Eric Alexander Santoli
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Movement

1/5/2023

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  "Hold Still!" is often a common phrase that you'll hear from artists.  Certainly for painting and drawing you need stillness, right?  I'm not so sure about that.  For me, when I'm sketching, drawing or painting I enjoy some degree of movement.  Sometimes the movement is subtle, like the small movements of a knitter's hands, and sometimes the movement is expansive, like a cat jumping onto an ottoman.  
  I think it's this movement that makes a work come alive.  But how to capture it?  For me, it's entirely about observation and quickness.  Thinking is your enemy with this sort of work.  You have to let your hand move freely and not worry about the results.  Many of my sketches just come out as squiggles and trailing lines.  Many of them are simply silhouettes of the subject.  Nothing more than lines and shapes.  However, I really believe this is the foundation of great art.  Check out what Delacroix has to say about it ⬇below⬇.
  During the summer, I became friendly with another student in the MA program.  She admired my sketches and asked about them.  I suggested that we sketch outside together and talk about it.  We found a spot near the school where some construction workers were working on replacing bricks on a building.  The workers were moving all about, moving up and down the scaffolding and ladders.  Perfect!  So we sat there and just drew these guys as they worked.  Whether or not our sketches were good didn't matter.  We had fun and created a memory.  And my main takeaway was to silence the voice inside me that says, "This has to be perfect."
  I don't have much advice in terms of technique, but I would encourage everyone to sketch from life.  And for me, it helps to not judge my sketches.  Some of them turn out well, but most of mine are not meant to be judged as works of art.  So please be kind to yourselves also.

“If you are not skillful enough to sketch a man falling out of a window during the time it takes him to get from the fifth story to the ground then you will never be able to produce monumental work…Before you begin, study unceasingly, but once started…you must execute freely.” - Eugène Delacroix

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Recent Sketches, D.C. and at Home

12/1/2022

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  Here are some recent sketches from my D.C trip and of more mundane subjects at home.  I always like drawing interesting shapes and value patterns that catch my eye.  It's also nice to sketch specific subjects and to think of my sketchbook as a visual journey; this is why I almost always date my drawings and include a little description.
  What I enjoy about sketching is just the complete freedom of it.  I like the fact that it's such a simple pastime which requires just pencil and paper.  It just feels good to move the pencil on the paper and not to worry about the final results.  Sketching also allows me to observe the world around me and to find the beauty in simple things.  I could go on for ages about what sketching means to me.
  My fall semester of teaching is nearing completion so I'll be sketching and painting more as the winter sets in.
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Fall Update: Classes, Learning French and a New Self Portrait Drawing

10/5/2022

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  Classes have begun for 2022 and it feels great to get back in the classroom.  I am teaching a drawing course along with a couple of watercolor classes.  Teaching is always a huge honor and I love sharing new ideas with students.
  I am also currently teaching myself French which has been a fun challenge.  It's a beautiful language and I am studying now because I'll be living in France for 3 months in 2023.  I'll be painting and living at Claude Monet's estate thanks to a wonderful fellowship which I was awarded last year.
  My last update is to share a recent self portrait drawing.  I have been painting more recently, but I'm also drawing a lot as well.  
  Fall is my favorite time of year and I'm really enjoying it so far.
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Self Portrait, 12" X 9", Pencil Heightened with White Charcoal on Toned Paper, 2022.
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American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art - John Singer Sargent

9/23/2022

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  I stumbled upon a great book which I've been enjoying.  I found the book through another website: jssgallery.org
  I've read a lot about Sargent, but I hadn't heard of this book.  The first thing to catch my attention was an essay titled Materials and Techniques by Marjorie Shelley.  Sargent didn't write about his technique a lot so it's difficult to find information.  In the final volume of the Sargent catalogue raisonne there's also a chapter on materials and technique, which is pretty comprehensive but this essay by Marjorie Shelley contains information that I haven't read before.  The essay is focused on Sargent's drawings and watercolors, but there are numerous notes on Sargent's oil process since many parallels exist between both processes.  The essay also contains information about his painting materials which I hadn't found previously.
  This book is out of print, but you can download it for free through the MetPublication's site.
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Page 26
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Great insight for artists
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  • HOME
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