Chronopaint

final Week 10 at Watt´s

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 22:18:00 +0000

wrapping up the Watt´s winter term

The journey at Watt´s is over and I´m wrapping up everything here, preparing to move back. It´s been a fantastic time, one that I can not regard any higher. The learning among such great teachers and fellow students has been phenomenal to say the least and many friendships have been formed. I will miss everybody and look forward to see how everyone will craft their own path towards reaching their goals as artists. There will be another term at Watt´s for me, for sure!
I´m thinking about making a more comprehensive post about the time and what it has done to my improvement personally and with a direct comparison of week 1 to 10. In hindsight, actually quiet a short period of time but the effect was great. The most important aspect to me is how it changed my way of seeing and the quality of finish I now regard as my standard, or at least what I should be striving for in my paintings.
So, here are some portraits from the last week, I hope to finish one more during the week. Last painting until moving back and then probably for a while until I can paint again.

Week 9

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 18:12:00 +0000

Last week of the winter term at Watts, WOW!
I made some progress during last week and experiment more with my brushwork. Especially the portrait gesture class is amazing for this kind of playful approach, the lightning fast 40 minutes you have as a corset force absolute efficiency onto you. Now the trick is to transfer this looseness into larger portraits and paintings in general. It´s so easy to tighten up and forget about juicy strokes and the big picture and the aesthetic of mark making.
This said, here are some of the paintings from last week.

9" x 12"

detail

9" x 12"

5" x 7" gesture

Roadtrip Intermezzo #2

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 20:54:00 +0000

Southern California as dry as a bone

Finally, the last episode of our trip before my memory gets too fuzzy.

We spend most of the time in the car driving through a totally serene and abandoned landscape that could easily be the set of a movie playing on the moon. Strange and alien, amazing rock formations and cacti all around. Death Valley is the most arid and hottest place on earth, next to the Atacama desert in Chile in South America. the Badwater Basin is also the point of lowest elevation, 86 meter below sea level. In the distance you could see Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the United States. They have rain, if at all, once a year.

It's fascinating to imagine the earliest settlers trying to cross the surrounding mountains and then having to pass through this unfriendly territory. Survival of the fittest at its best, but the only way to get to the coastline of California.

We didn't want to miss Las Vegas, as it was very close by, but in the end the experience there was so bad and overwhelming that we couldn't stand staying there for more than 30 minutes. It's a real freak show, a lot of half naked people dressed in shrill costumes and everything screams at you and wants to suck your money in. At least I got a tasty yet overpriced milkshake before we took flight. I guess the contrast of the quiet landscape all around and then this island of consumerism was a stark contrast which you have to mentally be prepared for.

A short section of the drive through the desert was on the historic Route 66, and it certainly didn't disappoint. It looks very haunted and lost in time, which is what you also see in the movies and documentaries about the period when new interstates were build and the people living there found themselves forgotten and without any possibility to earn a living. The world found ways to turn faster and didn't care about those outside the fast lane.

We stopped at the only gas station around for a coffee, owned by a very nice guy who, to the question how many people lived in the town, responded wholeheartedly: "7 people, 6 too many."
When you have nothing else to do, you resort to quiet particular activities, like shooting signs. As a result, every traffic sign or ad you see along the Route 66 is perforated with bullet holes.

Yoshua Tree National Park, last day in the car and I had to put on new sun blocker every 20 minutes to not get roasted. The Mojave Desert with it's characteristic trees was the most beautiful so far. Fun fact: the rock formations are actually more than 100 million years old and were formed by magma cooling off underneath the surface.
What a trip! I hope you enjoyed the pictures (the last two in this post were shot by my dad, he has a great eye for beautiful details) and the journey, it was fun to relive the experience while writing about it.

See you next time.

Week 7

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 22:19:00 +0000

7th week at Watts Atelier

Small update with a couple results I´m very happy with from the last week. 3 more weeks to go and a lot of canvases to fill, let´s see how they turn out.

This drawing was from the 20 minute lay-in class, I worked more tonal and painterly on this one and I´m very satisfied with the drawing and the process. The goal was to vary edges a lot and try to capture the general impression more than specific features.

progress

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 19:14:00 +0000

week 6

Finally I´m able to post the recent fruits of labor. I´m becoming very critical of my own work, as I have always been. When you are surrounded by great talent as you are in the atelier progress is inevitable. Everybody´s efforts in return inspire to deliver always your best, as it should be naturally. The interesting twist is, and that´s a development I´m most curious about watching myself introspectively, I´m less and less concerned with technical aspects about producing pictures and try to strive for a result that is aimed at actual picture-making. Basically, what does the picture, or canvas, need in order to be successful? Even in a small study or short session, this makes all the difference and lifts the process to a much more creative effort.

Just for this mental change I´m grateful to have taken the journey here and for all the great feedback I receive. I guess this is only a small step in a life long endeavour, there is so much more to discover.

Let´s get on with it!

Roadtrip Intermezzo #1

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 06:41:00 +0000

Conquering Southern California

Inbetween my studies I had a great 5 days of taking a roadtrip with my father who was visiting California. I will release the whole trip in segmented posts because choosing the right pictures from the giant stack of 1500+ photos takes quite some time and I imagine reading a giant wall of text is not very inviting.
I started from San Diego and took a flight to San Francisco where we began our ride with a great and enjoyable car, the Camaro convertible. Driving top down all the way was a great experience, you feel very close to the blur that is the passing landscape, no boundaries at all. Sunblocker is a must have, for everyone who wants to try it. We drove via the famous Golden Gate Bridge to Muir National Park, our first encounter with the redwood trees the area is so famous for. In Muir the trees are taller than in Yosemite, but no so wide in diameter.
Driving on we entered Yosemite. This place is just pictoresque in every aspect. Waterfalls, great mountain peaks who form a specacular silhouette all around, forests, you name it. Basically you can find a picture book example of how you imagine the wild America to be at every turn.

After Yosemite we continued towards Sequoia National Park, which has some of the greatest trees, the largest specimen stand as tall as 90m and muscular 12m wide. General Sherman is the biggest of all, but unfortunately we couln´t make it there because of snowy weather conditions and blocked roads. It was quiete a range of very diverse climate zones we passed during the short period of time. Everything from burning 90 degrees to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, desert and snow, 150 feet below ocean level and more than 6000 feet above.

It was a fantastic place, really impressive to witness all the towering giants who grow there for almost 2000 years after they reach their final size. The root I´m standing next to in the picture above is in the same exact condition for 100 years now, despite the fact that it´s dead. It was used by settlers and gold diggers during that time period who found shelter and warmth in the hollow tree which a historical photo nearby illustrated very well. It´s easy to imagine the mountain lions and bears they tried to hide from. Hard times.

That´s it for the first part, next enroute is a contrary landscape type: desert. Thanks for your time and I hope you follow along and enjoy the ride.

Portraits

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 17:27:00 +0000

New portraits for today, one 3h oil portrait of Christa and a chalk drawing. Both pieces were a great learning experience, I would do them differently right now. Oh well, that´s the way it is. See you soon!

Media Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:45:00 +0000

I bought a new toned sketchbook with a lovely grey tone to try out new and different drawing techniques. Most of the time I sketch with a mechanical pencil, which I like for it´s precision and comfortable use, but I felt I needed something where I could easily lay down some values.
This drawing, one in a series of cartoony animals you´ll see more of in the future, was made with black and white charcoal.

This is a work in progress shot for those interested. You can still see the faint pencil lines underneath.

on and on...

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Thu, 11 Feb 2016 18:19:00 +0000

Continuing in now already the 4th week of Atelier training, here are some quick oil portrais in various classes plus a Sargent study of Robert Henri and a charcoal drawing. I have to find a better way to take photos of the paintings, the glare is quite disturbing and accentuates the texture of the canvas uncharmingly. But, alas, for now it has to suffice.

First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 21:58:00 +0000

Just a quick update for now, always in a rush to get prepared for the next class.
The experience and learning in the first weeks has been great so far, I see a lot of improvement already. So these are a couple of quick oil portraits, around one and a half hours, from the recent days and the odd sketch I did for a personal project. More on that in the near future, see you soon.

Timbits from LA & Santa Monica

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 16 Jan 2016 20:41:00 +0000

My roommate Oleg and I made a two-day trip to LA out of necessity because, continuing my list of things that can go wrong on vacation, our apartment got flooded during night and we had to move out. First time this happens to me, imagine the feeling of jumping out of bed into a wet sauce of steaming water and dirt. Originally I wanted to call this post "Into the swamps and back again" as a reference to Tolkien but decided against it. This should be about LA and the things that happened there, so with this checked off let´s continue.
The first stop in LA was the LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. They have a great collection and fascinating exhibitions in the Japanese pavilion that are really worth the visit. Unexpectedly, I also saw my first John Singer Sargent that day, wow! His paintings are just phenomenal, after admiring his artworks for more than 10 years solely from reproductions in books or the internet, this was stunning.

Because of the heavy traffic, time rushed by and I paid a short visit to downtown LA and walked around. The city is just too huge to expect to see a lot by foot, but I had my first burger in the States with fantastic meat which made up for it.
I decided to try to meet another local and stayed the night at Nathan´s place, another couchsurfer. He was great, responded to my spontaneous request and took time during his working schedule to make sure I got to the right address. The neighbourhood outside of Downtown is actually quite pretty.
Nathan is an animator so we had similar interests and I could browse through his library of books and saw many familiar titles. He treated me to a nice coffee in the morning and shared a great story about his recent first trip outside the US. He went to Japan with a Motorbike and crossed the country with it, packed with all his equipment on the little Honda. He was spotted by a film team who are making a series about people visiting Japan and they were so intrigued by his undertaking that they followed him a couple of days and in consequence he became a minor celebrity. Thanks Nathan for the couch and your time.

The rest of the second day was spent visiting Hollywood. After sightseeing the Universal Studios and the obligatory Walk of Fame I wanted to walk again. Terrible Idea, but I spotted some nice places while not getting anywhere. Now, I have to hark back in order to explain this post´s title. In Canada, Matthijs introduced me to Timbits, the little, sugary bite-sized donuts that you get everywhere in Timmies, which is hugely popular over there. It´s a little arrangement of different tastes so you get some diversity in a while satisfying your cravings for a sweet snack. The photos I made reminded me of Timbits, very small spots, details from a bigger picture. Unfortunately there was no good place to have a wide vista.

The day ended in Santa Monica Beach, visiting the famous pier and enjoying the last glimpses of sunlight. Around the beach are some very beautiful and creative little shops and bars which I hopefully will be able to visit the next time in LA.

"It´s Sindy´s birthday today" - La Jolla

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Tue, 12 Jan 2016 06:22:00 +0000

Today´s post title is from a random remark I heard walking along the beautiful coastline of La Jolla in the north of San Diego. There is not much to see in the city itself except the many research facilities that are around. But the nature surrounding it is remarkable. The sea always fascinates me in it´s swinging rhythmical and never changing sounds of waves clashing against the beach. But it´s a phenomenon I enjoy from the distance, what´s hidden beneath the surface is just too obscure for me to feel comfortable swimming or diving.
Anyways, it was quiet a surprise to see wild seals all swimming in the water next to the surfers and lying basking in the sun. The fauna was a spectacle today, next to the pelicans I even caught a Humming Bird with the camera.

We were hiking around a lake in the east of La Jolla called Lake Jennings. To get there we had to walk up to a camping place where we met one of the staff, Barb, who was kind enough to let me take a picture of her. It´s peculiar how small and connected the world is, the theory of the six degrees of separation rings true. Barb had an exchange student from Essen and had visited my hometown in the past. There you are, in the middle of the prairie in southern California and have encounters you wouln´t expect.

Goodbye Canada - Hello California

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 23:40:00 +0000

After driving back from Mont Tremblant to Montreal I had an appointment for dinner later in the evening with the director of Syn Studio. It was a great encounter with Anthony, fascinating and very multi-talented guy who has a very distinct and grand vision for this school. I´m sure we will see each other again the next years.
The following morning it was time for departure, I was headed to the airport and Matt wanted to go back to Toronto catching his flight to Amsterdam, when I was confronted with a new problem. It´s funny, at this point it almost felt like I was subconsciously trying to fulfill a checklist titled "worst situations you can encounter during travels". What happened was because of the recent snowfall during night streets wear cleared by the city and cars that were parking in the wrong spot got towed. Time was running out and now this! I got help by one of the hostel members who called the city and got information where my car was towed to, I off I sprinted to the street I was given. Running around, asking people for directions, running some more I decided to head back to the hostel because I wasn´t able to find the address. The receptionist called the city again, and as it turned out, she mixed up the street number. Yeah! After that I quickly found my car but of course had no time to drive around and go sightseeing anymore.

Time to say Goodbye to Matt and Montreal and then fly to San Diego via JFK New York. It was a pleasant flight. Now I arrived at my final destination in Encinitas CA, we have our apartment set up and classes at Watts Atelier start on the 18th. I will return with more posts when I come back from LA and San Francisco which I plan to visit during the next week.

Montreal - hiking and skiing

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 23:23:00 +0000

We didnt´actually see much of the city itself. When we arrived it was already late and we were kindly invitied by Loic, another student at Watts that will be a roommate here in Encinitas shortly. So we just threw our luggage into the hostel room and made our way to the metro. Arriving at Loic´s place we were greeted warmly by his whole family and had a great evening playing german board games and having quite heated discussions about the issue of Anglophones and Frankophones in Quebeq and the later urge to separate and become an autonomous country. It was fascinating to be thrown into this discussions and witnessing very passionate and opinionated people debating, I guess you learn a lot about the different mindsets that exist in a country that way.
Not wanting to spend time in a city that appeared to be very similar to Toronto we headed to Mont Tremblant to stay there for a night and go hiking and skiing. Mont Tremblant is just a comfortable one and a half hour drive away from Montreal so we were able to go for an extended hike that very day and then bought ourselves groceries for a very nice meal. The salmon in Canada is unbelievable fresh and tasty, so I us salmon steak with sweat potatoes and beans. In the evening there is just something very special going in hostels. You have very like-minded people who share the interest of traveling and most of them, myself excluded, have been around the globe and spend considerable amounts of time being on the road. So atmosphere was great, sitting in a very charming little chamber with a fireplace, burning marshmallows on a stick and drinking dark beer while listening to music and people around telling about their adventures. Very romantic.

Skiing the next day was amazing, it was terribly cold, -30 degrees celsius, so you wouldn´t be able to be outside longer than 40 minutes unless you wanted to risk freezer burn. And that is being completeley equipped in ski clothing. In these temperatures I tried to take a couple of pictures and had to take my gloves off to be able to operate my phone and regretted it immediately. I didn´t feel my hands for 10 minutes. Anyways, we had fresh and considerable amounts of snow, clear and sunny day and not many people on the slopes. Perfect for skiing.
By the way, I was still not able to get any money from my credit card. The guys at my bank in Germany were in holidays and I wasn´t able to reach anyone. So until this point Matt paid for everything, which is why we jokingly nichnamed him "my dutch wallet".

Enroute to Montreal

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 21:54:00 +0000

In the hostel in Toronto I met Matt, short for Matthijs, from the Netherlands. I asked him if he could help me out with money and explained my situation. He was amazing, we got off fantastically and decided to walk around Toronto in the evening and get some dinner. He turned out to be a globetrotter and outdoor adventurer par excellence while studying medicine and now beginning his Ph.D. in Urology in Amsterdam. When we met he literally just arrived from Havana where it was 25 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, it was around -15 in Toronto, with a horrible wind that made it impossible to enjoy sightseeing so we rushed trough Kensington Market and found ourselves in Chinatown where we had the most delicious meal after standing in line at the restaurant for 40 minutes.
We decided to travel together to Montreal the next morning, so off we go. Nice company, warm car, coffee on the go, great music, good times.
On our way we planned to visit Frontenac provincial park to experience nature and make a quick hike. It was fantastic: fresh snow, beautiful and serene environment, nobody else outside... That was a treat I won´t forget.

New Year in Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:19:00 +0000

Entering Canada

On my way to Toronto I definitely wanted to stop at the Falls, but now problems started to ensue on many fronts. First, my GPS stopped working and I was following directions just by signs on the interstates, which I´m pretty inexperienced with in Germany because I ALWAYS drive with navigation, but here in the US it was pretty OK once I just decided on trusting the signs and instinct. Secondly, I had problems paying at a rest area which put me slightly at unease but I thought it was merely a hiccup in the system and just wanted to continue to Toronto, where it would all work out. At least that´s what I was hoping for.

The Falls were a real spectacle, unfortunately the Maid of the Mist was not opened due to the winter season, I think to witness the pouring waterfalls standing directly in front of them is even more impressive.
But after 10 minutes, there is not much more to see and I drove to Toronto, starving because I just had breakfast, which was 7 hours ago at that day. No money to buy anything and no groceries or snacks on board, that was rough.
The first night in Toronto I stayed at another couchsurfer's spot, this time it was Amy, who, despite of barely having time and being busy, made sure I had a great stay at her place. She even introduced me to Ken, who I contacted earlier on CS and who accidentally was a friend of hers but wasn´t able to host me.
We were having a great time in a bar, meeting a couple of other Germans who had just been to the Falls, too, on that very day. What are the chances. Ken is a great guy with many faces, sadly I couldn´t make a photo because all my electronic devices were failing me and needed some recharging.
Thanks Amy and hopefully we´ll have the chance to meet in the future.

For the next days, I booked a place called "The only Backpacker´s Inn", which was the best decision in my life. So many great encounters and experiences made there.
But there still was the money issue...I wasn´t able to pay for the hostel but was extremely lucky that Dimitry, the hostel´s Maestro, was just all around helpful and made sure I would have a roof under my hat on New Year´s eve. We fixed the problem by using Pay Pal to make a direct transaction from my German account. That worked just fine.
The room was shared by 6 people, we were a great team and had a lot of fun. First of all Dai, a chinese girl who was making vacations in Canada, too, gave me some cash for a paypal transaction as well. That saved my day and finally I was able to get some food.
So later in the evening we decided to join up and Dai, her friend I forgot the name of, Flavio, a brazilian student, his mother, an italian sweetheart, and I went to the Toronto Town Hall to witness the fireworks.
It was amazing. I expected more of the fireworks themselves but the event was just unique. Crowded to the extend to not be able to move and it being extremely cold and wet, we hurried back to the hostel, tired, exhausted but feeling extremely happy to have made this experience.

On to the third day, where I continue the adventure with Matt to Montreal.

Toronto - car accident and visit to Bobby Chiu at Imaginism Studios

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 20:18:00 +0000

Before New Years Eve I had a full day in Toronto which was packed with dramatic events, extreme ups and downs in constant succession.

It all started out to be a great and relaxing second day in Toronto, finally with some daylight and again walking through the city. Because of the holidays it all seemed rather depopulated and empty and there is not much going on. Everything is big but feels just like another city. Again, it was the people I met that made all the difference.
I wanted to find a subway and asked a stranger on the street which led to a great conversation and a quick guided tour around downtown and personal insights about the local affairs. Jess was so helpful, even accompanying me on my ride in the subway to make sure I get the right exit.
Thank you Jess and I wish you all the best on your year in Thailand. You´ll find your way :)

After walking the city for a bit I had an appointment scheduled for lunch with Bobby Chiu, a personal hero of mine. He is an artist working on so many fields and projects I don´t even recall them all. But what certainly stands out is his activity on Youtube where he is inspiring thousands of people everyday with his podcasts. Aside from that he is a concept artist extraordinaire and illustrator for games, movies and toys, founder of schoolism.com, contributed his art for Tim Burton´s Alice in Wonderland and and and...
So it was great of him to offer a slice of his time and I was extremely looking forward meeting him and his wife Kei, who is an amazing and talented artist in her own rights.
But, alas, fate tested me hard this day. I had a pretty bad car accident on my way to the appointment and all the towing, filling out forms, waiting for the police, renting a new car, cancelling the former contract etc. ate away a great deal of time and nerves. All the while, luckily, Bobby and Kei waited for me and postponed our meeting until I could make it that day.
Finally, the very second I got my new car I hurried to the studio.
It turned out the be even better than I expected. Bobby gave me a tour through the sacred halls of Imaginism, showed me his latest and past projects, even the painting he is working on right now.
Both were just great and we had a great time drinking coffee and talking about art and life in general.
The greatest gift they made me was a real surprise. Bobby got one of their art books out of the shelves and he and Kei both made cute little sketches and signed them for me. WOW!!! Thanks so much the two of you, hope to see you in the near future and check your mail, I´ll send you the book I was telling you about.

Syracuse - Meeting Michelle and Julian

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 19:34:00 +0000

On my way to Syracuse I was in contact with Michelle, whom I found on couchsurfing.com, and was curious to find out what´s it like to meet total strangers and stay with them for a day.
As it turned out, both of them were some of the kindest and most friendly people I ever met and we had a great time.
Both of them are used to traveling a lot and know the kind of problems you run into so they were really helpful in giving tips in general and specific, even making recommendations for my visits to San Francisco and LA. They are currently working hard on founding a start-up company for a personal coaching agency and have won a couple competitions that presented them a great deal of financing so they can realize and continue their dream project.
They were extremely generous with their time, toured me around Syracuse and showed me their working places. One of which was a large co working suite where many different entrepreneurial minded people from different fields worked alongside and shared their experiences, gave seminars, and just had a really constructive working environment they ca thrive in. It was a great experience and I met wonderful and inspiring people there, maybe even some potential business partners for future projects.
Michelle and Julian are planning to visit Germany next Year and I will be delighted to host them in return and show my favorite spots in my home city.
Thanks so much for your time and it was a pleasure meeting you two.
Next stop: Niagara Falls and Toronto

USA - Canada Sabbatical

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Sat, 09 Jan 2016 18:50:00 +0000

Welcome to my travel and experience journal.

This old blog of mine that was dedicated solely for oil painting is the perfect place for me to document my vacation to the US and Canada because eventually, at the time I´m writing this introductory post I´m still waiting for the semester to begin, it will be all about progressing as a painting at Watts Atelier under the guidance of Jeffrey Watts and his talented group of teachers.
So lets dust this old journal and breathe fresh life into it!

First days in Boston

Starting after the Christmas days, my first stop in the US is Boston. I rented a car so I would be flexible and could make detours whenever it seems worth it. Of course, I had a bit of trouble entering the States, Homeland Security made a triple-check on me at the airport, after that I was good to go.
I stayed at a hotel for two days and used my time exploring the city, walking across town. I quickly realized the difference in scale and distances when compared to Europe. Everything is enormous and just walking around a block takes a long time. So I didn't see everything but most of downtown, chinatown and the harbor district.
The architecture in Boston is quite impressive, towering banks and charming little brick houses that have seen better days layered on top of one another makes for a great visual impression.
But spending all the time walking and then resting in a hotel, I had barely any contact with locals which I wanted to change for the rest of my trip and circumstances forced it rather quickly on me, too. So my traveling behavior changed dramatically for the rest of my trip.
I planned to visit Harvard University and MIT in Cambridge on my last day but the weather was just so bad, snow mixed with rain and a chilly wind, that my stay was very short and I mainly sat in a cozy Starbucks to have wi-fi and download all the maps I need to drive to my next city, Syracuse.

Broken Crockery no.2

noreply@blogger.com (Boldheadstudio) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 22:21:00 +0000

Today's painting.