I like the way James Gurney's mind works. For one thing, a large volume of his work is made up of tiny paintings in his sketchbooks. Rather than just making a painting, each of these explores some intention such as gradating from warm to cool, or changing the color to create a different interpretation or just discovering visual relationships. And for the
majority of these, he takes us along with him in short YouTube videos.
But that's not all he does. He has invented an entire fantasy world called Dinatopia, images created on large formats and
combined into books.
Many of his Dinatopia images are painted from small maquettes, others from neighbors and friends posing in costumes.
The preparation behind every scene involves lots of drawing and composing ideas.
But what I love most about James is his authenticity, his down to earth lack of pretension. You can sense this in his short videos where he takes his sketchbook out to explore visual possibilities. He dives
into subjects most of us would pass up as uninspiring, places such as grocery store parking lots or the front of a tire garage. Rain nor snow nor wind stop him.
DISCOVER HIM FOR YOURSELF
Here's a recent video that illustrates this. Try binge watching his little videos and listen closely to what he is saying as you watch him discover and create. Enjoy.
You can access the archive of all my newsletters at anytime by going HERE. |
|
|
|
