Donato Giancola's The Mechanic DVD review

As soon as I heard Massive Black was to do a dvd with Donato Giancola I put it in my wish list, "why? after all you don't paint in oils yet Teresa" well, the main reason is that I've been a diehard fan of Donato for years, notice how I call him by name, and second because it happens that the only other dvd about oils I have was made by Massive Black too, featuring another of my idols, and judging by it I could tell that the amount of knowledge dropped into this one would be enormous even if it would only have a 10% of the Dan Dos Santos one, and I wasn't wrong!

What you get inside this DVD box is 2 dvds filled with 5 hours in the studio of Donato Giancola extraordinare, up close and personal, creating The Mechanic from start to finish:


What I've always loved about Donato's works is that he paints like the old masters, he's a classic master embodied in a current 21th century painter, so I was looking forward to see how he paints skin, as if it were a chance of peeking over Rembrandt, Rubens, or Michael Angelo's shoulders, if you don't believe me is that you've never seen his works. Check Faramir at Osgiliath or The Battle of Agincourt or Elegy for Darkness-The Lady of Shalott if you don't trust me.

That was my main expectation, to be able to see him rendering skin and talking about how it's done to get that kind of finish, I must say I was a bit disappointed when I found that the demo would be a sci-fi illustration instead of fantasy, maybe because I relate him so much to the classics and sci-fi didn't click for me for the one and only Giancola's workshop I'd get.

Well, I couldn't be more wrong, whoever made the decision nailed it because there's a bit of everything, not only skin but a spacesuit that equals any armor demo, machinery - in case your metal needs weren't fulfilled by the spacesuit - and a galaxy, enough technique insight to your heart content.

Being a bit more specific what you can expect to get from this dvd is:

- Preliminary work, one of the things I love in the 2 dvds I have on oils is that they didn't stick to show oil techniques, there's a lot of information about a lot of other stuff, in this case starting with a talk about the concept sketches or a whole photography session with a model and objects in the studio so you can see how and why it's done.

- Beginning of the painting process, or should I say the drawing process, from start to finish, how all the drawing is made, materials, influences, adjustments made from the concept sketches and an explanation why every decision was made. Drop in some talk about his influences and the old masters and you have a happy Teresa, it's great to hear someone talk about the classics knowing he obviously knows what he's talking about, it's so evident that Giancola has studied in depth the old masters works that you can't help to smile while hearing him talk about them, you can feel the enthusiasm and admiration.

- Mounting process of the final drawing, getting ready to paint.

- And the oils workshop per se begins, I was surprised of the amount of medium he uses because my only reference was Dos Santos and you can tell it's completely different, don't ask me which one is more often used, I have no idea, the only thing I can say is that both of them seem to work for their users and I've always been a true believer in Whatever Works so... Well, he starts with the galaxy, a deep analysis of how he makes it and why, and how many failures it took him to get to do them the way he does them now, then begins the rest of the background (and finish it after painting the foreground). After that he goes to the flesh, I was drooling too much at this point to be coherent writing about it, perfection, the way he blends is perfection, also he talked about different pigments and how they react and why he uses them. Then he begins an analysis on metal, how it reflects it's surrounding and the light and how to make it believable and paints the upper spacesuit making some changes to the base drawing as he goes on. After that come the parts of the spacesuit that are not around the focal point and the machinery with some more talk about the old masters and how he used to go to the museum to copy them (with examples!) while he was talking about editing out information in some areas.

Here's a promo:

Deconstructing Daniel Smith's Moonglow

I'm in the middle of a quest to solve a pigment problem in my fourth christmas card. The choice I made yesterday doesn't seem like the best one, it was Daniel Smith's Moonglw, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL color, but not the right pigments for this card in particular.

Then today after some tests a bulb has lighted over my head, why not check all the pigments in Moonglow, see if I have them and replace the problematic one? so of course it's taken me 2 seconds to realize I didn't have all the pigments in Moonglow lol, but that's ok because it has let me go on research mode, handprint.com is fabulous for that.

So for Moonglow I need:
- Viridian (PG18) which I have (in fact it will give me the chance to try my untouched Yasutomo paints).
- Ultramarine Blue (PB29) which is the granulating color in the mix and the one I wanted to change for Indanthrene Blue since I've already used in the sky and is rich and staining.
- Anthraquinoid Red (PR177) which I don't have and after looking at the pigment it's not under another name at Winsor&Newton, so I won't be able to buy it locally, on the other hand after reading about its qualities I don't like the fact that it hasn't good lightfastness, one of the alternatives given at Handprint is Perylene Maroon which I happen to love and after reading more about the pigment it's staining, so it'll be good for darks and my mix wont granulate.


I feel so accomplished right now! LOL, so I guess I'll put here the info I wrote about both pigments, it's easier to take a photo than to rewrite it, sorry if my handwritting is a problem (one day I'll have to take all those scraps of paper I have around with info and put them together in a notebook or something).


Now after all the theory is time for making some tests and see if it does really work for my painting or I'll need to keep on looking for solutions, let the fun begin!

Personal favs in Sorolla's exhibition

It was due time I post some in depth thoughts and pics of my very favourites at the Sorolla exhibition in no specific order.

Santa en oración (Madrid, Museo del Prado) was right there at the beginning to remind the unaware visitor "did you think you knew what this is about? think again!". This one screams Mucha all over, no matter how you look at it all those patterns and gold and curvilinear shapes are SO Mucha! It went right to my favs because 1) it's stunning, 2) proves that no matter how good someone is he/she have idols to look up to too. It's so different from his style that enables your awareness mode to "see" the rest of the exhibition through a different glass.



Después del baño (private collection) is a painting I loved because, not only the rendition of all the elements (the skin, the textile, the marble) is top notch, but the reflection of the woman on the marble is so unbelievable real that your jaw drops, really subtle and well rendered.


Las redes (private collection) is just so classy, it's a pity that I couldn't find a bigger image online, it's a perfect example of what Sorolla do best, the treatment of light, not only the shadows casted by the foliage reads real and let you feel the temperature in that small alley, you can feel the sun going through those trousers hung there, and the net is so delicate and detailed that makes you wanna get closer and closer and no matter how close it still reads real, awesome, whe I saw it I started wondering about the kind of brushes he used, the strokes are so thin and delicate in that net.

La vuelta de la pesca (París, Musée d’Orsay) is one of those paintings that, no matter how good the reproduced image is, it won't do justice to the actual painting, of course the rendition of the water is perfect and full of colors yet the 2 areas I fell in love with in this piece were the block of wood in the man hands (because it's wet, you can see the hint of water running down from it, and I'm not talking only about the obvious blue and white, you can "see" the brown areas of the wood "are" wet, I really standed there mesmerized by it quite some time) and the fur of the bull (because he managed to make it look like the sun was hitting the sail and going through to the fur of the animal, with just some simple strokes of vibrant reds in the right places). One thing that you can't usually see in the reproduced images of Sorolla's paintings is the vibrant reds he uses when he depicts light, really vibrant for contrast, you look at it and would think he'd gone crazy then look at the whole areas and it's just the right color in the right amount, that orangey area on the bulls back? and the area around it's eye? are full of intense red IRL.

Cosiendo la vela (Venecia, Fondazione Museu Civici di Venezia, Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Morderna di Ca’ Pesaro) This one is brilliant, probably one of the best, it's not just the light, it's the fact that you can see the vine and it's not even in the painting, that's right, the shadows on the sail let's you visualize the vine, you could stay hours letting your eye flow from the blue columns to the vine to the sail to the roses to the people to the blue columns to the vine... Something not noticeable in the print but really obvious in the actual painting is how smartly he grabs your eye and makes you focus just using some strong hard edges in the front woman's simple pink sleeve and elbow, it's SO obvious! and at the same time kind of subtle in a way! and works so well here, just a tiny detail like that and all the feast of shapes colors and lights tone down for a moment, just enough to let the party start again.

El bote blanco - jávea (private collection) This is one of those that doesn't make justice to the original painting AT ALL, a pity because there are so much lovely mauves purples greens and blues there... as soon as my friend Angeles and me got to this painting we both said "gotta be kidding me, that's FUB right from the tube!", that's how bold with color he gets in this painting, and somehow he makes it work! I haven't mentioned Sorolla's use of strokes yet, it's obvious he uses a combination of colors and values masterfully to depict light but another strong point of his is the brush strokes, he goes from thin blended and delicate to bold loose simple almost careless huge strokes in the right place, in the right painting, this one is a good example of that.

Maria vestida de labradora valenciana (private collection) Talking about bold brush strokes lol! I think this is the only portrait I've included here, even if he's a great portrait painter, as much realists those can get, I don't liek them as much as I like his other themes. But yes, this one is perfect, not only for the strokes, but for the rendering of the costume AND most of all the use of color in her face which is the part that made this one in to my top, it's not easily seen in the reproduction of the whole painting (I didn't find a good image) but look at the face detail, now imagine those blues deeper and those oranges more red and vibrant and you'll get a hint of how vivid this is, usually his portraits are full of darks but this one is full of life. A second best to her face are the greens on the background, nothing at all as depicted in this image I'm posting :(.


Hora del mediodía en la playa de valencia (Arango collection) Perfect title because you could actually tell the hour when this scene was immortalized. Just look at that water shining, do I need to say more?



Preparación de la pasa (Oviedo. Principado de Asturias, Colección Pedro Masaveu. Deposited at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias) I couldn't find a full image of this painting (this thumb must be full viewed, trust me) but this detail is brilliantly taken by this photographer, if only the people in charge of the Catalog would have made a job as good as this man did I would have paid almost any amount of money for it. This painting is full of color, look at those grapes, all so different, all so yummy, look at those wooden sticks, look at the colors in them, look at those trousers, look at that hand, man those veins looked as if there were blood running through them, look at those colors and look at those strokes. The background was full of color too, a middle ground in shadows then the background undere the light again, and the dance of colors didn't stop in any area of the panting.


Desnudo de mujer (Private collection) Did I mentioned bold strokes? well, here is a great example of the whole range he has, capable of the softer and most delicate strokes too, the skin of that woman is incredible but then there comes the bed clothes stealing the show, the pink in there turns the image in something almost ethereal, you can see the layers and layers of cloths one over the other, the texture, the softness of it, and the needlework on the transparent cloth at her feet, ah! simply beautiful.

Ex voto (Private collection) This is one of those paintings that no one would relate to Sorolla's signature, it is indeed closer to his portraits' style, what made it so special for me (and it won't leave my top favs from now on) is the amount os detail in what is basically a "small" painting compared with most of his works, 85 x 118 cm (33,5" x 46,5" aprox.), it's not THAT small either but look at all that detail, the face of that old man in black is perfectly detailed, not a wrinkle left, and it must be what... 3 inches tall? AWESOME, plus even it's not the most colorful scene ever but there are indeed a lot of vibrant colors "hidden" in it, a good example is the wall around the door that has such a beautiful drawing or pattern or whatever that's called, the paintings on it and the mirror, if you get close you can actually see the oposite wall of the room, cool.

Saliendo del baño (New York, The Hispanic Society of America) Because the light shines on the white cloth, reflects on the sand, bounces back to the girls' clothes, which are wet and stuck to the skin, and the skins IS SO REAL! and what not! it's top notch, it's perfect, the feet are a blotch of paints and they read as perfectly normal feet. At this point it's something to notice how he really doesn't paint faces in his beach paintings even being a brilliant portrait painter, it's just not necesary, some colors here and there and your mind do the rest, it's not the important part of the painting, the lead role is not the person, it's the light, I loved that.



La bata rosa (Madrid, Museo Sorolla)One of my all time favourites, a masterpiece of simplicity yet it's full of light, I'd swear that the hole in that back wall is actually a yellow triangle outlined by a dioxazine violet line. Bold careless strokes? "in your face!", those whites over the towel agree. I love this painting, always have and always will.



Idilio en el mar (Nueva York, The Hispanic Society of America) is a perfect example of how good this man was at using contrast, depicting not only a rich full of color water, not only wet lively skin but movement too, you can feel the water running softly around the children, you can see the transparency of the wave over the sand at the beach, and it's full of blues greens, almost a viridian color mixed with mauves and purples. Soothing image, and one worthy of being seen IRL.

Rocas de Jávea y bote blanco (Madrid, Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection, in deposit at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza) this is one of the most vibrant with color in the whole exhibition, impresionistic, great texture, mesmerizing to the extreme. One of my very favourites of the whole list, maybe becausse it somehow makes you feel alive.

There's nother one I really loved because it's different from the rest of his works, it's Día gris en la playa de Valencia (Private collection) and it's a grey dark seascape with a storm far at the open sea oposed to his usual full of light scapes, it's so subtle yet you can see even the storm, all in greys, sadfuly I can't find a photo of it online.

For a full list of the pieces in the exhibition just click here.