The Oil Painting Blog : shading

Oil Painting: Ron Hicks' "Noelle With a Black Dress"

American Artist — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:31:00 GMT

In the spring 2008 issue of Workshop magazine, Colorado artist Ron Hicks discussed how breaking down his subjects into shapes, and capturing gradations of light in each, allow him to create the moody figurative and interior work he is best known for. Here we present his demonstration Noelle With a Black Dress.


Reference A picture of model Noelle Pawlowski, who Hicks painted for this demonstration.	Step 1 Hicks began by roughly blocking in the general placement of the model's head, shoulders, and chest using burnt umber mixed with turpentine. "When I look at a setup or a composition, the first thing I see is a bunch of shapes and values and how they relate to one another," the instructor said. "In the beginning stages, I'm working very abstractly and just thinking about getting the correct placement and proportions of shapes and values."	Step 2 Once he had a general sense of the figure's placement, the artist began to indicate planes and features of the face, thinking about the value of the model's skin tone and how that compared to the value of the shapes around her. Deciding that her facial tone was in the middle range, Hicks mixed a color that matched what he was observing and applied it very thinly. At this point he was noticing the movement of light on the model's neck and up through her head and had already mentally divided her face into four major shapes and values, in which he would later capture the gradations of light.


Step 3 Alternating among the background, the model's face, and her dress, Hicks was certain to get his values reading properly so that he would already have that solved when he began working on color. Even at this stage, the artist was still thinking and working abstractly and concentrating on capturing the movement of light. "Right now I'm more interested in the transition of light and its presence in each area of the form than I am in edges and details," he said to the class. "I will work on those aspects in the later stages of the painting."	Step 4 The artist continued working on the model's skin tones, adding some lighter values on her chest, neck, and face to indicate the movement of light. He followed the advice he gave to students, in that he broke the big shapes he had established during the beginning stages of the painting down into smaller and smaller shapes of light and dark and warm and cool to really capture the light moving across the form.	Step 5 As he brought the demonstration to completion, the artist concentrated on refining edges and color and working on some of the detail. "I don't like to commit until the end of a painting," Hicks had said at the start of the demonstration. "I work very slowly and organically in the beginning stages and just kind of feel my way through the process until I'm sure that I've not only captured the subject as accurately as possible but also made a statement about what I've observed."

THE COMPLETED DEMONSTRATION:
Noelle With a Black Dress
2007, oil, 20 x 16. Collection Gallery 1261, Denver, Colorado.

Oil Painting: Daniel Graves: Steward of Humanist Art

American Artist — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 10:49:00 GMT

Many of the great teachers who trained Daniel Graves were featured in American Artist in the 1970s, while he and his students have been profiled in more recent issues. As the magazine celebrates its 70th anniversary, we examine the academic art education that Graves has dedicated part of his career to preserving.

by M. Stephen Doherty

The Groom
2005, oil, 48 x 32.
Courtesy Grenning Gallery,
Sag Harbor, New York.

Many of the important realists of the 20th century were profiled in American Artist, and those feature articles had a strong influence on painters who were hungry for information that might inform and instruct their creative efforts. Daniel Graves was fortunate to study with several of those influential artists, including Joseph Sheppard, Frank Russell, Richard Serrin, Richard Lack, Pietro Annigoni, and Nerina Simi; and he was profiled in the December 1988 cover story. Since then, Graves has continued to pass on the great training he received to new generations of artists, and the magazine has featured a number of his former students, some of whom now teach in the United States and Europe.

Because Graves is one of the important links between the past and the present, we believe it is appropriate to visit him once again during this anniversary year. Fortunately, he has written extensively about the current state of representational arts, his own background, and the mission that continues to drive him as an artist and teacher. The following is an excerpt from the essay Graves wrote that helps explain the tradition he carries on, and the methodology he uses to connect new generations of artists to that tradition.

Having devoted much of my life, as both an artist and a teacher, to the representational arts, I am very pleased to see that, once again, a growing number of people are finding more traditionally rendered images meaningful to them. The tradition I refer to is that of the humanist spirit in Western art.

An exhibition of Graves' work will
be on view at the Eleanor
Ettinger Gallery, in New York City,
beginning March 8, 2007.
For more information on Graves,
visit his website at www.danielgraves.com.
To read the full text of his
essay or to learn more about
The Florence Academy of Art,
visit the schoolâ??s website at www.florenceacademyofart.com.
For a listing of other art schools
maintaining the tradition Graves describes,
visit the website of the Art Renewal Center.

When I began my studies in 1968 with Joseph Sheppard and Frank Russell at the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore, most, if not all, of the worthy traditions of art education were linked to the 19th-century ateliers of Europe. The information students received had been passed down since the Renaissance, first through individual artists who took on apprentices, and then through the academies whose function it was to educate artists and maintain a tradition of craftsmanship. Because there were few such institutions in the United States, most American painters traveled to these European ateliers to learn the principles and techniques critical to their vocations.

Some of the Americans attempting to emulate the European academies, such as R.H. Ives Gammell and Richard Lack, opened their own academies. Gammell trained Lack in his Boston atelier, and Lack then opened The Atelier Lack [now The Atelier] in Minneapolis, which continues to operate under the guidance of his students. Other ateliers, past and present, with links to Gammell or one of his students, include those directed by Allan Banks, Charles Cecil, James Childs, Robert Cormier, Stephen Gjertson, Gary Hoffman, Don Koestner, Robert Douglas Hunter, Richard Whitney, Andrea Smith, Ryan S. Brown, and Juliette Aristides.

My own desire to be connected to the tradition at a time when it was no longer whole, when it was considered passé to want to do so, and when its language was being forgotten, is what brought me to Florence in 1978. Having studied with Lack, I decided to open an art school with Cecil in 1982 (which continued until 1990 as the Cecil-Graves studio), and then I founded The Florence Academy of Art in 1991, and I continue to serve as its director. My aim was to blend Lack's teachings with those of other artists/teachers who greatly influenced me. That educational program and the tradition on which it is based are what have brought hundreds of students to The Florence Academy of Art, several of whom have subsequently founded their own ateliers.

Self-portrait
2005, oil, 15 3/4 x 19 3/4.
Private collection.

To say that we are all working in this academic tradition does not mean that our subject matter and artistic interests are the same. As I hope is evident from the drawings and paintings created by the artists I just mentioned and their students, each of us is attempting to create a unique body of work based on his or her individual artistic path. However, we all speak with the same visual "language." That is, we have all learned, to the extent that we can, the language of the tradition, which we use to express our visions. I like to believe that our mission is to fit together fragments of the humanistic tradition so that we might contribute meaningful images that will inspire future generations.

My Early Pursuit of the Tradition
My own artistic path, as I've explained, began at the Maryland Institute College of Art and continued with my graduate studies in Florence at the Villa Schifanoia, where I met Richard Serrin, one of the great influences on my life. He taught me how to "read" a painting, thereby opening a door that is crucial to developing a deep and ongoing dialogue with past masters. He demonstrated a profound technical understanding of Rembrandt and 17th-century painting but, just as important, he "communed" with the world of painting and talked to me about the significance of what he saw.

The Explorer
2003, oil, 35½ x 27½.
All artwork this article collection
the artist unless otherwise indicated.

Later, I went to Minneapolis with Serrin to help him with a mural project, and it was there that I met Richard Lack, with whom I studied for almost a year. From Lack I learned many of the academic traditions of the Boston School, which had been passed on to him by Gammell, and the sight-size method of drawing and painting that was used by many of the portrait painters of the 19th century, including John Singer Sargent. I then returned to Florence and studied with Nerina Simi, or "Signorina Simi," as we called her. The daughter of Filadelfo Simi—a Florentine painter in the Macchiaioli style, who had studied with Jéan-Léon Gérome—?Signorina Simi maintained her father's atelier from his death in 1923 until her own in 1987 at the age of 97. I returned to Florence to study with her because the work coming out of her studio had strengths that I wanted to acquire.

Both Lack and Simi offered a connection to Gérome me that was meaningful to me. Lack inherited his through Gammell's lineage, while Signorina Simi gleaned hers through working in the studio with her father. Both going back to Gerome, they had many similarities in what they taught but quite a few differences as well.

Italy—with its museums, churches, and natural beauty, and as a place where the arts have traditionally flourished—has always been a magnet for artists. The presence of Signorina Simi and Pietro Annigoni in Florence attracted many young painters (including me) who were looking for the frayed threads of the realist tradition. We desperately wanted to feel connected to the tradition, and it seemed that nowhere else were artists working as they had in the past—with an attention to craft even at the most basic material level. In Florence, one did not call oneself an artist but a painter; and when one earned the respect of others, as Annigoni had, one was given the title "maestro."? These things made us feel that painting was a noble profession, deeply rooted in craft, culture, and community. Some of those who came stayed for only a few months; others, like me, remained because Florence captivated them with its beauty and culture.

Hans
2005, oil, 27½ x 23¾.

Although I did not study with Annigoni, who died in 1988 at the age of 78, I came to know him quite well. He was, as some called him, "the Patriarch of Realism."? Setting the standard for draftsmanship, he gave us hope because he could draw and paint as artists had in previous centuries.

I visited his studio many times to show him my paintings; he was always encouraging but never gave much praise. Not much for small talk, he enjoyed discussing the deeper meanings of life. Of course, art was always in the forefront of our discussions. As I would leave the studio after visiting with him, he would always encourage me. "Buon lavoro. Forza e coraggio"? ("Work hard and well. Strength and courage"), he would say, in the tone, I imagine, of a Roman warrior.

Teaching Methodology at The Florence Academy of Art
"In a school of fine arts, it is one's duty to teach only uncontested truths, or at least those that rest upon the finest examples accepted for centuries."? H. Flandrin's words, printed on our brochure, are the closest we come to articulating a mission statement at The Florence Academy of Art. With Flandrin—and so many others we could quote—as our guides, we teach the craft of working in the realist tradition similar to how it was taught in the 19th-century ateliers of Western Europe—not necessarily to produce 19th-century work but, as I mentioned earlier, because our most direct link to the traditional values and teachings of the past, which are known to have produced professional-level artists in the realist tradition, are through those studios. Because I picked up pieces of the tradition from many different people, what we teach at The Florence Academy of Art is a blend of what I received from many of those I mentioned earlier, interpreted in my own way.

Cloud Study
2006, oil, 35½ x 51¼.

In looking to the atelier system of training as a model, The Florence Academy of Art is different from most other art schools, where students go to a variety of classes and are often taught by many people. When students walk in the door of The Florence Academy, they are assigned a studio space and settle into a rhythm of working that will remain constant throughout their years of study. Urging them to become, as John Constable said, "patient pupil of nature," half the day is spent working from the figure and the other half of the day in their studios, working on specific exercises. We demystify the training of an artist and break the vastly complex task of learning to draw, paint, and sculpt from life into gradual steps. In the most general terms, students spend their days trying to see and put down exactly what is in front of them, for, as Leonardo said, "The painter will produce pictures of little merit if he takes the works of others as his standard; but if he will apply himself to learn from the objects of nature he will produce good results."

To do this, however, is not easy: a step-by-step progression through the school's curriculum, from learning to draw accurately to learning to use precise color values in oil—or, for the sculpture students, learning to use correct structure in clay—generally takes students four to five years. With few exceptions, students focus exclusively on drawing their first year. Once they have gained confidence in their ability to be accurate, they are asked to develop, in preparation to become a painter, a sophisticated understanding of gradations of value—hence, the use of charcoal, whose range makes it an effective medium for exploring light and dark. Intermediate students achieve a strong foundation in drawing, both in graphite and charcoal, and, usually by the beginning of their second year, they begin to draw with charcoal and white chalk on toned paper, a step closer to painting. The students' cast drawings begin to look like the actual casts, and their figure drawings have the weight and balance of a living person. With these drawing skills well in-hand, the first painting projects are assigned.

Study for The Gift
2006, charcoal and white chalk, 53½ x 47½.

Gaining control over this new medium takes time and experience and, as with drawing, we move step by step. We soften the transition from drawing by starting students with painting en grisaille—that is, with painting in gray. This gives students a chance to become familiar with using paint to study values without the added complexity of color. Only a few projects are given en grisaille (usually two casts and one five-week figure painting) before a project in limited color is assigned. We start students with three colors, not including white: yellow ochre, English red, and black. This is the most traditional and basic palette there is—students have started with it for centuries, and many great painters, such as Titian, are thought to have used it to produce some of their finest work. Once students have discovered the potential of these basic colors, others are added as they are needed: Naples yellow, vermillion, cobalt blue, etc.

Third-year students are given time to absorb and practice the material given to them in the second year, along with a greater degree of difficulty in subject matter. Portraiture is introduced, first in drawing, then in painting. Many students begin to show a proclivity toward certain subject matter and may begin spending more time developing their skills in the area that most fascinates them.

By the fourth year, students have mastered drawing in two media and are familiar with the methods and materials of oil painting, the latter as important in the studies of a painter as the former. Now is the time to refine skills, to identify and tackle lingering weaknesses, and to begin to put technical knowledge to the test. One of the most beneficial policies we have instituted in the past 10 years is the final critique. At the end of each trimester, students individually bring all the work they have produced before their assembled teachers. The purpose of the critique is to let students know if they are on course, to give them a clear indication of what we feel their strengths and weaknesses are, and to give them personalized suggestions on how to improve. They are given a pass/fail grade based on how they have done in five different categories: progress, performance, attitude, effort, and attendance.

I suspect that for some students, the days sometimes seem slow and tedious, but when they leave after having been here for a few years, they know how to follow a procedure that works. Every art is about control: If you cannot follow specified movements of ballet, you cannot dance ballet; you cannot play classical music unless you have control over all the scales and your fingering. You cannot paint and sculpt in a traditional manner unless you have learned the necessary principles and techniques, such as movement, gesture, and proportion.

Study for The Gift
2006, charcoal and white chalk, 52¼ x 50.

There are generally two types of students: those who seem to have a special gift for seeing and then translating quickly and fluidly from three dimensions into two, and those who struggle for each new skill they acquire. Both make excellent painters and sculptors, as well as excellent teachers, for different reasons. The former are often admired role models; they quickly perceive the students' mistakes and the reason they have made them. On the other hand, those who have struggled have a keen grasp of the difficulties; they serve as examples of progress and can sympathize with the frustration of those who are struggling.

What seems to be common in those who are successful, the ones who survive, is their passion and hard work. I believe anyone can achieve success, no matter what his or her level of talent, if he or she is totally passionate, involved, and assiduous. As Michelangelo said, "If people knew how hard I worked, they wouldn't like what I do."?

A Personal Statement
Although pieces of the tradition were saved and passed down, I worry about the current state of this body of knowledge, which is one of the reasons I have devoted part of my time over the years to teaching. When developing the program at The Florence Academy of Art, I chose to emphasize those aspects of the tradition that seemed vital to me. In doing so, it was not my desire to manipulate the tradition to fit my personal vision, but to strengthen it, build on it, and give a generation of students the tools they need to devote themselves to what I consider one of the greatest and most challenging occupations of all: the creation of images that have emotional resonance and technical skill and that, in their truthfulness and beauty, convey ideas of great significance. To this end, as I mentioned earlier, I blended what I learned from the influential artists/teachers I met during the course of my own studies. I have necessarily interpreted their teachings in my own way, fitting the pieces together as seemed most right. In the spirit of passing on to students that which is "pure"? or "true"?—that is, to ensure that we are teaching principles and not imposing styles, mannerisms, or techniques—we focus on practicalities of craft at the school.

The Gift
2006, oil, each panel 51½ x 53½.

To learn these classical techniques of drawing, painting and sculpting, one needs to know the language so that they can "speak" in a way that will be understood. I want to pass this language on to students not so that they will then go into their studios and produce work that is an imitation of the past but so they can go into the world and create works of art in a language that has long been used by artists, and that has long been understood by people of all levels of society—be they working artists or otherwise. All that being said, I am most aware that the tradition is much greater than the sum of all the elements of craft. We are indeed standing on the shoulders of giants.

John Ruskin pointed out that we have generations of people behind us helping us to make works of art. I would add that those generations of artists have raised the technical and psychological significance of painting to such a high level that anyone taking the baton faces the toughest competition there is. "Why can't we produce Leonardos today?"? one might ask. I do not believe it is only because we lack technical knowledge and expertise. I believe it is because there is something in addition to the technique that is also part of the tradition. I hope that by having the school in Florence, by exposing students to its great masterpieces and culture, that they will pick up more of the essence of the tradition, that they will have more than technique behind them to motivate them.

Given that we do not want to just repeat the work of past centuries, I think one of the great challenges we face is that of discovering what we are going to paint and sculpt. To merely record the surface appearance of "reality"? has never been the province of painting, whose language is far deeper. From the beginning, artists have painted, sculpted, and drawn things that had meaning for them, and the images they have left behind are a living testament, a record of their consciousness on earth.

To continue the testimony of what humans have seen, believed, felt, and thought, we must have the courage to ask ourselves what we really care about, because if we do not know we cannot express it. We must develop our capacity for deep feeling, for what we know with our minds is only part of what we have to give to our art—we also have our hearts to give. Today many of us are adults in our minds but children in our hearts. We must grow wise in our hearts, in tandem with honing our craft, in order to express ourselves in a way that will both touch and be meaningful to others. To seek beauty and meaning in our lives is to bring it into our art.

Oil Painting: Using Subtle Grays in Still Life Painting

American Artist — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 10:59:00 GMT

Two masters of still life painting have much to teach us about developing our paintings.

by Joseph Gyurcsak

Ochre & Blue Gray
2007, oil, 12 x 16.
Collection the artist.

Two of the most admired masters of still life painting are the Italian artist Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) and the French painter Paul Cézanne (1839–1906). They are revered because artists can learn a great deal from studying their paintings and trying to understand how they dealt with a selection of common objects, a composition of interrelated forms, the subtle manipulation of harmonious colors, and a unified light arrangement.

I want to discuss some key components in the creation of a still life oil painting by providing a step-by-step demonstration based on my understanding of Morandi and Cézanne. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced painter, this demo will help improve your approach to still life painting.

My painting Subtle Grays is a still life created within a two-hour period using an alla prima technique (painting in one sitting). The oil painting was inspired by the compositions, subjects, and colors of Morandi, who worked with similar objects and a limited palette to create some of the most magnificent still life paintings ever made. His paintings are useful reminders of how rich a still life subject can be if one understands and embraces the genre. What at first appears simplistic becomes complex as one emulates Morandi’s subtle use of muted color and visible brushwork.

Subtle Grays was carefully modeled so it wouldn’t lose the spontaneity implied by the brushmarks. More detail does not necessarily enhance a painting. In fact, careful editing often has more impact than excessive elaboration. It’s important for an artist to constantly observe and edit as his or her painting takes shape.
The colors I used in creating this painting were Naples yellow, yellow ochre, cadmium red light, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue, and titanium white. My palette choice was limited, and that helped in establishing color harmony. I toned my canvas with a light wash of burnt sienna in advance (establishing an imprimatura), and let the surface dry thoroughly for a few weeks before starting the still life. I thinned the burnt-sienna oil color with a small amount of Utrecht Alkyd Glazing Medium to ensure that the color would not become reinstated to its wet properties once the painting process began.

One of the key ways to achieve excellent gray mixtures is not to take the shortcut of using blacks or premixed grays but, rather, to use various color combinations. For example, when I wanted a gray-green for my demonstration, I combined ultramarine blue and yellow ochre and added permanent alizarin crimson to deepen and mute the color to the approximate color temperature and value I needed. I always mix the secondary color and then add a complement of opposite value and temperature. The result of this method is always a rich-bodied gray that has more depth. Both Cézanne and Morandi used grays in an exquisite way by making wonderful transitions between the pure colors and the lights and darks.

Fruit Still Life With Tapestry
2000, oil, 20 x 24.
Collection the artist.

Selecting a Subject
We all have tendencies, habits, or preferences. At the end of the day, the only really important thing is that we paint what excites us. Our paintings are more likely to have that personal “X factor” when we paint with passion.

That being said, I would suggest that you consider going outside your comfort zone from time to time to gain a broader understanding of yourself and the creative process in which you are engaged. For example, if you are attempting a still life painting, work from an arrangement of objects you wouldn’t normally group together. Another idea would be to visit an antique shop and discover old pots, pans, bottles, and other kitchen utensils that might allow you to tell a story through their worn appearance. Finally, select objects simply because of their shape, color, texture, or size and arrange them in a way that contrasts their appearance.

In the case of my demonstration, I focused on some very old, discolored bottles, a candle holder, a pestle, and a few wooden blocks that I arranged on top of a modeling table. I deliberately selected pieces that lacked strong color because I wanted to challenge myself to delve into the subtlety of the color relationships rather than an obvious contrast between vastly different surfaces.

Composing a Still Life
Once you select items of interest, place them where you can view them from different heights and angles—from a bird’s-eye view above, a straight-on vantage point, or a low, worm’s-eye view. This will help you determine the best vantage point from which to have the viewer see the subject. If you aren’t quite sure of the viewpoint from which to paint the objects, make thumbnail sketches or flip through the pages of a book on still life painting to see what other artists have done. Consider how their compositions suggest balanced order, anticipated movement, unsettling disarray, or mysterious uncertainty.

When you finally lock in a composition, it may present a very complex image or one that is quite simple. You’ll quickly see this decision-making process is an essential step in the creation of a painting. Take your time, absorb the subject, be with it, let it speak to you, trust your intuition, and you will know when it is right.

For this demonstration, I arranged a composition at eye level so the variations came not from the spatial relationships but from the differences in color, height, and shape.

The Importance of Lighting
Once you have an arrangement of objects and an established vantage point, it’s then time to bring on the light. It may come through a sunlit window as a strong warm stream of light or with north-facing exposure as cool, even light creating softer edges with blue-gray tones. Incandescent lamps can illuminate objects with strong directional lighting, creating hard edges, and can heighten areas of light that could be sharply defined.

Mustard Jar and Brown Bottles
2007, oil, 12 x 16.
Collection the artist.

Artists often recommend north light for a painting studio because it is a steady glow of cool light that creates warm shadows. They find that preferable to a shifting pattern of warm sunlight and cool shadows. No single lighting situation is right or wrong. Each is different and establishes varying relationships between the intensity and temperature of the colors. North light tends to remain steady, allowing a subject to be painted over a long period of time without the light changing during the normal course of a day. Natural light offers the chance to work with the warm, golden light available at the beginning and end of the day; the stark, overhead sunlight at noon; or the silhouetted pattern of dark shapes against the light that has dropped below the horizon in the late afternoon.

If you don’t like the thought of dealing with unpredictable patterns of natural light, or if your schedule only allows time for painting at night, artificial lighting can provide you with unlimited hours for painting a subject. Some artists view incandescent lights as a disadvantage because they are warm in temperature and remove most of the coolness of a subject.

An important fact about lighting your subject with anything below 5500 Kelvin (a rating of the color of the bulb that best assimilates natural light) is that the artificial light will appear warm. Some light bulbs on the market offer a better balance of light to help you get cooler colors in your painting. For example, many artists use Chromalux full-spectrum incandescent light bulbs mounted in a Daylight professional artist’s lamp or a combination lamp.

Lighting is the unique component that enables you to establish either vivid or dull coloring, shading, highlighting, or flat tones on your subject. This is a key decision in creating atmosphere around your subject. Many great still life paintings use lighting as a main theme. For example, if you arrange objects so a few of them are illuminated by a strong light and a few others are in the dark, you will create great drama and depth in your painting. However way you chose to light your subject, remember you have a tremendous tool at your disposal to influence the overall effect of how your subject appears and how viewers are likely to respond to it. Cézanne knew this well, and he sometimes spent a few weeks setting up his still life arrangements so he had just the right lighting and environment.

I used a combination lamp while creating the painting Subtle Grays. My work schedule does not always permit me to paint under natural lighting conditions, so I set up this still life painting in my studio late at night using balanced bulbs or florescent lights that carry the same color temperature as natural light.
The decision of how to direct the light on the objects was guided by a Morandi painting that was generally lit in a flatter type lighting that did not cast large shadows. Painting flatter light is certainly much more difficult to record because it relies more on tonal color shifts than cast shadows, distinct middle tones, and sharp highlights. It also requires a painter to be more sensitive to observing temperature shifts.

Color Mixing Within a Limited Range
It often happens that one color harmony dominates a still life, while two or three others play supportive roles in the drama. If you aren’t sure what that harmony should be, place a sheet of white paper on a flat surface within the general areas of the subject, and then place a small white object on that paper so it will immediately reveal to you what the color temperature of your cast shadows should be in terms of its warmth or coolness. The illuminated area will automatically be the opposite temperature. Having that information will help you mix colors more accurately in terms of the correct color temperature of your shadows, middle tones, and light areas.

Still Life on Suite
2006, oil, 8 x 10.
Collection the artist.

For example, if the overall tone of your subject is bathed in a warm light you may have color combinations such as yellows, reds, and oranges in the light and middle tone areas. The shadow areas will include combinations of blues, violets, and cool greens.

In order to realize a harmony of colors, it helps to establish color mixtures using a limited palette of four to six tube colors rather than a wide assortment of a dozen or more. It is also recommended to use white sparingly to avoid weakening a color’s chroma. It is more advantageous to heighten the value of a color by mixing lighter-value colors to it, such as Naples yellow light or cadmium lemon yellow instead of whites. I recommend using small amounts of white in order to maintain color intensity. Similarly, I suggest neutralizing color mixtures by adding a pigment’s complementary counterpart. The more familiar you become with a color’s unique properties, the more success you will have with color mixing because you will gain greater color control, consistency, and harmony.

The photograph of my palette clearly shows how my colors were arranged and premixed. I established large piles of color and focused on mixing all the main spots of color I observed in the subject. Using fewer colors in the painting does not necessarily mean using less volume. John Singer Sargent and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida applied generous amounts of oil color to make their brushstrokes quite apparent. Artists who witnessed Sorolla at work commented that he squeezed out entire tubes of color on his palette before starting his demonstrations.

Value, Color, and Shape Beget Form
Once artists learn to see big spots of color and not details, they focus on value relationship, color temperature, and shape. When they strip away objective notions about the identity of the subject, they are free to create with tremendous expression. And when their drawing is accurate and their colors are mixed well, a lack of detail doesn’t detract from the recognizable subject matter emerging and reading as the subject of the painting.

Cézanne had the ability to juggle lines and forms with just the right attention to both. It is rare for an artist to command such a balance because most painters favor one or the other. The volumes of his painted shapes were sometimes broad, flat tones and, at other times, turned from light to shadow. The line qualities are calculated colors with strong directional movements that vibrate against the mass shapes. He relied on those lines to hold the contour of the object so that his orchestrated broken tones or open tones of color could retain their freshness.

Knowing When to Stop
In my painting classes, I often advise students to stop, put their brushes down, back away from their painting, and assess their creative experience. They need to evaluate what they already expressed and then determine how to go further—or to stop while they are ahead.

Traveling Show
2006, oil, 11 x 14.
Collection the artist.

I make a point of taking a break every 20 to 30 minutes to review my work from a distance. It’s always surprising to see how things look from a few steps back, and it helps to view a developing painting from a different angle, or to put it away for a few days and look at it with fresh vision. Painting is more than a process of applying oil colors to canvas. It’s one in which thoughts and feelings are expressed. As those become evident in the picture, artists have to guard against overstating them or working the canvas until the image becomes stiff and inexpressive.

About the Artist
Joseph Gyurcsak studied art at Parsons The New School for Design and the School of Visual Arts, both in New York City. He began his professional career in the late 1980s as a freelance illustrator working for advertising and publishing clients. He is currently the resident artist/brand manager at Utrecht Art Supply, in New Jersey, and teaches and lectures around the country on behalf of the company. The artist is represented by Bucks Gallery of Fine Art, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and Gallery RoCa, in Havre DeGrace, Maryland. For more information on Gyurcsak, visit his website at www.josephgyurcsak.com.

Dan Thompson's June 13th Chat Transcript

American Artist — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 18:35:00 GMT

Read the transcript from our online chat with artist-instructor Dan Thompson. If you have more thoughts to share, chat with your peers on Artists' Forum, and check back for more online chats with featured artists.

2007-06-13 12:00:02.0
Administrator: You have joined a chat with Dan Thompson, a top artist-instructor who has been highlighted in Workshop magazine. Feel free to ask him some questions and to join in the discussion. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

2007-06-13 11:54:00.0
Pentimento: Does he have one of those "kitchen sink" palettes, with 50 colors?

2007-06-13 12:01:13.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, I should use a kitchen-sink palette, but I don't. I use a palette I bought in France, about 25” x 20”, it holds about 25 colors. I have no tints. All those radiant colors I love, but I don't use them because that would add to the complexity of my palette. I only have on my palette what I feel I can't live without. For example, phthalo turquoise. What other colors can make that?

2007-06-13 12:04:30.0
Germaine: Hello, what colors do you have on your palette besides turquoise?

2007-06-13 12:05:30.0
Dan Thompson: Germaine, I can't list all 25 here, but they will be in the transcript tomorrow. Anyone who would like to email me at dan@danthompsonart.com will get a complete materials list.

2007-06-13 12:03:08.0
MSD: do you select the colors in terms of warms and cools?

2007-06-13 12:04:08.0
Dan Thompson: MSD, I sort of do. My palette is laid out like a color wheel. I start with cold violet. Then I go from blues to greens to yellows, and I end up on other side of the palette in warm violet.

2007-06-13 12:03:42.0
Kendra: Hi Dan, I'm so glad to be apart of the discussion. Do you use the white-to-black shading chart as you paint?

2007-06-13 12:06:42.0
Dan Thompson: Kendra, I do not, but I was trained in that method. I have made quite a few white-to-black charts. But I have found some interesting information from the Creative llustration book by Loomis. He describes how such a chart was used by Pyle. Check it out--it's interesting.

2007-06-13 12:05:04.0
MSD: these are built over the "grisaille" of an earth color and white?

2007-06-13 12:07:46.0
Dan Thompson: MSD, yes, I start out with a toned canvas (neutral gray). N6 by Golden Acrylics, to be specific about the gesso. Then the block in is with raw umber and flake white.

2007-06-13 12:05:19.0
wilybrad: Do you have a preferred brand of paint?

2007-06-13 12:08:53.0
Dan Thompson: Wilybrad, I use three or four brands. For cadmiums, Old Holland. Winsor & Newton for a variety of colors. I like Gamblin paints. And I like some of the Graham colors, like their raw sienna. I also occasionally use some Williamsburg paints, like Pompeii red. I think it's a good question because different brands have different colors by the same name. Like Indian yellow by Winsor & Newton has a unique character to it that you don't find in other Indian yellows.

2007-06-13 12:05:41.0
Joan: How do you decide about the background to a portrait?

2007-06-13 12:10:43.0
Dan Thompson: Joan, you mean in terms of color? When the person is in front of me, I arrange what inspires me, what catches my eye, in terms of composition and to help me clarify skin colors.

2007-06-13 12:08:45.0
Pentimento: Was you teacher at your Atelier also a high chroma painter?

2007-06-13 12:11:34.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, I studied with quite a few people, some of whom were high chroma, and some of whom were not.

2007-06-13 12:12:15.0
Dan Thompson: There were some great high chroma painters, like Cedric Egeli, Nelson Shanks, Dan Neidhardt, and Stephen Perkins. And Sammy Britt. They were all students of Henry Hensche.

2007-06-13 12:10:49.0
wilybrad: What support do you prefer, board, cotton, linen?

2007-06-13 12:12:49.0
Dan Thompson: wilybrad, linen, always. For color studies you can use anything, tho.

2007-06-13 12:11:32.0
Joan: I mean, in terms of whether to leave it monochromatic, or suggest objects in the background, etc.

2007-06-13 12:13:57.0
Dan Thompson: Joan, when you are painting somebody's portrait and it’s a serious endeavor, everything in the background is important. There is no such thing as 'I didn't think about how I composed it.' You either composed it well, or you composed it poorly.

2007-06-13 12:11:58.0
Administrator: You have joined a chat with Dan Thompson, a top artist-instructor who has been highlighted in Workshop magazine. Feel free to ask him some questions and to join in the discussion. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

2007-06-13 12:12:01.0
Linda Dulaney: Sadie here on Linda's account - which artists do you feel are your greatest influences?

2007-06-13 12:15:32.0
Dan Thompson: Sadie, I can address some artists that are not living that are huge influences: Sorolla, Velazquez, Hensche...Annigoni.

2007-06-13 12:13:24.0
hellfish: do you use color that may be considered fugitive…or do you tend to stay away from them

2007-06-13 12:14:19.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, I generally stay away from them.

2007-06-13 12:14:50.0
Alli: Dan, regarding the ties you make between painting and music, what is it exactly that you see as musical in the painting process? Is it in the drawing? Applying the color? The balancing of elements throughout a work?

2007-06-13 12:16:35.0
Dan Thompson: Alli, I think the first and foremost is the balancing of elements throughout the work. We have to find a way to take our own knowledge base and weave it into an effortless practice. There should be something organic about that--that to me is quite musical.

2007-06-13 12:17:04.0
Dan Thompson: When it comes to the color, there has to be a harmony that governs how anything is lit so that the colors all add up to become that light condition. I regard that as musical.

2007-06-13 12:17:18.0
Alli: This is true. Ingres said, “If I could make musicians of you all, you would thereby profit as painters. Everything in nature is harmony; a little too much, or else too little, disturbs the scale and makes a false note. One must teach the point of singing true with the pencil or with brush quite as much as with the voice; rightness of forms is like rightness of sounds.” Sounds like you’re on the same page (or shall I say sheet?)!

2007-06-13 12:18:21.0
Dan Thompson: Alli, that's great. I recommend Charles Woodbury's Painting and the Personal Equation. He has wonderful things to say about this musical analogy.

2007-06-13 12:17:41.0
hellfish: Mr. Thompson, do you listen to music when you paint..if so, what?

2007-06-13 12:19:07.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, good question. My range goes from classical Persian to heavy metal thrash. (Slayer)

2007-06-13 12:18:51.0
NE: Hi Dan-- I have a question about Grand Central Academy: I hear the academy teaches several different ways to paint, as opposed to ateliers that focus on one method. How exactly does this work and what made you all decide on this method?

2007-06-13 12:21:31.0
Dan Thompson: NE, it's an excellent question. I'm trying to think of a succinct way of saying this. It is about classicism. I believe that the four of us who created Grand Central share a lot in the way that we work. There is something in each of us when we paint that is idealized, which is classical. We haven't really sat down and tried to define this. But i think it makes a better school if people who have the same general ideas get together because the richness of the experiences make for a more comprehensive program. If it were one person's way of teaching it would be one-dimensional.

2007-06-13 12:21:37.0
hellfish: would you say that SLAYER"S Reign in Blood is one of the greatest metal albums of ALL TIME

2007-06-13 12:21:55.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, no question about it.

2007-06-13 12:21:55.0
Rob: When you begin to paint in color, over your grisaille, do you apply the paint in terms of underlying form, flat shapes, color/temperature of the light? Is it a combination of all those? Which one is most important to you?

2007-06-13 12:24:26.0
Dan Thompson: Rob, form has no bearing in the beginning. Form is not considered. I am trying to forget about, momentarily, what I am seeing and lay down flat colored masses. Hopefully the biggest five or six will assemble themselves in the proper relationship identifying the truth of the light. From there I will start thinking about form.

2007-06-13 12:22:38.0
Pentimento: Dan: In your early training, did you copy Bargue’s plates? Are you a proponent of 19th century teaching methodologies? What have you arrived at in terms of teaching "beliefs"?

2007-06-13 12:26:17.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, beliefs are quite varied depending on who you are working with. I think the Bargue plates are a good idea, even tho I didn't copy them. To me it's the closest thing we can get to a videotape of the 19th century classroom. They were encapsulating very big technical exercises into these plates. It's helpful for the "thinking" of the thing, to copy a few and test one’s self. It's not just part of a tradition--there's real validity to it.

2007-06-13 12:23:42.0
Administrator: You have joined a chat with Dan Thompson, a top artist-instructor who has been highlighted in Workshop magazine. Feel free to ask him some questions and to join in the discussion. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

2007-06-13 12:24:24.0
Kendra: Dan, what name and company creates the yellow you use to capture sunlight? How do you shade/tint it from outdoor to what shines indoors?

2007-06-13 12:27:23.0
Dan Thompson: Kendra, in the way that I studied, we teach sunlight by developing our eyes, so any color on the palette can be used for sunlight.

2007-06-13 12:27:48.0
Kendra: Wow, I never thought of it that way. Smooth.

2007-06-13 12:28:15.0
Dan Thompson: If you were to look at Hensche's chapter on sunlight from The Art of Seeing and Painting, it would clarify this more. But your question about different lights is a really good one. I am always taking my painting into different lights to look at it. My teacher taught me, 'five minutes indoors (with a color study in progress) is worth 20 outdoors.' It's about clarity of vision.

2007-06-13 12:24:44.0
Linda Dulaney: Dan We here at BACAA are so thrilled about you upcoming workshop in the Bay Area. Here we are using very high north light. What light do you normally work with? Thanks, Linda

2007-06-13 12:30:22.0
Dan Thompson: Linda, I have a northwest window in Brooklyn, which can make several light keys. The most interesting for me is in the early morning until about 1 when I get a kind of warm violet. I change my painting for the different light in the afternoon. I work on a different one.

2007-06-13 12:30:50.0
Dan Thompson: I'm excited about the workshop too!

2007-06-13 12:31:21.0
Linda Dulaney: Thank you Dan Really looking forward to it

2007-06-13 12:27:14.0
Pennie: I've been told squint my eyes so that I only see the light and shadows. Do you use this technique?

2007-06-13 12:31:42.0
Dan Thompson: Pennie, I use it in the block-in but not in the color. I think it's helpful in the block-in for the way it simplifies and gives you a clear idea about composition and pattern.

2007-06-13 12:28:14.0
Pentimento: I still can't believe you paint to Slayer...that's crazy:)

2007-06-13 12:31:41.0
hellfish: Mr. Thompson, im currently working on a painting of a squirrel. have you ever painted a squirrel? they are really hard to paint and would love some advice.

2007-06-13 12:32:40.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, I need more info than that.

2007-06-13 12:33:05.0
hellfish: they are tree-dwelling rodents that have a bushy tail

2007-06-13 12:32:16.0
Pennie: How do you determine the direction of your shadows?

2007-06-13 12:33:05.0
Dan Thompson: Pennie, the light determines it, not me. The only way I can determine them is when I am setting the painting up. Once they are there they become the foundation of the painting.

2007-06-13 12:33:40.0
Pennie: I mean, is there a specific direction you prefer to set your light up at for your shadows?

2007-06-13 12:35:48.0
Dan Thompson: Pennie, the upper right is a great place if you are studying, particularly if you are right handed. It's a good point because one should learn these ideas in the best situation possible.

2007-06-13 12:33:21.0
Linda Dulaney: Dan Does the terminator determine the direction of the light.

2007-06-13 12:34:13.0
Dan Thompson: Linda, the light and the terminator are bounded together. I think of the terminator as the key indicator of the light, but not in terms of the direction of the light. The terminator is really a contour line in addition to giving the direction of the light. It's always on the form, we just lose that sense and we need that part of the equation to finish the painting.

2007-06-13 12:33:59.0
Tenacious B: In your demo on the American Artist website, what do you mean by “Plenty of room is left around the color masses to account for the necessary revision of colors“?

2007-06-13 12:37:40.0
Dan Thompson: Tenacious, good question. There's a tendency that I observe in teaching color with the figure--people want to paint all the way out to the edges of the form with the original color mass. This makes the color mass more permanent. It's akin to pressing down really hard in the first strokes of a block-in. Leaving room around the color notes leaves you free to revise them.

2007-06-13 12:35:53.0
Kendra: Dan and Linda, what are you referring to as the "terminator" in determining light direction?

2007-06-13 12:36:14.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, check the store called Evolution in Soho, Spring Street. You may find a stuffed squirrel there!

2007-06-13 12:36:47.0
Linda Dulaney: Dan so does the teminator set the direction if the graduation of value. Thanks, Linda

2007-06-13 12:40:58.0
Dan Thompson: linda, no, I would guess the terminator has more to do with the intensity of the light, the degree to which the form changes from darkest to lightest. I think Linda's question is one we should have while painting the final phase of the ptg. She's essentially asking, what is more valid, the form or the light on it. You are not copying what you see, you are challenging what you see by evaluating it by two different trains of thought if you are considering it both ways.

2007-06-13 12:37:47.0
Pentimento: Dan: Do you paint outdoors, plein air? Do you use a pochade box?

2007-06-13 12:42:00.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, I don't use a pochade box. I use an old Ancobilt easel. I also use a Stanright aluminum easel. But maybe I'm just cheap and I should buy a pochade box. But I do paint outdoors.

2007-06-13 12:42:37.0
Pentimento: I'm a cheap person too...I could never buy one of those pochade boxes. The nice ones are like $500

2007-06-13 12:37:59.0
hellfish: im sorry, i dont know what a terminator is though

2007-06-13 12:38:42.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, you are not a real Slayer fan if you say that.

2007-06-13 12:37:48.0
Linda Dulaney: Terminator is the core shadow.

2007-06-13 12:38:00.0
Gilbert: In plein air painting, color is difficult to see. When I bring the paintings under artificial light, they look bleached out. Any ideas on how to prevent this?

2007-06-13 12:42:58.0
Dan Thompson: gilbert, I would challenge yourself to paint scenes that push the colors to their extremes. Paint sunsets. Paint brighter objects outdoors. At the Hensche school, they painted colored blocks.

2007-06-13 12:43:58.0
Dan Thompson: In my evening class in NYC, I have a light that I acquired from a theater, a Broadway lighting co, and we are ptg the figure under colored gels. When we are painting under a crimson gel, you cannot just reach for the Venetian red. It is not going to do the job. In certain situations these tube colors are really not that chromatic. We've been starting with very strong gels and we have been alternating the crimson gel with the blue gel. We are using palette knives, not brushes, btw. Gradually, we put more subtle gels on the lights, until we are just ptg with regular light. We realized in doing that that there's no such thing as a neutral light.

2007-06-13 12:40:10.0
wilybrad: Okay, back to portraits. Do you have favorite colors for skintones? I realize that will vary.

2007-06-13 12:46:12.0
Dan Thompson: wilybrad, my favorite color for skin tones is flake white, because of the texture it can bring. Any color on the palette can be used on the skin--i let the light determine it. that was my point.

2007-06-13 12:40:10.0
Kendra: It is so fun to be surrounded by others equally passionate about art/painting/color/lighting!

2007-06-13 12:40:51.0
Colleen Johns: Dan, what would you recommend for the most fundamental painting book

2007-06-13 12:41:35.0
Kendra: Dan, referring to your 'tendency that you observe in teaching color w/figure--people want to paint all the way out to the edges' Does that imply that you apply the paint and then use another, smaller (cattung) brush to fan the paint out? Or, do you wipe some of your prior paints off?

2007-06-13 12:42:51.0
Administrator: You have joined a chat with Dan Thompson, a top artist-instructor who has been highlighted in Workshop magazine. Feel free to ask him some questions and to join in the discussion. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

2007-06-13 12:43:11.0
hellfish: Mr. Thompson, do you paint from photographs?

2007-06-13 12:50:08.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, no I do not.

2007-06-13 12:44:39.0
Kendra: Dan, referring to your 'tendency that you observe in teaching color w/figure--people want to paint all the way out to the edges' Does that imply that you apply the paint and then use another, smaller (cattung) brush to fan the paint out? Or, do you wipe some of your prior paints off?

2007-06-13 12:49:29.0
Dan Thompson: kendra, no, I am conscious of the surface but I don't take the initial color note and make it the final color note. I have to go through a period of awkwardness before a period of revelation, where I find a finer way of seeing, a finer color. At that time, I am also usually dealing with the form changes.

2007-06-13 12:47:12.0
Dan Thompson: colleen, I've always liked the Harold Speed book. For drawing, I like the Vanderpool book. Try to find an old copy--they have better quality reproductions, and more of them.

2007-06-13 12:48:34.0
Pentimento: You mean the Practice and Science of Drawing and Vanderpool's anatomy book?

2007-06-13 12:51:13.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, no, it is called Oil Painting. Vanderpool is a drawing book by John H. Vanderpool. Drawing prof at Chicago Art Institute 1880-1911. I also recommend Art and Nature Appreciation by George H. Opdyke. Also, John F. Carlson's Landscape Painting

2007-06-13 12:48:50.0
Gilbert: Have you ever copied other artist's work for learning purposes?

2007-06-13 12:51:59.0
Dan Thompson: gilbert, yes, Ingres, Sorolla, and Velazquez. Also Sargent and George deForest Brush.

2007-06-13 12:48:55.0
hellfish: Mr. Thompson, what kind of brushes are the best

2007-06-13 12:52:20.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, I like Silver Brush a lot, and Robert Simmons.

2007-06-13 12:49:13.0
Administrator: You have joined a chat with Dan Thompson, a top artist-instructor who has been highlighted in Workshop magazine. Feel free to ask him some questions and to join in the discussion. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art.

2007-06-13 12:50:51.0
realistpainter: how do you handle varnish? and how do you get a consistent varnish and avoid sinking?

2007-06-13 12:52:55.0
Dan Thompson: realist, I mostly use retouch varnish or I oil out. I haven't been doing lots of varnishing lately.

2007-06-13 12:50:59.0
Pentimento: Dan: Are you a "full time" artist? If so, how did you support yourself in New York (of all expensive places) while you were developing?

2007-06-13 12:53:58.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, it's a real challenge. I'm a full-time artist and teacher. Teaching helps pay the bills and allows me the freedom to paint what I want to paint.

2007-06-13 12:55:12.0
Gilbert: Thanks for your help! I really appreciate hearing true stuff from a successful artist! It's such a struggle, this art thing, and such a thrill when things work out, it's great to listen to a "master!"

2007-06-13 12:55:39.0
Pentimento: Dan: Are there any contemporary artists right now that you admire or that catch your eye?

2007-06-13 12:57:54.0
Dan Thompson: Pentimento, I'm much more interested in deceased artists because a lot of things in the past catch my eye. In the year 2000, there was a show at the Guggenheim called “1900, Art in the Crossroads.” I am interested in the richness of information that was flying all over the world in that show. Malevich, Sorolla, Picasso, American Impressionists, Sargent, Thayer, great sculptors...

2007-06-13 12:59:25.0
Dan Thompson: it was helpful for me to go back and look at my teacher's father's work at the Corcoran, and I had no idea how potent that place had been in the 1920s until I went back and looked at it. It was much like the structure of many schools of that area--but in those days, they were run by artists. In Corcoran, it was Meryman.

2007-06-13 12:59:37.0
Dan Thompson: The academies today are often not run by artists. Why is it OK that 1% of the graduates of art schools become artists? If that were true with medical school, we would have a doctors crisis on our hands.

2007-06-13 13:00:05.0
Dan Thompson: We're not out to satisfy a board of regents. We are out to help create artists.

2007-06-13 13:00:23.0
Administrator: Just so you all know, you can always share tips on our message board, Artists' Forum.

2007-06-13 13:01:06.0
Administrator: Ok, everyone that's all for now

2007-06-13 13:01:19.0
Administrator: Be sure to check our website in the coming weeks for a video of demonstration by Dan.

2007-06-13 13:01:36.0
hellfish: mr thompson, how much can you bench?

2007-06-13 13:02:10.0
NE: hellfish, i get the impression that you are challenging this award-winning artist to some sort of match. i don't think that's appropriate

2007-06-13 13:04:25.0
Dan Thompson: hellfish, I take it back about you not being a real Slayer fan. ‘How much I can bench?’ You're the real deal!

2007-06-13 13:01:48.0
Administrator: And here is a list of his workshops, which is also posted on our website.

2007-06-13 13:02:01.0
Administrator:

THIS WEEKEND: oil painting demonstration for the Academy of Realist Art, Toronto, Canada
Friday, June 15, 6-9 pm
contact: info@AcademyofRealistArt.com

The Arts and Letters Club of Toronto, Toronto, Canada, June 18-19
contact Veronica at info@portraitsocietyofcanada.com

The Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Los Angeles, CA, July 19-23

Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier, San Francisco, CA, July 30-August 10

The Art League School, Alexandria, VA, September 12-16

Please contact the above institutions to register, or Dan Thompson for a materials list at:
dan@danthompsonart.com
www.danthompsonart.com

2007-06-13 13:03:43.0
Administrator: We are done for today, but you can email Dan at dan@danthompsonart.com

2007-06-13 13:04:29.0
Dan Thompson: thanks everyone.