Sunday, March 27

Dogs

Robert Rahway Zakanitch's "Aggressive Goodness Series" -- it's a series of paintings that look like sketchbook pages, I really like the way he does quick studies on plain paper (left side of each painting) contrasted with the black background of the "completed paintings" on the right sides. Here's one I particularly like -- an oil painting on canvas titled, " boston terrier."

This graphite drawing was probably the study for the "boston terrier" oil painting. I like the drawing better than the painting -- it has more spontaneity.

2 Comments:

Skuz said...

I have to say that I appreciate this guys drawings and ability to see much more than the larry guy who wrote that article on how to sketch. He isn't afraid to bend the rules and draw things as a wierdo might encounter them, and he is not ashamed of the process he took to get there.

Maureen said...

me too, gabe -- I am not all that enamoured of Larry Seiler's sketching style -- even less his teaching style. I included that link because of the way he keeps sketchbooks rather than because of the way heexplains sketching. Here's an example: I explain it to my students this way:
A drawing suggests what something looks like. A gesture suggests what something is doing. A sketch attempts to take a bit of both of those with the dynamic of time as the controlling taskmaster, and put them together.


IMO, a drawing doesn't just suggest what something looks like -- a drawing, gesture, sketch -- a greater purpose for these is to suggest what something FEELS like. Like the boston terrier sketch by Robert Zakanitch really conveys the feeling of that little bulgy eyed dog and the feeling the dog's human companion has for him/her. that really comes across in Robert's sketches, but not so much in Larry's sketches, say of the ducks.