artist’s journal by peter dickison

I recently sold an oil painting I did in Brooklyn back in 1986. I had a loft space with a view of Brooklyn looking towards “downtown” which included the towers of the World Trade Center in the skyline. The painting has been displayed in my home often over the years- I have always enjoyed it. The patron to whom it now belongs was captivated by it when visiting recently, and the sale ensued.
I post here an earlier sketch done on a 9×12 inch canvas to elucidate the process of going from small to larger, from the raw sketch to a more complex composition.

The 9×12 inch sketch, above.

New York From Brooklyn, 1986, 16×28 inches.
Private Collection

I painted this small still life in oil spontaneously the other evening. It is direct and frontal, without preconception. I did it for the pure thrill of painting, to forget all else and live within the colors. For an hour and a half, I was truly joyous.

I apologize, dear viewer, for the poor photo image quality. I hope to improve this one in the future; for now, rest assured it is much more vibrant in person, as paintings usually are.

This was K, of the previous post, sitting as on horseback and carrying a banner in a Joan of Arc setting. I don’t know what made me think of Joan of Arc, but I had a nice piece of tapestry material to make a banner with and it looked medieval, and I got carried into the theme. In reality, the model did not cooperate with holding the banner and I had to pin everything in place, but reality and the drawing do sometimes diverge. Oh, and there was no horse present.

The second attempt is below, in graphite only.

This was a quick, get acquainted sketch of a model I had not seen prior. I was trying to get familiar with her characteristics, not thinking about much, working fast, having fun with the charcoal. In the end it does not bear much resemblance to K, the model, but I am partial to what it does look like: sort of a Renaissance portrait of a lady appearance, perhaps a little of Leonardo’s Portrait of Ginevra de’ Benci, in the National Gallery in Washington.

I returned to my place at the cliff walk, this time with paint. I have a large canvas started in the studio that includes people in a similar rocky place, so I was after the influence of nature upon the color in that canvas. The day was windy and sunny, beautiful light by the water, so the watery influence is in this picture even though it is not visible.

The following are a series of sketches of a place on Newport’s Cliff Walk. I found myself here one recent evening after a bike ride, and realized that some of the paintings I have been doing in my studio are reflections of this place quite specifically, though I had not consciously meant them to be so. In fact I had not looked at this particular place with any conscious recognition that I remember, though I had briefly been there. Yet there it was, my studio motif looking right back at me.

I did a few sketches and returned to do more. Some of the series are shown here.

This portrait in oil was done this Monday past. I needed to set aside some stressful events of the previous 2 days, and this was the result of my two hours of work. Marcela wore her most colorful dress, which was heaps of fun to interpret.

Last week, with the spring weather in full force, I did this sketch of Newport Harbor and the Seamen’s Institute. It has a strong sense of light and clear air. The harbor is not yet clogged with boats the first of June, one of the times of “in between” in Newport.

Tonight I had B, our model, recreate a Rembrandt painting. The original Rembrandt painting of a woman bathing in a stream is a beloved picture. She stands in the water and we can not see her feet, only the reflections of her legs. She is oblivious to any onlooker and peers down into the water. These drawings from my sketchbook give a glimpse of how well B personified Rembrandt’s bather.

B was modeling for the portrait group again tonight with feathers and black lace in a revisit to the Moulin Rouge of 1890’s. She was stunning in her role.