Aardvarkphil (Phil Williams)

**Aardvarkphil** · September 23rd, 2007, 06:10 AM

Sketchbook (Please leave a comment so I may improve)

My name is Phil and I have recently started drawing, in April. I know it said in the original posting that people of an intermediate level were preferable. But, hopefully you won't mind a complete beginner joining up.

I get a profound enjoyment from drawing. It would be nice to think that with practice and dedication I could get to a stage where I could persue art as career. I feel this is a fair way off, as yet and as such have no detailed plans as to where or how this might work.

I have to balance a full time job, 40 hours a week, with 2 Hour night classes in life drawing(Mon & Tues), watercolours(Wed) and oils(Thrs). These give me some new ideas and techniques but not a great deal of direction. I can't really see my work improving. Or even any kind of consistent skill level emerging. This kinda steals from my motivation to practice with every spare minute I have. Being pretty much self driving I don't really know where I should be going. The people on CA have been great. I thank you all very much for the advice, crits and support ( keep it up PLEASE!).

A closer and more consistent scrutiny of my work would, I feel that, really benefit me. Giving me the direction and nudge to get to where I want to be. Hence the application to Steve.

**Aardvarkphil** · September 23rd, 2007, 12:56 PM

Ok here are three of my pictures which I thought were ok.
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Pretty hard to pick three pictures, I like so many. What I've decided to do is pick from recent artist's that have inspired me. Hope this isn't to far from what you were asking, Steve. These are by no means the only artist's I like to this degree. Or that inspire me, but I think my choices fit the spirit of what was being asked.

This first artist, Douglas Flynt, came up in a random image search, I don't even remember what I was looking for. As I discovered later, he's on CA. His 'Hyper-Realism' is awesome and I would love to be able to paint like him. I picked this image because I love the translucence of the orange pieces, you can almost feel the light coming through them.
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The second artist, Dan Dos Santos, caught my eye when first looking round CA. I just love the way he paints. The image I've chosen is my wallpaper on my work computer. I allows me to drift off to somewhere else when work is being particulary sucky.
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The third, Jonathan Hardesty, is a constant inspiration. Showing that dedication, practice and dogged determination can get you where you want to be. He has a wonderfully loose and expressive style. It allows me to think 'maybe, just maybe.....'
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I don't really dislike these, it's more a case of why did you bother.
Diagonal by Dan Flavin
I think Dan was trying to warn us about the perils of hiring an electrician who takes hallucinogenics. Seriously I just don't get it.
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Grey by Gerhard Richter
Old Gerhard is trying to show us non-statement. I think a better non-statement might have been an empty frame. Hell, that's an idea perhaps I should try and sell an empty frame to the Tate Modern Gallery. Again, I just don't see the point.
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**Aardvarkphil** · September 30th, 2007, 11:55 AM

Here's the portrait. It's the first I've ever done. I did mean to try 3 or 4 times for practice, but just didn't have the time. It seems to have lost something in scanning, but I think you get the idea.
When I had finished and stepped away from it. I released it looks awful. Nothing like the photo of my daughter, I was copying from. I can't believe that when I was drawing it I thought it looked ok. Perhaps it's just a matter of practice or maybe I approached it wrong. I was, kind of dismayed by it all really. I did post for some help, in the CA Lounge, before I started this assignment. I tried to remember what I had been told. I was also trying to remember Ron Lemen's tutorial too. Anyway it took just over 90mins(sorry didn't notice the time, only 96mins).
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**Aardvarkphil** · October 7th, 2007, 07:12 PM

Sorry running a little behind with this weeks assignment. Got some colour studies done. They were great fun but I didn't notice till I was done how long they took. Basically didn't have any time to do anything else. Will try to get 30min portrait done tomorrow. As far as a painting goes will try to do a bit here and there through the week. The black used was Ivory not Lamp as marked on the sheets.
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**steve kim** · October 7th, 2007, 09:47 PM

now u just need to add white to each of those color combinations! hoho (otherwise it really doesnt help you much)

**Aardvarkphil** · October 9th, 2007, 09:46 AM

Here's the 30 min portrait. This was hard not enough time to really do or check anything.
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Haven't had a chance to do the other piece yet but hopefully get something done this week.

**Aardvarkphil** · October 28th, 2007, 06:43 PM

Ok so I still haven't done a painting. I've just started a master copy. Not much to post as of yet. As far as other work I've done, I would direct you to my sketchbook. Can't seem to upload images at the moment, getting a quota exceeded message. Don't really think theres anything that deserves your critique as of yet. I'm afraid I've failed quite miserably with week 3 homework. I just haven't had much spare time or time off from work.

**Aardvarkphil** · October 31st, 2007, 11:16 AM

To be honest since you posted that bit about 'pretend this class ended today'. I kind of thought that it probably would. It's a shame, because I was looking forward to catching up and carrying on. I like the way you look at and analyse things. Your critiques have been informative and fun. I intend to look at them from time to time until I feel I have grasp of all your points.

I can understand why you decided to call an end to class. I thought such a big class was going to be alot of work. Especially as some of us (ME) were so far behind the others skill levels and knowledge. I felt almost out of my depth with what you were asking us to do. But again that was probably the idea.

The painting is more difficult than I possibly imagined. Don't get me wrong I think I'm falling in love with oils as a medium. But it's not just a case of 'do a painting'. I spend most of my time colour mixing and then after a while turning the canvas brown where i try to paint to many different colours. So I scrape it off and try again. Now I'm doing studies of parts of the 'Sargent master copy' to try and get the colour mixing and layering right, mostly not so far. But I only seem to be able to get an hour of good light at the end on the day to work in. But I will get there I'm sure.

The week 3 homework is still asking me to make decisions on things I don't really know the answers too. I know it must all seem very simple to you but I still don't really know what too choose for the studies. I really need to improve everything. Which thing do I pick? That was my point for being mentored. As you pointed out some of us required some hand holding. Are well it probably doesn't matter now anyway.

I had hoped that I would have gotten the chance to get some of your help with my master study. And oils and colour mixing in general. I will do the portraits you asked for. But for some reason, probably due to the CA upgrades, I still can't attach any images to my posts. So I will wait till that issue is resolved and hopefully I have more time. Things are now settling down after the students have come back, fingers crossed.

Anyway I wish to say a hearty Thank You for your time and effort. Overall it was a very positive experience and was much appreciated. It has also shown me that between work, family and life it's damn difficult to keep any meaningful space free for Art and creativety.

I hope you're going to Seattle so I may thank you in person. I wish you luck with your future enterprises. And you won't mind if I call on you from time to time for advice and possibly a little direction. If there is anything I can ever do for you please don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers Phil Williams

**steve kim** · October 31st, 2007, 10:02 PM

thanks for the response phil. for a moment there i wondered if my last e-mail even went through.

you should definitely post the remainder of any work that you have. i will give you my two cents through the forum.

i always pushed for the students to think for themselves because this along with sheer will are the things most lacking out there. and for it to be get better, like drawing and painting, it requires practice.

i still think you beat yourself up too much about your abilities or experience. make the time. do the work. if it's truly something you love it will sustain itself. when you are learning think about how you would teach it to someone else because essentially that is what learning is. teaching yourself.

steve