David Bowie, Freddy Mercury and Watercolors....

So today, I woke up with "Under Pressure" singing in my head. I love Queen and David Bowie, two of the best artists to have ever taken the stage. I love Freddy Mercury's voice stage presence and watching their "live" videos on youtube is such a breathe of fresh air from all of today's computerized auto tune rubbish and one million background dancers. I loved the charisma and presence that Freddy Mercury was able to put on and he did it without the whole Mickey Mouse club dancing behind him. Love love love Queen and Bowie!

So anyhow, onto art. I had Under Pressure on in the background and I was feeling experimental today with my art. Typically, for those who follow my work know, I paint realism and my style is tight and very little spotaneity. I like having control of the medium no matter what medium it is. Well today, while listening to Under Pressure I felt like I wanted to just leap out and try something else today and the result was - as my wife would say - powerful!

I think today's piece turned out especially well and I love the spontaneous drips, the effect of the salt and the high contrast of the face - no DETAIL!!! I love that, it is very much like my sketches that I've done of it.

Well, this piece is untitled but it is partly inspired from my Iraq series yet it is totally up to the viewer to interpret, enjoy:

"Untitled", By Jerry Frech, Watercolor on Paper, 11"x15", $125.00

The Joy of Watercolor!

Above: "Reminisce" Watercolor, 11" x 15", $125.00 (Prints Available $30) For many years I have avoided Watercolor as a whole. When I was young I hated the lack of control I had over the medium and that bad experience carried all the way through college. During my college years I had the chance to go to a watercolor workshop and I tried out the medium and I immediately recalled all the reasons why I hated watercolor. However during my senior year of college I looked at several Graduate Schools, hoping to find a school that taught "realism", which is my style. I also wanted a teacher that specialized in water mediums. My search resulted with me going to Radford University to study under ZL Feng, a world re-nouned watercolorist. Despite my fears, I decided that it was now or never and after taking the plunge you can see that my decision has paid off. Above: "New Generation" Watercolor, 11" x 15", $125.00 (Prints Available $30) I have found that I can achieve a greater level of clarity, contrast and realism. For many years I felt that I could not do watercolor because I had no control, yet with Feng I found that control. Part of it was also due to my maturity and progression as a painter, I went from an Oil painter to an Acrylic painter - which is not too drastic of a change. During the year I was doing acrylic I found many techniques that worked and found a knack for working the medium. All of this combined with Feng's instruction has led me to a strong portfolio in Watercolor. The two paintings above are among my first 8 watercolor paintings ever! I think the key in watercolor is patience and understanding how to control the paint and a lot of that comes from attitude and careful preparation. I hope to post more Watercolors on here soon so stay tuned for more!

May 11th, 2010 - The Value of Studies

So this morning I had a final and today is actually the last final I take at Bluefield ever again! On saturday I walk! It's been a long time coming and just the thought of it just about brings me to tears!

So anyhow, I decided to draw a closer look at the anatomy surrounding the eye of the elephant for the simple fact that I want to really get the feel and texture of this wonderful creature right!

The other night I started a painting of the elephant - something that has been obsessing the pages of my journal lately. I opted to do a painting from a picture that I took in Asheboro NC at the NC Zoo. I really like the composition and the texture around the eye - SO POWERFUL LOOKING!!!!

For the value of doing mulitple studies over and over again and even if they seem repetitve is to help you - the artist - to really get into the essence of the subject matter. Constantine Brancusi was notorious for this - he spent a whole life time studying the bird and his end result was Bird in Space and Bird in Flight - he truly captured the essence of the bird! It wasn't over night and he never gave up. My belief is that if you want to really capture a subject regardless of your style you have to observe and study as much as you can - you have to be obsessed!

So how does the painting look?

Well, so far so good! Above is the first step, I do a semi-detailed sketch or at least enough to get the important structural framework done. Then afterwards I start putting the textures in using Golden Acrylic's Mediums (Light Molding Paste and Fiber Mix).

After the texture comes the painting, but first I wait for the texture to dry. After the texture is dry to the touch I start using light layers of Burnt Umber and Burnt Sienna Acrylic paint from Liquitex. This is basically drawing, but in paint! So if you can draw you can paint!

So after the initial block in, I start adding a little background and detail. I think its important to give every part of your work - while working on it - appropriate care. Don't just focus on the one point and forget to do anything in the background because it can become a distraction. Anything that takes you from the focus of the painting becomes a distraction and when I mean focus I don't mean that you have to have one particular area - your focus can be your message and again if there is anything that takes you away from that then you are just hurting yourself and the image!

So after this morning's sketch and study I came back this afternoon to finish up the detail of the eye, trunk and the area below the eye. I think the above picture truly illustrates the need to study. If you don't then don't be surprised if you can't see a difference between what you are doing and dumbo! STUDY!!!