fred is dead and I am back as I am

**mir** · December 9th, 2006, 12:49 PM

Welcome back.It's nice to have you here.Your tutorials and excercises were very useful.

**Art_Addict** · December 9th, 2006, 01:23 PM

Thanks for the words.
I would love to attend a lecture by Craig Mullins one day.
It's comforting to hear such thoughts from 2 very fine artists.

**lyon** · December 9th, 2006, 04:29 PM

You kick that fred guy's but!!

Great to see work from you again Ron. I still go back and admire the gouache paintings you posted so long ago. I can't wait to see more. I enjoy the music ones, but the old knight is my favorite. That old guy makes me happy.

Howard

**Konstruktion** · December 9th, 2006, 08:23 PM

Nice work man. And that quotation of yours really made me think, appriciate it, alot.

And that storyboard with the guys playing basketball and the horse, what is it made for?

**ron lemen** · December 9th, 2006, 10:19 PM

sarcophagus, the basketball boards were for Pony Shoes. And thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

ROn

**Dan.v.D.** · December 10th, 2006, 08:29 AM

i always considered your work to be technically excellent but sorta sterile, to much focused on modelling alone. it seems you discovered athmosphere as subject for your art lately and i love it. i'm really amazed. to me it looks like a huge change and it speaks volumes about your dedication to what you do.
can't wait to witness your next steps.

**Kan Muftić** · December 11th, 2006, 09:22 AM

And where the hell are the images?

**stalsby** · December 11th, 2006, 09:56 AM

very cool painting, good work!

**Kan Muftić** · December 11th, 2006, 10:35 AM

Now i see the pictures. Weird...

I'm speechless.

**Oblio** · December 11th, 2006, 10:57 AM

auch.. my jaw..
see you soon Ron. My mind is still at your guashes ...

**blog** · December 11th, 2006, 11:02 AM

fucking awesome man!

**ron lemen** · December 11th, 2006, 01:45 PM

Dan v.D.-I totally agree with you. My work has been academically stiff for too long. I believe its a part of self educating, if no one is there to help you with the problem/solution, or not there to tell you when enough is enough, it becomes a total habit, unbreakable.

Craig hit the thought right on the head and I had never heard anyone describe art that way before, in such a comprehensive manner. My wife has been that sort of artist her entire life, it shows in her work. I try and figure out what makes it so, and its difficult when we are both growing technically with so many different artists. WHat is freedom within the rules you acquire. Having someone outside close to home really helped me split the catagories into just that. What is learning, that is, what are the things you do in school, to learn, and on my end no, to impart? What is doing? When does doing and learning split into what they should become, their own worlds? When and how to we recognize this? If they are different from one another, what is art? What is creating and why is it? Sounds like the questions we ask in that meaning of life idea no? The meaning of art in this case, but very similar.
I dont claim to have completely torn myself from the rules I teach, that is very difficult to eliminate part of my brain that I use in other ways. It is difficult to have a good time unrestricted when restrictions are trained to the students...
Digital has helped to understand the craft of exploration at no cost but the price of the software and computer, wacom tablet and power...but its still less painful than watching 30 dollars in paint get chucked again, another canvas, two lost brushes to the battle, etc. Once I gained an insight into what I can now do with exploring, as opposed to all the other times prior to a descent understanding/education, it has been much easier and so much more rewarding to tear and hack into something and find my way back out of it...

anyway, deeper concepts can't arise from the normal order of things, they are unto themselves and require further understanding on their part to gain a comprehension of how to integrate them into what it is we are trying to say, and that too requires exploring.

Seeing what Vanessa does all the time, curious to that understanding, and having been "stuck" in school for too long, then having a shakedown in thinking has been a great learning tool, although there are hardships and heartaches that go along with all of this. Loss is never fun, learning there is something more is always difficult to want to grasp, and I think so many are satisfied with just having what they learned. I came close to falling into this catagory, and I hope that I never fall into it again...with Vanessa always avoiding this trap, I have the best guide I can possibly have been blessed with to help, and this all does eventually project outward into everything you do and are, I believe I understand her just a little better. As I said, so much is difficult to understand, let go of, etc. It takes the bigger control of time to help us with all that we have to manage...

Chupa-Oblio, and blog, thank you for the kind words. And Oblio, cannot wait to see you again in SF>

Ron

**Kan Muftić** · December 12th, 2006, 04:55 AM

Dear Ron,

You are one of the firsts who takes a sceptical approach to concept design here. And i totally agree with you. It's not about the fanciest zombie painting that makes you a good artist, it's the ability to work within the given content.
As you see, i don't even use word art here because i concider it to be something else. If you take a look at 99% of the work posted in here, you'll find entertainment design - and no art. Which brings the point: design forces itself to attract, art doesn't. It just IS.

I had such a struggle to get away from that stiff, academic methods - check my sketchbook, and you'll see what i mean. But now i know, that was something else, made for another purpose and a different point.

Ok, sorry for this blahbing here, i just feel that some of my thoughts have been confirmed by your writing here.

Best regards and big respect,

**Destinatus** · December 12th, 2006, 02:20 PM

Hey Ron, I enjoyed your lecture. I can't wait for your color theory book either.

Originally Posted by ron lemen

One of the most profound moments for me last weekend at Gnomon was listening to Craig Mullins talk with his young Clone about his work. He said..badly paraphrased..."DOnt look at my work anymore, not that I don't admire your appreciation for me, and that you are honing your skills with my work. I tell you this because, when I was 18, I was told to look at Sargent and the Impressionists, Syd Mead and Frazetta. I went to school to think like they did, and got pretty good at it. I was told to look at more specific artists and be like them. And you know what? Now, when I am the artist I want to be with skill, and I try to do something original, I can't. Why? Because I was trained to be unoriginal, but proficient in a skill set.

I was actually there with them in that discussion, so I thought I'd add what Craig told me. I asked if he thought that digital painters are relying too much on custom brushes and textures to have all the elements of their painting already created for them. He said that they are definitely helpful but he thinks that a lot of people are using them instead of trying to fully understand the form they are emulating; after you understand what it is that you want in your picture you can then imply the essence of the object. Might be common sense to some people but I thought that I would just share some of his wisdom here.