[Fred Flick Stone]

I know I am getting upload happy right now, but I have been denied access to do this for two weeks, so this all would have comfortably been spread out. Sorry for all the posts, I will try to not to get to scan happy next time. But I am posting tutorials here, maybe tonight if I have the time, so don't go ballistic on me please for all the posting. I am aware I am cluttering space with this junk, so I will tame myself next time...

All of these are done in oil, and they are called plein aire paintings, or landscapes for gallery sake. The top one, the cliff, was done at a golf course called Torrey Pines. Tiger Woods wins there alot. It was done on a 16 x 20 canvas.

The second one was at La Jolla Shores it is 20 x 24 inches.

The third one is done in a place called Tecolote Canyon. This place has so much cool stuff to paint, tucked neatly in the very center of San DIego, hard to believe it exists there. The canvas was 12" x 24". This was an odd format for me, but it looks the truest to landscape format in my opinion. Almost in the shape of a film still shot. All these were done in one sitting, two hour periods, so each painting was done in two hours. No lines to start with, just getting shapes of color right to establish the composition, then final top strokes applied to slightly detail them.
The main objective of plein aire painting is to get colors and shapes in their place. If you concentrate on details, your hosed. The sunlight is constantly moving, you have no control over that. The clouds roll over the sun, they change the light and dark patterns. Trees blow in the wind, etc. too many variables are competing for your attention. Avoid the tiny stuff, get the big picture, and finesse if there is time...this is fun to do, I do it every weekend sometimes twice in one weekend. It is really the true meaning of getting away from it all.

Make some confetti for me and shred em to bits...I enjoy it...I hope this doesn't mean I am a masochist...

The palette was simple on all three of these. Yellow Ochre, Cad Yellow Light, Cad Orange, Cad Red Medium, Alizeron Crimson, French Ultramarine, Thalo Green and White

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 19, 2000).]

[TeAnne]

*getting up off the floor* WOW, you blew me away here. These are gorgous...I love 'en plein aire' paintings. Well done.

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THE HIT LIST

quote:

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Poets utter great and wise things which they do not themselves understand.
Plato (c. 427-347 B.C.), Greek philosopher.

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[proximo]

you should know fred that anything you post is never clutter, its only clutter when people just post crap, if it looks good, it all good ,, Nice pics .. love oil paintings..

[spooge demon]

I am getting quite a stiffy here for the seascape...

I am off to figure class tonight.

[Fred Flick Stone]

Craig, where are you taking figure drawing? I have the ideal master for you up in L.A. His name is Steve Huston. He teaches 15 minutes east of Sherman Oaks. I am telling you, if there is only one figure drawing class to take, his is it. It is $25 per session, and he teaches on Wednesday nights And all day Saturday. I am telling you, I drive from down here to take his classes, and if I lived in Nor Cal, I would still make the drive for those classes. I learned more from him in two classes than I did anywhere else in two years...I will get the info on the class for you and email it to you if you don't already attend.
Thanks for your crits, they are most appreciated.

[Farwalker]

Nice landscape paintings Fred!

Keep it up. Love to see more of them.


----- www.gamingvault.com

[Plop]

I saw the Darth Maul picture at work today and had to clean my monitor afterwards.
The clothes are amaizing, especially how the ground is seen through the bottom of the robe and then has a light reflecting off the same area, very cool.

I really like the third picture of the ones above, feels like the trees are about to move.
Have you ever seen Aivazovskiy's work?

[Anthony]

The bottom two are very nice, the first a bit less so. Glad you can post again.

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-Anthony
Carpe Carpem

[AliasMoze]

in the immortal words of Martin Lawrence, "DEAAAAYAM!" Those are nice, Fred.

I just got my "Alla Prima" book from Amazon. Have you got it? It's awesome.

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AliasMoze
:) :) :) :)
"That activates my hilarity unit."

[proximo]

Ahh fred you are right about that guy .. i have wanted to take one of his classes but never got around to it .. some friends of mine have taken his class and it shows.. they have told me some of the concepts that he told them , and just that little bit helps out so much , but need to go,, anyhow later..

[Muzman]

Hmm criticise....hmmm.....ummmm...
(can't say much about the process because they're painted....Can't say much about the content because they're plein air landscapes.....ummm...can't really get away with saying "I'd like them better if they were, like, on a another planet with some sort of space battle between rusty ships." since that not the point....hmmm.)

the first thing that struck me was how good the scans are. They really show up the texture. I don't know if it's just you're style Fred, but most scans seem to flatten and smooth out paintings.
Cool.

[psi burn]

hmm, the images wont load for me :[
you cant trust geocities.

[Sedone]

VERY very nice. I've always had a soft spot for that textural look. That first one looks almost like a prehistoric landscape. You don't have a time machine, do you?

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sedone's artfolio

[CyberArtist]

Fred: I can assure you, we don't mind you being upload happy... post those images bigger if you want, I've got a cable modem and 1600x1200 desktop, I sure don't mind if you use it all up.

Beautiful paintings btw. You might not think of them being that good, but we do. The artist who does the artwork tends to see the most flaws in the image, even if he doesn't know what they are. Keep posting more work. If there's one reason I have to continue coming here it's to see all the great stuff people post.

*munching on eyecandy*



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-CyberA(rtist) aka Ben Golus

Cyber...

[Fred Flick Stone]

Thank you for the really nice comments. Better response to these than I ever thought. the scanner I am using is here at work, an epson 1500, an 11 x 17 flatbed scanner. I have been scanning since scanners came out on the public market, so I know a few tricks to getting the brushstrokes, like slightly elevating the canvas to catch shadows behind the thick brushstrokes, I had fun doing that. Spooge inspired me with his landscapes he did. Blame him...hehehe
Going to go see xmen now, hope it doesn't completely suck...

[SushiMaster]

That looks really good! Well done! And please feel free to post as many pics as you want! If you can, it would be even better if you can scan intermediary stages of your pics (obviously not possible in this case) so we can see how it's done :-)

Daniel

[Joachim]

Really nice paintings. I envy your technique, it really looks like you are quick and consistant...which is a cool feeling, even if you would have used a long time on them, hehe.



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Joachim
web:
http://home.online.no/~j-barrum/

[Fred Flick Stone]

Sushi-if I do a painting in shop, not out on location, or I take a camera with me, I can probably shoot the in between steps. But, as these are done out on location, it is sorta hard to record in between steps. The paintings are so spontaneous, I don't know where I could properly separate steps. I kinda do everything all at once. I will see if I can figure out how to do that though. I think it would be neat to see how my brain works with an image, could be a bit scary too. Never looked inside my own head before...the echo was so loud I was afraid to go in

[micke]

I like all of them. It seems like the colours are very carefully chosen. I think you have a very good eye at observing
colours.
I especially like the sea painting.
very Good!

-Mikael

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-Mikael Noguchi-

http://www.katode.org/noguchi/

[spooge demon]

Fred,

My first head drawing teacher at AC was Steve. He had instant credibility. You would be sitting there suffering away and that huge arm would glide in front of your eyes and a deep voice would admonish some aspect of your drawing. Frightening. I took him again for some figure drawing. He�s very good. I hear he gives classes at Disney now.

That�s pretty nice ACCD would give you a full scholarship I have never heard of that. Half, maybe, but not full. Should have taken them up on it. They wanted to drum me out, much less give me money. it has been a long road I am a little miffed about having to go back there to speak.

I am surprised that the Fixler Way has found it�s way to San Diego. Is that where you learned? What was the path, who took it there? The old school in Topanga is now in thousand oaks.

[Fred Flick Stone]

Spooge- ACCD gives out two scholarships a year full ride. My teacher from community college pulled alot of strings to get me one of them. I had a community college art professor in Sacramento, where I grew up originally, named Jim Kaneko, who was a teacher up there at ACCD, and apparently a well recognized one. I also had some other art scholarship from Sacto county, that could actually have been a part of the whole ride scholarship, at the time, I didn't care, I just saw, no parents complaining, I liked that. Kaneko though had many strings he could pull, and did. Not to mention, now that I am looking at these, this portfolio for me was way ahead of its time. I knew stuff about shape and color and composition, all learned from Kaneko, but never really knew that I, well, knew it at the time.

Now that I really am more interested in tech design, I am fortunate to be working with an ex nissan employee, Phil Wacomnkey Saunders. He has given me more helpful tips than I think art center would ever provide...I am very fortunate for this Thank you Phil...

I actually came down for the presentation, this was in '87. At the time, the school was hard and heavy in the auto design thing, and I wanted to illustrate. So I thought I might look around a bit. At this sme time, I was getting really good at skateboarding, I didn't know what was around the corner with that as of yet, I wasn't thinking sponsorship at all, I was enjoying learning all the cool tricks. Back to the art, I also checked out Cal Arts, but they were big on animation. Again, I wasn't interested.

I also had a 3/4 scholarship with Cal Poly S.L.O. town, but for track and cross country. I was a CIF champion long distance jock freak back then, and had the runner thing going. I was such a kook, still am I guess, but just a different kind of kook now.
But to be quite honest, I am glad I went skateboarding for a few years. I learned a great deal about people, the streets, so much stuff that helps with story telling. To me, invaluable times, although I wish I could have enhanced those drawing skills early on. Oh well, I tread my path, and here I am.


But damn if I could only have heard of Topanga Canyon sooner. That was a school that you really only heard about through word of mouth. The big schools shunned it. I am glad I came across it though. Jeff Watts brought the Fixler technique down here back in 95 I think it was, and I started on day one. He was so green, only 21 at the time, didn't know how to teach all that well, but told me where I could go. I took classes at Topanga Canyon, it is in Callabassas now, called the California School of Art. Glen Orbik used to teach there, he was one of my most admired proffessors. Then I went to Associates in Thousand Oaks, and learned under Villpu, Mark Westermoe, and Andrew Burard Hoy. Then I taught there for a bit, and at the same time started teaching at Jeff's school. Then found Steve Huston, and that's all I needed for now. Steve Huston is the man, his gig is really good, and so affordable. Just pay your $25 dollars on Wed. and $20 on Saturdays, and sit in on some great instruction. Worthy, worthy, worthy...

I guess in a nut shell, a big nut shell, that wsa the path I took, the scholarship dealio's, and Fixler going south. You know of Fixler's technique, have you been attending? I knew there was some abstraction in your figures I am really glad you know of that stuff, the best thing that happened to illustration, besides Pyles notes, and Loomis trying to give up the early illustrators secrets...

And one other thing, go to www.wattsatelier.com, and check out Robert Watts, my plein aire instructor. He is a world renown(sp) aviation illustrator, and a very world reknown architectural illustrator. I have been taking all his classes, and I tell you, I have never felt freer in my painting. If you get the opportunity, I know where you live is a bit far, 2 hours at least, but is well worth the pilgrimage to take the class. We had a student, Hollywood storyboard guy Paul Power take classes, and he would Amtrak down and one of us would get him from there. If you ever feel the urge to check his instruction out, and I recommend him as highly as Huston, and you don't want to drive, we can arrange something, and I will get you to the class personally. I think, if nothing more, he will show you ways of painting that you only wish the illustrators we liked lived today to show us. He is incredible, and incredibly humble...

I think I have gag balled this one, I am signing off...and who are you taking figure drawing from currently? I am curious...

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 21, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 21, 2000).]

[Fred Flick Stone]

Spooge-I was wondering, in the Knight image you did in the desert, was that figure a pose from, say a baseball player, or someone swinging an axe. I noticed in the background, and piece of type face coming through that said tractor on it, and was wondering if you start some of your poses with a grounded pose to begin with, and manipulate it from their. I like the technique for some things, beats having to work out all the logistics in the pose, when you are under a rediculous deadline, and the figure is only a small part of the whole thing...I love the colors in that image. Again, Mahvelous...

[Fred Flick Stone]

Spooge Demon-The first three are coll, the next five are repi, and the last two are gregory manchess

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 21, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 21, 2000).]

[Masaccio]

i admire u so much fred
being 13 i need to have a role model artist
id have to say u and micke are my greatest influences
i would love foru to teach me but i live in australia. i luv those paintings so much
i set it as my wallpaper:P
i hope thats ok
- maz

[spooge demon]

Wow, those are some nice images. I am assuming they are not contemporary? I am surprised I have never heard of them. The drawing look a lot like Henrich Kley. I admire line so much cause it is so far beyond me. Is Manchess contemporary? He looks Fixler-esque.

Here is what lies beneath the knight image. Do not distribute or I get whacked. It is one of many comps for a game box I had open when I came on the thread and I just thought the lighting would be interesting. Bright light, warm plane, dark, reflective armor. You can see the text that I did not blot out is " the tradition" Obi's head is definitely what you are talking about, stick it in and nudge. The knight is totally from scratch, however.



I am not taking any figure classes per se right now. I paint from the model, but no mentor. I do pour through every book I can, though. And I copy I lot, always have. Great way to learn.

I am interested in your positive response to Steve�s ideas on drawing. I had a lot of the teachers he had and we were both given the same set of heros. Steve is a bit older than I and has always really concentrated on draughtmanship, where I went hopping from flower to flower. His knowledge and experience with the figure dwarfs mine. I could probably paint a car better. I think he did it right.

If I could put the difference in approaches in a nutshell, AC is more concerned with proper construction, whereas Fixler emphasizes shape and rendering. I cringe to look at a lot of the stuff presented in the Fixler way. It is so far out and nobody knows, it is all covered up with a lot of fancy shapes and arbitrary, supersaturated and tasteless color. I had a guy at the calabassas school tell me �artists� use �more color� and illustrators use �tone� Yech. A lot of it is kinda sofa size hotel-motel, $39.95 this weekend only at the airport Hilton assembly line jerk offs.

God, that sounds harsh, but I really do appreciate the place and what I learned there, please don�t get me wrong! There is Cretinism everywhere.

I am really glad I had exposure to both approaches, they complement one another very well once you are advanced enough to see how it all works. Maybe that is why you really liked Steve? I know when I first went to a fixler school it was �ah, the other side of the planet�

I think you are at the point I am and we should go off and try to do the work and solve our own problems in out own way. Reverence for the past, as important as it is when you are beginning, can be a trap. i touched on this a little in another thread about modern art. You got the tools, you know how it all works...

I was going to comiccon, I could have met you there. I have to stay here and prepare for that damn speech next week. I am thinking of getting really sick next Friday.

[homeboy]

Absolutely beautiful as usual. Very loose but still wonderfully atmospheric and well structured. I hope to do the same some day.

[homeboy]

quote:

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Originally posted by Fred Flick Stone:



I know I am getting upload happy right now, but I have been denied access to do this for two weeks, so this all would have comfortably been spread out. Sorry for all the posts, I will try to not to get to scan happy next time. But I am posting tutorials here, maybe tonight if I have the time, so don't go ballistic on me please for all the posting. I am aware I am cluttering space with this junk, so I will tame myself next time...

All of these are done in oil, and they are called plein aire paintings, or landscapes for gallery sake. The top one, the cliff, was done at a golf course called Torrey Pines. Tiger Woods wins there alot. It was done on a 16 x 20 canvas.

The second one was at La Jolla Shores it is 20 x 24 inches.

The third one is done in a place called Tecolote Canyon. This place has so much cool stuff to paint, tucked neatly in the very center of San DIego, hard to believe it exists there. The canvas was 12" x 24". This was an odd format for me, but it looks the truest to landscape format in my opinion. Almost in the shape of a film still shot. All these were done in one sitting, two hour periods, so each painting was done in two hours. No lines to start with, just getting shapes of color right to establish the composition, then final top strokes applied to slightly detail them.
The main objective of plein aire painting is to get colors and shapes in their place. If you concentrate on details, your hosed. The sunlight is constantly moving, you have no control over that. The clouds roll over the sun, they change the light and dark patterns. Trees blow in the wind, etc. too many variables are competing for your attention. Avoid the tiny stuff, get the big picture, and finesse if there is time...this is fun to do, I do it every weekend sometimes twice in one weekend. It is really the true meaning of getting away from it all.

Make some confetti for me and shred em to bits...I enjoy it...I hope this doesn't mean I am a masochist...

The palette was simple on all three of these. Yellow Ochre, Cad Yellow Light, Cad Orange, Cad Red Medium, Alizeron Crimson, French Ultramarine, Thalo Green and White

[This message has been edited by Fred Flick Stone (edited July 19, 2000).]

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Thank you for submitting. Very nice.