About Andy Evansen

01 NIGHT OWL: PAINTING THE NOCTURNE Carl Bretzke 11 FACES OF THE SHOAH David Jon Kassan 23 AN ORCHESTRATED COMPULSION Alyssa Monks 32 GOOD, BETTER, BEST. Jay Moore 41 A QUEST FOR DYNAMIC PHOTO REFERENCE Rachel Moseley 52 COMPOSING A PAINTING Huihan Liu 60 PAINTING OUR TRUTH Noah Buchanan 75 USING VALUE STUDIES TO SIMPLIFY WATERCOLOR Andy Evansen 84 AN ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE Kay Griffith Publication Schedule Issue 27 - January 2018 Issue 28 - March 2018 Issue 29 - May 2018 Issue 30 - July 2018 Issue 31 - September 2018 Issue 32 - November 2018 CARL BRETZKE NIGHT OWL Painting the Nocturne A “nocturne” was described by James McNeill Whistler as a painting of night, twilight or absence of direct light. A Google search will demonstrate nocturne paintings by many other well-known painters throughout history. More recently, with the improvement in plein air gear and portable lights, nocturne painting has become extremely popular. James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket, 1875, oil on panel, 23-3/4 x 18-3/8 inches, Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, Gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. 02 I became excited about night paintings after visiting a gallery in Carmel several years ago. The gallery featured historic California artists and was showing a nocturne by Rollo Peters (1862-1928). The painting was leaning against the wall in a dark corner of the gallery, and at first glance it looked almost totally black. To my delight, when placed under the light, a mysterious and surprisingly colorful image emerged. Interestingly, Peters was known as the “poet of the night.” I still study his work for clues about color saturation in the dark. Charles Rollo Peters (1862-1928), Untitled (Peters’ House and Stu- dio, Monterey), 1891, oil on canvas, 36-1/2 x 51-1/2 inches, Laguna Art Museum, Promised gift of Nancy Dustin Wall Moure Charles Rollo Peters (1862-1928), Starlit Mission—Carmel, n.d., oil on canvas, 16 x 24 inches, UC Irvine Museum, California 03 One of my first attempts at nocturne painting was during a plein air event in 2011. The final show included 120 paintings from 60 artists. Because of the striking value contrast, my lone nocturne piece seemed like a dark exclamation point floating in a sea of green and blue landscapes. Nowadays, nocturnes are very popular at plein air events and are sometimes included as a separate category in which all artists can participate. Painting at night offers the advantage of a very stable and prolonged light effect—assuming no one turns out the lights. In this way, nocturne painting is more like painting a still life than a landscape. There is no mad rush to freeze a light effect, as there is during a painting session on a sunny day. Boat for Sale with Motor, oil on linen, 11 x 14 inches 04 Tattoo Parlor, oil on linen, 16 x 20 inches 05 Texas Alley, oil on linen, 11 x 14 inches Cool Light on the White Cabin, oil on linen, 11 x 14 inches Over the years, several things have become apparent to me as I try to improve my nocturne tech- nique and my perception of color and value at night. My preference is to start on a lightly toned panel. I’ve tried dark-toned panels as well but found I had to draw with light paint first to see what I was doing. The light paint then continued to con- taminate my darks. It seems easier on the lighter panel to do a limited drawing in dark paint and then fill in as much of the confluent darks, leaving openings for my lights. Often this means you can cover a large percentage of the painting very quickly, leaving most of your time to concen- trate on the smaller light portions. I have discovered that one can leave many of the colors very saturated and limit the use of white. Artificial light drops off prismatically and rapidly most of the time. If a light source is bright whit- ish yellow, its emitted light becomes rapidly less intense. White is quickly eliminated from the paint mixture as one then proceeds sequentially down the prism with yellow, orange, red, violet, etc., as you paint away from the light source. 06 The Last Show, oil on linen, 24 x 36 inches 07 Exxon Ford, oil on linen, 18 x 24 inches Assuming you are interested in a late night scene as opposed to a partially lit twilight scene, I recommend not trying to start your planning or drawing too early. The shapes and shad- ows you see after complete darkness are dramatically different than at dusk. Interpreting the color of sky darkness is always difficult. I find that a small amount of warmth is nearly always present in my mixtures, although admittedly most of the time the dominate sky color I see is a bluish violet. My friend Jesse Powell tells me that night skies are usually not blue, and in fact he paints his a warm green (no blue) and they look correct. Obviously many things affect even a night sky, such as cloud cover and reflected light from sources on the ground. Late Shift, oil on linen, 11 x 16 inches 08 Last Ferry, oil on linen, 11 x 14 inches 09 Regarding equipment, a good working easel light is critical to serious nocturne painting. I own several types. I find that a fairly cool light with moderate intensity works best for me. As all painters know, there is never a single right answer on how to do anything, least of all painting nocturnes. Give it a try. You will develop your own preferences and hopefully have some late night fun not requiring an Uber ride home. Blue Night (Studio), oil on linen, 16 x 20 inches 10 ABOUT CARL BRETZKE Carl Bretzke is a representational oil painter who specializes in urban scenes and plein air landscapes. Carl’s work has been described in the Washington Post as “simultaneously in- timate and detached…The artist’s unadorned style recalls Edward Hopper and The Ashcan school.” Carl holds an MD degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Colorado, where he also received a minor in Fine Art. Carl has also trained extensively under Plein Air Painters of America signature artist Joseph Paquet. Website: http://www.carlbretzke.com 11 D A V I D J O N K A S S A N F A C E S O F T H E S H O A H “Please have a cookie,” Roslyn says with a Polish accent. “Thanks!” I say as I reach for the plate. Roslyn is a sweet older woman whose privacy I feel like I’m invading while scouting out her home for the best place to set up lights and camera equipment. We came into this interview cold with only a faint hint of Rosalyn’s story. Chloe, my videographer, and I set up the lights and vid- eo equipment around Roslyn’s kitchen table. As we mic up Roslyn and her sister, we turn on the camera and settle in for a conversation about their lives and experience during the Shoah. Roslyn: “We are twins. My name before the war was Roslyn Sharf, S-H-A-R F. So, when the war broke out in 1939, we were still living in our house. Later, about a year or a year-and-a-half later, they told us to leave the house. So, a neighbor gave us a place to live for about five months, and then it wasn’t good anymore. We went into hiding to another neighbor, for a month, in an attic.” Me: “Who was the neighbor?” Roslyn: “The neighbor Poles, Polish.” Bella: “They were . .” Roslyn: “. they were Witnesses of . .” Bella: “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Two Survivors of the Ho- locaust; Roslyn and Bella Sharf, 2016, oil on panel, 13 56 x 43 inches Roslyn: “Jehovah’s Witnesses. They believed that, a person should be helped. And theywere poor, and hadn’t enough food, and then . And Mother helped them, I presume,when they were so poor, when they came to the store, she gave them things for nothing. I mean, they bought it, but without money, and then they didn’t pay. So, they felt obligated, grateful, and they let us stay a month.” “Then mother decided it’s not good enough, and she took us to the station. We walked maybe three hours. On the train she started to talk to the Poles. Our Polish was very good, clean of Jewish intonation, and she asked where they are going. So, they said that they’re going to Warsaw, and Mother said we are chased out Polish people from a different area, and she’s looking for a job.” “As we approached Warsaw, the woman said to us, ‘Come on. I know somebody in the building who wants a housekeeper. They need people.’ So, she gave us the addresses. Mother got the job.” Bella and Roslyn are both Survivors of the Shoah. They live a few floors apart from each other in a high rise building in Queens, NYC. They are fraternal twins. During the Nazi occupation of Po- land their family had to go into hiding. They were 12 years old and both had blonde hair and blue eyes so they were able to hide in plain sight. Their mother moved them to a town where nobody knew them, and they were split up to go into hiding with two separate families.

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