coming 2012!
What is the Renaissance Project?
It is the product of an obsessive compulsive mind. My work is about more than the finished product. It is about the process, the journey and how I learn and grow along the way. I decided to do this project to push my mind and skills as a painter and artist as far as reasonably possible. I have no desire to compete with the painters of the past, mostly because I would lose, but to prove to myself that I have the skills and ingenuity to live in their time and achieve equal results to my current work.
below- photo of the great painter, William Whitaker, teaching me the ways of making paint.
Project Mission Statement
I believe in technology as long as we as artists don’t use it at the expense of our own intelligence and ingenuity. I also believe it is important for art to define and/or relate to the time in which it was created.
As an artist I have set personal boundaries with regard to how I produce my work. In short I have committed to never use technology, in my process, in such a way that I could not produce the same result if the technology were not available to me. This is not to say that the same result would have been achieved had the technology never existed, because my art as well as the art of a great number of 20th and 21st century artists have been in direct response to the industrial revolution or some aspect of it.
To fully prove to myself that I have not allowed technology to replace my own skills, and/or have not used modern conveniences, such as tubed paint, photography and etc., in such a way that had I not had them I would be lost, I have decided to undertake what I call “The Renaissance Project”. I have chosen the renaissance because oil painting was in it’s infancy and resources for painters were extremely limited, yet it can be argued that many of the works created during this period are still unmatched to this day.
My challenge is to create a large scale, multi-figure painting of a quality at least equal to anything I’ve done to date, without the aid of any tools or modern conveniences that would not have been available during the renaissance. This challenge applies to every stage in the process, from concept to final painting.
Rules
Entire painting must be done from life or imagination
no running water
no electricity
no tools or technology that would not have been available in the 16th century
Painting Subject
At least 5 figures (in motion), a landscape, various objects and an elephant (in motion). Painting dimensions will be between 10′ and 12′ on the smallest side.
Project to do List (all tasks must be done with tools and materials available in the 16th century with the exception of making the 16th century tools themselves. IE: bow saw, planes etc. )
Research renaissance resources and tools
Visit Italy and various museums. Study renaissance paintings and processes
Make 16th century (or equivalent) carpentry tools
Design and build oil press
Press oil (probably walnut)
Design and build oil purification device
Purify oil
Make paint with oils and powdered pigments
Make animal hide glue
collect and purify well or stream water for oil production and brush cleaning
Make stretchers for canvas
Build all set props
Visit, study and measure elephant
Do numerous sketches and studies of elephant
Sculpt elephant
Devise method for manipulating linear perspective on sculpture
Do numerous studies and working sketches
paint…
Video coming soon!
