From the Studio with Patrick McEvoy.
Today, I’d like to do a short “retro-review” of two wonderful art technique books by Ken Davies: “Artist at Work” and “Painting Sharp Focus Still Lifes” (co-written with Ellye Bloom). These books are currently out of print, but can be found online for not much more than a new high-quality hardback art book. Are they worth it? And if so, why? Let’s find out!
Ken Davies is an Oil painter, and these books feature only oils, but they contain principles that should prove equally useful to artists working in any medium: Acrylic, watercolor, pencils or even digital. His techniques concentrate mainly on observation, critical thinking and practice, and these skills transfer winningly to any artistic endeavor.
Oddly, though one of the foremost realists of the 20th century, Davies is known to have billed himself as an “abstract realist”, I suspect that was more a ploy to assuage the anti-realists among mid-20th-century critics than anything else. True, he does worry about the abstract forms both on a large and small scale in his paintings, and adjust lighting, color and proportions where it suits his needs artistically, but isn’t that what every good artist does?
Labels aside, Davies had a long and successful career as a gallery artist, top advertising illustrator, and instructor (and Dean of the Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut for over 20 years). His body of work includes trompe l’oeil (”fool the eye”) still lifes that are nothing short of stunning, and equally amazing outdoor scenes and wildlife. And into all this realism, he imbues all of his subjects (most of them, impressively, inanimate) with life and movement. Being an artist myself and not a writer, I can hardly find words to describe the amazing detail and beauty of his artwork; however, it truly speaks for itself.
The books themselves are both quite wonderful, perhaps among the most useful books on sheer realism available. They cover some of the same ground, but stand alone as separate and equally useful volumes.
The first one, “Painting Sharp Focus Still Lifes”, was released in 1974, and is the larger of the two. It is written as an art course, immediately plunging us into interesting and challenging assignments. And make no mistake – this is not a book for beginners! Davies writes in the introduction:
“The information [in this book] is intended for the serious student or the experienced painter who is willing to devote many hours of hard work to practicing the essentials. It is not for the hobbyist or the casual ‘Sunday painter.’”
Starting with simple yet well-designed line-drawing projects, we move to value and color. For the intermediate artist, and even the more advanced, these are wonderful little chapters. But then, with this groundwork laid, Davies moves to the heart of the book the 13 exercises, which he likens to a musician “practicing scales on the piano”.
The titles alone are exciting to the painter, especially because of the skill of the artist presenting them; exercises such as “rough textures”, “reflected light”, “speed painting” (two of these) and “glazing and scumbling”. Also included in this section are intriguing projects such as “all white painting” and “still life under a red light”. There are 13 of these projects in all, and each is a gem; together, a treasure.
The book ends with several in-depth demonstrations of his sharp-focus technique, taking us from sketch to drawing to rendering. These have some fascinating close-ups of his brush technique, showing that even at a very close distance he achieves amazing realism. These chapters are very useful to the artist who wants a clear and practical idea of how to approach a large-scale, detailed project such as Davies undertakes.
The second book by Davies, “Artist at Work,” is mostly demonstrations, with a short “materials and methods” section at the beginning. What makes this book interesting in its own right is that it includes a serious discussion of how and why Davies makes individual choices in his paintings, from color to composition to subject. As he says in the introduction:
“This book is about ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘why’ – what do I paint, how do I paint, and why do I do it?”
There are six demonstrations in this volume, and some are even more detailed than the ones in “Sharp Focus”, and always explained with clarity and precision. You probably never realized so much thought could go into painting a pot-bellied stove, but I guess one never knows, does one? The book ends with a 20-page gallery of Davies’ work, each picture accompanied by text focusing on that piece’s technique or background story.
I highly recommend both of these books to any artist serious about realism, in any medium. I have barely scratched the surface of them myself; each time I re-read them I am rewarded with new (or newly-understood) information. If you manage to hunt these books down I’m sure you won’t be sorry.
Article by Patrick McEvoy.
