Staying still like a statue

My daughter Trina modelled for this portrait bust twenty years ago. While I worked with Trina in the studio, her sister Tania had to help her mother do the housework. None too pleased at having to do all the work, Tania remarked, "It's all right for you". To which Trina responded, "So you think its easy staying still all day like a statue!"

Today's installment of my book Notes on the Nude has a section headed "Modelling isn't Easy". It begins: I am forever searching for a model that is not a model and a pose that is not a pose...

The note is timely as this week I will be working with two new models. While I feel certain that they will enjoy and value the experience (I have never had a model who has not) they will nevertheless find that to be ones natural self for the first time on the modelling stand isn't easy.

If you scroll down the side bar to "Extracts from the UK diary pages" you will find more about Trina's portrait. And below is a recent picture of Trina.

As difficult as it may be

Today's painting is one that I made a couple of years ago of Shani breast feeding her baby. If you go to pages 10 and 11 of my book Notes on the Nude you'll find Shani featured in the role of ballet. But whoever the model and whatever the subject - and as difficult as it may be - like Rodin, I can do no other than work from the live model.

I can only work from a model. The sight of human forms feeds and comforts me. Auguste Rodin.

This is why I am all too often disappointed with the current crop of artists whose subject matter is the nude figure. One artist that I have followed and admired for years - his drawings are in the vein of Egon Schiele - I now suspect works from photographic images. His bold outlines of hands, feet and facial features are too regular and accurate to be otherwise. In contrast, Egon Schiele's drawings speak of his struggle of getting the living and breathing model down on paper, mistakes and all.

My painting of Shani breast feeding her baby was one such struggle. At the time I considered the painting a failure. But I now realise that within my perceived failure, mother and baby are alive and well! 

If only...

If today's sketch seems far removed from the normal run of my posts, let me explain...

When for a period in my life I relocated to my native West Riding of Yorkshire in the mid 1990's my first sculptural commission was for pair of bronze heraldic deer for the gateposts of a Grade 1 listed building. My preliminary sketches were made from life in a deer park, and therein lies the link with my work with the female nude: not by way of photographs but by way of life. 

If only I could have remained content to work from animals rather than humans, how much easier it would have been to find my models - and naked at that, just as God intended. 

Whether it be a shy deer or one of my Daughters of the Caribbean Sun, neither stays still for more than a fleeting few seconds. A photograph can record the instance but not the life. Both demand getting it down on paper at a single stroke, as referred to in this week's serialization of my book Notes on the Nude.

The mood of the moment

The painting that illustrates today's post shared a similar fate to the painting that illustrates page 35 in the latest installment of my book Notes on the Nude. Their common fate being that I considered both paintings a failure and cast them aside. However, as often happens, what I first perceive as a failure in retrospect I deem a success. For this reason I never destroy work no matter how tempting my initial urge to discard and have done with it. 

My watercolours of the female nude are as far removed from a photographic likeness as you can get. In a matter of  minutes my task is to capture the mood of the moment. Just as I seldom recognize my models outside of the studio, I sometimes have difficulty - unless I make a note on the day of the session - relating models to paintings. In this case I am almost certain that the painting on page 35 of my book is of Annabelle and the painting above is of Saryta. 

In Pursuit of Beauty

This week's installment from my book Notes on the Nude touches upon the pursuit of beauty, which in turn involves my endless search for models. 

A hundred and fifty years ago artists in Paris had the advantage of a weekly model market from which they could pick and choose. Alas, there is no such market on my island of Dominica but a like Rodin, Renoir and scores of artists from the past I have found many of my best models serving behind the counter in a five and ten cents store. 

When I looked in at one such store this morning I didn't find what wanted to buy - I've even forgot what it was - but I did find the attractive young lady pictured below. She is now on my list of potential models.

Irving Berlin beautifully expressed the virtuous attraction of an attractive young lady in his lyrics for the score of the 1920's Broadway Revue "Ziegfeld Follies".

A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day
Just like the strain
Of a haunting refrain
She'll start upon a marathon and run around your brain...

Rapid response

A reoccurring message in my book Notes on the Nude is the need for a rapid response to the model's moods and changes. Whereas a watercolour might take me twenty minutes, the line drawing above was put down in twenty seconds. But either way, there's no time to worry about right or wrong. Better to capture the fleeting moment and leave moral judgement to the critics. 

My painting titled Model with hand to Pudendum featured in this week's installment of the book is a case in point. How glad I am that I seized the moment.

Sensuous similarities

There are similarities between the beauty of the human form and church architecture. Like many artists before me, I am passionate about both. I touch upon this in forthcoming installments of my book Notes on the Nude. But for now I will leave you with the following paintings. 

First the human beauty of the standing nude and alongside, similarities in the drama of church architecture.

And second, the similarities in the peace and tranquility that I find within my studio and a churchyard. This holds true even though the church rubs shoulders with recent town center development, as does the Halifax Parish Church.

Body and Soul

As I stated in my dedication to Notes on the Nude without my model's contribution to the creative process my paintings and sculptures would not exist. They have given their body and soul to my work. 

This week's serialization of the book features paintings of my models Peal and Annabelle. Here they are captured by my camera. Whether by painting, sculpture and photograph, their remarkable beauty shines through. That isn't to say that I am searching for beauty queens. Many of my best models you would pass on the street without a second glance. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and the artist is the beholder.

Pearl

Annabelle

The photographs were taken as the model's reference for the pose for a sculpture. 

A recent message from Pearl reads, It was a pleasure working with you.

Why Nude?

The latest serialization of pages from my book Notes on the Nude ends with the question "Why Nude". 

The note refers specifically to my attempt to rid Afro-Caribbean women of foreign concepts of facial features and dress. But the question has a broader significance.

Dress is subject to fashion but the beauty of nude remains constant. What is deemed fashionable today becomes out of date by tomorrow.  

The question "Why Nude" was raised when a party of primary school children visited my studio as work on my sculpture for the City of Leeds was still at the preliminary nude stage. During the visit one girl put her hand up and indignantly asked: "My Burnett, why are your statues so RUDE!" There followed an informed class debate on why the artist works from the nude. Their eventual understanding could have put many art degree students to shame.

Spot the difference

First Image

Second Image

Two images: I invite you to spot the difference.

Both are works on paper. The first is an original; the second is a lithograph print, number 19 of an edition of 100. 

The first has remained unsold at US$625.00 since 2001 and the second sold recently at Sotherby's for US$6,250.00.

A CLUE: The first is by Roger Burnett and the second by Tracey Emin.

The first is included in my book Notes on the Nude.

How to keep a secret

There is a saying on my Caribbean island of Dominica, that if you want to keep something secret, publish it in a book!

While this blog daily attracts hundreds of artists and art students from around the world, the sidebar link that takes you to the on-line serialization of my book Notes on the Nude is seldom clicked and the exploits of artist and models remain a closely guarded secret.The secrets this week include the agony and the ecstasy of giving birth to a painting that has involved a struggle against the odds. 

Now for another secret! 

My book Townscapes is finally available from Amazon. 

The book begins with my native town of Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire and ends with the towns and villages of my adopted Caribbean. Between the two I take a brief sojourn to Portugal and revisit Birmingham’s restored canal network. The book ends with a series of essays that express my concern about the present trend in Caribbean townscapes. 

For further information go to: studiopublications.blogspot.com

To begin at the beginning

My love affair with the nude dates back to 1971. In that year I was seduced by Enzo Plazzotta’s sculpture Jamaican Girl. The infatuation was such that I followed my temptress to the land of her birth. Thereafter, the Caribbean became my adopted home and the islanders, my subject matter. 

Enzo Plazzotta’s sculpture Jamaican Girl.

My book Notes on the Nude traces my work as a painter and sculptor of the female nude figure. The images that illustrate the book are from my series: Daughters of the Caribbean Sun.

The title of the series is taken from a poem by the Virgin Island poet Sheila Hyndman (1958-1991). Sheila gave me the courage to explore the sensuous. I timidly began in the 1980’s from my studio in the British Virgin Islands. A Portrait of Alice is collection of red chalk drawings that depicted the beauty of the Afro-Caribbean woman. Alice is discreetly veiled in my drawings, for I had not then the courage to work with the nude.

The above illustration is taken from my book and shows Alice with one of my first tentative drawings. In advance of publishing a large format collector's limited edition of the book I will be serializing the contents week by week, page by page, over the next few months. To access the pages to date click on the sidebar image for this book or go to: notesonthenude.blogspot.com.

The best of both worlds

As you'll on the sidebar, I have begun serializing Notes on the Nude in advance of publishing a large format, high quality, limited print edition. This gives my followers the best of both worlds. First: it makes the contents available on-line for art students in every corner of the world and second: for collector's, a hard copy, the details of which will follow. 

I will be serializing the book week by week, page by page, over the next few months. To access the pages click on the sidebar image for this book or go to: notesonthenude.blogspot.com.

To quote the reviewer of a draft copy:

Roger Burnett’s account of his life-time’s work as a painter and sculptor depicting the nude figure will forever put traditional life classes in the shade. The pages radiate with passion, both from the artist’s and model’s standpoint. I know of no other book on this subject that comes close. It is brave and beautiful…

What have we done wrong?

Today's sketch might well express the dejected feelings of my models whose paintings and sculptures are featured in my book Notes on the Nude. I share their dismay: what have we done wrong to have our work "blocked" by the publisher of our choice. My models gave their body and soul and together we worked in all innocence to elevate the beauty and profundity of the nude.

The thousands of artists and art students that follow these post from every corner of the world do so in order to develop their understanding of working from the live model, and in doing so continue a practice that has been on going for centuries. 

Notes on the Nude is unique in giving an insight into the creative process from both the artist's and model's perspective. Moreover - and relevant to what we are presently up against - it records the battle of censorship in the arts since the time of Michelangelo. 

But one way or the other we will publish and be damned. One option is to publish the book on this blog in serial form, together with a high quality, limited edition print version. 

We're working on it!

It beggars believe...or does it

My last post ended with a reviewer's comment:

It is artists like Schiele who blaze a trail for future generations of artists to create work without constraints limiting what they can do.

It would be wonderful if that were so. But alas, in today’s world it is the likes of Facebook that have set themselves up as the guardians of morality, and it seems that all others meekly follow suit. The “F” and “C” words pass muster, as does violence and hatred, but the innocent beauty of the nude is censored. 

The content of my forthcoming book Notes on the Nude is presently suffering a similar fate and has been BLOCKED by my first choice of publisher. 

It is somewhat ironic that, in a society where sex appeal is used to sell everything from perfume to cars, artistic representations of the nude are regularly banned from being shown in public places. But this is not a new development: notwithstanding the fact that, historically, the nude has been one of the central subjects of art, it has been subjected to regular censorship attempts.

On its unveiling in Florence in 1501, onlookers stoned Michelangelo’s “David,” breaking off an arm.  More recently, in California the penis on a reproduction of “David” was masked with a fig leaf - as it was in London at the time of Queen Victoria - and in Florida, a replica of David was dressed with a loincloth after community complaints.

I give credit to The National Coalition Against Censorship for serving as the US watchdog on these issues.

My loss was my gain

Thank goodness I did not go to art school or seriously study the work of past masters until, by way of my roving lifestyle; I had developed my own way of seeing. Had this not been so, I would have discovered the work of Egon Schiele earlier than I did, and hence been tempted to imitate his unique way of seeing.

The opening sketch is one that I made before I knew that Egon Schiele had ever existed, and the painting below is by the master himself.

A recently published book: Egon Schiele. The Complete Paintings 1909–1918 is high on my wish list. The following is quoted from the publisher’s press release.

After Egon Schiele (1890-1918) freed himself from the shadow of his mentor and role model Gustav Klimt, he had just ten years to inscribe his signature style into the annals of modernity before the Spanish flu claimed his life. Being a child prodigy quite aware of his own genius and a passionate provocateur, this didn’t prove to be too big a challenge.

His haggard, overstretched figures, drastic depiction of sexuality, and self-portraits in which he staged himself with emaciated facial expressions bordering between brilliance and madness, had none of the decorative quality of Klimt's hymns of love, sexuality, and yearning devotion. Instead, Schiele’s work spoke of a brutal honesty, one that would upset and irreversibly change Viennese society.

Although his works were later defamed as “degenerate” and for a time were almost forgotten altogether, they influenced generations of artists – from Günter Brus and Francis Bacon to Tracey Emin. Today, his then-misunderstood oeuvre continues to fetch exorbitant prices on the international art market.

Presented in a voluminous format that captures all of the intensity and emotional truth of his work, Egon Schiele. All paintings from 1909-1918 features 221 paintings and 146 drawings that retrace the fertile last decade of Schiele’s life. With many pieces newly photographed for this edition, these works are paired with excerpts from his countless writings and poems, as well as essays introducing his life and oeuvre, to situate the Austrian master in the context of European Expressionism and trace his extraordinary legacy.

 As one reviewer has said:

I am obsessed with Schiele’s work. I love the boldness of his paintings and drawings particularly in a time of real censorship. It is artists like Schiele who blaze a trail for future generations of artists to create work without constraints limiting what they can do.

I can’t sit around doing nothing

While waiting for corrections to my book Notes on the Nude to be accepted, I can’t sit around doing nothing. My hands and mind have to be busy at something. Today’s picture shows what has kept me occupied.

The history of the three stools is as follows:

The small stool is one that I made a few years ago as a replica of a family heirloom that ended its days by being eaten away by wood-worm.

The stool to the left is well over a hundred years old and began its life as a weaver’s stool in a Yorkshire mill. I rescued it some years ago and it has since served as a favourite stool in my studio.

The high stool to the right is one I made last week in order to keep me from going bonkers while my darling daughter resolved errors in Notes in the Nude page layouts – patience is not one of my virtues! The stool is made from two contrasting Dominican hardwoods and will have a lifespan of hundreds of years after my time on earth.

I designed the stool specifically for one of my models to perch upon. Just as the sculptor Enzo Plazzotta’s Jamaican Girl perched almost fifty years ago when I made this sketch.

And coincidentally, who should I bump into in town this morning but Verlena, the very model I had in mind!

   

Doodling is good for you

This post was originally intended for my Notes for Art Students blog. But despite my attempts at resurrection, that blog fails to catch on. Perhaps my art student followers resent being demoted to a secondary site. From now on I'll stick to these pages.

The doodle that illustrates this post came about as I was trying out a box of crayons and felt tips that cost me no more than a few dollars. Many artists of the past worked with whatever materials came to hand and I tend to do the same.

Many years ago, George Prince (1918-2009), the world's acknowledge expert on creative thinking, was my next door neighbour. Entering his house was a mind boggling experience. Every inch of wall space was covered with page after page of random thoughts and doodles. 

Doodles are the outlet for spontaneous and unconscious creativity. Like water colours, they resent being controlled.  

One skill leads to another

This week I found myself using my grandfather’s clock making tools, but not for the kind of clock mechanism that he would have known, it was quartz rather than clockwork.

There was no way that I could bear looking at the quartz clock that I had bought for a few dollars, so I set about modifying its appearance. In place of the horrid plastic case I mounted the mechanism on a brass and mahogany stand of my own making. All went well until the hollow shaft that turns the minute hand broke within the shaft that turn the hour hand. To make a repair I had to turn and bore a brass insert no larger than the head of a match – hence my grandfather’s clock making tools and his critical eye looking down on me from the next world!

The picture is of the modified clock on the shelf in my studio with the plastic case of its predecessor shown as an insert.

Why, you may ask, do I need to tell the time while painting? The answer being that I work from the model for no more than one and a half hours and in that time I attempt three paintings. The clock tells me when enough is enough. To paint more would be to achieve less.

Reinventing the (potter’s) wheel

After fifteen years of earning his living in other spheres, my son Karl has courageously declared himself a potter and his recently opened pottery is the first of its kind in the British Virgin Islands.

My children’s careers range from Chartered Accountant, Sport, Environment Management, Music and Computer Programming. But Karl is the first one to follow in his father’s footsteps and risk toiling on the forge of art.

Yet there may be another. The picture below is of his son (my grandson) and I understand they claim: “He’s just like his grandfather”. If that is so, he will certainly give them something to think about! On the strength of that I am keeping him in mind as my future apprentice. 

 

The word "apprentice" relates to the word "reinventing" in the title of this post. Apprenticeships have sadly become a thing of the past. Without the benefit of an apprenticeship those now wishing to learn a craft have to reinvent the wheel. Text books, on-line instruction and college courses come nowhere near to learning a trade at the workbench of a master craftsman. 

Photocopying

Portrait by Vaughn Anslyn

Two portraits: the first doubtless copied from a photograph and the second, undoubtedly drawn from life. They illustrate the difference between precision and passion.

Without a photograph to copy from, most of today’s artists would be at a complete loss. The work of the copyist may be technically perfect, but the work of the artist that draws from life is genius. I stress to my students: no copying and no rubbing out…every line counts.

But it takes an artist of the calibre of Feliks Topolski to spontaneously capture the mood of Hastings Banda from life.

PS If my DGS students turn to my Notes for Art Students there is a posting for your eyes only...no one else is allowed to see!

In art there is no right or wrong answer

This morning I hosted a studio session for eleven students from the Dominica Grammar School who this year will be the sitting CXC exam in Visual Art. The school deserves credit for rounding up eleven students. For the remainder of Secondary Schools in Dominica the tally is virtually nil. Creative Arts are low on the Ministry of Education’s agenda. Sport is compulsory, but art is not. It is perceived as non-essential - something you can do in your spare time, a bit like playing dominoes. 

No matter how hard the students try at this late hour, they have a difficult task ahead of them. In previous years, the results from Dominican students sitting the exam have been abysmally low - and it’s not the fault of the students. Without a culture that is not steeped in art, it is difficult to relate to the subject. For the sake of these students I am resurrecting my blog: notesforartstudents.blogspot.com.  You will find the link in the sidebar.

I began this morning’s session by telling the students that in art, unlike other subjects, there is no right or wrong answer: creativity is different.

Here are my eleven brave students and a quick water-colour sketch that I made of one of them. 

Shayla is not studying art but was standing in for a student that was absent. Pity, because her interest in art was aroused and I feel sure that she has potential.

Working on it

While waiting impatiently for my computer to complete a task, I get a message on the screen that says: working on it. For those impatiently waiting for the release of my book Notes on the Nude I promise, we’re working on it.

When I started collecting and assembling the notes and images for Notes on the Nude last October, I had in mind printing the book in landscape format. Most of my images are of the reclining nude, and it stands to reason that my models recline horizontal. However, to keep to the printer’s preferred format, I switched to portrait, but portrait with a twist. The twist being, you turn the book through 90˚ to view the right-hand full-page images. The notes are on the left hand pages and are viewed upright. We tested the arrangement out on a proof copy and it worked. Moreover, it left space at the bottom of the text pages into which I could add more images. I’ve lost count, but we are looking at 150 full colour images in all.

While I worked on the content, my ever faithful daughter Tania worked on the computer page set ups. A week without internet access (the joys of living on a small Caribbean island) and other emergencies, further slowed down the process. But we’re working on it and we are nearly there.

Today’s picture shows the revised book cover.