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We at Sight-Size.com wish to thank American Artist Magazine for allowing us to reprint their December 1970 interview with Robert Douglas Hunter. The copyright for the article belongs to American Artist. An Interview with Robert Douglas Hunter by Richard Goetz Page 3 G: I see a rhythm of movement going in circular forms through your paintings. H: It is an interrelationship of all the shapes governed by a visual impression of the total arrangement of the subject. It may take two hours or two days to get the setup right, and then I decide where my viewing point is going to be. The next step is to make a charcoal composition on a drawing panel. I deal with the big masses, values and shapes on a surface larger than the painting eventually will be. I put strips of paper around this design and shift them back and forth so I can determine the exact size and shape the painting should be. An inch here or there can make a tremendous difference. I work out the compositional problems before the painting is started so that all my later attention can be focused on impressionistic observations and interpretation of the subject. When I have determined the size the painting should be, I stretch my canvas and transfer a few lines of placement from the compositional drawing. I then begin to work directly on the white canvas in broad masses of paint. G: What area do you work first?H: The area of the canvas that appears to be least like my subject. Starting on a white canvas would naturally mean starting in a dark or possibly a very brightly colored area. I then proceed to cover each area that is least like the white canvas until all the surface is covered. From there I go to the color that is least correct, not trying to make it perfect, but merely bringing it up to a better relationship to the rest of the painting. As an analogy, I like to think of myself as a shepherd, and all these various color notes are like sheep. The shepherd always goes after the straggler. If you apply this to painting, it very simply means you glance quickly at the entire setup or model and then at the canvas to look for a straggler, the mass of color that is least correct. This procedure is carried out until the entire canvas is correct and ready for final details or refinements. In starting I use the largest brush possible, putting on generous amounts of color, starting inside the mass. I scumble on the paint, letting the brush go in all directions. At this stage I do not worry about the outline; I always work outward from the interior of the mass. When the color comes to the edge, I usually let it slop over a bit so when the adjacent color is put on and brought out to the edge, it too laps over into the wet edge of the neighboring color. This will keep the painting flexible, give a softness to the edges and keep the painting loose. This procedure helps me to work in terms of color masses as the Impressionists did, not in terms of outline drawing. G: Your finished paintings have a very smooth texture. If you put your paint on in a loose, heavy manner, why doesn't it build up and become rough?H: To avoid this, at the end of each painting session I use pages from an old telephone directory to smooth my paint. I carefully place the paper on the wet surface of the canvas and very lightly rub over it. This removes ridges of paint. When the paper is pulled off, it leaves a texture that gives tooth and a good surface for the next layer of pigment. I try to make the color, not the brush strokes or heavy texture of paint, do the job. The procedure throughout the painting is somewhat the same. I try to cover as much of the canvas during the painting session as I can, but on a large canvas it isn't possible to cover it all except in the earlier stages. I am actually painting picture over picture, each becomes a little more correct and broken into smaller masses and more delicate color changes. There really isn't any basic difference in the various stages. Each is a further development and refinement of the previous one. G: It is obvious that your paintings are very accurately drawn.H: The drawing develops as the painting progresses. The painter does it with masses of color, the draftsman with line. I assiduously avoid any kind of linear thinking or application when I am painting. As soon as you put down an outline, your edges become harsh, and you begin to think in terms of outline drawing and not in terms of mass against mass. G: What can you tell us about finish? H: Finish is just a refinement of the beginning, that is all. In the beginning you put down the big note and then divide it into smaller notes, then subdivide the divisions, until the painting is carried as far as you wish. I am now using a retouching varnish which I spray on, not brush on. It is one-third dammar varnish, two-thirds turpentine. When I run into a dry area, I put an atomizer into a bottle of the mixture and spray from about 14 inches to 2 feet away from the surface of the canvas, using as fine a mist as possible. For a final varnish I have long used a synthetic picture varnish; it goes on with a brush beautifully, and in three hours or less it is dry as a bone. The picture restorers in New York all use the synthetic varnish now. My interest is not in objects themselves, but what happens to objects when light falls on them. This is done with mass of color, not outline drawing. The main thing is to keep all of the painting developing and progressing uniformly. This is more vital than deciding on an arbitrary, finishing point. Go to page: 1 2 3 |