James Gurney: Painting from life:
 

James Gurney is an artist who paints in watercolor and gouache (opaque watercolor) mostly plein air... meaning in the immediate place in the environment (as opposed to using photos).

He has many videos and DVDs on how to do it, explaining his style. He makes it look so easy. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_M_lZ1ev4M

This one is from a visit to a natural history museum. When I was younger I used to draw at the natural history museum when I had a chance, in Ann Arbor Michigan. I love that place.

This video explains how to use just a bare minimum amount of tools, to get a nice result.

This one is very nice, and short too. with an ooopppsss as he drops his palette and water. The little painting is very nice IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acmswl4fxkk

Watercolor Warriors....
this is a short video showing how he fixed his spillage problem. Trying to paint with wasps, wind and other challenges. In the end the weather won.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lbOgHrPD70

Painting rainbows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE7WWmYL91M
This shows his studio? High whimsy! This is a cute and funny video. Not long either.
p.s. I have that exact Te-Amo box...I keep charcoal pencils in mine. LOL

Thanks mrsD.

A very neat little trick in the Watercolor Warriors one. Placing the magnet in the water container sitting it on the metal clip. Love those types of ideas. So practical.

I just realized that James Gurney did the
Book Dinotopia! Now I am totally amazed.
This explains the studio in the Rainbow link
In my last post.

Type in Dinotopia to Google for his paintings
On that!

We have that book here in a box somewhere. Fascinating.

In the rainbow one he draws a dinosaur painting a rainbow inside the cover of a book.

Yes, so do we! I have the book in my bookcase in the bedroom.
(it was my son's, as we have a video game for 3.1 of it too)

I never made the connection... some members of WetCanvas recommended him for plein air painting and put up a video.

But when I saw his studio video, I was intrigued and so searched him on the phone last night. There went most of my sleep for the rest of the night.

His bio is very interesting. He is mostly self taught too. Only two semesters of art training at a school.
(his bio is on Wiki)

I decided to buy the book, Color and light therefore.;)
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/20...and-light.html
This review goes thru the whole book... so it will be great for me.

The Dinotopia is only one part of his work... he has illustrated over 100+ SciFi/fantasy books too. And here I am sitting around like a lump having my own artist's block...sigh.

Artist's Muse:
 

Well, I decided to buy both instruction books by James Gurney after being spellbound by the Color and Light one.

I also found the second one --Realistic painting of things not there---on used Amazon.

In it is this photo of James working on a painting with his muse:

http://www.comicvine.com/images/1300-2159237

I was stunned and amazed by that...since I had a muse like that when I was a kid and learning myself how to draw and paint.!

Also I was very intrigued by the Gamut Color mask system of color which he has in his Color and Light Book. I certainly did not learn about this at my University Training in art which I did after my professional training...while hubby was stationed in Vietnam. I had a full year of design and not a peep about this subject!

http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/gamutmask.php

More on Muse and Gamut:
 

This gamut painting is complicated...at least I think so.

Therefore I have to see more about it.

This video on YouTube has James' Muse, Mr. Kooks....in it briefly too. It explains gamut painting, which is using limited pigments chosen to work together to make a color statement that is harmonious and interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EejGPq4GyeA

How clever - limited colour gamut.
That's an exceptional video to find.

James Gurney paints Australian dinosaurs:
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80ccdDtuGSg

James journeys to Australia to paint Australian dinosaurs for their postal service stamps. This is just so interesting, his process.

This video even has more of his friend, Mr. Kooks...the parakeet.
I just find it so interesting. I am so familiar with the parakeet muse/helper, as I had one when I was in middle school and high school too... and he was a lovely blue like Mr. Kooks. sigh

The child still in me is really drawn to James Gurney, and I so think having YouTube and computers, when I was developing my own art, back then, would have totally changed my path.
And therefore I probably wouldn't even be here today, on NT! ;)

That's so neat. I never would have known.

Apparently the set also included a ""pop-up" pack with a dinosaur "roar" sound chip". That would be interesting to see as well.

Very interesting mrsD. Thanks for posting. :)

The Making of Dinotopia:
 

This one is really good too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrZ9GA-hiPI

I was reading about his US dinosaur stamp collection too. I found some images of them and they were really beautiful stamps.

You've probably seen this, but I found some really interesting videos regarding puppets and comic characters. So neat.

Painting Comic Character Toys with James Gurney
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuwmZGsRr6E

Blacksmith Portraits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSDjLNzCtRo

I'm really enjoying watching one of his vids from time to time. :)

Those are great!

Yes, the American stamps are in one of the books, I just bought.
Either Color and Light, or the Fantastic Realism book. Both are very similar in style and have many of his works in them.

I like watching him lay down the paint. He paints with watercolor like oil painters do. Watercolorists traditionally wash in the back grounds, first, but Gurney just twists his flat brush to fill in backgrounds. Normally gouache lifts if you try to paint over it.
Acrylic gouache (rather a new product), drys impervious to subsequent layers. Gurney tends to paint small also, which appeals to me, as I do too.

That toy maker/collector was really interesting too.;)

Thanks, Lara. ;)

I try to watch a little bit each day, so my brain can digest the nuances, while I sleep. I find Gurney very prolific and he has now a huge body of work. Imagine being married to HIM? LOL ;)

Wow! Talent!
 

MrsD and Lara,

I am just catching up on this thread.

Wow! He is talented! :D
It's a pleasure to watch him paint.

I never took much time to draw or to paint. It's so very fascinating.

I do enjoy seeing the work of all types of artists, however. I like to buy paintings now and then. The ones I like the most are usually out of my price range. ;) However, I do find some...

I am very impressed, mrsD, by the very wide range of your knowledge, experiences, talents.

Lara, you also share such a wide range of knowledge with us here at NT.

These types of threads are fascinating, educational, experiential, and also serve as a wonderful distraction.

It's so important, I feel, to explore all aspects of life and of creative endeavors. This brings about a deep appreciation of beauty and so deeply enriches daily life.

Watching each of these videos has brightened my day. :D

Thanks so much, mrsD and Lara, for sharing.

:grouphug:
DejaVu

Making video logos:
 

Just when I thought I had seen it "all"... I find this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJdrlZTht_U

James Gurney makes models of things, that he wants to paint.
They are called maquettes. He then uses light and color from them to make his realistic paintings.

This is a video of how he made the logo "Gurney Studio" for his own videos.

Keep in mind he comes from a family of mechanical engineers..so he must have some latent talent squirreled away in his DNA!

I really found this fascinating!

And this one is really enjoyable too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MauKtbyGXg

Music = Bing Crosby
and painting thru wavy old windows... which I have here too..and take photos thru!.

Gurney is such a playful fellow! I love his videos! ;)

He's a very clever chap.
Would be nice to own all that equipment as well. That would make it easier to play around as he does.
He's truly entrenched in his work isn't he. I like the way he combines quite basic materials with his fancy equipment to make something look super duper. Very clever.

thanks for posting. Fascinating. :)