The Daughters of Tom Dunn

Childhood Memories of Tom Dunn

When I keep my eyes alert, my ears tuned in and my heart open, life opens the door to unexpected and treasured friendships.  Little did I know, when painting the birdhouses and lupine in Renee's Garden last spring, a private history of Iwo Jima would step out of books and films and become alive and personal over cups of tea.  Little did I know that I had stepped into the world of an amazing artist who sent illustrated, war time, love letters to Renee and Suzanne's mother.

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"During World War II more than 100 U.S. servicemen and civilians served as 'combat artists'. They depicted the war as they experienced it with their paintbrushes and pens. Their stories have never been told, and for fifty years their artwork, consisting of more than 12,000 pieces has been largely forgotten -- until now."  http://www.pbs.org/theydrewfire/index.html

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Renee's Tea Parties are difficult to describe.  Alice and the Mad Hatter would be envious.  The table is set with dishes and tea cups that are straight out of illustrated children's books.  Party favors, wrapped chocolates, sparkly decorations and wine glasses share the table top with delicious appetizers followed by scrumptious entree .... followed by yummy sweets and coffee. Laughter, smiles and stories of our lives stopped time in its tracks.

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Tom Dunn was Renee and Suzanne's father.  After returning from serving in World War II he worked as a court illustrator and a book/cover illustrator as well as painting high-profile portraits and filling his sketchbooks with drawings of the local marine life and fisherman of the Jersey Shore.  Whereas most people became familiar with Tom Dunn's work by seeing it reproduced on book jackets, Renee and Suzanne grew up with the original paintings sometimes haunting them, hanging high above the door of the tool shed or having their gaze follow them about the room.  Tom Dunn was a man of many faces, close friends with both the famous and the unknown.  He brought his children with him, introducing them to the strange and wonderful worlds of creative minds.  I wonder what stories my own children will tell of their childhood, growing up as children of an artist.

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Photo:  Tom Dunn's Prayer Card

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Painting:  Renee's Tea Party - drawn first in ink with fountain pen, followed by watercolor.
The Daughters of Tom Dunn

Exercise - Value by Size or Proximity

Changing Value When Drawing in Ink

How does an artist alter the values in a drawing when using a fountain pen or dip pen?  The value of the ink itself is a constant whether black or a lovely color.  Values can, of course, be altered if using a waterbrush in addition to the pen, but how does one express value changes with only the pen?

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One way is to create patterns within the shapes, altering the space between the marks within the shape.  Choose a simple shape as your mark, for example, a circle, square or triangle.  Create a value scale by changing the proximity of the shapes to one another as shown above.

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Another way is to alter the size of the mark.  Using the same shape, create a value scale by changing the size of the mark while maintaining the space between the marks.    
Exercise - Value by Size or Proximity

Creating a Personal Coloring Book Journal

Creating a Personal Coloring book Journal

When I travel, I often fill my sketchbook with ink drawings, leaving the painting for later ..... for mornings when I don't want to focus on drawing..... for mornings when I want to paint somewhat mindlessly, throwing the die and  filling in shapes with color.   Earlier this week, I painted the two ink sketches I had drawn during my recent visit to California.

Mike's blender and coffee press

The colors were dictated by playing the Color Scheme Game.  The dark background was inspired by one of my students from the school in Newark.

Sherlley's beautiful dark colors

Mike watching Paragliding at the Kitchen Counter

Mike's favorite color, as a child, was orange.  Perhaps it still is.  Fortunately, it came up as the dominant color when I threw the die.

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Sketchbook drawings: drawn first in ink with fountain pen, followed later..... much later ..... with watercolor.

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Limited Palette of aureolin yellow, crimson and french ultramarine blue.        
Creating a Personal Coloring Book Journal

Santa Rosa Workshop April 27,28, 2013

Watercolor Techniques and Abstract Design - Two-day Workshop

Date: April 27 & 28, 2013       Time: 11:30 to 1:30

Location:  Rileystreet Art Supply, 103 Maxwell Court, Santa Rosa, CA  95401707-526-2416

Class Size:  Limited to 12 ( If the class is full, email me and I will put you on the wait list )

Upon registration you will be sent a materials list.

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Experiment with a variety of techniques to enhance your unique creativity and style.  Explore wet in wet, glazing, splattering, dry brush, pushing the puddle and homemade tools for special effect.

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Cancellations before March 27th will receive a full refund.  No refunds after March 27th unless space can be filled.  
Santa Rosa Workshop April 27,28, 2013

Inspired by Young Students

Art ... A Path to Our Inner Beauty and Joy

Once or twice a year I visit the school where Shelley teaches in Newark, New Jersey. The school is a private school dedicated to offering an excellent education to students from families whose income falls below the poverty level.  The classes are small.  The total number of students in the fifth, sixth and seventh grades is nineteen.  Twelve of those students came to school on Monday, a holiday, to paint with me.  Sometimes I wonder why I don't do this every day of my life. I taught a shortened version of The Color Scheme Game Workshop.  Working in groups of four, the students mixed colors to share with one another.

Mixed paint to share

Not only did the students share the cups of paint, they also shared the brushes. I assumed that by the end of the two and a half hour workshop, the cups of paint would all be shades of brown and gray.   I was wrong.  At the end of the day, the cups of paint were perfectly pure in color.  This was a first!  This group of students has mastered the art of cooperation and respect for one another.

Hard at Play

Showered with smiles

When I return in the spring I will bring better paints with me, paints that have more pigment and less binder, paints that don't slip all over the paper.  These children deserve to experience painting with quality brushes and quality paints.  They gave their best to me and I will give my best back to them.

Me and my kids

Shelley and her 5th, 6th & 7th Graders

I'm already looking forward to returning in the spring.
Inspired by Young Students

Exploring Postive And Negative Space

Weekly Exercise - Exploring Positive and Negative Space

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Using objects in your surroundings to see the world as a pattern of positive and negative shapes is an excellent way to warm up your eyes and brain for a  good day at the easel.  This was one of my students' favorite exercises from my old lesson book. Using a permanent marker or ink, make simple drawings of any object.  Draw from life, not from photographs.  For the first drawing, draw the object as the dark value, focusing on the shapes of the object as Positive Space.  Make a second drawing, repeating the shapes you designed in the first drawing.  This time, focus on those shapes as Negative Space, leaving them white.  Repeat the exercise each morning for a week.  With each day, attempt to simply the shapes.  For example, eliminate the detail of small branches.  Try to look for the basic, most important shapes.  Try to find small shapes that function well in the design of your drawing, not just to show detail.  Keep in mind that you are creating a design, not just describing the object.

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Sketchbook Drawings: drawn with black marker on tissue paper.
Exploring Postive And Negative Space

Plies, scales and contour drawings

Singers warm up their vocal chords before a performance. Dancers warm up their muscles before a performance.  Writers often throw away the first three chapters of a novel after writing a hundred pages. When I paint en plein air, my first painting is tight, stiff and lacking fluidity of stroke.  It doesn't matter that I have painted for forty years.  I wake up a bit stiff every morning.  I need to stretch.  When i visit an unfamiliar country or landscape there is a period of adjustment.  By the second day my brush begins to dance. Spring Lake Park, Santa Rosa, California, en plein air watercolor. Sugarloaf Ridge, Santa Rosa, California, en plein air watercolor Mussel Rock, Pacifica, California, en plein air watercolor Paragliders at Mussel Rock, Pacifica, California, en plein air watercolor View from Matanzas Creek Winery, Sonoma Valley, California, en plein air watercolor
Plies, scales and contour drawings

Test Post from Chris Carter - Artist

Test Post from Chris Carter - Artist http://chriscarterart.com