year and a half starting in his last year of high school and later taught as an assistant at the Unviersity of California Berkeley.

Although he always wanted to be an artist, Von Schmidt had many rough jobs when he was young. He worked in a logging camp, helped build dams, and worked on the docks and in railroad yards as a lumper, loading and unloading freight. In high school and college he played football and rugby. In 1920 at age  twenty seven Von Schmidt played rugby in the Olympics for the American team and they won the gold.

His first job as an artist was in San Francisco, working in advertising, he rented a space in a building with other artists of the time, Maynard Dixon, Armin Hansen and Gottardo Piazzoni. Von Schmidt worked as Dixons studio assistant for three years where he was introduced to Dixons friends Charlie Russell and Ed Borien.

In 1924 after a failed marriage to his high school sweetheart Von Schmidt moved to New York. His friend Joe Sinel, an illustrator he had worked with in San Francisco, convinced him to come east and there he began getting work in advertising. He remarried and he and his new wife had two children.

Von Schmidt still wanted to be an illustrator for the magazines, at thirty one he had been working as an artist for nine years. He knew he wanted to be a better artist. Von Schmidt enrolled in Harvey Dunn’s night classes and credits Dunn with changing the way he thought about illustration. Dunn taught him not just to illustrate the story he was assigned but to paint the epic so that the painting would stand as a picture in its own right.

Von Schmidt went on to illustrate for all of the major magazines of the time including Colliers Weekly, Liberty Magazine, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and The Saturday Evening Post. He was president of the Society of Illustrators from 1938 to 1941, served as an artist war correspondent in World War II, and helped form the Famous Artist Course School in 1949.

Von Schmidt was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1959, and was commissioned by the Postal Service in 1960 to create a stamp commemorating the Pony Express. He was the first artist awarded the Trustees Gold Medal from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1968.

Harold Von Schmidt died in 1982 at the age of 89

Bibliography

Harold Von Schmidt Draws and Paints the Old West
Walt Reed
Northland Press 1972

200 Years of American Illustration
Henry C. Pitz
Random House 1977

The Illustrator in America (3 Volumes)
Walt Reed
The Society of Illustrators 1966, 1980, 2000

Famous American Illustrators
Arpi Ermoyan
Rotovision 1997

Quote

I draw and paint outdoors not to make easel pictures but to acquire experience and knowledge as reference for both the form and color of a locale and the people who live there or travel through it. This has helped me to handle a variety of subjects. It has further sustained my interest in illustration. The world exists as reference, and I try to use it. I constantly bring parts of it into my files in color and forms, through sketches and drawings. They are mine alone and have paid me well for the time, money and love expended on them. The beauty and value of field work is that though many have commented on nature, here is one place where each artist can work out their own approach to it.~ Harold Von Schmidt