Madonna with Child by CT Rasmuss

'Madonna with Child'  C.T. Rasmuss Lucid Mosaic, 2015.

So this is the first entry I've made since last August, what do I have to say for my slacking?...lol....well, sometimes life just takes a turn down some road which you wonder why you ever turned down that road; and you find yourself asking in the rear-view mirror, why didn't i just turn back, oh well hahaha!

I ended up with this painting which I cant wait to explain more, much more!!  I made some friends I made some mistakes, I made some art and I'm finally ready to make some more blog entries, why? because I can, lol besides how else can I talk out loud and make some sort of sense?..

Tonight I found myself working on another Lucid Mosaic, pondering the dilemmas I've encountered over the last year or so and decided the best way to finish the week was to honor the time my friend & colleague John Sousa took to photograph some of my favorite work.  "can i get a little help from my friends" is precisely why tonight was a good night to get back on track.

Like I said, can't wait to expand on this painting plus other work I've put off as well as telling you all about The Frank Stella Retrospective at the New Whitney, was a great visit and experience btw...Michelle, wherever you are or whatever your doing these days, it was a great time I'll never forget, thanks for all the good memories;) 

was a road worth traveling..

here's a link to original post if you'd like to know more about my process leading up to this finished painting:

http://ctrasmuss.blogspot.com/2014/12/madonna-with-child-contemporary-view-of.html 

 

Madonna with Child; A Contemporary View of its Renaissance Form.

*to be titled at a later date*  C.T. Rasmuss, Marker layout for Lucid Mosaic (Dec. 2014).

Lately I've been studying the Renaissance, the most I have since my courses in art school; this is all due to coming across and watching: 'A History of European Art', lecture on DVD(The Great Courses) by Professor William Kloss.  

link to site for lecture on DVD by Prof. William Kloss 

I've provided you with a link to it, as a resource which I keep renewing mine at the local library, from this course midway through the 48(30 min.) lectures, I've been inspired to finally attempt my rendition of Georges Rouault's, Madonna with Child(painted in 1920,but of a of a different name), which I saw and sketched quickly at the Dayton Art Institute, shown below:

Sketch of Rouault's Our Lady of the Fields C.T. Rasmuss

Even before visiting "The Dayton" my 1st time, I'd already been influenced and mesmerized by Rouault's stained glass quality to his oil work(as he served as a stained glass apprentice in his youth), I'd also become to admire his authentic texture, and especially his subject matter(uncharacteristic of his Modernist peers art work, for the most part) along with his extreme empathy for these subjects, almost to realized ecstasy.

Notre Dame des Champs NO. 4  Georges Rouault, oil (1920).

As you can see, I got the gist of Rouault's "Masterpiece", and last week when the spark hit me, I got the urge and grabbed the pre-fabricated canvas, and started drawing; from the very day I first saw, realized and sketched Rouault's "Madonna", I knew it was going to be one of my Lucid Mosaics, but I just didn't know when.  To be even more specific, it was going to and still is going to be my first Lucid Mosaic involving a composition, that deals with a portrait setting:

*to be titled at a later date*  C.T. Rasmuss, drawing (Dec. 2014).

I'm not sure if this was on purpose or not, as it can take a lifetime to understand the lifetime of the great masters, so I wouldn't put it past Rouault, as it was obvious through his unique Renaissance subjects, that he must not have only studied the great painters of the period, but also their inventions and hidden ideas that they introduced and perfected.  What I'm saying here is: in coming up with my own composition based from Rouault's, nearly 100 years earlier; I've noticed and capitalized upon an important central idea, found throughout much of Renaissance art, and that is the Trinity.

Trinity diagram   C.T. Rasmuss, ink.

In comparing my painting/drawing to the Rouault's original, the above Trinity triangle that I drew, overlaps our two paintings together by its central figures: Madonna and Christ child; with the top point rotating clockwise: 1. Mary's head, 2. Christ Child's head, and 3. is where they connect(Mary and Child).  

All in all, it was an innate need for me(capturing the essence of bond between these two figures above all other aspects), I feel lucky that I was able to carry this most important aspect(representation of the Trinity composition wise) over into my own interpretation of an artist's great & successful rendering of this heavily sought narrative; also with a similar need to communicate this age old subject, I feel blessed to have the faith in being able to just go for it.  Thereby receiving the reward of understanding, to which only this event could have given me!

To be continued..

Black Lightning by C.T. Rasmuss

Black Lightening  C.T. Rasmuss (2013).

If you like the picture of mine above, I thank you, but I'm sad to say it doesn't exist anymore, but it still lives on throughout parts of my Lucid Mosaics, where it payed the ultimate price and has now disappeared into other artworks of mine.  The reason I'm presenting this to you, is for the same reason I took a picture of it in the 1st place; as I saw it as a work of art all in itself, by itself.

When it comes to other artists and my will to create a comrade-re between us artists, on similar missions, I'm all in and hold nothing back, but when it comes to this particular process of my own design(and of course the blessings of a higher design), I believe that I must keep some things to myself.  

My Exhibit at Broadhope Art Collective over the weekend  C.T. Rasmuss (Dec.19th 2014).

So anyway, I was talking to another artist yesterday by the name of Michelle Gravett, and she had mentioned some particular textures that I incorporated in my 'Provincial Orchard', specifically(shown: far, lower right) and because we have different perspectives of my work; me being the artist, and her being an observer, via our conversation I better understood how my "tiles" look to everyone else, and why I now wish to share one of my favorite whatchamacallits:)

She said: "the sky looked like stone", and we analyzed it a bit(so to speak), and is why I had to share it with you, whether an artist, an admirer or just someone curious about art; what I like about my favorite "whatchamacallit", is it's resemblance to Lightning, the natural aspect within a man made process by yours truly, and as we can only emulate life I say: "the truer the better", in this case for sure.

Rockwell Kent's Adirondack Landscape 1940; Under The Giving Sun in 2013.

Under The Giving Sun  C.t.Rasmuss, lucid mosaic (2013).

Rockwell Kent's: 'Adirondack Landscape from 1940; I first came across this painting last year at The Dayton Art Institute(and a few weeks ago I was able to re-visit and take the photo this time); I'd heard of Rockwell Kent before, but just his name, not much more than that, but when I came upon this painting, instantly I had to draw it! As I quickly sketched it, as usual, with any other work of art, I started to learn more about it's composition, simple as it may have seemed; as it was just a landscape with trees, a sky, and clouds. Even so, I became more and more interested in the unique styling of these common, compositional elements; which later without foresight, became the focus of a 200-150 hour labor intensive lucid mosaic.

Adirondack Landscape  Rockwell Kent, oil (1940).

 These compositional elements which I'm referring to the: trees, shrubs and clouds(which I did not end up including in the final artwork) caught my eye and gave me the idea to turn this composition into my next lucid mosaic. The trees, which were my favorite part overall, are how they seem realistic, but have exaggerated openings allowing the landscape to pierce through; this shape-like characteristic allows for unique and organic objects possible, to be included in one of my mosaics; this goes for the shrubs as well(and clouds if I'd included them).

Three Hills  C.t.Rasmuss, lucid mosaic (2012).

 When it came to the clouds, I had changed my mind near the end, they just didn't seem to be enough anymore, so I replaced them with a “majestic” sunrise & sun-rays, for an “East meets West” touch. I believe the need for this change was caused from the extra row of trees/shrubs I place on the secondary wave of landscape; I did this to create and existential component, as I believe Kent's original had a touch of it, and as an artist in the 21^st century it's my duty to try and improve on any work, or movement by the master's.

Click here to learn more on artist: Rockwell Kent

Original sketch at Dayton Art Institute by C.T.Rasmuss, ink (2013).

Vincent Van Gogh; Letters to Emile Bernard, and Now a Lucid Mosaic by C.T.Rasmuss.

Upon reading the first few letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his artist friend, Emile Bernard; I couldn't help, but admire one of his sketches that he sent to Emile, in letter III.  The book also included accompaniment of the final painting, in which I only saw in black n white, til now(on purpose, as I hoped to capture as much color correctness through his words only).

Shown above is my Lucid Mosaic, a technique all of my own invention(to my knowledge), and below is the original(in oil) by Van Gogh himself, done in Arles, early April 1888:

And this is the sketch he included in his letter to Emile:

In these two(B/W) renderings of Van Gogh's 'A Provencal Orchard', I was immediately stricken by the intersection of the horizontal garden path(both ends hidden by the fence), and the diagonal "main" path running down and to the right corner(placing the viewer left of this path w/o mistake of their orientation to the entrance of the Orchard), a perfect composition in my mind!

And I was inspired to prove how strong this composition is, I believe it may be an overlooked piece and doesn't have the panache of his more famous iconic ones, but deserves just as much attention, mostly due to its teaching aspects and composition values.

I mainly wanted to give a somewhat ordinary(at first) artwork of his: a "new life", and this actually has opened the door for me to do the same for many other pieces; after succeeding in this attempt, I feel like I can take my technique and give new life to, other Old Masters not so famous artworks, within their oeuvre.  Not that they really need it, but I would like to give attention to, perhaps what the critics, art lovers and contemporary artists may have over looked.

Going back to the process for execution of the mosaic(after deciding what my new mission was, or is becoming), I drew a quick sketch from Van Gogh's painting, followed by an actually thumbnail.  This allowed me to transform his original painting into a template, for the purpose of my technique; and my favorite part of this particular experience vs. previous pieces I've done, was that this was the first time I concentrated on the actual brushwork, I was able to because of the way Van Gogh worked his canvases with heavy impasto.

I've also included the part which he explains the Orchard to Emile if you'd like a sample for yourself:

"Here, by the way, is a sketch, the entrance to a Provencal orchard with its yellow fence, its screen of black cypresses(against the mistral), its characteristic vegetables of varying greens...the whole of the sky has a bluish hue and the greens are either definitely blue-greens or yellow-greens, purposely exaggerating in this case the yellow or blue qualities."

And that is that, and there you have it...and now on to the next one, So...there is a Signac I saw yesterday, and after sketching it I suddenly lost my will, but a few pages later I really got excited again especially after sketching it twice, so who knows..

ZEN; Another Lucid Mosaic(in process) by C.T. Rasmuss.

'ZEN(in process)'  C.T. Rasmuss, Lucid mosaic(original concept by C.T.).



Here's the Lucid Mosaic I've been workin on since, late January of this year; I've posted some conceptual drawings below, in order of conception.  Just to verify to anyone who has followed my career and my original mosaic/painting method - My direct influences for this particular style is not just the pouring method of Jackson Pollock and impasto style of Van Gogh, but here particularly like my last Mosaic('Night & Day; A Modern Dilemma' by C.T. Rasmuss) my additional influences on this one are: Frank Stella for the color/grayscale effect, and M.C. Escher concerning composition and mathematics.

 

 

 



I have included these preliminary drawings to give you a sense of my preparation that goes into, coming up with the ideas for my mosaics.  Many people, other artists and professionals of all kind always talk about being afraid of others stealing their ideas; as for me, I am some what concerned, when the thought of it crosses my mind, but I feel in my heart that I'm blessed with a talent that is to be shared with those who are willing, and if my talent/idea is truly strong and unique enuff, as I 'believe' it to be, then I've nothing to worry about.

 

 

 

Enjoy and I hope you learn something, especially from how we can learn so much from the Masters..

 

 

Link to: ZEN Part II - The Finished Piece



 



Meet 'Night & Day - A Modern Dilemma' Everyone!!

Night & Day - A Modern Dilemma  C.T. Rasmuss - A technique invented by the artist. (2013-14).

Success at last!!  To spare you the details, and redundancy:  I simply accomplished what I set out to do and more!...  

I 100% believe that this is a solid artwork in everyway, and like all art, it can be built upon; but what I'm most satisfied here with is: I took a chance, a risk, a BiG! risk!  - Considering this work took me around 225 hours or more to complete, even after its original conception, and corresponding sketches.

It opened my eyes to see how Art can be separated in another way: 

Art that is & art that BECAME...

Below you'll notice two masterpieces created by two masters of the arts, that have paved the way for artists such as me; my Above art-piece is an amalgamation of my own artist intuition, direction given by the masterpieces below, and the will to discover the unknown.

                                            Day & Night  M.C. Escher - woodcut (1938).

                              Link: Day & Night blog by C.T. Rasmuss

                                 Jasper's Dilemma  Frank Stella - alkyd on canvas (1962-63).

                              Link: Jasper's Dilemma meets Modern Dilemma blog post

Oh yeah and please let me know what you think, please leave your comments - join my blog if you'd like !!  I want to hear from you, Thank you!!!