Google Streetview

Google Streetview for Artists

Like most technology on the internet my husband shows me, I initially shrugged off Google Streetview and later came back and became obsessed with it. 

If you haven't used Google Streetview... its much more than the fuzzy satellite pics that Google gave us a while back. This is how it is explained on Wikipedia: "Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world.^{[1]"  That I don't think is the best description... basically you can go to various cities around the globe and virtually walk down the streets. You can see the view from every angle from every step you are at: you can look up, look down, and turn to see the view to the right or left.} 

My new obsession  with Google Streetview started when I was visiting the blog of the talented artist Leslie Hawes who often uses Google Streetview to find landscape compositions in far off places. Here is a drawing she did of a home in France. 

  "France is beautiful. 

As I travel, virtually, using Google Street View, I discover that so many places look like somewhere else.  This could be Ireland or Bucks County, Pennsylvania. But no matter where I find a stone building, I will likely stop to draw." Leslie Hawes

Check out Leslie's blog for more of her gorgeous artwork!

Leslie also takes part in a blog called the Virtual Paint Out  that blogger Bill Guffey started. "The Virtual Paint Out:  VIRTUAL PAINTOUTS USING GOOGLE STREET VIEW AS A RESOURCE FOR TRAVELING THE WORLD TO FIND INTERESTING LOCATIONS AND SUBJECTS TO PAINT." 

Basically Guffey posts a location that is available on Google Streetview and viewers of the blog travel there on their computer, find a good composition and create an artwork of that place which he then posts on the blog. Its amazing to see them all together and the different things people find in his posted destinations. Here is a recent Paint Out of Norway.

My head is swimming with possible ways to use this  technology... art history lessons, compositions for artwork... how about an illustrator being able to find the perfect background in a faraway land without leaving his home. Or let's say you need a reference of someone walking across a road or on a bike... just go to a major city on Google Streetview you will most likely find one (with the face blurred out of course). I even know where to find a nice shot of a man bending over gardening (thanks to my friend Barbara). 

Here I am in Taipei,  on a little sidestreet just steps off of a major road with huge large buildings... because its  not just the major roads with the landmarks... its small roads, roads with houses... surrounding country roads... 

Taipei,  side street

Taipei,  on a major road

Although I have many plans for Streetview, including a virtual tour somewhere with my students and maybe a landscape, I have for now just amassed an album on my facebook account of significant places from my past present and future; a sample of which I will end this post with. 

My current studio... in Keene, NH

Northern Illinois University where I spent 4 college years and think I graduated from (I still have those nightmares where they take the diploma from my hands)

Across the Kankakee River from my mom's house in Illinois

My favorite coffee shop in Seattle where I lived for a short 2 years. 

Take a virtual tour yourself! Here is a map of the current coverage of Google Streetview!

James Gurney

Last week I was home Thursday from the studio because my daughter was sick, so while I was sitting on the couch with her all day I had time to browse through the blogs that I subscribe to and found out that James Gurney was going to be at the Norman Rockwell Museum that Saturday. James Gurney is the author/illustrator for the children's book series Dinotopia (which was made into a tv miniseries in 2002) and writes the most amazing art blog out there today: Gurney Journey. His blog is so good that his newest book (an art how-to book) Imaginative Realism borrowed a lot from his blog posts. He writes about the methods he uses for his illustrations which include everything from drawing lessons to lessons learned from past artists to his many sketching adventures and the people he meets along the way.

The reason I was so excited to go see him was that I had just recently done a 3 part lesson with many of the grades I teach based on Mr. Gurney's book. Often Gurney constructs sculptures/models of the creatures in his books so he has a model that he can look at from many angles, light to see highlights and shadows, and even populate models of cities etc (that he also constructs) in scale. From there he can start drawing and painting his amazing imaginative illustrations. So we did the same - we built clay models, sketched the model from 3 viewpoints, chose a view we liked and created a finished painting with background of our subject. From an art teacher/artists point of view I find it very exciting for my students to see the mechanics and hard work behind these illustrations. I think it is important to know that to paint a subject that looks real, even if it is imaginative, that you will get much better results having something to see and manipulate than to completely make up in your head. Especially lighting and  foreshortening.

SO back to the happenings at the Norman Rockwell Museum. It started off with a lecture by Mr. Gurney who very delightfully geared it to appeal both to adults and children. I had my two girls with me who are 11 and seven and they both enjoyed it (especially the story about sketching a certain mischievous monkey). He talked about many of the things that are in his book and blog that I was familiar  with but added stories and anecdotes that brought it more to life. Another highlight of the lecture was gaining an appreciation for all the research that Mr. Gurney did for his illustrations of dinosaurs; meeting with scientists, visiting museums etc.

After the lecture he signed books and then we all went into the education room at the museum where we all could sit down and draw from plastic toy dinosaurs while James Gurney walked around and talked with everyone. He did a quick drawing demonstration of a dinosaur up in front showing the kids how to look for the large shapes in the animal and then work towards details. Mr. Gurney's example was simple and really got the point across. One thing that I noted in his demonstration was how he wasn't afraid to change things as he went... he started out with a simple oval for the body, added one for the head and then started placing the legs. Then he went back and checked the negative space between the legs to check if the legs were right (they weren't) so he moved them over until that space in between was correct. This may sound simple to my artist friends here on my blog but this is something I often forget to show when I am working with my young kids at school. Often I find myself just going through and showing them the steps to make the shapes of a dog for instance, but when my lines are in the wrong spot, I'll often just leave  them instead of taking the time to fix them. That's wrong though... they need to see that drawing is  not just a series of steps, it is a series of decisions... any of which can be wrong along the way and fixed, and that is okay.

All in all it was a great experience for me and my children - so thanks Mr. Gurney! If anyone is near the Delaware Art Museum he has an exhibition right now that I wish was here in New England! Hmph! Enjoy.

Dinotopia Exhibition

Delaware Art Museum through May 16

Thanks to Jeremy Clowe who was sweet  enough to email these pictures of my kids and I at the lecture... as silly old me forgot her camera. :-) & thank you to the Norman Rockwell Museum for bringing Mr. Gurney to the museum.

No Props Required

No Props Required.. okay not a good title, but something I was thinking while I saved the photograph of it. I believe the size is 14 x 22, but as I am down in the Prime Roast  coffee shop around the corner from my studio (for a cappuccino and to bum internet) I can't be sure. 

The full view.

The close-up

The set

Finished Portrait 1 on to 2!

Here it is finished. Below are some close-ups that you can click on to see larger. Now the difficult task of titles! I think its between "Testing Boundaries" and "Hide and Seek." 

& I started this one today... I plan on submitting both to CPSA at the end of the month if this 2nd one turns out ok. 

EDIT: It is Thursday and my little one (the one in the picure actually) has a stomach bug, so 'till Tuesday then...

Strifrieng 2

The "I" is not working very well on my keyboard, so this post was made with some frustration, lol.

Thanks for all the suggestions in my last post. I am going to leave it (probably) with just the string (I think). I got quite a bit done today. I started with correcting her eyes. They were way too small and the shadows of the sockets were just wrong. I still think that one eye needs a bit of enlarging on the top. Let's see... then I started on the hair which really pulled the colors together in my opinion. The dark side of her face is very warm and I love the way the yellows and shared oranges of the hair pulled the colors together. Then I went to the shirt, and part way through the black background.

It might seem like I work one piece at a time, which I do in a way, but I am always adjusting parts I have previously put it.

Anyway here it is until next Tuesday.

the String, Strung? Not sure yet.

I haven'that t photographed the Long and Skinny one yet, but will soon!

In the meantime I started a portrait today that will hopefully be my CPSA (Colored Pencil Society of America) entry.

I wanted to do a portrait in the same mysterious tone as my Zen portrait of my daughter Katie.

Lizzy wanted to be the model this time - so the kids and I had a whole day/night photoshoot - this is one I came up with. I have another one I'm going to do hopefully b4 the deadline too and pick the best one.

This one is CHALLENGING since most of her face is in shadow! Eek! I really do enjoy doing things in shadow though. Whenever I look at paintings in museums/galleries I am always drawn to the ones where the features are mostly in shadow and how subtle all the tones/color/values have to be to create the form of a face.

This is only 2 hours worth of work... so there's lots to fix but you can get the idea.

Her hoodie is white with all these pastels coming in what looks watercolor-y..

I was planning on hanging a carpenters balance weight from the string but now I think I'l tie it to her finger on her lower hand? not sure.

More to come!!!