Study of Swarming by Ken Auster

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Comment by mario alberto velazquez on May 19, 2014 at 9:05: AWESOME,,,,,,,I like the urban paintings..

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on May 18, 2014 at 4:21: Stu, thanks a lot for the infos. I have found no procedure for me yet that leads to satisfying pleinair results.
Sometimes i try notans, sometimes a little color sketch, sometimes i just go. Guess it's a matter of practice and experience. Would be very happy to see some of Tim's colors and simplicity in my paintings. I will study his work too. Thomas

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on May 18, 2014 at 2:15: I guess Tim changed his website. I see his work all the time and I'm on his email list but had not been to his website in awhile. Ken Auster's only sketch is right on the canvas; he says that doing a preliminary sketch on paper or small board leads to copying and destroys spontaneity. Although, I often do the same when I am plein air painting, I find that my better paintings are usually done when I take the time to plan my composition using one or more small thumbnail sketches or small 3 or 4 value Notans before putting any paint on my canvas. I may vary from the sketch on the canvas; I don't feel that doing a small sketch interferes with my spontaneity. Enjoy looking at Tim Horn's work; you've done a nice job of emulating Ken Auster and might want to try painting like Tim. Stu

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on May 17, 2014 at 7:29: Stu, thanks a lot for all the insights. I think the link you posted about Tim Horn leads somewhere else. Probably you mean this one : http://www.timhornart.com
I was not aware of Tim's work and he is fanatastic!!!
I have a question about Ken's Passion Sandwich. Is his initial design sketch already part of his painting or a smaller version of it?

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on May 17, 2014 at 3:49: Thomas, nice work. I took a plein air workshop from Ken Auster last Fall. He has a very interesting and unique block in technique for his plein air work. He also describes his plein air work as consisting of three phases that he call the "Passion Sandwich": phase one uses "Intellect" for the design sketch on his canvas (he does not use any value studies, notans, etc., but just starts in sketching in oil on the canvas); phase two uses "Passion" and is the block in of the painting by value massing and is all done alla prima; phase three uses "Intellect" and is the application of detail in highlights and accents plus shape correction (a lot o negative painting). These three phases comprise his "Passion Sandwich": Intellect/Passion/Intellect. Interesting approach. His coffee table book "Intellect and Passion" has a lot of his San Francisco urban plein air works reproduced in it. I thought you might be interested in this, since you have "discovered" a modern master. Another modern master you might look at is Tim Horn www.horndesigns.com. Tim is a friend of mine, a master painter and quite a teacher (Micheael Severin took a workshop from his last Fall and said it was the best workshop he has ever had--I have taken a couple of workshops from him . Tim is all about lighting (warm sunny days), colorful shadows, clean color and interesting shapes. Nice clean uncluttered modern realism. Stu

Comment by Aurelia Sieberhagen on May 16, 2014 at 21:03: Yes, I have to admit it too. Only Payne, Sargent and Sorolla of the old masters I like, but the work of Viacheslav Korolenkov I can look for hours and study his works! Oh, man, I wish I can paint like that!

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on May 16, 2014 at 20:07: Thank you very much for your generous comments! I have to admit that i am more excited by the works of these artists than by the Old Masters. Think they deserve to be cheered up now, not only in 50 years.